The order was swiftly carried out. More than a hundred surrendered Sauron collaborators, brandishing swords, whips, and clubs, charged into the prisoners like wolves among sheep. They drove out several hundred sallow-faced, emaciated commoners with despair in their eyes, most of them elderly, weak, women, and children.
Forced onward, they used their bare hands and broken baskets to dig up the soft earth on both sides of the valley and carry scattered stones. Braving the sporadic arrows and falling rocks from the battlements, they wept and screamed as they piled dirt and stone against the base of Tar Fort's walls.
Thomas and Einar, two Sauron veterans who had luckily survived the earlier assault on Carnford and even received a little reward for it, did not take part in the attack this time.
Along with several other veteran soldiers, they stood farther back with their arms folded, watching coldly. To them, using slaves and prisoners to wear down the defenders was the most natural tactic in the world.
"Look, they don't even need a battering ram or siege ladders." Einar gestured ahead with his chin. The Sauron soldiers overseeing the formation seemed impatient. Rather than wait for proper siege engines, they used blades and spears to force the commoners to keep piling earth and stone against the wall.
Gradually, a low slope of earth and stone began to rise beneath the wall.
Below the fortress, another group of slaves—ones selected for being relatively stronger—held up looted or crudely made wooden shields, trembling as they provided cover for those behind them.
And the true killing stroke was the Sauron archers mixed among the slaves, as well as those positioned along the slopes on either side.
These hunters from the forest tribes were superb shots. Using rocks and mounds of dirt for cover,