The Demon Horsemen

by Tony Shillitoe

  Royal successors settled their capital at Port of Joy and extended dominion further north and east during three centuries of Royal control, but rival kingdoms in the north in mountainous countryside eventually halted expansion. To the south, fierce tribal resistance, reminiscent of the war against the Ashuak invaders, stopped the kingdom from growing larger.

  Although a patriarchal lineage, the death of King Godson Royal from illness shortly after the death of both his sons in battle left his only remaining child, his daughter Sunset, to succeed to the throne. Queen Sunset Royal defied numerous political manoeuvres to prevent her succession and assassination attempts once in power to successfully rule for twenty-seven years, before her son, Future Royal, began to fight for the throne, backed by religious rebels.

  RELIGION

  Religion is split between the ancient shamanistic forms with a multiplicity of spirits informing their followers, and the spreading monotheistic Jarudhaism imported from the eastern lands.

  Jarudhaism is a corruption of the faiths originally started in the old eastern empires and kingdoms, a blend of Hohdaism and Jaru, along with some of the teachings of the philosopher Alwyn, called Alun in the Shessian sect, as well as aspects of the shamanistic beliefs of the earlier Shess tribes. In its simplistic form, Jarudha is the one god who created the world and all of the people, and who has set down his laws for life through a series of great books collectively called The Word. The Word’s origins can be traced back to the Hohdan priests of the Ashuak Empire and a text called Jaru’s Gift that arose from earlier works written by Jaru philosophers, but subsequently The Word has been expanded to encompass at least fifteen known philosophical and religious works. Followers of Jarudha believe that Jarudha’s hand guides the affairs of the world, and that Jarudhan disciples only act according to His Will. They also believe that the world is corrupt and sinful, and that the time is approaching when Jarudha’s disciples will rise and assert dominion over the unfaithful who will be converted or destroyed.

  In Western Shess, Jarudha’s disciples are synonymous with magical ability that is called the Blessing. Acolytes who demonstrate genuine magical skill are elevated to the rank of Seer, and the Seers believe that they are the vehicles for moral and spiritual consistency and reform. Jarudhaism is confined to the capital city, Port of Joy, and nearby towns. Outlying villages do not have Jarudhan representatives living in them.

  WESTERN SHESS POLITICAL STRUCTURES

  The political structures are quite simplistic because of the tribal roots and brutal determination of Bigaxe Royal and his successors to keep control. Essentially the regent is the supreme authority and law, and the leadership beneath is militaristic. The religious leadership is the only exception, and tensions between the Royals and the Jarudhan disciples have been taut throughout the kingdom’s history.

  The Royal influence as a physical presence seldom extends beyond ten days’ travel from Port of Joy, so many of the outlying farming districts and villages are not directly affected by the laws and edicts enforced in the city and close towns. Many of the distant villages are operated communally or in loose democratic ways, and taxes are paid, sometimes irregularly, as tithes to representatives of the local Tithe Lord.

  WESTERN SHESS NAMES

  The naming tradition has always centred on people being identified with their employment or place where they were born. Before the rise and fall of the Ashuak Empire, Shessian inhabitants had single names, but the Ashuak use of surnames was adopted and retained after the Empire collapsed. A woodcutter or butcher would be called Woodcutter or Butcher as the surname and then words commonly used in the trade were often used as first names. Hence there might be a family of three boys named Log, Crossgrain and Handsaw Woodcutter. Children born into the Butcher family might be named according to cuts of meat or implements or even animals.

  Surnames do not automatically identify related families. Farmer is a common surname, for example, and there would be unrelated Farmers in the same village and across the entire kingdom. Of course, descendants of a family of Sailors can move into other working industries, in which case someone named Hawser Sailor could well be the bartender in a local tavern, while Seam Clothmaker could be a farmer. Sometimes people also change their surnames when they change work. So Labourer Pullman, whose father was working on the wharves, could join the army and change his name to Labourer Onespear by choice. Western Shess has not yet conducted an official census or established a corporate identification system and so personal names are only useful for personal identity. Foreign names are evident in the cities and large towns, but the rural communities generally retain the traditional and simple name forms.

