Jastral Fane had arrived at Castle Feja with his fifty men.  There was no news yet of Torig Feja's defeat at Corbam, and so Torig's wife Liony was unaware of the fact that the war was going badly in the south as well as the north.  She assumed that Fane was simply readying himself for an assault on Castan, as she certainly had heard of that rout.  And so she welcomed him and his men.  Fane sent word west to the capital to bring additional troops.  He handed the rider a sealed order, "talk to no but Janus the Elderman or I will eat your liver."

King Lythe Petros and his entourage rode up to Castle Corvos to a cheering crowd on the day after the great battle for that city.  Jared, Tirian, Garthon, and Commander Gorg Deepcut all rode in to accolade.  The morning afterward, the celebration renewed when the Raylan Commander Kanaille and the Grimdon King Ironfist Grimbrow arrived with any forces not needed to further garrison Corbam, or watch the Orog in the Malpedun.  Bormis remained in Fane hands, but that city was too far south now to make any difference at this point. 

They were three now thousand strong.  Tirian spoke to Lars Castan through the amulet and was told that they would arrive in another day.
Garthon and Forcellus met with the King and the others to plan their attack.  "From what I have seen," spoke Forcellus "when Jastral is faced with defeat, he retreats.  I have no doubt that he will retreat to Castle Fane if he has the chance.  We cannot defeat him there without a long siege."  Indeed Castle Fane was large and thought to be impregnable.  Two hundred men could hold it indefinitely if they had stores enough.  And there is no doubt that despite it being the end of winter, cautious Fane would still have a well stocked granary.  Garthon spoke up.  "Perhaps we surround castle Feja and siege it instead?"  "Or," continued Blaad, "we scare him into retreat and this time cut him off."  "He will be wary of that now" Lythe offered.  "We are in his country now, his scouts will know what we are up to if we march anyone past Castle Feja.  Instead, how about having Torig Feja return to publicly announce his surrender to the Kingdom?  They all looked at Lythe, mystified.  "But you told us that he's dead." said Forcellus.  "He is.  But Jastral Fane does not know that.  Only Trocs escaped that battle.  I am sure Fane does not listen to deserting Trocs.  The only surviving Fejan men have joined us.  If one of our Fejan men rode to Feja, he could carry a letter from Torig to his wife Liony announcing his support of the crown.  We have his seal.  We make sure Fane gets hold of the letter first.  Jastral would have to stop Torig from making that announcement."  Forcellus broke in "but Fane might just wait at the castle until Torig arrived, then kill him.  But your idea awakes another, what if Fane thought that Torig was in a position to attack at our rear in the field?  Even a coward would ride to take the advantage of surrounding us.  Torig will say that their numbers are barely sufficient.  Torig requests Fane's help, asking him to assemble out of sight on the opposite side of the Fajan River.  He states that he will wait until Blaad slows to cross the river.  Fane can kill the few that cross and then fire arrows at the rest.  Jastral will love this, because he will need to do little to claim a glorious victory."  Kanaille looked concerned "Will they not realize when they see and hear no armies coming behind us at the river that there is a problem and retreat?"  "Good point" said Forcellus, now excited.  "But that is where Lars Castan comes in."

Next: The Battle of Feja pt.2

Jastral Fane was convinced that he was weakening the enemy for an ultimate victory.  He fully expected to destroy Blaad's army on the walls of Corvos.  His men were reluctant to tell him that Blaad was setting up camp.  They all knew about the Battle of Nord, and the spectre of Lars Castan loomed.  But even Jastral could not deny the flickering campfire light that evening and he grew vastly angry.  It was a moonless night, but the enemy fires lit the intervening terrain enough to give Jastral a view of the hill halfway to their camp.  He measured the distance and in his rage, eagerly took the bait.  Imagining that the camp would be asleep and their fires extinguished in the hours before dawn, he planned his attack. 

The camp took turns sleeping that night.  Forcellus figured rightly that Fane would make his move - if he decided to move - just before dawn.  He allowed the fires to die, and in the middle of the night he slowly guided his men onto the back side of the hill.  It was a difficult cross in the darkness, but he positioned men along the way to ferry the rest by voice.  His two Raylan scouts were to report any movement by Fane.  Their sight in the darkness was superior to men.  Thus by midnight, they were all assembled on the back of the hill, swathed in cloaks and dosing, except for those on sentry. 

