This time they said to him, “Isolakandi wishes for you to meet him and his entourage at the ‘Beginning of the Sea.’”
The Shogun was baffled, “He would have me risk my kingdom by riding through the enemy?”
They replied, “Isolakandi says to have faith, to trust in His Wisdom.”
Vursk conceded and garbed himself in armor closely resembling the terrain leading to the irradiated river. However, he knew not that his youngest son, Lak, plotted against him.
BETRAYAL
Lak hated the Udochi for claiming his sister and despised the way their Dharmanic Leader looked down upon the Kasakai. For his father to merely shrug off such disrespect and humble himself before Isolakandi… it was enough to make Lak experience a powerful rage.
After the Shogun had departed, Lak conspired with his brother, Haem, and the two decided on a plan to take full control of the Kasakai themselves. After waiting for the passing of a full week, Lak and Haem announced to their people that Vursk had been captured and executed by the Algoans. They urged the rest of the Kasakai to deliver a full assault on the Algoans’ land forces while concentrating heavy artillery to keep back any ships attempting to cross into their territory. It was a foolish plan but one that Isolakandi himself had seen in his mind.
As Vursk struggled with his fears of being captured, he was shocked when the force he’d worked tirelessly to evade decided to march forward and more than halved their forces present at the blockade. The Shogun rushed to meet with Isolakandi and was surprised once more to find an entire army of Udochi waiting for him.
Isolakandi’s soldiers surrounded the two of them and beared the weight of their Dharmanic Leader as he sat in his typical contemplative pose.
Isolakandi spake unto Vursk, “Accept my rule as God, and I will deliver your people today.”
The Shogun denied his request, despite having hundreds of weapons prepared to run him through, and responded with his own agreement. He demanded:
“If you fight the Udochi with the entirety of your army and unite with my people, then I will declare you my Dharmanic Leader.”
“Your God,” Isolakandi demanded.
“My God.” Vursk gave in and followed with, “But if I, Vursk, can unite this land as your General and oversee all future conflicts, then you will declare me your Shogun.”
“And what would that entail?”
Vursk possessed an eccentric view on how society should operate.
The Shogun said, “The people will be free… but under one banner only. They will stand together for a new nation, and I will supervise them as Shogun.”
“And I as God?”
“And so it shall be. Isolakandi,” Vursk began, “you are not made to lead but to be worshipped.”
Upon hearing those words, the Dharmanic Leader became fascinated with Vursk’s vision of the future. The two came to an agreement, and so the Udochi rode against the Algoans just as the Kasakai also led their assault.
The result was mass devastation of their enemy, whose only resort remained fighting a war of attrition on the open waters. Isolakandi ordered a contingent to stay behind and scout any oncoming Algoan caravans so as to continue their push against the enemy. One of the Sacred Cavaliers attempted to escape along the coastline close to the Kasakai’s homeland, but he was easily captured and later executed against Vursk’s wishes. By the time the Algoans knew the fate of one of their leaders, they were already at a significant disadvantage. However, the Udochi’s meeting with Kasakai’s new masters also prevented them from fully incapacitating the Algoans as a nation.
When the Shogun discovered that his sons had turned against him, he wept before succumbing to anger and asking of Isolakandi, “What shall we do?”
Isolakandi proposed to assault the Kasakai and challenge both brothers to a duel against himself. Shogun Vursk was reluctant but agreed that showing the power of a God would surely bring his people into a state of acceptance.
Thus, they rode onwards to pursue the unit that had aided them in conquering the Algoans’ land force. When Lak and Haem heard of their coming, they ordered the rest of a city in the Kasakai be undug and used as a proper fortress against the Udochi. As the Shogun had already overseen its uncovering to begin with, this feat was manageable in a much shorter period of time. In light of the efforts of their full labor force, Haem and Lak found the enemy at their doorstep far sooner than anticipated.
