The Battle of the Crossing of Poros
Chapter
9: The Battle Ends
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The Horns of the Rohirrim were blowing, bringing
sweet music to the ears of Hallas. It seemed they would break his heart
with joy. Ever afterwards, when horns were blowing at a distance, tears
would be in his eyes as was now.
He then sounded the Halt Horn and the whole host
halted. Even the enemy cavalry halted and began to retreat south,
seeing new armies and foes to be fought.
The cavalry of Ceorl rode to his side, and when
Hallas and he clasped hands, Hallas said, "Aiya! How come ye here? We
thought you were out of reach for our aid. More wondrous is this day.
Thus we meet again, though once all the host of Southrons were between
us."
Then Ceorl said, "Yes, though I thought thou hadst
perished. But the tale of my arrival is not for now. Come! War calls
us. Never was meeting of friends more joyful."
Hallas replied, "Twice blessed is aid unlooked for.
But we lost many whilst thou were coming south."
Ceorl taking up his bow said, "Then let us avenge
them ere we speak of them"
Then the battle waxed furiously on the vale of the
Poros. The enemy cavalry rode back to the main host, as the Southrons
began to make ordered ranks to hold a defensive position at a mere
hundred yards from the fords, while they bought time to wait for the
Mumaks and the army of Khand to cross the fords. But this
would be slow, because even though these creatures of the desert
thrilled at the sight of water, they were afraid of crossing large
bodies of water, much less a river.
Now, the din of arms arose with the singing of horns
and cries of the men and neighing horses. All the men prepared to do
battle in a fresh round. The fury of the onset of the sons of Folcwine
had betrayed them into incurring losses far greater than what they
would have received if they had retreated and fought later, though they
had utterly overthrown the front of his enemies.
Meanwhile the armies of Gondor marched ahead of the
Rohirrim. The spears and swords of Gondor drove through the enemy, who
in their confusion had placed the pike men at the front, expecting that
the Rohirrim would charge first. The pikemen were slaughtered because
they were not good against other
infantry. The soldiers of Gondor drove through the ranks of the pikemen
and contended with their counterparts.
Then Hallas and Ceorl together sounded their Charge
Horns and the whole host thundered towards the enemy. The soldiers of
Gondor made way for the Rohirrim to drive through their common foes.
They drove through the enemy, for the enemy was still unprepared for
the sudden onset of the Rohirrim, and the arrows of the riders of Ceorl
were like black serpents falling from the sky or rain tipped with
steel. The defending ranks fell. Then they drove through the enemy,
driving their foes to ruin. Great battalions of their riders and their
allies drove through the Southrons. Then the Mumaks of Harad
attacked. Many of the riders were thrown into the air, and many were
literally walked over. But still there was hope.
Only three had crossed the river and two were
crossing the river as the other five were still waiting to cross,
blocking the army of Khand from entering the fray. The brave archers of
Ceorl rode near the monsters for a shot at their eyes or bellies. Then
a hundred arrows whizzed through the air and nearly all landed on the
nearest of the Mumaks. The monster was felled, albeit with great loss
as it fell towards the archers. Thus perished Kenobi, archer of Rohan.
The great monster's carcass blocked some of the enemy from them.
Then suddenly it hit Hallas. He knew the last thing
the cloaked figure was telling him to do. They had to fight the
Haradrim, for it was now or it would be never. Now because they had the
aid of Gondor and the archers of Rohan. Now because the Haradrim were
currently unaided as the armies of Khand and the Haradrim were
separated by the river; they were going to cross the river as soon as
the monsters had crossed the river. But for now the Haradrim were
unaided. And as long as they were unaided they could not win, as the
cloaked figure had said. For now, the Haradrim were unaided, and Mandos
wanted Hallas to keep it that way.
But to do that, he had to block the river… To do
that he had to…
Hallas suddenly shouted to Ceorl and beckoned to him
and said, "Stop fighting the monsters that have already crossed the
river. I want to you to fire everything you have at the two beasts that
are crossing the river now. I want you to do your best to bring them
down as they are crossing the river. Not before and not after. Go now!
I'll take care of the rest. Just take them as they are crossing the
river. That's an order."
Ceorl saluted him with growing comprehension in his
eyes and said, "Aye, milord." Then he departed, calling all his archers
towards the fords.
As this was going on, Hallas was attacked in the
rear by the last of the cavalry of the Haradrim and could not protect
Ceorl. The pikemen now drove through the archers of Ceorl, but they did
not waver from their task of assailing the monsters that were crossing
the river, though they suffered much loss.
The Mumak drove through the
riders of Hallas. Then the soldiers of Gondor came to their aid. They
attacked the cavalry of the Haradrim with long spears as the riders of
Hallas charged at the Mumak, cutting at its legs. The great beast
thrashed many of their riders and stomped many and the darts from the
siege tower on its back also killed many riders. Finally the Mumak was
brought down and then the spearmen drove their spears into the heart of
the monster and it was felled.