Invisible to the Blaad troops, and on cue, the gates of the castle opened and Fane's army moved out slowly.  The very first rays of dawn allowed them to pick up speed and soon they were running toward the hill.  One can imagine their surprise when they had almost reached it, only to see a shield wall advancing into view over the crest of the hill. It was too late for them to run back, so they hastily constructed their own shield wall at the base of the hill.  Their numbers were even except for the men from Corvos that Fane had impressed into service.  But Forcellus now had the coveted height advantage.  His men were tired though, having spend so much time in the cold.  Fane's men had a good night's rest.  The walls crashed together and the blood began to flow.  Forcellus Blaad had hoped that he would face Jastral Fane in battle and "get this over with" but Fane stood back from the wall.  Fane was foolish, but also cautious.  When the battle looked to be going against him, he did not attempt to rally his men, he simply ordered another retreat.  He had inexplicably kept some of his best men in the back of his shield wall, and they now left and ran to mount horses.  In the ensuing chaos, the Fane wall broke and men began to run to the city gates.  Most were cleaved down as Blaad's forces pursued them.  Some made it to their horses and rode to the castle.  But in an act of open defiance, Heston Corvos had ordered the gates of the castle shut, and his palisade archers began to fire arrows upon the Fane leader and his men.  Jastral turned and galloped off with fifty of his men along the shoreline toward Feja.  He had lost over two thousand men to bloody death.  As he rode, he thought not of the men he had led to disaster, but of those he reserved in Fane.  He could still turn this around.  Fane, he thought, was destined to rule this realm and this was only a mere setback.

Scholars later calculated that if Jastral Fane had committed all of the men at his disposal, the war might have gone very differently.  But he was overlay cautious (many would say cowardly) and reserved a vast number throughout his holdings that never raised a sword in a single battle of the war.

Next: The Battle of Feja

Forcellus Blaad knew that his men desperately needed rest, but they had Jastral Fane on the run.  He did not want them to reach the safety of Corvos, but a late snowstorm that grew into a blizzard put an end to his plan.  He gathered his men in a relatively protected canyon and weathered the storm.

Corvos City is a busy merchant town not unlike Bormis.  Goods are brought in by ship, carried to Morban, through a chain of lakes and rivers and eventually to Dom City.  This is the fastest shipping route between north and south. Losing Corvos would deal Fane an economic blow.  This is one reason why Jastral Fane commanded his troops, in the midst of a blizzard, to march to Corvos to begin buttressing the city.  His men, however were demoralized. The Orog were all gone.  They had suffered an embarrassing defeat.  Jastral lost a few men to the elements, and more to desertion, those men taking advantage of the anonymity of the storm to slip south to Morban.  The men that remained began to resent the ambitions of Jastral Fane.  Whatever they did from now on, they would do only out of fear. Such men do not make great fighters.

Heston Corvos was more a businessman than a thane.  The last thing that he wanted was a retreating Fane army bivouacking in his city, bringing death and destruction to the town, and worse, loss of trade.  He had heard by now that Castan had the Fanes on the run in the north, and he could see Fane losing this war.  Yet, when Fane arrived he could not turn him out. He instead infected Fane with worry that Castan would march on the Fane capital with him away.  "They are moving nowhere in this blizzard" Fane had angrily countered.  What Jastral Fane desperately wanted now, and which was his main reason for coming to Corvos, was to fight and beat Forcellus Blaad, who had so humiliated him.  He would have the protection of a city, and he was certain that Blaad would attack him there soon.  He could then rush back and defeat Castan.

Garthon Blade's forces were moving slowly.  They had gone past Malpedun where Kanaille and King Grimbrow reported the stable situation there, and they had made it to Morban as the weather forced them to shelter.  While there they met some of the Fane deserters, a few of which joined their ranks.  Tirian had been in contact with the Castan through the Empathic Amulet and knew that they were also halted by the storm, but had been victorious.  They had the Fane on the run, and soon would march south. It was a race to the capital, if a slow one.

The day dawned without a cloud in the sky.  The ground was covered in pure white.  Forcellus Blade led his men toward Corvos.  He knew that attacking the city would be costly.  He had hoped to catch Fane on the run, but the storm put an end to that.  What he now hoped was that Fane would lose patience and attack him in the field.  His Morban scouts told him of Castan's victory.  This would put fire to Fane.  Looking over the terrain near the walls of Corvos castle, he could see a defensible hill.  He deliberately camped away from that hill, placing it between himself and the castle.  If the castle gates flung open, the enemy could ride fast and take the hill.  he hoped that this would bait Fane if he was edging toward action.  He instructed his men to make it appear that they were settling in for a long camp, but to actually remain ready to move on a moment's notice.  He calculated that they could beat Fane to the hill at a dead run.  He wanted Fane to think that they were waiting for Castan to arrive.  But in truth, he had not the provisions to wait that long.  He hoped that Fane would not have the patience to figure that out.

