From dark Dunharrow in the dim morning
With thane and captain rode Thengel's son:
To Edoras he came, the ancient halls
Of the Mark-wardens mist-enshrouded;
Golden timbers were in gloom mantled.
Farewell he bade to his free people,
Hearth and high-seat, and the hallowed places,
Where long he had feasted ere the light faded.
Forth rode the king, fear behind him,
Fate before him. Fealty kept he;
Oaths he had taken, all fulfilled them.
Forth rode Theoden. Five nights and days
East and onward rode the Eorlingas
Through Folde and Fenmarch and the Firnienwood,
Six thousand spears to Sunlending,
Munburg the mighty under Mindoluin,
Sea-king's city in the South-kingdom
Foe-beleaguered, fire-encircled.
Doom drove them on. Darkness took them,
Horse and horseman; hoofbeats afar
Sank into silence: so the songs tell us.
