Originally published on July 27th, 2020 on talesfromardonn.com
Read volume I of this series here.
The arrival of Eomund and Eored spelled disaster for the Crisan kingdoms. Their armies, nicknamed ‘the Exiles,’ landed at the mouth of the Ard River eager for new lands to call home. The Kingdom of Ardonn had been severely weakened by internal strife in the past century, which made it ripe for conquest.
The fortress guarding the Ard’s mouth was taken with little effort. The Exiles arrived during a thunderstorm, catching the fort’s defenders off guard and swiftly breaching the gates. The twins did not hesitate to expand on their victory.
The Exiles sailed further upriver, conquering and burning, meeting little resistance as they went. Soon they arrived at the city of Ardonn and immediately laid siege to the kingdom’s capital. Unlike their previous conquests, however, that city would prove much more difficult to take.
The siege was a disaster for the Exiles. After two years of stalemate, the Exiles were driven back by the arrival of Crisan reinforcements. They returned to their coastal fortress to wait out the winter, and had the Crisans pressed their victory they may have sent them away from Ardonn altogether.
Yet their defeat at the Capital did not dull the hearts of the Exiles. With the arrival of a new spring, Eomund and Eored split their armies and began ravaging the kingdom, conquering new towns and forts with each month. The Crisans struggled to fight the twins in two places at once, and were slowly pushed inland.
After years of warfare, Ardonn’s capital became the last outpost of Crisan resistance north of the Aed River. In the year 316 of the Third Age of Man, the twins met outside the capital’s gates. An attempt was made to break the siege by the combined forces of Aedonn and Ardonn’s kings, but they were swiftly defeated by Eomund’s warriors.
The two Crisan kings fled south following their defeat in what was later called the Battle of Ardonn, but Ardonn’s king was fatally wounded and he passed several days after the battle. His daughter Eirwen, who had remained behind the capital’s walls, was made queen.
The Exiles almost breached the gates that same day and Eirwen, sensing immanent defeat, surrendered on the condition that she be allowed to marry her kingdom’s conqueror and rule at his side. The twins agreed, and after much deliberation it was decided that Eomund should be Ardonn’s new king. He and Eirwen were married, thus legitimising Eomund’s conquests.
Eored was not satisfied with being anything less than his brother’s equal, however, so immediately after Eomund’s coronation the twins marched their armies south. After a three-year campaign, the King of Aedonn was defeated in what became known as the Battle of Oldford.
Thus, the Exiles declared dominance over all the lands between the Northern Alps and the River Cris. Many Crisans fled east, while some Crisan lords still put up resistance in the far south, but it was not long before they too were defeated and deposed by Eored’s men. The Exiles had secured their new home at last.
Read volume III of this series here.