The Battle of Corvos pt.2

Wait! cried Torig Feja.  He knew that something was wrong.  If there were Grimdon arriving then Fane might have been stalled.  The Petrosians seemed to be fighting someone, but it could not be Grimdon.  Then it hit him.  They were pretending to fight.  They wanted him to leave the castle.  But, he thought, they had to know by now that Fane was on the way.  This could only mean one thing, Fane was not coming.  Or the unthinkable, Fane was destroyed and never would come.  One thing was certain now, he could not leave the castle.  "Wait" he cried again, this time in Domish instead of Troc.  "It is a trap."

The forces of Garthon and Deepcut entered the southern portion of the city.  They continued their act, but it soon became obvious that Feja was not going to bite, and Garthon called a slow halt.  Garthon knew then that he would have to assault the castle.  He also knew that they would lose many mem.  As he began organizing his forces, he was surprised to hear the screams of battle and to finally see the gates of the castle blast open and forces pour out.  Perhaps the enemy had just waited until they thought that their Fane reinforcements were dead or victorious, but the real answer slowly dawned on him and he realized that the forces exiting the castle were all Troc screaming for the death of the Grimdon.  There were no men among them.  Feja, it seems, simply could not stop them with his feeble trap warning, their lust for battle was too great.  Feja's men held back, hoping against hope that the enemy was small and would exhaust themselves on the disobedient Troc.  Not a single Fane wanted to die because the Troc fell into a trap. But Garthon's forces were not small and the disorganized Troc were annihilated.  And the Troc left Garthon a gift.  In their effort to escape the castle and the orders of men, the Troc had destroyed both of the castle gates.  Fane's men tried desperately to bar them, but could not in the face of double their number in Petrosians and Grimdun.  As a final act of defiance, Feja stormed down to the dungeon and killed the shackled and defenseless Duke Jonas Corbam and the other prisoners.  But fate would have the last laugh, as he slipped on the stairs which were dripping Troc blood from above and broke his back traveling back down to the dungeon that he would never leave.  The day belonged to Petros. 

Their victory was tempered with the great loss of men and of their key ally.  They all recalled the arguments they had in Jonas' great hall.  The reluctant hand over of regalia and the eventual trust he had placed in them.  "To Jonas Corbam" they all said as they raised their glasses the next evening.  "To our great friend."

The army of Petros now numbered 600 men and 800 Grimdun.  There was little chance of an attack for at least a week or two, but they left 300 men and 100 Grimdun to butress and guard the castle from any unexpected attack from south or north.  The rest marched from the castle and headed north toward the Malpedun.

Next: The Battle of Corvos

Garthon Blade stood in the center of the shield wall.  behind him were Lythe, Jared and Tirian.  The enemy had marched uphill so they would have to work harder to unbalance the Petrosians.  But their numbers would soon flank Garthon's men on the western side away from the river.  As the screams of the dying commenced, Garthon ordered his men to curve the wall to defend their flank.  Soon they would be surrounded with only the river at their backs.  If they were forced further, they would be in the river, drowning with the weight of their armor.  Garthon fought harder, his blade making short work of many.  Jared and Lythe cast Enchantments and Energy Bolts and anything else they could think of to astound and unsettle the enemy.  Many thoughts were flashing through their heads, most concerning imminent death.  They all felt that they would soon join Lord Tassa in his slumber. 

Then, suddenly, they heard a horn sound.  Years later Garthon, writing in his memoirs described it as "the sweetest sound I have ever heard", for Gorg Deepcut and his Grimdon army had finally arrived, and at at the rear of the Fane army!  Forced to turn half of their troops, the tables had turned.  The odds were even, but it was Fane that was now surrounded. Petrosian archers still commanded the heights, and fired arrows in the back of the turned men who, now nprotected by shields, went down quickly.  Several of the enemy simply went flying off, for Gorg Deepcut very much liked to employ Kineticists, who with a word could wrench a man standing before them and send him sailing into the air, only to land upon the sword blows of his own men.  By noon, the battle was won.  Those not killed were taken as prisoner, including Commander Hallmore.  Two men were left to guard the prisoners who were shacked together.  Naturally they were all stripped of possessions.  A few were allowed to change sides after Tirian questioned and performed ESP and Mind Meld on them.  They had been pressed into service in Bonilan and owed no allegiance to Fane.

