Part 57.
They reached Osgiliath before noon on the first day.
At once Aragorn had trumpeters set upon each of the four roads leading into the city. Then he sent the heralds out to cry a message, as a warning to any enemy troops lurking anywhere near. "The Lords of Gondor have returned and all this land that is theirs they take back!"
Three days of hard riding and only short rests saw them reach the entrance of the Morgul Vale, and the high mountains of Ephel Duath, the Mountains of Shadow.
As they arrived Gandalf, riding alongside Aragorn and the others of nobility, Eomer and Imrahil, called to the heralds. "The Lords of Gondor are come! Let all leave this land or yield to them!"
"Wait," Imrahil told them, before they could depart, "Instead say the King Elessar is come!" He turned to his companions. "It will make Sauron uneasy, and give him more to think about if the herald's call that name."
As he spoke to them the heralds darted off to begin their cries.
On the breeze their voices came clear as crystal, "The King Elessar is come! The King is come to us, praises to him and his house."
Arwen smiled and reached out to take Aragorn by the hand. "All hopes come, or all hopes end now. May all hopes come to pass for you, Elfstone."
Aragorn smiled at her. "You told me this day would come. May all hopes come to pass, for all in this Middle Earth."
She chuckled at that. "Maybe not the Dark One's hopes, Aragorn."
"How is it, dear Lady, that you can find light and humor enough for us all in these trying times?" Eomer asked.
"My life has been longer than yours Eomer. Only the Elves, and precious few of the Elder Dwarves remember the happier times in Middle Earth. But it is not hard to be happy now, surrounded by friends, riding out together and seeing the bonds that have grown as we have journeyed is happiness enough for me." Arwen answered him.
"What should happen then if we are all lost in this war, and Middle Earth is lost to the darkness?" One of the Dunedain asked her.
"Then I will do as I have promised." Arwen lowered her eyes, not meeting Aragorn's. "I will sail to the Undying Lands with all that is left of my kin. That oath, I have sworn and cannot go back on. If all hopes fail, I will leave this Middle Earth." With those words she turned Nallahir sharply, and rode to the back of the group of Dunedain, her guard, always just behind.
She made no effort to speak with anyone, with the exception of her silver falcon Elessar, who had swooped out of the sky to try and comfort his mistress, landing on her outstretched arm.
"Do not despair, Ranger of the South. It is only in despair that your feet will falter." Aragorn chided the Dunedain whose question had upset Arwen. "When the Lady Evenstar rejoins us you will apologize to her, your question was out of line. She is not a common woman, but an Elven Lady, and one who should be given your respect and honor."
At the back of the Dunedain, Arwen rode slightly away from the column of soldiers, who walked without any semblance of order, save for keeping with their own companies. They were so different to the ordered, well disciplined Elven army she had ridden from Lothlorien with. For only a few moments she allowed herself to think of fair Lothlorien and far off Rivendell.
Her thoughts drifted once more to Frodo, the Ringbearer, and his loyal friend and companion Sam. The heaviness that had been growing in her mind, and even in her heart became a dull ache, and an unexplainable weariness.
Arwen felt a weight set down upon her shoulders and knew that it was the weight of the one Ring Frodo carried ever further into Mordor.
She closed her eyes and tried to divert some of its weight to her own shoulders, if only to save Frodo long enough so that he could reach the summit of Mount Doom and return the One Ring to the flames it had come from. Twisting Nallahir's reins around her fingers she was able to stop herself from crying out as some of the weight settled on her shoulders.
In an attempt to regain some of her strength she leaned forward, laying herself along Nallahir's gray satiny neck. Trusting Nallahir to guide her, Arwen closed her eyes. *Travel well Frodo Baggins. The hopes of us all ride with you now. I have done all I can for you, do not despair*. She projected the thought over time and space, into the deepest, darkest parts of Mordor, but Arwen did not know if the message reached him, because Frodo did not know how to send a message back to her.
She sat up, adjusting her position in the saddle, before looking up to the skies. "May the Grace of the Valar go with you on your journey, Frodo Baggins, and also with you Samwise Gamgee." Arwen said quietly, picturing both hobbits in her mind. Sighing she began to draw upon the power of the Evenstar necklace she had given to Aragorn, which he wore openly around his neck. She felt her mind and her heart grow easier as the strength of the Evenstar pendent flowed into her.