Dharmanic Leader Isolakandi had blessed his men with what he named the “Zol,” an inner music he stated lay within all and could be stirred to restlessness. He led his army in a ceaseless march, prompting Haem to devise a new plan. With the Algoans pushed back for the time being and the Xate resigned to building aerial weapons on the mountains, the brothers believed it possible to temporarily prevent the Udochi’s assault.
HAEM’S STRATEGIES
Haem, famed as the Kasakai’s most capable warrior, deployed half of the nation’s available infantry to build a great trench where spears would be positioned to impale the enemy’s cavalry. Several dozen feet behind the manmade depression, a tight formation stood and was armed with shields and halberds intended to halt further progress on foot. Their shields were designed in consideration of their size so that they would be large and wide enough to plant in the ground.
Directly behind this infantry force, Haem organized legions of arbiters in doubled rows and alongside each other. When the first row fired, they would step back and rearm to allow the ones behind them to deliver the next barrage.
Upon completion of four rounds of this, Haem would send in cavalry to assault the lane in the space between the infantry and the trench. To him, it was an infallible plan and intended to prevent the Udochi from proceeding without the Kasakai suffering significant loss of life—a loss that could lead to them becoming vulnerable to a subsequent attack by the Algoans.
Isolakandi arrived on the battlefield his enemies had readied and sent forth his cavaliers…
Their horses were impaled on the trap set for them, but their bodies continued on even after having been riddled with arrows. Isolakandi’s men became as savages, attempting to tear through the enemy formation before them before succumbing to death long after their conscious wills had expired.
This angered the Dharmanic Leader, who himself believed that his powers stretched far beyond the clutches of death. Although Shogun Vursk insisted that he change his plan of action, Isolakandi sent a contingent of infantry to navigate the trench and charge the Kasakai.
His next wave of infantry powered beyond the onslaught of arrows and fractured their own bones as they attempted to claw through impenetrable shields. When their efforts failed them, a wave of cavalry crushed them with spears and decimated the Udochi’s second attack while taking few casualties in the process.
As a result, Isolakandi resorted to setting up siege cannons short of attacking an actual Kasakai fortress. He believed that piercing their protective formation with a series of rounds would allow his men time to proceed to attack those placed in disarray. However, Haem anticipated this strategy and moved his own forces even farther away from the potential radius of the enemy army’s large spheres of granite. Shogun Vursk indicated this change to Isolakandi, who insisted that they simply move their cannons closer infield.
By the time they’d reset their positions, Haem’s men delivered their own barrage upon the Udochi’s siege equipment. This prompted Isolakandi to back out of the fight altogether and pull his forces before finally stooping to heed Vursk’s advice. Vursk instructed him to focus on blasting the trench open so as to create a decline wide enough to allow cavalry to charge around their protective formation and through the arbiters behind them. While they were taken care of, the Udochi infantry could shield their flanks with spear wielders while attempting to overpower the Kasakai shield bearers with swords and axes coated in an acidic substance.
Isolakandi followed his plan diligently and swiftly brought success to the Udochi’s efforts!
The shield
bearers were forced to flee, and so Isolakandi sent in his archers to fill the void between his cavalary and his own infantry with arrows.
Haem lost a great many of his own men before retreating even closer to the Kasakai homestead and ordering his siege equipment be used to bombard the enemy into a strategic retreat. Isolakandi suffered significant losses from this attack and did as expected by Haem. Shogun Vursk then took charge of their planning and widened the former trench into a steep but low incline to house their remaining cannons. The Udochi had entered a situation they’d feared: their enemies turning to full defense while they struggled to conceive of a cost-effective offense. As such, both nations remained at a standstill until the following year.
3067
(747 P. R.)
At the beginning of the following year, the Udochi sent a messenger across the field of battle.
THE TRIAL OF HAEM
Though he’d betrayed his father, Haem still respected the traditions set by him. He did not kill the messenger, who spake:
“Dharmanic Leader Isolakandi wishes to meet the leaders of the Kasakai in combat.”
