"Well, what do you think?" I asked. With Eowyn's time spent outfitting me in armor I had to forgo the plans for supper with the rest of the Fellowship. Merry had met me among the men earlier, gave his compliments, and was passed along to Eowyn's tent where he awaited his own turn to be covered in chainmail and other metal. "It took ages, but the lady Eowyn managed it." I said. "Can't say my stomach didn't suffer for it though. Is there anything left from supper?"
I glanced up from my reflection on the armor, and noticed Legolas and Gimli were outfitted with weapons, and packing bits of food and supplies. "That doesn't look like it's for me." I said, as Legolas tucked some rations into a pack. "What happened?"
"Aragorn's leaving for the path under mountain. There are not enough men to fight."
"So he plans to go off and find more." Gimli cut in.
"He's trying to depart this evening, secretly if he can." Legolas answered me.
"And we are going with him?" I asked.
"He has not requested us to come with him."
"So it's meant to be a secret from us as well…how did you figure it all out?"
"He's not been very discreet with his own packing up and saddling of his horse." Gimli answered. "Can't say I blame him for not minding how many people see him…word arrived from Rivendell with news of the Lady Arwen."
"She's ill." Legolas replied as Gimli packed away a few knives. Where once the two had done nothing but bicker, they were now incredibly able to move around the same tent to pack for a journey and complete each other's conversations.
I frowned slightly. "I'm sorry to hear that." I replied. "I have only met her in passing but I know how close her and Aragorn are."
"Her fate rests with that of Middle-Earth now."
I sighed, heavy hearted. "Then she must be in a fragile state indeed."
"You're not required to come, lad." Gimli interrupted again. "We won't be bringing Merry along, he's not used to such journeys with all the soft treatment he got from the Ents. But I'm sure he'd welcome your company here if you choose to stay back."
"If the three of you are going, then I am too." I said. "Gimli, help me remove this armor. The noise of it rattling will wake all the dead if we are not careful." I tried to be light and humorous. "If you stall the packing for a few more minutes I can be ready to depart when you are."
Gimli set to helping remove all the metal. "Shame you could only wear it a short time, it fit you well." He said.
Shame or not, armor was bulky, and would only slow us down. I was packed and set to leave soon, and a small supper was supplied to help fill my stomach. I had many more questions but time did not permit me to ask most of them. Those that I tried to ask, such as what sort of army was hiding in the mountains, fell on deaf ears. I felt that the only reason Gimli and Legolas had seen to getting me soup was to force it down my throat in order to quiet me. The fact that such soup was actually edible informed me Eowyn had not been the maker of it.
"Come, there isn't much time for delay." Legolas hurried me along, leaving only a moment to pick up my things and follow them.
As Legolas went to saddle another horse, being the only one of us tall enough for it, Eowyn burst into the tent. "You too?" She asked, eyeing over my form which had been rid of the armor.
"My apologies, but I do belong with the Fellowship." I answered quickly.
"But you must stay, you must convince him to stay." She looked at me crossly.
"You need as many soldiers as you can, yes I know, which makes our leaving all the more problematic. But we are leaving to retrieve more forces, Eowyn. When we return we'll be of more help."
"But Gideon, can you not try to-" She started, desperate to persuade Aragorn to stay, along with the rest of us.
"You can't try to get poor Gideon to change someone's mind every time he gets to fight and you do not." Gimli said, his voice firm but well meant. "Your place for now is here. His place is with us." He sighed, and added a little gruffly under his breath, "Truth be told if you knew the trouble ahead of us you'd be more than willingly to stay back. Anyone with any brains would."
I ignored such words for the time being, though they did settle into my mind, slowly breeding worries. "Aragorn will not be persuaded otherwise, Eowyn…Arwen, the lady of Rivendell…and his beloved…" I said a little more quietly, "…has fallen ill. I may not know everything about elves, but her health and the well being of Middle-Earth are interconnected now. Regardless of how much of her spirit is tied to the earth, she won't stand much for a recovery if all this world falls into turmoil. He's doing what's best for us all, and her."
Eowyn lowered her gaze, and stepped aside as Gimli exited the tent, nodding farewell. She had accepted that she would have to stay back and that we would be leaving now. That Aragron was leaving for his duty to Arwen and to all. There was nothing she could do to change that. I stepped forward to follow. "I have to go now." I patted her arm. "Let's hope we don't fail your family."