At the head of the Grey Company she heard someone shout in alarm, and saw Aragorn hold the necklace out in front of him, shining like a star in the night, although it was bathed in brilliant sunshine.
Shaking her head she nudged Nallahir with her heels and rode to the front of the column.
Aragorn looked at her with relief when she angled Nallahir in between Brego and Arod, Legolas's and Gimli's mount. "Anyone would think something important was happening." She scolded them, seeing that nothing was amiss. "What is all of the fuss about?"
"The pendent... it's glowing." Aragorn told her, holding it out so that she could see it, though the chain was still looped around his neck.
"There's nothing wrong with it." She told him.
"The Evenstar Jewel has never done anything like that before." Elladan told her.
"It shines for me." She told Aragorn softly. "I called for it, and it answered. All is well."
"It answers when is it called for?" Gimli asked.
"Only when I call for it, or for its power, Gimli. The Evenstar pendent was given to me on the day of my birth and it has been in my possession ever since that day. Now it possesses not only the light of the Elves, but a good deal of my own strength and light and love. I shall not fade while it exists." She told them. As her fingers reached out to stroke the delicate jewel it's light although ceasing to shine outwards, did not falter, but instead shone into the center of the jewel, forming a small silver pool in its depths.
"Are you well Lady Arwen?" Gandalf asked her, noticing the change in her, the weight she carried with her.
"I am well thank you." She replied, her voice not betraying the slightest hint of weariness or fatigue.
"Lady Arwen," One of the Rangers began, "My apologies to you for my comments before. They were unjust and un-called for."
"All is forgiven, Ranger of the South." Arwen said to him, "Now be calm, for we ride to war."
Part 58.
Finally, after almost a week's travel from the Morgul Vale, the joined armies of Gondor, Rohan and the Dunedain halted before the Black Gates of Mordor. None could be seen on the battlements.
At once Aragorn rode to head of the army, and called out, "Come forth! Let the Lord of the Black Land come forth! Justice will be done upon him, for wrongly he has made war upon Gondor and wrested its lands. The King of Gondor demands that he should atone for his evils, and depart then forever. Come forth!"
All was still for scant moments. In that time, Arwen could hear everyone breathe, even the land as it groaned under the weight of Barad-dur and the evils of Mordor.
Then the Black Gates were hurled apart, and a group, clothed and cloaked in black. The first was a rider, astride a horrible black horse who champed at the bit and threw his head up against his reins.
Many of the men recoiled in horror, fearing this creature to be one of the nine Ringwraiths.
Whispers of 'Nazgul! Nazgul!' Filtered through the ranks.
"This is no Ringwraith." Arwen told Aragorn softly. "He is a living man, one of the Black Numenoreans. Do not fear those from the shadows."
In her mind, Arwen formed a bubble, a bubble of calmness. She nurtured it until it became a thing of its own, separate from her mind. Then she stretched it, until it covered the entire army, who was still uneasy with the presence of the black rider. As the bubble stretched and flattened, spreading out over them all, the men calmed and became easy once more, though many of them still remained on edge.
Somewhere in the present she could hear the black rider talking to Aragorn, jeering at him.
Then the messenger spoke of the Dark One's demands, which he was entitled to, for the rider bore the name, 'the Mouth of Sauron.'
After a long list of demands the Dark One had named, the Mouth of Sauron took notice of Pippin, who rode astride his pony beside Arwen and Nallahir, as both footman and esquire to her, since they day that they had left the Morgul Vale.
Strangely, the weight upon her shoulders, although it had been growing steadily heavier suddenly felt as though someone had doubled it, and with that feeling, Arwen knew that Frodo was very near to the end of his journey. As the invisible weight crashed down upon her Arwen made no move, no sound. She simply sat tall in her saddle, remaining calm and peaceful, not allowing anyone to see what was happening to her.
"So you have another of these imps with you! Where you get them I cannot guess, but sending them into Mordor as spies is even beyond your folly. Still I thank the brat who should recognize these tokens, for now you will not be able to deny them." The Mouth told them cruelly, holding up Sam's sword, Frodo's mithril coat, and tattered clothes and a gray Elven cloak, still fastened with a broach in the shape of a leaf.
Pippin let out a strangled cry, while many of the others bowed their heads.