  WESTERN SHESS LANGUAGE

  Shessian language has specific grammatical rules. A sentence is organised with the verb, the subject and then the predicate. Common usage has reduced many sentences to phrases best understood in expression than in straight translation.

  The English sentence, ‘I am eating my food’ becomes approximately ‘Eating I am my food’—‘Doshalinae emahdu mahdu shali’—although its more accurate expression would be ‘Doshalinae emahdu’ (‘I’m eating’). In common usage, however, it is expressed as ‘Doshemah’.

  Thus, ‘If you touch my wife, I will kill you’ becomes ‘Kill you I will, if touch my wife you do’—‘Sunahso yahwu emah, ha kaso mahdoos yahwu.’

  Greeting is simple. ‘I’m pleased to meet you’ in formal form is ‘Jahn yahwu emahdu tessa’, but it’s common usage is a brief ‘Jahntess’, which serves as ‘hello’ does in English. The equivalent to ‘good day’ is ‘Jarubahn’, which originated from a very complicated ‘Umen emahdu ehae yahwu nena fueppo bahn t’Jarudha’, meaning ‘I am happy to see that God has given to you another day’.

  ‘I have planted the rain crop’ is expressed as ‘Nesoss emah epphanuhk’, and ‘Light the fire’ is ‘Ooh shah’, often expressed as a single word. The common soldier’s insult ‘Your mother fucks everyone!’ is ‘Hur yahwudo oyehn epyahn!’ although it’s generally expressed as ‘Hur epyahn!’

  The language has developed some pleasantries, so that the English ‘please’ is expressed as ‘tessa’ at the completion of a sentence, as in ‘May I please speak to you?’ – ‘Casan emah yahwu, tessa?’, and ‘Excuse me’, becomes ‘Mahni mah’. But Shessian is an abrupt, focussed language in the main, and niceties are generally reserved for the royal courts.

  Verbs are simplistically broken down into identified action, past (ne), present (du) and future (so) forms. For example:

  English form walk run

  Western shess verb ahfudas ahfu

  Verb with ‘ing’ form ‘ae’ ahfudasae ahfuae

  Past tense ‘ne’ neahfudasae neahfuae

  Present tense ‘du’ duahfudasae duahfuae

  Future tense ‘so’ soahfudas soahfu

  eat sleep

  Western shess verb doshalin ahnubi

  Verb with ‘ing’ form ‘ae’ doshalinae ahnubiae

  Past tense ‘ne’ nedoshalinae neahnubiae

  Present tense ‘du’ dudoshalinae duahnubiae

  Future tense ‘so’ sodoshalin soahnubi

  A SAMPLE OF WESTERN SHESS VOCABULARY

  English/Shessian

  afternoon fulanbahn fire shah

  air hor first tay

  am du five den

  and ut food shahlin

  another fueppo four ay

  are hi fuck hur

  army eppodofahmah give na

  big jasu grain/seed nuhk

  by t happy umen

  chair doahpin home dohahni

  crop epphanuhk house hahni

  cycle ejas husband doos

  day bahn I emah

  death doyanah if ha

  die yanah jump naep

  dying doyanahae kill sunah

  early lan late fulan

  earth dun less enno

  eat doshalin light ooh

  eight bada little fujasu

  eighty-eight man dosh

  mekbadab
ada many ep

  eleven tata me mah

  evening lanfubahn meet jahn

  excuse (verb) mahni men epdosh

  farm shukoh midday midbahn

  father doshoh middle/between mid

  fifty-seven mekdenja midnight midfubahn

  mine/my mahdo speak/talk casan

  moon fubahnooh sun horshah

  more eppo ten mek

  morning fujasubahn thirty mekest

  mother oyehn thirty-three mekestest

  night fubahn three est

  nine lun touch ka

  no/not fu twelve ota

  one ta twenty mekot

  own/belong do two ot

  plant soss unhappy/sad fu-umen

  please tessa walk ahfudhas

  rain szash war fahmah

  rebel nahsten water ar

  rebellion dunahsten wife mahdoos

  run ahfu wine chen

  see/look eh women epyehn

  seven ja woman yehn

  sit ahpin yes hah

  six net you yahwu

  sleep ahnubi your yahwudo

  soldier dofahmah

  WESTERN SHESS MILITARY DIVISIONS

  Army: usually a grouping of one hundred thousand soldiers, led by a Warmaster.

