The holy orders of Kaya
Part I
Part II
Part III
Part IV

When we left of, Agoba had lost its first battle to Kaya's army and most of the Ilesi's west bank had fallen under Kayasha control. Now Farba Olùde, princess and heir to the Alááshu, was on a mission to cross the Ilesi and conquer Mbóri on the coast.

Map of Ewo-Ife in 1401 DFS

The East Bank, 1406 DFS...

Princess Olùde was knee deep in the mud, ploughing through the marshlands. Behind her were almost a thousand men and women doing the same but carrying their own weapons and equipment, because Olùde was leading an attack. They were going to strike Mbóri, one of the most iconic cities of Ewo-Ife, and they were going to do so from the south because that side was entirely unprotected. The only solid overland roads came from the north so they had walled off one side of the city but the stilt houses and fisheries in the south had no need to be protected by a wall unless an enemy was prepared to swim and sail their way through the wet monsoon forest. Precisely Olùde's plan.

Armed with the knowledge of local believers in Kaya who were persecuted after the Karògù had started, Olùde's small army could camp in the few dry spots at night - or not, and then they would march the whole night - and avoid the most common open waters and rivers which would be impossible to cross. Her army consisted not of the Holy Orders or the fanatics but of locals she had rallied to Kaya's cause in the western Ewo-Ife. Though the Karògù was violent, it was paired with astronomical rates of conversion towards the new faith, because the old faith had been casual and traditional, yes, but it had none of Kayasha's obvious benefits like a paradise after death. From this rapid conversion a generation of religious fanatics was born who had no other desires but to fight for their new faith.

Instead of letting the fanatics stir trouble in the newly taken land, Olùde recruited all of them and sorted the wheat from the chaff by way of difficult and taxing campaigns such as her current one. She had lost and would still lose plenty of soldiers to attrition, but the survivors of her corps of Rivercrossers were extremely tough survivalists adapted to the delta. Her army was supported with a core of noblemen and mtataza from Uwára, personal friends and acquaintances to maintain order and instill discipline.

After closing in towards Mbóri, the Rivercrossers cut down trees and built makeshift rafts and paddles. Olùde prayed to Kaya the night before and in true Obibo fashion the Rivercrossers attacked before dawn. Bearing their bows they boarded the rafts and crossed the river to Mbóri, carrying torches to illuminate the dark for the short stretch. The southern side of the city would still be asleep and no one would expect the attack coming from the south regardless.

The plan was daring, it was probably cunning too, but it had not counted on the local wildlife: large crocodiles had been stealing guineafowl and even children from Mbóri fishermen and therefore the fishermen kept vigil over the water all night to look for the monsters. They were quick to notice the Rivercrossers and they woke up Mbóri in a hurry. Before the Rivercrossers could even land, the first volley of the defenders' bows had been sent flying and took its necessary casualties with it into the river. The Rivercrossers rapidly extinguished all their torches and went completely silent, the defenders had no more indication of where to shoot. Their hurried and panicked cries contrasted with the river, which was eerily quiet.

Then, a single bowstring twanged. An arrow came out of the darkness and struck one of the defenders between the eyes, which gazing out over the water, looking for a target. Another string went and a third. Suddenly all Rivercrossers shot their arrows at the illuminated port of Mbóri, striking dozens of startled defenders. When the first raft reached the shoreline, its men shot their bows once more and then began the attack with their spears.

'KAYA SÈ YA!' Was their battlecry and as raft after raft reached the shore or another raft, men poured out into the fisheries and stilted towns of Mbóri. They knew what was hitting them, but they were too disorganised to put up a defence at the waterfront itself and in a - for a warned enemy - surprisingly short skirmish they allowed themselves to be pushed back into the proper, dryer parts of Mbóri, but they knew the only thing between them and the Rivercrossers was not a wall, but time, and time was always in short supply.

'Where is the Princess?' The men cried after the initial victory, looking for their next orders. Olùde's captains were searching frantically, but she was nowhere to be found. But upon returning to the river they discovered a tragedy. On the last raft to reach Mbóri, one man, certainly a coward, had pulled one of the casualties from the water. He must have seen her floating in her ornate dress, as Olùde had not been the only one to fall from her raft. The man was shaking, he was frightened, and the captains pulled the Princess away from him, to have their unrealistic but understandable last hope crushed. Their commander was most certainly very much completely dead.

One of the captains came forward, carrying Olùde towards the men and showing her to them.

'Princess Olùde, I hold you in my arms. You were to be the ninth of your name, Alááfin in your own right, ruler of an empire. You could have lived in a golden palace without ever having to so much as walk without the aid of lettered servants and slaves, the cream of the Obibo, the finest men always around you. Instead, you left your mother, you left for decades of war, because you only knew that the Karògù was righteous, was just, was necessary. We crossed a thousand rivers in your trail, Olùde! We are not educated. We are not excellent and accomplished, we are the plebs, the poor, we did not deserve your command. You did not pay heed to any of that and we crossed a thousand rivers. We crossed a thousand and one rivers, but the last one you did not cross. Felled by a heathen whilst you fought for what was right. Fought for Kaya. And now we are going to kill every archer in this city so no murderer can avoid their punishment in deception. Because Olùde would have willed it. Because Kaya wills it!'

'KAYA SÈ YA!' The Rivercrossers shouted. The captain carefully put the Princess on the ground and he drew an ornate sword. 'WITH ME!' He cried. 'WITH THE PRINCESS!' The soldiers answered. And so they entered Mbóri, confining all defenders to a bloody doom.

The battle lasted throughout all of the morning and it certainly was not easy on the Rivercrossers' side, but where they lost half their men, they were committed to their butcher's task and slew anyone, everyone, capable of fighting or carrying a bow. By the evening, they had taken the walls and raised their bloody banner over the city, but the killing would continue through the night. In that tragic manner the city of Mbóri fell, a grisly battle neither side felt good about. Months after the city had been taken the whole area controlled by the city-state fell into the hands of Kaya's army as the Rivercrossers were reinforced by the Holy Orders.

It had taken almost as long before the news of Olùde's death reached the couriers of Tozàn. They took the news to Uwára as if they were birds and when it reached the elderly Alááfin, Uwára mourned for a month. If the Alááfin died, Tozàn mourned it a week, because the death was ofset by the ascension of a new Alááfin and that was a matter of great rejoicing. But Olùde had been the heir, the Princess, considered in gossips and common tales to be an avatar of Kaya herself. Most of all, she was the daughter of a mother who happened to be in charge and though no one can replicate the grief a mother feels for her dead child, Tozàn collectively tried their damnedest to be just as sad for the whole month.

Map of Ewo-Ife in 1407 DFS