The Generals Amavi and Shemah's armies reached the field in front of Unterlet in the morning hours of Monday with all their men with them. They had sent an ultimatum to Unterlet to surrender or die a week ago, and there had been no answer. The implications of this were clear as day, and General Amavi was here as the embodiment of those implications. With him was the entire invading force of 13,500 armored, battle-ready men, divided into two divisions. They stopped and assembled on the field where the walls of Unterlet were in direct sight. Amavi was leading the march with five officers including Hadad and the other general, Shemah, when they stopped their horses and squinted into the distance. They burst out laughing like hyenas, at what they saw. Amavi said,
'Are they mocking us?'
'I wish they are.'
'Even after we honored them with a prior warning signal?' Amavi meant the heads of three men that he had sent to Unterlet fortnight ago. He had given the defenders of Unterlet up to a week to answer the ultimatum, so he had expected the full bulk of them here to defend the castle. But across from him, assembled in a line along the wall of the defensive castle, were no more than a few hundred men on horseback. Before and during Amavi's war speech to his men, one of the banner men from the wall urged his horse, and began galloping across the open field toward Amavi. When he came to within shooting distance of his bow, the man stopped his horse, and readied his bow as the men watched. Amavi stopped yelling to watch too. He tied a scroll onto an arrow, and shot it into the air. The arrow came down a few meters from Amavi's own horse. An officer picked it up, and handed it to Amavi, while the horseman with the flag galloped back to the wall. Amavi untied the little message and unrolled it. The paper was blank, so Amavi turned it over. It was blank.
'What the hell is this? It's blank.' He gave it to Shemah to have a look, but he didn't take it. He was looking at the wall. Amavi looked back too, and saw the Provincian defense riding south of the wall. All of them. And, they left the gates of the fortress open.
'What is this about?' Shemah asked, 'some sort of ploy?'
'No,' Amavi now understood the meaning of the blank paper, 'they're abandoning the fortress.' He urged his horse forward, and his cavalrymen followed him at full pelt.
There wasn't a singing bird within the walls. This fortress was home to Moon Province's first line of defense of at least a quarter of their armies. It was also home to 10,000 civilians, mostly Provincians who worked in the port of Unterlet on the northern coast, just a few miles away. Yet, the city was a desolate waste. The Provincians had torched and evacuated their own city. Only the smell of smoke and burning things and the sound of howling wind greeted the Goldoran forces. Amavi and his officers rode through the smoke in the streets in utter shock and deafening silence. Many buildings had been leveled by the fires and spread out in debris on the roads. Others were gaping at them from huge holes in their sides. The only living creatures were perhaps cockroaches and a few wall crawling reptiles, but there wasn't a single chick anywhere.
'What in Dagon's name is this?' Amavi had stopped in the center, 'what are they doing?'
'Another Provincian surprise,' one officer said.
Amavi laughed a sinister laugh, saying,
'Well, it is our victory. If they don't want the city anymore, we take it.'
But he couldn't have been more wrong. Later on it dawned on him and his men that the Provincians had not just destroyed their city on Goldora's behalf. They had also burned any and all crops they couldn't carry with them, destroyed roads and bridges, filled in water bodies with fish in them with silt, burned all the fishing boats and nets in the Unterlet port, and so on and so forth. There was nothing for the Goldoran army to occupy nor anyone upon whom to announce the new order.
Aquillah. The city of the moon. The city looked other-worldly whether from a distance or within the city. It looked like a giant monastery hidden away between four blocks of the magnificent Ilfried Mountain, named after independent Moon Province's first king. The city was itself named after Aquillah, his wife, who had taken with her ten thousand women and children into the mountain to hide them from the Goldoran invaders, centuries ago. After that war, the kingdom had decided to base its capital here, and raise its queer walls. And Aquillah had become famous for its impregnability and the architectural genius of its builders. When the Goldorans had come again in the second war of independence, they hadn't even managed to reach Aquillah's walls. The country's outnumbered defenders had an almost constant advantage over the Goldorans, an advantage that the mountain offered. The Provincians knew their terrain, and fought from a high altitude. The Goldorans had occupied most of Moon Province's west bank, and taken six major locations, including the old capital, Krossante, to declare them Goldoran administrative provinces. But after months of trying they were unable to take the grand old fortress of Aquillah, until Korazin's armies joined the war and fought off the Goldorans and flushed them out of the kingdom.
