They say, Fortune favors the brave, and Fortune had been favoring Ashurran ever since. For every battle she would think up a new trick, and no trick would she use twice. The Elves were inexperienced and naïve, yet they were not stupid and didn't fall for the same bait more than once.
So one time Ashurran drove a herd of fierce bulls before her army, and they trampled down the wild beasts the Elves used to take with them into battle, and wreaked havoc on the Elven vanguard. Another time she lured the Elven cavalry with a pretended flight to the place where a moat was dug out beforehand, filled with pottery, and camouflaged with soil. For all those keen senses of the Elves many a horseman couldn't stop their mounts in time, being in the heat of the pursuit, and their mounts broke their legs. The unhorsed Elves became an easy prey for the barbarian cavalry and were wiped out.
The Elven archers were always a force to be reckoned with, but Ashurran had found a way to deal with them. She equipped her soldiers with mirror shields, and they blinded the archers with reflected sunbeams. Ashurran would use every trick which she had heard or read about, like making the enemy attack against the sun, or commanding her spell-casters to cause a contrary wind, or waging battle in the rainy weather when bowstrings grew damp. Her vanguard soldiers were trained to form a 'tortoise' formation, to wit, crouch and cover themselves with their shields not only in front, but also from above and from all sides. That formation was a hard nut even for the Elven marksmen.
In battle Ashurran often used war engines which the Elves were unfamiliar with — catapults and huge spear-throwers. She would find a place unfavorable for using magic, or charge her spell-casters with deflecting and dispersing the enemy's spells. So the Elven sorcerers would be unable to wreak havoc with their lightning bolts, fireballs, frost novas and other terribly damaging missiles; but Ashurran's non-magical catapults would throw stones and burning tar pots at them without fail.
Yet the humans couldn't defeat the Elves once and for all. Faced with utter destruction, the Elves would immediately retreat into the GreatForest, their impenetrable fortress. There was no guessing where exactly they would emerge to strike out again. There weren't enough scouts and patrols to watch the entire GreatForest that stretched for hundreds of miles. The Elves also used to silently sneak up to the patrols and kill them. Therefore Ashurran had invented a new early warning system. Until then, the watchmen used to signal with fires, sounds or reflected sunbeams when the enemy was approaching. Now they were commanded to signal on a permanent basis, over a certain period of time. If one of the watchtowers went silent, that was the direction from which the Elves were about to strike. Thanks to that warning system Ashurran had always been able to meet the enemy fully armed and prepared for battle, and she had never been caught unawares.
Ashurran's deeds and escapades became the stuff of legends. The tales and rumors of her traveled the length and breadth of the realm. The most glorious deed was her surprise attack on Lindalae with only a small band of soldiers. She nearly took over the Elven capital where Dirfion had brought her before so thoughtlessly. That was how Ashurran had done it. She ordered a hundred big canoes to be built in secret, enough for transporting five hundred soldiers, five in each canoe. The vessels were made from wood and animal skins, in the manner of the barbarian Hadraut tribe — light yet durable. The Hadrauts used such canoes to navigate their rapid mountain rivers, and where they couldn't get by water they would carry over their canoes by land.
Thus Ashurran with five hundred soldiers carried those canoes over to the HaelghiraMountains in the north. She asked the Sauay, a friendly tribe of forest trackers, for help. They showed her the source of the River Kinn Sarg which ran through the entire GreatForest ending up in the boundless swamps of the south. So they took water in their canoes and reached the outskirts of Lindalae within a week. The Elves didn't expect an attack at the very heart of their realm. There were almost no guards about, and the citizens had almost no weapons at home. Ashurran strictly forbade killing unarmed Elves, or harming them in any way, not out of kindness, but out of fear for Faelivrin's life. No one knew that the main reason for launching that attack was her hope to reunite with her beloved.
Ashurran's soldiers drove the Elves out from their cozy homes, jeering and taunting them, and shocking them with the revelation that even in their capital they weren't safe. The humans also looted the city, took rich spoils and burned many beautiful houses. Yet Ashurran's couldn't find Faelivrin, who was locked in prison at the other side of the city. At last the Elven soldiers came in a hurry to defend their capital, and Ashurran's small band had to fall back. They jumped into their canoes and went downstream. The Elves hadn't enough boats to go in pursuit, so Ashurran and her warriors escaped unscathed, with all the spoils. They followed the river for some time and then pulled in to the shore and went through the forest on foot, carrying the canoes with them. All the Elven patrols were running to their burning capital, thinking the enemy was still there, so the humans had successfully returned to Solkh and to their main forces.
There is no need to say that Ashurran had won great renown with all that audacious deeds. Her name resounded throughout Yunan from the GreatForest to the FalkidianSea. At that time she became the most famous person alive. There was none in all Pandeya who hadn't heard of Ashurran, be that a mortal or an immortal, a human or an Elf, a man or a woman, a child or an adult. Commoners were in awe with her. Her soldiers adored her; half the young recruits were in love with her, and some of the older men also. Nobles and royal officials curried favor with her. Ashurran was in High King Oghinta's good graces, showered with gifts and titles by him. He made her his general at last, and she raised the black dragon of Yunan as her war banner, instead of the leopard skin.
Although there were those who hated Ashurran, being jealous of her wealth, glory and luck. Some were also jealous of her stealing the High King's favor. Some despised her bluntness and her sharp tongue, her low birth and her crude barbarian manners. Her foremost ill-wisher at court was the Prime Minister Tsuremasa, for he wanted the rank of a general for his only son (a rather dull and unremarkable young man).
As the King's General, Ashurran had waged war not only on the Ancient Race, but on her fellow humans as well. The barbarians still harassed Yunan's borders, and the petty kings still plotted and rebelled. However, the saddest task for her was punishing the free cities which entered into alliance with the Elves. Those were merchant cities, and their citizens saw nothing wrong in trading with the enemies of the human race, as long as the Elves were paying generously. The free cities supplied the Elves with horses, corn and iron ore, until Ashurran put an end to that.
Ashurran was not only glorified, but feared; not only praised, but cursed for the cruelty with which she dealt with the Elves and their allies. She descended from savage Arriany riders; ferocity and blood thirst often became her companions in the heat of a battle. In Ashurran's name blood flew in torrents and unspeakable cruelties were committed. Ashurran thought it was necessary.
"Friend of my enemy is my enemy," she used to say. "Enemies should be punished and intimidated. And those cowards seeking to profit from the war and to make separate treaties with the Ancient Race should be punished threefold."
Despite of all the valiant efforts of Ashurran and her comrades-in-arms, despite all the victories of the Yunan army, there was no end in sight to the Great War, as it was later unimaginatively called by the chroniclers. It went nearly for full thirty years, giving examples of incredible courage and equally incredible villainy on both sides.
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Gates to Glory: Epic Fantasy Adventure Tale (Ashurran #1)
Adventure[FINISHED]She was born in a tribe of fierce female warriors. Swords and spears have been her toys from the cradle. She has the only path before her, to become the tribe chief after her mother. Yet Ashurran dreams of strange lands, of bigger battles...