Haem was astounded and, in his arrogance, replied, “Your master believes himself able to best both of us? Together?”
The messenger acknowledged what had been said, which insulted Haem’s pride as a warrior. He said to the messenger, “Tell your false god that I will meet him myself, and I will be the one to place him in his grave alongside my father. Still, allow us time to prepare.”
“And how much time will you need?” asked the messenger.
Haem did not offer a response; despite his pride, he understood how to plan around his foes. With enough given time, his brother, Lak, could perfect their defenses against all potential enemies. The two of them had a plan hidden beyond what was supposed to be the all-encompassing sight of Udochi’s leader.
The messenger returned with no response of the timeline and was executed by Isolakandi, who declared him an ill omen. As Isolakandi’s Eye could not foresee the day, he became angry at his own people. He demanded a sacrifice be made in his name in order to strengthen his ability to interpret the enemy’s intentions. A month passed, and the Udochi sent another envoy and a message of a different nature.
When the emissary arrived before Haem, who’d grown tired of the presence of the Udochi, he spake:
“The Dharmanic Leader no longer bears a request.”
“Is that so?” inquired Haem. “Has he decided to withdraw his men from my lands?”
The messenger shook his head and swallowed. He quivered in fear as he delivered these following words:
“Dharma Isolakandi wishes to make a statement, rather. He claims that the one who calls himself Haem is a coward, a weakling. Isolakandi believes the leaders of the Kasakai to be inferior to his rule and will withdraw only if Haem admits to his weakness.”
As expected, this angered Haem.
The envoy was sent back, to Isolakandi’s surprise, but with his arms removed entirely. Along with him, Haem had delivered one of his own envoys who spake, “Very well.”
“Will Haem now meet me on the battlefield—just the two of us, so that I may prove myself the God of Combat?”
Haem’s messenger declined. He spake, “Haem believes your attempts to coax him pathetic and will not answer your call to foolishness.”
Feeling his rage anew, Isolakandi had the Kasakai messenger sacrificed in his name. After doing so, his foresight grew and he realized that his provocation had indeed worked. Despite Haem knowing that further prolongation was for the best, he couldn’t stand by and allow himself to be dishonored. Furthermore, the Kasakai followed the Way of the Sidogush; it was less of a religion and more of a set of ethics passed down from Shogun Vursk’s ancestors. To deny the call of battle was to express failure in one’s soul, and Haem could not allow himself to side against his own pride.
Instead, he rode with his men in the night in order to send a second messenger to hopefully disturb Isolakandi’s sleep and shift the balance of the coming duel in his favor.
Isolakandi, however, never slept. His meditation kept back the throes of weariness and allowed him to exist in spite of mankind’s limitations. He saw the coming of Haem and took pleasure in what he interpreted as a final battle between two nations.
The Dharmanic Leader was carried to meet with Haem, who’d brought a double-sided saber curved in opposite directions at both ends. He taken a set of armor from one of the fallen Algoans and stood confidently before his enemy. Isolakandi was unarmed and wore nothing but the cloth around his waist.
Isolakandi appealed to Haem’s intellect with his speech while also comforting the Shogun, who contemplated the outcome of the duel with anxiety:
“It is good for you to meet me on this day, Haem of the Kasakai, for I am the one to seal thy future. My Way is the Way of Gods, and I am prepared to grant this world a reprieve from the bloodshed carried in the Way of Men. With my Love, I can grace thee with kingdoms numbering a thousand and a thousand more; as my Love is boundless, so, too, shall be thy riches. I am the God of the West, the Savior of the East, the Deliverer of the North, and the Mightiest of the South; I am the God below and above, within and without, and I wish to grant thee rest from thy efforts and to grant thy father a measure of peace so that he will not observe needless death. What say you, oh great warrior Haem? Speak without fear.”
