Chapter 22 Section 7 Heading to the Crossroads

Frodo and Sam went back to bed again, and rested in silence for a while, while the humans beside them were busy with the work that followed the new day.After a while, they brought them fresh water for washing, and led them to another table which had been prepared.There were places for three at the table, and Faramir breakfasted with them.He hadn't closed his eyes since the battle the day before yesterday, but he didn't seem tired.When the three finished their breakfast, they stood up together. "May you not be disturbed by hunger all the way!" said Faramir. "Your supplies are not very large, so I ordered my men to put some food suitable for long journeys in your luggage. When you are still in Ithilien There will be no question of drinking water; but you must remember that you must never drink from the spring that flows from Immarad's Morgul, the Valley of the Living Death. All my scouts and sentries have returned, and some Even sneaked to the gates of Mordor. They all found a strange sign. There was no one around, there was no sign of movement on the road, no footsteps, horns or bowstrings. Something. I don't know what it means. But it seems that everything is coming to an end, the storm is coming, take this opportunity to go! If you are ready, go at once. The sun will soon drive away the shadows .”

Others brought up the hobbit's knapsack (heavier than before), as well as two polished and sturdy walking sticks wrapped in pig iron at the bottom and tightly bound leather cords. "I have no suitable gift for you who are about to part," said Faramir. "But please take these walking sticks. They may be useful to those who walk in the wild. The inhabitants of the White Mountains often use them. Kind of walking sticks, however, which we have just whittled out to suit your height. They are made of the beautiful Rabbi Shillon tree, a favorite wood of carpenters in Gondor, to which we have added The effect of finding and returning to the original owner, may this function not be completely ineffective in the dark land!"

The hobbit bowed deeply. "You are very kind!" said Frodo. "Erond the half-elf once said that I would find unexpected friendships on the road. I did not expect such friendships as yours, and to gain you. friendship is enough to turn evil into good." They were finally ready to go.Gollum was brought out from a cave where he was hiding. He seemed much calmer than before, but he still hid beside Frodo, not daring to meet Faramir's eyes. "Your guide must wear a blindfold," said Faramir, "but I grant you and your servant Sam Weiss no obligation to do so."

Gollum squeaked and clung to Frodo as they came to shade his eyes.Then Frodo said, "Block us all three eyes, and mine first, and perhaps he will see that we mean no harm." They did so, and were led out of Hannas Annan's cave.After that, they passed many aisles and stairs, feeling the fresh morning air on their faces; and they continued to go up and down, blindfolded, for some time.At last Faramir ordered the crowd to take off their blindfolds, and they stood again in the woods.The sound of the waterfall could not be heard here, for they now saw a valley through which a brook ran, and they could see a light in the west passing through the trees, as if the world had come to an end suddenly, and they were all facing the empty sky.

"We must part here," said Faramir. "If you will take my advice, you'd better not go east, you can go straight ahead, so that at least there is still a long way to go in the forest. to the west of you is a great valley, very steep in places and quite gentle in others, with cliff-sides and forest edges. Advance by day, this land is in a false peace, all evil is temporarily out of this place. Farewell, take care!" He embraced the two hobbits in the custom of his countrymen, put his hands on their shoulders, and kissed their foreheads. "Please get out of here with the blessings of all good people!" he said.

They bowed deeply in the most reverent gesture, and then Faramir turned, and without looking back, led the two guards some distance away.They were amazed to see that these people in green clothes could move forward with such fast movements, and they disappeared almost in the blink of an eye.The place where Faramir was standing before seemed empty, as if he had passed through a dream. Frodo sighed, and turned his head to continue south.Gollum was digging mud under the roots, as if mocking all the previous manners. "Hungry again?" thought Sam. "We should go!" "Are they gone at last?" said Gollum. "These hideous stinking men! Sméagol's neck still hurts, yes, it hurts. Let us go!"

"Yes, let us go," said Frodo, "but if you will only criticize those who are magnanimous to you, better keep your mouth shut!" Gollum said, "Good lord! Sméagol is only joking, and he is the best forgiver, yes, he is the best, even in the good master's little deceit. Oh, yes, good lord, good Smear Ge!" Frodo and Sam made no answer.They took their knapsacks and their staffs and went into the forest of Ithilien.They rested twice along the road this time, and also took the food that Faramir had prepared for them: dried fruit and cured meat, enough to last them many days, and fresh bread to keep for a while.Gollum ate nothing.