  March: a grouping of twenty thousand soldiers, led by a Marchlord; an army consists of five Marches.

  Shield: a grouping of one thousand soldiers, led by a Shieldmaster; a March consists of twenty Shields.

  Group: a grouping of fifty soldiers under the command of a Leader; a Shield consists of twenty Groups.

  Party: a grouping of ten soldiers; a Group contains five Parties.

  TIME, MEASUREMENT AND TRAVEL

  Length measurement is a direct derivative of the human body. The smallest measuring unit is called a ‘width’, which is the original equivalent of an average person’s thumb width, although there is a standardised rule. Ten ‘widths’ makes a ‘hand’ length, and five ‘hands’ is the equivalent to an arm ‘length’. Thus for measuring purposes Shessian people talk of ‘widths’, ‘hands’ and ‘lengths’. They also link length measurements to travel distance measurements through ‘paces’ – the length of an average man’s stride when walking – with a ‘pace’ and a ‘length’ being accepted as an interchangeable measurement.

  Travel distance therefore begins with the smallest measurement being a ‘pace’. Ten ‘paces’ is called a ‘measure’. A hundred ‘measures’ is collectively called a ‘walk’. Thereafter, Shessian practices vary, but the most common measurements are ‘days’, ‘half-days’ and ‘quarters’. Forty ‘walks’ is generally agreed as a ‘day’ travel measure; twenty ‘walks’ form a ‘half-day’; ten ‘walks’ is a ‘quarter’, or the equivalent to ten thousand ‘paces’. The increasingly wider spread of the use of horses, however, is slowly altering the view and terminology of travel measurements across the kingdoms and tribal areas.

  The determining time factors in most villages and towns throughout the lands are the obvious day and night, with a full day divided into pre-dawn, dawn/sunrise, early morning, midmorning, late morning, midday, early afternoon, midafternoon, late afternoon, dusk/sunset, early evening, late evening, midnight, post-midnight. Experimentation with timing devices is common in cities and larger towns. Ringed candles are usually divided into ten equidistant rings. The carefully measured and manufactured wax candle called Waxman’s Timer generally takes about half a day to burn down. A water-based dripping device called Fletcher’s Timer works on the principle that a specific-sized water container with a set hole size empties at the rate of eighty thousand drips per day. Fletcher, the inventor, divided the day into twenty ‘pails’, each ‘pail’ the product of four thousand ‘drips’. He further subdivided the ‘pails’ into forty ‘pots’, or one hundred ‘drips’. Thus his timing scheme became: one hundred ‘drips’ makes a ‘pot’. Forty ‘pots’ makes a ‘pail. Twenty ‘pails’ is the length of one full day. Cumbersome as it is, a host of professionals in the larger cities apply the system to enable them to accurately measure and complete a wide range of tasks. Some have chosen to combine Waxman’s and Fletcher’s systems and talk about a ‘pail’ also being a ‘ring’.

  WESTERN SHESS ANNUAL CYCLE

  Western Shess recognises nine cycles of forty days each cycle. In Shessian language, the English word ‘month’ translates to ‘ejas’, literally meaning ‘cycle’ and refers to the full passage of the phases of the single moon. The Shessian Year is divided into four distinct seasons: Akim (Rebirth), Fuar (Dry), Doyanah (Passing) and Shahk (Chill).

  Akim brings very pleasant, mild weather, with occasional rain and regular sunny days. Plants flower and the animals give birth to young in this season. Rebirth is the beginning of the Shessian yearly calendar, and represents the original time that the Shessian god, Jarudha, created the world. Rebirth runs for two cycles or eighty days.

  During Fuar, the temperature can rise up to 45°C and rain is scarce, especially along the plains. Drought is not an unusual phenomenon. Farmers traditionally harvest their crops in this season. Dry is the longest season of four cycles or ejas.