The unrehearsed attack plan had worked so well that they decided to try and employ it again. If the Fane army in Castle Corbam knew nothing yet of their retreat, and if they arrived with some noise, the enemy might assume that Hallmore was arriving with his Fane army.  One of Deepcut's Kineticists traveled to Corbam to explain the plan to the troops there.  While he was there he was told of the mysterious screams coming from inside the castle.  "There's a fight still going on in there.  Maybe Corbam still has a hold on the keep"

Back with Garthon, and his report given, they moved out.  When they got close, the fifty men holding the bridge enacted the plan.  They made as much noise as possible, clanging swords together.  They wanted the Torig Feja's army in the castle to think that they were being attacked.  They hoped that this would be the signal that Torig might be waiting for, and come running out to complete the slaughter of the Petrosians.  Garthon would them gut them with their larger force.

In the castle, Kakak held up his hand and screamed the Troc word for "Stop".  He was so commanding, that most stopped in mid strike.  Kakak stood upon a heap of dean men and Troc.  Nearly 50 men and and double that number of Troc had lost their lives within a few minutes of the slaying of Ubug.  The ground in the center of the bailey was ankle deep in the grey liquid that formed from the mixture of human and Troc blood.  "Stop" he yelled again, his long green nose twitching in the air.  They could all hear the noise now from outside.  Kakak looked at Feja from across the corpse-filled bailey, sniffed, smiled, and croaked: "Grimdon."

Next The Battle of Corbam pt. 5

It was too dark to fight.  And except for the occasional scream from the castle, it was quiet.  Garthon considered destroying the bridges.  Fane troops from Bormis were almost here.  He knew that a mad rush from the castle would occur when Fane arrived.  Then they would have attackers front and back.  So the bridges might have to go.  This would be difficult to do in the daylight with spears reigning down, so, in the darkness, he ordered a team of men to ready the bridge for easy destruction from the friendly side.  "Do not destroy it completely" he told them, imagining a crossing force of Trocs going down with it.  He really wanted a way in if things went really well.  But he doubted things would go well.  It was looking as if this would be a last stand for Petros. Even without the bridges they would outnumbered and fighting with their backs to the river.

Just before first light Garthon roused the men.  He ordered that some men and good archers remain to maintain the bridges.  "Destroy it if the enemy crosses."  The rest of the men were led as far southas possible to meet Fane.  They did not get very far.  Advance scouts reported that the enemy was a mere twenty minutes away.  Garthon found a small bluff near the river for height and protection from a side flanking.  They formed their wall, and the King rallied the troops.  "The Kingdom of DOM lives or dies here.  Here we decide whether we live in freedom or live as slaves to Jastral Fane!  To The Dominion!"  "To the Dominion!" they shouted back.  They kept shouting, countering the jeers of the Fane troops that now arrived and advanced in their own wall.  The walls finally touched, and the butchery began.

Torig Feja strode the battlements of Corbam castle.  His happiness was a qualified one.  He could taste victory, but it tasted a bit too much of Troc.  Kakak and Ubug, the two Troc "supervisors" had come to blows attempting to divide up the meagre spoils they were allowed.  Feja had deliberately used the Troc at points of most danger to reduce their numbers.  Now that his men matched their number, he grew less patient.  "If you two idiots do not shut your maws, I will disembowel the both of you."  He finally managed to shut them up but he knew that their spat was far from over.  From the battlements Feja spied on the activities of the Petrosians, but there was little that he could see.  It made no difference.  He was waiting for Hallmore's forces to arrive.  He wanted to add Petros to his new collection of Dukes.  He already had Sondeg and Corbam in the dungeon below.  "I want all the errant Dukes gathered before me" Jastral had said to him.  "So I can 'talk' to them".

It was noon when Feja made his big mistake.  Kakak and his followers had demanded to be let out of the northern gate.  Kakak demanded that they either "fight Grimdon now" or go home.  Feja started counting in his head.  Petros had maybe a thousand men.  He had around 900 men and 900 Troc.  Hallmore would have perhaps two thousand.  He could easily afford to lose 450 Troc.  He tried to convince Kakak to take his forces out over the bridges to attack "the Grimdon" that he insisted "his scouts reported" were there.  But Kakak, and nearly every other Troc in Corbam knew that there were no Grimdon by the lack of "foul stink".  Suddenly all of the Troc realized that their great losses were not a fluke, and that Feja wanted again to spend Troc softening the enemy for men.  Kakak used Feja's mistake to rally his forces.  When Ubug complained, Kakak swung his scythe and neatly removed his head.  Chaos in the castle ensued.

