Free The Return of the King by J. R. R. Tolkien Page A

But
tomorrow fairer housing shall be found for you.’
    But Aragorn said: ‘Nay, lady, be not troubled for us! If we may lie here tonight and break our fast tomorrow, it will be enough.
For I ride on an errand most urgent, and with the first light of morning we must go.’
    She smiled on him and said: ‘Then it was kindly done, lord, to ride so many miles out of your way to bring tidings to Éowyn,
and to speak with her in her exile.’
    ‘Indeed no man would count such a journey wasted,’ said Aragorn; ‘and yet, lady, I could not have come hither, if it were
not that the road which I must take leads me to Dunharrow.’
    And she answered as one that likes not what is said: ‘Then, lord, you are astray; for out of Harrowdale no road runs east
or south; and you had best return as you came.’
    ‘Nay, lady,’ said he, ‘I am not astray; for I walked in this land ere you were born to grace it. There is a road out of this
valley, and that road I shall take. Tomorrow I shall ride by the Paths of the Dead.’
    Then she stared at him as one that is stricken, and her face blanched, and for long she spoke no more, while all sat silent.
‘But, Aragorn,’ she said at last, ‘is it then your errand to seek death? For that is all that you will find on that road.
They do not suffer the living to pass.’
    ‘They may suffer me to pass,’ said Aragorn; ‘but at the least I will adventure it. No other road will serve.’
    ‘But this is madness,’ she said. ‘For here are men of renown and prowess, whom you should not take into the shadows, but should
lead to war, where men are needed. I beg you to remain and ride with my brother; for then all our hearts will be gladdened,
and our hope be the brighter.’
    ‘It is not madness, lady,’ he answered; ‘for I go on a pathappointed. But those who follow me do so of their free will; and if they wish now to remain and ride with the Rohirrim, they
may do so. But I shall take the Paths of the Dead, alone, if needs be.’
    Then they said no more, and they ate in silence; but her eyes were ever upon Aragorn, and the others saw that she was in great
torment of mind. At length they arose, and took their leave of the Lady, and thanked her for her care, and went to their rest.
    But as Aragorn came to the booth where he was to lodge with Legolas and Gimli, and his companions had gone in, there came
the Lady Éowyn after him and called to him. He turned and saw her as a glimmer in the night, for she was clad in white; but
her eyes were on fire.
    ‘Aragorn,’ she said, ‘why will you go on this deadly road?’
    ‘Because I must,’ he said. ‘Only so can I see any hope of doing my part in the war against Sauron. I do not choose paths of
peril, Éowyn. Were I to go where my heart dwells, far in the North I would now be wandering in the fair valley of Rivendell.’
    For a while she was silent, as if pondering what this might mean. Then suddenly she laid her hand on his arm. ‘You are a stern
lord and resolute,’ she said; ‘and thus do men win renown.’ She paused. ‘Lord,’ she said, ‘if you must go, then let me ride
in your following. For I am weary of skulking in the hills, and wish to face peril and battle.’
    ‘Your duty is with your people,’ he answered.
    ‘Too often have I heard of duty,’ she cried. ‘But am I not of the House of Eorl, a shieldmaiden and not a dry-nurse? I have
waited on faltering feet long enough. Since they falter no longer, it seems, may I not now spend my life as I will?’
    ‘Few may do that with honour,’ he answered. ‘But as for you, lady: did you not accept the charge to govern the people until
their lord’s return? If you had not been chosen, then some marshal or captain would have been set in the same place, and he
could not ride away from his charge, were he weary of it or no.’
    ‘Shall I always be chosen?’ she said bitterly. ‘Shall I always be left behind when the Riders depart, to mind the house while