Chapter 5
Dunharrow was a busy place. Men, horses, and tents crowded the small clearing surrounded by the White Mountains.
Aragorn and Théoden stood at the edge of a cliff, scanning the rows of tents below them.
"Six thousand spears," Théoden murmured. "Less than half of what I had hoped for."
"Six thousand will not be enough to break the lines of Mordor." Aragorn said, still troubled by what he had seen.
"More will come," Théoden reassured.
"Every hour lost hastens Gondor's defeat," the Dúnadan argued. He looked at the King of Rohan. "We have 'til dawn, then we must ride."
The sound of a nervous horse drew their attention. His Rider tried to calm him, but other horses began acting up too. Being so near to the Dimholt and the Paths of the Dead spooked them–and made the men nervous.
Aragorn peered down the path. Was it just his imagination, or was there a pale, ghostly figure standing there?
~o~o~
A dark and moonless night came as Aragorn and his small company approached the Door of the Dead. The horses were restless, and everyone was quiet.
It seemed the door was framed with skulls. A whisper and a grey mist blew out from the doorway–yet Aragorn, with a kind word to Hasufel, walked through. With himself holding one torch and Elladan the other they walked.
How long they had Aragorn could not say, but suddenly the walls fell away and the Grey Company entered a large, open space. In the pale glow of the torchlight Aragorn could see a drop-off away to the Company's right, but that was not what had caught his attention. Seeing the faint glitter of gold he drew nearer to it.
Gilded armor, long bone-fingers, and a broken sword were what he found. The skeleton of some man, clawing at a stone door. Perhaps, once, it had been Baldir son of Brego…who had dared to walk the Paths and never returned.
"Why would he pass?" Aragorn wondered aloud; "None shall ever know."
He whirled around and shouted into the darkness: "For that is not my errand! Let us pass, and then come! I summon you to the Stone of Erech! Fight for me, and I will hold your oath fulfilled…what say you?"
An icy wind blew out the torches–as if in reply–and the Grey Company was plunged into blackness.