The Last Village

By the scribe Ganigan of Fervanan
Written in the 41st Year of the Reign of Emperor Cledman VI


First came the rumors, too extreme to be believed. Then came reports that could not be entirely ignored, saying a new enemy was uprooting civilization itself in the South. Then came speeches and orders from the government. The gates of the great fortress opened and imperial soldiers marched to suppress the barbarians in the South. Behind them, the people felt secure again.

Then came terrified refugees streaming away from the horror with wide staring eyes and expressions of shock permanently stuck on their faces. Dozens of refugees passed the marching soldiers. Whole families came together with bundles of belongings tied to the backs of donkeys, oxen and horses. Then hundreds of refugees, some with no belongings, some alone and out of their minds with fear. Then, around some bend in the road, the marching soldiers came upon nearly a thousand refugees coming the other way. These had no animals, no belongings, no families. Most had only the clothes on their backs. Some didn't even have that. They were not walking. They were running. Some were still bleeding from wounds recently inflicted. Others were scarred with burns. Some of them were still screaming in terror at what had just happened to them. Shrieking women ran past the troops, desperately trying to escape from what was coming north right behind them. Beyond the last of the running refugees, the road was empty, but the sky was full of smoke and the sound of drums in the distance.

The officers ordered the imperial soldiers to break out of their marching column and assume a battle formation. Seven regiments poured onto the field that would soon become a battlefield. In all, three thousand soldiers of the Zekresh Empire stood ready, dressed in armor and carrying spears and shields. Many also had swords. Gurikan Falan (Captain General) Ildanyva sat upon his horse, surveying the scene and listening to the sound of drums. Ildanyva was the commander of all Imperial Army troops in the Overseas Provinces. Not all of them were here, but these seven regiments were by far the strongest Imperial force on this side of the Eastern Sea.

Then the drums fell silent all at once. There was nothing but the sound of the wind and a bird calling from the woods at the southern end of the field. Ashes were slowly falling on us from out of the sky.

Yes, I was there in that line, holding a spear and waiting. I am Ganigan and this is my story.

I am of mixed Ferrilyan and Verronese ancestry, but I was born and raised here, in the Overseas Provinces. I am from Falanalish Province. My father is a scribe employed by Ulor Quagganuk, the governor of the province. I had a falling out with my father and went away to join the army at Kast Vyloresh, the great Imperial Fortress that is the Imperial Army's headquarters in the Overseas Provinces. It is also the anchor that secures the Empire's hold on the lands south of Shasa Uvaligadna, the Biting Fish River, those lands that are called Kast Vyloresh Province, named after the fortress.

That fortress ended decades of war with the Tresh tribe of barbarians and led to twenty years of peace. Then, as our settlements moved further and further south, we began to have trouble with a new tribe, the Ralban.

We had come to that obscure field on that day to stand beneath a cold, grey sky watching ashes drift down from above and teach the Ralban a lesson they would never forget. We are not some tribe of savages that they may raid or intimidate. We are civilization. We are the Vyloran Zekresh, the Zekresh Empire. We are the greatest power in the known world. Indeed, the mightiest realm that has ever stood.

Though I had been a soldier for four years, I had never fought a battle. The Empire had brought peace.

A soldier named Stevanuk stood nervously in the line beside me, looking at the great general on his horse and glancing at the forest where the sound of the drums had been coming from. Stevanuk was the sort of soldier who was more at home gambling in the barracks than standing on the battlefield. He was smart, but cynical, cunning, but unwise, handsome and appealing to women, but a heartless cad. He often had the other soldiers laughing, but the joke was always at someone's expense. Somehow, in my years in the army, he had become my best friend. Now, he was out of his element. So was I.

Then, without another moment to contemplate anything, there was a movement in the forest across the field from us. I saw a bush move and heard a murmur along the line of soldiers. I saw a man emerge from the bushes. He was dressed in animal skins and carrying a spear and a barbarian-style warclub. His face was painted red with streaks of other colors. Then I saw more such men emerging from the bushes all along the treeline.

They poured out of the forest onto the field. A hundred of them, five hundred, a thousand, more. They were a huge barbarian horde. I saw that one of them had blood on his hands. I saw that a young warrior was running ahead of the rest, eager to fight us, but looking back to make sure the others were coming right behind him.

"Points down!" shouted Ekanor (Lieutenant) Firthyva. It was the order to lower our spearpoints towards the enemy. We did so, almost in unison.

As soon as we did this, the Ralban warriors began to cry out with their bizarre, bloodcurdling warcry. Then they all ran towards us with murder in their eyes. The ground shook beneath their feet there were so many of them. For a moment, I wondered if there were more of us or more of them, but I could not tell, the battle was far too large for me to see it all.

Then the enemy was upon us. One of them knocked my spear aside with his warclub and thrust his own spear at me. I blocked it with my shield. He raised his warclub and I thought I would die, but more barbarian warriors behind him pressed forward and he was pushed past me. Other barbarian spears and clubs struck at me, some hitting my shield, some my helmet, one club struck my right arm, causing me great pain and knocking the spear from my hand.

I was shoved over by the mass of enemy warriors and fell to the ground. I raised up my shield to ward off the blows they directed at me and pulled out my dagger which was my only remaining weapon. It was perhaps fortunate for me that there had not been enough swords for all of us because a sword in that crush of bodies would have been as difficult to use as a spear. The dagger that had seemed a poor substitute for a sword turned out to be extremely useful. I slashed at their legs with it while they pounded my shield and helmet and legs with warclubs. Enemy warriors fell one after another all around me and on top of me as I slashed open their legs and feet. I even had a chance to stab a few while they were on the ground.

I crawled like mad, trying to get back towards our own lines and someone stabbed me in the back with a spear while I crawled. My leather and iron armour prevented the spearpoint from going into me very far, but I was wounded. I fell to the ground, bleeding and hurting while a warclub struck my iron helmet again and drove my face painfully into the ground.

I heard the familiar voice of our regimental commander, Gurikan (Captain) Ardimuk shout, "Kantora Denelesh, BARZAN!" followed by hundreds of shouting voices. "Kantora Denelesh" means "Sixth Regiment" in Zekresh, the language of the empire. That was my unit, of course. "Barzan" means "attack."

Our forces had withstood the enemy attack and were now trying to counter attack. The barbarians were driven back. One of them fell dead beside me with a gruesome spear wound through his eye. I called out to the soldiers for help as they stepped over and around me. One of them tried to pull me to my feet. My legs hurt too much for that from where I had been struck by warclubs, but I managed to crawl back behind the line of our spearmen and out of the way of the fighting. I had lost my shield and spear. I still clutched my dagger in case the enemy got to me here somehow.

There were other men from my unit just behind the line who were also badly wounded, most of them far worse than I was.

Suddenly, from out of nowhere, Stevanuk came to me saying, "Ganigan, are you alright? Can you walk?"

"I don't think so," I said, "They hit me in the legs."

"I'll help you," Stevanuk said. He gave me his spear to use as a crutch with my right hand while I put my left arm over his shoulders so that I could lean on him and he could partly hold me up while I limped along as best I could.

In this way, he helped me get further away from the fighting. It was still close at hand. I could hear men screaming in agony from wounds and shouting and striking blows. I heard the barbarians give their war cry again and they came on by the thousands. I glanced in that direction and nearly sagged to the ground in despair. There were so many. How could we ever beat them?

"Just keep walking," Stevanuk said. I kept expecting him to put me down and return to the line, but he didn't. When we were quite some distance from the fighting, some other soldiers passed us, running away from the battle. They weren't even wounded.