Next: The Battle of Corbam pt.4

Most of the town of Corbam had receded behind the castle walls.  They crowded the bailey and awaited the sound of an approaching army.  Jonas Corbam was nervous.  He wondered if he had made a mistake.  If he had given his regalia to Fane he would spending the springtime at the hunt, perhaps.  Now he was the hunted.  He knew he would be shown no mercy.  He would probably be eaten by a Troc.  He spoke none of these thoughts to his men but instead urged them to be ready.  "They will spend themselves on our defenses" he said.  But he and his immediate ancestors had been lazy.  In truth, Castle Corbam was full of holes, patched only hastily for the DOM Triplo contest.  And if even a reasonable Troc force managed to cross the river upstream and destroy his bridges, he could count on no effective southern help across the swollen spring river.  Riders from the south arrived announcing that Garthon was on his way, but that was little comfort when the horde of Troc and men began pouring down Corbam Valley just a few short minutes later.  "They are here" shouted a soldier from the battlement.  The enemy covered themselves with shields as they advanced.  As soon they were close enough the Corbamites rained spears and arrows down upon them.

Gorg Deepcut and his Grimdon force had left Casunas several days ago.  They had been sent to Dorlan first to thwart any enemy landings there.  When they saw Fane sail up Bormis Bay, they headed north.  They reached sight of Bormis too late to be of any help.  They saw the evidence of a Petrosian northern retreat, and decided to follow.  One of their scouts reported that Fane was also marching behind them and in apparent pursuit of the Petrosians.  Outnumbered three to one Gorg knew that turning and confronting the enemy would be foolish.  By sending a Kineticist north to find out what was happening in Corbam he learned that Fane was on the march everywhere in Corbam and that the city would be engulfed soon.  He also knew that Petros might arrive only to be sandwiched between the two Fane armies.  He needed to slow or stop the Fane march from the south.  Or, make this a double-decker sandwich.

The fight at the castle was heating up.  Taking advantage of Corbam's weaknesses, the Troc spearmen had jammed their weapons into the eroding walls and used them as ladders.  The screaming began as city folk ran amok trying to avoid grisly death.  Concentrating their forces at the river gates leading to the bridges, Corbam managed to hold the enemy for awhile, but in the end they were routed and the gates were finally opened.  But as the Troc ran to the bridges they came under arrow fire from a group of reserved archers in the buildings opposite the river, making the destruction of the stone bridges a difficult task.  These men were finally reinforced as Garthon Blade arrived in the nick of time with his force of two thousand.  The enemy backed into the castle and for a moment there was a standoff across the two still intact bridges that spanned the Corbam River.

Commander Halldore and his Fane army were moving as fast as they could.  But something was not quite right.  His scouts were not returning.  He had little time to do anything about it.  He had to press on.  His men were tired.  Most had not rested much since the battle of Bormis.  The night before, one of his biggest soldiers, a mountain of a man went missing when taking a piss.  He was discovered next morning a half hour into their march, a crumpled heap on the ground.  As if he had fallen from a great height.  He tried not to register any fear or concern, but Halldore's men were less successful.  By mid day they could hear the screams of battle from Corbam.

Next: The Battle of Corbam pt.3

The decisive battle of the south is fought in and around Corbam.  And the forces under the command of Forcellus Blaad face down Fane in their own territory.  Castan had the northern Fane troops trapped on a peninsula of land, and the Orog and Grimdon opposed each other in the Malpedun Pass.

Niles Trisgan commanded the ships that had had arrived in Bormis  with a thousand men and greeted the victorious Fane army.  "The Petrosians have fled north" reported Commander Baynor Halldore.  "They are retreating north on the east side of Sondeg River.  They are headed for Corbam, this is certain.  We cannot get to Corbam before they do and they have destroyed the bridges.  We will use our ships and launches to cross.  I have sent fast riders to Torig to tell him to immediately march his troc army out of Corbam Pass and take the castle in the north of the city.  He is to hold at the bridges.  This will slow Petros, he will not want to battle us across bridges, and he will not want to cross the Corbam river at the mercy of our archers.  This will give us time to arrive.   We will keep to the the west to avoid being harried by the Grimdon.  We will try to flank them from behind if they camp near the bridges.

Torig Feja had the distasteful duty of organizing an army of one thousand men and two thousand Troc.  He knew that this punishment was because he had balked at forking over his regalia to Fane.  He had wanted to deal a bit.  Fane finally needed something from him and he did not want to just give it away.  But Jastral Fane did not see Feja as anything but another vassal.  He did not appreciate such reticence.  Feja quickly realized this and backpedaled with embarrassing speed, but the damage was done.  Now the odor of Troc filled his nostrils, and he and his men camped in dark, dank places.  He daily prayed to Esam, Fuegon, and any other god he could think of to receive the command to march on Corbam, a city with Inns and cooked food.  He and his unpleasant companions occupied Troc caverns near the summit of the Corbam Pass.  They were entrenched there.  Jastral Fane's instructions were clear.  Trocs were not to make any sorties on their own.  Trocs were not to achieve victories, only aid in the victories of men.  "They die first" Jastral had said in private council with Torig before to took command.  But the Troc were not to be so easily governed. Kakak was one of two large Troc in the army that had become the Troc supervisors.  Kakak had been told by his Troc scouts that Grimdon forces marched on their own.  "Why were the Troc being shepherded and not allowed to command their own armies?  Why are we being commanded by men?" Receiving only a glare and a shrug from Torig, Kakak decided not to pursue it at the moment. He did not want Torig to appoint the other Troc leader, Ubug, who was a bit more compliant to human command to be supervisor over all of the Troc forces.
And besides, Kakak was eager to raid the human city and kill enemy humans and Grimdon.  And their human overlords could be dealt with afterwards.   All of the Troc relished the prospect of raiding lands they had once owned and long been chased out of.  So they too eagerly awaited the word to march.