  Doyanah is a time of rain and dull days when deciduous plants lose their leaves. The temperature is variable, but often mild, thoughout the eighty-day period.

  Temperatures in Shahk, a forty-day period, can drop to 0°C on the plains, and, in the higher regions, particularly the mountains, snow will fall. Rain and storms are regular features of this season and flooding is also a common event around the main rivers. Shessian religious culture teaches that the world will end in a cold, freezing state.

  The Shessian Year is divided as follows:

  SEASON: Akim – Rebirth

  CYCLE: Tayooh – first light

  MAJOR EVENT: Creation – this is a five-day celebration of Jarudha’s making of the world, marked by festive eating and drinking and prayer at the beginning of Tayooh. This is considered the holiest of Jarudhaism’s festivals.

  Alunsnight – Jarudhan faithful celebrate this night at the end of Tayooh as the birthday of Jarudha’s son, Alun (Alun is a Shessian corruption of Alwyn).

  CYCLE: Ejasot – second cycle

  MAJOR EVENT: Praiseday – a single day is set aside in the middle of Ejasot for all people to spend the day praying in thankfulness for Jarudha’s gifts. On this day, all institutions and shops are closed and people are not meant to work. Eating and drinking can only be done after sunset.

  SEASON: Fuar – Dry

  CYCLE: Varsoo – change

  MAJOR EVENT: The Changing – the beginning of Fuar is always marked with the gathering of water in preparation for the long dry spell. People give gifts of water and feast for three days.

  CYCLE: Ayanah – hot

  No celebrations are held in this period.

  CYCLE: Fuszash – no rain

  MAJOR EVENT: Rainday – in the middle of this cycle, people ritualistically throw a cupful of water at the sky to encourage rain to come again to the parched land. The ritual has shamanistic pagan origins, but the followers of Jarudha have incorporated it into their religious mythology as a day of prayer. People gather for feasting in the evening and share water as if it is a delicate item.

  CYCLE: Sun – prayer

  MAJOR EVENT: Royal’s Prayer: this day in mid-Sun celebrates the day that Strongarm Royal the Righteous prayed to Jarudha for help on the battlefield and the prayer was answered with a crushing victory against Strongarm’s enemies.

  SEASON: Doyanah – Passing

  CYCLE: Alun – deriv. Alwyn

  MAJOR EVENT: Alunsday: celebration of Alun’s ( Jarudha’s son), rise to Paradise to work with his Father.

  CYCLE: Yanah – die

  MAJOR EVENT: Erinsday – named after Erin the Wise, one of the Immortals in Jarudhan mythology/history, this is a solemn late evening ceremony marked by the wearing of headbands made from dead leaves. Prayers are offered, and stories of the Immortals are told.

  SEASON: Shahk – Chill

  CYCLE: Shahk –
chill or cold

  MAJOR EVENT: Midshahk: on the day designated as the middle of this season, people communally gather to share cooked meats and vegetables, and celebrate life.

  Acknowledgments

  A project is rarely possible without support, advice and encouragement, so I would like to thank Stephanie Smith, Linda Funnell and Robert Stephenson, whose faith and professional input have steered this series.

  And I thank Meg for her love and constancy.

  About the Author

  ‘Writing is much more than storytelling, and much, much more than informing or teaching. Writing is the act of opening your heart in an attempt to touch the hearts of people you’ve never met.’

  Entering the professional writing field in the early 1990s as one of Australia’s first locally published fantasy novelists with the very successful Andrakis series, Tony Shillitoe has become a popular author in the adult fantasy and the adolescent fiction genres. He was shortlisted for the Aurealis Best Fantasy Novel award in 1995 for his standalone classic coming-of-age fantasy, The Last Wizard. He was subsequently shortlisted for the first book of the Ashuak Chronicles, Blood, in 2002.

  Currently a full-time educator at Concordia College in Adelaide, Tony has also, at various times, been a Board Member of the South Australian Writers Centre, a judge for literary awards, and he has conducted a host of workshops and been a guest speaker at many writing events.