The Return of the King Page #5

Don't kill us. Don't hurt us.

Let us live, please.

Let us live, just a little longer.

Live.

Lost.

We're lost!

And when Precious goes...

...we'll die, yes.

All of us die into the dust.

How can I kill such a pitiful

and cringing abomination?

I have come to know the strain of bearing

the Ring for even a little while.

But this miserable creature

enslaved to it for years...

Curse you, you stinking thing!

Be off! I don't trust you,

not as far as I could kick you.

But be off or I shall hurt you

with nasty cruel steel. Yes!

Now to find Mr. Frodo again.

And here it is. Sammath Naur!

Doorway to the gut of the mountain,

and to hell itself, for all I know.

Dark, hot, reeking.

Frodo! Master!

There's no choice.

I have to go in.

And at the Battle of the Pelennor Fields

the tide had turned...

...with the arrival of Theoden

and the armies of Rohan.

- Hail proud Merry!

- Hail Pippin.

Bless you for a sure eye, old friend.

How good to see you!

Bless you for bringing Theoden

and his army.

You've won the day for us!

In the midst of Theoden's glory,

his golden shield was dimmed.

The new morning was blotted

from the sky. And the dark fell upon him.

Fear no darkness, Snowmane.

No, Snowmane!

And the Dark Force had claimed

our savior, Lord of Rohan.

Lord Theoden! Nay.

Oh, my dear master. Oh, the horror.

No, my friend. He is gone!

You can do nothing.

Hear me, O Darkness!

I will avenge my lord!

And what event...

...at just that moment

caused evil to enlist such power?

Nothing here, surely.

But in the bowels of Mount Doom...

Master! Mr. Frodo.

Master, where are you?

Behold! The Crack of Doom!

- Master.

- Hold. Get back!

Master, it is me, Samwise!

And if that be the Crack of Doom...

...at last do what you've come

all this distance to do!

Now!

I have come. But I do not choose

to do now what I have come to do!

"The bearer of the Ring

The wearer of the Ring

"He hears a voice compelling him

"Filling him with thoughts

that echo in his mind

"It should be telling him"

No, Mr. Frodo.

Don't let the Ring claim you!

"Beware the power

is a power never known

"Beware the power

that was simple now has grown

"Beware, oh wearer of the Ring

"The final power has yet to be shown"

Get back! I am not the Ring's!

The Ring is mine. Look!

Master!

No!

Please!

He had come again, bringing ruin...

...turning hope to despair,

and victory to death.

Be gone, foul Dwimmerlaik,

Lord of Carrion.

Leave the dead in peace!

Come not between the Nazgul

and his prey!

Or he will slay thee in turn.

Do what you will. I will hinder it, if I may!

Hinder me? Thou fool.

Dost thou not know the prophecy?

"No living man may hinder me."

But no living man am I!

You look upon a woman. Eowyn am I.

You stand between me

and my lord and kin.

Be gone for living or dark undead

I will smite you if you touch him!

A woman? Eowyn?

'Tis Lord Theoden's niece!

She wanted to ride with us, but he forbade.

She disguised as a knight

and she came hither!

A foul, putrid wind!

How does she bear the stench of it?

Strong she is, and brave.

I must to her aid!

No!

It's empty!

Uncle, I have avenged thee!

Theoden was borne

from the field with honor.

And we wondered if, when our own lord,

King Aragorn, returned...

...would his fate be the same?

With the death of the Nazgul lord,

Sauron's forces lost heart...

...and began a retreat of abysmal disarray.

And then, as if our triumph

were but a child's toy...

...a game with which Sauron

was playing and taunting us...

...the tide of battle suddenly changed.

For from the wretched forces of evil,

a new cry of hope went up.

The Black Fleet!

That which I dreaded had happened.

For if enemy-laden ships had come

from this direction...

...it meant that the black forces had

already conquered Ethir and Lebennin...

...lands we had thought safely ours.

The tide had turned still one more time...

...and this time, against us!

But behold!

As the flagship's standard broke the wind...

...it displayed the sign no lord

had borne for years...

...and which only one lord could bear:

Aragon! He who would be our king...

...had returned!

And the hosts of Mordor

were seized with bewilderment...

...and they fled.

That night we held council.

While Aragorn had the enemy on the run...

...he decided to pursue them into Mordor...

...across the Gorgoroth Plateau...

...and to the bastion of Sauron himself,

the Dark Tower of Barad-dur.

The shortest way would be

through the pass at Cirith Ungol.

But that is narrow and dangerous

to move an army through.

And so he decided to march

along the mountains, north...

...and then west...

...to the haunted pass of Cirith Gorgor...

...and the untold legions of the Black Lord.

Why so glum, Wizard?

Does the mere thought of Sauron's

vast forces overwhelm your spirit?

This war is without final hope.

Victory cannot be achieved

by force of arms...

...whether you sit here to endure

siege after siege...

...or march out to be overwhelmed.

You have only a choice of evils!

Then, if the choice be mine...

...I choose to march!

And for days and nights march we did.

But my spirit was leaden.

"Win the battle, lose the war

"Choice of evils lie before your feet

"Retreat, retreat, retreat"

And finally, the pass.

Guarded by The Towers of the Teeth.

And inside, the Orcs made song

to match my spirit.

"If you win then you will lose

"Choice of evils yours to choose

"Retreat, retreat, retreat

"You are standing in the eye of the storm

"Move an inch and you'll be dead

"You are standing underneath

"The Towers of the Teeth

and the Eye blazes red

"Win the battle lose the war

"Choice of evils lie before your feet

"Retreat, retreat, retreat"

Silence!

Come forth!

The King of Gondor...

...demands the Black Lord to come forth...

...atone for his evils

and depart them forever!

Come forth!

I am the mouth of Sauron!

His emissary, you mean.

For you be no wraith,

but made from flesh and blood...

...beneath that mask

and those robes, even as I!

Is there anyone in this rout

with authority to treat with me?

Not thou, Aragorn.

It needs more to make a king

than a rabble such as this.

We shall see!

Be warned.

You are hopelessly outnumbered here.

Our decision is made.

Be gone!

We did not come here to waste words

in treating with the likes of you...

...one of Sauron's slaves.

Be gone!

We will meet your armies!

"You are standing in the eye of the storm

"Move an inch and you'll be dead

"You are standing underneath

The Towers of the Teeth

"And the Eye blazes red"

As I faced my own, almost certain death...

...I wondered, "Has he the Ring?

"Has Sauron really got the Ring?

"Where is the Ring?"

Had I but known that deep

in the bowels of Mount Doom...

...Samwise had been searching

these many days for his master...

...until he himself had reached the core,

the fiery forge itself.

And this, at last, is it...

...the end of Frodo's quest.

But instead of his triumph,

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