Hallas looked towards
Ceorl and saw that some of Southrons were still hacking at his riders
while all of them were focused on the Mumaks at the crossings of the
river. Then the foremost of the beasts fell with a great splash, but
did not die. Ceorl and his riders let fly another shower of arrows at
the face of the beast and it died. Then they continued to fire at the
remaining monster with all they had. Most of his riders had spent all
their arrows and were now throwing spears while some of the Southrons
still attacked their rear.
Ever and anon some regiment of the Haradrim would
attack Hallas and Ceorl suddenly and they suffered some loss against
them as the soldiers of Gondor were still fighting the main host
without aid from the Rohirrim. Hallas saw their peril and took half of
his riders and rode against the main host of the Haradrim, while the
rest guarded Ceorl and his riders. The renewed attack of the riders
threw the enemy off-balance, though they had to clash with the pikemen
that were attacking their flank. Then they heard a great cry as the
Mumak crossed the river, swaying jerkily.
Then Ceorl charged alone and threw his last spear
and hit the monster directly on its knee and the monster fell on the
tusks of the already fallen beast with a great splashing. Blood oozed
from its great belly as it died.
Thus the fords of the river was blocked, preventing
the armies of Khand from passing into Ithilien or the other Mumaks from
crossing the river. Thus the Haradrim finally fought UNAIDED.
The hosts of the Haradrim stood still, seeing their
predicament. The fords were almost completely blocked and the only way
across was by climbing the carcass of the monsters, which would not be
effective though possible.
Now the field was almost decided: Hallas had four
and half thousand of his men left who were unwounded of which some
five-hundred were unhorsed. There were about four-thousand of the
footmen of Gondor still left fighting. There were about eight or
nine-thousand of his foes still left standing with one other Mumak.
Thus the men of the south found themselves between
the hammer and the anvil, the hammer being the riders of Rohan who
along with the archers and spearmen rushed at their foes under the
banner of Hallas, and the anvil being the steadfast men of Gondor who
were cutting their way north and advancing south steadily on their
millennia old foes. South strode Hador, and men fled before his face;
north rode Hallas, and men were crushed under him. The rout of
the Haradrim commenced.
For though they were brave fighters, they did not
understand warfare against horsemen nor could they fight on for two
straight. They were also like Orcs, easily defeated and frightened and
routed if without a leader, as was the case.
Their lord Maul was already slain by Hador; their
chieftains were mostly slain. Sidous was trampled by the charge of
Hallas; Vader died fighting Hafastan but Hafastan was himself slain;
Doku was slain by the archers of Gondor; Diavalo, the mounted champion
of Harad and undoubtedly the greatest warrior on the field, killed
almost all of Adrahil's guard and killed Fastred personally, but he
himself was slain when a Mumak fell on him
But in this way, many of the Haradrim fled the
field, whether back to the river and scarcely crossing the carcass of
the monsters, or to Belegond, where they were eventually rooted ou,t or
with Revan to Khand. But still some four-thousand held their ground
against foes, only a thousand less than twice their number of which
almost half were mounted. So in this way they fought, for the Southrons
were bold and fierce in their despair and asked for no quarter.
The Last Mumak was slain. The army, trapped south of
the fords of Poros, saw the doom of their northern counterparts, and a
black dread fell on them knowing that they would perish if they did
battle with their Allies, the Haradrim. So they, like cowards, fled
back south, taking the remaining mumaks with them. The Haradrim, seeing
their allies deserting them, quailed and lost all hope of victory. But
Revan, their second greatest lord and warrior of the Haradrim, wisely
hewed his way out of battle, after seeing that there would be no
victory, and led part of his regiment of a thousand east, and went
along the Poros and into the Kingdom of Khand and finally back to his
homeland, where his people licked their wounds and bided their time.
When they again invaded Gondor, they were led by
Malak, Son of Revan, the Black Numenorean and bearer of the black
Serpent who hated the Rohirrim more than the Numenoreans. This way the
men of the West fought on water and land, under hillock or hill, till
the battle was won and not one living foe was there within a five mile
radius.
The captains of the host headed back to camp at dusk
sending messages of victory back to Endost and Harost. But all of them
were weary and sad beyond the joy of victory. No few had fallen and
many were yet left maimed upon the field. The spears shriveled Hador as
he fought unaided and alone. Hafastan slew Vader, but he himself was
slain as his foes circled him; the axes hewed him as he fought alone
and unhorsed. Kenobi was slain by the fall of a Mumak. Analin was
killed in the battle as he refused to flee. Both Darash and Assant were
slain as they led their archers to aim at the face of the remaining
monster. Galdor, Lord of the Falls and regent of Harost, was slain as
he was hit by a dart in the eye. Afterwards many songs were sung about
the battle of which almost none were recorded in scripts. They later
buried Folcred and Fastred side by side on the field after the fashion
of the Rohirrim, and it was called Haudh in Gwanur, and the foes of
Gondor feared to pass it.
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