Age of Azmoq_The Valantian Imperium

by Rajamayyoor Sharma

  Dag nodded, completely confused now.

  “I will answer some of those questions now. The rest… you will have to trust me to tell you… in time.

  This continent is rotting. It is rotting the world. There are five continents on this planet, but none of them represent the problem everyone is facing more than this one continent. If we can change the power equation in this continent, the world will fall in line. I know a revolution like this, if successful, can change the way the common people live and destroy the oppression they feel every day.

  I am leaving because this revolution needs a boost. It got one in the form of Varishtan and the Anzelmen, but even a sword of legend is not enough. If we had all, that would have been a different story. But one, it is not enough. Where I am leaving to, I wish to train warriors and create weapons that can enable this revolution to succeed eventually.

  You are one of the warriors I want to train. Once we are successful, we will return. Return to lift this continent out of the dark under the rule of the High Seat.”

  Dag wasn’t clear. Zastraax was speaking in words too vague for the simple man of the burning plains.

  “What are you talking about? What rot? What darkness? How are you going to make me a better warrior? Do you have access to an Azmoq ore somewhere?”

  Zastraax was silent for some time. He had hoped vague words would work. He had to get through to the simple war lord. He was one of the key people needed to make the world better. But he couldn’t reveal anything more to him. Not there, not at that moment.

  “There is a reason you have for joining the revolution. There is a reason I have for being involved as well. It is similar to yours, only it concerns the effect of the Imperium on this entire continent. Let’s leave it at that. Does that make sense to you?”

  Dag nodded. “So far. That wasn’t my main question to you anyway.”

  “True. Your main question was how?”

  Dag stood up. That was what he was wondering. That was what was eating into him, every minute since he realized he had lost. That is what he wanted to know. How to be a great warrior.

  Zastraax got close to Dag again, just as the day before. He stooped lower than usual, seeing Dag eye to eye.

  “Before I answer… Let me ask you, why do you want to be the strongest? Is it because that is the only way you can be a good leader to your people? Is it the only way to ensure their survival?”

  Dag was furious at the insinuation. “Of course it is! It is for my people! It is to make sure I am the best leader they can have. What other reason could I have? Of course I feel humiliated at my defeat… a man hailed as the greatest fighter in the Rokhumaan, defeated so ignominiously by one of the pawns of the Valantian Imperium. Do I feel belittled? Of course I do… But it is because I couldn’t save my people, I couldn’t avenge those who died for me! Do I feel angry? Of course I do… I was less than useless against the Valantian Imperium, relying on someone else to rescue me.”

  He spat on the ground in rage. “By Doyuncad! How could I have let this happen! How could I have been blinded by my ego, my inflated assessment of my own ability! I will never allow that to happen. I always strive to be stronger, beat every single one of those Final 100 members!”

  He turned to Zastraax. “Help me… Help me become… great again… in the eyes of my people, in my own eyes… I don’t… I don’t care how….”

  Zastraax smiled to himself, a smile unseen to anyone, under his mask. His work was done. He had truly recruited the great Dag Heyat to his cause, for the actual revolution that was coming.

  The general’s low rumbling voice was almost hypnotic. “I will help you Dag Heyat. You are already great, my friend. I will help you become greater than that… greater than a man… I will help you become a legend…

  Come with me, Dag. Mere training will not help you. You need more, much more. Leave the Yerins for now… under your Ozek… and come with me.”

  Dag Heyat was losing his will to resist the general’s offer. But the prospect of leaving his tribe leaderless, rudderless was daunting.

  “I… I can’t… how I can I leave my tribe… my people? Ozek can’t lead them… how can a tribe be led by a group of people…” he resisted weakly.

  Zastraax continued to convince him, pushing him over the line. “There are many examples of distributed leadership. The revolution doesn’t have one leader… look to our enemies too… the Imperium is made of 14 members who govern the entire continent… The Ozek are the finest warriors among the Yerins. And I will get someone high up in the revolutionary army to help them administrate the tribe.”

