Unexpected Events

Nazim was already heading to the gates of Ain as dawn broke over the city. Every three days, it was the same routine: Nazim would wake up before sunrise, his wife would dutifully serve him a bowl of hot porridge and he would kiss his children goodbye while they still slept before heading off for his patrol duties.

Nazim had served in Ain's armed security forces for twenty years ever since the tender age of sixteen. His duty had mostly involved breaking up fights between feuding merchants to fending off the occasional bandit raid on the city outskirts. On this morning though, he had another duty to tend to. At least twice a week, Nazim would have to spend a day scouting the outskirts of Ain for any signs of danger to the city. It wasn't his most favourite thing to do, but it was his duty.

When Nazim reached the gates, he found his partner, Masoud already waiting for him impatiently on his camel.

"There you are," said Masoud. "You're late."

"No I'm not," retorted Nazim. "I'm right on time."

"Get on your damn camel," said Masoud. "I got cold waiting for you."

"Well, we'll be wishing that it'll be colder soon enough," answered Nazim as he mounted his camel, and the two of them set off.

As Nazim said, nearly an hour later, both of them were wishing that the weather was colder. The sun was already high up; its heat beating down on them heavily as they sweated profusely in their lightly coloured uniforms. They were headed for a sand dune that looked over the relatively flat stretch of desert to the north. They were not expecting anything in particular; perhaps a few merchant caravans coming in or a few travellers. They weren't expecting bandits; Ain was one of the most secure cities in the desert, no mere bandit band could even hope to threaten its defences.

When they reached the top of the sand dunes, what they saw was much more than a mere bandit band.

It was an army.

Nazim and Masoud stared at the impossible sight in frozen horror. There were at least a few thousand, approaching Ain like an incoming tide. From their raiment, they were clearly of the desert tribes, but not just one, but many.

"By the spirits," whispered Nazim.

"Hurry, we have to warn Ain," said Masoud. "Come on…"

There was a whistling noise, and thud, followed by a gurgling noise. Nazim turned just in time to see Masoud falling from his camel, an arrow embedded in his chest. In the corner of his eye, Nazim spotted several warriors on camels charging at him with bows aimed at him. Their camels and attire were of the same colour as the desert, which was why Nazim and the now deceased Masoud had failed to spot them sooner.

Terror flooded his chest and Nazim turned his camel around with a shout even as a few arrows whistled past him. He urged his camel on to Ain as fast as he could, pursued by the enemy. Several more arrows flew past him before he felt several impacts in his back. Nazim tumbled forward off his camel, and before he hit the ground, his last thoughts were of his children.

XI XI XI

Hayreddin and the Elders watched silently as the chieftains filed into the temple room. He tried to study their faces, hoping that he might be able to glean a hint as to what they were thinking, but the chieftains carefully maintained a neutral expression, even Horun and Berkhan. Even Hayreddin's keen sight failed to discern their emotions.

When the chieftains had seated themselves, Hayreddin looked over to Nebud, who nodded. Inclining his head, Hayreddin stood and strode over to the centre of the room. Once more, as protocol demanded, he bowed to the chieftains.

"Honoured chieftains, I hope you have come to a decision," said Hayreddin quietly, but his voice still carried to everyone in the room.

Horun rose first to speak. "What you ask of us is unprecedented and unheard of."

"None have ever made such an outrageous request before," added Sovah.

The chieftains nodded and Hayreddin felt his heart sank. Kazanah stood up to speak.

"We have decided that perhaps at times, an outrageous idea may be the only thing that stands a chance of working. We will go along with your plan, young Hayreddin."

Hayreddin heard the words, but he didn't register them until several seconds after they had been uttered. Then he blinked. "I beg your pardon?"

Kazanah smiled. "We'll give your plan a chance, Hayreddin."

Hayreddin couldn't believe it, they had accepted his plan! He couldn't stop the smile from growing on his face. Some of the chieftains chuckled at his reaction.

"However, in light of this, we wish to amend some of our previous agreements," said Umiz. "Compensation of sorts."