And now Goldora had come again. And they were overly confident this time, as they had dealt with the Moon's best friend, Korazin, before launching another campaign. Goldora believed that the land of Moon Province belonged to it, having been taken by secessionist groups in the old ages. And, Moon Province was rich with resources that the Goldorans couldn't pass up. By itself the Moon was richer than mainland Goldora, and second only to Korazin in economic wealth. Now, King Elkaan, upon receiving word that Goldoran forces were gathering pace and preparing for an invasion in the Trout Channel, had realized immediately that it would be impossible to defend against them there alone. So he had passed a decree calling for the cooperation of his subjects living west of the mountain ranges, to join in the war effort, not by enlisting or participating in any military maneuvers or anything, but by doing something unimaginable: to evacuate the major towns and cities, and leave absolutely nothing there for Goldora to take, especially food. The whole mass of up to 10,000 people were to relocate to Aquillah and anywhere east of it, which included some uninhabited islands, that would now be put to use.
And on this bright Sunday morning, led by General Neijder, the little general, the largest, and last, caravan of Provincians arrived at Aquillah, as many as 5,000 of them. The other half had already traveled east by themselves in small groups. General Neijder was the chief of the forces at Unterlet fortress, and many of his men were with him. King Elkaan had been waiting here at the east gate of Aquillah all morning, and now he was informed that the little general had arrived with a very, very long line of civilians and their things. He and his men quickly rushed out of the house he had been in inside the gates. He threw on his royal cape and crown, and yelled to his men to prepare his horse. On the road coming from the gate, people were buzzing and excited, and were beginning to converge in large groups along the road to have a glimpse of the incoming migration. The king's men began to clear the road by standing on its sides and keeping the citizens behind them. Those who couldn't secure nice spots to stand invaded the buildings along the road and stood on their roofs, parapets and balconies, and some kids even hang on the beams sticking out of the eaves of buildings. Other soldiers galloped away to prepare the temporary lodgings of the incoming people. These included huge caverns carved out of the mountain, or open spaces within the city or east of it, where builders had been hired by the king to raise as many wood cabins as possible. Also, a few city dwellers had been moved by the king's bold decree in behalf of his people, and to emulate his outstanding patriotism, had volunteered to host migrators in the their homes. This had encouraged many Provincians to do the same, and as a result, an office to register such volunteers had been set up, so that the king and his officials would provide relief to those families.
King Elkaan rode his horse to the main gate. Now there were two gates, and the main one was not as busy as the smaller, narrower one, which the denizens of Aquillah used daily. This one, with high, heavy doors, was rarely used, but it is the one King Elkaan faced now. Behind it was the long and wide, paved road sloping all the way down to the foot of the mountain. Its sides were precarious precipices, and were protected by concrete walls. The road resembled one told in fables about the gates of heaven. A large part of Aquillah's wall was like this. In fact, the wall was not one round or polygonal piece. On many parts of it, the wall had been constructed into the face of the mountain's blocks and ridges, and on such ridges, castles had been set up to watch for approaching enemies. This design made it the most secure location in all of Moab.
After some time of watching the closed gate, King Elkaan was joined by his wife, Queen Filippa, and their seventeen-year old crown prince, Oppa, both riding white mares. This was an intentional move to reassure their people. The king and prince were dressed in half armor, and the king was given his royal sword. This arrival was a military operation in many respects, that's why. When a man told the king that the evacuees were close to the gate, the king raised a hand and dropped it, and the captain of the forces on the gate shouted,
'Open the gate!'
And with a loud creak or two, men in uniform pulled on the handles and ropes, and the double door was yanked open inward. The little general's lead horse was visible down the road, followed by three others belonging to his officers. The rest of the crowd, on horses or on foot or on horse drawn carts and wagons, stretched far back until it was concealed by a hill in the far distance. Soldiers on horseback buffered them on either side. General Neijder stopped his horse within four meters of the royals, who were now just in front of the gate. He and his men, and all those on horseback near him, dismounted their horses when he dismounted his, and all bowed down in respect of the king. General Neijder then came closer to his king, dragging his horse. King Elkaan said to him,
'You have done well, General. The nation is proud of you.'
