The Vanished Empire

THE VANISHED EMPIRE by Andrej Koymasky (C) 2006 written on February 11, 1995 translated by the author English text kindly revised by John

USUAL DISCLAIMER

"THE VANISHED EMPIRE" is a gay story, with some parts containing graphic scenes of sex between males. So, if in your land, religion, family, opinion and so on this is not good for you, it will be better not to read this story. But if you really want, or because YOU don't care, or because you think you really want to read it, please be my welcomed guest.

FIFTH - USAE AND YUDE'S STRATEGIES

5.1 - Usae and the barbarians' territory

Duke Pess asked to be received by Yude and declared himself his vassal. Yude confirmed him a Duke but assigned him to one of his generals. In spring 1483, Kimi conquered the remaining parts of Chui Territory and the Count Stan, whose territory was then situated between the territories controlled by Kimi on the west border and by Yude on the east border, behind the mountains, submitted to Kimi.

But meanwhile Keta and Soka had gathered a strong fleet and attacked Seko, landing a force of about 30,000 cavalrymen and 120,000 infantrymen there. Kimi and Yude at once gathered all their troops and hastened by forced march to Seko, where Usae was valiantly trying to stem the invasion. Wild battles were fought, with ups ad downs. Keta was a skilled strategist and understood that he had to abandon traditional tactics to face the great mobility of Usae's troops. After one year of struggle, the allied armies of Keta and Soka were still firmly controlling almost all Seko territory.

Meanwhile on the south Prince Dera allied with Duke Yaha, Count Siie and Duke Ikie forming a coalition to be feared. In the north, the pirates had settled on a great part of the coastal strip of Rone island and the two Counts had to take refuge in the highlands. To worsen the situation, the barbarians from the north started to make incursions in the mountain provinces, crossing the mountains with fast, surprise raids.

In the third month of 1484, Meta succeeded in blocking an offensive by the south coalition at the borders of Suna. From Ikoi the first new ships that were sent to Usae, together with some pirates' ships, skirted the peninsula in the south and headed for Jeran port, destroying Soka's ships that were still there. It was not a great disaster, but for the first time the two princes became aware that at sea too, they were no longer the absolute rulers. This made their operations on Seko territory more insecure, so after a set of violent pitched battles, in the eleventh month they withdrew from Seko territory which was again in Usae's hands.

On 1485 the Octagon castle, renamed the Sword castle, had been completed and Usae settled in, throwing a great party attended by the Emperor with his family and all the aristocracy in the part of the Empire already unified. In this occasion Yude, who was then 42 years old, met the son of Noma's regent, the duke Buga, a twenty-years old refined, elegant and handsome young man.

Yude, fascinated, started discretely to court him. After Gano had presented him, years before, with the six dancers and the six musicians, Yude carried on replacing them from time to time with younger ones, so he could always take with him the dozen easy boys with whom he often took his pleasure. As a result, he never felt the need for a lover. But now he wanted Buga.

First of all he had to discover if the young man liked his own or the opposite sex. In fact, unlike Gano who used to just take what he liked, regardless of whether the other agreed or not, at times taking young married men too, Yude always preferred to unite only with consenting partners. Therefore, inviting Buga to the rooms reserved to him, he called the twelve boys asking them to perform one of their erotic dances for his guest.

Buga was engrossed in observing the movements of the six dancers and when the boys mimed the scene of an intercourse, clearly between men, Buga murmured it was arousing. Yude then asked him if he liked one of the boys in particular. Buga blushed slightly and answered that all of them were beautiful. Then Yude told him that all the boys were fully available - if he wanted to choose one of them, or even more than one...

Buga blushed again and asked, "You... which one would you recommend for me?"

"It depends... I don't know your tastes. I tried all of them, and they all are more than agreeable."

"All of them?" Buga asked, amazed.

"Yes, the musicians too. What type do you like?" the man asked him, lightly caressing his back while the youth was continuing to look at the performance, which was becoming more and more explicitely erotic.

Buga didn't answer.

