5 EK, Arhi-Shalaa 13 [mid-December]

It didn’t take us long to decide. We burned that cursed city. The Enu had little to discuss, apparently: al-Qahiid determined that the place must be purged of the heathens’ wickedness and works, and all other respected opinions followed. I can’t say I disagree. Much as we need to consider the strategic needs of the army, I don’t think a single sane man would’ve been willing to camp in that place. Wouldn’t any useful salvage within, either.

We commandeered what we could from the outlying farms, at least. No one’s in the mood to complain about rice this time.

Between interactions with the locals and information from those Tao who joined earlier, we have enough information to seek out this Asru-Kastatha and even to estimate what might be necessary to overtake it.

As noted earlier in this edition, the original Tao name of this city and the Hashas version vary somewhat in pronunciation even of the essential consonants, never mind accent or inflection.

5 EK, Arhi-Shalaa 14 [mid-December]

Regardless of any horrors we are to discover in this Asru-Kastatha, it is said that we are going to occupy the city. The specifics of the fate of city and inhabitants will be decided when the time comes, I suppose, but the city is to remain functional enough to prove useful in Hashas hands.

I assume this means a long pause in the campaign as we restore the city to our use, assuming all goes well. Many Hashas will have to stay to defend our new holdings, of course, but hopefully I can consider my job done at that point. There will have to be a changing of the guard as conscripts return to their fields, after all, and truly competent men will have to guard the officers and Enu. Surely.

5 EK, Arhi-Shalaa 15 [mid-December]

Strange that I never took much notice this al-Qahiid before. First I heard of him, he and his company were on the receiving end of a particularly deadly assault by Tao guerillas. Nearly thirty Hashas were killed, and ten more more of the Tao marching with us even went down. He was injured, too, and we thought he was headed back for the homeland for certain--many Enu who’ve seen this conflict first-hand have gone back for lesser reasons. Not this one, though.

As the rumor-ravenous young conscripts around me have attested, al-Qahiid was once more subdued in tone and speech. When the Enu would debate theology and philosophy among themselves, he was known for being slow to speak, level-headed, and most surprisingly, moderate. Some even suspected him to be critical of our war effort here: largely unsubstantiated rumors, of course, but he did have a habit of saying that we soldiers, fighting for order and civilization, shouldn’t lose sight of that purpose.

That attack changed him, apparently. I suppose it’s difficult to see this as anything other than a disorderly mess that needs fixing once it nearly kills you. Now much of his talk is of fighting for the greater good and furthering Am-Ishatu’s will in lands untouched by his light. I have to agree with the last bit.

5 EK, Arhi-Shalaa 19 [late December]

It’s a difficult road to this city. “City of Stone” indeed. I’ve probably written about this already, but if the runts are allowed to complain about their rice rations every day, then surely I’ll be granted this…

What bothers me most, aside from our slowed pace itself, is the difference this makes in terms of siege weaponry. The chariots were an acceptable loss in terrain that’s not so open anyway, but we’ve no means to utilize the siege engines that have won so many of my predecessors’ assaults on fortified locations. Certainly we don’t have the means to build new ones here, what with Tao swarming us again and again while we collectively try to take up carpentry and have siege engineers plus soldiers labor for perhaps two months. We’ll have to do this the quick-and-dirty way, with manaqelu and infantry-carried rams, but this time against a real city.

One other division met us at that place I’d rather not discuss further, and another is to rendezvous with us within the next few days. This will mean slower movement and more visibility, yes, but save for the guerillas who’ll always target our fringes, the massed army should discourage any attacks on the way to the city. At least, I can’t imagine the local Tao mustering a large enough force that they would meet us head-on, though I suppose I’ve been wrong before.

Come to think of it, perhaps more homesteads and settlements we encounter along the way will be willing to yield once the locals know just how many of us are gathered here.

Well, it’s one thing to hope and another to prepare for the worst.

5 EK, Arhi-Shalaa 22 [late December]

[Ambush! Worth noting for some reason, though not for a long entry.]

Judging by the number of ambushes reported along the train in the past several days, I must assume our burning of that accursed town hasn’t won any local hearts or minds for our cause. I wonder whether they know what was happening in that place. I wonder whether they condone such things.

5 EK, Arhi-Shalaa 24 [late December]

At a crossroads in a seemingly unlikely place--I can’t imagine why anyone bothered to build more than one road going through these parts--we’ve met a third Hashas unit. They have a considerable number of Tao among their numbers as well; if any of them ask why we haven’t won so many locals to our cause, I won’t hesitate to remind them of what we’ve had to do just to stay above the madness of this place. I won’t hesitate to tell them that hearts and minds weren’t on our minds when we came upon the butchered bodies of women and children--butchered by people they must’ve trusted to protect them, no less.