The sun rose, passed overhead when everyone was not paying attention, and then quietly set in the west.The light projected from the west became slightly golden, and they had been walking in the shade of green, and the surroundings were silent, and the birds seemed to fly far away, or dare not make a sound. Darkness fell on the silent forest early, and before the night completely covered the land, they stopped wearily, because they had walked more than twenty-one miles from Hannas Annan. Frodo fell asleep on the root of an old tree, but Sam was not so relieved. He woke up many times, but he did not find Gollum.Gulu slipped away as soon as the others were about to rest, and he didn't say whether he was going to sleep in a nearby hole or looking for something to eat.

However, as soon as it was dawn, he ran back and woke up all his companions. "Get up, yes, get up!" he said. "There's a long way to go east and south, and the hobbit must hurry!" The next day was almost the same as the previous day, the only difference was that the feeling of silence became deeper, the air became more dignified, and there was a feeling of urgency to breathe under the trees.It seemed as if a thunderstorm was gathering in the distance.Often Gollum stopped, sniffing the air, talking to himself, and urging them on. By the time they reached the third stage of the trek, the rain was almost over, the forest had opened up, and the trees had grown larger and looser.Tall holly trees stand on the broad prairie, interspersed with poplars, and some old oaks just sprouting green buds; the grass is scattered with celandine and anemones, white and blue petals Closed up, fell into a deep sleep.There were also many leaf-covered places in the meadow, among which grew hyacinths, through which their little bell-shaped flowers had begun to prosper.There was no bird or animal to be seen around, but the Gollums would become quite frightened in these open places, and they had to walk carefully now, from shadow to shadow.

The light began to fade quickly, and they reached the edge of the forest.They sat under an old oak tree and watched it climb the edge of the cliff with its tangled roots.In front of them was a deep, dark valley. On the other side, the forest became dense again, revealing a gray-blue light in the twilight, and continued to extend to the south.To their right, the mountains of Gondor reflected light against a fiery sky; in the valley of Duin.There was a torrent at the bottom of the valley, and in all the silence Frodo could hear the crash of the water against the rocks below, and near by a road wound its way down through the gray mist where no light of the setting sun could reach. middle.Frodo thought that he seemed to see some ancient towers and dilapidated buildings in the distance, floating faintly in the mist.

