Battle of Azimir

The Battle of Azimir is a major event in the days leading up to the Night of Sorrows on Roshar.
== History ==
=== Background ===
When Dalinar Kholin made the contract for the contest of champions with Odium, it was agreed that the borders would be settled as they were at the time of the contest. Rayse, the Vessel of the Odium, said he would not exploit any loopholes. However, when Taravangian took up the Shard, he was able to exploit loopholes in the contract. There was only one major one: that if he were able to take the capital of a nation, the nation as a whole would belong to him. Thus, he launched an attempt to claim Azir by taking the capital, Azimir, using its Oathgate to transfer the army from Shadesmar.
=== The Battle ===
==== Day One ====
The first time anyone knew about this army was when Adolin Kholin and Shallan Davar were attacked by Heavenly Ones on their way back to Urithiru via the Azimir Oathgate after the trial in Lasting Integrity. This was the first time Adolin encountered the Heavenly One Abidi, and he damaged his gemheart, which would keep him from flying later on. After the Fused attack, the group discovered an army of singers that was heading straight for Azimir. When they arrived at the Oathgate, Shallan and Adolin discovered that the Oathgate spren had been corrupted by Sja-anat.
==== Day Two ====
The next day, the coalition of monarchs was informed of the attack on Azimir, as well as the existence of armies heading towards Thaylen City and the Shattered Plains. At the meeting of monarchs that day, Wit revealed details regarding the loophole being used by Odium. The coalition then discussed their options as to how they would defend all three fronts with their limited resources. Azimir only had some three thousand soldiers at the time, but the army leaving the Emuli offensive could reach the city on time if they held out for a few days. With that fact, combined with the existence of the dome around the Oathgate (a major strategic benefit for the coalition), it was decided that a force of two thousand of Urithiru's best led by Adolin would be sent to the city, while other stronger forces would be sent to the other fronts.
==== Day Three ====
Adolin arrived in Azimir on this day with his troops. By this time, archers were positioned along a balcony that went around the circumference of the dome. Above the control building, where the enemy would be arriving, there were already bags of oil ready to be dropped and ignited. Adolin met with his Azish counterpart, Commandant Supreme Zarb Kushkam, the head of the Azish Palace Guard. The two of them met with Yanagawn to discuss strategy, where Adolin was informed of the plan to fill the control room with water and then Soulcast it into bronze. Adolin and Kushkam argued over strategy, particularly over whether to use debris or not, and whether they were to attack first or wait for the enemy. The one point Kushkam listened to was Adolin's emphatic advice to use the oil only as a last resort. After the meeting with the emperor, Adolin met with his scribes, who were headed by May Aladar. He then prepared himself for the coming battle.
As Adolin was being armed with Shardplate, May informed him that they would have one Radiant capable of Regrowth, her ward Rahel, who was a nascent Truthwatcher. This would move the hospital closer to the battle and nearer to the saferoom for Yanagawn. Adolin also put May, a skilled archer, in charge of a block of archers, leaving another of May's wards, Kaminah, the head scribe. 
The singers began their attack by sending some Voidspren to scout out the battlefield, causing Adolin to warn Kushkam that they should change how the soldiers were positioned. Once the spren returned to Shadesmar, the battle began. The Azish line quickly began to buckle under the force of Stormform and Direform Regals, and Adolin jumped in to support the infantry. It quickly appeared, though, that the Direforms were trying to break one part of the line so that they could go around and hit the Azish from the rear. As Adolin dealt with Regals en masse, he flushed out three Heavenly Ones who were subsequently pushed back due to arrows from May's unit. Abidi appeared and almost bested Adolin until his support squad arrived. Adolin then retreated, as did Abidi. Not long after, the battle was over. The singers retreated, but they managed to capture the Soulcaster.
After the battle, the coalition forces celebrated, and Adolin met with Yanagawn and Kushkam, who began to implement Adolin's ideas for the battle and agree with him. Adolin's Shardblade, Maya left to find spren reinforcements for the fight.
==== Day Four ====
By the start of this day, there had been eleven total singer assaults. Around this time, the singers had started to build a fort around the control building and had pushed away the debris that had been set out to slow them. The defenders tried to burn the fort, but most of it had been Soulcast to bronze using the stolen Soulcaster. They gave up on taking out the fort until after reinforcements arrived. Kaminah forced Adolin to rest for a few hours. 
While Adolin slept, there were two more assaults. After he awoke, he learned that the much-anticipated reinforcements were being delayed by an unknown force. The singers, who had until this time been very regular with their attacks, suddenly attacked the coalition outside of their regular pattern. However, the defenders had already suspected their plan and were prepared for it. That was the last attack of the day.
