Chapter 10: The Battle of Ostagar I

In the night of the fourteenth day in the month of Drakonis, year 9:30; the army of Ferelden readied to face the darkspawn onslaught in what would be the greatest battle fought on Fereldan soil since the Independence War, decades ago. The infantry numbering almost thirteen thousand, assembled in the valley between the two hills on which the ruined fortress of Ostagar stood. They stood in close ranks, armed with spears, swords and large kite-shields. Their shields each had the coat of arms of the noble house they served or the province from whence they are recruited. The archers numbering approximately six thousand strong, stood ready on the high causeway above, overlooking the valley. They had their longbows out and ready. In addition, they were assisted by ballistae strategically positioned on the causeway. Lastly the cavalry consisting of five thousand knights and light horsemen stood ready in the woods further away from the fortress. They would wait for the signal to charge the darkspawn on their flanks, which meant they would not be seeing any action for a while.

King Cailan stood in the frontlines along with the infantry. The Grey Wardens and Ash warriors, all of them stood in the frontlines alongside him. Cailan had Duncan on one side and Lord Braden of Denerim on his other. The Circle of Magi had sent a dozen mages as well; these mages along with their templar handlers, were positioned in equal number in the valley and on the causeway. Now with all their men in position, they would now wait for their beastly foes.

A few minutes later, the soldiers on the frontline noticed vague shapes appear among the trees, in the woods ahead of them. There were slight movements and the shapes were indiscernible but it became clear that their inhuman foes have arrived. As the shapes advanced ahead slowly, they became clearer. The darkspawn hosts have come to battle. Some of the men on the frontlines gasped. But they would stand their ground and they readied their shields and spears.

"We will defeat them, your majesty." Duncan proclaimed with conviction.

"Of course, we will!" added Cailan, "The blight ends here," he said with determination.

"Shield Wall!" yelled Lord Braden. The soldiers formed a tight shield wall on the order. The frontlines were now a wooden wall with steel tipped spears pointing outward.

Meanwhile on the opposite side, a Hurlock general advanced ahead, and stood on small mound. He then stared at the human host waiting. He gazed at the entire host from left to right, and then at his own host behind him. He raised his crude blade and gave out a shout. The darkspawn spurred into action and rushed at the outnumbered Fereldan army.

"Archers!" ordered Cailan, a soldier raised a flag signaling the archers on the causeway. The archers nocked their bows and loosed a volley of death on the charging darkspawn. The darkspawn horde was clustered together in a mob, which worked in the archers' favour. Many of the arrows found their mark in the darkspawn. Large numbers of them fell to the shafts. The ballistae were also in action mowing down multiple darkspawn in each shot. Several of the beasts fell even before they could reach the frontlines.

After a couple of volleys, Cailan yelled another order, "hounds!". On the order, over two hundred Mabari war hounds were unleashed by their handlers. The vicious dogs charged towards the advancing horde. They clashed with the darkspawn, matching their teeth and claws against the crude weapons. While the hounds slowed the charge temporarily, it would not be very effective. Vastly outnumbered and away from any support, the hounds soon fell to the darkspawn blades in large numbers. With the Mabari dead, the spawn continued their charge towards the Fereldan host.

Cailan now drew his greatsword, "Charge! For Ferelden!" he screamed, earning surprised looks from Lord Braden and Duncan. What stirred Cailan when he gave this order, no one knows. "For Ferelden!" many soldiers joined in as well and with that order, the soldiers all broke up from their shield wall and rushed towards the darkspawn to face them head on. They charged at the darkspawn, fervently yelling war cries.

Meanwhile, Alvar and Alistair were on the eastern end of the causeway. They watched the opening of the battle. Alvar was taken aback to see the soldiers charging ahead at the darkspawn, 'wasn't the plan to sit in a shield wall and hold the lines?' he pondered.

"We must get to the tower!" bellowed Alistair. "Yes!" agreed Alvar and they ran through the causeway into the western block of Ostagar, where the tower of Ishal stood. As they approached the tower, a score of soldiers came running from the vicinity towards them.

"The tower!... It has been overrun!" yelled a soldier.

"What? How!?" demanded Alvar.

The soldier panted, "Darkspawn… they dug a tunnel underground," he said hastily, "they surprised us and took the tower!"

"How many of them are there?" questioned Alvar.

"Too many, sir," answered a soldier, "They overwhelmed us, many of our unit are slain."

"But we need the tower," said Alistair, "how else will we signal Teyrn Loghain?"