He turned to Gollum and asked, "Do you know where this is?" he said. "Yes, master, a dangerous place. This is the road leading to the Moon Tower, master, leading to the ruined city by the river. That ruined city, yes, a very dangerous place, full of enemies. We should not take human advice, the hobbit is a long way from that road. Now we must go east, go that way." He waved his thin arms against the dark mountains. "We cannot go this way. Oh, no! Cruel people will go this way from the tower." Frodo looked down at the road, for at present, at least, there were no travelers on it.It looks very lonely, all the way to the ruins in the clouds.Still, there was something sinister in the air, as if something dark and unseen was at work.Frodo looked at the tower in the distance in the night, and couldn't help shivering again. The sound of the water below seemed to be very cold and cruel. It was the sound of the Morgul Duin River, the evil river from the valley of the dead. "What shall we do?" he said. "We have traveled such a distance. Should we find a place to hide in the woods over there?" "Hiding in the dark is no good," said Gollum. "The hobbit must now hide by the day, yes, the day." "Oh, please!" Sam said, "Even if we have to get up in the middle of the night, we have to rest now. If you know how to go, it's going to be a long time without light, and you can take us a long way. distance." Gollum reluctantly assented, and turned towards the forest, walking some distance east along its edge.He did not want to rest by the side of the road so close to the evil, so after some dispute they all climbed to sleep in the forked branches of a large oak tree, which not only effectively concealed their whereabouts, but It feels quite comfortable.Night fell, and it became utter darkness among the leaves.Frodo and Sam drank a little water, and ate some bread and dried fruit, and Gollum curled up at once and fell asleep, and the hobbit did not close his eyes at all. It may have been after midnight when Gollum awoke, and both hobbits caught him looking at them with burning eyes.He listened for a moment, sniffing, which, as they had noticed, seemed to be his way of detecting time. "Have we had enough rest? Have we had enough sleep?" He said, "Let's go!" "We haven't had enough rest, we haven't had enough sleep," Sam complained, "but we still have to follow you." Immediately Gollum jumped down from the tree and landed on all fours, while the hobbits slowly climbed down.When they were back on the ground again, Gollum led them eastward, into the dark land.They couldn't see anything, because the night was so dark that they could barely detect their presence until they stumbled over the roots.The ground became rougher and harder to walk on, but Gollum didn't seem to be affected at all.He led them through weeds and bushes, sometimes around a dark pit or moat, sometimes into a dark valley and out again.All the while, though, they kept going downhill all the time, with each slope getting longer and longer. steeper.When they rested for the first time, they could vaguely see the forest they had left when they turned their heads, lying across the ground like a vast shadow, as dark as the night in the night.At last Gollum turned to the hobbit and said, "It will soon be daylight, and the hobbit must move quickly, for it is better not to be out in the open in these places. Be quick!" He quickened his pace, and the others followed wearily.Presently they began to climb a raised hill, mostly covered with gorse and huckleberry trees, and dwarf sharp brambles; Scars from recent wildfires.As they got closer and closer to the top of the hill, the gorse bushes became denser and denser. They looked very old and tall, and looked a little thin and haggard near the ground, but they were still very strong above, with blooming There are many bright yellow flowers scattered in the twilight, and the fragrance is floating in the dark night.The bushes were big enough for hobbits to walk directly under them, and tread the dry earth. On the other side of the broad hill they went on, hiding their tracks among the thorn bushes.These thorns grew so close to the ground that they were even covered by the heather stems growing here and there.Inside this tangle there was a world, a vast open space covered with fallen branches and weeds and covered with new spring leaves and buds.They lay in this space for a while, too tired to eat, they could only look at the gap on the top, and noticed the slowly changing sky. But the day lingered and refused to come, only a lifeless brown dawn appeared before them.Beneath the low-hanging clouds in the east was a dark red sky, not the color of dawn.On the vast land in front of them, the dark figure of Ifildus seemed to frown at them, and the blurred figure shrouded in the dark night also looked particularly sinister under the radiance of the dark red light.To their right was a tall mountain face, very dark in the shadows. "How shall we go next?" asked Frodo. "Is the mouth of the Morgul Vale in that darkness?" "Do we need to worry so early?" Sam said. "Shouldn't we be driving in the daytime today? I don't even know if it's daytime!" "Perhaps not, perhaps not," said Gollum, "but we must hurry to the cross-roads. Yes, to the cross-roads. Over there, yes, master." The dark red light from Mordor slowly disappeared, and then a large number of clouds rose from the east, making the dawn very dim.Frodo and Sam ate some food and lay down, but Gollum was very restless.He didn't want to eat their food, just drank a little water, and then he sniffed around in the bushes, and then he disappeared suddenly. "Going for something to eat, I guess," Sam said, yawning.This time it was time for him to go to bed first, and he soon fell asleep.In his dream he thought he was back in the garden at Bag End, and seemed to be looking for something; but he was carrying a heavy burden on his back, which made him unable to straighten up.For some reason, the garden seemed to be overgrown with weeds and very messy, and thorns and weeds began to spread freely from the fence. "I know it's all my job, but I'm so tired," he kept saying.Suddenly, he remembered what he was looking for. "My pipe!" he cried, waking up. "Stupid!" he said to himself.When he opened his eyes, he couldn't figure out why he was lying in the garden. "The pipe was in the backpack all the time!" Then he realized that his pipe might be in the backpack, but he didn't have any tobacco on him, and he didn't know it was hundreds of miles from Bag End.He sat up, and there seemed to be no light around him. Why did the master let him sleep all the way into the night, but didn't wake him up? "Haven't you been asleep, Mr. Frodo?" said he. "What time is this? It looks very late!" "No, it is not very late," said Frodo, "but it is getting darker and darker, and I judge that you have not even slept, and you have only slept three hours." "I don't know what's going on," Sam said. "Is there a storm coming? If so, this is probably the most violent storm I've ever seen in my life. Wish we could find a deep hole to hide in instead of just Sleeping in