'You are too kind, sire. I only do as I am mandated, and I am aware this is just the beginning.'
'Indeed it is.'
The king and the General stayed here at the gate until the entire mass of tired, sore citizens of all ages was inside the gates of Aquillah, more than two hours later. Now it was time for the king's address to the nation, so he rode his horse through the streets, headed for Shumarcan Palace, his residence. Shumarcan was by itself on the face of a large hill, surrounded by walls with a design similar to the city's walls. Its front wall was at the foot of the hill, facing a colossal stone pitch in which people were already beginning to converge for the king's address. The king was real dear to them, so much so that people even haggled to be in his service, whether as palace maids, eunuchs or guards. The king's latest move even endeared them to him more, despite considerable opposition from people who had left their livelihoods behind. Still, even these understood that the migration to the impregnable capital was better than living under the hateful yoke of the Goldoran aggressors. It wasn't until an hour later when the king appeared on a balcony overlooking the arena. With him were his war council of ten members, and the queen. He was still clad in his armor and crown when he waved his hand to silence the people, and began to speak. Only those closer to him would hear him, but it was no matter.
'People of the moon!' he heralded, 'I greet you all. I wish I had prepared glad tidings for this occasion, but I'm afraid that is not so, because the days ahead of us are dark days. We find ourselves at the doorstep of yet another war against our slippery enemies from the west. They have come twice before, and on both occasions have snatched our lands and enslaved our people to fill their insatiable imperialistic greed. Twice before, our friends, those closer to home, heeded our call for help and rushed to our aid, and helped root out the swarm of Goldoran locusts. But these are desperate times, even for our old allies. As you know, they cannot help our cause this time, as the locusts overran their lands first. So while we have called upon the help of our other friends, they are too far off to join us immediately, and until they come, we have had to employ the most desperate of measures. Our forefathers knew that such a bleak day would come, and so they raised these walls, that have kept out our noisy neighbors for generations. We are confident that no version of Goldoran might shall break our walls, nor soften our resilience!
'My friends, that bleak day starts today. So I am calling upon every man, woman, child and dog, to emulate the loyalty of our friends whom we welcomed today. We are the people of the Moon, and while we are few and our enemies as numerous as flies, we will defend our lands as best we can! These walls can hold us safe for years, and from here, we can beat back the enemy until we break their will, and their spirit. We have left nothing east for them to steal, nor any man to flog, nor any woman to rape, nor any food to eat. That is the desperate measure. But, friends, let it be known that while many of us will live in tents and wood cabins on open fields, we will not surrender!' he was punching the air with his right fist, and the crowd burst out in rapturous applause. This was the end of his speech, and its effect remained amongst the crowds for more than a minute before he waved and walked away.
Hours later, King Elkaan met with his ten-man war council, including General Neijder, in a round gazebo in the center of his beautiful garden, away from the main building. There were maids standing on the floorboards around the gazebo. Between the men of war was a detailed map of the city and its surrounding fortifications.
'It's been two weeks since the operation began,' the king was saying, 'how do the barbarians fare?'
'Our scouts are reporting bewilderment in their camps, sire,' said Neijder, 'they realized what we were doing, but marched further inward anyway to see how far we are willing to go.'
'Are they not running out of food?'
'They are already running short on supplies. I stationed 2,000 men at Krossante. The Goldorans will not expect them to be there. With the king's permission, I will launch an attack by night on their encamped armies here,' he slid a finger on the map to indicate the steppe between Krossante and another minor city.
'Hungry men can't fight,' said General Namara. He was the chief of the thousand who trained the female Captain Rubio, who had recently been reported to be alive, in Shona.
'Do it,' the king sanctioned it, 'and if you can capture some, bring them here so we can hang them in the public square.' Neijder bowed assent. Elkaan went on, 'I received a homing bird from the emissaries in Shona. Her Majesty Rukh-shana will join us. I am expecting her fleet to arrive in three weeks' time.'
'What about the Kayans, father?' Oppa asked.