"I will watch over Merry." She promised. "It's the least I can do here…"
"Thank you." I nodded. "You're a very capable woman Eowyn. I wouldn't have confused you for my sister so many times otherwise." This achieved a genuine smile from her, which I returned. "Good luck." I wished her.
"Good luck." She echoed, dipping her head low for a second to press a kiss to the top of my head.
With that fond farewell I had to run a short ways to catch up to Gimli and Legolas. I caught up to Legolas and the horse first, coming near and placing a hand on the animal's side. The elf seemed lost in thought, contemplating the journey ahead. Legolas only looked so serious when something dire lay ahead. Rather than ask him to share his thoughts now, I shut down my growing worries again, and decided to ask him my questions when our travels had already begun and it was too late to turn back.
As expected, Aragorn and Gimli had already met, and Aragorn was trying to get the dwarf to stay behind, assuring him he was not needed this time. Naturally, Gimli wasn't listening to his words. "Have you learned nothing of the stubbornness of dwarves?" Legolas asked, his seriousness fading for a moment as he approached.
Aragorn looked Legolas and I over, as though he had expected us to reveal ourselves at any moment. He probably had been, with Gimli so close by. When he glanced me over I added "Loyal to a fault, unfortunately."
"Might as well face it, we're going with you, laddie."
Aragorn shook his head, but did so to better hide the fact that he was smiling. "Very well." He consented. "To horse, and quickly."
I scrambled up behind him in the saddle. "Eowyn promised to watch over Merry in our absence." I said.
"He is in good hands then." Aragorn nodded. Something in his face told of an interaction between him and Eowyn that had been sad but necessary. I chose to leave such a conversation private and remained quiet as we departed, our exit from camp drawing the attention of many of the men. They called out to us, surprised, and moreover concerned. Our leaving would do little good for the confidence of those going into battle soon. I was glad when the sharp whistling of the wind through the narrow passage drowned out their voices. Theoden and his family were more than prepared to lead the men. I entrusted them to that duty and resolved the four of us to our own.
We left and traveled in the night, which gave the Dimholt road an ominous appearance. The thin trails of moonlight that shone on our path only seemed to make the path seem more dark, and cast the strangest shadows, which swayed and faded often, as whatever trees were present were tossed about in the wind. The horse was tense, and I spent the long hours of the night alternating between trying to rest my own mind, and gently rubbing the hide of the horse to help settle it. When dawn came, it offered little change in the atmosphere. Everything was grey and bleak.
"The only living things I've seen thus far have been all of us." I noted, breaking a silence that had lay between us for the night. "There's not even an insect to be seen."
"What sort of army is there to be found here anyway?" Gimli asked. A question I also had, given the bleakness of the pass.
"One that is cursed." Legolas answered.
Well that explained his earlier silence. The looks Gimli and I were giving the elf read that we required more explanation. "Long ago the Men of the Mountain swore an oath to the last king of Gondor, that they would come to his aid and fight with him when he gave the word. But when the time came, and Gondor's need was most dire, they failed to keep their oath and fled deep within the mountain. Isildur cursed them, never to rest until their oath was kept."
"So they became immortal, like you? And they just live tormented inside the mountain, waiting for the chance to redeem themselves and die in peace?"
"No Gideon, they were not granted immortality." Legolas said.
"But that would mean they grew old and…"
"Died, yes. Being men their time came to pass and they did. But they cannot rest."
"There is no such thing as spirits and ghouls though." I replied, reciting words my mother had told my siblings and I after nightmares.
The silence that followed was answer enough. There were ghoul like entities inside the mountain and this was the army we were seeking. This was why Aragorn had wanted to go alone, he was the heir, he was the one they would answer to. Who knew how such an army, if it actually existed, would respond to the rest of us?
"They will keep the oath for you, won't they?" I asked Aragorn. He was the heir by blood, but he had always been wary of accepting that title.
"Let us hope so." Aragorn said.
"Who shall call them from the grey twilight?" Legolas recited an ancient prophecy. "The forgotten people. The heir of him to whom the oath they swore. From the North shall he come. Need shall drive him. He shall pass the door to the Paths of the Dead."
