"We will not yield!" The voice of the Captain of the Guard, the leader of the First Company, rang out about the Court of the Fountain. The waters of the fountain rippled softly as a result of the destruction below. "We will not show the Enemy weakness. The Citadel must be held at any and all cost. You are of the Guard of the Tower of Ecthelion, the last defense of the Ruling Steward, should Minas Tirith be taken. We must prevail and hold the Gate!" The following silence was the same as before: uneasy.
None gave the thought any possibility, but it was a deceitful hand fate wielded, utilizing the trick of false hope. The Rammas Echor crumbled with the brute force of Sauron's army. No news came of the Lord Faramir since the day before, but the hosts of Mordor ever encroached on the Pelennor. Osgiliath, East and West, was taken. The attempted assault to relieve the army beyond the Gate of their hold on the eastern half of the city were to no avail. Gondor was left open to the Enemy. One could only to wait and pray for Rohan's aid, but Théoden's men were more likely to recuse naught but a pile of stone overrun by orcs and Southrons than an actual city.
"It is over-late to send for aid when you are already besieged." He remembered telling as much to Master Peregrin when they broke their fast upon the battlement near the Citadel storehouse and watched as the last of the wains and caravans bore away to refuge the aged, the children, and the women who must go with them to the vales Tumladen and Lossarnach. Borlas was among them, too young to stay and be put to task like his brother Bergil.
Men moved about among the Citadel's buildings, looking away from the sight of the distant fires in the field and the rhythmic march of the approaching hosts. When they finally ceased, a call arose, surely a din about the lower Circles, but it was only an echo where the Third Company stood. They were too high to endure the assault should the hosts on the ground break through the Main Gate.
As if they ever could, was the thought Beregond accepted. The alternative was almost too harsh to bare. Beregond was disappointed with the half of himself relieved at being stationed above the fray. To think so was a slight against Faramir's efforts these last few days.
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The Guard's Choice
FantasyThe choice of Beregond, Captain of the Third Company of the White Tower, is much overlooked. His judgment is the King Elessar's first ruling of many. In the dark days of the Siege of Gondor, Beregond must endure a war of his own, between head and he...
