The War of Bulls & Stallions - Part 4

Map Location #3.

‘Battle of Bygone’ -- The day of the two once proud armies', now much reduced in strength from the years of constant deployment, meeting arrives. Only the royal contingent of cavalry from Marchrise takes their position opposite the coalition forces. King Tailaq is assured at the head of his elite horse guard. The Ennorren cavalry coming from the patrimony approaches through the forests to the south, carefully so as to preserve the element of surprise. It is evident that the Cascil led force is outmatched in every measure. Only the pride of the once mighty force keeps them from immediate withdrawal and a request for terms. The Bull banners lead a delegation to the middle of the site to await their opposite numbers, to discuss the surrender. Lamnen Casc is near to this decision when the House Trabberge send word from Bygone that all is not lost. Trabberge instructs him to wheel the majority of his cavalry to the south-west and make all speed to the city walls. Lamnen must leave a force behind to fight the delaying action and selects, House Acery for this ‘honour’. The troops of Acery acquit themselves well and by the time they have been destroyed, the main body of coalition horse is well away. Bygone is a place of weird occurrences and some suspicion but the plight of their side is such that the cavalry is happy to be off the field where defeat was clearly imminent. For the Bull banners it is only a little worry. A defeat to deal still, just delayed. With shouts of “First victory, then drinks in Bygone’s taverns!” called out, the royal cavalries head into the city. What awaits and befalls them is the stuff of treachery and deceit bred of desperation by minds too far opposed to know what is right. Initially, the only sign of any of what was to come are insidious traps and deployments more akin to the workings of the Cloister than Bygone. Some horse are lost but all seemed well. Confidence often breeds a creature of proud contempt and so it was in Bygone that day. As the massed cavalry of Marchrise led by horse guard and king reach the city centre the entirety of the middle half-mile of the place collapses. The streets fall in, to a depth of some eighty feet. The flower of Ennorren might is almost to a man and horse broken in a mass grave below the ruined city centre. The Stallion banners watch from the safety of the stable ground beyond the massive pit. Trabberge’s plan has succeeded in all respects. King Tailaq dead, cavalry destroyed and a vacant seat of power. Heralds look to the sky and note sun and weather, date and time. This marks the end of the Ennorren Overkings in the college’s annals. Not the end of the war, however. The war will continue as the second Ennorren cavalry stops its secret advance while still in the forests south of Bygone. News of the calamity comes by way of the heralds. They retreat to Ennorren to plan the revenge. While the victory has saved the stallion banners, they are in no fit state to press their advantage. They decide to return to their holdings to re-supply, rebuild and resume the conflict when they can count on their superior numbers of Houses to win the day.