  A week back, Dag would have laughed at the notion of abandoning the tribe and beheaded the fool who spoke those words to him. But now, he was close to agreeing to the request.

  “But general, I am responsible for them… I….”

  Zastraax cut in. “You are responsible for their safety. Which is why you must do this. You will always be their leader. Once you do this, you will be far stronger… You will truly deserve to defend your tribe from all its enemies.”

  Dag finally gave in. “Have it… your way general. I will come. How long would I have to come for? Where are we going?”

  Zastraax was relieved. It was done. “Where are we going? That you will know only when we reach our destination. How long? Well, I guess it could take you a few weeks. It depends on how well the training progresses.”

  Dag was silent again. “I agree general. I need to get stronger. I will ask the Ozek to rule in my stead. I cannot fail again.”

  As the day turned to night, Dag re-emerged from his tent, with his bandages still white. He was covered in a cloak so that the Yerins could not see the extent of damage he had taken. He looked up to the night sky as he thought of his life so far. He had never left his tribe for more than a few days. He knew he would feel empty without his people. But this had to be done.

  “My leader. If I may.” Dag heard a familiar voice. It was Elbir.

  “My leader, you look well. I feared that the beast had bested you.”

  “You should know me better, my brother,” replied Dag cheerfully. “I can take on that Zilonis with my broken left hand and still win.”

  Elbir’s spirit rose as he heard that tone from his leader. “It is heartening to hear that, my leader. With your life hanging in the balance after that battle… I do not know what I would have done if something had happened to you.”

  Dag thought to himself, “I feel this low after surviving and seeing my people win. Elbir just lost his entire family in front of his eyes and yet it is my health he worries about.”

  “My brother, you have suffered. I robbed you of your chance of revenge when I asked you to lead the army. Thank you for that sacrifice. Now that I am better, what do you wish do?”

  Elbir replied, with some emotion, “My leader. It was my duty to follow you. I just wish I could have had my go at Azrial. But I have no doubt your direction is the right one. I will always continue to follow your lead.”

  “But if I gave you free reign, what would you do?”

  Elbir paused for a second, and replied with cold fury. “Hunt the men that killed my brothers and destroy them.”

  “Then do it,” said Dag. “Your leader commands you to capture the remaining beast brothers… dead or alive.”

  Elbir felt relief. He had been waiting for over five days for Dag to get better. When he heard Dag was awake, he had rushed to the medic tent. He had then waited outside for two days to see his leader. Over these many hours, he had not given one thought to his fallen brothers. Till Dag asked him his wishes. That instant he knew what he wanted to do.

  “Dag, thank you. When do I leave?”

  Dag didn’t look at the last Cekic member.

  “Please leave when you feel ready. And do not come back till you have completed you task.”

  Elbir left immediately, the same instant. He did not waste any more time. He did do one thing before he left. He gathered the hammers of his brothers, the ha
mmers that would help him extract his revenge.

  Dag knew what the world did not. A Yerin seeking revenge would never rest, never stop until his revenge was complete. Azrial had managed to escape the revolution, but could never escape the wrath of a lone Yerin’s revenge.

  Dag had his own journey to take. To a place unknown, for an unknown amount of time, placing all his trust and the future of his tribe in the hands of one man. He envied Elbir. At least his mission, difficult as it was, was known to him.

  Far away, in his camp, Zastraax was also contemplating his future, and the future of this movement. Despite his success with Dag and other warriors he wanted, the sadness did not leave him. Varishtan didn’t know what Zastraax was about to do. Almost no one did. The future of the revolution, at least in the short term, seemed uncertain. But Zastraax was confident that he would return… soon. And his return would mark the end of the Valantian Imperium. He just hoped that the revolution survived till then.

