Excerpt from Caemlyn Illustrated Atlas of Warfare : The Age of Steel

Despite the size of the available military force situated in Simonton at the end of July, the city itself was ill prepared for the violence looming before it. In addition to the lack of any unified leadership, the tactics being utilized were obsolete, geared more for a traditional siege from a Caithness army than the vasar host. The two principal personalities – Field Marshal Corvyn, the war captain who answered to Chancellor Dorlyn, Lord of Mershall, and Malcolm, Lord Wallace – did not like each other and Wallace’s unheard of action to appoint a lowborn soldier to captain his own forces only intensified this dislike. That this common man was more capable and experienced in waging war against the vasar was inexplicably perceived by Corvyn as yet another insult to his honor.

The uncovering of vasar controllers within the king’s men by Wallace’s retainers resulted in a brief alliance between the two factions. Three nobles were shackled: Baethyn, a minor noble who would miraculously survive and later become one of Wallace’s most fervent loyalists, and two landed knights of whom only their names are known – Cannick and Lorbrin. The former was freed by Wallace’s retainers and the controller, according to numerous eyewitnesses, was thrown at the feet of the skeptical Sir Corvyn. Some, like the Simonton knight, Sir Tomas of House Wayn, would later write of this incident in the twilight of their lives.

Never have I looked upon a creature so foul. In that moment I fear I was unmanned with terror at the thought of facing these creatures and looked upon Wallace’s men as gods. They had faced these beasts and won free. They alone knew how to slay the beasts. I was not alone in pledgin[g] to obey them as I did my lord. 

The two knights fled the camp through a vasar portal, though Wallace’s retainers were said to have slain the creatures shackling them. Of these two men, nothing else is known and it is strongly suspected that they died, either with the controllers or shortly after.

Armed with the superior knowledge about fighting the invaders brought by the men who accompanied Lord Wallace through the rift, Simonton settled in for an extended siege. This marked the first instance of utilizing the deflective anti-teleport field weaved into place by the Huallapan, Pachacuti, for protection; in later decades, this barrier would become common-place over the great cities of Yrth as the skill of spellweaving spread, but for July, 2005, it was a first.

Personality conflicts between Wallace’s war captain, Dane Sardock, and Sir Corvyn continued throughout the week following the first strategical meeting. As a lowborn soldier, Sardock had no talent for handling the expectations of nobility and he gained few allies with his blunt assessments and orders, though based on the few surviving writings of Sir Corvyn, it is clear that distrust of Sardock’s master, Lord Wallace, was the primary reason for the conflict.

Would that this lowborn boy been born to even the lowest of knights. For a score of years I have led me to war and this boy seems to know better how to wield my men as a sword than even I. Would that he were not of Wallace and I would march into battle wit[h] him.

By the first of August, the vasar marching from the Great Desert reached the outskirts of Simonton (see sidebar map: The Battle of Simonton.) Gabriel Auditore, who would later become known as the legendary Hooded Man, was an eyewitness and recorded his thoughts in one of the numerous journals he penned.

The very hills were black with the vasar. They had numbers I could scarcely fathom and our scouts feared we were facing five warriors to each one of our men. I know not whether we can hold Simonton – here where so many eye each other with acrimony and distrust. By God would that the king’s men been led by a man less prideful. He and his master tremble and I fear they will break.

It would turn out to be a prophecy. On 3 August 2005, Sir Corvyn and his master, Chancellor Dorlyn, abandoned Simonton and marched away, taking with them over half of the swords available to defend the border city. This treachery would have much greater ramifications for King Conall IV’s reign than he could have anticipated.