Well it certainly sounds as though it is Aragorn they are speaking about, I though. Though the prophecy mentions nothing of this heir bringing companions. Let us hope we are not harmed by this army.
I refused to worry myself about ancient writings, and whom and whom not they mentioned, Luckily, it was not long before we reached a door that resembled that of an entry into a tomb. It was even adorned with numerous skulls, with empty eye sockets focused on us.
"Charming." I breathed. Under my hand I could feel the horse's muscles tightening, more tense than ever.
Around the doorway were old runes beyond my skill to read. Legolas dismounted and inspected them more closely. "The way is shut. It was made by those who are dead and the dead keep it. The way is shut."
"Gimli…do you suppose they made the doorway out of their own skulls?" I asked. I only asked out of curiosity, as the undead army had to get the skulls from somewhere, but my abrupt question just seemed to unsettle Gimli, who demanded to know where all the sense in my mind had gone, and then shivered as though ice water had been poured over him.
The wind howled again, this time whistling through the cave entrance, and having an oddly human sound to it, as though a warning was being groaned at us by the wind. This was the final disturbance that the horses could stand and they rolled their eyes back in fear, reared slightly, and raced off, deserting us despite all the loyalty they had previously shown.
"Brego!" Aragorn called for his own horse, but the poor creature was already too far away and too afraid to hear his command.
"Do not blame them, they sense the danger." Legolas said.
Now there was only one path for us to take. It was useless to go back, as the camp would have moved out at dawn, which had already passed. Without the horses we could make any extensive journey. The door under the mountain was our only choice.
"I do not fear death." Aragorn said, quite bravely, and then entered the mountain, his figure soon disappearing, absorbed by shadows.
Legolas soon followed, quiet and determined. I glanced over my shoulder at Gimli. Shaking off the chill the strange wind had given me I entered, my first footsteps rather forced.
"Well this is unheard of…an elf going underground where a dwarf dare not! I'll never hear the end of it." He sighed, and then I heard his footsteps racing behind me. Gimli barreled into my side in his rush, causing me to fall to the ground.
"Gimli!" I rebuked him. "Watch out, will you?"
Gimli mumbled an apology, and helped me to my feet again. The dust which I had disturbed in my fall refused to settle back to the ground, and instead wafted close to us.
Our path was a dark one, and we stayed close together, having only one torch which Aragorn had made. There were alcoves along the path which were piled high with more and more skulls. "Exactly how large was the army that hid in here?" It was useless to count the bones, and they were too many for me to even venture a guess.
"Quiet, Master Gideon." Aragorn said, too which I remained silent.
"What do you see?" Gimli asked, staying behind us all.
"I see shapes of men and horses." Legolas answered. I did not see anything. There were too many chills going up and down my spine already. If I saw a mouse I would have startled, let along the image of a man and horse.
"Where?!" Gimli demanded.
"It is like seeing pale banners made of cloud, or spears like winter-thicket through mist, everything is shrouded…" He answered. "The dead are following, they must have been summoned."
"The dead…summoned?" The dwarf sounded worried, but then his throat cleared and he stated "I knew that. Very good." Gimli didn't know much about ghosts, but he was being incredibly brave, for which I admired him. I had taken to shivering now and could not seem to stop.
The dust that would not settle was now taking shape. For a second I thought it was only my mind trying to make shapes of men and horses, but then I saw what appeared to be a skeletal hand made of mist grab hold of my ankle. I shook off it's grasp and then looked up and froze as I noticed hands, in fact entire arms trying to take hold of Aragorn and Legolas. I raced ahead a few paces, leaving Gimli to blow and puff at the hands reaching out to him, and took up my place beside Aragorn closer to the light.
"Do not look down." Aragorn warned, as my boot went through the jaw of one skull. From there on our footsteps were punctuated by the cracking of skulls.
The cave like tunnel opened up into a hall, with a gate at one end, endlessly adorned with skulls. The wind rose, and soon human-like words could be heard again, becoming more and more clear until the words "Who enters my domain?" could be heard.