Hayreddin nodded, too overjoyed to speak. Amendments to the agreements were nothing more than afterthought in light of the impossible becoming possible: the tribes were willing to pursue a lasting peace with each other.

Asok then stepped forward. "There is one compensation that I will demand on behalf of my tribe right now."

"Name it, chieftain," said Hayreddin.

Asok's face broke into a snarl. "Your life."

Without warning, Asok picked up his spear and swiftly hurled it at Hayreddin.

Time seemed to slow down for Hayreddin as the spear flew towards his face. His previous happiness mutated into shocked horror and he almost reacted too slowly to the attack. He leaned to the side, and the spear nicked his cheek, drawing a thin line of blood across his pale skin.

The other chieftains reacted with cries of shock and outrage, but Asok was already on the move, drawing a pair of war axes as he leaped down from his seat and charged at Hayreddin, who was still too stunned to react. Instead, it was Elder Nebud who had reacted quickly to the situation; placing himself between Asok and Hayreddin with his scimitar drawn.

Elder Nebud had once been a great warrior in his younger days, having fought off numerous bandit raids and the desert tribes in those years, but with his aging body, he was no match for the younger and far more savage Kaling chieftain. The Elder managed to skilfully deflect several blows before Asok overwhelmed his guard and severed his sword arm.

As Nebud fell, clutching the remains of his right arm, Asok bellowed a war cry and resumed his charged at Hayreddin, who was staring at the bleeding Elder in horror. But Nebud's courage had been more than enough.

Horun and Berkhan had both leaped forward, drawing their battle-axes and as one, they both cloved through Asok's torso.

The Kaling chieftain lay in growing pool of his own blood, but to Hayreddin's shock, he was still alive, though only barely. Asok looked up at Hayreddin with such hatred that the young man recoiled. With the last of his strength, Asok spat in Hayreddin's direction.

"I defy you...daemon," hissed Asok, before he finally died.

Hayreddin stared at the chieftain's corpse for a moment before he finally registered that Elder Nebud was on the floor, clutching the stump where his right arm used to be and trembling in pain, though he remained stoically silent. Rushing over to cradle the Elder in his arms, Hayreddin turned towards the entrance where he knew the guards would be.

"Guards! Elder Nebud is hurt! Get a healer, quickly!"

He turned back to Nebud, certain that Isan would have seen what had happened from her vantage point on the floor above and would make sure that help arrived. The other Elders hurried forward.

"Elder, Elder, can you hear me?" asked Hayreddin.

Nebud blinked rapidly as though delirious. "My hearing's fine, Hayreddin; it's my arm...that's...that's the problem."

"He's making jokes," growled Abrah as he knelt down beside Hayreddin. "That's not a good sign."

"We must staunch the bleeding," said Kazanah, kneeling down and tearing off a piece of his robe and attempted to bind the wound.

"More than staunch, you'll have to cauterise it," remarked Horun as he inspected the wound.

"Never mind me," said Nebud weakly. "The...the plan..."

"Elder, I don't think..." began Hayreddin.

"We'll still go along with it," interrupted Kazanah. "Without the Kaling, but they'll have to be dealt with."

The other chieftains nodded in agreement.

"The Kaling must be destroyed," said Berkhan, thumping the haft of his axe against the floor.

"Destroyed?" repeated Hayreddin, his eyes wide. "Why?"

"We have spilled their chieftain's blood," answered Horun. "Asok's actions have forced our hands. The Kaling will never accept peace now; they will fight to destroy us. They must be destroyed."

"But, that's too drastic!" protested Hayreddin.

"Asok's actions have forced this," said Sovah coldly.

"His actions are his alone," argued Hayreddin. "There are people in the Kaling tribe who are innocent of this!"

"It doesn't matter," growled Berkhan. "Asok doomed his tribe the moment he tried to spill blood at this Summit."

"The Kaling will never accept peace now that their chieftain has been slain by our hands," said Horun. "Your plan will not work if the Kaling are around to threaten it."