"You can put me down here," I said to Stevanuk.

"No, keep going," he said.

"How far?" I asked.

"Until we are out of sight of the officers, then I hope you can run," Stevanuk said.

"What?" I asked in surprise, "aren't you going back to fight?"

"Are you?" he asked me.

By then, the worst of the pain in my legs was fading and I could begin to walk again. They had not broken my legs, it just felt like they had. "Yes, I'll go back. Give me a minute..."

"You go back if you want to, I'm getting out of here while I still can," Stevanuk said.

"Don't say that. They'll all think you're a coward," I said.

"I don't care what dead men think of me," he said, "Look back there, we're getting slaughtered. They outnumber us at least four to one. This is hopeless."

I looked back. The enemy was pouring through gaps in our lines. Our battle formation was falling apart. I saw an enemy warrior holding up a severed head which was wearing an Imperial Army helmet. From where we were then, I could better see how many enemy warriors we faced. It was incredible. The whole field was full of them and still more were coming out of the forest. I know we had three thousand men and our force was small compared to that horde. We weren't the only ones who noticed this. I saw hundreds of our men starting to break ranks and run, even the officers. Other officers were giving orders to pull back and regroup.

"I'll pull back and regroup," Stevanuk said, "I'll pull back all the way to the fortress."

"We can't just run away," I said.

"You'd better start running," Stevanuk said, "Or I'm going to just drop you and run by myself."

I looked back at the battle. Right before my eyes, our whole line was collapsing under a new barbarian onslaught. I thought that the battle would last for hours, but it seemed to already be turning into a disaster.

There were so many barbarians that they were already coming around the end of our line and attacking our men from behind. Some of these barbarians were now between us and our army. As I watched and Stevanuk tried to convince me to abandon our duty and flee, our whole right flank began to disintegrate as the men were attacked from in front and behind. As the line gave way, a thousand screaming barbarians poured through the gaps and around the line and attacked our army from behind. The whole Imperial force was in danger of becoming surrounded. In any event, there were now far too many barbarians between us and our troops. We could not go back.

I gave in and went with Stevanuk. Not too long afterwards, I saw a white horse go by with Captain General Ildanyva himself riding it, followed by a group of terrified-looking officers and hundreds of troops running to keep up.

"Running away is fine if you're a general," Stevanuk said cynically.

"Don't try to pretend he is the same as you," I said to Stevanuk spitefully, "There's a big difference between leaving when the battle is over and leaving when the battle has barely begun."

"Yet the battle ends when he runs," Stevanuk said, "That way a general cannot leave until the battle is over. So he can't ever be a coward now matter how soon he runs."

"Shut up," I said to him. I, at least, had fought the enemy as best I could. I had been behind the enemy line, on my back, hacking at them with only a dagger and certain that I would die, just trying to take as many of them with me as I could. Only by a miracle did I get out of that alive and even then only with serious wounds. I only realized the next day how serious my wounds were.

Despite his faults, Stevanuk had saved me from going back into a battle that was already lost. He also helped me limp along with the retreating troops. He never did drop me and run as he had threatened to do. If he had been a thorough coward, he would have done that. I am sure he could have gone much faster without me than with me. As it was, I could not easily move fast enough to keep ahead of the enemy. The only thing that saved us was that the enemy stopped to pillage and burn every farmhouse and settlement along the way. Stevanuk and I barely stopped for anything. Even when darkness came, we kept going most of the night and didn't sleep at all the first night.

I kept hoping that our regiment would come up behind us on the road and we could rejoin them. I saw three or four men I barely recognized from the 6th Regiment, but none that I knew well and no large groups of them.

By the second night it became clear that all the surviving imperial soldiers had already passed us. At times we caught sight of hundreds of Ralban warriors far behind us on the road. There was nothing between us and them but about three talong of distance. There was no sign of what had become of our regiment.

By the second night, my legs hurt and I saw that they were black and blue with terrible bruises, but they were no longer the main problem. I would have run on my bruised legs except that the pain in my back where a spear had stabbed me had become far worse. I had been bleeding from that wound ever since the battle and I had begun to feel faint. Three times I blacked out and fell. Stevanuk caught me each time.

"You can't keep going," Stevanuk told me.

"I know," I said, "Go on without me. I've still got my dagger. I'll take a couple of them with me when they come." I knew that was the expected thing to say, the brave thing, but in fact I felt a cold terror of facing such a ruthless enemy all alone. We had heard that they were fond of torturing captives, especially by burning them alive. I'd use that dagger to cut my own throat before I'd let them do that to me.

"No, we'll get off the road and hide in the woods," Stevanuk said, "We'll wait until they've passed by and then try to find our way across country, avoiding the roads."

I agreed and that's how it began. While we were still on the road, we were still part of the retreating army. The rest of them were far ahead of us on the road, out of sight, but they were there. Once we got off the road, it was only a few minutes before we heard the voices and the footsteps of the Ralban horde passing by. Now we were not with the army any more. We were on our own in territory overrun by the enemy.

We waited there in the bushes for hours. I was horrified to realize that not all the enemy were on the road. Some of them were coming through the woods, perhaps looking for more farms to loot. None of them found us that day and for that I am truly grateful.

While we were waiting for them all to pass by, I passed out from exhaustion and did not awaken until late the next afternoon. By then my wound had stopped bleeding, but hurt more than before. I removed my armour and shirt and Stevanuk looked at the wound. He said the skin around it was reddish around the edges and leaking pus. We both knew that was a bad sign. It was not healing well. I kept my shirt off because I could not bear the pain of anything rubbing against the wound as I walked.

Walked is perhaps the wrong word. I staggered more than walked. We came to a farmhouse and found it reduced to a smoking ruin. There were four burned and blackened corpses tied to a tree around which a fire had been built. Two of them were small children. We soon departed from this grisly scene.

We came upon more farms like that one, but no more corpses. I prayed to Gilhalnan that the folk who lived there had fled before the enemy arrived. We veered further and further east in hopes of finding a farm or settlement that had not yet been attacked. We went on for days, finding water in streams and eating our dwindling supply of food that we had brought with us on the march. Eventually, we came upon a farm that was not destroyed and the family there took us in. They fed us and gave us a place to sleep.

After a few days, the family that lived there decided they must flee to the north for fear of barbarian attack. They let us stay in their house while they were gone. We stayed for over a month, because only then was my wound healed enough to move on, but we spent most of our time hiding in the woods and only coming to the house to get food and cook it. We had blankets from the house, but we dared not sleep in the beds for fear that we would awaken to find Ralban warriors attacking us.

One day, just as we feared, two dozen Ralban warriors arrived without warning, ransacked the house and set it on fire. If we had not been hiding in the woods, we would surely have been slain.

After that, we went north, seeking some new refuge from the enemy. We came upon several farms inhabited by naive folk who did not fully understand the danger that confronted them. We told them the army had been defeated and no longer stood between them and the barbarians. Their faith in the power of the Imperial Army was far greater than the actual capabilities of that army. We did not stay with them long. We went north, ever northwards, hoping to get to some place where the army still held out, even if we had to cross the Biting Fish River and go to Falanalish Province.

Eventually, we reached a river, but it was too small to be the great Biting Fish River. Stevanuk observed that it was flowing northwest and said it was sure to flow into the Biting Fish River at some point so we followed it. It does, indeed, flow into the Biting Fish River, but before we got there, we came to a collection of farms along the river. They were close together in a land that was mostly uninhabited even before the attack. We had come to one of the "Kromosteko Yostesh", the "Eastern Settlements".

