This was supposed to come out last week but obviously it went long! Still though, I hope the epic saga is worth it. Chapters VI to X will be posted when it is done.

Chapter I ~ The Battle of Kao

It was early in the morning when scouts returned to the great city of Kao with their reports of the Asoritan movements. It seemed the day King Nang long feared had finally come. He ordered the finest warriors of Alfei to his side and explained the situation to them. The king explained that they were outnumbered many times over, but the enemy were beardless cowards who hide behind shields rather than face their enemy with honor. By the will of Alfei they would not lose to these heathens of the north. The warriors shouted in affirmation and returned to their temple outside the city, where they prepared their body paint; most importantly the red crescent moons on their foreheads. They shaved their heads one last time in preparation and bound their beards together so they would not get in the way of their fighting. They were ready to face this unknown foe.

It was several hour later before the first Asoritans could be seen on the distant hills. As the Kao scouts had reported, they walked in organized lines, though no shields could stop the fury of Alfei… or so the warriors thought. As all three hundred and five of them charged up the hill, another two hundred volunteers from the city behind them, and they clashed with the unmoving wall that was the Asoritan army, some of them realized right there that they were lost. The first to arrive were almost instantly skewered on the many spears that pointed their way through the shields, others were pushed onto them by the force of their charging brothers behind them. Some got through and managed to kill some of the Asoritans, but they were near immediately replaced by the men behind them. The warriors of Alfei had never before lost a battle, but against the comparatively professional forces of the Asoritans they were clearly on the losing side within minutes. It would take ten minutes for the first of the volunteers to flee the battlefield and start a rout that could no longer be stopped. The warriors kept the fight up for longer, but as their veterans began to fall, so did the morale and eventually they too ran off the battlefield, scattering into the woods or back to the city.

Days had now passed since the battle. Asoritans had now fully occupied the city of Kao and the mood was grim at best. People prefered to stay inside when possible, only going out for work. At the marketplace by the crossing, a long spear held up the impaled and rotting corpse of King Nang of Kao. His wife and sons, the two that did not die in defense of the city or flee into the woods, were being sent north today. None knew for what reason, but they all assumed they would never be seen again.

Chapter II ~ The Enemy of My Enemy

Immediately as news of the Asoritan conquest of Kao arrived in Shung and Hanor, the kings of these cities knew they stood no chance. The both of them had waged war on Kao for generations without success, yet in one battle this northern empire had cleaned up the great warriors of Alfei. Kings Denos of Shung and Fei of Hanor had their differences, but both agreed to approach the general of this army in Kao together with an appealing offer of military aid in his further conquests and other useful information about the land that could be helpful.

Envoys of the kings reached Kao and found the city silent, still in mourning and processing the events of the previous weeks. It did not take long before they were captured and brought before some high ranking man.

“We are here to speak in the name of our kings, Denos of Shung and Fei of Hanor. Both great kings offer you their surrender and manpower on the condition that they may continue to rule their people as faithful subjects of your great empire.”

They spoke in Senlin, with the heavy accent of the mountain-folk at that, and it took a while for the Asoritans to find someone in the city who was willing and able to translate to into the tongue of the Athalâ, which the invaders would hopefully understand.

“You must leave women you trust to rule your cities, as you must go to the home of the Sun Queen and become her sons. But first, you must aid me, and lead armies to the city of Ane. It must learn that it is meant to be ruled by the Sun Queen, your mother.”

The Shaman-of-Axes waited for the translation to complete, and then he added, “Of course, I will provide some of my forces to assist you. They are undefeatable, and thus our victory is assured in the eyes of the Sun and Stars.”

And so he had the envoys escort his Left to the south with half of the Asoritan Armies he had brought. These Kings were likely to agree, but even more likely to agree with the Asoritan army on their doorsteps.

Chapter III ~ The Road to Ri

The woods were dark, and showed no enemy, and that was exactly what the Shaman-of-Axes feared. He had wrestled with this strategy for many nights, wondering how to arrive in Ri and claim the city for the Sun-Queen. There was really no good way. Half his force had gone south with the Shunitans and Hanotans. There were no roads to that city at the end of the peninsula. He certainly couldn’t boat over. The best he could do is blaze a trail with what men he had brought - grit his teeth and push on.

It was one thing to wait for the stars-stupid warriors with painted bald heads and who were so very willing to lose battles that they threw themselves on their spears. But it was another thing to wait around in the dead of night on a road that wasn’t even a road, waiting for a battle that was certain to come. The Shaman-of-Axes found himself, for the first time since he was but 4 years old, being afraid of the dark once again. He knew many of the men shared his thoughts - the Asoritan army may be the most powerful, the most numerous, the most unassailable, and the most unstoppable army in the whole of the universe. But they were still men, and men still succumbed to fear. That nagging voice in the back of their heads told them that this was sure to end in disaster.

And sure enough, it did.

The barbarians came screaming out of the woods, and the men were shocked. The Shaman-of-Axes even jumped as he saw his trailblazers had their heads crushed before they had time to lift a shield. Some men took up spears and dropped their torches, but that meant to that the lights would be snuffed out of worse - the trees might catch. A few men had brought up their shields in time to save themselves, but the problem still faced them. They were out of formation. The only thing that could stop a chevron was another chevron, but that required being in a chevron first.