“And I shall!” Haem grabbed the hilt of his weapon in his two hands, “For thou is not a true god—nor a graceful one.”
The Shogun stepped forward to speak, but Isolakandi held up his hand to stop him.
Haem continued his own speech, “The one called Isolakandi is but a man. A powerful man, indeed, but only a man. He uses other men to propel himself above the world, but the soil longs for his return. Thou art a blasphemy upon the true Way, a Way my father has left behind to pursue selfish interests, for he has forgotten the image of his people: the Kasakai. We stand ready to fight back the forces of Isolakandi, and, if thou art truly a God, above men, then why have the machinations of one of us prevented you from marching to victory?”
Isolakandi stepped down and smiled. He inquired, “And so you will not relent, warrior Haem?”
“The Kasakai do not relent. It matters not what Vursk has told you.”
“So be it.”
As Haem fell into a defensive stance, Isolakandi reached out with both arms:
Each extremity extended while they changed forms to expand into two great beasts. On his left arm, there emerged the head of a lion, covered in flames. On his right, the face of a serpent rushed forward and much quicker than its counterpart.
Haem was partially stunned, but he reacted in time and slashed his weapon in the air! His blade cut through the neck of the serpent, and its head fell to the ground only to reveal violaceous tendrils that enclosed themselves around his body. Haem struggled against their tight constriction and failed as his weapon clanged to the ground.
Isolakandi spake unto him this:
“Surrender now, and thou shalt yet be a King.”
Haem refused, and the lion’s head devoured him amidst embers that swallowed his form in their embrace.
And thus, with one of the brothers now slain, the Udochi claimed the remainders of fallen Haem’s army. The rest fled to the fortress that was sheltered by five great walls and near impenetrable in its design by this time. Isolakandi and the Udochi arrived outside of the farthest wall and called upon the Kasakai to surrender.
LAK’S RESISTANCE
Lak did not bother to send out someone to greet them. Instead, he ordered his men to position turrets at the walls and attack without mercy. As the Udochi retreated, Isolakandi grew angry with the Shogun, believing that if his General could not obtain a handle on his own sons, how could he be trusted to lead an entire nation to unity.
Isolakandi spake unto Vursk:
“Why is it that your own household deigns to fight against my righteousness. What say ye in defense of a broken family?”
Vursk replied: “My lord, I have given unto thee a daughter who has remained faithful in your service. I must explain that my lineage is strong, devious, and often believe themselves more than worthy. Oh, great Dharmanic Leader, how may I show thee my competence?”
Isolakandi’s heart softened, and he spake unto him:
“Journey to the sea by the land of your people and offer up thy arms.”
Vursk was taken aback and pleaded, “But without my arms, how may I serve thee in combat, my lord?”
Isolakandi replied, “Verily, for one does not serve through acts of war but through Faith in his God. Do you not view it as such?”
The Shogun consented with much reluctance and headed with a small company of men to meditate by the coast far west of their encampment.
SHOGUN VURSK’S TEMPTING
As Vursk peered into the water, one of the Udochi came to tempt him. He spake unto the Shogun:
“Why is it righteous for you to dismember thy own arms?”
Vursk replied, “It is His Word that I follow.”
“Does Lord Isolakandi feel resentment toward your family?”
“It is in His Wisdom that I perform as such.”
“Then why do you not carry out His orders right away. Why, Shogun, do you deign to hesitate by the wayside?”
“It is my cowardice.” Vursk admitted.
The soldier strived to tempt his General once more. He spake unto him:
“If Lord Isolakandi is truly the Highest God of Gods, why does he not command the walls of the Kasakai to fall?”
Vursk considered this blasphemy but allowed his subordinate to continue.
“For if Isolakandi could bring rain down upon you, why does he not command Lak to thrown himself at your feet?”
Angelos Odyssey Archives: The History of the Citadel: I Page 2