"What are the terms of his release?" Gandalf asked, sounding more defeated than Arwen had ever heard him.
"If you fulfill all of Sauron's demands the prisoner will be returned to you. Until then he stays locked inside the Black Gates of Mordor." The Mouth said to them.
"That is too much for the delivery of only one prisoner!" Arwen snapped at him, surprising all of those round her. "Get gone, and take my message to your master whilst you are still able to hover about his feet like a dog. We shall not accept any terms of his, not now and not ever!"
"Those are my Lord's terms, take them or leave them." The Mouth said, his voice quaking slightly after Arwen's abuse of him.
Arwen heeled Nallahir forward, Shalat in one hand, her other free, for she had given Nallahir his head and as she charged towards the mouth, Arwen took back all of the possessions of Frodo and Sam, still clutched in his outstretched hand.
Arwen would not look at the others as she turned Nallahir sharply back to them. "Come now, we had refused Sauron! He will spring his trap in minutes, we must fall back from here." She told them, her voice gentler now, but firm.
At once the banners of the House of Elendil, the white tree and seven stars, the banner of the Rohirrim, a white horse, and the banner of Dol Amroth, the silver swan flew high in the breeze.
The wind blew and the silver trumpets sang, while all of the time arrows whistled through the air.
Then high above the Nazgul came, whispering their words of death, and it seemed then, that all was lost.
In the midst of the battle Arwen fell to her knees, the weight of the One Ring becoming almost to great for her and for Frodo. She reached out with her mind trying to find the two small hobbits, far away upon the slopes of Mount Doom.
Having seen her fall Elladan and Elrohir, along with Aragorn and Eomer fought their way over to her. Shalat, her great Elven blade was still clutched in her hand, but her mind was off somewhere else, it seemed to them.
Drawing once more on the great Elven Jewel the Evenstar, and then reaching into the battle, and far across the land to Lorien and Rivendell, Arwen managed to send a stream of energy to Sam, not Frodo this time. To Sam whom she had known the quest could not be fulfilled without.
Then suddenly, Arwen heard Gandalf cry out somewhere near to her, "The Eagles are coming, the Eagles are coming!"
They reached Osgiliath before noon on the first day.
At once Aragorn had trumpeters set upon each of the four roads leading into the city. Then he sent the heralds out to cry a message, as a warning to any enemy troops lurking anywhere near. "The Lords of Gondor have returned and all this land that is theirs they take back!"
Three days of hard riding and only short rests saw them reach the entrance of the Morgul Vale, and the high mountains of Ephel Duath, the Mountains of Shadow.
As they arrived Gandalf, riding alongside Aragorn and the others of nobility, Eomer and Imrahil, called to the heralds. "The Lords of Gondor are come! Let all leave this land or yield to them!"
"Wait," Imrahil told them, before they could depart, "Instead say the King Elessar is come!" He turned to his companions. "It will make Sauron uneasy, and give him more to think about if the herald's call that name."
As he spoke to them the heralds darted off to begin their cries.
On the breeze their voices came clear as crystal, "The King Elessar is come! The King is come to us, praises to him and his house."
Arwen smiled and reached out to take Aragorn by the hand. "All hopes come, or all hopes end now. May all hopes come to pass for you, Elfstone."
Aragorn smiled at her. "You told me this day would come. May all hopes come to pass, for all in this Middle Earth."
She chuckled at that. "Maybe not the Dark One's hopes, Aragorn."
"How is it, dear Lady, that you can find light and humor enough for us all in these trying times?" Eomer asked.
"My life has been longer than yours Eomer. Only the Elves, and precious few of the Elder Dwarves remember the happier times in Middle Earth. But it is not hard to be happy now, surrounded by friends, riding out together and seeing the bonds that have grown as we have journeyed is happiness enough for me." Arwen answered him.
"What should happen then if we are all lost in this war, and Middle Earth is lost to the darkness?" One of the Dunedain asked her.
"Then I will do as I have promised." Arwen lowered her eyes, not meeting Aragorn's. "I will sail to the Undying Lands with all that is left of my kin. That oath, I have sworn and cannot go back on. If all hopes fail, I will leave this Middle Earth." With those words she turned Nallahir sharply, and rode to the back of the group of Dunedain, her guard, always just behind.