"I can't accept that!" cried Hayreddin. "His successor! We can convince his successor that this was an accident! We can convince him to accept this..."

"It won't work," said Kazanah, shaking his head. "They'll know and when they do, they will declare a war for vengeance. Killing warriors of other tribes is one thing; but spilling the blood of a chieftain...there will be no peace, not for the Kaling."

"But..." protested Hayreddin, looking up at the chieftains and watched with growing horror as determination hardened their faces. They were going to destroy an entire tribe, even the innocent within it.

"Hayreddin..." said Nebud quietly, his face growing paler and Hayreddin felt a lurch of guilt as he realised that he had temporarily forgotten the wounded Elder in his arms. "The chieftains...are right...the Kaling will not accept peace now...they will fight...even if it means that every last one them...will die..."

"But..." said Hayreddin quietly, anguished at thought of the deaths.

"You've done...remarkably well," continued Nebud. "The chieftains will try for peace...that...is a miracle, Hayreddin...but you can't save everyone..."

"I..." Hayreddin was about to protest, but noticed that Elder Nebud was starting to lose consciousness. "Where's the damned healers!"

Fortunately for Elder Nebud, the healer arrived in time to save him.

For Hayreddin though, he sat in numb silence as he watched the healer treat the Elder. Around him, the chieftains continued to discuss the impending destruction of the Kaling. Hayreddin wanted to speak up, to find a way to stop them from carrying out the genocide; but he couldn't. As the chieftains themselves said, there was no way that the Kaling will accept peace with Asok slain by the chieftains of two other tribes.

Hayreddin thought about the look of pure unadulterated hate that Asok had gave him before he died and shuddered. He didn't know what he had done to deserve such hatred. It reminded him too much of Beduin.

"Asok did just try to kill you, you know," said Kazanah quietly, sitting himself down beside Hayreddin.

"That doesn't mean I should condone the death of his entire tribe," answered Hayreddin, clenching his fists.

"It is unfortunate, but..."

Berkhan suddenly strode over to them, his brutal face twisted with anxiety. "Kazanah, I can't find Wara and the Pasa, Parang and Gulda chieftains."

Concern flashed across Kazanah's face. "Are you certain?"

"Yes," answered Berkhan. "I think they went missing around the time the Kaling chieftain attacked."

"Wara might be up to something," said Kazanah, standing up. "We must find him..."

Kazanah was interrupted when Ravenna rushed into the room, breathing heavily. He went straight to Hayreddin, and his grim face was even grimmer, sending a wave unease through Hayreddin.

"Ravenna, what..."

"Hayreddin, outriders have spotted an army only a few hours away from Ain," said Ravenna without preamble. "Several thousand strong. As far as we could tell, they're from a few desert tribes...we don't know which."

The other chieftains froze at the news and Kazanah cursed loudly.

"Wara..."

"What are their intentions?" asked Hayreddin quietly, though dread had already clenched his heart.

Ravenna's look was hard. "The outriders reported that several other scouts have been killed by skirmishers from the incoming army. They're going to attack Ain."

Hayreddin buried his face in his hands.

XI XI XI

Severals miles away from Ain, Wara and the chieftains from the Pasa, Parang and Gulda tribes rode into the encampment that the approaching army had made. A tall, lanky warrior with skin like charcoal rode out to meet him, flanked by several of his own warriors. He looked remarkably similar to Asok.

Wara and his party halted before him.

"Young Sidura," said Wara, nodding his head curtly.

Sidura studied Wara's party. "My father?"

"My condolences," answered Wara. "Chieftain Asok was slain by Horun and Berkhan."

Sidura's jaw clenched with barely concealed fury. "So I am chieftain of the Kaling now."

"Indeed," answered Wara, nodding. "I understand you are grieving, but will you honour this alliance between our four tribes that your father had agreed to with me and my fellow chieftains?"

"The Kaling will fight alongside the Maru, Pasa, Parang and Gulda," vowed Sidura. "We will not stop until Ain burns to the ground."

Wara smiled coldly. "Excellent."