The Shaman-of-Axes took out his axe, and tried to rally his men, but it was no good. It was a blur of blood and disarray. A vicious dance of death and panic. The mighty Asoritan Army - the one he had boasted was completely undefeatable just weeks ago - showed weakness and hesitation, and the Warriors of Alfei feasted off it. The Shaman-of-Axes saw that the forest began to smoulder and burn, as more and more of his men panicked. And then he said it.

“Retreat! Fall back!”

And they fled into the night as the forest blazed behind them, to hide in the safety of Kao.

Chapter IV ~ Assault on Ane

Managing the two armies of Shung and Hanor was a lot like managing two squabbling children - a task that the Yaboti, the Right of the Shaman-of-Axes, was woefully unprepared for. Their armies were not disciplined in the Asoritan fashion, nor did they know anything about Asoritan tactics beyond their inane assumption that the goal of marching was to synchronize the footsteps to create as much noise as possible. Many afternoons were wasted with their mimicry of the proper Asoritan spearman. But countless more were used managing their grudges.

The issue was that both Shung and Hanor had a lot of past in their past, and both were planning on getting revenge on both Ane and each other. Stars, for half a day they lead the Asoritan Army towards Pohuan in hopes that, damn it, they went all that way without noticing, may as well take that city down too! It was ludicrous.

The one thing they did know was pathfinding. That, and looting. It seems that the two warbands were in a permanent unspoken competition to be the messiest looter - a competition that Yaboti did not need nor want. And yet no matter how many times he told the warband leaders of Shung and Hanor to be disciplined, no matter how many exhausting drills Yaboti tried to put these Senlin through, they simply refused to cooperate.

But finally, they arrived within eyeshot of Ane. It was an impressive city… by Senlin standards at least, which meant it did not impress Yaboti one bit. Home to some 3000 people, it was certainly bigger than Kao but most of it still consisted of wooden homes with a small cluster of stone buildings in the center around a large marketplace. The warband leaders from Shung and Hanor explained to Yaboti that it could be possible to turn some nobles from the city to their side. King Habuanei of Ane had failed to get any sons, but the husbands of his fourteen daughters were very eagerly awaiting an opportunity to climb the throne. Yaboti would have none of it, however, he had come to prove his strength on the battlefield, and that is what he would do.

And Yaboti grinned, because he saw the rival warband. For once, Yaboti praised the gods for the Senlins’ collective lack of discipline, because that would make them that much easier to kill.

It was too easy - the “army” of Ane was barely larger than a single chevron, perhaps three hundred, perhaps a touch more. They had learned nothing from Kao, as they charged headlong into the Asoritan formation, throwing themselves on the bronze spears and breaking themselves against the heavy shields. The other Senlin barely had time to crush the rest before what survivors there were ran for the hills, with the men of Shung and Hanor following after them. It was brief, it was bloody, and it was won easily. Yaboti marched on to Ane, and there King Habuanei met him and his forces as he marched through the city.

There was perhaps an hour of negotiations - really it was a conversation of what was going to happen to Ane. Thirteen of the King’s fourteen daughters were sent back to the great city with their husbands in tow, and - by dusk - Habuanei was no more. Ane had fallen to Asor.

Chapter V ~ Tribal Tribulations

As Ane fell without much difficulty to the Right, the Shaman-of-Axes tried a new approach with these barbarians of the forest. He had sent envoys to these tribal chiefs that had set upon him. Not those Warriors of Alfei - they would never work for the Sun Queen, but quite clearly they needed someone who knew the land to escort them to the city of Ri. Who better than these tribal chiefs to bring them to their next battle? They would serve well as governors as soon as they got a taste of city life. And so the Shaman-of-Axes had envoys sent out with minor guards, looking for trouble. It was perhaps a better idea when he had first had it.

News had filtered back that one of the envoys had died. Tragic. Another one hadn’t been heard from again. Also tragic. But a few others hit their mark, and they returned to Kao with news that these tribal chieftains would meet with the Shaman-of-Axes. Perhaps he had gotten his hopes up, but he had a good feeling about this.

And so he met with these would-be governors, and they were not entirely what he had hoped.

The chiefs were best described as wild. Each came with their own demands for power and it was a true struggle to find some tribes willing to work together rather than turn the negotiation into a slaughter over some distant river valley or hilltop. It became clear to the Shaman-of-Axes that these people were quite culturally different from their more “civilized” Senlin counterparts, the very same that he just previously considered barbarians. They did not worship the same gods. In fact, he had a hard time grasping from the many rough translations whether these people worshipped anything at all beyond an ominous “shadow” they kept wishing on each other. Yet, in the end he found six tribes: Can, Rum, Deong, Yei, Ho and Zhu who all appeared at least somewhat willing to cooperate in finding a save route through the forested hills and providing manpower to the Asoritan army. It was only after promising great wealth and lax requirements that they agreed to help, and yet the Shaman-of-Axes could not shake the feeling that they weren’t going to hold up their end of the bargain, no matter how favorable the terms were to them.

So he did what he liked to do the least - he swallowed his pride, and together the six tribes set out with him to Ri. On the way, he tried to get these chiefs to consider him less of a foreign army and more of a foreign tribe of fierce Asoritan warriors. The first among equals, of sorts. The Sun Queen would execute him for such a thing, and it had little effect. But regardless, being escorted by the six tribes meant that they made it to Ri largely unperturbed after several weeks - though there were some minor skirmishes and annoyances of ruined trails and inconvenient landslides.