The Last Great Battle

**The last great battle** was a major clashing of the Ice Wolves and Scorch Dragons that occurred ten years before the first book in the series, *Ice Wolves.* This event is refrained from being spoken about by most people in Vallen, though Leif tells the Finskólars its history in *Scorch Dragons* to help them understand the tensions that ran between the two Vallenite elementals.

## Events leading up to the battle

The major cause of the last great battle was the death of Felix, a wolf designer who had been working on an artifact-forging team along with his brother Hayn and his secret lover Drifa. The group’s goal at the time was to repair the wind arches at the harbor of Holbard, which were artifacts designed to keep the harbor calm at all times despite any harsh breezes or storms outside. The arches were aged and beginning to malfunction slightly, allowing winds to enter the harbor at times that could place ships in danger and prevent food from entering the harbor, introducing the need to repair them to their initial shape.

Felix was found dead one day, slaughtered by an unknown person. After his murder, Drifa was spotted fleeing from the site of his death in her Scorch Dragon form, causing the Ice Wolves to believe he was murdered by the dragonsmith. The wolves demanded that Drifa stood trial, but she was nowhere to be found by either the dragons or wolves. Many wolves refused to believe that Drifa was missing, thinking that the dragons were aware of her crime and decided to keep her hidden instead.

Mistrust in the dragons began to spread throughout Holbard, and people became warier of the dragons by the day, thinking them murderers. To identify dragons apart from wolves and humans, the wolves ordered the dragons to wear red coats when traveling throughout the city; later, they restricted multiple areas from the dragons’ travel altogether.

The tensions came to a point where any dragons spotted flying overhead Holbard were watched closely by the Wolf Guard while humans ran for cover. This fear and hatred for Scorch Dragons caused some dragonsmiths to cease working in Holbard with the designers — which made the number unfinished projects increase, even when they were offered rewards for returning to their work.

The Scorch Dragons were split on beliefs about Drifa, some hoping she would reveal herself and stand trial while others thought that wolf justice was too unfair for a dragon to need to subject herself to it. In any case, she did not reveal herself to either side. She was busy staying hidden and waiting to give birth to her children and keep them hidden with an ally she had in Holbard.

## During the battle

Violent events of the battle began after the wolf leaders began taking dragons prisoner. These prisoners were not allowed to leave Holbard and they were forced to spend their labor repairing the wind arches and other artifacts that they thought of as vital to their benefit.

In response, the dragons formed a rescue party whose goal was to invade Holbard and release the imprisoned dragons. The wolves saw this mission as an attack, which quickly escalated into a battle and the disappearance of any remaining trust between the two elemental species.

## Aftermath

By the end of the series of battles, Holbard became a city welcoming Ice Wolves only. Sighted dragons were observed by the Wolf Guard and attacked if they came close to the ground level of the city itself.

An eventual battle brought the wolves to Old Drekhelm, causing the dragons to relocate their home to New Drekhelm, a fort further south in the Icespire Mountains with a location being deliberately kept hidden from the wolves.

All of the children who had been orphaned after losing their parents in this battle took on the surname “Bardasen,” named after *barda*, the Old Vallenite word for “battle.” Such children to be given this name included Rayna and Anders.