Chapter 403: The Siege
The storm erupted outward with Sauron at its centre.
Every soul on the field froze mid-motion, allies and enemies alike. The blast sent bodies swaying and stumbling. Many were knocked flat.
Levi and the soldiers who had been pinning Sauron down were caught in the worst of it. Before they could react, they were hurled backward.
For the first time in a long while, Levi felt what it was like to be thrown.
He scrambled to his feet, ready to charge back in.
But when he looked up, Sauron was gone.
"Where did he go?!"
Levi scanned in every direction, eyes wide.
No matter where he looked, there was no trace.
The elite soldiers and company champions who had been helping him hold Sauron down picked themselves up one by one, looking left and right, shaking their heads.
"He ran."
Gandalf came over, breathing hard, Glamdring still in hand. The blade was stained red almost to the hilt.
"But that last burst cost him dearly."
"He won't be able to fight again anytime soon."
"Then right now, he's..." Levi's gaze drifted deeper into Mordor, toward the towering shadow of Barad-dûr.
"Yes. He is in there."
Gandalf nodded. "He has retreated into that fortress he is so proud of. Only this time, I doubt he will willingly set foot outside again."
"Then he won't get the chance."
Without Sauron, Mordor's army had lost its backbone. His retreat might not have been death, but everyone on the battlefield had seen him defeated.
Mordor's commanders screamed themselves hoarse, trying to hold their troops together, but it hardly mattered.
Against a human alliance surging with morale, every act of resistance became a futile gesture.
Before long, the Nazgûl were driven off as well, and their fell beasts lost their riders.
In that moment, free from the Nazgûl's direct control, the fell beasts finally felt the true weight of a dragon's authority.
A dragon was the true king of the skies. The so-called fell beasts were nothing more than ancient relics Sauron had found barely clinging to life in some remote mountain range.
Taxonomically, those wretched creatures were closer to pterosaurs. To Men, they might appear fearsome, but beside a fire-drake, they were pitifully small.
One more blast of dragonfire, and the shrieking overhead finally fell silent.
Dead or fled, not a single fell beast remained on the battlefield.
The rout was complete.
Led by Levi and the other commanders, the allied army pushed forward without pause, driving all the way to the outer wall of Barad-dûr, surrounding the dark tower completely.
But the fortress was not easily taken. It was even stronger than Orthanc, which Saruman had reinforced with sorcery.
During the Last Alliance at the end of the Second Age, the combined armies of Men and Elves had besieged Barad-dûr for seven years without breaking through. In the end, Sauron himself had grown too frustrated to stay inside, and only then did the High King of Men and the High King of the Elves, backed by a host of guards fighting in relays, manage to find the opening to cut the Ring from his hand.
Boom!
As the allies closed around the tower, a torrent of enormous, burning stones and arrows rained down from above, fierce and relentless.
"Fall back!"
Levi split an incoming boulder with his sword and ordered the army to pull away.
But that did not mean he was giving up.
A short while later, after some focused effort, Levi had stacked a massive quantity of TNT along the base of Barad-dûr's outer wall.
Click.
A flint and steel scraped. One block of TNT began to glow.
Levi turned and ran, sprinting back toward the army waiting far, far behind him.
Real men don't look back at explosions. Of course, looking back wasn't really an option right now. One second too slow, and he would be caught in the blast himself.
Boom!
The first detonation triggered the rest. The chain of explosions spread faster and faster as more TNT ignited. Some erupted at the base of the wall, some were hurled skyward by the shockwaves, and a few were blasted onto the ramparts, taking Orc defenders with them.
When the thunder finally faded, Levi turned to look at Barad-dûr again.
The ground was cratered. The wall had taken some damage, but not much.
This fortress was every bit as tough as Roadside Keep. That black wall was clearly no ordinary stonework. Like the Black Gate, it was laced with steel. A true iron bulwark.
Levi exhaled slowly, staring at walls that were even more blast-resistant and harder to mine than Obsidian.
Getting in is going to be a problem.
But there were always more solutions than problems. It was just a wall, not Bedrock. If he truly committed to tearing it down, it could be done.
And if he left the army behind and went in alone, the options multiplied. It might even be easy.
But...
"Do you remember what our original goal was, Levi?"
Seeing the setback, Gandalf hurried over and spoke quietly at his side.
"Barad-dûr is all but impregnable. Its defences may even surpass Roadside Keep's. Remember, this is Sauron's home ground. His power is greatly amplified here."
"You saw that rain of fire just now. That was all his doing. One mistake and our losses will be severe."
"There is a simpler way to defeat him."
Gandalf turned his gaze westward, toward Mount Doom.
Levi understood at once.
"Frodo and the others should have reached the heart of Mordor by now," Gandalf said quietly. "Perhaps we should go and lend them a hand."
"Once the One Ring is destroyed and Sauron falls with it, Barad-dûr's defences will collapse on their own. The dark enchantments holding it together will vanish. Then we can take this place with almost no effort."
"Makes sense."
Levi nodded and immediately gathered the leaders present.
"Keep Sauron boxed in for me."
"Go," Aragorn answered first. "We won't let him take a single step out of that tower."
Gandalf stood beside him. "I will be watching his movements as well."
The others, hearing that Levi would be leaving for a while, gave the same promise without hesitation.
Levi trusted them with this. Sauron's chances of breaking out were slim.
The moment he made a move, the Free City-States' army would press in.
Levi had stationed five company champions and an entire company of soldiers at the gates, every one of them bearing distinguished Ranger commendations. Their sole task was to make sure Sauron could not try anything.
With Gandalf, Aragorn, and the others backing them up, even if Sauron could fly, Beherdan would burn him out of the sky.
By every measure, Sauron was trapped.
With everything secured, Levi slipped away quietly and headed straight for Mount Doom.
The outcome seemed all but decided. Sauron's defeat and destruction appeared inevitable.
And yet, as he watched Levi's retreating figure, Gandalf could not shake the unease lingering in his heart.
He tightened his grip on his staff, drew a deep breath, and closed his eyes.
He chose to place his trust in another's hands.
It was not an easy decision. In truth, it was far harder than anyone could have imagined.
A crucial test might still lie ahead.
Yes. A test.
This was destined to be an Age of Men.
Gondor and Rohan had already endured their trials and suffering, and through it all, their leaders had proven the truth of their hearts through action.
Some had been saved. Some had turned back from the brink. Some had grown stronger, their resolve tempered by fire.
But beyond them, there was still one more.
One who had yet to face the deepest part of his own heart.
(End of Chapter)