Harald's main force had not yet fully withdrawn to Frosgard, and the detailed battle report from Tar Fort had yet to reach his hands. Yet a simpler, cruder, and far more shocking piece of news had already pounced before him.
The source of the news was several Sauron scout cavalry he had sent out to reconnoiter.
What they brought back was not a written report, but a bone-chilling sight they had witnessed with their own eyes.
Ulf's ferocious-looking severed head had been impaled on a rough wooden pole and hung high above the battered southern gate tower of Tar Fort!
It swayed gently in the early summer breeze, its hollow eye sockets seeming still to glare northward. Flying from the battlements was that heart-chilling blue Fir Flag.
"The Sparrow Corps... is finished! Lord Ulf... died in battle!" The scout cavalryman's voice trembled with tears and lingering terror.
The great camp erupted in uproar! Ulf had been arrogant and overbearing, with no shortage of grudges against others, but he was still one of Sauron's Eight Corps Commanders, a key general of the royal court, one of the symbols of Sauron military might!
And now the Carnford People had beheaded him and displayed his head for all to see—what a monstrous humiliation! It was also naked provocation and contempt aimed at every Sauron warrior!
"Great Chieftain! Send the troops! Flatten Tar Fort and bring back Lord Ulf's body!"
"We cannot let the Carnford People run wild like this! If this hatred goes unavenged, where will Sauron's honor be?!"
"That's right! Send the troops! Avenge Ulf!"
Some commanders and nobles who had been close to Ulf, or who had simply been enraged by the humiliation, began clamoring one after another. The tent filled with cries for blood, passions running high, as though they