then the orcs stayed their hands , and said they would give him life if the matters he opened to them seemed to merit that ; and meglin told them of all the fashion of that plain and city , of its walls and their height and thickness , and the valour of its gates ; of the host of men at arms who now obeyed turgon he spake , and the countless hoard of weapons gathered for their equipment , of the engines of war and the venomous fires .