For the next few nights, Frodo sat out on the doorstep in the late hours. Each night, after waiting awhile for the ghost to make a second appearance and seeing nothing, he went inside and climbed into bed beside Merry. No further odd dreams haunted his sleep. As time passed, he thought less and less of his odd experience. He'd seen the Minas Tirith ghost, but so had many others over the centuries. Weeks went by, and the incident was nearly forgotten.
Even before Frodo had come to the city, repairs of the ancient walls and foundations had been going on; not only had sections of Minas Tirith been damaged during the war, but the city itself, particularly its upper levels, had been allowed to fall into decay as the old noble families became extinct and their empty houses crumbled. Workmen had been excavating beneath the citadel courtyard for some time, and echoing clatters of metal against stone could be heard under the paving-stones by parties out on the vast open area. By May, the work had gotten so close to the supporting wall above the sixth level that the hobbits heard the same sort of clattering sounds as they walked down the street to their house during the day.
One morning in the middle of May, the clanks and thumps fell silent, and Captain Beregond of the citadel Guard came down to Gandalf's house to see Frodo.
"Lord Faramir asks that you come up to the citadel," the captain explained. "There's something he thinks you ought to see."
Frodo agreed to come immediately, curious at this cryptic request.
As they walked, Beregond explained further: "You may have heard that there are tunnels beneath the citadel. The passages that run beneath the buildings and lead from one to another are still in common use in rough weather, but others have long since fallen into disuse. Some lead to old storage chambers. These were reopened in secret, to be used in preparation for the siege three years ago. Others were sealed off long ago. They are only now being opened and cleared of debris, and repairs to the foundations made."
Beregond led Frodo into the White Tower. At the side of the great chamber on the ground floor, at the foot of the winding stair that led up to the palantir chamber at the tower's top, was a door. Frodo had noticed it when he'd been in the tower before, but didn't know where it led to. The door was open now, and they went through and down a set of stone steps to a short, well-kept passageway below. Frodo could see another stair not far ahead, that presumably led up into the great hall. Another broad tunnel crossed this short passage. Faramir and a group of workmen stood waiting with lanterns at the intersection; the workmen were dust-covered and begrimed from their boots to their hair.
"Frodo, I'm glad you've come," Faramir greeted him as he and Beregond joined them. "These Men here have made a remarkable discovery under the courtyard today, and they came to tell me about it. I thought you'd be interested to see it too. There's a mystery here, but one you mightn't be able to solve." He seemed oddly excited, not cheerful, but eager. "Come and see."
A small party consisting of Steward, Captain, hobbit, and the foreman of the working crew went down the long tunnel. The floor here had been cleared of rubble, but cobwebs still hung in the upper corners and the passage had a faintly damp and musty smell that grew stronger as they walked farther along. The path was straight and level, heading toward the far end of the courtyard. From time to time, they walked past other intersections and the doors to old storage rooms.
"We found an old tunnel a few days ago, blocked off, just ahead," the foreman raised his lantern to indicate a dark gap in the wall ahead. "I couldn't say when it was done, or on whose orders, but it must've been done a thousand years ago or more. The bricks put up over the entrance were nearly dust when we broke through 'em. That's all been swept out now." When they reached the gap, they turned sharply to the right and went down two steps into another more narrow and mustier tunnel.
Like most hobbits, Frodo had a good sense of direction when underground, and knew that their path was leading them back toward the eastern side of the citadel. Faramir had obviously refrained from telling him anything about the workmen's discovery, intending to reveal it as a surprise when they came upon it, but Frodo suddenly felt a small premonitory shiver run up his spine. "Where are we going?" he asked.
"Since I was a lad, I've heard tales of a secret tunnel that used to lead down to the houses on the sixth level," said Faramir. "This must be it."
"I thought as much myself, Lord Faramir," the foreman agreed. "We hadn't got so far as to find the old door at the other end yet, but we came upon the stairs to it this morning. And we found this."
They stopped at the end of the cleared section of path, at a sharp turn and a steep, stone stair that went down into depths unseen. Here, a wall had partially crumbled; old bricks and mortar had tumbled down into a dusty pile on the stair landing; the landing extended a few feet beyond the bricked-off section before dropping off into a black gap just beside the exterior solid rock wall. The workers had dropped their tools here, apparently in the midst of clearing the rubble away when they'd stopped their work.
The Man held up his lantern so Frodo could see the grisly discovery that lay behind the crumbled brick wall: a skeleton, its bleached bones lying sprawled, as the body must have fallen or been flung down centuries ago. The bones were covered by the rotted remnants of a cloak and encased in ancient armor of Elvish make that hadn't tarnished nor rusted with the countless years. The lantern-light also caught another dull glint of metal beneath the breastplate, within the rib-cage--the corroded blade of a long and slender knife.
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