Chapter 647
Civil strife
Chapter 647 Civil strife
"Hey, open the door!!! This is Faramir next to me, the regent's second son. Don't you recognize him??..."
"The orc army is almost here, let us in quickly..."
"..."
Pippin and Merry, who had arrived at the gates of Minas Tirith, shouted loudly to the soldiers on the city walls.
The team, which originally had more than a hundred members, was reduced to only thirty-odd when they reached the city gate due to the relentless pursuit of the orcs.
This also includes several members of the escort team.
Such a great loss left Faramir, who had fled back to the city gate, with a bitter expression on his face.
“Without the Regent’s order, none of us dare open the door. Please hold on a little longer, and I will send someone to inquire…”
The captain of the guards on the city wall, due to the terrain, had already seen the densely packed orc army gathering on the wasteland outside the city.
Even though the captain of the guard recognized Faramir and the others, as a low-ranking soldier, he still dared not bear the consequences of opening the city gate without authorization.
……
"Father, Faramir and the others are surrounded by the orc army at the city gate, and their lives are in imminent danger..." Having learned of the situation outside the city gate from the messenger, Boromir rushed to the royal palace and asked the Regent, "Please order the city gates opened and let them in."
"Useless! The enemy has reached the city gates so quickly. Faramir is indeed unreliable..." Upon hearing the devastating news, Denethor rose from his regent's throne in a panic. After berating his second son, he said gravely, "Let's go to the city gates. I don't believe the orc army can breach the gates of Minas Tirith."
The capital of Gondor, Minas Tirith, is built on a hillside, with natural barriers at the back and sides, so as long as the gates are guarded, the main city is in a safe position.
But when Denethor arrived at the city wall with the help of his eldest son, he saw a densely packed army of tens of thousands of orcs.
Moreover, in front of these enemy formations, there were hundreds of modified troll warriors and mammoth squads.
Their massive size was incredibly imposing, making even the towering walls of Minas Tirith appear exceptionally small in comparison.
Looking up, nine Dark Ringwraiths riding corrupted dragons were also eyeing White City covetously.
This terrifying scene nearly made the arriving regent faint.
"It's over!! Everything is over!!! Gondor is over, and the Denethor family is over too..."
Denethor muttered to himself, then his face suddenly turned sinister as he said, "Rather than let the city be destroyed and people die at the hands of those filthy orcs, let us preserve the last glory of the Denethor family ourselves."
In the Regent's view, suicide was the last means to protect the family's glory.
"Guards, tie up Boromir and take him back to the main hall!!!"
Deneser decided to share this honor with his beloved eldest son.
"Father, what are you doing? Open the city gates and let Faramir and the others in!"
Boromir, equally stunned by the scene before him, was concerned about his younger brother outside the city when he was suddenly tied up by the guards.
Then they were dragged all the way to the main hall.
"Gondor is finished..."
Standing beneath the city walls, watching the ever-growing orc army, Faramiel shared the same thought as his father.
Fortunately, the orc army was still regrouping, seemingly aiming to take White City in one fell swoop, thus giving Faramir and his men some breathing room.
"Don't give up, Faramir. As long as we have hope, things will always turn around..." Gandalf's expression was equally solemn, but he had not yet given up hope, and he also encouraged the dejected Faramir.
As for where the wizard's confidence came from, it was because he had sent a distress signal to his own aerial combat unit, the Giant Eagle Flock, in advance.
Moreover, Gandalf sensed that the Lord of Lonely Mountain must have received news of such a large commotion in Gondor.
Having witnessed Mike's terrifying fighting prowess, he firmly believed that as long as the enemy arrived at the Gondorian battlefield, there would be a turning point.
"What's the point of saying all that? What we should be concerned about now is when the city gates behind us will open..."
"Speaking of which, have we already been abandoned by that damn regent...?"
"..."
Compared to Faramir and Gandalf's patriotism and sense of the bigger picture, Pippin and Merry, who were trembling with fear, only wanted to save their lives as quickly as possible.