Yude started to caress his thigh and the youth quivered and finally answered, "Well... all of them..."

"Do you mean that you would like having an orgy with them all?" Yude asked with a smile.

The young man blushed once more, "No, I didn't mean that. I meant that I would not be able to make a choice." He murmured.

Yude's hand reached his lap and outlined Buga's erection and he shuddered. Then Yude took him in his arms, tightly, and kissed him on his mouth, intimately, deeply.

"So then, Buga, do you want one of them, all of them... or me?" Yude asked continuing to caress him between his legs.

The youth looked at the dancers, pointed at one of them and said, "Him... and you."

"Do you like making love in a threesome?" Yude asked, amused.

"I don't know, I never made it in a threesome."

"So, then?"

"I feel attracted to him and you propositioned me, so..."

"You don't have to feel compelled doing it with me just because I would like it."

"No, I don't feel obliged at all. You are a fascinating man and I'm glad to try it with you."

"But you like young ones better."

"No... I still don't know, I only recently understood that I like..."

"Recently?"

Buga was not yet nineteen when he made love with a man for the first time. Before that, he flirted here and there with some girls and had complete sex with only two of them - he enjoyed it well enough but his partners enjoyed it very much. His first man had been a cousin of his age. During a party they both flirted with two girls, they drank, were merry and full of yen to get to the point. They managed to take the two girls to a secluded place, continuing to caress them, to drink, and they were gradually undressing, eager to conclude. But at the most interesting moment the two girls fled laughing, leaving them alone, half undressed, and aroused. His cousin drawing nearer him, started to caress him, without uttering a word. They finished undressing each other and made love, taking each other in turn. His cousin enjoyed it sufficiently but he enjoyed it a lot.

Aferwards his cousin said that he only did it because he was drunk. He liked it doing it with women better. Buga, on the contrary, understood that he liked men better. After that first time, he had sex a few times with a soldier older than him, and with a servant, younger, at his father's castle, and he had enjoyed doing it with both of them. Therefore, he said, he now felt ready to try it again and, why not, in a threesome.

Yude asked the boy choosen by Buga to stay and took both of them to his bedroom. All three naked on the wide bed, they intertwined in a passionate search for pleasure. The beautiful Buga was awkward at first but he gradually became aroused and Yude liked making love with him very much. While the young man was dressing, Yude asked him if he wanted to meet again. The young duke answered "yes" with some enthusiasm.

The day after, it was Buga who approached Yude and asked him if he had some spare time. Yude asked him if he wanted one of the boys as well, but the youth answered that this time he would rather do it just the two of them. It was even better than the previous day. After they made love, they remained on the bed for a long time, caressing each other and talking. The youth asked him to tell him about his first time, about his first lover, about the first time with Gano... Yude narrated and the youth became aroused again and asked him to make love once more and Yude met his wishes with pleasure.

When the days of celebration were over, Yude and Buga said good-bye. Yude told him that he would like to meet again and that it was a pity they lived so far away from each other. Buga said he had felt very gratified with him and that he too hoped to be able meet him again soon. Yude felt tempted to ask the youth to go with him, but restrained himself. He watched Noma's convoy leaving but he had to stay at Sword castle for some more days to confer with Usae.

Usae intended to hold a general census of the population, of their activities and of the lands, in order to totally reorganize the taxation system. He also decided to expand Seko port and to build two new ports, one on the small strip of land in Suna territory and another in Misaga. But first they had to quickly equip a good fleet in order to control the Empire better and to oppose the pirates.

But above all, Usae had in mind an expedition to conquer the barbarians' territories. Some of his generals said it was better to first finish conquering all the Empire territory, but Usae answered that they had time for that enterprise - it was enough, for the moment to hold their opponents at bay. But if they conquered the northern territories, beyond the mountains, taking it away from the barbarians, they would get very good tillable land and in the meantime they could reduce the demographic pressure of the interior, thus trebling the Empire land.