"Yes, the tower of Ishal is very essential," Alvar stated gravely, "the darkspawn in the tower must be purged. They can easily send reinforcements to flank our men from the rear. We must take back the tower!

"And we must also let Loghain know about this, you soldier," Alvar called one of the men, "Teyrn Loghain and our entire cavalry are waiting in the woods beyond the western part of the fortress. You must go this way," he raised his arm towards the woods where Loghain and the cavalry are waiting. "Inform Teyrn Loghain that the tower is currently overrun, and we are trying to take it back. Tell him, that he may have to look for some other signal on the battlefield. Now go!"

"At once, sir!" the soldier saluted and ran towards the woods.

"And you men," Alvar turned to the other soldiers, he counted twenty- two of them. One of them is a mage, some five of them were archers and the rest were spearmen and swordsmen.

"Follow me and we shall take back our tower!" Alvar raised his sword in air, "For Ferelden!" he yelled.

Alvar then organised his band. Alvar, Alistair and the close combatants formed the front; the archers and the mage would support them from the rear. Then the band rushed towards the entrance of the tower.

Outside the tower's entrance, darkspawn were pouring out from the tower. "Have at them!" yelled Alvar and the men charged at the darkspawn. They viciously engaged the darkspawn, hacking and slashing relentlessly. The darkspawn fought back as they could but they would prove no match to the well trained Fereldans. Soon, they were all killed.

"Inside, now!" bellowed Alvar, and they all barged into the entrance of the tower.

The tower was large and wide, with lot of space for movements. Alvar and his men were now in the ground floor of the tower. There stood a bunch of disorganised darkspawn in the same floor, "Attack!" bellowed Alvar, and the they all charged the darkspawn. Many of the darkspawn were slain by Alvar and Alistair alone. Alvar now noticed that his new sword seemed to hurt the darkspawn more than his family sword. 'Mayhap there is some enchantment in the sword," he thought. Soon, the darkspawn were all killed and the ground floor of the tower was clear.

As they gazed around the tower, they noticed in the centre of the ground, was a large hole. This was the tunnel from which the darkspawn had emerged from to seize the tower. Alvar and some of the men, including Alistair walked towards the edge of the open pit. They looked down into the pit, it was pitch black. Alvar wondered how deep it went and where would he emerge if he went in.

"There may be more of them coming," Alvar said gravely, "Alistair, you said Grey Wardens can sense darkspawn, yes?"

Alistair nodded, "Then tell me if you can sense any here," demanded Alvar.

"Well, it is strange, I do not sense any darkspawn here in the tunnel. At least for now," Alistair answered him.

"But still, we must do something about this," said Alvar, "By leaving this open, what if more of them come out? Our flanks are completely exposed if we leave this open!"

"But sir, what can we do about this?" asked a soldier, "The pit is too huge for us to fill up in time, even if all of us worked our arses on it. And we still have to clear this tower yet."

Alvar nodded in agreement, "Yes, we have to do something else." Alistair gazed at the small staircase further away and pondered.

"Wait a minute!" Alistair brightened, "Alvar, we all could go into the first floor and seal the door from inside. That way we can make sure the darkspawn cannot attack us from behind as we climb the tower."

Alvar thought for a minute, "hmm…. That would keep our backs secure. But it will not stop them from leaving the tower and flanking our soldiers outside.

"Still, we do not have much choice. Besides, there are a large number of our men outside, they may handle any flankers." Alvar said thoughtfully, "So, yes, let us do that!"

Having decided that, Alvar and the rest of the men rushed towards the stairs to the first floor. The stairs ended at a door, Alvar carefully opened the door and all the men entered slowly.

Once, they were all in, Alvar ordered the men in the back of the group to shut the door behind them. They all gazed at their surroundings; surprisingly they did not see any darkspawn. There were four small rooms in this floor around a wide, circular central space. The doors to these rooms were facing the central space. There were some cabinets and some pieces of furniture lying around. And far ahead of them was a small staircase and door to the next floor.

"That is strange," commented Alistair, "Did the darkspawn not come to this floor?"

"It is indeed," agreed Alvar, "But first, let us seal the door behind us." He then turned to some of soldiers behind him, "You men, drag those cabinets behind the door!

"The latch alone will not hold for long; we must make opening of this door as difficult as possible."

The soldiers nodded and a group of them dragged a couple of cabinets and pushed them right behind it.

"Good work men," said Alvar as they were done, "Now only with a battering ram can anyone force open the door from outside." Then the men formed again into a group and advanced towards the staircase and the door ahead.