Beyond the Eastern Settlements lies only the Tresh lands and the barbarous unexplored interior of the great eastern continent. The particular place we had come to was named "Shasy Kligit" which means "Crooked Creek" in Zekresh. It was named after the river that flowed through it. It was the same river we had been following. We would have passed by the settlement and continued on except for what we found there.

To our amazement, we found other soldiers from the Imperial Army there. They were from the 2nd Regiment of Kast Vyloresh. They had also been at the battle and had fled north afterwards, just as we had. There were twenty two of them led by an officer of the rank of ekanor (lieutenant). His name was Konigak

Lieutenant Konigak had already organized the soldiers, the local farmers and a large group of refugees to build up defenses. They had already constructed an earthwork fortress and were cutting trees and building a palisade wall to make it into a real fort. A system of signals using horns was established so that farmers anywhere along Crooked Creek could rapidly sound the alarm and it would be relayed to Lieutenant Konigak. In the event of an attack, everyone was to go immediately to the fort.

Stevanuk and I were greatly relieved to reach this place and we began to feel some measure of security. It was foolish of course. There were only twenty two real soldiers there, twenty four, counting us and we had recently seen an army of 3,000 decimated by the Ralban. Fortunately for us, most of the enemy had gone to beseige the great fortress of Kast Vyloresh and the provincial capital in the West where the Biting Fish River reaches the sea. Some of the refugees had come from near there and told us of this. They also told us that Captain General Ildanyva and Ulor Halimuk, the governor of Kast Vyloresh Province, were besieged in the fortress by the barbarian horde.

Though the news that barbarians had ravaged nearly the entire province was difficult to take, one other bit of news hit me harder. Lieutenant Konigak said that he was sure that the Sixth Regiment had been overrun and wiped out during the battle.

For the past four years, the Sixth Regiment had been my home, my family, my life. Now I learned that they were all dead --- all of them except for me, Stevanuk and a few others who had run before it was too late to run. What had become of Lieutenant Firthyva and Captain Ardimuk and all the others? They were almost certainly still lying on that cold field, not moving since the day of the battle.

Lieutenant Konigak noticed that I was very upset. I hope I did not look like I was about to cry, but it was very hard news to hear. Konigak said, "They fought hard and they died with honour. A soldier cannot expect any more than that."

Perhaps it was the news of the massacre of my regiment. Perhaps it was the news that Ralban warriors were destroying most of the province, leaving only the fortress and the Eastern Settlements as vestiges of civilization in this unforgiving land. Perhaps it was that my wound was nearly healed. Or perhaps it was the strong words and inspiring willpower of Lieutenant Konigak, but I found a new resolve to fight the Ralban savages.

I can remember the sort of speeches Konigak would give to us. He would say, "This is not just a war for one settlement or even one province. At every border throughout the Empire, we face the same choice, the light of civilization or the darkness of barbarism and chaos. This Empire has stood for over thirteen centuries. It has grown until it encompasses all the civilized nations of the known world. It has not been the task of our generation to build the Empire, nor to expand it. The task that falls to us is merely to hold on to what we have been given by the great generations of the past. It is no small task. All across the known world this great struggle is raging. This is the great question of our time, shall the Empire stand for centuries to come, or shall it fall, now, in our time. There is no greater issue in all the known world than this, for if the Empire falls, so shall civilization fall. Every man must answer that question for himself. Will you uphold and defend the Empire? The separatists, usurpers, bandits, pirates, rebels and barbarians all have the same answer: NO. We, the loyal men of the Empire must give our answer. What is your answer? Will you uphold and defend the Empire?"

"YES!" we all cried out.

"Good," Konigak would say, "Now the battle lines are drawn. Let us hold this line here at Shasy Kligit. The borders of the Empire itself have been pushed back to this creek. If we do not stop the barbarians from crossing this creek, there will be no natural obstacle where we can set up a defense anywhere in the Eastern Settlements. Either we fight them here or the Eastern Settlements are lost. And with them perhaps what remains of the province of Kast Vyloresh. If we do not hold them here, where will we hold them? In Falanalish Province? Or will we let them take that as well? How many provinces will be lost before we do our duty and defend our civilization from the darkness? This is it. This is the place. This is the time. This is where we must fight for the Empire with all our strength and no matter what it costs us. If we die here defending this creek, this border, this Empire, we will have done all that we could hope to do in this life. If we hold this line, we shall have preserved civilization."

By such speeches, Konigak not only rallied the troops and gave us a new fighting spirit, he recruited more soldiers from the refugees who had clustered there, seeking protection from the soldiers and food from the farmers.

The farmers were reluctant to provide food. Konigak berated them for their shortsightedness. "What good will your stockpiles of food do when the Ralban come? My men are willing to fight and die here, to protect you and your farms. The least you can do is provide us our last meal."

It was not only one meal and Konigak still had to threaten to have the farmers flogged in order to get some of them to provide supplies, but Konigak was right.

Things started to go well under Konigak's leadership. The men among the refugees helped us work on constructing a palisade wall for the fortress while we armed them as best we could with sharpened sticks and clubs. While the men worked, Konigak ordered the farmers to provide shelter, food and assistance to the women and children among the refugees.

More and more refugees were pouring in from the ravaged areas. They all had terrifying stories of massacres and destruction. The more of them arrived, the more I felt the importance of our effort to make a stand there.

But there was one farmer whose view of all this was backwards. His name was Tever. He was of Ilanian ancestry, which may have influenced his views. He provided food at first and sheltered some of the refugees. Then, Tever refused to provide any more food for the troops. Other farmers followed his example. Lieutenant Konigak had Tever captured, bound and flogged.

When we went to bring Tever to the fort to be flogged, we found a young man among the refugees at Tever's house. His name was Trafanin and Konigak drafted him into the military along with all the other refugee men.

I got to know Trafanin during his brief time with us. I found out that he had fallen in love with Tever's daughter Tremainia. Perhaps this explains Trafanin's sympathy for Tever's treasonous ideas.

Trafanin also told me that he didn't want to be a soldier, despite how much the Empire needed soldiers at that particular time and place. I found out that Tever had filled his head with traitorious ideas. Apparently when Tever had heard the news of the battle, his first thought was not sympathy for us soldiers or fear of the Ralban, but some ill-considered treason. As I learned from Trafanin, Tever spoke boldly about the idea that since the Empire had proven itself unable to defend the settlers from barbarian attack or to maintain control of the province, that the local people should be free from imperial rule. Some of the other farmers had listened to him before Konigak arrived. After Konigak and the soldiers came, Tever seemed to be alone in this. Well, almost alone. Trafanin seemed to still agree with him.

I was not surprised one morning to discover that Trafanin had run away. Konigak sent some men to search Tever's house, but Trafanin was not found. I hope the Ralban captured the traitorious coward.

I also began to feel far less friendly towards Stevanuk. How could I condemn Trafanin's cowardice and not despise Stevanuk for his? I spent more of my time with another soldier I met there. His name was Havuk and he was as solid as a tree trunk. Somehow, I felt certain that no matter what happened, all the barbarians in the world could never kill Havuk. He had been a soldier all his life and was the son of a soldier and the grandson of a soldier. His grandfather had been one of the original soldiers of the 2nd Regiment of Kast Vyloresh when it was first formed. His father had fought in the Tresh wars with the legendary Captain Krulmuk who had commanded the 2nd Regiment of Kast Vyloresh in those days and had risen through the ranks to eventually become commander of the entire Imperial Army.