She made no effort to speak with anyone, with the exception of her silver falcon Elessar, who had swooped out of the sky to try and comfort his mistress, landing on her outstretched arm.
"Do not despair, Ranger of the South. It is only in despair that your feet will falter." Aragorn chided the Dunedain whose question had upset Arwen. "When the Lady Evenstar rejoins us you will apologize to her, your question was out of line. She is not a common woman, but an Elven Lady, and one who should be given your respect and honor."
At the back of the Dunedain, Arwen rode slightly away from the column of soldiers, who walked without any semblance of order, save for keeping with their own companies. They were so different to the ordered, well disciplined Elven army she had ridden from Lothlorien with. For only a few moments she allowed herself to think of fair Lothlorien and far off Rivendell.
Her thoughts drifted once more to Frodo, the Ringbearer, and his loyal friend and companion Sam. The heaviness that had been growing in her mind, and even in her heart became a dull ache, and an unexplainable weariness.
Arwen felt a weight set down upon her shoulders and knew that it was the weight of the one Ring Frodo carried ever further into Mordor.
She closed her eyes and tried to divert some of its weight to her own shoulders, if only to save Frodo long enough so that he could reach the summit of Mount Doom and return the One Ring to the flames it had come from. Twisting Nallahir's reins around her fingers she was able to stop herself from crying out as some of the weight settled on her shoulders.
In an attempt to regain some of her strength she leaned forward, laying herself along Nallahir's gray satiny neck. Trusting Nallahir to guide her, Arwen closed her eyes. *Travel well Frodo Baggins. The hopes of us all ride with you now. I have done all I can for you, do not despair*. She projected the thought over time and space, into the deepest, darkest parts of Mordor, but Arwen did not know if the message reached him, because Frodo did not know how to send a message back to her.
She sat up, adjusting her position in the saddle, before looking up to the skies. "May the Grace of the Valar go with you on your journey, Frodo Baggins, and also with you Samwise Gamgee." Arwen said quietly, picturing both hobbits in her mind. Sighing she began to draw upon the power of the Evenstar necklace she had given to Aragorn, which he wore openly around his neck. She felt her mind and her heart grow easier as the strength of the Evenstar pendent flowed into her.
At the head of the Grey Company she heard someone shout in alarm, and saw Aragorn hold the necklace out in front of him, shining like a star in the night, although it was bathed in brilliant sunshine.
Shaking her head she nudged Nallahir with her heels and rode to the front of the column.
Aragorn looked at her with relief when she angled Nallahir in between Brego and Arod, Legolas's and Gimli's mount. "Anyone would think something important was happening." She scolded them, seeing that nothing was amiss. "What is all of the fuss about?"
"The pendent... it's glowing." Aragorn told her, holding it out so that she could see it, though the chain was still looped around his neck.
"There's nothing wrong with it." She told him.
"The Evenstar Jewel has never done anything like that before." Elladan told her.
"It shines for me." She told Aragorn softly. "I called for it, and it answered. All is well."
"It answers when is it called for?" Gimli asked.
"Only when I call for it, or for its power, Gimli. The Evenstar pendent was given to me on the day of my birth and it has been in my possession ever since that day. Now it possesses not only the light of the Elves, but a good deal of my own strength and light and love. I shall not fade while it exists." She told them. As her fingers reached out to stroke the delicate jewel it's light although ceasing to shine outwards, did not falter, but instead shone into the center of the jewel, forming a small silver pool in its depths.
"Are you well Lady Arwen?" Gandalf asked her, noticing the change in her, the weight she carried with her.
"I am well thank you." She replied, her voice not betraying the slightest hint of weariness or fatigue.
"Lady Arwen," One of the Rangers began, "My apologies to you for my comments before. They were unjust and un-called for."
"All is forgiven, Ranger of the South." Arwen said to him, "Now be calm, for we ride to war."
Part 58.
Finally, after almost a week's travel from the Morgul Vale, the joined armies of Gondor, Rohan and the Dunedain halted before the Black Gates of Mordor. None could be seen on the battlements.
At once Aragorn rode to head of the army, and called out, "Come forth! Let the Lord of the Black Land come forth! Justice will be done upon him, for wrongly he has made war upon Gondor and wrested its lands. The King of Gondor demands that he should atone for his evils, and depart then forever. Come forth!"
