The Tortured War

The Tortured War

By: AKR

Paykato

Running, like water not always fast but always running. That was us. We were the water. Only, the contaminated water of running bodies that run no more. A water that no one dare sips, water used only to catch those who catch their fates. We dug their trenches. We sharpened their spikes, laid down their bedding, we balanced those ledges on both sides of the river. If they didn’t perish from the first isle of splintering spikes, they would certainly meet their match from the second. The defecated river would only consume you in time once seeping into the festering wounds opened by the water's teeth. Well...That was the story told. Most of it is true except the cruel treatment of the slaves and the hungry river. The tactics for the river were much cleverer. Sharpening every stone to a slicing edge alongside the spikes. Precautionary measures took hours, but everyone was forced to endure the times.

Slaves were at least treated decent and the Paykatons even respected the trade of slaves. Understanding its essential consistency of use for labor and war. There were stories told of the mercenaries defecating in the river that the slaves had to work around. That they were thrown into as punishment or worse... drowned. That story was for the neighboring regions to fear. Motivate them not to fail the regions known trade. And only those who failed to show promise to the trade get sent here. And since the Karmeethians opposed slaves on their land, we end up in the region of Kato. No one knew, but we’ve all heard.

Kareem was morally swayed for the stability of the regions. Due to the encouragement of the succeeding promise for trade. Kareem demanded amongst the regions that all slaves that served Kato earned a second chance at succession in trade. Between the three regions Kato and Kareem made a dual agreed alliance that labor slaves were to be treated respectfully until our sentence ends. But that statement could never see outside our minds. A slave's secret must remain silent for the causalities once revealed will be the fault of all.

All I knew was Cintigate had an undying itch for the war that never was. They sat back idle. Keeping quiet. Little did we know that the storm was brewing underneath their stillness and agreeance.

I can't think about that right now though, I must be prepared for what is to come as we edge closer to the shores of Kato. I looked onto the foggy waters to see a shocking second boat carrying more slaves headed into Kato. I became confused since only one shipment every six months was allowed to the Kato River camp. Soon to be horrors of those who never dreamed of it, they would reveal to be Cintigate scouts. Working swiftly with fury, chaos in a smoke of confusion they would strike with deadly efficiency crippling the armor of the long-awaited new enemy. It brought notice and message but action could never be taken so swift as the strive of a fast-spreading poison. They were already crippled they just didn’t know it yet. This act would bring attention and alarm of war to all regions. This was a purposeful strike to fester a healing wound of anger. It was a break in peace, a silent murder, but quite a show. All this pointed towards anger with Kareem.

We were shuffled off two weeks early on orientation and sat at the arenas watching the regions warriors prepare for our show. A reward not deserving is never a good sign. Most mercenaries were preoccupied with the mysterious second group, trying to find a private area to store the questioned.

And so, it was we were watching warriors combat, and before an eye could blink, we were blindsided by massacre. They came in droves pinning slaves. The overseeing mercenaries already chewing defeat. Branded against unbranded. It was a battle with bandits. They yelled “Are you for the Old Ways and upon agreeance!” Watching from afar I see the agreed set free and handed a weapon from under their burlap sack hooded clothing. The ones who disagree met a fate with curved edged blades. By the third swipe you’ve lost your head to the grounds beneath. The sand mixed with a red darker than the apple you bite upon. Leaving no place to run to that wouldn’t end your own upon it. For the warriors in the arena, they had started with jars of oil, then torches, creating sizzling silhouettes of burning men. The suffocating smoke thickening along with the agonizing screams. The arrows spinning through the air showed merciful ending to these men who danced of fire. With all the burning around myself, I only felt frozen. Frozen still surrounded in chaos. The only thing adrenaline made me feel was invisible not real. I wasn’t real, I didn’t exist in this moment. I was witnessing tragedy I wasn’t a part of it.

I was roughly shoved against the chilling clay wall. The Same question screamed into my ringing ears. “Yes! Yes! I begged. I screamed agreeance to the Old Ways. I had no intention of starting a war, but the war was already started. I didn’t know whether to feel like a coward or clever. Who would possibly know. Karmethians I dryly thought. I was grabbed by my collar, thrown to ground, and tossed my weapon. “Go! Fight!" they screeched. I panic looking around to see the fools deny the request, becoming empty bones to the empty ground with their hollow sacrifices. “Now!" they demanded. I shuffle to my feet and run. Already having a plan drafted, I repeat it to myself. Escape this disaster. Get to the King Drohay SilverSpine. Warn the king, earn my freedom from Kato as reward. I smile cockily maybe earn a place upon the Elven guard.

I continue running achingly when lifeless mercenaries suddenly fall upon my path. I stop to assess and catch a breath. I jump back quickly as one of the fallen stirs with life. I held my breath fast grasping my chest. I hear a bandit from behind me yelling to finish him. Following the act, I grabbed the dagger handed to me in my free hand and swiftly tore into the warrior's chest keeping face and gaining much sorrow that sat sick in my gut. Pulling out was easier than the entrance. I wiped his blood on my pant leg and moved on from the man's cruel grimy grin bigger than Fenrir's in approval. I continue running forward.

