The day of the Anvil War dawned clear and cool. As the combatants made ready, Baroness Tessa and her ladies went among those fighting for Bordermarch and distributed to them yellow sashes so that they might know each other for allies in the chaos of battle. About midmorning, the opposing armies began to assemble on the field.
The lines were separated by about fifty yards and while I do not know the exact number of warriors who faced each other, I would put it at between fifty and one hundred on each side.
If the fighters for Stargate noticed the small group of Meridians who stood in front of the forming Bordermarch line, they did not attach any importance to them. "If those Meridiots are foolish enough to get caught between two shield walls," the Ansteorrans may have thought, "they deserve what they will get."
At last, all was ready. The very land seemed to hold its breath on the brink of war. The marshals cried, "Lay on!” and the Bordermarch line started to close with the Stargaters. The Anvil War had begun!
The Axemoorians in front of the Bordermarch line formed into their wedge and started to march toward the Stargate shield wall. At this point, the Ansteorrans may have been curious but not concerned.
After closing about half the distance to the opposing line, the Axemoor wedge broke into a trot. At this point Squire Esteban, who was one of the inside men, reported he saw little question marks starting to pop up above the helms on the Stargate line.
When half the remaining distance to the Stargate line had been closed Sir Beorn ordered, "Charge!" The Axemoor wedge accelerated to full speed and slammed into the Stargate shield wall.
The phrase, "Like a hot knife through warm butter," has become a cliché. It is however, in my opinion, the best description of the effect of the Axemoor wedge on the Ansteorran shield wall. What had been conceived of as a suicide tactic had succeeded far beyond its original intent. At battles end, only one wedge man, Cedric of Yorke, had been slain.
Cedric reported that he received his deathblow after tripping over a dead Ansteorran as he was going through the line. Another Ansteorran fighter took advantage of Cedric being off balance to slay him. Cedric's clumsiness was legendary throughout Axemoor.
The Axemoor wedge opened a gaping hole in the Stargate shield wall. The army of Bordermarch and its allies poured through and crushed the divided halves of the Stargate line. The Great War to determine the ownership of the anvil lasted barely ten minutes.