During 1486, Kimi got hold of Yaha duchy using the old technique of the "castle after castle", uselessly opposed by the weak southern league - weak also because, as it was bordered on the opposite side by Suga, they could not totally abandon the eastern defences to fight on the western borders. Duke Yaha with his family and the best of his men took refuge in the territories of Prince Dera. Meanwhile Kimi also started a campaign of intensive reforestation at Misaga.

What was becoming a problem was Rone island. Pirates made it their base and they gradually conquered all of it, up to the mainland, slaughtering the two counts. Even though the incursions on the mainland, along the western coasts of the Empire were scanty, and from Rone they mainly sailed north, towards the continent, where the trade routes of the great continental powers were, in order to seize the big merchant ships, Usae was worried - when the Empire could possess his fleet as well, the pirates presence would become a great hindrance, even more so if they grew stronger and settled so close to the Empire.

One of the reasons why Usae wanted to conquer all the barbarians' north, was his desire to become part of the great game of the continental powers. Some merchants and shipwrecked seamen rescued by the fishermen of Imperial territories, narrated about the great nations of the continent, about their wealth and power. Usae had hosted these shipwrecked seamen in a luxurious way and asked them to teach a team of his men all they knew about their original lands - language, usages and customs, history, geography... He was feeling that the encounter with the continent could be close at hand and he wanted to be prepared.

What, up to then, kept the Empire separated from the continent had been mainly three factors - distance, the presence between the Empire and the continent of numerous pirates' gangs, and the ships that were still too fragile to run on the wide expanse of open sea. But from the shipwrecked navigators he came to know that on the continent they were building huge ships, able to defy the open sea, then he understood that soon the mysterious continent would become aware of them. He sent the navigators to Ikoi port to start building one of the huge ships they were talking about - he wanted to see one, to experiment with one. In Chui territory he had installed spacious factories to make the sails for the ships.

In 1487 the first Imperial fleet was rigged out. A test cruise was done in the western part of the Empire, to properly train the sailors in the ships manoeuvres; on board there were some ex-pirates as well the shipwrecked navigators as instructors.

In the third month of 1488, Kimi and Yude's troops, from the two opposite fronts, launched an attack against the southern league. Around the end of the fifth month, prince Dera found his death on the battle-field at the hand of Kimi, meanwhile Yude occupied half of Siie county and of Ikie duchy, and Rapod on his side of river. Just during this campaign, Buga showed up at Yude's camp.

5.2 - Yude's military strategy

The young Duke Buga received permission from his father to go and fight with Yude - he really wanted to be with him as, he told his father, he felt he was in love with him. Yude was extremely pleased. He celebrated his arrival with a great party. While outside, in the camp, the soldiers were still celebrating, Yude took Buga to his tent and they made love. Yude became incredibly fond of the youth, and always wanted him at his side - the young man's love was infusing in him new vigor and enthusiasm.

Buga was a clever youth and in him Yude not only found a devoted and trustworthy companion, but also a valuable adviser and a very good warrior. They became so inseparable that amongst Yude's men the saying was born - "if you're searching for the prince, look where the duke is going". He was also an extremely sensual youth and Yude was totally captivated by him.

On the tenth month of 1488, Yude was able to inform Usae that the southern league didn't exist any more. Now only the islands were to be conquered. The imperial fleet, even though not yet large, started to exist. One year of manoeuvres developed good navigators, both for the small and fast feluccas and for the big new ships, and in Ikoi port they were building more of them.

In spring 1489 the Imperial fleet made its first appearance along the channel dividing the Empire from the main islands. The princes' fleet on the islands tried to fight, but the small ships were too fast and easily maneageable and the big ships too strong to be seriously confronted by the princes' ships that were, even though numerous, of traditional build. Thus the channel was controlled by the Imperial fleet and the princes had to barricade themselves in their islands.

Anyway, in those years the princes had fortified the islands in a formidable way, mainly on the side facing the Empire lands - on the side facing the open sea they felt sufficiently protected by the sea and their fleet. Usae issued the order to build a new port also in the southern part of the Empire, at the estuary of the river dividing Sera territory by Siie and Ikie.

