The Treason of Isengard (70 page)

'Yet all the while they draw nearer to the mountains and the forest, where our hope of aiding our friends will fail,' said Gimli. Spurred by this thought the companions sped onward again through the dusk, and far into the night. They were already half-way along the downs before Trotter called a halt.

The waxing moon was shining bright. 'Look!' he said. 'Even orcs must pause at times.' Before them lay a wide trampled circle, and the marks of many small fires could be seen under the shelter of a low hillock. 'They halted here about noon, I guess,'

said Trotter. 'How long they waited cannot be told, but they are not now many hours ahead. Would that we need not stay; but we have covered many a long league since we last slept, and we shall all need our strength maybe tomorrow, if we come up with our enemies at last.'

Before dawn the companions took up the hunt again. As soon as the sun rose and the light grew they climbed the downs and looked out. Already the dark slopes of the forest of Fangorn could be seen, and behind, glimmering, the white head of Methen Amon, the last great peak of the Misty Mountains.(7) Out of the forest flowed the river to meet them. Legolas looked round, turning his gaze through west to south. There his keen elf-eyes saw as a shadow on the distant green a dark moving blur.

'There are folk behind as well as in front,' he said, pointing away over the river. Trotter bent his ear to the earth, and there was a silence in the empty fields, only the airs moving in the grass could be heard. 'Riders,' said Trotter rising: 'many horsemen in haste. We cannot escape in this wild bare land.

Most likely it is a host of the Rohiroth that have crossed the great ford at Entwade.(8) But what part the Horsemasters are minded to play and which side they serve I do not know. We can but hope for the best.'

The companions hastened on to the end of the downs. Behind them now they could hear the beat of many hooves. Wrapping their cloaks about them they sat upon a green bank close to the orc-trail and waited. The horsemen grew ever nearer, riding like the wind. The cries of clear strong voices came down the following breeze. Suddenly they swept up with a noise like thunder: a long line riding free many abreast, but following the orc-trail, or so it seemed, for the leaders rode bent low, scanning the ground even as they raced. Their horses were of great stature...

The account of the Riders and their horses, though rougher in expression, is very much as that in TT pp. 33-4, and the description in this original draft of the wheeling horses suddenly halting was never changed - except in the point that 'fifty lances were at rest pointing towards the strangers', where TT has 'a thicket of spears' (Legolas had counted one hundred and five Riders, p. 32).(9) - The conclusion of the primary draft, the conversation between Eomer and Aragorn in its earliest form, ran thus:

'Who are you, and what are you doing in this land?' said the rider, using the common speech of the West, in manner and tone like Boromir and the men of Minas Tirith.

[Rejected immediately: 'I am Aragorn Elessar (written above: Elfstone) son of Arathorn.](10) 'I am called Trotter. I come out of the North,' he replied, 'and with me are Legolas [added: Greenleaf] the Elf and Gimli Gloin's son the Dwarf of Dale. We are hunting orcs. They have taken captive other companions of ours.'

The rider lowered his spear-point and leaped from his horse, and standing surveyed Trotter keenly and not without wonder.

At length he spoke again. 'At first I thought you were orcs,' he said, 'but that is not so. Indeed you know little about them, if you go hunting them in this fashion. They are swift and well-armed, and there are very many, it is said. You would be likely to change from hunter to quarry, if you ever caught up with them. But there is something strange about you, Master Trotter.' He bent his clear bright eyes again upon the ranger.

'That is no name for a man that you give. And strange is your raiment - almost it seems as if you had sprung out of the grass.

How did you escape our sight?'

'Give me your name, master of horses, and maybe I will give you mine, and other news,' answered Trotter.

'As for that,' said the rider, 'I am Eomer son of Eomund, Third Master of the Riddermark. Eowin the Second Master is ahead.'

