"Do not pretend to understand war unless you have seen it with your own eyes." - Anonymus Soldier.
Dragon Age: The Battle of River Dane.
Loghain.
As the Fereldan army began to charge down the hill towards the Chevaliers that stood beyond the icy cold waters of River Dane, so too did the Orlesian Commander spur into action. The four thousands heavily armored cavalry along with the one thousand lighter cavalary began their gallop towards the Rebels, behind them came the Orlesian support troops: The seven thousand crossbowmen, light and heavy Infantry.
It was exactly as he had planned. He knew his force of a mere five thousand would be crushed against a charge of cavalry, leaving Rowan and her small force of one three hundred cavalry and seven hundred infantry to be destroyed if they attempted to flank the Orlesians. He also knew that the Chevalier Commander would see this as well and charge his force headlong into Loghain's own, eager to score an easy victory against an enemy he knew lacked the discipline of the Chevalier Legions.
That is why Loghain had chosen this exact spot for battle, just across one of the largest crossings for the River Dane. He knew the Olresian Legions had no choice but to either ford the river here or face marching through the Imperial Highway, which would have left them exposed to flank attacks and mitigated the power of their cavalry. The third option would have been to take one of the smaller crossings along the river. In this place he gave the Orlesian Commander the false belief that he had betters chances and that Loghain was just an inept leader.
They would learn soon that a Mac Tir is not and never was inept.
As the Fereldans charged down the hill, weapons drawn with almost no cohesion he suddenly stopped and shouted: "Halt!" and they did as ordered, just a few meters from the water. His Night Elves, what remained of them anyway, drew their bows and fired along with Loghan and the few archers he could trust to not miss, most notably being the very young daughter of the Bann of the Waking Sea. However, the men had been forced to either relinquish their bows for crossbows or take up a sword or spear along with a shield and join the ranks of the infantry.
It seemed futile to use bows against the Orlesians, as the mounts of the chevaliers were clad in a full set of silverite barding, lighter than their riders but still thick enough to repel any arrow and while the Orlesian light horse lacked any sort of armor it was not Loghain's intent to score kills, but to force them to lower their visors and perhaps slow them down to give the men enough time to form up as best they could.
As Loghain fired arrow after arrow, he had to give the Orlesians credit for their skill. They were able to lower their visors without any of them losing control of their horse, or even slowing down in their charge. If the Orlesian Commander was starting to have doubts about the battle it was not shown at all.
When the Fereldan crossbows opened up moments later, they did little to slow the charge even if some horsemen where killed. By now the infantry had formed up in a crescent formation but save for the Legion the front line was made up of spearmen from the Bannorn. Cheap spears that would stand no match against the heavy armor of the Chevaliers.
Loghain had taken this into account. As the Chevaliers reached the water, he fired one lost arrow and turned to the man beside him. He barely noticed the massive golem that stood almost lifeless with a large boulder in its hands.
Wilhelm had been quiet during the battle so far. Not a single spell had been uttered by his lips, yet when Loghain turned to him there was no need for a command. The mage sprung to action instantly.
"Unda temerarius mihi" Wilhelm uttered, weaving his hands in a complex manner as ice started to form on his fingertips. "Verto unda in Glacies!" As those words escaped Wilhelm's mouth, he pointed his hands towards the river and the water froze. It had an immediate and deadly effect for the tightly packed mass of Chevaliers charging at full speed.
Men fell from their horses which had their hooves now frozen in the ice. Horses slipped and lost control, crashing down with their riders on the ground and the men which had not been on the water came and trampled their comrades to death under their mounts, for a horse could not be stopped so easily. In the span of a few seconds, hundreds of Chevaliers and Light Horseman had been killed or incapacitated.
Then Wilhelm's spell broke as the mage fell on all fours from the effort it had taken to freeze the river, reverting the ice back into water. Men and horses alike that could not rise were swept away, to face the terrible death by drowning. Yet the rest of the Orlesians charged straight ahead, knowing that they could still crush the Fereldans. It was then that the Golem came alive, and with a mighty swing threw the massive rock, killing just as many as Wilhelm had done.