'Shona comes alone. The Kayans have decided to keep their ships to themselves, as they see no benefit in committing their fleet to a war that is none of their concern. Tamar and Ziv take the same stand. It is only Shona that has seen the future as we have.' That is, an obvious Goldoran expansion agenda.
But King Elkaan had not been appraised about the welfare of Shona's Cobra Fleet in the East Azlan Sea. The 10,000 men on the ships had stalled in their long voyage to Moon Province, because General Garrera had been ready for them, and had played the same trick he had played ten years ago to prevent K'rar's escape ship from sailing to Shona. He had commandeered commercial ships to form a blockade in the sea, so the ships were not even sailing, nor were they three weeks' time away from the Moon Province. They were still more than a month away. Shona's entire 62-ship fleet was there, anchored in the middle of the sea. They were still awaiting the queen's commands as to whether they should force their way through the blockade, or to turn around and return to the Great Bay. Sailing around the blockade was moot, because the stewards on the commercial vessels, experienced seamen, would hoist anchors and sail directly in front of the advancing Hone ships. Besides, the Korazite Matalma Rock fleet, larger by twelve ships, was still ahead of them, and this blockade was a sign that General Garrera knew they were coming, and would have readied his fleet, half of which had been moved north to Cockroach.
'Garrera will have an excuse to start a war if we force through the blockade,' said Ken'aan, an old seadog who was reporting the status of the fleet to Queen Rukh-shana. Forcing the fleet through the blockade would mean damaging the blockade ships, some of which belonged to Arioch. Garrera's plan was obvious. To goad Shona into knocking through them, and then demand compensation for the damage, which of course Shona wouldn't even consider paying. From there, a straight line to war.
'Your Majesty, war with Korazin is inevitable,' another General said, 'whether it's tonight or next month or next year. Garrera wants to pick a fight, and he wants one against us.'
'Thus?' Queen Rukh-shana said.
'Thus, Your Majesty, we might as well take the war to him, because the longer we wait, the quicker Goldora occupies the Moon Province.'
'I agree, Korazin and Shona will certainly lock horns,' a third military commander said, 'but if 10,000 men sail to the Moon Province when the enemy is much closer to home, it is disadvantageous for us. Korazin is in bed with the Goldorans, but there is instability within Korazin. So I would withdraw the fleet and commit the men on land.'
'To fight Garrera's troops at Dura?'
'Yes, Your Majesty. If we fight them there, Goldora has no incentive to wage war on us, as we are not undermining their interests. They do not care about Korazin and would sooner watch us fight them. Arioch and Rabier will also stay out of it.'
'There are Goldoran forces in Korazin,' said Major Ken'aan.
'The ones on the border are mainly Korazite. The Goldorans in Korazin are occupation forces. Tao wouldn't risk moving them from Chaldea or the other cities, lest he loses his grip on Korazin. If we defeat them, we can concentrate our forces south, and send Goldora an ultimatum. Rabier should be easy to deal with.'
'And we can attack Goldora from the west rather than sailing all the way across the Azlan and Louvithian seas. We can give them good reason to leave Moon Province alone.'
After a minute of silence, Queen Rukh-shana said,
'We do not need to call back the fleet.'
'Your Majesty?'
'They should have fought us like men. That blockade cannot last long, and it affects the other nations too. Stay on the sea for as long as you can. I will suffocate Kayan trade on the eastern border, and also close the border to Ockish traders. The Moon Province is locked down, so there will be no trade from there too, until they recognize the real cause of their problems,' she stood up, 'as for the Korazite frontiers, we've been waiting for each other to start the fire too long. Someone has got to start it.'
Sirvea, Kai Islands.