'And I am Aragorn Elfstone son of Arathorn Tarkil, the heir of Isildur Elendil's son of Ondor,' said Trotter. 'There are not many among mortal men who know more of orcs. But he that lacks a horse must go on foot, and when need presses no more friends may a man take with him than he has at hand. Yet I am not unarmed.' He cast back his cloak: the elven-sheath glittered and the bright blade of Branding shone like a sudden flame as he swept it out. 'Elendil!' cried Trotter. 'See the sword that was broken and is now remade. As for our raiment, we have passed through Lothlorien,' he said, 'and the favour of the Lady of the Galadrim goes with us. Yet great is our need, as is the need of all the enemies of Sauron in these days. Whom do you serve?

Will you not help us? But choose swiftly: both our hunts are delayed.'

'I serve the Father and Master of the Riddermark,' said Eomer. 'There is trouble upon all our borders, and even now within them. Fear which was once a stranger walks among us.

Yet we do not serve Sauron. Tribute he seeks to lay on us. But we - we desire only to be free, and to serve no foreign lord.

Guests we will welcome, but the unbidden robber will find us swift and hard. Tell me [?briefly] what brings you here.'

Then Trotter in few words told him of the assault on Calenbel and the fall of Boromir. Dismay was plain to see on Eomer's face and many of his men at that news. It seemed that between Rohan and Ondor there was great friendship. Wonder too was in the eyes of the riders when they learned that Aragorn and his two companions had come all the way from Tolbrandir since the evening of the third day back on foot.

'It seems that the name of Trotter was not so ill given,' said Eomer. 'That you speak the truth, if not all the truth, is plain.

The men of Rohan speak no lies, but they are not easily deceived. But enough - there is now more need of speed than before. We were hastening only to aid of Eowin, since news came back that the orc-host was large and outnumbered the pursuers, but twenty-five that we first sent. But if there are captives to rescue we must ride faster. There is one spare horse that you can have, Aragorn. The others must make shift to ride behind my two esquires.'

Aragorn leapt upon the back of the great grey horse that was given to him.

Here the primary draft A ends, and as my father broke off he noted: This complicates things. Trotter etc. should meet Eomer returning from battle north of the Downs near forest.... and Eomer should

[?deny] any captives.

Trotter learns war has broken out with Saruman [?even] since Gandalf s escape.(11)

From 'Aragorn and his two companions had come all the way from Tolbrandir since the evening of the third day back' the chronology at this stage can be deduced:

Day 1. Death of Boromir. Leave Calenbel; night in Sarn Gebir.

Day 2. First day in plains of Rohan.

Day 3. Second day in plains of Rohan; reach downs in evening.

Day 4. In morning go on to northern end of downs; encounter with Riders.

Despite the radical alteration in the story that now entered (the Riders were returning from battle with the Orcs, not on their way to it) this chronology was retained for a long time.

We come now to the second version 'B'. This text was much worked on subsequently, but I mostly cite it as it was first written, unless a change seems to have been immediate. It was now that my father began to use 'Aragorn' again in place of 'Trotter' as the ordinary name in narrative, though at first he still now and then wrote 'Trotter' out of habit before changing it immediately to 'Aragorn'.

At the point where in TT 'The Departure of Boromir' ends and 'The Riders of Rohan' begins the text reads thus:

'We have no time now for wariness,' said Aragorn. 'Dusk will soon be about us. We must trust to the shadows and our cloaks, and hope for a change of luck.' He hastened forward, hardly pausing in his stride to scan the trail; for it needed little of his skill to find.

'It is well that the orcs do not walk with the care of their captives,' said Legolas, as he leaped lightly behind. 'At least such an enemy is easy to follow. No other folk make such a trampling. Why do they slash and beat down all the growing things as they pass? Does it please them to break plants and saplings that are not even in their way?'

'It seems so,' answered [Trotter >] Aragorn; 'but they go with a great speed for all that. And they do not tire.'