  Elbir soon left his tribe to seek revenge for his family. He had to travel the land, in search for his revenge. This is when his transformation started… from one of the Cekic Ortaq of the Yerin tribe, to the man of the five hammers, with a new name, Eric.

  Section IV:

  The tale of two cities

  Chapter 23: Return to Welehölla

  As Eric, or Elbir, finished his story, Dev and Karn both felt inspired, but confused…

  Karn asked Eric, as they moved to the outskirts of Welehölla to don different disguises. “That is inspiring Eric, or should I say, Elbir. But I am confused. Why did you end there? What happened to Dag after the battle? Why did you say before your story that the Yerins couldn’t help us either? Didn’t they win?”

  Elbir didn’t reply right away. He seemed to struggle with his response.

  “Dag… Dag spoke to the Yerins the day after I left. Apparently, he was to leave with the General Zastraax for receiving advanced weapons and training. He appointed the Ozek to lead the tribe in his absence. He assured everyone that he would return soon. The Yerins were energized by this news. They thought they would soon be the most formidable force on the land, even stronger than the Final 100 or the Order of Seven when Dag returned.

  But he never did. And neither did the general. We don’t know what happened to them. The Yerins, although victorious, had lost their leader. The Ozek governed well for some time. They waited for Dag. For a month, then for a year. He didn’t return. By then, they recognized the need for a leader, one man to rule the Yerins, until Dag’s return.

  So they decided to choose from within the Ozek, which was an unprecedented and unwelcome move. Also quite a few of the Ozek had died in the battle. The remaining Ozek felt that those positions would have to be filled, to choose a leader acceptable to the Yerins. They needed to find replacements, and then from within the full Ozek choose a leader. The problem, was however, circular. Without a leader it was difficult to pick the replacements. Without replacements, impossible to pick the leader. The replacements who would join the Ozek would become, in effect, one of the leaders of the Yerin, and potentially lead the entire tribe.

  The allure of leadership, which never entered the mind of a Yerin, began to attract many men, to fight, first among themselves, then with the Ozek. The way this was handled led to fighting within the Ozek as well. A general discontentment in the rule of the Ozek spread among the population. The other tribes seized this opportunity to attack the Yerins. The gains of the previous years were quickly lost. The other tribes and imperial spies wooed the best among the Yerins to join them, with the allure of money, power and prestige.

  Within a few years of the battle of the Bloody River, with our leader still missing, the Yerins were reduced to an area even smaller than before Dag Heyat’s rule and they stopped all activities outside their secret village Doyus, still hidden from all, including the Valantian Imperium and other tribes. What remained was a bunch of squabbling men, not the noble tribe that Dag had left behind.”

  Dev and Karn didn’t know what to say. There wasn’t much they could do to console Elbir. They also realized that they had to now rely on Elbir to track the assassins – the map and the medallion were useless.

  Dev spoke first. “There isn’t anything I can say to make you feel better. All I can say is, don’t lose hope. I am sure there is something that’ll fill the emptiness that you feel at the loss of your tribe. I felt the same when I lost my parents, but Grim was there to take their place. And while he could never replace them completely, he made sure I was happy again. You need to move on… find a new family… a new tribe.”

  Elbir looked at him. “You speak with wisdom beyond your years. Thank you for your words. I hope you are right. But right now, I have something that’ll help me. Something else I need to do. Carry out the command of my leader. I need to kill the beast brothers. That is what I tried to do today, and failed… again.”

  Karn finally understood the motive behind Elbir’s potentially suicidal act. “Ah… Now I get what you were trying to do at the procession. I’ll tell you this… I can help you locate Azrial and the others before they get back to the High Seat and everything is lost. For now, let’s try and get out of Welehölla before we are caught.”

  Elbir felt a ray of hope. He knew Karn was a former potential. It was possible that he knew something about Valantian army procedures, something that could help him with his revenge.

