The next few weeks are uneventful. Presumably Asinjin returns to his secret home.
7-12 Leenot: the Southern Army, which had been encamped, but not truly entrenched, a few miles east of Portet, is attacked and destroyed in a merciless and relentless surprise attack by the elves main army. After the destruction coastal forts and the troops sent to reinforce them the elves disengaged from their position in near where they had defeated the Northern Army and began a forced march to intercept the Southern Army. Likely they would have reached them in time but the death of the High King and the general order that the armies hold their positions allowed the elves to proceed at a more conservative pace and plan a lethal attack.
Nearly 100000 elves supported by nearly 1000 wyverns, likely all those battle ready remaining, attacked just after sunset, ensuring the entire first phase of their plan would take place in the moonless darkness. The elves attacked without mercy and took no prisoners. When day broke the elves withdrew but had surrounded the Icefians and would not allow them to retreat. When night came the attack was renewed though the Icefians had improved their defenses and their casualties were less severe. On the third day the Icefians made no effort to retreat, instead entrenching on all sides but south. The elves spent the day studying the defenses and that night the elves launched an audacious attack, landing nearly 7000 elite troops within the Icefian defenses by Wyverns carrying light baskets. The infiltrators and wyverns caused mass chaos, destroying siege engines and crushing soldiers in their sleep. Even before the dawn a frantic retreat south began with heavy casualties. Again the elves showed no mercy putting any fallen soldier to the sword. Only a well coordinated counter attack by General Bleedingblade and his marine legion avoided a complete disaster. The elves pressed as long as they could until coming into range of the navy's catapults and ballista. Over 25000 Icefians have been killed.
The reaction to the battle among the public is immediate. Enlistments triple and the general staff orders that for infantrymen the training period be reduced to three weeks from the usual eight.
Only five days after the battle on land a fleet of Horarian blockade runners attempted to relieve Portet. Their efforts met with disaster as they mistook the outer ring of heavy ships loitering outside the ice flow as the blockade only to find multiple rings of Eagle battle cruisers and Dolphin frigates closer to the coast. The navy announces it as the largest victory against the pirates in over a century.