==== Day Five ====
The coalition army began to recruit more soldiers from the city of Azimir, including many who had failed the Azish military test. During another assault, the singers made an attempt to kill the Azish Shardbearer Neziham. Adolin waded into the fight and fought his way through the enemy fortification in order to save his fellow Shardbearer.
==== Day Six ====
At the beginning of this day, it was learned that the coalition's reinforcements would not arrive in time, as Emul and Tashikk had not only betrayed the coalition by attacking the reinforcements, but had also seceded from the Azish empire and had joined Odium. This left the forces in Azimir to fight the singers alone until the contest.
==== Day Seven ====
Around this point in the fight, the attacks were coming closer and closer together. The coalition began to plug some of the exits to the dome. Additionally, the legal definition of holding the city was found: the singers would need to hold the throne room of the imperial palace in order to win the city and thus the empire. Unfortunately, the thunderclast Terushal had arrived along with more Fused. Adolin and Neziham attacked the thunderclast, hoping to bring it down. Adolin tried to trip the thunderclast with a chain while Neziham distracted it, but Adolin slipped off and Neziham was killed, his Shardplate completely shattered. Neziham's Blade was recovered and used by Adolin. Adolin managed to kill the thunderclast, but it collapsed onto him, causing him to lose a leg. The Fused attacked the Heralds Taln and Shalash, who were in the hospital, and the Heralds fought back and killed dozens of Fused before dying and going to Braize. The singers captured the dome and tried to push out through a part that had been ripped open. Kushkam held them off using any means he could, including finally using the oil above the control room. The day ended with the coalition holding off the singers.
==== Day Eight ====
The fighting continued through this day with only one Shardbearer left who was using Adolin's halfway-repaired Plate and Neziham's Blade.
==== Day Nine ====
The fighting continued through this day, and all reserves were called up to fight. Then all able-bodied men were called up, few as they were; this included the wounded, the elderly, and the women. Many of the remaining defenders were in pike blocks that ran on fifteen-minute shifts. A soldier would first fight in the line of pikes at the back, then would move to a line closer to the fighting, which was behind a line of soldiers holding shields and shortspears; then they would rest, and finally they would join the shield wall. As more and more men died or were wounded, the more strained the lines grew. Eventually, the line that Adolin was in ran out of people to man the lines beyond the shield wall. It was around the setting of the third moon that the Shardbearer fell, and his Shards were claimed by Abidi. As the lines disappeared, Adolin was left as the last defender of the dome, fighting with a common longsword. Adolin was only saved because Yanagawn would not leave without him. Adolin and the emperor were then brought to the safehouse as the singers took control of the city.
==== Day Ten ====
The few surviving defenders learned of the fall of the Shattered Plains and Thaylenah, which had made a deal with Odium, to the enemy. Windrunners were sent to retrieve them and bring them to safety in Urithiru. The Windrunners Skar and Drehy arrived and tried to take them back to the tower, but Yanagawn and Adolin realized that so long as they held the throne by the time of the contest, less than two hours away, they could save the city. A small group was made up of the survivors, and they infiltrated the palace through an entrance Yanagawn knew of from his thieving days. The band made it across the city and entered the palace through the hidden smuggler's port. 
Once inside, the group snuck through the palace and encountered very little resistance. This turned out to be the preparations of a trap, but the singers did not attack immediately. Adolin then entered the throne room and encountered Abidi. Adolin could not summon his Shardblade due to the aluminum surrounding the room. The two warriors fought, one with Shards and the other crippled and practically unarmed. Adolin was almost killed by the Fused until his armor chose to return to him and acted like Radiant Plate. Adolin then killed Abidi, and the group prepared to fight hundreds of singers, including twelve Fused. By this point, Maya had returned with dozens of deadeyes who had been forgotten by humans and had faded back into Shadesmar. The deadeyes were willing to work with Adolin, who asked that nine of them transfer to the Physical Realm to be used to fight the singers. This was the founding of the Unoathed, who held against the singers for the half hour until the contest. Once the appointed time arrived, Yanagawn allowed the singers to leave using the Oathgate. This victory left Azir as one of only a small handful of nations to escape Odium, who later became Retribution.
=== Aftermath ===
After Taravangian's Ascension to Retribution, Azimir was covered by the Everstorm for a month and a half until it cleared up, as Azir was the one of the few countries to escape capture by Odium before the contest.
== Notes ==
; Footnotes
; References