5 EK, Arhi-Shalaa 27 [early January]

Not a whole lot worthy of note along this road; more noteworthy is what’s absent. Mostly abandoned homesteads and villages along this way, many of which, it seems, fell to ruins long ago. Something terrible overtook this land long before we came, and we’ve been seeing the signs for a good while. I guess there was some truth in the words of those who rallied the ignorant poor to this campaign. What I fear is that what we discovered in the previous town wasn’t an isolated incident.

New arms, armor, and other, equally important supplies are finally coming in. Normally I’d think first of the gear and then of everything else, but with all of this long-abandoned property along the road, there’s not a whole lot of food to collect as tribute or by other means. Occasionally we happen upon an inhabited homestead or village--the inhabitants normally yield, though we have to watch our backs constantly--but a good amount of our fodder has come from the supply train. I can only guess at the expense for the home country.

Among the new gear are the new blades. Korazru, the boys are calling these. Rather like the priests’ bull-fellers, but balanced for use against actual adversaries and not witless animals. I still trust my sagarum better, but I feel I could trust one of these in a pinch. The blade along the whole length is one of the more desirable features--makes parrying substantially easier--though I still can’t help but feel that it’s a minimally-tested design.

5 EK, Arhi-Shalaa 30 [early January]

As our country readies itself for continued warfare, so do the Enu. As usual, al-Qahiid is at the forefront, casting us as torches and burning lime that will drive out the darkness with force. Dao-Lei, they say, was long ago the world’s second beacon of civilization, and now we must save and restore it. If we must tear up the foundation and rebuild everything, then so be it, they say. I believe they exaggerate somewhat, as temple and state are essentially one and the same, and the state has interests in retaining some infrastructure--less costly to utilize what already exists than to rebuild from scratch.

The men are eating it up, though. We’re working on swapping out conscripts for some career troops, and I hear even some mercenaries, as our part-timers need to get back to their fields, but some even refuse to do that. Don’t want to be torn away from this place and returned to their families alive, apparently--they really believe they’re meant to be here.

I don’t get such a break, of course, as being a soldier is my one and only job until I retire the role or this role retires me.

5 EK, Arhi-Chaanu 2 [early January]

The original writing is uncharacteristically shaky and unsteady in this entry.

March along, bloody march along until a stricken people kowtow before His Grace from distances that he will never cover in his graceful life. However many Hashas we will have to put under the dirt, theirs is an unfortunate and necessary sacrifice. We are first; His Grace’s new subjects are second.

Could be biased. Even a direct ambush doesn’t usually shake me up. I’m back in the field mindset, or so I thought. Too many close calls in this one, maybe.

Jahashen and Nalhashen. Two fine young men they were, as far as conscripts go. Part-Tao, yes, but they could always understand what the locals were saying. Being countrymen from east of Enaqaat--yes, there is an east of Enaqaat--they knew better than most how to hunt and forage in these parts. Ultimately, that’s what got the best of them. See, being the lead on such tasks is a great way to run into guerilla soldiers. So is giving a second thought about men under your wing. They didn’t come back when they were supposed to--we already had suspicions of the worst--and moved perhaps by my own frustrations, I followed after them with three volunteers. I wouldn’t take any who were unwilling.

We happened upon a berry-bush with a torn linen rag hanging on a branch. Far too obvious a ploy, so we took a route they wouldn’t have expected. With this, we surprised and bagged the first bunch we came upon. I still remember the looks on their faces. Staring straight in the direction of their decoy right up till we were just a few qaabutu away from them. Unfortunately, that engagement, short as it was, made us easier to find. We kept going at my insistence, and what a decision that was. They led with arrows, getting Palhamaan in the side but otherwise just scratching our armor. He panicked and dropped, so it was just three of us with our backs to each other as five guerillas came out from elsewhere in the woods. Crude spears and knives, but as they engaged with us, an arrow scarcely missed my head. Helmet would’ve saved me anyway, in all likelihood, but naturally I jumped anyway and one of the bastards nearly got the jump on me. I had to beat him back with my shield for what felt like a half-minute before I was in position to cleave into him with my sagarum. One of the guerillas made a point of impaling Palhamman, never minding that he was already on the ground and we weren’t. Obviously didn’t end well for either. Some would consider that one-for-one and call it a day, but I can’t help but think mine are more valuable per head. Could be biased. The rest of us weren’t seriously injured--not the most disciplined or well-equipped adversaries--but after we followed the trial a little farther and ran into a group that had a dead half-Tao with them, we practically hacked our way back through the forest. For a second I considered blowing a horn, but I knew there were more Tao than Hashas in that stretch of the woods. We must’ve felled twenty guerillas before we made it close enough to the road. Finally blew the horn then; they must’ve known we were near the road, too, for they chose to run rather than group up.

