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.Then he spoke, and his voice was shrill andcold.Pride and hate were conquering him.'Will I come down?' he mocked.'Does an unarmed man come down tospeakwith robbers out of doors? I can hear you w ell enough here.I am no fool,and I do not trust you, Gandalf.They do not stand openly on my stairs, butI know where the wild wood-demons are lurking, at your command.''The treacherous are ever distrustful,' answered Gandalf wearily.'Butyou need not fear for your skin.I do not wish to kill you, or hurt you, asyou would know, if you really understood me.And I have the power to protectyou.I am giving you a last chance.You can leave Orthanc, free -- if youchoose.''That sounds well,' sneered Saruman.'Very much in the manner ofGandalf the Grey: so condescending, and so very kind.I do not doubt thatyou would find Orthanc commodious, and my departure convenient.Butwhyshould I wish to leave? And what do you mean by 'free'? There areconditions, I presume?''Reasons for leaving you can see from your windows.' answered Gandalf.'Others will occur to your thought.Your servants are destroyed andscattered; your neighbours you have made your enemies; and you have cheatedyour new master.or tried to do so.When his eye turns hither, it will bethe red eye of wrath.But when I say 'free', I mean 'free': free from bond,of chain or command: to go where you will, even, even to Mordor, Saruman, ifyou desire.But you will first surrender to me the Key of Orthanc, and yourstaff.They shall be pledges of your conduct, to be returned later, if you merit them.'Saruman's face grew livid, twisted with rage, and a red light waskindled in his eyes.He laughed wildly.'Later!' he cried, and his voicerose to a scream.'Later! Yes, when you also have the Keys of Barad-dyritself, I suppose; and the crowns of seven kings.and the rods of the FiveWizards, and have purchased yourself a pair of boots many sizes larger thanthose that you wear now.A modest plan.Hardly one in which my help isneeded! I have other things to do.Do not be a fool.If you wish to treatwith me, while you have a chance, go away, and come back when you aresober!And leave behind these cut-throats and small rag-tag that dangle at yourtail! Good day!' He turned and left the balcony.'Come back, Saruman!' said Gandalf in a commanding voice.To theamazement of the others, Saruman turned again.and as if dragged against hiswill, he came slowly back to the iron rail, leaning on it, breathing hard.His face was lined and shrunken.His hand clutched his heavy black stafflike a claw.'I did not give you leave to go,' said Gandalf sternly.'I have notfinished.You have become a fool, Saruman, and yet pitiable.You might stillhave turned away from folly and evil, and have been of service.But youchoose to stay and gnaw the ends of your old plots.Stay then! But I warnyou.you will not easily come out again.Not unless the dark hands of theEast stretch out to take you.Saruman!' he cried, and his voice grew inpower and authority.'Behold, I am not Gandalf the Grey, whom you betrayed.I am Gandalf the White, who has returned from death.You have no colournow,and I cast you from the order and from the Council.'He raised his hand, and spoke slowly in a clear cold voice.'Saruman,your staff is broken.' There was a crack, and the staff split asunder inSaruman's hand, and the head of it fell down at Gandalf's feet.'Go!' saidGandalf.With a cry Saruman fell back and crawled away.At that moment aheavy shining thing came hurtling down from above.It glanced off the ironrail, even as Saruman left it, and passing close to Gandalf's head, it smotethe stair on which he stood.The rail rang and snapped.The stair crackedand splintered in glittering sparks.But the ball was unharmed: it rolled ondown the steps, a globe of crystal, dark, but glowing with a heart of fire.As it bounded away towards a pool Pippin ran after it and picked it up. 'The murderous rogue!' cried Jomer.But Gandalf was unmoved.No, thatwas not thrown b Saruman, he said; nor even at his bidding, I think.It camefrom a window far above.A parting shot from Master Wormtongue, I fancy,butill aimed.''The aim was poor, maybe, because he could not make up his mind whichhe hated more, you or Saruman,' said Aragorn.'That may be so,' said Gandalf.'Small comfort will those two have intheir companionship: they will gnaw one another with words.But thepunishment is just.If Wormtongue ever comes out of Orthanc alive, it willbe more than he deserves.'Here, my lad, I'll take that! I did not ask you to handle it,' hecried, turning sharply and seeing Pippin coming up the steps, slowly, as ifhe were bearing a great weight.He went down to meet him and hastily tookthe dark globe from the hobbit, wrapping it in the folds of his cloak.'Iwill take care of this,' he said.'It is not a thing, I guess, that Sarumanwould have chosen to cast away.''But he may have other things to cast,' said Gimli.'If that is the endof the debate, let us go out of stone's throw, at least!''It is the end,' said Gandalf.'Let us go.'They turned their backs on the doors of Orthanc, and went down.Theriders hailed the king with joy, and saluted Gandalf.The spell of Sarumanwas broken: they had seen him come at call, and crawl away, dismissed.'Well, that is done,' said Gandalf.'Now I must find Treebeard and tellhim how things have gone.''He will have guessed, surely?' said Merry.'Were they likely to endany other way?''Not likely,' answered Gandalf, 'though they came to the balance of ahair.But I had reasons for trying; some merciful and some less so.FirstSaruman was shown that the power of his voice was waning.He cannot bebothtyrant and counsellor.When the plot is ripe it remains no longer secret.Yet he fell into the trap, and tried to deal with his victims piece-meal,while others listened.Then I gave him a last choice and a fair one: torenounce both Mordor and his private schemes, and make amends by helpingusin our need.He knows our need, none better.Great service he could have rendered.But he has chosen to withhold it, and keep the power of Orthanc.He will not serve, only command.He lives now in terror of the shadow ofMordor, and yet he still dreams of riding the storm.Unhappy fool! He willbe devoured, if the power of the East stretches out its arms to Isengard.Wecannot destroy Orthanc from without, but Sauron -- who knows what he cando?''And what if Sauron does not conquer? What will you do to him?' askedPippin.'I? Nothing!' said Gandalf.'I will do nothing to him.I do not wishfor mastery.What w ill become of him? I cannot say.I grieve that so muchthat was good now festers in the tower.Still for us things have not gonebadly.Strange are the turns of fortune! Often does hatred hurt itself! Iguess that, even if we had entered in, we could have found few treasures inOrthanc more precious than the thing which Wormtongue threw down at us.'A shrill shriek; suddenly cut off, came from an open window high above.'It seems that Saruman thinks so too,' said Gandalf.'Let us leavethem!'They returned now to the ruins of the gate [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ] |
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