As much loyalty as I had felt for the Sixth Regiment, now I felt only sadness at their fate. The Second Regiment was older and far more respected because of its legendary exploits under Krulmuk in the Tresh wars. Ever since then, it had been considered the most elite unit in the province. One day I told Havuk this and he laughed and said, "Well you should join us, then."

"But how can I? Everything is chaos, there's no officers of the Sixth left for me to ask permission from and..."

"We've got one officer left," he told me and then bellowed out, "HEY KONIGAK! Ganigan here wants to join the Second Regiment!"

"You've been in the Second Regiment ever since you got here. Get back to work!" Konigak shouted back as we were working on the palisade wall.

"There you go. Now it's official," Havuk said with a grin.

Though Konigak acted like this was his idea, he made a big show of telling the new recruits about the history of the Second Regiment and telling them that they were part of it now. I think it lifted their spirits some.

A few days after that, Stevanuk came up to me with a conspiratorial grin and said, "Guess what lives in Crooked Creek?"

"I don't know," I said.

"Frogs," he replied.

"So?"

"That doesn't mean anything to you? Frogs, as in frog racing? Gambling? You know?"

Yes, I knew. As odd as it sometimes seems to civilians, the Zekresh Imperial Army has a secret obsession with frog racing. It's secret because the officers banned it long ago. If you've ever seen how the soldiers act about it, you'll understand why.

I'm sure that if we were allowed to race horses or dogs or something else, we would go for that, but it's not allowed. Frog racing isn't allowed either, but frogs are easy to find just about anywhere and more importantly, they are easy to hide from officers during inspections. Stevanuk, being a gambling man, of course was a diehard frog racer.

So even though we were working fourteen hours a day at hard manual labor building the fort and though we needed every ounce of strength and every minute of rest, we ended up sneaking out of the camp at night to catch frogs. There were only four of us the first night. Aside from Stevanuk and me, there were two other soldiers named Garoman and Yatya. By the light of a small fire, we cleared out a small bit of open ground, drew two lines two paces apart, put our bets in a helmet and lined up our frogs behind the starting line.

Stevanuk said, "Go!" and we all released our frogs.

I wasn't even surprised that Stevanuk's frog hopped straight for the finish line while the other frogs were still behind the starting line. My frog managed to get in one hop and another one did two before Stevanuk's dasher reached the finish line. By that time, the other two soldiers were shouting encouragement to their frogs, then shouting at Stevanuk accusing him of cheating. When Stevanuk reached for the helmet with the money in it, Yatya tried to stop him and a fight broke out.

I had to help Stevanuk. Despite his faults, and they were many, Stevanuk had saved my life. I jumped into the fight and pulled Garoman off him. Garoman turned around and slugged me in the mouth. Stevanuk took that opportunity to grab the helmet and dash back towards camp. Yatya and Garoman both stood looking at me menacingly.

"What did you help him for?" Garoman demanded, "He cheated somehow, he must've."

"He saved my life. I owed him one."

"Yeah? Well he left you behind and I feel like killing you," Yatya said.

I tried to act nonchalant as I said, "Alright. I guess I don't owe him one anymore."

Yatya and Garoman both laughed and Garoman slapped me on the back and said, "You're a funny guy. Help me find a better frog for next time and I'll forgive you."

I had a busted lip from the fight, but I went to the frog race the next night, anyway. There were twice as many soldiers there. Of course, Stevanuk's frog won again. The other soldiers wouldn't let Stevanuk leave with their money until he agreed to four rematches and after his frog won three of them and was heading for the finish line on the fourth, Garoman ran out on the raceway and tried to stomp on Stevanuk's frog.

The frog jumped just as Garoman's foot was coming down so he missed. He kept trying to stomp it and the frog kept jumping towards the finish line. Yatya then ran out and stood on the finish line, at which point Stevanuk's frog started jumping back towards the starting line while all the other soldiers burst out laughing. Stevanuk ran over and tried to shove Garoman away from the frog, but Garoman kept trying to stomp the frog. Meanwhile all the frogs were jumping every which way dodging Garoman's stomping and Stevanuk's feet. Then some more soldiers ran onto the race way trying to stomp Stevanuk's frog, but it was too fast for all of them and jumped entirely off the track and into some bushes and got away. Stevanuk cheered at first but then went searching through the bushes and realized he had lost his prize frog.

After that he lost his temper and attacked Garoman and the two of them punched at each other and then ended up on the ground wrestling. The soldiers, having no more frogs to bet on, promptly started placing bets on whether Stevanuk or Garoman would win. I bet a dovek on Garoman and won.

Lieutenant Konigak heard about it the next day and ordered Stevanuk to be given three lashes of the whip for breaking the army regulations against frog racing. Yatyva volunteered to be the one whipping him.

I didn't hear about any more frog racing after that. But it was a brief moment of distraction from the deadly peril that we knew could strike at any time. A few days later, it did strike.

We were working on the palisade wall and had it nearly finished when we heard the distant horn from the south. It was one of the farmers giving the signal Konigak had established. Two short blasts on the horn followed by a long one signaled that Ralban warriors had been seen. After a pause, this was supposed to be followed by another signal to indicate the approximate number of enemy. But there was no further signal. I never found out why.

Within minutes, farmers and refugees who had heard the signal were running for the fort and all of us soldiers put down our tools and started putting on armor and picking up weapons.

We were ready in time, but not all the civilians made it to the fort. We heard screaming from the south and saw smoke rising from the farmhouses. I realized that the enemy was not hurrying towards the fort and probably had no idea it existed. If only it were finished we could hold them off. But they had come too soon. I looked nervously at the gap in the palisade wall. There, only a pile of sand about waist high blocked the way. They could get over that easily enough. Lieutenant Konigak ordered ten men to guard the gap. I was reassured to see that Havuk was among them. He would not fall, I told myself. Nor would he falter. I was sure that no matter what happened, a man like Havuk would never turn and run like Stevanuk.

When the enemy did come, we were dismayed. I had hoped it was only a small raiding party, perhaps a couple dozen like the group that destroyed the farmhouse Stevanuk and I had stayed in on the way to Crooked Creek.

No, it was a far larger group than that. I had my hopes up when only six or seven showed up, but they called out to others behind them and my heart sank as I saw Ralban warriors coming out of the forest everywhere.

Despite Konigak's emphasis on the importance of Crooked Creek as a natural obstacle, we did not have nearly enough men to hold the creek against them. There were well over a hundred that I could see already and possibly many more behind them. Perhaps Konigak had hoped more refugees would come and join our force before we ended up in a battle like this. I saw some sort of leader among the Ralban warriors give a signal and all of them gave out their terrifying warcry and ran towards the water. I noticed a sour expression on Konigak's face as he watched them wade across the creek.

"Hold the fort at all costs!" Konigak shouted.

The enemy could not see the gap in the palisade wall from the direction they approached. Konigak had taken the precaution of completing the side facing the expected enemy advance first. The Ralban seemed to have no experience with fortifications. They charged the wall. Though it was terrifying, it was also madness. They leaped up and some caught hold of the pointed tops of the vertical logs that made up the palisade wall. Few could hold on. Two managed to scramble up onto the wall with the help of their friends below. They were fierce and determined, but killing them was easy as they tried to get over the wall and stand up. We were just standing there waiting. I had lost my real spear in the previous battle and had replaced it with just a pointed stick, but I stuck one of those savages with it, just as they had stuck me. He shrieked in pain and I stuck him again, pushing him off the wall with a jab to the chest. He landed badly and did not get up. The other intruder met Garoman's sword. Garoman hacked off his head and tossed it contemptuously at the barbarians below, then threw the body off the wall at them as well.