Garthon Blades scouts rode on ahead.  He knew that Corbam was guarded only by one thousand men, a huge sum normally, but not with two thousand Troc in the hills and three thousand men on their way up from Bormis.  Doing the math, he figured that they were outnumbered five to three.  If they could only get to Corbam before the Trocs marched they could defend from Corbam Castle.  Speed was of the essence.  His men were demoralized, having just lost one city.  And they were tired and on the run.  This was not going to be easy.  He could only hope that the thousand men at Corbam could hold off the horde until they arrived.

Next: The Battle of Corbam pt.2

Ever since the days of the God Fuegon, the Fane family had claimed ownership of much of the west and north.  They were the only men there at one time.  Isban and Petrosian men were in the east and south.  They were separated by the non-human races.  In the minds of the educated, this was an odd return to their history of 10,000 years ago.  The Fane family lost much of their lands after the fall of Fuegon.  But by the year 1,100 they had reclaimed much of it, and then indeed conquered the entire Kingdom.  Acutely aware of his loss by Orsan's folly, they were now back to their holdings during the day of Fuegon, with the exception of Castan Province.

Cawdar is the largest and strongest family aligned to Fane.  Hiram Cawdar was regarded as a puppet of Fane, and who awarded Jastral his royal regalia immediately upon request.  The people of Cawdar, Zent and Nord, however, were neatly divided in their loyalty and interest in remaining allied to a Duke whose family no longer controlled DOM, and who was on the run.  And no one liked Jastral Fane.  They did not swell the ranks of the Fane armies by much, and then only by being impressed into their employ.  Considering how long they had been under Fane control, this was regarded as a boon to the new Petrosian King.

Jastral knew that Castan would need to be reckoned with.  They could be deadly if provoked, but were not aggressive.  That is why they had never been conquered by Fane.  Jastral Fane had committed two thousand men stationing them in the city of Nord to keep the Castans in Castan.  He should have committed more.

Life in the province of Lars Castan was hard.  It was frozen most of the year.  The mountainous lands are well matched to their ancient Castig Morits forbears that immigrated there so long ago.  As their ancestors, they fiercely protected their own.  Lars Castan had realized that the Kingdom of DOM was now his home.  He felt that his ancient namesake would have agreed.  Strength in numbers crossing the icy shelf of life together.  So attacking DOM meant attacking him.  Attacking his family.
Lars Castan also raised two thousand fighting men.  He marched them to Maybon.  Lars was not one to sit inside when a dangerous pack of wolves could be hunted down and killed.

Bereal Fane was Jastral's younger brother.  He was commding the Fane forces in the north.  He was only eighteen.  He was a Fane though, and that was supposed to mean something.  His brother had convinced him that it did.  He was smart enough to know that if he could meet the Castan forces at the Maybon River and force them to cross into their shield wall they could make short work of the Castan.  He marched his men out to position at the edge of the river which was covered in ice with many questionable spots.  He hoped that the Castans would either lose footing on the ice or fall in altogether while his army held their wall at waters edge.  Apparently he had not been to DOM during the Festival and seen the Castans play Icekregg.  Before midday, the river bank snow was stained a deep red and the Fanes were on the run.  They would keep running, losing over one thousand men in the process, until they reached Point Zent and were pinned by sea and Castan.  But before they reached that spot, two other major battles would be fought that would decide the outcome of the war, the Battle of Corbam and the Battle of Corvos.

Next: The Battle of Corbam

It may have been spring, but the Gods forgot to tell Forbesh.  The north was still covered with snow and ice.  Chill winds still blew.  The Northern Orog city of Gorgat lie in the mountains near the crest of the Forbesh Pass. 

