Now mounted, the four moved quickly. In late
afternoon, they came to the place where the Rohirrim had fought the Orcs,
but there was no sign of Merry or Pippin. They waited for morning
before continuing. At Gimli's urging, they made a fire, but Aragorn
warned them to harm no living wood, for he feared the wrath of the forest.
Celeborn had warned them of the Fangorn forest. Legolas thought even
the trees were glad of the fire. Worf had to wonder what danger simple
trees could pose, but if even Celeborn feared them, he too would leave
them be.
The four were woken by Gimli's shout and an old
man standing at the edge of the forest. Aragorn invited him to join
them, but he slipped off before they could reach him. The horses
were gone. The others suspected Saruman, and Worf had no other theory;
he didn't know enough about the situation to know what to think.
When morning eventually came, they discussed the night before, and Legolas
mentioned that the horses had sounded as if they had met an old friend,
rather than frightened. Worf was amazed that he could make such a
distinction, but he had worked with the animals all his long life.
However they had left, they were gone, and the four set to searching the
battle site for signs of the hobbits.
Signs they found, in the form of lembas crumbs,
and the leaf wrapping from the Elven waybread. There was also a broken
Orc blade nearby. They were able to surmise that at least one of
the hobbits had escaped into the forest, and that the Orcs had been ordered
to capture hobbits and bring them back alive. Saruman would not have
trusted such stupid mercenaries with enough information to know which hobbit
they were seeking or what he carried. That was the reason the Orcs
had neither killed their captives nor attacked the rest of the party.
The four of them entered the forest with trepidation.
Legolas seemed to listen to the trees, and seemed reassured. Both
Gimli and Worf were amazed by this, but it made them feel a little better,
nonetheless. Climbing a hill as they searched, they saw an old man
below them. Gimli called for them to ready their weapons, but none
were willing to attack without provocation.
The old man greeted them, "Well met indeed, my friends.
I wish to speak to you." At that, he climbed up onto a rock wall
below them. Gimli cried for Legolas to shoot him, but the old man
spoke again. "I said I wished to speak to you. Put away that
bow, Master Elf. And you, Master Dwarf, remove your hand from your
axe-haft. Master Klingon, you won't need your weapon, either."
As he climbed up, there was a flash of white beneath the grey rags he wore.
Worf knew that Saruman was called Saruman the White, but he could not move.
Aragorn asked the man his name, but the old man said, "My name? Have
you not guessed it already. You have heard it before. What
of your tale?" When the four would not reply, the old man told them that
two young hobbits had been in that same place two days ago, and met someone
unexpected. ¹
Frustrated, but not willing to attack, Worf watched
in silence. The old man seemed ready to speak more, but he went to
sit down before continuing. As he turned away, the four hunters were
suddenly able to move again, and all readied their weapons, even Aragorn.
As he sat down, they saw that he was wearing all white. Gimli rushed
at him, but Worf held back, restrained by something he didn't quite understand.
This battle would belong to the dwarf. The old man jumped up onto
a rock, throwing off his rags. As the man lifted his staff, all were
stopped in their tracks. Gimli's axe fell to the ground and Aragorn's
sword blazed, joined by Worf's bat'leth. Realizing who stood there,
Legolas shot an arrow into the air for joy; it burned to nothing in midair.
"Mithrandir!" The Elf cried, and then Aragorn cried
his other name, "Gandalf!" Gimli sank to his knees in shame. Gandalf
pulled him to his feet, saying, "No blame to you, and no harm done to me.
None of you has any weapon that could hurt me."
Worf spoke up, "Gandalf! Why do you wear white?
You were known as Gandalf the Grey, and Saruman was the White."
Gandalf laughted, then explained. He was now
what Saruman should have been. The power emanating from him kept
them in awe. The companions sat and caught up on news. Aragorn
told of Boromir's death, and Gandalf told them about Saruman. Saruman's
treachery had done more harm than good for the Enemy. He had betrayed
the free peoples to the Enemy, but also sought the ring for himself.
In his attempt to gain the ring, he brought the young hobbits to Fangorn.
Thanks to the Rohirrim, no news of them would go back to Mordor, but the
Enemy knew already that the Orcs had seized the hobbits, but against his
wishes they were to be taken to Isengard, Saruman's stronghold, rather
than Mordor. Gandalf also told that the Nazgûl had winged steeds.
The flying creature Legolas had shot at the riverside had been one of those
steeds, but the Ringwraith could not be slain so easily. The hobbits
were with the Ents, treelike creatures that seemed to be more legend than
reality to the people of Middle Earth. Even Legolas knew them only
in legend. The hobbits had roused the Ents' anger against Isengard,
though not even Gandalf knew quite what the ancient creatures would do
about it.
Gandalf was reluctant to talk about what had happened
in Moria, but he told them a little. He had passed through fire and
abyss and now returned to them. He told a little about the battle
with the Balrog, falling into the abyss in the thing's fire, then water
below, then after following it through Moria, defeated the thing in the
mountains above ground. He was rescued by Gwahir, the Windlord, ruler
of the Eagles. Gandalf was now the one White Rider to stand against
the Nine Black Riders. He arrived at Lothlórien only shortly
after the company left it. He brought messages from the Lady for
each. For Aragorn, words of kinsmen and the Dead watching the road
leading to the Sea. For Legolas, a warning about the Sea and gulls.
For Worf, her words were to persevere, and rest would come in the end.
For Gimli, a remembrance, and a caution to lay his axe to the right tree.
That made all of them chuckle, and Gimli danced around, singing loudly
in his own tongue. The others watched in amusement, but Gandalf they
soon had to leave.
¹ pp. 114-115, The Two Towers