Cruel Orders

He looked toward his comrades, his voice returning to its usual steadiness, yet carrying the finality of a last decision. "We... can't escape either. The checkpoint won't open for us, and outside is crawling with Sauron."

He raised his head, his gaze sweeping over this stone house that was still fairly sturdy, and the four women next door who had just escaped the tiger's jaws and likewise had nowhere left to go.

"Here, the walls are thick, the door is solid enough, and the location is relatively out of the way. Maybe... we can still hold out for a while."

He looked at everyone and made his decision. "We'll settle here for now, together with those young ladies. If the Sauron come at us... at least we can use this place to resist for a while. If we can live one moment longer, then it's one moment longer."

No one objected. In absolute despair, being able to find a temporary refuge, being able to huddle together for warmth with others of the same fate, was already the only faint flame they could see in the darkness.

Hold fast and await rescue, or... hold fast and await death. This was the only choice they currently had.

The instinct to survive temporarily bound this band of wounded soldiers and prostitutes, abandoned by fate, onto the same broken ship about to sink.

The main port of the Iron Islands had now completely fallen into a strange place where hell on earth and a gate of hope were intertwined.

The docks were a sea of people. Cries, pleas, curses, and barks of command rang deafeningly, mixing with the sob of waves striking the reefs into a desperate symphony.

The air was filled with the stink of sweat, the salty tang of tears, and the