"From this Pass…" Forcellus said to his assembled troops, "Fane will send his armies to conquer the Kingdom.  If we let them through, we are all lost.  But can we cannot hold them from here.  We cannot stay in this frozen valley.  Therefore, we must pursue them.  We must advance on Gorgat, take it, then push on to Corvos.  If we do that, we cut Fane off from Cawdar and Castan by land.  They then must commit ships to reinforcement.  If Castan can join us in Corvos, we will march straight on to Fane itself."  A cheer went up from the three thousand huddled there, of which one thousand were Raylan from Glamellille.  "We will rid the Kingdom of traitors and vermin.  We will warm ourselves with their blood."  Forcellus knew that what he was asking was a tall order.  The Petrosians would have to march uphill into the pass and take on an entrenched opponent.  And their numbers, according to scouts, matched theirs.  Duke Jastral Fane himself was among them.   Forcellus knew that Fane would be happy to wait there until the Petrosian southern forces collapsed. 

Duke Jastral Fane had declared himself King of DOM.  This Kingdom now belonged to him by birthright.  His father was dead, even if it had been by his own hand.  He had been dealt a serious blow when his coup had been foiled.  He had thought himself as invincible as his uncle Keldrun.  His defeat filled him with insecurity.  Jastral ordered the attack on Bonilan as soon as the weather made it possible.  He did not want to battle the enemy so close to the Fane capital.  He also knew that securing Bormis Bay would be crucial to his plan of gutting the Petrosian heartland. 

There were two factors that would seriously affect the outcome of the battle that was about to begin.  Despite the swagger of the Orog, they feared the Rayla.  They could fight Grimdon happily, but avoided the mysterious mental powers of the Rayla since ancient times.  The second factor was that Jastral Fane detested the Orog.  They were useful as fodder, but he would not allow his men to bed down among them.  Therefore his troops were as cold and tired as Blaad's.   And when it was reported that Forcellus was advancing on Gorgat, Fane stayed back, at the crest of the mountain pass.  Jastral thought that the Orog would weaken the enemy in a long and bloody street-and-tunnel battle in Gorgat, then he would ride in and save the day.  He did not want to fight next to Orog.  And so the Orog of Gorgat found themselves suddenly alone against three thousand troops, one third of which were the feared Rayla.  They were bested easily in a bloody rout and began running backwards from the city toward the Fane lines at the crest of the pass.  The Petrosians were not much weakened, and indeed were filled with battle lust at so easy a victory.  It was the Fane army that was demoralized, as they were confronted now not only by superior numbers, but with with a madly retreating ally coming straight at them.  Reluctantly, Fane ordered retreat, though he hardly had to as his men had already begun fleeing back over the pass. The day belonged to Forcellus.  The Forbeshi Pass and the Orog City of Gorgat now belonged to the Petrosian King of DOM.

Next: The Battle of Nord

Map depicting the first four battles of the Domish Civil War.  In Bormis (commander Garthon Blade, and with King Lythe, His Eminence Tirian and Lord Jared).  In Malpedi (Commanders King Ironfist Grimbow of the Grimdon and Kanaille of the Raylan).  In Forbesh (Commander Forcellus Blaad), and in Nord (Commander Duke Lars Castan).

Three ancient enemies watched each other carefully.  From the south came the Grimdon, one thousand strong.  A similar amount of Raylan had marched west from Hamelille.  The Oroc in the Malpedun Pass matched them.  It was unheard of that Grimdon and Raylan would march together.  Hulak the Oroc commander did not believe that it would hold.  He thought "If I attack Grimdon only, the Rayla will not come to their aid.  They will wait for their turn.  If we take them separately, we will win.  If I reserve half of my forces, they will know that we intend to use the other half to fight them."  And so the Oroc commander shouted for all to be ready, but only one division to move.  Humak had been told by Fane to simply hold the pass, but he could not let the taunts of the Grimdon go unanwered.  The silent observation of the Raylan he took to be patience, not an immediate will to fight.  "And if we do nothing as the coward Fanes suggest, then we are not Orogaat (true Orogs of valor)."  And so down from the Malpedun Pass they ran, screaming as they went.

King Ironfist Grimbrow had sent one division of his troops south to help with Bormis.  They would not arrive there before the first part of the battle began (the part recounted so far) but they would arrive to help with the Battle of Corbam that occurred immediately afterward (which will be told shortly).  King Ironfist himself took another division of Grimdon and marched with them northward to the Malpedun.  So it was the Grimdon King himself that met that day with the Raylan army of Commander Kanaille of Hamelille.  Kanaille was not a King, but the Raylan had no king.  They were ruled by a council of elders.  Kanaille was their war champion.  To King Ironfist, Kanaille was the King of Hamelille.  Kanaille had control of the Raylan forces and had elder advisors.  He himself had nagging elder advisors that he felt the need to please from time to time.  Both "kings" were well aware of the strange and historic situation that they were in.  That they should finally march together, and at the behest of humans.  "In the spirit of the Staff" thought Kanaille.  For it was exactly 9,000 years before when they had last met in alliance for the first and last time, when they had agreed with Isban, Petros and the Sahag to construct the Elemental Staff barring Gods from Uranta.  "How odd that we should be acting at the behest of Petros, whom we thought had been destroyed."  But Kanaille said none of this to Ironfist as the great Grim mated up to him and clasped him in an awkward, but viselike bear hug.  "It's about time" Ironfist bellowed, and in a way expressed Kanaille's thoughts in a simpler, Grimdon way. 

