At the other end of the battlefield, that fortress on which so much hope had been pinned was suffering the same hellish ordeal. The hastily reinforced stone walls and wooden palisades finally gave way beneath the Saurons' relentless artillery bombardment, and one section collapsed with a thunderous crash.
Before the smoke and dust had settled, bloodthirsty howls rose up. The Sauron elite surged toward the breach like hyenas that had scented blood.
Roderick led the remaining soldiers in building a final barricade of flesh and blood amid the rubble and corpses.
The two sides fought back and forth over the narrow collapse, like two enormous mills of flesh grinding each other's lives to pulp.
Figures continually rolled out of the breach with screams, blue and white alike, only to be swiftly swallowed by the tide of people surging in behind them.
Fresh soldiers immediately filled the gaps, their eyes numb or crazed as they continued this slaughter that seemed to have no end.
Tommy had already emptied two Flintlock Rifles when the wave-like Sauron soldiers surged before the breastwork once more.
"Kill!!"
"Hold them! Thrust!"
Forests of spearpoints and bayonet blades frantically stabbed and clashed on both sides of the breastwork. The soldiers around Tommy fell one after another with screams, like leaves withering in an autumn wind.
Some were pierced through the chest by spears and nailed to the earthen wall. Some had their skulls split by flying axes. Others were cut down in close combat with enemies climbing over the wall. Blood splashed everywhere like cheap red paint, soaking into the soil and staining torn uniforms and armor crimson.
Sauron soldiers began successfully climbing over the breastwork, howling as they leaped into the position and engaged the remaining Carnford soldiers in desperate hand-to-hand combat.
The battle line was