This enraged the savages and they began hurling spears and rocks at us. One soldier was hit with a spear, but it failed to penetrate his armor. Garoman laughed at them and taunted them. The enemy did not lack bravery, though. Several more tried to climb the wall, despite what had happened to their fellows. This time, their comrades hurled more spears and rocks and some shot arrows at us while six or seven tried to climb the wall at once. They met spears and swords and even a farmer's axe. None of them got over the wall. The ignorant barbarians didn't even know to make ladders. Then again, they didn't have to. All too soon, they discovered the gap in the palisade wall on the far side of the fort.

I realized as they shrieked with joy and gave out their warcry that it would be a difficult fight. I realized just before they attacked that we did have a chance. They had to come through the narrow gap since they had not mastered the wall. They could not attack us all at once, but only a few at a time. In fact, my fears that they were part of an endless horde, were ill founded. They were more than a hundred, but that was all. We were outnumbered only two or three to one and we had the fort.

The first Ralban warrior through the gap was impaled by Havuk's spear. The next few were also killed. But the enemy swarmed through the gap, heedless of losses. I saw one of our soldiers fall, then another. An enemy warrior struck Havuk on the shoulder with a war club, but he kept fighting. Lieutenant Konigak called out men by name to reinforce the gap. He didn't want to leave the wall undefended.

Konigak himself stood at the gap, just behind the first line of soldiers and three times he cut down Ralban warriors with his sword as they tried to get through. I was alarmed to see an enemy spear jab Havuk. He stumbled, but did not fall. Two other soldiers did fall. Konigak called Yatya and Stevanuk to take their places and reinforce the gap.

Yatya ran to the gap. Stevanuk walked. By now, at least twenty enemy warriors were lying on the ground at the gap and six of ours. With our attention focused on the gap, we nearly missed the attempt by twenty or more enemy warriors to climb the walls. Once we noticed them, it was a simple matter to repel them, even though there were fewer of us on the wall than before. Now they understood the problem better. When I ran towards three Ralban warriors trying to climb the wall, they realized they could not get up in time and dropped back to the ground before I could kill any of them. I shouted at them and another one threw a rock at me.

Then, suddenly, they stopped attacking. I looked at the gap. We had lost two more. One of them was Yatya, writhing on the ground with a terrible wound in the gut from a spear. There wasn't much we could do for him or the others. Konigak urged us to pile up things in the gap. Branches, firewood, baskets, stones, corpses, anything. This, we did. Then we waited. Konigak gave us more words to inspire us, but his words had lost their power as we watched Yatya and two others dying of their wounds. By nightfall, Yatya was dead and we put his body on the pile of corpses at the gap. I took his spear and his shield so I wouldn't have to be fighting the enemy with just a pointed stick anymore.

The civilians were terrified. Some of the women and children taking refuge in the fort could not stop crying. As darkness came, the fear seemed to grow. Konigak's words about this being a struggle against the darkness of barbarism now seemed to take on a literal meaning. For when the darkness came, so, too, did the barbarian warriors.

The moved stealthily and were already climbing the walls before we noticed them. How they achieved that I shall never know, but Garoman shouted an alarm and we all took up our positions. I jabbed at them with my spear and killed at least one. Stevanuk was on the wall with me at first, but soon the enemy was at the gap again. Lieutenant Konigak ordered men off the wall, but not the same men. I thought he would call Stevanuk down, but instead, he called me.

I rushed to the gap and stood beside Havuk. I couldn't see the enemy clearly in the dark, but fiendish shapes kept throwing themselves at us, shrieking the Ralban war cry. I held out my spear each time, as did we all. Five, eight, ten and more went down. Then they began throwing spears at us in the darkness. One stuck my shield and I was momentarily glad that I had it. The man beside me was injured and fell. Another man stepped up from behind to take his place. On my other side, Havuk still stood fast, like an oak.

The enemy charged again and once more we gave them nothing but spear points. This time, though, they must have done something different. One of them managed to squeeze past us in the dark and the fighting. Suddenly there was an enemy warrior inside the fort attacking our little battle line from the left side. Havuk and I were on the right, but Lieutenant Konigak ran forward to kill the man with a sword. Just at that moment, though, when our attention was distracted, a great shower of rocks, spears and arrows came at us out of the darkness followed immediately by another charging horde of shrieking barbarians. My shield protected me, but other men in the line fell. Havuk and I held for a moment, stabbing the enemy with our spears, but to my left, the line gave way and Ralban warriors poured into the fort while the women and children inside screamed.

I was knocked in the head with something, but my helmet partially protected me. I saw Havuk stabbed again with a spear, then again, but the last one was blocked by his shield. I was shoved backwards by the mass of enemy and I tripped somehow. From the ground I saw three enemy warriors attacking Havuk who by now stood alone at the gap. They jabbed him repeatedly. I am sure his armor protected him from some of it, but one got him in the leg and I heard him shout. He fell to one knee and a spear jabbed him in the chest. Then he fell and I knew we were lost.

"On the wall, everybody on the wall!" I heard Konigak order. The soldiers may have tried to obey, but someone, perhaps a civilian, opened the gate and tried to run. There were few, if any, Ralban warriors on that side now. They were too busy attacking through the gap on the other side. I heard someone yell "Fall back!" and I thought it was Konigak. I saw Stevanuk and at least two other soldiers run out through the gate as enemy warriors ran past me and started jabbing at the mass of civilians with spears to the sound of agonized shrieks.

In the darkness, I picked up my spear and ran for the gate. I saw enemy warriors ahead of me trying to capture some of the women and I stuck one of the enemy in the back with a spear and kept running, leaving my spear impaled in him. I made it out of the fort and sprinted like mad through the forest in the darkness. You may call me a coward, but where were you when Kast Vyloresh cried out in vain for reinforcements? You could have been there with me, any of you who may now dare criticize those of us who were. Perhaps you are not a soldier. Most of the men who fought at that fort were refugees armed only with sticks. Or you may prove yourself by going there now and trying to reclaim it from the barbarians. I will accept no criticism from any man who has not faced the murderous Ralban himself.

Yes, I ran. I fell back, I retreated into the darkness. When daylight came, I realized that I had been running southeast and I turned northeast to make up for it. Along the way, I came across an older man who was also fleeing from the Crooked Creek massacre. I recognized him. He was one of the refugees. He had volunteered to be a soldier even before anyone told him that Konigak had ordered all able bodied men to serve. Alas, this one was not able bodied. He had been captured and tortured by the Ralban and Konigak told him to rest and recover. Maybe he should have let him fight. The man said his name was Sharnyva. I asked him if anyone else had survived. He said he thought some had, but he didn't know who. I did. If anyone made it out alive, it was Stevanuk. I had thought that Havuk, the man of strength and valor would be the last man standing, the one the Ralban could not kill. But I had seen Havuk cut down by the enemy at the gap. The one the Ralban could not kill was Stevanuk, the disreputable one who was quickest to run. In that moment I hated him.

Sharnyva and I agreed that we should go east. Neither of us were from the Eastern Settlements so we did not know our way, but we knew which direction the sun rose and that was the way we went.