All was still for scant moments. In that time, Arwen could hear everyone breathe, even the land as it groaned under the weight of Barad-dur and the evils of Mordor.
Then the Black Gates were hurled apart, and a group, clothed and cloaked in black. The first was a rider, astride a horrible black horse who champed at the bit and threw his head up against his reins.
Many of the men recoiled in horror, fearing this creature to be one of the nine Ringwraiths.
Whispers of 'Nazgul! Nazgul!' Filtered through the ranks.
"This is no Ringwraith." Arwen told Aragorn softly. "He is a living man, one of the Black Numenoreans. Do not fear those from the shadows."
In her mind, Arwen formed a bubble, a bubble of calmness. She nurtured it until it became a thing of its own, separate from her mind. Then she stretched it, until it covered the entire army, who was still uneasy with the presence of the black rider. As the bubble stretched and flattened, spreading out over them all, the men calmed and became easy once more, though many of them still remained on edge.
Somewhere in the present she could hear the black rider talking to Aragorn, jeering at him.
Then the messenger spoke of the Dark One's demands, which he was entitled to, for the rider bore the name, 'the Mouth of Sauron.'
After a long list of demands the Dark One had named, the Mouth of Sauron took notice of Pippin, who rode astride his pony beside Arwen and Nallahir, as both footman and esquire to her, since they day that they had left the Morgul Vale.
Strangely, the weight upon her shoulders, although it had been growing steadily heavier suddenly felt as though someone had doubled it, and with that feeling, Arwen knew that Frodo was very near to the end of his journey. As the invisible weight crashed down upon her Arwen made no move, no sound. She simply sat tall in her saddle, remaining calm and peaceful, not allowing anyone to see what was happening to her.
"So you have another of these imps with you! Where you get them I cannot guess, but sending them into Mordor as spies is even beyond your folly. Still I thank the brat who should recognize these tokens, for now you will not be able to deny them." The Mouth told them cruelly, holding up Sam's sword, Frodo's mithril coat, and tattered clothes and a gray Elven cloak, still fastened with a broach in the shape of a leaf.
Pippin let out a strangled cry, while many of the others bowed their heads.
"What are the terms of his release?" Gandalf asked, sounding more defeated than Arwen had ever heard him.
"If you fulfill all of Sauron's demands the prisoner will be returned to you. Until then he stays locked inside the Black Gates of Mordor." The Mouth said to them.
"That is too much for the delivery of only one prisoner!" Arwen snapped at him, surprising all of those round her. "Get gone, and take my message to your master whilst you are still able to hover about his feet like a dog. We shall not accept any terms of his, not now and not ever!"
"Those are my Lord's terms, take them or leave them." The Mouth said, his voice quaking slightly after Arwen's abuse of him.
Arwen heeled Nallahir forward, Shalat in one hand, her other free, for she had given Nallahir his head and as she charged towards the mouth, Arwen took back all of the possessions of Frodo and Sam, still clutched in his outstretched hand.
Arwen would not look at the others as she turned Nallahir sharply back to them. "Come now, we had refused Sauron! He will spring his trap in minutes, we must fall back from here." She told them, her voice gentler now, but firm.
At once the banners of the House of Elendil, the white tree and seven stars, the banner of the Rohirrim, a white horse, and the banner of Dol Amroth, the silver swan flew high in the breeze.
The wind blew and the silver trumpets sang, while all of the time arrows whistled through the air.
Then high above the Nazgul came, whispering their words of death, and it seemed then, that all was lost.
In the midst of the battle Arwen fell to her knees, the weight of the One Ring becoming almost to great for her and for Frodo. She reached out with her mind trying to find the two small hobbits, far away upon the slopes of Mount Doom.
Having seen her fall Elladan and Elrohir, along with Aragorn and Eomer fought their way over to her. Shalat, her great Elven blade was still clutched in her hand, but her mind was off somewhere else, it seemed to them.
Drawing once more on the great Elven Jewel the Evenstar, and then reaching into the battle, and far across the land to Lorien and Rivendell, Arwen managed to send a stream of energy to Sam, not Frodo this time. To Sam whom she had known the quest could not be fulfilled without.
Then suddenly, Arwen heard Gandalf cry out somewhere near to her, "The Eagles are coming, the Eagles are coming!"