"J.R.R. Tolkien - 2 - The two towers" - читать интересную книгу автора (Tolkien J.R.R)

Orcs. But it will be a long chase: they have a long start.'
'Yes,' said Aragorn, 'we shall all need the endurance of Dwarves. But come! With hope or
without hope we will follow the trail of our enemies. And woe to them, if we prove the swifter! We
will make such a chase as shall be accounted a marvel among the Three Kindreds : Elves. Dwarves,
and Men. Forth the Three Hunters!'
Like a deer he sprang away. Through the trees he sped. On and on he led them, tireless and
swift, now that his mind was at last made up. The woods about the lake they left behind. Long
slopes they climbed, dark, hard-edged against the sky already red with sunset. Dusk came. They
passed away, grey shadows in a stony land.


_Chapter 2_
The Riders of Rohan

Dusk deepened. Mist lay behind them among the trees below, and brooded on the pale margins of
the Anduin, but the sky was clear. Stars came out. The waxing moon was riding in the West, and the
shadows of the rocks were black. They had come to the feet of stony hills, and their pace was
slower, for the trail was no longer easy to follow. Here the highlands of the Emyn Muil ran from
North to South in two long tumbled ridges. The western side of each ridge was steep and difficult,
but the eastward slopes were gentler, furrowed with many gullies and narrow ravines. All night the
three companions scrambled in this bony land, climbing to the crest of the first and tallest
ridge, and down again into the darkness of a deep winding valley on the other side.
There in the still cool hour before dawn they rested for a brief space. The moon had long
gone down before them, the stars glittered above them; the first light of day had not yet come
over the dark hills behind. For the moment Aragorn was at a loss: the orc-trail had descended into
the valley, but there it had vanished.
'Which way would they turn, do you think?' said Legolas. 'Northward to take a straighter road
to Isengard, or Fangorn, if that is their aim as you guess? Or southward to strike the Entwash?'
'They will not make for the river, whatever mark they aim at'' said Aragorn. 'And unless
there is much amiss in Rohan and the power of Saruman is greatly increased; they will take the


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shortest way that they can find over the fields of the Rohirrim. Let us search northwards!'
The dale ran like a stony trough between the ridged hills, and a trickling stream flowed
among the boulders at the bottom. A cliff frowned upon their right; to their left rose grey
slopes, dim and shadowy in the late night. They went on for a mile or more northwards. Aragorn was
searching. bent towards the ground, among the folds and gullies leading up into the western ridge.
Legolas was some way ahead. Suddenly the Elf gave a cry and the others came running towards him.
'We have already overtaken some of those that we are hunting,' he said. 'Look!' He pointed,
and they saw that what they had at first taken to be boulders lying at the foot of the slope were
huddled bodies. Five dead Orcs lay there. They had been hewn with many cruel strokes, and two had
been beheaded. The ground was wet with their dark blood.
'Here is another riddle!' said Gimli. 'But it needs the light of day and for that we cannot
wait.'
'Yet however you read it, it seems not unhopeful,' said Legolas. 'Enemies of the Orcs are
likely to be our friends. Do any folk dwell in these hills?'
'No,' said Aragorn. 'The Rohirrim seldom come here, and it is far from Minas Tirith. It might