And the next day, those Tîdrissamê who had not kept watch by night awoke to find the host of Fíbor drawn up around the city and massed upon the Giants’ Road at the far end of each of the two great bridges that led on to the island of Ravinnigos. Prince Nagbith and his Falakkaska guards set up their station on the eastern bank of the Berusilwa.
The herald of Prince Nagbith, none other than the Falakkaswa, Angash, once the Captain of Dreygan the Frostgiant, stood forth and blew on a brazen trumpet. Then he called for the Queen of Dúmiel to come forth to a parley.
Queen Dayamuna came out upon the battlemented parapet of the eastward gate and looked down upon the host. She watched as the herald of Prince Nagbith rode across the bridge, stopping at the place where the drawbridge was raised. Then she called out:
‘Why has the Prince presumed to enter our land of Dúmiel uninvited and in arms?’
‘Prince Nagbith extends the hand of friendship and peace to the southlands. The arms we carry are merely for our own defence against the wild demons of the woods. Prince Nagbith offers peace and prosperity to this land. On generous conditions.’
The Queen said:
‘And what, we pray you, are those conditions?’
The herald said:
‘That you open the gates of this city to the servants of Ungubith. That you receive from them the Yoke of Ungubith, you and all the inhabitants. That at every Moon-death, you conduct the rites of Ungubith here. If you do so, you may remain governor of Tídris and the southlands, having sworn fealty to Prince Nagbith, and having surrendered the emblems of your office, crown and swords, to his servants.’
The Queen replied:
‘We are proud children of Ingos, and our land was a gift to us from the blessed Hyilavúna. We shall never submit to the yoke of the accursed Negobith Oigenas. We will all die first.’
Angash the herald of Nagbith replied:
‘You shall not die as mortals die. You shall suffer icedeath by the touch of Gantzor the Coldsword in the Hand of Glory, every one of you who does not bow the shoulders to the Yoke of Ungubith.’
Then the herald withdrew and the siege of Tídris began. It began at Zaikolinnwë and lasted until Zaikomarûë of the next year. And as the fair tokens of spring appeared, and after them the bounty of summer sprang up in the fields about the city, so the besieged citizens began to suffer want. The city’s provisions ran low, and everyone went hungry. Ever and anon the herald Angash rode on to the East Bridge and offered terms, and always the Queen rejected them.
In the days before Zaikomarûe, the weather waxed unbearably hot, and the people of Tídris began to be tormented by thirst. And at Zaikomarûe itself, when the herald came again, there came a sudden burst of thunder, and the clouds poured down rain in torrents. Then Queen Dayamuna commanded the drawbridge to be lowered to a man’s height above the bridge. And the host of Nagbith wondered at this, for they at first thought that the Queen would surrender the city.
Now in the yards of the Queen’s House there were kennels of great size, where dwelt a tribe of Hounds. For at a former time the Queens and Princes loved hunting, and out of love for Vidnî and Arbros the Fâdhéri of the Greenmarch gave as a gift some pairs of Hounds to the royal house. And the children of these Hounds lived still at the Queen’s House and were greatly honoured, even though the custom of hunting had fallen away. These were indeed not ordinary animals, but Hounds of the Fâdhéri, having the power of seeking and holding and running, far beyond those of the ordinary hound.
And as the host of Nagbith stood ready, despite the teeming rain, to storm the drawbridge, they heard the musical baying of a hundred Hounds rapidly drawing near, and in an instant the beasts poured over the lip of the drawbridge and drove their way along the bridge and into the ranks of the army of Fíbor. There followed utter confusion. The staves of the Falakkazri had no effect upon the dogs, for the Yoke of Negobith was made for Hyûvandri. Neither did the Sword Gantzor, though Nagbith directed the ghastly Hand upon the hounds, for its power was devised by Dreygan to fell only Nyandri. And the dogs savaged the Ongulaskári, who broke and fled. And even Prince Nagbith was swept away by the onslaught. That conflict was afterwards called the Thorgset Brandri, Battle of the Hounds.
Now this had been the counsel of Obrámus the Wise, first to set the Hounds upon the eastern army, and then to do likewise at the western bridge with the Hounds remaining in the city. Hirgul was at that Council, with the Queen and the Prince, and with their grown children, Díamun, Beinun, and Dóna, whose spouses Tháli and Tairis were beside them. But Hirgul, having heard the counsel of Obrámus, went privily to the Westgate while others were busy about the setting forth of the Hounds at the eastern gate. And he caused the drawbridge there to be let down fully. On that side, the host of Fíbor were not pressing upon the bridge but still in camp, sheltering from the heavy rain, awaiting their Prince’s command. And Hirgul, by what means is not known, impersonated a messenger from Prince Nagbith, and delivered to their commanders a false message:
‘Arise, warriors of Ungubith. The Eastgate is open to you. Go straight forward. Take the Queen and the Prince upon the battlements. No icedeath for them. Death by the sword!’
And so, just as the Hounds dispersed the enemy on the east side of the River Berusilwa, the foes on the west poured in upon Tídris and stormed the battlements. Many brave warriors of Dúmiel fell there. The Queen, the Prince, and their chief commanders were brought to bay above the gates. But even as they battled, the rain fell heavier, and over the sound of the downpour a great roaring could be heard, coming from the north, by any who had leisure to listen, though they were few.
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