As soon as the men came into the central space, the doors to all the rooms opened. A number of darkspawn archers poured out and formed a wide circle around them. Their longbows were nocked and ready.

"Ambush!" screamed a soldier. Arrows whizzed towards the group of men. Although their chainmail took the brunt of the arrows, some of them hit the weak points in their armour, dropping the men to the ground.

"Make a tortoise, now!" yelled Alvar and he immediately crouched on the ground with his shield for cover. The soldiers formed a small circle and crouched on the ground with their shields facing outward. They crouched closely and thus were able to lock shields together. The archers and the mage were inside the circle.

Arrows from the darkspawn still rained, but now almost all of them bounced off harmlessly at the shields. The archers and the mage inside the circle sat ducking behind the shields for cover. And every now and then, they would rise up and dish out their own ranged death at the darkspawn. The exchange of arrows and spells continued for some time.

Alvar carefully peaked over his shield and watched, a few handfuls of the darkspawn were dead, yet they still outnumbered his band. "Arrrgh!" a cry shot out behind him and Alvar turned his head to see an archer fall dead. The firepower of his band was now reduced.

"Time is on their side, we cannot keep this up," cried Alvar, as an arrow deflected off his shield.

"They have pinned us down," added Alistair, "What more can we do?" an arrow hit his shield, bouncing off harmlessly.

"We will…. We will have to take them head on!" declared Alvar. "Men of Ferelden! Pick a foe ahead of you and on my count, we shall charge them head on!"

"Ready men?" he yelled, an arrow deflected on his sabatoned feet which was not covered by his shield, "Maker! Their aim is getting better!"

"Aye!" the men were ready. "On my word! Steady! Charge!" and with that order, the band broke out from their shield wall and each man rushed at the foe ahead of him. Shouting war cries, the men assailed a foe each. Alvar had timed his charge well, which resulted in the Fereldans catching the darkspawn while they were nocking their bows. The odds now turned in Fereldans' favour as Alvar, Alistair and the soldiers were able to slay many of the darkspawn as the beasts were readying for close combat.

After a brief battle, the Fereldans stood triumphant while the darkspawn archers were all slain to every last one.

They counted their losses; they had lost half of their unit. The mage still lived and the archers were down to three men.

"Maker, I do not understand!" exclaimed Alistair, "We were not supposed to face any opposition in the tower!"

"Could they have known of our plan, with the tower?" questioned Alvar.

"I don't think so, but…. That is a scary thought" Alistair answered gravely.

"Then we must get to the signal quick," said Alvar, "And we must be careful, who knows what other welcomes have they planned for us."

With that said; Alvar, Alistair and the remaining soldiers made treaded towards the staircase leading to the second floor.

They entered the second floor; this floor was different as well. Here, the passageways were in a large spiral around a circular room in the centre. The darkspawn here, were standing around carelessly. Alvar observed the room to see if there were any places which could be used for an ambush against them. He did not find any but still they would be alert for any. They did not see any door to the final floor. Since the passageways were in a spiral, they suspected the door to be at the end of the passage. Which meant they would have to proceed through the entire passageway, facing the darkspawn all the way.

Alvar ordered the soldiers to form a shield wall. He and Alistair stood at the centre of the shield wall while the remaining soldiers formed the flanks. The archers and the mage stood behind them. Their shield wall covered the breadth of the passage which meant they could not be easily flanked.

"We shall advance in formation." Alvar ordered.

As they advanced ahead, the darkspawn noticed them and charged at the shield wall. Their crude weapons banged harmlessly on the shield wall and on finding openings, the soldiers would slide their swords and spears into the darkspawn. The archers and the mage provided ranged support, dropping a number of darkspawn even before they reached the shield wall.

Once the first band of darkspawn were slain, Alvar ordered the men to break apart; But fearing ambushes, they still treaded carefully. Every time they spotted a group of darkspawn, they would quickly get into shield wall to face them. Their tactic worked always and finally after clearing all the darkspawn, they reached the stairway to the third floor.

They entered the final floor. The entire floor was one large room, the door they entered from was the only entry to the floor. Being a ruined tower, the last floor had no ceiling. A pile of wood was stacked aside in a corner, this is to be lighted as the signal. If Alvar and his men thought that they troubles were over, they would soon be proved wrong. At the centre of the room, sat a great bulky shape. Its back was turned towards the men. It seemed the shape had sensed the newcomers, it got up from its place and turned around to face the men. Its monstrous physique was almost twice as tall as humans. The head was angular in shape and had two large horns curving backwards. Its teeth were baring outside its mouth. It wore no armour or clothing except for a rag around its waist.