We passed through the wilderness for days. We had no food. We veered north in search of water and came to a large river that I knew must be the Biting Fish River. We got water from it, but were careful not to wade in. The Biting Fish River is named after a vicious little fish that will often give you a painful bite. A bunch of them together can kill you. More serious are the river monsters. I am told that across the sea in the rest of the Empire, that river monsters are rare. Some people actually think they are just a legend. In the frontier areas back across the sea there are still river monsters, but new arrivals in the Overseas Provinces always tell us that the ones we have here are much larger and far more numerous.

We didn't see any river monsters, but that means little. River monsters are fond of hiding with only their eyestalks peeking above the water. They will creep closer and closer without causing so much as a ripple, and then, when they are close enough, they will rush at you and grab you with their claws and pull you under the water to be drowned and eaten. Or so I am told. I've never actually seen one except for the peeking eyestalks and it's usually hard to tell if they are river monster eyes or just floating debris.

We dared not walk along the river bank due to the threat of river monsters, but we did approximately follow the river, heading upstream, eastward. Sharnyva borrowed my dagger in the evenings and carved a walking stick from a tree limb that could serve as a weapon if the need arose.

I don't recall how many days we had been walking when I saw a thin column of smoke. It didn't look like a farm being burned down. It was more like a cooking fire. Sharnyva and I had almost given up hope that there were any more settlements out this far east, but obviously someone was there. We approached it cautiously.

Before we reached the source of the smoke, we found ourselves surrounded by at least fifty barbarian warriors. I was terrified and drew my dagger. Sharnyva prepared to fight with his walking stick. The warriors were stern men, dressed partly in animal skins and partly in woven garments of unfamiliar design. They carried bows and arrows, spears and war clubs. I noticed that they had painted their faces blue and green with a darker pattern like vines or roots on top of that. The same colors and pattern were on the arms and chests of some of them as well.

Sharnyva had been tortured by the Ralban barbarians and seen them kill his whole family. He thirsted for revenge more than any man I have ever known. At that moment, he looked like he was possessed by a demon. I prepared to kill myself to avoid capture, but then I recognized the style of their clothing. They were barbarians, but not Ralban. "They're Tresh" I said.

Sharnyva didn't seem to understand at first. He was breathing heavily and holding his walking stick as if he might charge them with it. "They aren't Ralban invaders. They're the tribes who live here. We've been at peace with them for twenty years."

Sharnyva blinked and looked at me as if witnessing some unexpected magic.

The Tresh warriors did not speak Zekresh. They didn't understand Verronese either, which I tried to talk to them in when Zekresh failed. They communicated among themselves in some language of their own. They communicated with us by means of gestures. They pointed northeast and started walking. The ones coming up behind us held their spears forward as if to drive us before them.

We went with them and came upon an even larger group of Tresh warriors. I realized that the woods were full of them.

I thought they were taking us to their camp or village or wherever they came from. Instead, they took us to Yostan.

Yostan is one of our settlements. "Yostan" means "Eastland". It is, indeed, the farthest eastern settlement in all of Kast Vyloresh province and for all I know, the very last one that has not been destroyed by the Ralban.

It consists of only three families who live in three crudely built houses. When Sharnyva and I arrived, it was also the home of several refugees who had fled from the Ralban attacks just as we had.

The Tresh warriors deposited us there as if it were the place to put people like us. Without a word, they left. We were soon greeted by the settlers. The children came out to see us even before the Tresh warriors left. The children of Yostan have no fear of the Tresh. Neither do the adults, I soon learned.

The three men who founded the settlement were Altook, his brother Quagganuk and their friend Sarman. All of them are of Frayeth ancestry. I don't really understand the difference between the Frayeth and the Zekresh since they speak the same language and have the same religion and customs, but they are some sort of rural cousins of the Zekresh.

"Welcome to Yostan," Altook said as he greeted us, "The last village in Kast Vyloresh."

"The last village?" I asked, dumbfounded.

"Isn't it? Where did you come here from?"

"Crooked Creek," I said.

"We heard the Ralban attacked Crooked Creek a week ago, killed everyone and burned all the houses. Then they hit Gamukan and the other settlements."

"Who told you that?" I asked.

"Refugees like you. A little girl from Crooked Creek and two women from Gamukan. Unless Green Hill is still standing, we're the last of the Eastern Settlements except for a few scattered farms."

"They'll come here next," I said with alarm, "We have to escape."

Altook said, "You can escape whenever you're ready, but the Ralban won't come here."

"Why not?" Sharnyva asked.

"We're deep in Tresh territory. I made a deal with the local chief to be able to build our farms here. The Ralban won't dare attack them. If they do, it would mean war with all the Tresh tribes. So long as the Ralban don't want a war with the Tresh, they can't get to us."

"They got to all the other Eastern Settlements according to what you just told us."

"All the others were outside Tresh territory."

"I don't trust the Tresh either," Sharnyva said.

"They brought you here safe and sound, didn't they?" Altook said. He had a point.

Altook offered us a chance to stay there for a while. His brother let us sleep in his house. They didn't have beds for us, but that would have been to much to ask. Warm food, a blanket and a roof over our heads were more than we had expected to find out here.

There was a certain sense that we had come to the edge of the world. The land continued, but civilization did not. Whether or not this was truly the last village in Kast Vyloresh province, it was a certainty that there were no more settlers east of here. Altook said the Tresh had told him they didn't allow anyone else to live in their lands and at times regretted having given permission for the establishment of the Yostan settlement.

That night and the next day, we met all the other people in the settlement. There weren't very many. There were only six adult settlers. Altook, his brother Quagganuk, their friend Sarman and their wives. They had quite a few children, all of them young. In addition to these and Sharnyva and myself, there were only three other people there. One was the little girl from Crooked Creek. Her name was Terivanit. She was only eleven years old. Somehow she had survived the attack on Crooked Creek and had made it through the wilderness all the way here. The other refugees were two women named Marganit and Gilit. As Altook told us, they had come to Yostan from Gamukan, but neither of them was from there. They were refugees who had stayed in Gamukan for a while before the Ralban attacked Gamukan, killing everyone they could and putting the buildings to the torch.

On the second night, Sharnyva and I were at Altook's house sitting by the fireplace. It was astonishing how peaceful this place seemed. It was almost another world from what was going on everywhere else we had been. Whereas Lieutenant Konigak had infused us with a sense of urgency and the idea that we were fulfilling some sort of destiny to defend the Empire, Altook's attitude conveyed a sense that he and this place were beyond all worldly concerns. He was untouched by the invasion and had every expectation of remaining perfectly secure no matter what happened to every other settlement in the province.

Altook said, "We really have nothing to worry about here. As terrible as the invasion is, it will not reach us. The Tresh will not allow it."

Sharnyva said, "Then if they can't reach us here, we should go forth and get revenge on them. We can use this place as a safe haven and hunt them down."

"Hunt them down?" I asked, "Are you mad? Didn't you see what happened at the fort? That was soldiers with a fort. What could we do, just the few of us here?"

Sharnyva said, "I will not rest until I get revenge. I cannot forgive..." he seemed like he might have been about to say something else, but he stopped.

Altook said, "You can go attack the Ralban if you like, but don't try to come back here if you do. The Tresh don't want a war with the Ralban. They won't let you attack them from here. Neither will I."

"What do you mean by that?" Sharnyva said, "You don't have any sort of authority over me. Who do you think you are?"

Altook didn't answer him directly. Instead, he turned to his brother and said, "I told you we should have named the settlement Altookan. If the place were named after me, people would show me more respect."

"We settled that years ago," Quagganuk said with sudden annoyance, "I wish you would stop bringing it up."