  They searched for alternate clothing, burying their old ones. Dev had no need to change as no one saw him, but Elbir and Karn could be identified as they had been seen in the procession. Elbir quickly discarded the hunchback disguise, the cloak and split his hammers among Karn and Dev to avoid being identified as Eric of the Five Hammers. Karn changed as well into a different set of clothes he had stolen and cut his spiky hair down further. They both looked completely different.

  They then took their horses and hurried to the city gate, where they saw a large crowd. Elbir asked a trade cart about the hold up. The guy was irritated.

  “They have locked down the entire city. No one allowed in or out. The elite archer unit dying is bad news. They are apparently searching for some hunchback with a huge staff and a spiky haired guy. Every civilian cart is being checked thoroughly before allowing progress. In Welehölla! This is going to take days. There are even rumors that the Order of Seven and a bunch of the Final 100 will be sent to sort this out.”

  This was bad news. Not the fact that the carts were being checked, but the bit about the large staff. Elbir’s giant hammer would be looked at with suspicion, as it was still disguised as a large staff. The three fell back from the crowd to discuss options.

  “What do we do?” Elbir fidgeted with his weapon.

  Karn shrugged. “It is simple. We discard the hammer. We can pick it up sometime later, when things quiet down.”

  “No,” said Elbir coldly. “None of these hammers will be left behind. They are the only memories of my brothers I have.”

  Karn didn’t see the problem. “Not an issue. They will be separated from you for the shortest duration. Maybe a couple of weeks. Maximum.”

  Elbir said, “Look. I appreciate all you have done for me. You both can head out. I will stay behind in disguise. When things die down I can join you, if you guys want to wait for me.”

  Karn said, “We can’t leave you behind. Our mission now depends on your ability to track down these Yerins. Besides, I don’t think you can survive, unless you leave the hammer. They will search the city, even one as large as Welehölla. They will search every grid, every street and every house, until they are sure they can’t find anything, not the two suspects nor any of their identifiable belongings. The elite archer unit we killed is next only to the Final 100 in importance, maybe even more important than some at the bottom of the Final 100. Valantian Imperium, at a time of relative peace, will do everything to catch the culprit.”

  “Then even if we are able to escape, they will find the hammer before we return.”

  Karn was stu
mped. “Yes. Now that you said it. Yes, it will be found. There is nothing that can be done about it. You have to give it up.”

  “No. I will never. I will tell you both what you need to know. Leave me here. I will try to kill Azrial as and when I get the chance within this city. Otherwise, please...”

  Dev, who was deep in thought so far, interrupted. “Maybe you don’t have to choose between your memories and your life… I was thinking… Didn’t the trade cart guy say, ‘every civilian cart’ was being checked…? Do you think we can… stove away on a military vehicle?”

  Karn brightened up. “Amazing idea. You are not as stupid as you look!”

  Elbir was still thoughtful. “What vehicles are moving out?”

  “Today is our lucky day. The procession was today. So they’ll be sending back a contingent with the Final 100 towards the High Seat. We should be able to sneak onto one of those vehicles, and slip out somewhere on the road!”

  Elbir cheered up as well. There was one small challenge. Their horses couldn’t travel with them. But this was easily sorted. They gave their horses to a large trader, stuck at the gate, on the pretense that they had some work in a place where they couldn’t take care of the horses, with the assurance that they could take back the horses the first chance they got.

  Then, the three of them started to move back towards the halls, to search for the contingent departing for The High Seat. They silently moved around, trying to attract minimal attention to themselves and the hammer, which they had turned upside down, so that no one would immediately notice it.

  Karn had a basic idea of the lay out of the halls, and knew the convoy would mostly leave from the west most point in the halls. The Final 100 wouldn’t bear to be exposed to the weather outside the halls for more time than necessary. Only outside the High Seat were their whims and fancies tolerated, so that’s where they had their whims and fancies.

  As the trio reached the western most point, they saw it was empty but for a few guards. That was unexpected. There would usually be a lot of fanfare even at departure. Karn went and asked the guards before the other two could stop him.