Thus, Webber led his squad like a stubborn reef in a raging torrent, charging left and right along the edge of the collapsing flood. Wherever the Sauron pursuers tried to intercept the routed soldiers, they fired there—not seeking to kill many enemies, only to delay and disrupt them, buying their retreating comrades those precious few seconds. They successfully covered the passage of two more groups of routed soldiers.
Seeing that there were few friendly soldiers left retreating from their direction, and that most of the routed troops from the other routes had crossed the dangerous open ground, Webber knew the time had come.
"One last blow! Tom, grenade!" Webber shouted.
Tom pulled a standard Carnford grenade from his waist, swiftly lit its fuse with a tinderbox, and, at Webber's signal, hurled it with all his might at a Sauron pursuit squad of seven or eight men closing in from the front right!
"Whoosh—boom!"
The grenade arced through the air and exploded amid the squad! Shrapnel flew in every direction, smoke billowed, and the men were instantly thrown into chaos, screams ringing out as their pursuit faltered.
"Fall back! Move! To the drawbridge! Cover each other!" Seizing the chance, Webber gave the order and was the first to leap from cover, sprinting flat out toward the drawbridge beneath the main city wall a hundred meters away! His six men followed close behind, splitting into pairs and glancing back as they ran to keep watch.
The drawbridge had already been raised more than halfway, forming a forty-five-degree angle with the ground as the winch slowly hauled it toward vertical. The last batch of Carnford soldiers scrambled desperately onto the slanted bridge deck and fled into the city. On the walls, the defenders fired with all they had to suppress the Saurons trying