Altook said to Sharnyva, "Listen here, I created this settlement. From the beginning we've been so far out here that we're pretty much on our own. We don't pay the farm tax. We don't even bother to pay the tariff when we trade with settlers in Falanalish across the river. Nobody ever comes here to try to collect it. In fact, no government men of any kind have ever come to Yostan. Until now."

"What do you mean?" I asked. He was looking at me.

"You're a soldier. That makes you the first government man to ever come here. Maybe the last as well. And you come here disarmed, running for your life, needing our help. Isn't that true?"

"Don't talk to about me running if you've never faced the Ralban," I said angrily.

"I didn't mean to offend you," Altook said, "All I mean is that unless you plan on taking over single handedly, I'm a law unto myself out here. Yostan might as well be its own province with me as Ulor (governor). In fact, now that there's so much distance and so many Ralban between us and the Empire, I would have to strain my imagination to think that we're even still part of the Empire."

"What?" I asked in shock.

"It's kind of up to me, you see. Because there is nobody, and I mean nobody, out here telling me what to do. So maybe I'm just a farmer. Or maybe I'm the Naltor of Yostan," he said with a smile. Quagganuk laughed. "Naltor" means "Prince" in both Zekresh and Frayeth.

Sharnyva said, "Don't be ridiculous."

Altook said, "The only reason you have a place to stay here where it's safe and there's a roof over your head is because of me. Prince or farmer, I'm in charge here."

Sharnyva said, "You are the master of the house. And I am a guest. I'll refrain from insulting my host."

Altook looked askance at him, but didn't comment on that.

I said, "I'm not here to tell you what to do, but why would you want to not be part of the Empire anymore? I mean, if you had a choice."

"I do have a choice," Altook said.

Quagganuk said, "He's not asking about that. He's asking why."

Altook nodded and said, "Alright, I'll tell you why. It's not complicated. I look around me and all I see are my lands and those of my settlement. Beyond that are the Tresh lands. I can be on my own. I can separate from the Empire and they wouldn't even know or care. If you could be the master of your own destiny, answerable to no one, lord of your own lands, a prince of your own little nation, wouldn't you do it? Who wouldn't want to?"

"I never thought about it," I said.

"Give it a thought. It grows on you. In fact, why don't you stay with us? You seem like a decent enough sort of fellow. Become part of Yostan."

"I'm a soldier, not a farmer," I said.

"Sure. Why don't you be the commander of the Yostan Army."

"You have an army?"

"Not yet. But you could be our first soldier. As more refugees come, you could recruit others. That's the thing, see. We have lots of land here and I could probably trade with the Tresh for more. Didn't matter when it was just the three of us and our wives and kids. The refugees change things. Sure, it's only the five of you so far, but from what I've heard, there's likely to be more, lots more. Everyone who's still alive in eastern Kast Vyloresh is likely to end up here sooner or later. By the time Imperial authority is re-established in Kast Vyloresh, if it ever is, we could build this place into something impressive. With our alliance with the Tresh, we could remain independent no matter what the Empire says."

I said, "Let me think about it."

"Go ahead," Altook said, "Take all the time you need. There's no hurry."

Another couple days went by and the Tresh warriors came again. They had found another refugee wandering in their territory and brought him to Yostan. He was a middle aged man named Yokh. He had come from Gamukan. Altook took him around to meet everyone. It turned out that he already knew Gilit and Marganit from their brief stay in Gamukan. Then, later, Altook told Yokh about how he and his brother and Sarman had founded the settlement eight years earlier. He boasted of not paying taxes, of carrying on trade with Falanalish province and of his diplomacy with the Tresh.

"They're not even really called Tresh, you know. That's what the Zekresh call them. Their own name for themselves is Gidagakeli."

"Is it?" Yokh asked.

"Yep," Altook said. He looked Yokh over and said, "I like you. You're Frayeth, like me. You know, this place is already getting to be like some sort of Frayeth principality. As you can guess from our names, my brother and I and Sarman are all Frayeth. So is that guy Sharnyva. Even the little girl refugee. The only Zekresh people here are those two women, Marganit and Gilit. And maybe this guy here," he gestured towards me.

"I'm not Zekresh," I said, "My father is Verronese and my mother is Ferrillyan."

"Alright then," Altook said, "To Hell with the Zekresh and their Empire. What is that to us out here?"

Yokh gave me a look that said he thought Altook was insane. I just nodded and smiled. Yokh played along, but the next day he came to talk to me.

"That man, Altook, he's crazy."

I said, "I think he's just been out here alone with his little group too long."

Yokh said, "He says he's in charge here. Are we going to put up with that?"

I said, "What does that even mean? I don't care if he calls himself Naltor (prince). I wouldn't care much if he called himself Vylor Yostanesh (Emperor of Yostan)."

It was supposed to be a joke, but Yokh didn't laugh. He said, "He and his brother and their friend control all the food, all the houses, all the tools. They are the only ones with seed for crops. That's not just his imagination."

"That stuff they own. They built those houses. They grew the food."

"Yeah, that's what they said at the place I was at before this. It sounded reasonable at first, but then they said us refugees had to do our share of the work. Only they decided how much work we should do. Next thing you know we're like slaves doing whatever the farmers tell us and begging for them to give us anything in return. Well one day we turned the tables on them."

"Yeah? Where was this?" I asked.

"Gamukan," he said.

"I heard that got overrun by barbarians."

He shrugged, "It did. The things I'm talking about were before that."

"So what do you think we should do?" I asked.

"Same thing we did at Gamukan. We refugees armed ourselves with whatever we could find and one night we dragged them out of bed and told them that from now on, we were going to get equal treatment or they were going to get a beating. Everything went smoothly after that."

"Are you suggesting we do that here?"

"It might be needed, but I don't think we have enough refugees here. Then again, you are a soldier. With your help, maybe..."

"No. I have no reason to do that. At least, not yet. Let's see how things go," I told him.

So we did. The very next day another refugee was brought to us by Tresh warriors. It was Stevanuk.

I was not sure whether to be happy or angry when I saw Stevanuk at Yostan. He looked like he was desperate and terrified of the Tresh warriors. When they left, he calmed down a little. He seemed very glad to see me and said so. When Altook's wife, Teelinat, offered him food, he ate it like a starving man.

Yet the very next day, he was back to his old self regardless of what he had been through in the meantime. Unlike the others who were skeptical or hostile toward Altook's pretensions, Stevanuk listened respectfully as Altook again talked of being Naltor of Yostan. Instead of challenging this in any way, Stevanuk seemed to get a gleam in his eye and a tone of excitement in his voice.

"You could really build something here with all the refugees coming this way," Stevanuk said, "I passed at least two dozen that were heading this way already."

Altook seemed surprised, "Two dozen?"

"Maybe more. There's probably hundreds, maybe thousands. They don't know you're here, but maybe if we went out and told them, we could collect more people. Save them from the Ralban, I mean, but bring them here and make them citizens of Yostan."

"Yes," Altook said, leaning back in his chair by the fireplace, stroking his scraggly beard."

"We could do what we were doing at Crooked Creek. Draft all the able-bodied men among the refugees and form them into a regiment."

"A regiment? I doubt we'd have enough..." Altook started to object.

"Yes, a regiment. We'll call it the 'Kantora Yostan Ikesh' (1st Yostan Regiment) and we can arm them with primitive spears and clubs like we were doing at Crooked Creek."

I was amazed, rather than discouraging Altook, Stevanuk was taking it much further than Altook himself had.

