King Hildefons II came to the throne in 739 at a time when there had been great interest in
Pelorean Empire and much talk amongst the
nobles and military commanders as to how it could be restored. Hildefons determined that he
should achieved this aim and become the first in a long line of conquerors. His ambition was that he and
his heirs should in future be crowned as Emperors.
The main obstacle to his imperial ambitions lay in the opposition of the
Pelorean Church but he cajoled them into supporting him by pointing out that if he conquered
Cambria they would be able 'to sort out the mess that is the Cambrian church'.
King Hildefons was no fool and studied the accounts of the invasion of 67 to make sure he
did not repeat any of the tactical mistakes of that shock defeat. He came to the conclusion that the force sent
had been too small to recover from any setbacks and too little thought had been given to
securing the army's supply lines. He noted, however, than two things now ran in his favour.
The first was that the Dwarves had greatly improved the road from Reetland to Pell's Hold
making the passage of any army easier and swifter. The second was that the Pelorean clerics
that served in the army were more powerful than those that served with the unfortunate Eadric
and could also provide secure and swift magical communication. He further decided to recruit and deploy a force
of rangers who would not only provide scouting services but clear the road of ambushes.
In the spring of 746 therefore a large Reetland army rolled into Cambria and immediately split into
two. One group which included all of the heavy cavalry was to head as fast as possible to take
Pell's Hold while the other was to secure the road and gradually take all the towns in between Pell's Hold and
the Reetland border. From the start the plan did not work out as expected for the advance force: the dwarven engineers
who had been working on repairing the road in the previous months turned out to have been
preparing traps and pitfalls. This slowed the advance to a crawl and the force of rangers the army had brought
with them were all killed or captured within the first three days. Buoyed, however, by the news that the other half
of the army were making steady progress and that the Elves had chosen not to intervene Saradoc,
the Reetland commander, ploughed on. During an ambush which was preceded by a series of clever feints,
however, he lost the carts carrying the parts for the seige engines he had hoped to reassemble on the
plains before Pell's Hold.
The very next day as the army approached a hill a few miles from Brimmingstone Saradoc could see
that a Cambrian force was blocking the road. At first he was pleased thinking that his heavy cavalry
would quickly clear the way but as he advanced closer he could see that the terrain had been chosen
well by the Cambrians with heavy woods on either side and spikes driven into the road to make
a cavalry charge difficult. Nevertheless he decided to force the issue ordering a strong force
of infantry to advance on either side of the road to flank the enemy at the same as ordering
his cavalry to advance. As Saradoc expected Cambrian rangers lay in wait in the woods but he had
as yet no understanding of their numbers. On the north side his infantry were decimated and
when they eventually made it back onto the road in some disarray they found a force of Cambrian light cavalry
waiting for them. On the south side they found fewer Cambrian rangers but the ground sloped steeply to south and the
rangers shepherded them down the slope and
into boggy ground. By the time they made it back onto the road the Battle of Brimmingstone, as
it became known, was effectively over. Three times the Reetland cavalry charged the Cambrian pikeman at the
top of the hill but each time they had to retreat with some loss. In the end as dusk approached
Saradoc ordered a retreat to find a defensible position for the night.
In the morning under a flag of truce the Cambrians offered Saradoc terms if he surrendered
but mindful of Eadric's fate he decided to fight on. His plan was to try and rejoin the
second Reetland army and take stock from there. The Cambrians informed him that a battalion
of dwarves had arrived at Pell's Hold and that any chance he had of taking the city had
vanished but declined to comment on whether the Elves had joined the war. He soon
found out; a relief column sent to bolster his retreat was ambushed five miles from
his position and had to turn back with heavy losses but reports suggested that
the Elves had aided the Cambrian rangers. The rangers then collapsed a section of causeway
crossing a marsh which isolated the cavalry from the infantry. Saradoc was with infantry
which were then surrounded and he was forced to surrender.
The Cambrians and the Elves advanced on the second Reetland army and again offered them terms
if they surrendered. The Reetlanders at first refused but eventually diplomacy found a way
for them to retreat with honour. Back in Reetland opinion began to turn against the invasion
but Hildefons once more persuaded the Pelorean church to back him and his nobles reluctantly followed
suit. His imperial ambitions, however, were in tatters and it was not possible to revive them
in his lifetime.