It had been three weeks since Shona shut down its western border, maintained its fleet without incident in the Azlan Sea, and launched an attack on two of Korazin's frontier towns with military presence in them. They had devastated one, but had been defeated in the other. Garrera had finally got his fight, and now the two nations were at war. Korazin had since removed the blockade, but Shona had then stayed put in the waters and not sailed on to Moon Province. It had continued the blockade, which was severely affecting Kai, even more than the other westerners. Her Highness Helga, invested in this whole business as well as the next man, had convinced the sailors that a continued blockade would teach Kai a lesson in geopolitics, that just because they were an island nation, they could not possibly avoid being hurt by a mainland conflict. Also, the Provincians had shut down their economy to concentrate on the war against Goldora, so even without the blockade, Kai couldn't trade with the Moon Province. It also couldn't trade with Korazin now because of it. Three Hone envoys were at Sirvea to make King Gordalot, or Dalot II, understand that it was necessary for him to join the war effort to liberate the Moon Province from Goldora, as the continental crisis had been a direct repercussion of Goldoran aggression against the Moon Province. The Provincians had now waited for help which wasn't coming for all this time, but were giving Goldora a real taste of its own medicine as per reports. Still, without help, the nation couldn't maintain its defense before internally disintegrating. And since Kai owned 118 advanced warships, it was not difficult to understand why it was very crucial in restoring order to Moab.
But there was another reason why Dalot was seriously considering joining the war. A mysterious whistleblower from within Korazin had sent correspondence to Kai through Shona, claiming that Queen Noor-shan, the last remaining member of the Casparon dynasty, was alive, and was a prisoner in Goldora. Now Queen Noor-shan was also a member of the Kayan royal family. She was Dalot's paternal cousin. The king was, however, stalling on his decision, but it troubled him much, because his family would not let it up. He had just returned from a family resort on the eastern coast of the island nation, the resort in which Noor-shan lived as a girl with her father, Lord Abner, who was still living at the manor, albeit barely. He was very old, and only his eldest daughter, who was herself several years older than the king, had received the news. Now, back at his Sirvea palace, Dalot II was confronted by three of his sisters the second he arrived. The loudest was Dalene, who didn't wait for Dalot even to take a drink before she caught up to him and said,
'Are we getting back our cousin?'
'For goodness' sake.'
'You've sat on this three weeks, brother. You know we cannot abandon her there.'
Dalot stopped for a second and opened his mouth to say something, but held it back. He carried on walking, and then said,
'You know, at least you're not using her to try and convince me to worsen the already delicate situation on the mainland, so I'll cut you some slack.'
'Noor-shan has been living in Goldora all these years. For all we know they turned her into a whore,' said Dalene, 'even if it means joining the war, you can't seriously consider staying out of it.'
'Dalene. My duty is to the people of this nation. I am thinking about the nation's welfare. I think about our interests on the mainland, and they don't include family squabbles. But if it makes you happy, I have sent messengers to confirm whether our cousin really lives, after which I will ask the king of Goldora to release her back to us.'
'And if he refuses?'
'If he refuses, would you have me go to war with the Goldorans, huh?'
'Father would have. If Shona can mobilize her forces on her behalf without blood relations, why should you sit back in your grand throne and do nothing for your cousin?'
Dalot stopped again. All those with him, including his Chief Secretary, his chief eunuch, his other sisters, and his guards, did so too. Dalot said,
'That's what Noor-bin said.' Noor-bin was the cousin whom Dalot was just from visiting, Noor-shan's sister. Dalene just rolled her eyes and walked away from him, and the other two sisters went with her. The Chief Secretary Dillion said to him,
'Sire, the Goldorans won't give her back. The moment they release her to us, she becomes a danger to their interests in Korazin. It is as much a family matter as it is a political one.'
Dalot was still in the same spot. He was pondering this. He then scratched his stubble with his left index, and pointed at the Chief Secretary,
'Send word to Queen Rukh-shana. Tell her, Kai will join the war.'
Secretary Dillion bowed, but he was surprised. He said,
'Sire, is it because of what I just said?'
This wouldn't be surprising, because the Chief Secretary was a diligent servant of the royal house of Kai, and was well versed in matters of state. He was an old statesman who had also served under Dalot's father, Jadon I. Dalot smiled, and said,
'Just go, old man.'
The old man bowed again, and left, with his own two guards.
And from that moment Kai became the sixth flag in the war, whether physically or not. Arioch's blood relations with Goldora had been invoked by the latter, and Arioch was itself mobilizing her forces against Shona. Rabier's Gaixa had opened its southern borders, of course he had, to allow Goldoran forces safe passage, although no military activity had yet occurred there.