Usae decided it was time to move against Rosti island. Of the three great islands belonging to the two princes it was the most open to attack, as it was wedged between the land going from Enshi to Ikie, moreover Suna port could already be used in part, notwitstanding it was still under construction. Because in that part of the island there were landing places that were not deep enough, three big ships were used to block the two ends of the channel running north and south of Rosti. The feluccas were crowded with infantrymen and cavalrymen and started an uninterrupted coming and going between the two shores of the channel putting ashore the occupation force - a formidable army, formed by no fewer than 200,000 infantrymen and 20,000 cavalrymen. Usae, Yude and Kimi in person participated in the operations.

The princes, not being able to enter the channel with their ships, landed as many troops as possible at the port in the east of Rosti. They meanwhile were trying to oppose the imperials' landings but, establishing three beachheads, Usae, Kimi and Yude's forces seized one third of the island on its west side. The population took refuge in the interior, abandoning their villages and fields. The castles standing in that part of the island were also conquered by the imperial forces. The princes managed to send some 120,000 infanrtymen and 22,000 cavalrymen onto the island - the whole island was literally swarming with soldiers. In summer, the imperial army controlled about half of the island, but the resistence of the princes' forces was fierce, so that for months the positions changed very little and not always in the same direction.

Yude had an idea - all the battles were fought mainly along the shores on the north and south side of the island. The mountains were crowded with refugees and no military actions were taken there. He then asked to be allowed to choose from the imperial army all the most vigorous and young soldiers who were originally from the mountain provinces of the Empire. With them he would form a task force that would occupy all the mountains, trying to persuade the farmers who took refuge here to go back to the fields and to work them - otherwise they risked losing their harvest. Of all their harvest the countryen could keep half and had to give the other half to the imperial army. Yude's men, on the other hand, would spend all the winter in the mountains, ready to swoop upon the port at the start of spring, so splitting the princes' army in two parts and also making the supplying of food, weapons and men more difficult.

Usae, being of aristocratic origin and more tied to the tradition, at first did not fully agree - the army had always been formed by groups of homogeneous origins, born in the same lands. Splitting the army would unsettle the formations and make it more difficult to keep discipline and to coordinate the groups. But Kimi totally agreed with Yude, so Usae yielded. Therefore Yude started his work - he choose amongst his men the fitter ones and sent them to recruit more men in Usae and Kimi's armies. In meantime he sent his remaining men to the two armies to be temporarily included with them. His new contingent would be constituted only of infantry, lightly armed but well equipped in order to pass the winter under the snow.

At the end of the eighth month the restructuring of the Imperial army was completed. Yude with Buga left with their 60,000 infantrymen. They quickly climbed the mountains from two sides, to prevent the farmers fleeing towards the part controlled by the princes. Then they started to gather up the farmers, inviting them to go to work the fields in the part under the imperial control. As any escape route was barred and as winter was nearing, the farmers could only agree and go down to the plain. Yude then started the building of their refuges, before the snow came.

When the first snow fell, they all were sheltered in huts built with branches and earth between the trees, in an almost uninterrupted line cutting the mountain practically in two parts. Soon the snow was falling and then the men gathered it against the external walls of their huts covering them with a compact snow wall that they watered in order to make it ice. Inside the huts there was a small fire, sufficient to maintain some warmth so as not to freeze, on which in small groups they took turns to cook their meals. The food supply had been divided in daily rations so that they could last for all the winter, and had been buried in the snow the better to preserve it.

To be more comfortable during the night, when the fires were out, Yude ordered the men to sleep together in couples under their blankets. Buga pointed out that in that way not a few relationships would start, and Yude answered laughing that this was possibly his real aim. Each hut hosted ten men with their ten-chief. Each ten huts had a post-chief, each ten posts had a thousands-chief and finally came the six section-chiefs with Yude and Buga constituting the headquarters. At the center of the long array they had a bigger hut, which was divided in two parts - the smaller one for themselves and the wider one for meetings.