As I come into a clearing I am jumped from above by another warrior. We both tumbled to the ground. I held the curved blade, but lost the dagger, but with some luck grabbed the shield of a fallen in time to catch her axe blow. I swiped her ankles as she finished rising, she fell screaming in extreme pain. In a rush I went to finish her, but she strikes back towards my chest, but misses, giving me my chance to flee. I knew one was better than me when they bested me, I left her to the wolves I thought as I fled for the stables. The chaos raining like hail all around. Fires blazing warriors screaming. Bandit scouts chanting. I fell upon a posted paper at the stables-

“Declaration of War

We have sat idle and watched the worst crimes go unpunished. No More We Tell You. We have legal law and now we will establish Moral law. THE ELVEN KING HAS FALLEN. ALL TO THE WAY OF OLD!”

Kareem

She sat in the Esteemed Halls of Green and Gold waiting for council with Elven King Drohay Silverspine. He was the third and youngest of three brothers. The other two had fallen in battles before the Great Peace. Along with her cousin who recently found himself behind Cintigates walls. With her cousin's death she was now leader of the Elven Guard. In Kareem armies were not permitted, nor was strict dictation. The Elven Guard was only permitted to protect from outside intrusions. Inside the walls of Kareem there were no means of lawful control. Kato had the mercenaries, we (Kareem) had control of all agriculture, livestock, and medicines. Cintigate had all armory supplies Kato would need to train their mercs. They also dictate all treasons greater than the limited protocols given to the other two regions. They held Kareem's hallucinogens and poisons as their own giving only 20% of their profits back to them. Kareem was forced to promise trade and with it came consequences of slaves which drove the strain between the two. Everyone depended on one another making them chains. Break one and you're alone. And now it seemed most likely the spark of war had been given life.

News arrived to Kareem about Kato receiving a second shipment of slaves from Cintigate after already obtaining their first and only legal shipment. This act showed disobey against the rules of the treaty. They were spitting upon our home's dignity. So, she had plans drawn up and measures prepared for war. The Guard must stay where they are. They must protect those who inhabit the villages their families. She would need to buy and recruit an army. She had plans to not only buy mercenaries from Kato, but buy them permanently until the war ended. She needed constant readiness for anything. She had to discuss these matters with the king for it would be breaking the treaty for Kato. If they arranged a meeting perhaps a peaceful settlement could be arranged. She didn’t want war from both sides. She wanted to camouflage the mercenaries as her own warriors adding to the Guard. They would use all of nature's weapons, camouflage, and illusions to their advantage. They would look bigger than they are, even before they enlisted for the army. It would hopefully scare the enemy away long enough to buy them time that money couldn’t. But money sure did help it. They would strip the enemy of their confidence with a Guard larger than anyone has witnessed. Larger than the time the regions split. She would make the world think twice when it came to underestimate Kareem's greatness.

The gates opened and on entered a towering man. Ink of gold etched into his skin. Proof of his battles won. Long white hair with a framed beard illuminating him like a lion of war. He had fought in the tribal wars with his brothers before The Great Peace when Kareem was one land and not torn into three. The change happened like the death and birth of seasons and could not be stopped. The last SilverSpine would surely save Kareem with her. Assisting her guiding hand. He asked her to walk so she fell in line beside her king.

There they walked side by side. She was good at keeping the beat and he would change his pace watching her subconsciously follow. She was a mighty fine guard, and he could tell that filling the shoes of her cousin had already been taking its toll by the darkness beneath her eyes. Yet she never wavered and was ready for the role before it was even hers. She spoke of intelligent war efforts. But what weighed on his mind was supposedly an island larger than the matters at hand. Isolated secrets and leaking of lies. It all beckoned him and he did not know how he came upon its truths. The holding of secret knowledge is a blood slicked two-sided razor-sharp reality. The truth and secret both equally do good and evil. Lies were just a salve on the wounds. What gain and what loss could be seen? What is cruelty what and what is kindness? Which seeps from which? A tide blend upon the soul of agony.

She knew their conversation was serous if he had taken a path away from guards and from the Royal room. Now a decent half a mile gap from any guard, the king turns and asks, “Can I trust you? Before she could respond he continued, "I don’t mean trust as in to fill your cousins place and lead well. I mean to see thru the veil of haze upon the flickering life of evil.” She watches the kings' eyes as he speaks. "To watch that fire blaze, watch it grow, but not let it burn you down. " She nods as her intuitions begin to rev picking up his tone. “Don’t let it take your breath. Take its life take and the agony that comes with it. “Make it destroy itself. Can I trust you?” She stands firmly continuing to listen. “Would you judge me upon my actions or would my families over shadow my efforts. Watch the shadow dance and dance with it, or dance away from it.”

