Battle of the Alik'r Desert

The guide pointed towards the rising dunes of sand that seemed to stretch on into eternity.“They passed this way yesterday evening, their army is scattered and unorganized.” The wind blew hot in their faces, grits of sand blinding them before the gust faltered. He added as he lowered his hands, “You would be wise to strike now, before they have a chance to muster a proper defense.”

The commander of the Aldmeri force looked upon this filthy nomad. He loathed having to rely upon one of the native men of the Alik’r for guidance, but no one else knew the lay of the land as well as this group. Even worse this native had sold out his people for the promise of coin, utter scum in the High Elf’s mind, but he had to remind himself that he was leading them to the enemy. Commander Tandalmo turned to see the mile long column of his soldiers snaking across the sand dunes as they followed the Alik’r guide’s lead. Thier golden armor looked splendid even in the heat of the dying light of another day in Hammerfell. Tandalmo turned to the guide, “Casis, we must make camp here for the evening, if the rebel force is close and as scattered as you say then we won’t have to fear them escaping our grasp.” The guide nodded and soon orders were sent around that the army was to make camp here as well as they could.

Commander Tandalmo had landed on the southern coast of Hammerfell near Hegathe mere months ago. The year was 4th Era, 178. The Great War had ended in 175 with the signing of the White Gold Concordat but Hammerfell, determined to not cede any land to the Aldmeri Dominion, continued to fight. Three years of small skirmishes, guerilla raids and lack of set piece battles had frustrated Aldmeri attempts to hold the lands they conquered. Tandalmo had been tasked with pacifying the rebels in the Alik’r desert region, an undesirable task for any but it was obvious that the enemy operated on the fringes of the desert, during the Dominion forces to pursue them. Thalmor command had decided enough was enough and the time had come to pacify this thorn in their side. Tandalmo was a seasoned veteran of the Great War, having fought under Lady Arannelya during the conquest of the southern coastline of Hammerfell. He was now in command of 30,000 Aldmeri troops fresh from Alinor, after several months of martial drilling in Hegathe he marched his troops north into the forbidding desert of the Alik’r.

Now Tandalmo and his army were camped in the desert, leagues from any source of water and an enemy force apparently no more than a day away. Here amongst the sand dunes the Aldmeri army was at the mercy of the their Alik'r guide, Casis. He walked amongst the tents and minor fortifications of the Aldmeri forces speaking as he walked. “What did you think you would find Mer, the fields of Alinor? Are you yearning for its streams, shade and trees? This is Hammerfell. This is the Alik'r.” Casis then mounted a horse and rode off into the desert, he had delivered the Aldmeri army into the depths of the desert and to their enemies, such was his loyalty to his people.

In the morning Casis’ deceit had become clear and Tandalmo’s scouts had reported the presence of nearly 9,000 mounted cavalry and 1,000 infantry near his position. The Alik'r nomads equestrian skills was legendary and such was it that it panicked the Aldmeri commander. He ordered for his men to form a hollow circle to prevent themselves from being outflanked by the cavalry. As they maneuvered into this formation, hollow drums of the nomads echoed across the dunes, a loud and cacophonous sound creating the illusion of many multitudes more than were present. Soon the cavalry rode into view of Tandalmo’s formation. Thinking that they could protected themselves from direct melee attacks, they had not anticipated the weapon of choice of the Alik'r calvary, their bows. Rumored to be enchanted with some ancient form of Yokudan magic, these bows had a penetrating power that suffered no equal. When coupled with the equestrian skill of the nomads and this bow only the Bosmer are comparable.

The cavalry rode circles around the Aldmeri formation firing arrow after arrow into the mass. Each one could hardly miss and when it did strike a target, the arrow often penetrated both the shield and the arm of the bearer, effectively stapling the two together. Skirmishers were sent by Tandalmo to chase after a seemingly retreating formation of cavalry, only to face a hail of arrows as the nomads wheeled around in the stirrup and shot expertly into the pursuing forces. Further forces of Alik'r nomads came in on foot and proceeded to harass the formation and drew out even more groups of the High Elves, yet they all fell victim to the cavalry's arrows. When it became apparent that the inability to move from this formation would doom his army, Tandalmo ordered a general advance, hoping to reach the high ground and fortify it until the cavalry ran out of arrows. This movement forced the Aldmeri to abandon their wounded, many were stuck in place, their feet pinned to the ground by arrows. Attempting to pull out the barbed tip inevitably pulled out veins and nerves with it.

Reaching the high ground took a grim toll on Tandalmo’s force, the nomads harassed them every step of the way and the pile of dead left in the advances wake was said to have appeared like a golden road, the bright armor of each Aldmeri troop marked where they fell in the sand. Eventually the army found itself upon the highest dune in the area and began to create rudimentary fortifications with what they had, including the dead. As twilight approached, word reached Tandalmo from his remaining battle mages that their scrying had revealed the cavalry was currently being rearmed not far from their location. Even though his subordinates advised not to split his force, Tandalmo felt he had little choice and could not allow a rearmed cavalry to continue to whittle away his forces. Ordering a detachment to break from the camp and destroy the nomad’s supply caravan, Tandalmo consolidated his remaining forces.

To the horror of the Dominion forces the detachment that set out was set upon not long after it broke camp. More cavalry forces rode through the thin line cutting down the mer with their scimitars. The High Elves attempted to form a battle line but their efforts quickly fell apart as a resupplied and well organized cavalry charge broke their lines. Those that could fled back to the main camp, those that didn’t were cut down where they stood.

When it became apparent that the effort to disrupt the resupply had failed, Tandalmo was out of options. His force was decimated, and no one was without wounds, and any attempt to move would result in yet another slow and methodical massacre of his troops. As night fell over the desert the Alik'r cavalry approached the Aldmeri fortifications and called for their surrender, saying they did not all have to perish here. Tandalmo refused all offers vehemently and told his enemy, “Succeed for the moment and you will only postpone the inevitable, fortune will flee from you when Elven supremacy returns.” This concluded the negotiations.

By the fire of torchlight and magical attacks the final Alik'r assault began. No longer firing from range the nomads surged past the fortifications and cut down the Aldmeri with sword and arrow at point blank range. Attacking from all sides the Dominion forces could not take advantage of the high ground and were beset in an instant from all directions. The night sky was alight with fire, smoke and magic as Tandalmo’s forces fought with a doomed bravery. Dawn was breaking as the last of the holdouts were crushed by the nomads.

The defeat of the Dominion forces in the Alik’r desert was a total one, nearly 20,000 mer killed and another 10,000 captured. Some 7,000 managed to escape in the chaos of the final night assault and made their way back to the Hegathe. It is believed that a larger number escaped that evening but died of exposure in the desert after becoming lost or were hunted down by the nomads. The losses among the Alik’r were negligible, around 200 killed, most were lost in the hand to hand fighting of the night assault. Tandalmo’s body was never found, the nomads may have stripped him of his glass armor and decapitated him, but his final fate is unknown. After the battle the nomads posted the heads of hundreds of Aldmeri soldiers on pikes on the edges of the desert and melted down the Elven armor for trophies. The Dominion would never again undertake a large expedition into the Alik’r Desert for the remainder of the conflict.