Land of the King

Chapter 38: Black Harbour

"The war was decided at Morlond. We just didn't know it."

The past six months had been some of the bloodiest in Arnor's history. After all, not since the War of the Three Brothers had Arnorian weapons been turned upon Arnorian soldiers.

Following his failure to take Annúminas, Argeleb had waited a while in Minas Ithil, watching the border carefully. When he was satisfied that Arvedui was not going to attack Minas Ithil, Argeleb departed, leaving a part of his army to defend the fortress.

His next plan was obvious to anyone with an ounce of strategic sense. The Loyalists encircled the Purists, and so long as that encirclement remained intact, Argeleb was fighting a two-front and sometimes even three-front war. That was unacceptable.

Over the past few months, the Purists had invaded Raumdor and laid siege to many of its fortresses. Yet the Raumdorians were a tough and fierce folk and even after months of fighting, the Purist armies had yet to take Raumgûr.

Though the walls of Storm's End were not built out of black stone like those of Annúminas were, Argeleb had had no giants with which to repeat the Stormbreaker's feat and unlike Annúminas, Raumgûr had been well prepared for the siege.

It was decided that too much blood would be spilt trying to take Raumgûr before Morlond fell. The city of Morlond, built upon the mouth of Morduin was perhaps the most important strategically in all of Arnor.

Control of it allowed the Loyalists to freely and easily move troops over the Blackwater. So long as it remained in the enemy's hands, Raumdor would never truly be conquered for its people remained hopeful of reinforcements coming down from Morlond.

To prevent that and to also gain the ability to cross the Blackwater and invade Morfalas and Siriand, Argeleb had decided to take Morlond.

Unlike at Annúminas and his hasty unwise plan, Argeleb had come prepared this time. His host was double the size it had been at Annúminas and he had built a great deal of siege equipment before-hand to prepare for his attack.

Still, the black walls of the city remained no less daunting than they had been at the capital. Befitting its name and immense strategic location, Morlond, as a fortress-city under direct royal rule, had walls built from black stone, on the north side that is. Over the years, the city had expanded south of the river, with a great stone bridge spanning the gap between the two parts. The southern city had strong walls of Arnorian make but not black walls, it would be tough to breach them but not impossible.

Fortunately, Argeleb had an agent within the walls. The agent was one of his best spies and most trusted servants. It was not very knightly to storm a city by treachery but he would do it if lives were saved. The plan was that the agent would open one of the gates of South Morlond to allow his army passage but even then the city was unlikely to fall that easily and there would still be the north side to contend with,

That night, Argeleb's army set up a camp outside the southern walls. Having learned from Annúminas, Argeleb had ordered his army to build large ditches and set up caltrops around the whole perimeter of their camp. He would not have a Loyalist cavalry force deprive him of his victory again.

However, while a large part of the army was working on the camp outside, another force was waiting near the gate in secret.

Should his agent succeed, the gates would be opened for his army to swarm into the southern part of the city. However, it was always possible that the agent would fail or that resistance in the city would prevent them from taking it for a few days, hence why their camp was being fortified outside for that possibility.

Well aware of the enemy outside their walls, the defenders had remained battle ready, with sentries posted to watch for any signs of attack. Argeleb's agent was one of these sentries.

The wait was quite intolerable. While Argeleb had come prepared for the possibility that his agent would fail, having to take both the south and north by siege would be troublesome and could allow the siege to be more easily broken by enemy forces then if his army was safely ensconced within the walls of South Morlond.

Finally, Argeleb saw the signal at the gates. As had been planned before, should his agent succeed, he would open the gates and wave his torch in a certain pattern. The particular pattern was known only to Argeleb himself and his spy so there could be no chance of him mistaking it for something else.

With the signal given, Argeleb's vanguard charged into the city, a loud horn commencing the attack. Following behind them were Argeleb's foot but speed was of the essence and his cavalry would be instrumental in securing the gates and ensuring they remained open for the rest of his army.

What few defenders that had been patrolling near the gates were soon ridden down and Argeleb and his cavalry continued riding down all defenders who attempted to reach the gates. There were not that many for the garrison had grown lax seeing them building camp and so had not been expecting an assault so quickly and especially not for them to have opened a gate.

Soon the rest of his army had begun to reach the gates so he immediately charged ahead of the rest of his army with a large cavalry regiment for the bridge.

The great bridge of Morlond had been built high and wide with enormous arches to not only support its weight but allow ships to pass beneath it. But the largest and greatest ships in Arnor's navy had masts too tall to pass beneath the bridge and so there were two retractable drawbridges at the centre of the bridge that enabled large ships to pass if necessary. The drawbridges also doubled as a security measure and when lifted, prevented anything from passing.

Argeleb needed to secure them if his army was to take the north side as well.

When he arrived at the bridge, both bridges were lowered and Argeleb charged through both before the guards could retract them. Alongside his knights, he slew the few guards that were stationed in the bridge towers, securing the bridge.

Already on the other side of the river, the north end of the city was rousing. Argeleb ordered his knights to dismount and guard the bridge. In the skies above, he could espy a few seagulls, their unusual flight patterns leading him to realise that they were being controlled by skinchangers.

Yet the expected assault never came. It was possible that Arvedui had decided the bridge not worth retaking when half his army was asleep. With the bridge secured, Argeleb went back to oversee his army's move into the city.

