CHAPTER 2: THE RIDERS OF ROHAN

Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli follow the Orc trail through the Emyn Muil before dawn, discovering slain Northern Orcs and deducing a quarrel among the captors. At sunrise they descend the East Wall of Rohan and, on the plains, Aragorn finds Pippin’s elven-brooch as a deliberate token. Choosing to rest at night to avoid losing the trail, they push on through a land eerily empty of men and beasts.

After days of hard running, they reach downs above the Entwash and see Riders tracing the Orc trail. Waiting, they are encircled by Rohirrim led by Éomer. Tension flares when Éomer insults Lórien, but Aragorn intervenes and then reveals himself as Aragorn son of Arathorn, bearing Andúril. Éomer, awed, explains Rohan’s strife with Saruman and denies serving Sauron.

Aragorn reports Boromir’s death and their pursuit of the captors. Éomer says his éored destroyed the Orc-host near Fangorn at dawn the previous day but found no bodies other than Orcs; he doubts the existence of hobbits. Despite laws against strangers, Éomer chooses to aid them, lending horses—Hasufel to Aragorn and Arod to Legolas (with Gimli riding behind)—and asks them to present themselves later at Meduseld.

Riding to the battlefield, the companions find smoking ashes, a mound for Rohirrim dead, and gear heaped, but no trace of Merry and Pippin. Weighing riddles and refusing to abandon hope, they camp beneath the eaves of Fangorn, wary of the forest’s ancient will. They light a small fire from dead wood and speak of Ents and the age of the wood.

During the night watch, an old bent man in hat and cloak silently appears and vanishes. Soon after, their horses break free and flee into the dark. Unable to pursue, the Three Hunters keep vigil until dawn, stranded on foot at Fangorn’s edge with fresh uncertainty about the hobbits’ fate.