"Maker's breath, an ogre! Here!" muttered Alistair.

The darkspawn giant called ogre then gave out a deafening screech and quickly lifted a boulder over its head. It launched the boulder at the men,

"Duck! now!" yelled Alvar and the men dived aside to avoid the boulder. One archer however wasn't quick enough and the said boulder crushed him against a wall.

"Keep away, all of you!" yelled Alvar. "Spread out!

"We will need all our strength to kill this… thing!"

"Yes," agreed Alistair, "we can surround it and attack from all sides!"

"So be it," said Alvar, and all the soldiers moved around to surround the ogre. The archers and the mage continuously shot arrows and spells at the ogre. At Alvar's command, the melee fighters all rushed at the ogre. They hacked at its legs with their blades and spears. They did little damage to its thick skin, which explained why it did not wear any armour. But still every strike would count; thus, they continued slashing relentlessly at the ogre. The ogre was irritated and flailed its arm, pushing a bunch of soldiers away and then it flailed again in the other direction, pushing away more soldiers, including Alvar. Even after being pushed back, the men still rushed at the ogre and hacked at the large legs. The ogre then grabbed a soldier, it then raised him in the air and smashed him on the hard ground, breaking every bone in the soldier's body. Alvar moved behind the ogre and stabbed behind the knee with his full strength. The ogre screamed in pain and immediately turned around and grabbed Alvar. It held Alvar like a doll in its left hand and stared at him for a moment. Alvar stared back at it. Then its other hand curled into a fist and was about to punch him. Alvar quickly raised his shield.

The shield somewhat reduced the impact of the fist, but it will not be of much use anymore. The ogre's punch had shattered a quarter of his shield. Cracks appeared in the remaining part of the shield. Alvar's left arm writhed in pain from the punch and the shattering of the shield. Before the ogre would land another blow, Alvar raised his sword and clutching the hilt in both hands, he stabbed with full force at the hand holding him. With a scream, the grip loosened and Alvar was on the ground. The ogre then grabbed a random soldier nearby. He held the screaming soldier in both hands and then, he ripped the unfortunate man asunder. Alistair who was also hacking at the ogre, then plunged his sword with his full strength into the ogre's thigh.

The ogre flailed at Alistair, knocking him a few feet backwards. An arrow hit the ogre near the shoulder and that was when it saw the archers and the mage at the distance. They had been shooting arrows and spells from a long time. The ogre quickly grabbed two soldiers and launched them both towards the archers with its fullest strength possible. One soldier crashed on the mage and the other on an archer. The impact and the speed of the crashing had killed all four of them.

The ogre screamed once more, the continuous hacking and slashing had not only caused pain but was also driving it mad with pain and fury. It then grabbed another soldier and started using him as a weapon itself. It started hitting the attackers with the soldier in its hand as a weapon. Alvar was quick on his feet, moving around while avoiding the ogre's blows. He saw that he was now standing behind the ogre. With a quick breath, he readied himself and then he jumped on its back as the ogre was flailing at the soldiers and Alistair. He reached behind the ogre's head and clutching his sword with both hands, he plunged it with all his remaining strength into the back of the ogre's head.

The ogre stopped; it dropped the soldier which was now a mangled bag of bones. Alvar twisted the blade harshly inside the ogre's head. With a soft cry, the ogre then slumped forward on the ground, finally dead. Alvar pulled out his sword and gazed at his men. Except Alistair, only one archer and two swordsmen had survived.

"Maker…. we finally did it!" Alvar panted.

"Yes," agreed Alistair.

"Now let us light this beacon."

"Shouldn't we look for Duncan's signal on the battlefield?" asked Alistair.

"We have already taken a lot of time, Alistair," answered Alvar, "I fear we might already be late. So, let us light the damned beacon."

Alistair agreed, Alvar turned to the remaining men, "you men, bring the torch and light the beacon over there." He ordered, pointing at the stacked wood on the side of the room.

The soldiers obeyed and picked a torch from the wall. They walked towards the beacon and lit it with the torch. The fire spread quickly on the dry wood and soon the beacon burned brightly. The fire was large and from the height of the tower, it could be clearly seen from long distances.

Alvar sighed and sat on the ground. It had been the longest day in is life and he was exhausted. He hoped to catch some rest as he sat on the ground. Hopefully, he would not be called to provide assistance in the battle below.