Battle of Charm
From Glen Cook Wiki
This is the largest and most significant battle between the forces of the Lady and the Rebels, led by the Circle of Eighteen. After over a year of fighting, during which time the Lady's forces have been pushed out of city after city, over 200,000 Rebel troops advance on the fortress at Charm where the Lady makes her stand with around 21,000 troops and the Taken.
The construction of Charm allows only one approach, via a wedge-shaped depression in the middle of a field of broken basalt. The Lady arranges her forces into three tiers, building terraces and staggering troops to provide maximum support to one another. The end of the approach to Charm is blocked by a wooden palisade and trenches.
The battle takes several days. During the day, the Rebel forces hammer against the conventional defenses, slowly pushing back the Imperial forces at great cost. At night, the Taken unleash the worst of their wizardry, which the Circle neutralizes with considerable effort. The first day, the Lady loses Shapeshifter; the Rebels lose Whiskers, Roper, and Tamarask. The second day, Bonegnasher and Stormbringer appear to kill each other (though Stormbringer secretly steals away); four more of the Circle perish. On the third day, Lady unleashes a hidden platoon of war elephants, and the new Taken Feather and Journey reveal themselves. The next night, Moonbiter, The Faceless Man, and Nightcrawler all fall; only Nightcrawler is killed by enemy action. On the final day, the Rebel forces bring out a girl pretending to be the White Rose to boost morale. However, they are finally slain by a sorcerous pestilence spread by the Howler. Howler is apparently killed when his carpet crashes, and Lady catches Soulcatcher in the act of sabotaging Howler's carpet. Lady and Croaker pursue Soulcatcher and eventually Croaker cuts off Soulcatcher's head.
The Lady makes it clear to Croaker that the battle is really between her and the Dominator, who has managed to reach the leading members of the Circle as well as the female Taken. The Lady's strategy of making sure as many people died on both sides is successful - a quarter million people die here.
