Disproportionate as appeared the resources of the contending nations, the war which ensued was well contested. The Caras had resumed their warlike habits and the imminence of the danger animated them and their allies to a desperate resistance. For months the Caras held the great Inca army at bay in the defiles of the Azuay, but finally they were defeated and retreated to the line of Tiocajas. The Incas followed and in a great battle vanquished their opponents so decisively that not only was Riobamba lost, as had happened after the former defeat, but likewise Latacunga and Quito itself. No stand could be made at Mocha, and the Shiri fled to Ibarra, through Quito, where the Caranquis, the most warlike members of the confederacy, were determined to resist to the last. A considerable number of Cara warriors had escaped the slaughter at Tiocajas, and a formidable army assembled to defend the last fortresses in the extreme north of the kingdom. Huaina himself laid siege to Otavalo, the principal stronghold of the Caranquis, but was not able to reduce it. Their successes encouraged them to take the offensive, and in a sortie the Inca emperor narrowly escaped losing his life. Compelled to retire to suppress a mutiny among his southern troops, he left the northern army under the command of his brother, Auqui Toma, and the latter was killed in an assault on the redoubtable fortress of Otavalo. This, however, was the last victory which the Shiri won. Huaina's reinforcements had come up and he advanced with an overwhelming army to avenge his brother's death. Otavalo was taken and its garrison put to the sword; the Shiri fled to another fortress, where he was defeated and slain. The victorious emperor took a fearful vengeance on the Caranquis, whose obstinacy had cost him so dear. Tradition tells that twenty-four thousand were massacred, and their bodies thrown into a lake which has ever since borne the name of Yahuarcocha--the "pool of blood."