The Battle of Drevonbost or Battle of the Wooden Bridge was the decisive confrontation between the Kingdom of Vareynn and the ancient Kingdom of Malacnar in 312 AA.
The Battle[]
The armies of Vareynn and Malacnar, led by their respective kings, agreed to meet on the bridge of Drevonbost near the eastern border of Malacnar's territory. The bridge would have funneled the armies into a narrow corridor, thus negating Malacnar's numerical advantage as well the Vareynn's cavalry charges, acting as a great equalizer. Komerjon, together with future members of the Rider Assembly, chose to fight dismounted on the bridge, and to show there would be no attempts at foul play the mounts of Vareynn's riders were put on a nearby mound where the Malacnari could see them.
With no room for encirclements or special tactics, the result of the battle was expected to come down to whether Vareynn's archers - the Bostynn Bridge-Wardens - or Malacnar's core of elite warriors would be able to tip the balance by claiming more lives.
However, unbeknownst to all except Komerjon himself, several battalions of Brefineis warriors, whose loyalty Komerjon had secured during the Lukaustan campaign, were sent to march across the river.
After the Vareynnic army held out for thirty-three minutes, the Brefineis allies arrived and attacked the Malacnari from the backrows, encircling them. Eventually the entire Malacnari host was slain to the last, and King Vatrevid IV of Malacnar was killed by Komerjon in personal combat.
Aftermath[]
Komerjon claimed the Kingdom of Malacnar as his personal demesne, citing how the Malacnari followed the strongest, which he had proven himself to be by slaying their king. This claim was however contested by the warriors of the city only a year later, marking the beginning Hundred Years' Uprising.
Ramifications[]
An easy-to-overlook detail of the battle, are the words Komerjon said to his soldiers to encourage them before it started.
- "And remember this above the bridge: the Ynn carries to the afterlife only the brave!"
- ―Komerjon
While water burial was already practiced among Sarda Ruinborn Elves by this point, much of Dolindha still very much preferred mound burial. Thus Komerjon's implication about the Ynn being a medium to the afterlife is believed to have a prophetical nature, and it was later used as an argumentation at the Council of Velikvab to introduce the practice of sending dead bodies down the Ynn River in Dolindha as well.