The men, used to mountain life, set traps for fresh meat, did water and wood fatigues, kept their weapons in good order and each day performed physical training to keep in good shape. They were on sentry-duty in turns to avoid any possible surprise, even though it was highly unlikely. To keep the men's morale high, Buga organized a set of contests, about who carved the most beautiful object, or made the most comfortable equipment, or narrated the most amusing story, besides physical contests.

Winter passed without problems and the men, though coming from different parts of the Empire, came together very well. This gave Yude the idea of an army comprising only specialised corps, men coming from different provinces but used to fraternizing - a totally professional army and not, how it had been up to then, where the only professionals were the horse-mounted aristocrats while the infantrymen were almost all peasant-soldiers or artisan-soldiers.

Yude was proud of this contingent so that, with Buga, he often went to inspect them, to ascertain their morale while winter was slipping by. They stopped to talk and to eat with the men and were alsways received with a perfect style. Noticing how some soldiers had decorated the doorway of their huts with snow bas-reliefs, Buga also organized a contest for the finest entrance, and this was a great success too.

The relationship between Yude and Buga was becoming more and more intense and profound. The long nights spent holding each other tightly, when they made love, then talked for a long while before falling asleep, were cementing their union more and more.

Buga admired Yude, who was proud of his young lover. More and more soldiers followed their example, uniting in harmonious couples and also promising each other to remain together once the war was over.

As soon as the thaw set in and the ground became workable, they gathered the few supplies still remaining, rolled their blankets, and then assembled to start the fast descent from the mountains - their morale was very high, they felt they were accomplishing a remarkable exploit.

They came within sight of the port, which didn't expect an assault from inland, and attacked it throwing the inhabitants into confusion. From the port, the troops of the few princes tried to organize some resistance, but the 60,000 infantrymen swarmed in tightly united groups through the streets, heading for the ships. The commander ordered the ships to sail and barricated himself in the castle, defended by a contingent of only 6,000 men, and sent a rescue request to the two remnants of the princes' army that were located north and south.

The town was totally in Yude's hands and, even though he had not been able to capture any of the ships, as these were no longer mooring at the port fearing to be boarded. They besieged the port castle but didn't attack it - they would have too many losses. The castle had a pentagon shape, with two sides jutting out into the sea and three on the land.

The townsmen, past their first moments of fear, went back, amazed by the discipline of the imperial soldiers, who didn't boss the city around. One evening an aged man asked to be taken in front of Yude. He said that when a youth he had been a soldier of Count Jeran, who was dispossessed by the princes. He said that he was in active service inside the castle and that he knew two access ways that possibly the princes' soldiers didn't know.

Yude made the man explain them in great detail - one was a long underground aqueduct gallery bringing the water from a spring to the castle cistern. The other one was the drainage tunnel for the dirty water from the castle that led to the sea. The first one could be entered by the side of the spring where the water ran into the canal; the second one, at low tide, was less than two meters below the sea level.

Yude asked him how could he know these two ways and why he was revealing their existence to him. The man said that he knew them because his father, sixty years before, worked on the building of the castle and that he was now revealing them to Yude because, observing the respect for the population that the imperial soldiers showed, and having the princes dethroned the real lord of that land, the Count Jeran, he preferred his land to be ruled by the Emperor.

Buga said that it could be a trap; he imagined thousand of their men entrapped in the long and narrow galleries, easy prey of the enemy soldiers. But Yude felt he could trust that man. In any case, he said, at least concerning the aqueduct gallery, they could control one extremity anyway. Therefore he decided to choose two groups amongst his men - those who were able to swim skillfully would try to penetrate from the sea side, the others by the aqueduct gallery.

Buga then suggested they could do one more thing - once they had explored the two galleries and then sent in the two groups, all the other men had to raise the siege of the castle and behave as if they were leaving the city, but hiding nearby. The besieged men, almost surely, would go out of the castle to reopen the port. At that point Yude's men in the galleries would find a reduced number of soldiers inside the castle - they could go out and engage in battle giving a sign to those hidden outside by knocking down the central pennon with the princes' standard. Yude's toops would then go back and attack the city and the castle.

