Reading LotR aloud: book 3, chapter 5
Listen here.
"Then, are we not to see the merry young hobbits again?" said Legolas.
"I did not say so," said Gandalf. "Who knows? Have patience. Go where you must go, and hope! To Edoras! I go thither also."
"It is a long way for a man to walk, young or old," said Aragorn. "I fear the battle will be over long ere I come there."
"We shall see, we shall see," said Gandalf. "Will you come now with me?"
"Yes, we will set out together," said Aragorn. "But I do not doubt that you will come there before me, if you wish." He rose and looked long at Gandalf. The others gazed at them in silence as they stood there facing one another. The grey figure of the Man, Aragorn son of Arathorn, was tall, and stern as stone, his hand upon the hilt of his sword; he looked as if some king out of the mists of the sea had stepped upon the shores of lesser men. Before him stooped the old figure, white, shining now as if with some light kindled within, bent, laden with years, but holding a power beyond the strength of kings.
"Do I not say truly, Gandalf," said Aragorn at last, "that you could go whithersoever you wished quicker than I? And this I also say: you are our captain and our banner. The Dark Lord as Nine. But we have One, mightier than they: the White Rider. He has passed through the ifre and the abyss, and they shall fear him. We will go where he leads."
"Yes, together we will follow you," said Legolas. "But first, it would ease my heart, Gandalf, to hear what befell you in Moria. Will you not tell us? Can you not stay even to tell your friends how you were delivered?"
"I have stayed already too long," answered Gandalf. "Time is short. But if there were a year to spend, I would not tell you all."
"Then tell us what you will, and time allows!" said Gimli. "Come, Gandalf, tell us how you fared with the Balrog!"
"Name him not!" said Gandalf, and for a moment it seemed that a cloud of pain passed over his face, and he sat silent, looking old as death. "Long time I fell," he said at last, slowly, as if thinking back with difficulty. "Long I fell, and he fell with me. His fire was about me. I was burned. Then we plunged into the deep water and all was dark. Cold it was as the tide of death: almost it froze my heart."
"Deep is the abyss that is spanned by Durin's Bridge, and none has measured it," said Gimli.
"Yet it has a bottom, beyond light and knowledge," said Gandalf. "Thither I came at last, to the uttermost foundations of stone. He was with me still. His fire was quenched, but now he was a thing of slime, stronger than a strangling snake.
"We fought far under the living earth, where time is not counted. Ever he clutched me, and ever I hewed him, till at last he fled into dark tunnels. They were not made by Durin's folk, Gimli son of Glóin. Far, far below the deepest delving of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things. Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he. Now I have walked there, but I will bring no report to darken the light of day. In that despair my enemy was my only hope, and I pursued him, clutching at his heel. Thus he brought me back at last to the secret ways of Khazad-dûm: too well he knew them all. Ever up now we went, until we came to the Endless Stair."
***
(As 'tis my first time doing one of these, your feedback will be much appreciated!)
"Then, are we not to see the merry young hobbits again?" said Legolas.
"I did not say so," said Gandalf. "Who knows? Have patience. Go where you must go, and hope! To Edoras! I go thither also."
"It is a long way for a man to walk, young or old," said Aragorn. "I fear the battle will be over long ere I come there."
"We shall see, we shall see," said Gandalf. "Will you come now with me?"
"Yes, we will set out together," said Aragorn. "But I do not doubt that you will come there before me, if you wish." He rose and looked long at Gandalf. The others gazed at them in silence as they stood there facing one another. The grey figure of the Man, Aragorn son of Arathorn, was tall, and stern as stone, his hand upon the hilt of his sword; he looked as if some king out of the mists of the sea had stepped upon the shores of lesser men. Before him stooped the old figure, white, shining now as if with some light kindled within, bent, laden with years, but holding a power beyond the strength of kings.
"Do I not say truly, Gandalf," said Aragorn at last, "that you could go whithersoever you wished quicker than I? And this I also say: you are our captain and our banner. The Dark Lord as Nine. But we have One, mightier than they: the White Rider. He has passed through the ifre and the abyss, and they shall fear him. We will go where he leads."
"Yes, together we will follow you," said Legolas. "But first, it would ease my heart, Gandalf, to hear what befell you in Moria. Will you not tell us? Can you not stay even to tell your friends how you were delivered?"
"I have stayed already too long," answered Gandalf. "Time is short. But if there were a year to spend, I would not tell you all."
"Then tell us what you will, and time allows!" said Gimli. "Come, Gandalf, tell us how you fared with the Balrog!"
"Name him not!" said Gandalf, and for a moment it seemed that a cloud of pain passed over his face, and he sat silent, looking old as death. "Long time I fell," he said at last, slowly, as if thinking back with difficulty. "Long I fell, and he fell with me. His fire was about me. I was burned. Then we plunged into the deep water and all was dark. Cold it was as the tide of death: almost it froze my heart."
"Deep is the abyss that is spanned by Durin's Bridge, and none has measured it," said Gimli.
"Yet it has a bottom, beyond light and knowledge," said Gandalf. "Thither I came at last, to the uttermost foundations of stone. He was with me still. His fire was quenched, but now he was a thing of slime, stronger than a strangling snake.
"We fought far under the living earth, where time is not counted. Ever he clutched me, and ever I hewed him, till at last he fled into dark tunnels. They were not made by Durin's folk, Gimli son of Glóin. Far, far below the deepest delving of the Dwarves, the world is gnawed by nameless things. Even Sauron knows them not. They are older than he. Now I have walked there, but I will bring no report to darken the light of day. In that despair my enemy was my only hope, and I pursued him, clutching at his heel. Thus he brought me back at last to the secret ways of Khazad-dûm: too well he knew them all. Ever up now we went, until we came to the Endless Stair."
***
(As 'tis my first time doing one of these, your feedback will be much appreciated!)