We tried, we really did... But we were not match for their power, the invasion caught us off guard. There was no retreat, all we could do, was fight...
So we had mannaged to fight back the invaders to the ridge where they defended with the rest of their force, we had no chance of breaking through the rest of their forces with my small group of men I had left. We had to wait until my brother returned form his conquest in the far reaches of the smaller kingdoms, he had the bulk of our armies with himself to conquer. I am not sure how long we will be able to hold out however.
Sorry, I found it a lot more fun to put in little slivers of a story that I made up right now and typed it as I had thought it, no harm done? I think not!