the bushes." He listened to the sounds around him. "What's that? Is it lightning, or drums or something?" "I don't know," said Frodo, "it has been going on for a long time. Sometimes the ground seems to shake, and sometimes your chest seems to jump with it." Sam looked around. "Where's Gollum?" he asked, "hasn't he come back yet?" "No," said Frodo, "no news of him at all." "Well, I don't blame him," Sam said. "In fact, I've never wanted to get rid of someone so badly in my life. After all the adventures and the distance, just when we needed him the most, He just gets lost, which is really in his style! However, I doubt he can really help us." "You have forgotten your journey in the Dead Marshes," said Frodo, "and I hope nothing will happen to him." "I hope he will play no more tricks, and in short, I hope he will not fall into other hands." .Because if we do, we'll be in trouble soon." At that moment, from nowhere, there was another loud rumbling sound, which now sounded clearer and deeper.The ground beneath his feet seemed to be shaking as well. "Looks like we're in trouble now." "I fear this is the end of the journey," said Frodo. "Perhaps," said Sam, "but my old man used to say it's better to save your life than to lose your hope. And he often added after that: It's more important to eat. You might as well eat first, Mr. Frodo." something, and then sleep for a while." When it was raining that day, or Sam guessed it was about the same time, he looked around and could only see a gloomy, shadowless world slowly melting into a lifeless, pale mist, feeling It looks very crowded, but not warm at all.Frodo fell asleep tossing and turning, muttering so often that Sam thought he heard Gandalf's name twice.Time seemed to be passing very slowly, when suddenly Sam heard a hiss behind him, and it was Gollum on all fours looking at them with shining eyes. "Wake up, wake up! Sleeper, wake up!" he whispered. "Wake up! There is no time. We must go, yes, we must go now. There is no time!" Sam stared at him suspiciously, he seemed terrified, or excited. "Leave now? What tricks are you playing? It's not time yet. It's not even time for some tea, of course, I mean in a place where you can have some tea in a leisurely way—forget it !" "Stupid!" hissed Gollum, "we are not in some idle place. Time is running out, yes, soon, time is running out, and we must go. Wake up, Master, wake up!" he said. Shaking Frodo, Frodo awoke suddenly from his sleep, and sat up, clutching Gollum's arm.Gollum shook off his hand and kept backing away. "They can't be so stupid," he hissed. "We have to go. No time!" After that, he repeated these few words over and over in his mouth.Where he went before and what he was thinking made him so irritable that he didn't want to say it.Sam felt very suspicious, and it showed in his face; but Frodo's expression was so blank that it was impossible to know what was going on in his heart.He sighed, picked up his backpack, and prepared to step into the ever-condensing darkness. Gollum led them down the side of the mountain tiptoely, while trying to hide their tracks from outsiders as much as possible. Whenever he encountered an open terrain, he would almost certainly bend down and run forward; Sharp beasts, I'm afraid it would be difficult to spot these hobbits in gray cloaks, let alone their light movements, they just disappeared into the darkness so calmly. They drove non-stop for an hour, and so they advanced under the heavy and heavy haze that was pressing on all sides of the sky and the earth, and the silence was only occasionally interrupted by distant thunder or drums in the distant valley.They kept going down from the place where they had been hiding, and then turned directly south, and Gollum made his way as far as the distant mountains through the rough terrain.Not far away, they could now see a forest like a high wall. When they got closer and closer, they discovered that these seemed to be extremely ancient groups of sacred trees, each of which was a towering tree, although the top Withered and broken, but the bottom is still safe and sound.As if the powerful thunderstorms had only destroyed their tops, not enough to topple their deep roots. "Crossroads, yes," whispered Gollum, the first words he had spoken since they left their former hiding place. "We have to go that way," he said, turning east, leading the group up the slope before he could see the road they were about to tread.It was a trail heading south, winding its way into the foothills until it disappeared into a thick forest. "This is the only way," whispered Gollum. "There is no other way but this way. There is no way. We must go to the crossroads. Be quick! Be still!" Cautiously, as if they were scouts penetrating into enemy territory, they quietly set foot on the road, sneaking along the rocky side of the road, their own dust, just blending seamlessly into the rock, and the sound of their footsteps was soft. Like a wild cat hunting for food.At last, after a long time, they came into the forest, and found themselves in a clearing with no shelter on top, looking straight into the empty sky.The gaps between the great trunks of these godwoods seem eerily like arches leading to a world of darkness.In the very center of this clearing four roads meet; behind them is the road to the gates of Mordor, before them is the long road to the south, and on the right is the road from Osgiliath The trail; the last one is the eastern road that extends into the mountains and leads into the darkness, which is the road they are going to embark on. Frodo stood there terrified, before he became aware of a light beginning to flicker, and he saw it shining on Sam's face beside him.He turned and saw, through the trees, the road to Osgiliath stretching westward like a ribbon.In that direction, across the shadowy gloom of Gondor, the sun was sinking slowly, finding at last the edge of the clouds, shedding its last rays, and falling as if into a sea of ​​wicked fire.The brief light fell on a huge statue sitting cross-legged, which looked very majestic, just like the one seen in the valley of Argonus before.Years have eroded its appearance, and evil hands have left marks on it.Its head had been chopped off, but instead it was placed on a rough rough stone painted with very crude paint to create a sinister grinning face with a red eye in the center of the forehead.On its knees and on its throne were carved here and there the crude primitive script of the minions of Mordor. Suddenly, in the light of the setting sun, Frodo saw the King's head lying on the side of the road. "Look, Sam!" he shouted, "Look! The King is crowned again!" Its eyes had been hollowed out and its beard broken, but upon its high brow a crown of silver and gold appeared.A creeping vine with small white flowers twines around the king's forehead as if in homage to the fallen king, and between its carved hair grows yellow sedum flowers. "Evil cannot always be conquered!" said Frodo.Then, this scene suddenly disappeared, the sun fell into the horizon, as if the oil lamp was suddenly covered, and the earth fell into an extremely dark night.