Chapter 342: Tracking and Arrest
"The Shire. Hobbits. The Baggins family."
In the Dark Tower, Sauron turned the words over in his mind, then summoned the Nazgûl and began his arrangements.
Clang.
The great doors of the tower opened. Gollum was dragged out to the borders of Mordor.
"Pitiful, stinking little thing," a harsh voice said. "If you want to go on living, you will find that Ring. Do you understand?"
"Do not dream of tricks. Our eyes will be on you."
"Gollum…"
Gollum nodded at once. With a weak croak, he turned and scuttled out along the narrow path through Mordor's mountain gates.
"Dangerous place. We never come back, Gollum…"
Under the Dark Lord's orders, his leaving Mordor went smoothly enough. He slipped out into the contested lands between Ithilien and the Black Land.
He felt only relief.
To fall into Mordor's hands and still be breathing was a victory of a kind.
As for the Ring, as long as he was quick and cunning, who could say in whose hands it would end?
For now, he had only one aim. Find it.
He could feel faint eyes on him from all sides, and his teeth itched with hatred.
"All his fault. All that Hobbit's fault. We will find him, Gollum, we will pay him back, pay him back hard, take back our Precious…"
Muttering, he slipped out from under the shadow of the grey mountains and set off on his road.
And then he was gone.
Somewhere in the strip of no-man's-land between Gondor and Mordor, he vanished.
"Where did he go?"
Mordor's spies and watchers panicked.
If they lost him now, Sauron really would have their skins, in the literal sense.
"I am certain, this is the very one the Master spoke of," someone said.
At a border‑camp of Orcs, the lame captain watched the scrawny creature in front of him, shrieking, "If you do not want your Master to kill you, let me go," while muttering gollum gollum under his breath. The corner of the captain's mouth curled.
He hid Gollum away.
A few days later, a band of Mordor's eyes came asking questions. Odd-leg met them with a grave face and shook his head.
"I have not seen the thing you speak of."
The trackers looked at one another in dismay.
"See that your troops search properly. The moment you hear anything, send word. That is the Master's order. Do you understand?" they told him.
"I hear it."
"If there is any news, I will report to the Master," he said.
They left soon after, content with his promise.
Odd-leg, for his part, did exactly as he had said—he reported to his own master.
That night, a handful of rangers set out from the outpost at the Cross-roads and rode hard for Roadside Keep.
…
Thwip.
Arrows whistled down from the ramparts, cutting off the onrush of fresh foes.
On the Long Wall, Levi watched the strange creatures that had begun to appear more and more often in the North and frowned.
"This is not what anyone would have expected. I never thought that even with Angmar scoured clean, the Wall would still be needed to hold back other things."
"There is a great deal you do not expect," a voice said behind him, coming nearer.
"Gandalf."
The Grey Wizard swung down from his horse and strode to Levi's side.
"I know now. I know where the things in the Northern Waste came from," he said.
His face had never been so grave.
"I have suspected for a long time. Only lately, after reading old scrolls preserved in the ruins of Gondor and Arnor, did I find sure traces."
"What traces?" Levi asked.
"Traces that touch both the Waste and the Ring on Frodo's hand," Gandalf said.
At the thought, his scalp almost prickled. How had so many great matters all knotted into one?
"There are two pieces of bad news," he went on.
"Two?" Levi raised an eyebrow and nodded for him to continue.
"The first is about the Northern Waste before us. I have begun to recognise the evil things that move there. They feel familiar. Only now has that part of my memory truly woken."
"They are all of Morgoth's breeding, more evil and dangerous than any creature born in Middle-earth," he said softly.
"I suspect they have come out of some ancient underground fortress. Though Morgoth was cast out of the world thousands of years ago and his strongholds sank into the earth, not everything was cleared away. There are riddles there we have never plumbed."
"Werewolves and cave-trolls are nothing. In Morgoth's host they were little better than rabble. His main strength was a legion of Balrogs, and the dragons that fought beside them."
Levi's head tipped back a little.
"Sounds like a fair challenge," he said.
"More than a challenge," Gandalf answered, shaking his head.
"Levi, you are still young. There is much you have not seen."
"The sky blacked out, and powers that could drown whole lands and wipe out great kingdoms in a breath…"
Levi shook his own head and replied, "What you speak of is not likely to come again in this Age."
"Oh, true enough. It is very unlikely," Gandalf said, catching himself.
"Better we speak of the other matter, Frodo's Ring."
"That Ring," he said, "I am certain now. It is the One. The One Ring that rules the others."
"I have suspected it for many years, but I lacked proof. As I have said, too much hangs upon it. Before I had something solid, I did not dare to judge."
"So what convinced you?" Levi asked with real interest.
"This."
"I spent half a year rummaging through the archives of Gondor to find it. It was crushed under everything else at the very bottom," Gandalf said, drawing out a crumbling scroll.
"An ancient writing left by Isildur."
He unrolled it with care and tapped a certain place.
"Here."
Levi leaned in. On the parchment lay a careful drawing of a gold ring, every detail of it shown from every angle.
"Exactly the same, is it not?" Gandalf said.
"You see? I told you long ago," Levi said, spreading his hands.
"Forgive me, Levi. It was not that I would not trust you. I have only been… cautious, that is all. You understand."
"I have not spoken of this to anyone. For the moment, only you and I know," Gandalf said.
"What now, then? Do we try to destroy it?" Levi asked.
"We must," Gandalf said, his voice firm.
"There is no other road. Listen to me, Levi. Apart from destroying it, you must not let yourself think of anything else where the One is concerned."
"Too many tragedies say enough on that score."
"You may rest easy," Levi said with a faint smile. "I have no such thoughts. You should know this much at least: I have no need of what it offers. I do not crave the things it can…"
He broke off.
Below the Wall, someone new had ridden up.
The man raised a hand in greeting.
Levi fell silent.
He knew him at once, a fine ranger he had himself sent to the outpost at the Cross-roads.
"Wait here. I will be back," Levi said quietly.