It felt like we were in there for days, though I think it was only for hours. I’m sure I have a head injury of some kind, and Yahajiin got wounded twice. Don’t know how he’ll come out.

It’s times like this when I feel the most conflicted about it all. Thoughts are torn between my wife and my mission here, between getting my men home and doing something worthwhile for god and country.

Maybe with all of that off my chest I can get some sleep. Dreamless, hopefully, though that’s a lot to hope for. We’re coming upon Asru-Kastatha any day now.

5 EK, Arhi-Chaanu 5 [early-January]

Busy day, to say the least. A morning skirmish, negotiations with the enemy in the afternoon, and assault preparation in the evening were all part of the itinerary.

If nothing else, those Korazru blades are getting good reviews from the boys. Tao riders don’t armor their horses, and the riders are only lightly equipped--suppose it’s too expensive to arm warm bodies that are thrown at us so callously. Somehow we’re the ones fighting someone else’s war, and yet they seem, to me, the most hopeless.

They sent a couple hundred riders toward our rear in order to force us to slow down and reorganize, but instead we just countered with heavy cavalry led by other Qamadatu and me. Told everyone else to stand down, and went toe-to-toe with them, what should be their least favorite way to engage by now. If it wasn’t up to this point, having half their riders killed and the other half routed by our slower yet more experienced cavalry should’ve taught them a lesson. They’re attempting to whittle down our morale, but they’re not more than a copper chisel right now.

Perhaps they knew we would try to negotiate first, and that a substantial dent so close to battle would’ve made their case more persuasive. I hoped for the same effect, but when our leads entreated with them, they were obstinate. Some god of theirs will protect them, just like it protected all of the others so far. There’s no talking sense into them any more than there’s any telling our men that we’re not fighting a holy war.

Well, this makes matters less complicated, in a way. Now we won’t have to negotiate how and under what authority we’ll be able to use the city for our purposes. We’ll simply make it ours and that’s that. If we can pull it off, anyway. Still not excited about taking on a substantial city without what I think of as substantial siege weaponry. We can fling whatever over their walls if we can get close enough, but I already feel sorry for whichever poor bastards will have to tote those battering rams.

Famous last words? Possibly. Always possibly. My thoughts are always with Maliya, and hopefully hers with me. It’s a long time to spend apart, and hopefully it won’t be whole ages longer.

Everyone’s favorite Enum is making promising claims about an afterlife we’ve never really understood. Vague at first, but now increasingly specific. I don’t know how he came up with specifics. Such is timely before our largest battle so far, and presumably our last battle for a long time save for any counter-assaults that might take place. If all goes according to plan, anyway.

“If all goes according to plan, anyway” won’t be my last words. Doesn’t seem that original somehow.

I guess if I want to offer something worth reading, it should be something about this place that thousands of Hashas have been to but millions will never know. I, for one, heard many stories of this place growing up, and so did my father, and my father’s father, and you get the idea. But this is--this was--more than a land of stories to me. I’m true Hashas, yes, but I grew up with Tao all around me, from wardu to the Ba’al’s account-keepers. “Civilized” by the standards set by Hashas priests, all of them, and yet they were so different from us when I really thought about it. Their religion decrees that they keep themselves clean and groomed, almost as if their scriptures were penned by the First Prophet himself, and yet their beliefs about their god were incomprehensible. Somehow, though, nothing for me to be paranoid of. Not reviled like backstabbing Radeti, not dangerously obstinate like the Ongin, not exaggeratedly savage like the Itaal and other boogeymen who, for all I know, might never have actually walked the earth. Often I wondered about the land that produced these Tao, how they could look only a little like us and pay no regard to Am-Ishatu yet coexist among us so readily, like they’ve been Hashas all along. And most of all, civilized and pious though they are, they do not hesitate to cross over the sea in whichever direction. Surely if this country could produce such civilized-yet-forward-thinking people anyway, it must be some place truly exceptional. People are products of their land, you know. I know this, anyway, having toured in the lands of four peoples. I thought that if fate ever took me southward, from which so many of the people of Enaqaat, I would finally substantiate my father’s legends, my peers’ recollections, or both. Prosperity, civilization, dignity, enlightened sanity in perhaps the only place outside Ershutisharu. Perhaps the only place at all.

But no. This is not the Dao-Lei of legends, the Dao-Lei that I heard of from stories told over the entirety of my childhood. This is a strange land, some alien place in which life struggles to gain a foothold amid death and deep madness.