"The World may appear to change, but its natural tendency is to revert to its former state."
(SARAN, Goddess of Law; quoted in the Introduction to the Official History of the Second Valdrean Empire)
"Some places are unconquerable!"
(King Zergal; from his victory speech)
"The way to obtain what one wants is to work from the inside. There is always a Demon who can bring one the key to the most closely-guarded treasure chamber."
(King Bjørn II of the North; from the prologue to his Grimoire)
"I do not seek to challenge the Emperor on the basis of his incompetence. That is his divine right. My case is that he resorted to cheating to make up for his mistakes, and that is contrary to divine law. It is my right, indeed the duty of my office, to bring these matters to the attention of this Honourable Court."
(Stirros III of Satril, Director of the Inquisition into Demon Summoning; from his opening speech to the Rainbow Court in the case of SARAN v The Emperor and Privy Council)
"Why can we not learn from our mistakes? Pride will always be the Downfall of Beings, from people to Gods. None is spared moments of obdurate pride."
(Harrek, Duke of Grinen, Lord Protector of the North; from a sermon delivered at the TPE, Bjarmigen, 8 VI 2501)
After his capture of the Citadel of Rockholme on the 7th, Zergal spent 8 Jerem resting and regrouping his victorious, but exhausted troops, and, so far as he could, the mobs of civilians.
On the 9th he launched a fresh offensive into the Lower City, in support of Maglan. He used the mob and the Balrogs against the Lower Lake and Luften’s Forts (where Hugran’s garrisons held out, with the remnants of his forces). Zergal’s small force of regular troops (their ranks somewhat swelled by some old faces who had not been seen since he was last successful) by-passed the Lower Lake Fort, to join the fray in the Lower City, Zergal leading them from the front. Arril had now captured the Market Fields, and was pressing into the ruined town. He was assisted in this by the appearance now (for the first time) on the Valdrean side, of Angels (rumoured to be of SARAN), who sought out the Balrogs to attack.
The day’s battle was inconclusive, though it could have gone much worse for the Bandits were it not for a timely intervention from Cromach’s forces. Luften’s Fort fell, by some underhand thievish treachery, but the Lower Lake Fort still held out.
That night the Valdrean Adventurers raided the Citadel, but they encountered the Balrogs, and lost the element of surprise. The attack was over as swiftly as it began, and Zergal escaped with his life. But simultaneous surprise Adventurer attacks on Maglan’s and Cromach’s Forts were more successful, and both Maglan and Cromach were killed as they sought to resist being taken prisoner. They were swiftly replaced, however, by Vaschue and Karazef respectively, formerly their lieutenants. The Angels were not involved in any of these attacks.
The Valdreans were now over-exposed on the Market Fields, and on the 10th Zergal, now in overall command of the Bandit forces, launched Vaschue on an all-out assault on their right flank, by the Gate, to cut off their supply. This threatened to finish the Valdrean Army, as most of them were now inside the City. As a diversion, Zergal and Karazef maintained the pressure on Arril’s left and centre. Zergal also had the mob drop rocks on the Valdrean rear from the Upper City, and sent thieves down the cliff to harass them, whilst the Balrogs defended the Bandit forces against the Angels.
But Arril was well aware of the weakness of his position, and was already in the process of withdrawing. To slow the Valdrean withdrawal, Zergal and Karazef attempted to draw them into heavier fighting.
Bright flashes of magical combat now appeared over the Gate, as the Balrogs went into action in support of Vaschue, whose men had found themselves faced with the Angels of SARAN, Imperial Guard and Adventurers, all defending the Gate. But the Balrogs were cut down, and Vaschue could not make the common soldiers press home the attack. Thus it was that Arril escaped the total annihilation of the Valdrean Army in Rockholme by a hair’s breadth, and successfully completed his withdrawal to the Field of Blood.
Vaschue and Karazef did succeed in routing the besieging picket lines, which were withdrawing to join the main army.
At Dawn of 11 Jerem Zergal launched an attack on the Valdrean camp upon the Field of Blood. Karazef took the centre, and assaulted out of the Gate. Vaschue was on the right, assaulting from the City, over and through the breaches in the walls. Zergal himself had moved his main force back to the Upper City during the night, and now took the left flank, attacking down the hill from Cromach’s old fort.
The Angels were unable to defend the Valdreans everywhere at once, and the Bandit attack began to overwhelm the demoralised soldiers of the Empire.