In both we may prove their equals, said Gimli. But on foot we cannot hope to overtake their start, unless they are hindered.'

'I know it,' said Aragorn; 'yet follow we must, as best we can.

And may be that better fortune awaits us if we come down into Rohan. But I do not know what has happened in that land in late years, nor of what mind the Horse-Masters may now be between the traitor Saruman and the threat of Sauron. They have long been friends with the people of Ondor and the lords of Minas Tirith, though they are not akin to them. After the fall of Isildur they came out of the North beyond Mirkwood, and their kinship is rather with the Brandings, the Men of Dale, and with the Beornings of the woods, among whom still may be seen many Men, tall and fair, like the Riders of Rohan. At the least they will not love the Orcs or aid them willingly.'(12) Dusk deepened. Mist lay behind them among the trees below...

Here in TT the chapter 'The Riders of Rohan' begins, and this earliest extant text is already very close to it in the story of the night spent scrambling on the ridges and in the gullies of Sern-gebir (as the name is written at this point) and the discovery of the slain Orcs. The Rohirrim are still the Rohiroth, Gondor is Ondor, and the White Mountains are the Black Mountains (described in precisely the same words as in TT p. 24, and as there distant 'thirty leagues or more').

Aragorn's verse took this form:

(Aragorn sings a stave)

Ondor! Ondor! Between the Mountains and the Sea

Wind blows, moon rides, and the light upon the Silver Tree Falls like rain there in gardens of the King of old.

O white walls, towers fair, and many-footed throne of gold!

O Ondor, Ondor! Shall Men behold the Silver Tree

Or West Wind blow again between the Mountain fs J and the Sea?

It can be made out from the erased primary text A that this verse was not present, but only Aragorn's words that precede it. In this earliest form many-footed throne of gold was changed, probably very soon, to winged crown and throne of gold as in TT. These are the first references to the Winged Crown and the White Tree of Gondor.(13) Then follows (as originally written):

The ridge fell steeply before their feet: twenty fathoms or more it stood above the wide shelf below. Then came the edge of a sheer cliff: the East Wall of Rohan. So ended Sarn Gebir, and the green fields of the Horsemasters rolled against its feeg like a grassy sea. Out of the high land fell many freshets and threadlike waterfalls, springing down to feed the wandering Entwash, and carving the grey rock of the escarpment into countless crannies and narrow clefts. For a breathing space the, three companions stood, rejoicing in the passing of night, '

feeling the first warmth of the mounting sun pierce the chill of their limbs.

'Now let us go!' said Aragorn, drawing his eyes of longing away from the south, and looking out west and north to the way that he must go.

'See!' cried Legolas, pointing to the pale sky above the blur where the Forest of Fangorn lay far across the plains. 'See! The eagle is come again. Look! He is high, but he is coming swiftly down. Down he comes! Look!'

'Not even my eyes can see him, my good Legolas,' said

Aragorn. 'He must be away upon the very confines of the forest.

But I can see something nearer at hand and more urgent...'

On previous references to the descending eagle see p. 385. Subsequently my father pencilled in against this passage:

Eagle should be flying from Sarn Gebir, bearing Gandalf from Tolbrandir where he resisted the Eye and saved Frodo? If so substitute the following:

'Look!' said Legolas, pointing up in the pale sky above them.

'There is the eagle again. He is very high. He seems to be flying from Sarn Gebir now back northward. He is going back northward. Look! '

'No, not even my eyes can see him, my good Legolas,' said Aragorn. 'He must be far aloft indeed. I wonder what is his errand, if he is the same bird that we have seen before. But look'

I can see something'

This is virtually the text of TT (p. 25); and it is curious to see what its meaning was when it was first written - that Gandalf was passing high above their heads. The eagle was flying to Fangorn (and therefore north-west rather than north), whereas in TT Gandalf explains later to Legolas (pp. 98 - 9) that he had sent the eagle, Gwaihir the Windlord,