The Battle of Aberen

Fearing that High King Thaenor would block Vidon Pass, Asradel sent her main army through the mountains at Aberen. Discovering this move, Thaenor decided to move his troops south to face her. As Aberen was not a member of the Alliance of Thyrenacia, Thyrenacian rules of engagement held no juristiction. Thaenor decided to besiege the city for harboring a renegade.

Asradel waited for a week for reinforcements from Vendaran to arrive. But Thaenor's engineers were actively building seige engines during that time, and were close to deploying them. Fearing for the city, Asradel opted to fight before the bombarts could be put in place. She drew up her forces into the plain beyond Aberen and issued a challenge to the High King.

Thaenor had far more infantry than Asradel. His plan was simple, overwhelm his foe and strike with his cavalry directly at Asradel.

Asradel's plan was to move up with a cavalry screen, then bring her archers into play to lure out Thaenor's foot. Thaenor had no archers of his own, Asradel knew, so she hoped the move would break his line and show weaknesses that she could punch through with her cavalry. She also planned to bring the cavalry under her direct command into a flanking position on Thaenor's left.

Unfortunately, the Roxfert cavalry, under the command of the impetuous Baron Goriard te Nialadath, saw his rival on Thaenor's lines, the Duchess of Gwynas, Sevial te Mithanath, and charged her cavalry, which broke from Thaenor's to meet him. Thaenor sent infantry to support the Duchess.

Panicked by the sudden charge of the enemy infantry, Asradel's archers found themselves trapped between her infantry and those of the enemy with no time to fire their bows. Asradel's cavalry fought to reach the front of the line to break the oncoming enemy infantry, but the confused foot failed to open their ranks to let them pass. Only on Asradel's left were the cavalry unhindered and met the enemy full force.

Finding themselves undefended, the archers in the middle of Asradel's line began to run. Seeing the weak point, Thaenor drove his heavy horse straight for the center, shattering it. By this point, Nialadath had broken to run with a few surviving officers. Wythanaiie sets to flight as well.

Despite the chaos at the center of her line, Asradel's cavalry hold the left and the right, though the right is weakening.

Rather than pursue Asradel's fleeing forces, Thaenor turns his troops and strikes at her position on her left. He intends to kill her personally, destroying all hope for a successful rebellion. But Asradel's routed forces are beginning to rally.

Thaenor forces his way through the melee to challenge Asradel. The two battle while, on her right, Siovel and Davick's forces are annihilated. But Baron of Alethand, Flavion te Mediarte and Duke Wythanaiie have rallied their cavalry divisions and sent them to charge Thaenor. Meanwhile, Asradel's archers begin to fire into the melee, striking friend and foe alike. In the distance, the Black Dragon of Avarna, Endarion, finds himself surrounded by Asradel's infantry and fights his way free.

Finally, Asradel slashes Thaenor, who falls from his mount, his crown rolling away. Believing he has been slain and the battle lost, his forces take to flight. Endarion, the sole survivor of his cavalry division, runs as well, his escape screened by twenty one loyal men at arms. Thaenor's crown is placed on Asradel's head and her troops cheer her as the new queen. Thaenor himself, who was merely knocked unconscious, is taken prisoner.

	Total Combatants	Killed	Wounded/Captured	Survivors
Thaenor	1127	560	304	263
Asradel	1081	389	283	409

The Battle of Aberen was extremely costly for both sides, and Savaiie would suffer the loss of many of its finest and noblest knights for seasons to come. Both armies had over one thousand troops, but only two-hundred sixty three escaped the battlefield. Only fifteen knights, including the fourteen season old Black Dragon, survived. On Asradel's side, only four hundred and nine survived unscathed. But this included sixty-two knights, knights who would go on to be awarded with lands and titles for their loyalty to her. As for Nialdath of Roxfert, Asradel's ire would be a terrible thing.