Zergal, leading in person the charge down upon the Valdrean right, survived a direct Angel attack. He was now beginning to turn the Valdrean right flank. He shouted encouragement to his men as, flushed with success, they threw themselves with new-found vigour into what was now becoming a rout of half of Arril’s army. Even Vaschue was now making some progress towards linking up with Zergal to complete the encirclement. Karazef, on the other hand, was still stalled outside the Gate.
By now the Imperial Army was in full retreat, but still its legendary discipline held, and Arril made a most credible attempt to withdraw from the field in good order, to avoid being surrounded. Timely intervention by the Angels prevented the gap being closed, and a large part of the Valdrean army escaped, with sufficient cohesion to be able to drive off the bolder Bandits who pursued them.
Zergal raised his WAGREN-Hammer standard over the Field of Blood, atop a great mound of Valdrean bodies, and the Bandit troops and the mob flocked round, chanting his name. Zergal crowned himself as Bandit King there and then, promising to lead his subjects on a campaign to drive the Valdrean invaders from their lands. Vaschue and Karazef were soon forgotten, although they were not reported killed.
There was great rejoicing during the victory and coronation celebrations in the City that night. "Rockholme is free at last!" cried the revellers. Thankful that they, at least, had been spared from the awful carnage of recent months, they did not think of all those who had not lived to see this day, nor wonder how many more were still to die. Whilst they danced in the streets, the Valdreans crept away down the mountain, to defend the territory they still held.
The Valdrean defeat led to a political crisis at home. But the Empire has long-established methods for resolving such crises. Kravar, Champion of Aven, challenged Arril to a duel for the Lion Throne.
The duel was fought on the 18th, when Arril defeated Kravar in one of the swiftest contests ever at this level. Teleporting behind Kravar, Arril hit him by surprise in the head with the Sword of the Emperors. Kravar survived this, but was hit in the head again a few seconds later, and went down. Showing no mercy, Arril exercised his traditional right to have the loser put to death. He could not carry out his sentence immediately, as Kravar had taken the precaution of pouring a Regeneration Potion over himself at the beginning of the duel. It therefore fell to Kravar’s own deputy to execute the Lord High Executioner half an hour later.
This cost Arril much of what little was left of his former popularity, but it did win him back the respect of his political opponents.
One who was not cowed was Stirros III, Champion of Satril and Director of the I.D.S. But he chose to challenge Arril not in the Arena, but in the Courtroom. On the 20th he brought proceedings for the impeachment of the Emperor and his entire Privy Council (apart from Stirros himself and his supporters) in the Rainbow Court, the highest court of chivalry in the Empire. The I.D.S. claim the accused are all guilty of "Constructive Demon Summoning, by fraternisation with Demons". The main ground of this claim, as outlined by Stirros in his opening address to the Court, is the use of the Angels of SARAN in the Battle of Rockholme, which was decided upon by the Emperor with the approval of a resolution of the Privy Council, from which Stirros and his party dissented. Stirros also accuses Arril of being intimate with many notorious Demon Summoners. Amongst those he named are Antirey, Boslef and Ceevalon of Fort Venture, King Bjørn XVII and Lord Protector Harrek of the North, the late Prince Kostof II, the heretic Ichixal, the outlaw and traitor Olak-Ksirrin, and the Chaotic Lasker.
During this unprecedented constitutional crisis, the Emperorship has devolved upon Arril’s Second Champion, Kalar of Tarm, who has appointed an ad hoc Privy Council to advise him, the most prominent members of which are Stirros and his faction. Arril and the proper Privy Council are under house arrest. Stirros obtained a week’s adjournment of the proceedings on the 20th, in which to finalise the I.D.S.’s evidence, and the case re-commences 1 Oscow.
Meanwhile in Bjarmigen the TPE and the schismatic Temples of Gods on Earth are re-organising themselves, and building some glorious new Temples. In the Dungeons the Dwarves continue their massive build-up of soldiers and adventurers, and are concentrating the resources of the entire Dwarven Lands upon the conquest of whole areas of the interior of Mount Anar. Their aim, some say, is to rescue their High King. Others say they intend to recover the Axe of Dválin once again. It is also rumoured that their plan is to prepare the way for a further Divine bid to recapture Heaven. Only time will tell for sure.
© P.R. Wild, 30 July 1985
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