The Battle of Hallasholm was a battle in the Skandian-Temujai War. It was fought nearby the capital of Skandia, Hallasholm, between a Temujai invasion force and the Skandian defenders, who were assisted by Halt, Horace, Will and Princess Cassandra.
The Temujai were led by General Haz'kam, and the Skandians by Oberjarl Ragnak and Jarl Erak. Oberjarl Ragnak succumbed shortly after the battle due to his many wounds, Erak was elected after him as Oberjarl. The battle led to a Skandian and Araluan victory, and the Temujai retreated back to the Eastern Steppes. After the battle the Treaty of Hallasholm was signed, declaring the peace and alliance between Skandia and Araluen.
Background[]
The Temujai wanted to conquer Skandia to use the Skandian navy, so that they could invade Araluen and other lands around the Stormwhite Sea and the Narrow Sea. Skandian ships would be useful in these invasions, and the absence of the Skandian coastal raids would make it easier for the conquering Temujai. The Temujai, used to lands submitting to them after conquering, reasoned that, after they were conquering, the Skandians would allow their ships to be commandeered, and, if not, the Temujai could hire the Sonderland fleet.
Course of Battle[]
First attack: the Feint
The normal Temujai warmup move, the feint, was tried against the Skandians first. Halt, who had fought with and against the Temujai previously, anticipated it and had a plan ready.
A force of Temujai began to engage the Skandians, then began to fake a retreat back towards their own lines, gradually luring the Skandians away from the protection of their shields. Meanwhile, another group of Temujai was riding to surround the Skandians and hit them with arrows, blocking them from returning. Suddenly, however, the Skandians entered a defensive position, forming a shield wall against the Temujai, while a force of about 100 Skandians surprised the Temujai with an attack from the woods. Several hundred Temujai were killed before they retreated; the Skandians only lost a few dozen men.
Rolling Arrow Storm[]
After Haz'kam saw the failure of the feint attack, he realized that the Skandians probably had an Araluan Ranger with them, as there was no other way that they could have anticipated the plan. Also 150 of their number had gone missing after Slagor's betrayal plans had been discovered and thwarted. Haz'kam decided to switch back to the normal Temujai fighting plan to defeat the Skandians; The Rolling Arrow Storm.
About twenty groups with 60 Temujai in each began riding in seemingly random patterns to strike at a number of points at the Skandian lines, shooting arrows from their horses. The Skandians quickly covered up with their shields to protect themselves. Then, the Temujai, unseen by the shielded Skandians, switched to their sabers and went into a swift stabbing attack against the axemen, causing moderate casualties. The Skandians quickly uncovered to retaliate, killing a few of the warriors, but the Temujai were already retreating. Another group of 60, off to the side, quickly shot a hail of arrows at the momentarily unprotected Skandians, killing more. This process would continue all along the lines, and would not let up until the Temujai had forced or found a breach in the Skandian lines to push through.
Will's 100 archers began to fire upon a group of Temujai who were waiting to fire arrows as the other group withdrew, completely surprising them. After two more volleys, all but about ten of the sixty men in that group were dead. More volleys continued to break up the attacks at other parts of the line.
Haz'kam learned, from a mortally- wounded Colonel Bin'zak, of the archers. He dispatched one of his sons to investigate the archers' position with another group of 60. The archers fired, and the son of Haz'kam, mortaly wounded, managed to report back to Haz'kam about what he had seen. Minutes after he finished speaking, he died as well.
Attack Against the Archers[]
Haz'kam gathered up 50 of the Temujai's elite archers, called Kaijin, into a special force, to attack the archers. Will, not realizing this, sent a volley of arrows at them, killing a dozen. The rest, however, shot accurate, aimed shots at his archers, killing at least 20. Will, however, was an excellent archer in his own right, and began to shoot the Kaijin down in vengeful anger at the death of so many of his archers. The Kaikin tried to shoot him, but to no avail, as Will was being protected by Horace, who carried a wall shield. After the Skandian archers fired another volley at the Kaijin, as they were focused on Will's position and not paying attention, and the Kaijin withdrew.
Fresh Temujai soldiers continued to replace the dead ones, but the Skandians did not have such luxuries. As they continued to doggedly fight on against fresh new soldiers, their energy reserves began to dwindle. Nit'zak, deputy commander, realized this, and knew that a bit more force could finally breach the Skandian lines. Accordingly, he put more soldiers in the field and the Skandian defenses began to crumble, exposing the archers behind them. Will and Horace, seeing this, began to attack the Temujai, but were vastly outnumbered and were quickly occupied in defending against multiple foes. Nit'zak continued towards the archers, but was faced by Evanlyn, whom he prepared to kill. Will, seeing this, threw his knife at Nit'zak, mortally wounding him. The other Temujai began to advance, but Halt, who had seen the problem, had arrived and began to pick them off. Meanwhile, Oberjarl Ragnak, in a berserker rage, annihilated the Temujai attacking Horace, and went on to the attack against the remaining enemies.
Defeat of the Temujai and aftermath[]
Erak, who was left in charge after Ragnak went berserk, called up the left flank of Skandians, who had not seen much action, to attack the Temujai from the rear. Faced with these fresh Skandians, the Temujai, who had already lost thousands of men in the field, withdrew. Haz'kam knew that if he continued to fight, he would probably beat the Skandians, but would be unable to make it home again through the territories he had conquered due to his severely weakened force.
Ragnak died fighting a group of 18 Temujai. He had managed to kill 16 of them, and wound the remaining two. He had been wounded in at least 50 places and had finally died due to the amount of blood he had lost. Halt, Will, Horace and the princess discuss Eraks chances of becoming Oberjarl. They think he has a less than a fair chance, due to his role as a tax collector for Ragnak. However, Erak became the new Oberjarl anyway. In order to prevent another invasion by the horse riders, Erak signed a treaty with Cassandra and Araluen, promising no mass Skandian attacks on Araluen like the one Ragnak had made with Morgarath during the rebel baron's second attempt to seize power in return for a force of Araluen archers to aid in Skandia's defense. Though the treaty did not state it, Erak discouraged (which translated more to forbidden) raids on Skandia's new ally.