Battle joined.

Cassandra and Helinda watched from hiding places and saw the three columns of dust rising up from the horizon which meant that the enemy was approaching. All they had was the surprise factor in their favour because had they been seen by the scouts the previous day they would have been attacked during darkness. They waited as the dust grew nearer bows already loaded which they had to conserve and Cassandra and Helinda had ordered their troops to target senior warriors who had red or white plumes in their helmets. The reasoning was that if the senior warriors fell the junior warriors would be confused and possibly break. The defender's intention was to allow the pass to become clogged and then let loose with arrows to thin out the senior warriors. As the dust cloud got nearer Cassandra could not believe their luck as they were approaching with the war elephants at the head of the first wave. Elephants were good for charging ranks of exposed infantry but would be at a disadvantage in the narrow ravine and it was a shame that they would die.

Cassandra quickly ordered her warriors to **** target the elephants when they got to the far end of the ravine her intent was to block the whole length. Helinda surmised that Cassandra's troops would target the elephants so she kept her troops targeting the senior warriors. They estimated the enemy would be in the ravine in five minutes and it would take the elephants to get to the far end another ten minutes. When Cassandra heard the first elephant bellow in pain the arrows flew down into the ravine filling the air with the horrendous sound of dying beasts. Added to this were the sounds of screaming warriors as confusion reigned and warriors broke running back trying to get out of the ravine. Had these been seasoned troops they would have climbed over the fallen elephants to get to the other end of the ravine. Cassandra watched as the enemy retreated but none of her troops cheered because they were killing their sisters. She looked down into the ravine and she could see the dead and dying elephants mixed with warriors the blood already staining the sand.

This was going to be a long morning and Cassandra knew that she could expect relief from Arerto before the afternoon so she had to hold out. Having blocked the ravine it caused the enemy commander a problem she could not use her cavalry and her foot warriors would be slowed. Another advantage was that the enemy did not know how strong or weak her **** was holding the heights. Now if she was the enemy commander she would find a way to tie down the enemy on the heights with faints and distractions while she looked for a way to flank the heights. Cassandra and Helinda had known this when they set up the defence but could only spare ten warriors on each height to guard the flanks. The higher the enemy climbed the flanks the easier it would be to bring their bows and arrows to bear. All they could do now was to wait for the enemy's next attack which they knew would take about an hour as they would be figuring out a way to make that attack. Cassandra did an arrow count and they were all down to between five and ten arrows each. They waited and waited then the dust rose again signalling the next attack on its way.