The mist began to have a human form. I envisioned the person that would appear would look something like a corpse, and this proved to be true. There were remnants of skin stretched over bone, and petrified, his eyes were clouded over, and fairly transparent, with something of a greenish hue. I stopped shaking. The king of the undead looked just as I had pictured him, so there was little in his appearance to surprise me.
"One who will have your allegiance." Aragorn stepped forward to the corpse.
"The dead do not suffer the living to pass."
Perhaps it is because we broke so many of their skulls, I thought grimly. Surely such disrespect, though it could not be helped, had angered them.
"You will suffer me!" Aragorn replied with conviction.
While his words would have stirred passion into any man that was living, among the dead it earned only a cruel laugh. As the king's laugh rang through the hall, an entire city of the dead was revealed, hanging on the walls like carpets of moss with their eerie green glow. The dead soldiers wafted down from their balconies and marched through the hall until they encircled us completely. My nerves were jolted and I unsheathed my blade, holding myself in a ready stance. I did not know if my face looked as confident as my frame, but I tried to stare up at the ghouls with a steady gaze.
"The way is shut." The king repeated the inscription at the entrance. "It was made by those who are dead, and the dead keep it." The petrified flesh around his mouth pulled back, stretching over the bones more, decayed muscle being forced to move into a grim smile. "The way is shut. Now you must die."
Death was also something I had anticipated when I entered the mountain, and perhaps this was why I did not grow more fearful than | already was. The ghosts approached us, coming forward. Legolas fired an arrow, but to no effect. The arrow sailed through the head of the king, leaving no mark. One could not kill something already dead.
"I summon you to fulfill your oath." Aragorn was not deterred and stood where he was, even as the rest of us all took a step backward, wary.
"None but the king of Gondor may command me!" The King of the dead shouted back, coming nearer. The corpse pulled a sword from his belt, and swung at Aragorn. The move was a simple one, as if striking down an animal that could not fight back. But Aragorn took up his own sword and blocked the blade easily. All were surprised to see the blades meet, when it had been expected that one would sail straight through the other.
"That bind was broken." The king argued.
"It has been remade." Aragorn replied, to which he struck again and the king was shoved backward. "Fight with us and regain your honor. What say you?"
They stared down at us, with gazes as empty as the skulls marking the door.
"What say you?" Aragorn repeated.
"Aragorn…" I said warningly. These did not look like people that liked to be pressed, in life or death.
"Aragorn you're wasting your time, they had no honor in life and they have none in death." Gimli spoke up.
Our warnings did nothing as Aragorn tried once more. "I am Isildur's heir, fight with me and I will consider your oath fulfilled. What say you?" He spoke loudly.
Silence.
Dead gazes.
And then the dead king smirked.
The king laughed, the action seeming unnatural, causing jerking motions that looked almost painful, as his corpse tried to sustain the action.
The army around us began to fade, each solider dissolving, like candles blown out.
When we were standing alone again I looked at them all. "What now? History has only repeated itself." Gimli seemed right, they had as much desire to keep their pact in death as they did in life.
"Stand you traitors!" Gimli shouted.
The ground shook, causing us all to sway for a moment.
"Gimli what have you done?" I asked.
Stone cracked, the ground continued to quake and then…
The skulls that adorned the back doorway, and those hidden behind them, broke loose. There were thousands.
"Out!" Aragorn ordered. "Run!"
We raced to the gate, skulls flooding our path. To run through the mess was near impossible. They rained down , building heaps to scramble over, threatening to drown one in their masses. I found myself buried to the center of my chest at one point, and Legolas had to pull me to my feet again by the neck of my tunic.
When my feet hit solid ground again, I didn't stop until we were out of the mountain. I bent myself over a rock, breathless.
I noticed as soon as the others did. Along the river were black ships, and beyond those the cities they had menaced.
I looked behind me, but found Aragorn at his knees for once. I stood, went to his side nonetheless, and said "Come on. There must be something else we can do." I glanced up at Gimli and Legolas. "Surely we haven't run out of ideas yet."
Aragorn nodded, and got to his feet.
The wind rose, and behind us the apparition of the king appeared. I tensed again, feeling a chill go over me.
He stepped forward, but this time appeared calm. I didn't know what to make of his sudden reappearance. Did he bring menace or…
"We fight." He concluded.
Hope.