In its invasion of Agreya , Sheckel had attacked from the Western Province . The forested highlands of this Agreyan province provided adequate cover for a guerilla style war of attrition. The kingdom of Sheckel was as well majorly a hilly landscape , meaning that its soldiers were already highly trained to fight in the mountains . The first attack was launched on the villages belonging to the Rivergrey Clan , where Thelma Rivergrey ( Lan's second wife ) hailed from . The genius behind this strategy lay in the capture of two major rivers that had their sources from this area . The Sheckelians planned to starve the kingdom of this water source , slowly building up a siege they intended to raise to the entire kingdom. The battle had been a fierce one , owing to the fact that the Rivergrey clan had their own autonously trained millitary unit . This group had fearlessly held off the Sheckelians , motivated under the leadership of their village chief .