Yude approved the plan. After having the two galleries explored, they found that the sewer one was blocked at its middle by crossed heavy iron bars. Yude then sent some men into it armed with saws for iron to cut them. They plunged at the beginning of the night and worked all the night long, going back before dawn.

At least a thousand and five hndred men could be contained in the clean water gallery and about five hundred in the sewer, once the bars were cut. The work to shear the iron bars took almost six days - it had to be carried out very slowly, so that no noise would be heard inside the castle. But at last it yielded. Then Yude made all the chosen men enter the two galleries and raised the siege to the castle, as if heading towards the north.

From the castle the departure of the enemy contingent was greeted with joyous yells and, as anticipated, the castle opened its gates and the soldiers went to control the port. Inside the castle only five hundred men remained. Yude's men who were in the cistern and in the sewer started to move inside the castle, with two aims before engaging battle - closing the castle gates again and knocking down the the princes' standard.

When the castle defenders became aware that the enemy was inside, half of the men were already out of the galleries. They engaged a furious battle trying to launch the alarm. First the central pennon fell, then the two gates were closed while Yude's men were continuing to move inside the castle and all resistance was overcome.

From the port, when they heard the alarm and then saw the central pennon fall, the fall-in was sounded and they ran to the castle. They were raising the assault ladders when Yude's troops reappeared and attacked them from their back. They outnumbered the princes' soldiers and in the open field they rapidly had the winning hand. In a few hours the six thousand men of the princes were dead or prisoneer or in flight. While confining the prisoners to the castle, Yude had a new pennon raised, with his own flag and then took possession of the port.

5.3 - The expedition to the barbarians' lands

In the meantime Kimi was pushing the princes' troops from the north and Usae was pressing them from the south. On the fourth month of 1490 Rost was totally in the hands of the imperial forces. Usae went back to the capital in triumph, Yude and Buga went to the Pick castle and let Kimi reorganize and defend the island. A big problem were the approximately 30,000 prisoners. It was decided to transport all of them, a few at a time, onto the Empire mainland and once there to propose that they either enroll in the imperial army or to go to prison. Those enrolling in the imperial army were dispersed to the various provinces where they were mixed with soldiers known to be loyal.

The imperial fleet was becoming stronger. Usae was uncertain about what he should give priority to - the final battle against the princes, the conquest of the barbaric north or the reconquest of Rone island that was in pirates' hands. The new imperial fleet didn't yet face real battles, where the princes, althought having old-fashioned ships, were skilled. On the other hand the pirates, on open sea, were certainly very strong and had a lifelong experience in the manoeuvre of their small and quick ships.

Eventually, Usae decided to start the long projected expedition to the barbarians' lands. On spring 1491 the fleet transported onto the nort-east coast a contingent of 100,000 infantrymen and 30,000 cavalrymen. To transport all these men Usae also ordered the use of all the fishing boats. The landing didn't meet any practical opposition, even though it engaged the boats for almost one full month.

The army, consolidating their bridgehead at the landing point, was first engaged in the building of two fortresses defending the landingplace on both sides. The two fortresses were then linked by a long wall with a communication trench enclosing the area where they would later build the town of the first settlement in the new lands. Usae promised to allot land in the new territories to all the soldiers who had been taken prisoneer in Rosti battle, as well as to all the imperial soldiers who wanted to settle there to colonize the conquered regions.

After the building of the two fortresses and the wall was completed, the conquest of the territory started. The barbarians were organized in territorial tribes, which were coordinated. All the able men were fighting with primitive, but nonetheless fearful weapons. Above all, their fighting tactics varied greatly from one group to another and for the imperial soldiers it was not easy to foresee which weapons they would have to face and how they would be used

The strength of the imperial army consisted mainly of their coordination and of their great number, and also the fact that the barbarian groups acted each for itself. A technique widely used by the barbarians was fast attacks followed by just as fast retreats. This greatly reduced their losses. A last point was that almost all the barbarians were horse mounted - they rode their horses bareback and with a surprising agility.