Looking at the city gates behind them, which remained silent for a long time, the two hobbit children couldn't help but complain.
Meanwhile, Dineser, who had already escorted his eldest son back to the royal palace, had his soldiers bring him enough firewood and oil before driving everyone else out. "Father, what are you doing? Faramir and the others are still waiting for us at the city gate..."
Seeing his father frantically pouring kerosene on himself, Boromir sensed something was wrong, and a look of horror appeared on his face.
"Everything will pass, and the orcs will never capture us. The glory of the Denether family will be protected by ourselves..." After completing the preparations for self-immolation, Denether took out a tinderbox, lit it, and shouted loudly, "Ancestors bless us!! Long live the Denether family!!!..."
"You're insane, you're insane..." Watching the flames slowly approach, Boromir had never felt his father so distant. Struggling and pleading, he cried, "I don't want to die! We still have hope!! Someone help me!!!"
But how could he possibly break free when he was bound hand and foot?
They could only watch helplessly as their father first lit the firewood covered in kerosene, and then set fire to the clothes on both of them.
The commotion inside the main hall was so loud that it naturally reached the ears of the guards outside. A quick-thinking individual then reported the situation to the city gate.
On the city wall, the captain of the guard, upon learning that Gondor was about to lose its leader, disregarded everything else and hurriedly opened the city gate, shouting to Faramir, "The Regent is going to burn himself and the eldest prince alive! Go and save them!!!"
Faramiel, who thought his father had finally taken pity on him and allowed him into the city, changed his expression drastically upon hearing the guard captain's report, and then ran frantically toward the main hall.
"Let's go, let's go take a look too!"
Gandalf glanced at the orc army that was almost fully assembled outside the city, and then led his men to follow in Faramir's footsteps.
Before plundering external threats, we must first secure our internal stability!
Clearly, the problems originated within Gondor itself.
"Big brother, father!! What happened?? Are you alright???"
Faramiel rushed to the front of the kingdom's main hall and heard heart-wrenching screams coming from inside, but the doors were locked from the inside, preventing him from entering.
"Get out of the way~"
Just as Faramir was getting anxious, Gandalf's loud shout came from behind.
Then, with a burst of magic, the wizard used his wand to blast the door open in an instant.
"Quickly, save them!"
Upon seeing the scene before him, Gandalf's face turned extremely grim.
Self-immolation is torture for anyone. Even though the regent had long been prepared to die, he still had the instinct to survive after being burned by the flames and struggled to put out the fire on his body.
Meanwhile, Boromir, whose ropes had also been burned off, was writhing in agony throughout the hall.
The strong smell of kerosene mingled with the aroma of meat, along with piercing screams...
The scene before them was like hell for everyone.
However, saving lives was the priority, and Aragorn and the others had no time to sigh. They quickly tackled Boromir, who was already engulfed in flames, and then used their clothes and cloaks to extinguish the oil fires on his body.
"Save...save...father..."
Poromir, who was severely burned, fainted before he could finish speaking after being rescued.
Looking at Deneiser's side, the already elderly man had collapsed to the ground and was gradually losing his breath.
Faramiel was still trying his best to put out the fire on the side.
Let him rest in peace.
Gandalf, unable to bear it any longer, stepped forward and pulled the regent's second son away.
It must be said that the kerosene that Dineser found was of really good quality; in just a short while, it had burned him into a skeleton.
The eldest brother was seriously injured and fell into a coma, while the father was burned to death.
The tragedy happened so suddenly that Faramir felt like he was in a nightmare.
Completely lost and bewildered, he knew he was incapable of leading Gondor against the Mordor army in his current state. He looked at Aragorn and entrusted him with the task: "My elder brother told me that you have Gondor royal blood flowing through your veins. It's a bit unfair to say this, but only you can lead Gondor out of this predicament..."
……
(End of this chapter)