“What is all this really about?” she asked with confusion. “Your family has always been honored...” Before another word escaped her lips an arrow whizzed through the air sharply striking her shoulder. Leaving the confusion in her mind to cozy in. Another speeds through and strikes the opposite thigh. She felt the searing pain of rushing poison from the tipped arrows as she fell grabbing for the king. The poison was not patient and hastily spread. She faded, for eternity had taken hold a feeling like black gold. The king was ambushed from the lake. How long had they waited? They were underwater breathing through incompetent reeds for the entirety of their conversation. How long had they planned to ambush the king? How she had not been awake to witness it. Witness him not fight it.

Cintigate: The Bastard Son

There they sat at the center table in a dim lit room, stone walls, with a single fire warming the room almost comfortably. Five faces, and only one was known by the regions to still be alive. A dead cousin, two dead brothers, and a third unknown face all sitting, brewing plans like a hallucinogenic tea. King Drohay sits in shackles against the wall. He looks onward to the anonymous face drumming his fingers on an oak carved table. Almost paying no attention to his “fallen brothers”. The King of None and The King of Now. Two opposing forces taking a spiraled dive for control. The once elven land had fallen to nothing. Just as the King did. Nothing. Glory to be rested in the hands of this unknown alias. It is thought to be said as follows:

I call myself The Bastard Son. The Bastard of it all. The Bastard left to do it all. And how with diligence we have always readied for war. Because it was morally the right reason for it all. Unexcepted by false Karmethians. I have convinced many, ended many, and all to have our lands back. To live a life relying on no one. A dream, an idealistic dream, a dream that I would carve into blood all across our lands. This new system was a crutch and nothing more. One fallen upon another just to injure countries and their reliance as well. The Plan was to cripple Kato, rip Kareem's throat out, and open the gates to Cintigate and prepare for the final stand.

There was more to it then this of course. The plan was one of devastation and diversion. They needed Kareem to be in need when Kato arrived for their ration of goods. They would shut down all supplies leaving the region. We would burn down their villages, set fires to their crops, make the cattle fear for their lives causing them to flee. Karmeethians would have no choice, but to seek refuge with Kato whom they’ve refused goods, or hide behind our walls here in Cintigate. While starving Kareem they would also begin starving Kato of their mercenaries, as Cintigate and Kareem are required to send thirty percent of their population to them for training. Kato will be forced to only survive of the rations they previously received before Kareem became a battle scorched land. All in all, both Kareem and Kato would have no choice but to flee for Cintigates walls. A plan perfectly unfolding like the blanket that warms you in the blistering winters.

For it was the Karmethians flaws that gave us our opening and I would make sure the chained king knew. Their mistake from the start was following him and trying to scrape peace that was already pieced together after the tribal wars. All their freedom and victories dismembered by the salvage of scraps. But honor cannot be salvaged when you sacrifice it and he had done exactly that. I would feed him regret and a spoonful of guilt before any mercy of death. Hope is needed before betrayal as air is before fire. How eloquently I would lay it all out for him and he wouldn’t even know me for the villain. He would be a loyal warrior to a new legacy. But I was truly spiteful to it all. The years of hiding my half-length half shaped elven ears are over. Those who were cast out had their ears desecrated in shame. For Elven ears were held high and mighty with pride. The desecrating act was truly cruel and for whatever reason the mean dog played nice. I did not know, but deep in whatever pit of heart I had left I knew. I knew Kato and what they truly desired, and I would save Kareem before they had a blink to strike and extinct them all. One lesser evil to forgo and not step towards the largest evil.

I stared on at the king pathetically chained to the wall. I had used his brothers to lure him. Surely making him feel insane at first, but he would heal from any psychological damage eventually. Like seeing a ghost this poor fool looked paler than a stale piece of bread. I anticipated the day I would usurp and restore former glory to us all. Eating proper food and even sleeping on a proper bed. I would pry from him any knowledge of sacred magic to heal these ears to regain that shameless pride I had lost long ago. There was only one thing still standing between myself and victory. And that was that Kato was still standing. So, it too must burn. How he felt the panic of the people, how he felt the sorrow but need of necessity for true freedom. He seemed to stir more when each time I moved. For I would be cruel. He once had a lover I put to rest long ago for his betrayal of our sacrifices. I had her tattoo on me as a mark of remembrance. Never question who made you pay. I would imagine him thrashing wildly and I would find the pleasure in silencing him one again. As for his brothers, I was unsure where to hold them because they had the slight misconception that I'd let their brother live. Since they joined my cause so long ago that I would be merciful to the old bag. And maybe I really would, but I really super never will. And in the end, I might have to kill them all too. For he knew the cousin too admired the Silverspine brothers. A not a soul could save any of them. They are mine, my captives, my slaves, my warriors, and most of all My Land.

He went forward with the plan to enrage the man further past the despair he had caused over the years. The poor fool never knew what the good life was that he could have had. All of this bad luck was just rage raining forever upon him. He would break him beyond the bones and that is true revenge. For his betrayal of peace. allowed the slaughter of caught rebels. way in the start they all got hung his whole family. How he wished this man had a family but no he had a kingdom he would make him watch burn. Oh how the King of the dead would envy him.

...To Be Continued...

...To Be Continued