The imperial troops ineluctably advanced, taking possession of the territories and setting up a set of blockhouses on them. When the barbarians had to abandon their villages at the hands of the imperial troops, they burned everything. None of them let himself be taken alive, none of them surrendered, not even when surrounded by many enemies.

At the end of autumn the minimum of soldiers needed to hold places, stayed in the blockhouses and in the port that was called Ganer in honor of the deceased leader, then the fleet took the main part of the army back. Almost all the knights remained on the conquered territory.

When, in the following spring, the fleet took back the army to the barbarians' lands, the princes' fleet moved trying to reconquer Rosti. But Kimi had anticipated this move and was prepared. On the princes' ships powerful catapults had been placed with which they hurled incendiary shells onto the port and the castle. They were ready to burn everything just to take back the port. Kimi distributed his soldiers in the town to help its inhabitants to extinguish the fires that were started. The assault lasted for three days, but the damage was limited.

The imperial fleet, having disembarked the soldiers onto the barbarians' lands, received the order to go back quickly to oppose the princes' fleet. The clash happened in the Internal Sea. It was the baptism of fire for the imperial fleet. The battle was long and difficult and with many losses on both sides. But at the end the princes had to abandon taking back Rosti island.

Meanwhile, on the barbarians' lands, the imperial troops had conquered all the eastern coast, so that now the new territories were connected with Sote territory through the mountain passes, that were improved by building earthworks, new roads and bridges. Meta asked for the authorization to go to the new territories. Yude was unhappy to lose a friend and collaborator of years, but could not deny him his authorization.

Meta obtained the rank of general from Usae and the command of a contingent of 10,000 infantrymen and on summer 1492 he embarked for Ganer with his men. Once there, he first consulted with the generals who headed the main expediton. As he saw their expansion plans, which were mainly along the coasts, he decided instead to go to the mountains, to a point connected by an adequate pass with the land already conquered, and in a valley on the other side.

In fact Meta had chosen his infantrymen from amongst the men who had spent the winter in the mountains during the campaign on Rosti island. Stipulating that they would live on the mountains for years, alone, that is without women, he asked of those men who were prepared to follow him. Amongst the 25,000 who applied, he choose only the youngest and strongest. Then he asked them to freely divide themselves into couples - several had already formed, and others formed in that occasion. Then he asked the couples to combine forming tens and choose a chief. He asked the ten-chiefs to form hundreds and choose the post-chief and amongst the hundred post-chiefs he chose ten section-chiefs who would be his direct collaborators.

The only person who didn't have a lover in that peculiar contingent was Meta, but the real reason why he wanted to go far away from Suna was a bitter disappointment in love - his lover, with whom he lived for eight years, had left him to go with another man. Meta suffered very much for that. He swore he would never again tie himself to another and left Suna. At that point he was fifty-years old.

Going beyond the pass with his men, he found a pleasant valley in the shape of an "S", crossed by a small and fast river that originated near the pass. Rapidly exploring the valley they saw that downhill there were three barbarian villages. They decided then to settle up near the pass. Their plan was to herd small animals and to cultivate plants appropriate to the mountain heights.

They started to build the shelters for the winter- using tree trunks to make low huts that at a later time would be used as shelter for their animals in winter time and as store-rooms for supplies and tools. They formed two wide squares connected on one side, with seven huts on each side. Each hut could accommodate ten couples, so they had enough sheltered space for winter. On the external walls the huts were totally enclosed, with neither windows nor doors. On the top of the external walls there was a parapet which formed a walkway where sentries could patrol and be on guard. It formed a kind of blockhouse spanning about fifty by a hundred meters overall.

One of the two squares also enclosed the source of the small river, so that their water supply was assured. They finished building the complex just before winter, then took inside all their supplies, weapons, blankets and the few furnishings they brought with them. While one half of the contingent was staying to occupy the huts, the other half went back to Ganer to bring the rest of their goods - more tools, pots, pans, clothes and supplies. By the time they were back, all the huts had been completed.