And so on that day, the forgotten arrangement of 9000 years ago bound them and as Humak looked on in horror, the two forces merged together for the first time in history and met the single charging division of Orog.  They stood no chance.  Humak ordered the other division to join the fray, but it was too late, the reinforcements met up with their retreating compatriots  and confusion reigned.  After only an hour of Grimdon axes and Raylan arrows, all of the Orog had run for the hills and the protection of the Malpedun Pass.  The Grimdon and Raylan pursued them up into the pass.  The Orog dutifully backed away.  Both Ironfist and Kanaille knew that to pursue them any further would be foolhardy as their capital of Kamul would eventually provide the Orog with enough reinforcements to overcome their momentary defeat.  The two allies wanted only to keep them from commanding the heights above the valley of Hamellille.  "Besides" growled Ironfist with a smile "better to keep the Lycanthropes of Lake Angus between us and them."

Next: The Battle of Forbesh

The merchant city of Bormis lies at the mouth of the Sondeg River on Bormis Bay.  The city exists only to trade goods from Sondeg and Corbam with Portha and Cosine.  Bormis would be an excellent place for Fane ships to land troops headed north to Corbam, therefore holding the city was of great importance.  Garthon Blade knew this, but he also knew that doing so with the number of troops he commanded would be difficult.  Bormis was not made to be defended.  As everyone profited by it's existence, no one had feared enemies or felt they needed to build protection from them.  If Fane attacked by sea as well as land Garthon knew that the kingdom would be lost here.  If that happened, he knew they would need to retreat.  So rather than try to defend from within the city, Garthon chose to build a series of defenses just beyond the city, where the bulk of his men would be stationed, and more defenses at the harbor.  Bormis itself would simply be a supply center.  He set up sentries to warn if Fane ships were imminent.  If so warned, his men would leave the upriver defense, cross the city and man the harbor defenses.  If Fane attacked only by land, he would leave them upriver.  They would need to remain mobile, especially if Fane were to attack by land and sea at the same time, so they could bid a hasty retreat.  Upriver, his men would defend behind ditches and marshland, forcing the enemy to cross them while they flung spears and arrows.  If they managed to cross the impediments, they would face Garthon's shield wall at a disadvantage with insecure footing.

It was the last day of winter when scouts reported that Fane in the Revan Pass were on the move.  Two divisions of men were marching, mostly on foot. "So far it was only two to one" thought Garthon as he readied the troops for battle.  The enemy would would reach them by mid-day on the first day of spring.  In the morning of that momentus day, Garthon, King Lythe, Tirian and Jared were among the troops.  The King rode down the line of men which numbered about a thousand.  He shouted encouragement.  The men shouted approval, motivated more by hatred of oppressive Fane than by love of the new king and country.  The enemy finally arrived close enough to release a hail of arrows, then spears.  They occasional scream could be heard as an arrow found it's mark, but mostly they heard the voices of the enemy roaring as they advanced, and the wet sloshing of boots that clumsily made headway through bogs.

The Petrosians in the front ranks held their shields aloft to ward off enemy spears.  Finally coming close, Fane hastily constructed a shield wall at the opposite edge of the ditches from the Petrosians and proceeded to march down and across.  These crevasses would serve as graves for many Fane and some Petrosians as the two shield walls met.  In the end, however, two thousand Fane warriors proved too much to hold and the Petrosians were forced backward, then flanked.  Garthon ordered a fast retreat back into the city.  Fane, however, did not follow but stopped just beyond arrow reach.  The reason for this seeming reluctance to pursue was made apparent on the following day when a sentry announced that Fane ships were sailing up the Bay of Bormis.  Garthon knew that they were to be sandwiched.

As the attack and defense were executed on the western side of the wide Sondeg River, Garthon knew that an evacuation of his men would have to occur on the east side.  The river was divided within the city and spanned by two great bridges.  And so they marched to the east, destroying the bridges as they went.  They then retreated northward.  Bormis was lost.

Next: The Battle of Malpedi