But the Orlesian Cavalry was not done, they charged straight ahead into the Fereldan lines, driving deep into the wall of spears that awaited them and from behind came their own Infantry and Crossbows. Loghain turned towards one of his aides.
"Tell the Highever men to engage now." he ordered. He could not help but feel a bitter taste on his tongue, for Teyrn Cousland had been fiercely loyal towards Meghren up until now, even killing Arl Howe's children and brother and leaving the young Rendon Howe as one of the last with a claim on the arling. The Teyrn himself was too old to fight, and thus his son Bryce had come with a large force of well equipped swordsmen.
Loghain had sent half these men to White River along with Bryce himself, Bryland and Howe so that they could find Maric and more importantly to deal with the Orlesian's camped there. He just hoped that tempers wouldn't flare between Rendon and Bryce, especially since he and Maric had decided to sweep under the rug the true story of what Teyrn Cousland had done, to try and make some peace with the teryn.
These thoughts however were of no matter here. By now the Highever troops had engaged the Orlesians in battle, but even forced to fight on such unfavorable ground he could see clearly that the Orlesians had begun to win.
"Give me fire." he asked one of the boys next to him. Children usually did such tasks as carrying supplies of arrows or food to the men in battle. Many of them died but no one cared for it.
"Don't miss Loghain." said Wilhelm as he regained his composure. "We may not last long."
Loghain almost didn't hear him as took aim after lighting a special arrow he had saved for this event and fired as far as he could.
Rowan.
She was restless. They were restless. All one thousand men that composed her force could not help but feel the anxiety as it built up[S1] inside them. They couldn't see the battle clearly, but from the limited view they had and from what they could hear they knew it wasn't going well.
'When is he..' That line of thought was never finished as an object whizzed past her, an arrow that left a long scratch on her left cheek as it flew and sank deep in a tree. She didn't even feel the pain until seconds later.
"Milady, are you alright?" asked a knight, concerned. Rowan was about to answer when she realized just what that arrow meant.
"No time now, Ser." she said, strapping her helmet on and drawing her sword. "Loghain's has given us his signal, now we charge!"
She kicked her horse on the sides, leading her cavalry from under the trees into the wide open field. They formed up in two lines of one hundred and fifty riders each, followed by the infantry that tried their best to keep up.
The Orlesians did not notice at first, but when they did their crossbowmen turned and unleashed a hail of bolts upon Rowan's Cavalry. Few, if any, actually hit a rider for the Fereldan Cavalry was faster then their Orlesian counterparts. Just as the two sides clashed, she screamed what would forever become Loghain's own battle cry.
"By Maric and the Maker!"
The Orlesian crossbowmen fell like bugs under her onslaught, and caught on two sides the Orlesians were forced into a battle of annihilation. Rowan wouldn't be able to tell how long the battle lasted after, it may have been hours or even half a day, but she could remember feeling the icy water at her feet as she dismounted to fight. She remembered as the dwraven Legionnaires died one by one, honoring their debt and taking with them dozens of Orlesians.
Most of all she remembered as Loghain took down the Orlesian Commander's steed with a single arrow by aiming at his mount's leg, and then rushing into the fray and killing the man after a long and brutal duel in which Loghain's armor was torn to shreds. She remembered as Loghain removed the armor from the corpse as the last of the Orlesians either died or surrendered.
She found him on the same hill where they had talked earlier in the same morning. It seemed like a time long ago.
Half their force was dead or dying from their wounds, and the other half would be in no shape to fight for some time.
"What do we do with them?" she asked him as he strapped on the last piece of his new armor.
"We kill them." he stated simply and then stood up and left Rowan where she was, too stunned to speak.
Shouts arose from the Orlesians, only to be silenced shortly after. Rowan still stood there, understanding the need for Loghain's actions ( they simply lacked the capacity to keep prisoners ) but not able to agree with them.
She watched Loghain as he gave orders to his men, the armor seemingly glowing on him and she realized that this is who he was meant to be. The Shield of Ferelden, the commoner turned General, the one who would defend Ferelden no matter the price.
The Hero of River Dane.
A/N: Thanks to Raonar for proofreading, and just a note: The way the battle played out here will play a part in my War of Shadows fiction.