Varendur prophesied rightly. The Corsairs had come up stealthily by night, and sent small craft to shore. Men ringed the city, but against the south-wall the thrust was hardest, to clear the river of hull-breaking chains. Engines they built that sent stone against the walls where the chain was housed, and archers rained flaming arrows into the streets – into Southron Town.
Four days, the battle raged, and the south-wall fell on the third.
But orders fell before it: fire must be quenched, warriors fed and arrows brought. Haradrim fought the flames, and as Dúnadan ranks thinned, took to the walls.