easts, rushing, trampling, shaking the ground with the thunder of their
going.

And ahead of them all came a solitary figure in black mail, riding a
raking beast trapped all in black, and bearing a sable axe.

Kushat came to life. There was a swarming and a yelling in the streets,
and soldiers began to pour up onto the Wall. A thin company, Stark
thought, and shook his head. Mobs of citizens choked the alleys, and
every rooftop was full. A troop of nobles went by, brave in their bright
mail, to take up their post in the square by the great gate.

Balin said nothing, and Stark did not disturb his thoughts. From the
look of him, they were dark indeed.

Soldiers came and ordered them off the Wall. They went back to their
own roof, where they were joined by Thanis. She was in a high state of
excitement, but unafraid.

"Let them attack!" she said. "Let them break their spears against the
Wall. They will crawl away again."

Stark began to grow restless. Up in their high emplacements, the big
ballistas creaked and thrummed. The muted song of the bows became a
wailing hum. Men fell, and were kicked off the ledges by their fellows.
The blood-howl of the clans rang unceasing on the frosty air, and Stark
heard the rap of scaling ladders against stone.

Thanis said abruptly, "What is that--that sound like thunder?"

"Rams," he answered. "They are battering the gate."

She listened, and Stark saw in her face the beginning of fear.

It was a long fight. Stark watched it hungrily from the roof all that
morning. The soldiers of Kushat did bravely and well, but they were as
folded sheep against the tall killers of the mountains. By noon the
officers were beating the Quarters for men to replace the slain.

Stark and Balin went up again, onto the Wall.

The clans had suffered. Their dead lay in windrows under the Wall, amid
the broken ladders. But Stark knew his barbarians. They had sat restless
and chafing in the valley for many days, and now the battle-madness was
on them and they were not going to be stopped.

Wave after wave of them rolled up, and was cast back, and came on again
relentlessly. The intermittent thunder boomed still from the gates,
where sweating giants swung the rams under cover of their own bowmen.
And everywhere, up and down through the forefront of the fighting, rode
the man in black armor, and wild cheering followed him.

Balin said heavily, "It is the end of Kushat."

* * *