Winter was rapidly approaching. A first light snowfall had just occurred when a group of barbarians, who were going uphill for some reason, saw their settlement. The soldiers on guard saw them and launched the alarm, but the small group did an about-turn running down the hillside.

"Well, they now know we're here - we shall have to keep our eyes open, they can try to outflank us. We have to double the guard shifts on all the fronts and always have our weapons ready and at hand. Even though I presume there will be heavy snowfalls, they could be men used to the snow, even if they live downhill. Men, our adventure is really starting!" Meta said to his troops.

For almost one month they didn't see any barbarians. Snow was now falling every day and the men were engaged in keeping it clear from it the internal spaces and the immediate surroundings of the external perimeter of their settlement. This kept the men busy and was also a good physical exercise. For some months they would have to live closed in a limited space, therefore Meta asked his men to devote part of their time to small entertainments and to handicraft works. Each hut always had to have a brazier alight, not only to cook and to warm the hut, but also to warm the sentries at the end of their duty shifts.

A second group of barbarians was sighted - this time they came expressly to discover what that new wide building was. In fact they stopped at some distance away and it was clear they were discussing amongst themselves, making wide gestures. Meta had an idea - he went out with a group of armed men, carrying their standard. He slowly advanced towards the barbarians, to make them understand they didn't have hostile intentions and stopped when he got the impression that they were about to step back. Aloud, asking himself if they could understand, he asked who their chief was.

The barbarians were looking at them, still, without saying or doing anything. Meta repeated his question then, taking a basket he had prepared previously, where there were fruits and a length of brocade, he slowly advanced a few steps, carrying the basket, then stopped, put it on the ground, then stepped back. The barbarians still were motionless, in silence. Then Meta ordered his men to step back several paces, pointed to the basket and told the barbarians to take it, it was a present for them. Nothing happened.

Meta decided to go back and to see what happened from the glacis of their blockhouse. When they got back, they just had time to climb onto the roof, when one of the barbarians went to the basket, examined it, took it and went back to his companions showing them the contents. Then the barbarians disappeared downhill.

All winter long they saw no more barbarians. Meta, when he had seen them clearly from nearby, received a good impression - they were strong men, well clothed, and with a well groomed aspect from what he could see. They were armed with a spear and a sword, and one of them had a kind of staff with a chain slipped under his belt. Meta asked himself how it could be used and tried to make one - it was like a heavy whip, difficult to manoeuvre. One could make the chain whirl and then cast it down on a possible enemy. But it didn't seem to be a particularly efficient weapon.

One of the soldiers, seeing Meta's attempts, asked him to let him try. He made it whirl and then cast it down horizontally against a pole - the chain rolled up tightly around it.

The soldier remarked, "I wouldn't like having it rolled around my neck!"

To Meta it was like an flash of inspiration - a neck, legs, an arm holding a sword... He devoted himself to making more of the new weapon, using chains of different size and length and then made his men use them until they saw which one was the best. Then he had some more made and ordered a few men to learn how to use them and at the same time, discover how was it possible to counteract their effect.

The best idea came to a soldier who made a thin chain with a weight and a triple barbed point at its end - making it whirl rapidly for a length of about fifty centimeters, then launching it against an opponent's whirling chain which he caught, and with a strong pull found it was possible to yank it out of the opponent's hand. By the end of the winter they had tuned up the two new weapons. The small chain with the barbs could also be used to snaffle a man's clothes and pull him to the ground if he was riding, or anyway pull him towards oneself. Meta formed a small group armed in that new way, intending, as soon as he could have contact with Graner again, to take a prototype there to have a number of them made.

When spring came and the snow melted, Meta ordered the building of the downhill wall of the castle to start, with a part of the permanent lodgings. Meanwhile they also tilled the land they intended to cultivate, taking away stones and roots, and levelling the ground in terraces. The men were working with full enthusiasm without sparing their energy.

CONTINUES IN CHAPTER 6

In my home page I've put some more of my stories. If someone wants to read them, the URL is

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If you want to send me feed-back, or desire to help revising my English translations, so that I can put on-line more of my stories in English please e-mail at

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