"In fact, Prince Altook, I would be honored to serve as the commander of the first regiment. I would not presume to any higher post, but I see that you have no higher officers so I am also available to serve as Gurikan Falan (Captain General) of the entire Yostan Army.

Altook nodded, "Yes, you are right. I want you to command my army."

Stevanuk smiled, stood up and bowed to Altook.

"How soon can you start?" Altook asked.

"Right away. My first act will be to appoint a second in command. Ganigan," he said, looking at me, "will you take the post?"

"Let me think about it," I said, trying not to show how outraged I was at Stevanuk's behavior.

The next day I asked Stevanuk what he was doing and pointed out that Altook's talk of independence for Yostan was treason against the Empire.

"I know that," Stevanuk said, as if it were not important, "the thing is, I think this really is the last village left and he's obviously the boss here. But did you listen to what he said? He said they don't pay the tariff when they trade with people in Falalanlish Province."

"So what?" I retorted.

"So, how can they trade with anyone in Falanalish Province? It's across the Biting Fish River."

"I don't know," I said.

"Either the people from there come here or the people from here go there, but somebody has got to have a boat. I'm not serious about this Yostan Army crap. I just want to get Altook to trust me so I can find out how to get out of here. If there's any way across that river then I'm going to find it and get out of here. Are you with me?"

"Oh yes," I said, "for that I'm with you."

Stevanuk and I organized the "Yostan Army". It consisted of the two of us, plus Sharnyva and Sarman. We tried to get Yokh to join, but he wouldn't. Altook called Stevanuk a Gurikan Falan (Captain General) and Stevanuk called Altook a Naltor (Prince) and it was all quite fanciful and absurd, especially considering the tiny size of the settlement of Yostan. But Stevanuk was right. Altook had a boat. Stevanuk managed to get this information by suggesting that we also have a navy and that I be put in charge of it.

The day after that, Altook appointed me commander of the Yostan Navy and showed me where the boat was hidden. That night, Stevanuk and I crept out of Altook's house and went to the place near the Biting Fish River where the boat was hidden. We removed the branches that Altook had placed over it and hauled it to the water.

As we were doing this, I said, "You know, I feel like we're just stealing his boat. It feels wrong."

"He's a traitor to the Empire, you said it yourself," Stevanuk said, "Anyway, you should have mentioned this earlier."

"If we take the boat, nobody at Yostan will have any way to escape," I said.

"Altook isn't letting them use the boat to escape anyway. He didn't tell any of them he even had a boat. Look at it this way, are you a soldier in the Imperial Army?"

"Yes," I said.

"Isn't Altook a separatist rebel who it is our duty to oppose?"

"Yes," I said, but it sounded strange for Stevanuk to be talking like this when he had been Yostan's most ardent patriot for the past two days.

"And isn't this boat a vessel of the separatist Yostan Navy?"

"Yes, but..."

"We're Imperial Army troops capturing an enemy naval vessel. We should be given an award for it. It's not stealing."

"I'm not going to argue with you," I said, "You always have an answer for everything."

"Right. Get in the boat and I'll push us off," Stevanuk said.

I did so and Stevanuk pushed us off from the riverbank with a paddle. Then we both began trying to paddle the boat, but neither of us had much experience at boating so the boat mostly just drifted with the current.

I looked at the dark water suspiciously, "Are there river monsters around here?"

"Who knows?" Stevanuk said, "There probably are. Biting fish, too. You know what that means, don't you?"

"No. What?"

"It means you should stay in the boat until we get to the other side," Stevanuk said sarcastically.

Shortly after that, we bumped into something solid under the water and I was terrified that it was a river monster. I felt around with my paddle and there was nothing there. Whatever it was seemed to have moved away.

"Can river monsters overturn boats?" I asked.

"Shut up and paddle for the north shore," Stevanuk said.

We did and to my relief, we made it. Both of us got out of the boat and away from the river as quickly as we could. Then we started walking. We were now in Falanalish Province. Once we were away from the river, we stopped and rested until daylight. Then we walked further and soon found a group of farms. There was no sign of barbarian invasion here. This place was as peaceful as could be. We were able to buy some food from the local farmers. Stevanuk paid for it with the money he had won frog racing.

We continued our journey all the way to Fervanan, the provincial capital. We went to my father's house there and were able to stay with him for a while. When my father heard our tale, he scolded me for having run off to join the army in the first place. Then he urged me to come work with him as a scribe. I gave in. Unlike most people, I do know how to read and write. My father taught me this so that I would always have a way to earn a living. I felt some duty to go back to Kast Vyloresh and continue my service in the army. My father said ordinarily this would be my duty, but that this was impossible. The last remaining troops of the Kast Vyloresh garrison are beseiged by barbarians in the fortress and nothing less than an army can break the seige. From what I had seen and what he told me, it seemed that Kast Vyloresh Province doesn't even exist anymore, not really.

After the army retreated to the great fortress of Kast Vyloresh, the provincial capital was left at the mercy of the barbarians. As the barbarian hordes approached, every boat and ship available was crowded with refugees fleeing to Falanalish Province across the river. The barbarians arrived before the boats could finish their work and the screams of those left behind could be heard all the way across the river here in Fervanan which by then was crowded with thousands of refugees.

According to the last refugees to get out, the last large group of imperial soldiers is trapped in the fortress along with Halimuk, the governor of the province, Captain General Ildanyva, most of the surviving military officers, government officials and soldiers and a crowd of civilian refugees. That was months ago. We have no idea if they are still holding out or not. Ulor Quagganuk, the governor of Falanalish Province, sent a military expedition to try to get to the fortress. They were attacked by so many Ralban warriors that they had to turn back without ever reaching the fortress.

Around that same time, Stevanuk had befriended a group of refugees. They were bitter and angry men who had lost their wives and children in the barbarian invasion. They wanted revenge above all else and were heedless of the risk. They reminded me of Sharnyva back in Yostan. Stevanuk told them about Yostan. He said he knew a place where they could cross the river and find a safe haven from which to attack the barbarians. He would take them there, for a price of course. I don't know if he actually went back there with them. If he did, they should not trust him. He might just leave them there. Stevanuk will never change. He is a weasel.

If he does go, I would like to ask him what is going on at Yostan. Is it really the last village south of the river? Has Altook really made his settlement into some kind of little principality?

It all depends on the refugees. Will they agree to be part of an independent Yostan under Altook's leadership? Will they help build it from nothing into greatness? If this appeals to them, will they accept Altook as the leader or will some new leader emerge from the refugees and take over? Perhaps the refugees will remain loyal to the empire and dash Altook's daydream. Perhaps they will hold on tenaciously to Yostan as the Empire's last outpost in the province and make it the center of resettlement and the province's new capital. Perhaps some ragged refugee will become the province's next governor by this method. Or perhaps the relationship with the Tresh will be mishandled and the defenses of Yostan will be too weak and the Ralban barbarians will come and destroy Yostan as they have destroyed the rest of the province. Perhaps the Ralban and others like them will destroy the Empire and civilization itself while the Empire's leaders and soldiers fight among themselves for control of a falling Empire. I do not know. I can only wonder and wait for news.

I have decided that my army days are over. At my father's suggestion, I have begun work in the provincial treasury, recording tax receipts. It is boring, but after what I have been through, boring seems good. Then it occurred to me to use my writing skills to tell the story of what happened to me and to the province of Kast Vyloresh in the barbarian invasion. So I have written this scroll to tell my story.

The end.