Within hours, South Morlond had fallen. It seemed that most of the citizenry had been evacuated and so only the garrison had remained. Most had still been in their beds in the barracks when his army had stormed the walls and had surrendered immediately.

Argeleb had been seeing to the quartering of his men and supplies in the city when he had learned something very concerning.

"Only half of our supplies are left, Your Majesty," said Lord Gaercar Gaermegil, his second in command.

"What happened?" Argeleb demanded.

"It seemed that while our army was storming the city, a small raiding force came from the woods and attacked our camps. They ran off with some of the supplies and burned more. We were able to drive them off, but with so many of our men in the city by that point, they were able to do more damage than we were expecting.

Now our scouts report them moving south, and we believe that their intent is to raid our supply lines in the hope of starving us."

Argeleb banged his fist on the desk, "Was not the camp fortified according to my orders?"

"It was Sire, but we were all operating under the assumption that that was the last resort should the agent fail to open the gates. The fortifications were only half complete when the gates were opened and after that most of the army swarmed into the city to take it, which was also according to your orders."

Argeleb chuckled bitterly, "Sixty thousand men and yet we can't defend our own supplies from a ragtag raiding force of…"

"We believe a thousand at most Sire," Lord Gaermegil said, filling in the number for his liege.

"For Eru's sake. How long will our current supplies last?"

"In terms of weaponry, ammunition and other such provisions, we are not lacking severely, especially as the armouries of the city are also being accounted, however the primary issue is our food. Most of what remains is lembas and not even waybread will be enough to feed the army for very long."

"How long then?" Argeleb inquired, dreading the answer.

"With the provisions we foraged from the city, and assuming that any more supplies from Calenardhon will not be coming due to the raiding force, I estimate perhaps two weeks at most."

Argeleb sighed. Two weeks. Hardly enough time. And this was coming from the same man who had thought to conquer an even greater fortress in the same amount of time.

Annúminas had already proven that it was impossible, then again he had not been able to get his army within Annúminas's walls and this time his army was double the size.

Yet with a master stroke, the Loyalists had turned his army's size against him.

"This raiding force, do you think the convoys will be that vulnerable to it?"

"Yes Your Majesty, the convoys are not that heavily guarded due to most of our armies being either occupied in Raumdor or guarding our borders. And our army's size is so great, even if a few were destroyed we could all starve."

Argeleb tapped his fingers on the desk. A fine one, carved from yew and which had previously been used by a high ranking captain in the garrison, the office of whom Argeleb had commandeered after the man's surrender.

"How many skinchangers do we have in this army?"

"Slightly over 200 I believe."

"Send half of them back to guard the supply lines. And send word to Calenardhon to raise whatever men they can spare to guard the convoys."

"Understood Your Majesty, but either of those things will take a great deal of time. We may not see fresh supplies until after we have run out."

"We have no choice but to press on with the siege. We cannot accept defeat here, or the Loyalists will relieve Raumdor."

"What is your new plan then Your Majesty?"

There were a multitude of options remaining to Argeleb. Originally the plan was to destroy the northern port and encircle the northern side using their superior numbers. They would then starve the city into submission. However, with their tenuous supply situation, it would be the Purists who would starve if they attempted that.

"With our supplies so low, we are limited in our options. The Loyalists will bleed us dearly for any assault but we have no choice. Seize all the barges and boats in the city. Choose our best men and deploy them across the river to destroy the port. After that, the barges will transport a part of the army to the north side of the river."

"You mean to continue with the encirclement?"

"Yes but this time we must assault the city. We can no longer afford to starve them out. We will launch a simultaneous assault on both the northern gates and across the bridge."

"You are aware that this will be bloodier even than Annúminas? The Loyalists had not yet prepared for war then and only 12,000 stood against you there. Our scouts believe at least 20,000 guard the north, and it is likely that Arvedui himself leads them. They have also reported giants among their ranks."

"What other option do you suggest my lord? You said it yourself, even with the measures we have taken, fresh supplies will be a long while coming. The army will starve soon. We have to take the north before then."

"Not necessarily Your Majesty. We can buy more time for our forces in the south to not only defend the convoys but to also hunt down and destroy this raiding force."

"How?"

Lord Gaermegil looked slightly reluctant but pressed on, "All our calculations for the supplies were including the prisoners. It would be a simple matter to rid ourselves of the extra mouths."

Argeleb was horrified at the lord's proposal, "We captured almost ten thousand men when South Morlond fell. Are you proposing that we simply kill all of them? These are our countrymen Lord Gaermegil!"

"Countrymen who took up arms for an illegitimate king Your Majesty. I find it as distasteful as you, yet sacrifices must be made in war. How will the men be told that they are to share their precious food with their enemies? And if you choose not to feed them to avoid that, you will simply be condemning them to starve. It is far more merciful to slit their throats."

Argeleb could not argue with his pragmatic reasoning but still, it was not right.

"War is truly nothing like the stories," he thought.

"Ration the supplies Lord Gaermegil. Our soldiers get two portions a day, the prisoners one. I will not be known as the man who executed prisoners without mercy if the supply situation is resolved."

"And if is not resolved soon enough?"

"I will make that decision, if and when that time comes."

Lord Gaermegil bowed, "As you command, Your Majesty."

There was precious little time to sleep that night after all his work had been done. Argeleb had remained awake, staring at the impregnable black walls of North Morlond and the impassable bridge as the sun rose.

What must I sacrifice to win this war?