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| ===Chapter 10 - ===
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| "I never thought it would be this bad, Hakim."
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| Standing at the crest of a shallow, grassy knoll, the commander of the Cataliyan Caliphate's western front army looked down the aisles of his field hospital. Rows upon rows of white tents bore the red crescent -- the crystal light red of Samaran 'Fluid of Life' that all healers shared in common. Thousands of sick, quarantined troops overflowed even their capacity, overwhelming the amply prepared medical battalions attached to the army.
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| Baha ad-Din Salim ibn Ziyad pulled at the hairs beneath his thickly-bearded chin. It was a bad habit he regressed to every time he felt frustrated, and he doubted any general worth his salt could feel more helpless than he did right now.
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| "Flu, typhus, and now even dysentery? Could how this happen? So quickly?" Salim turned about to face Hakim, his marid wazir.
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| "The problems have been present since the start, Your Eminence," Hakim answered, his countenance as blank as the tranquil water. "We walk among a land and climate alien to our kinds. Whereas they grew up on the arid savanna and scorching deserts and tropical coasts, they now trek beneath the gloom of a northwestern winter and its freezing rains."
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| "The human body is frail and slow to adapt," he added. "How could they not fall sick?"
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| "But why now? Why the sudden surge?" Salim countered. "We've entered Rhin-Lotharingie for over a month already. Our soldiers have been falling sick since week one, yet the healers have always managed to keep the sickness contained. I've even moderated our pace of advance to make sure the troops aren't burdened by excessive fatigue."
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| "All resources have limitations, Your Eminence," replied the advisor. "The heavy casualties incurred in our last battle exhausted our healers' ether and drained low our supplies of Samaran blood. How could they cope with another disease outbreak immediately afterwards?"
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| To most people, Hakim seemed merely a beautiful, scholarly young man clad in white robes. He was too tall to be inconspicuous, too pale to be a descendant of the desert tribes. But advisors of exotic origins were nothing new in the Caliphate. In fact, those of affluence often sought to claim wives or servants of distant origins, for it was widely considered a fashionable display of wealth... or in Salim's eyes, ''decadence''.
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| But appearances were also deceiving. Hakim... wasn't even human.
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| Anyone who examined him closely would notice faded blue hues that seemed to billow across his very skin. The supple but solid tissues that contained the human form did not apply to him. Instead, his 'flesh' was almost an illusion, forged from layers of condensed embers to take on a tangible profile that could effortlessly blend in amongst humanity.
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| The reason? Because to the human commoners of the Caliphate, Hakim represented a race veiled in mystery. The two societies shared a God, a Prophet, and even an empire -- yet they remain segregated to this day.
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| Hakim was a jinni, a creature of smokeless flames. More precisely, he was one of the marid caste, a 'intellectual' among his people's rigidly structured society.
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| The Caliphate's western front army had only twenty marids in total, plus several hundred ifrits -- jinni of the warrior caste. But the numeric racial imbalance did not stop the Caliphate's military traditions: every commander of the brigade level and above was paired with his or her own wazir, a marid who served as their second-in-command.
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| The other nations of Hyperion might have equated this role with the 'chief-of-staff' position. But in truth, it was far more complicated than that. The bond between a general and a wazir was forged for life -- usually the shorter, human life. But until death breaks them apart, the two shared all assignments, promotions, and punishments equally.
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| In other words, it was a relationship as sacrosanct as the institution of marriage.
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| "Battalions! Full stop!" came a distant yell from behind the two leaders.
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| The order was echoed down the road by one officer after another as wheels creaked and hooves stamped against hardened ground. A supply convoy of several hundred horse-drawn wagons snaked down the earthen path until it vanished between the wooded hills. They soon halted at the encampment's outer security perimeter. There, the captain on watch verified the newcomers' identity before letting them through.
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| The scene was almost suspicious -- it had been weeks since Salim witnessed such an unmolested column.
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| Most supply trains had to run a gauntlet of ambushes on their journey to the front, if they arrived at all. By the time they reached camp, the wagons would roll in with Lotharin arrows sticking out of their sides, with men in bloody bandages and half-burnt carts carrying those too injured to walk.
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| Salim's army of 80,000 soldiers consumed over 50,000 stones (nearly 300 wagon loads) of bread, 40,000 stones of meat, and 60,000 stones of forage ''per week''. To ferry such immense quantities from the Caliphate and transport them safely across several hundred kilopaces of wooded Lotharin hills required a monumental effort from logistical and reserve corps.
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| Without adequate supplies, his frontline corps would be forced into 'foraging' -- which in military terms meant seizing grains and livestock from the local populace. Such behavior often encountered resistance, which soon escalated to murder and rape once the soldiers draw blood. Furthermore, even foraging couldn't even supply an army of such bulk for long; within days the troops would begin to starve, made only worse by vengeful peasants taking up arms as partisans and tightening the noose yet further on logistical lines.
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| In other words, atrocities against the innocent civilian populace was more than just a sin. It created a negative feedback loop that quickly spun out of control.
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| Thankfully, Salim had managed to avoid such a scenario thus far. Several battalions of reinforcements from the rear had ensured that this latest delivery of food and medicine came through. Meanwhile, the four rotting men hanging by their necks neared the entrance served as a potent reminder of his command's "zero tolerance policy" towards all acts of barbarism -- pillage and rape included.
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| "General!"
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| A yell came as a squad of light cavalrymen detached themselves from the supply column and galloped towards the hill.
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| "General!"
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| The newcomer leaped off his horse and scampered up the grassy knoll. Two dozen wary bodyguards squeezed the handles of their scimitars, for they were on the edge of the Cataliyan encampment and well outside the inner wards. But the officer paid them no mind as he rushed up and took a deep bow.
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| "Major Hamid," Salim addressed the youthful commander of the 86th Light Cavalry Battalion. "What brings you in such haste?"
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| "General Salim, I bring dire news," he began immediately. "Per your orders, my scouts have been patrolling the surrounding regions to ward off saboteurs and other partisan activity. Early this morning, we caught a squad of Lotharins poisoning a natural spring two kilopaces upstream through the disposal of animal carcasses."
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| Salim's eyes hardened as he turned to his wazir:
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| "They're poisoning the land..."
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| "Yes Sir," the Major confirmed. "I've sent my men to double check other water sources in our locale. They have already discovered three other springs, eleven wells, and one stream nearby to also be contaminated by the enemy. In three cases, the contagions were well camouflaged, and may have been left there as long as five days ago."
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| "It certainly helps explain our sudden influx of diseases," the marid Hakim nodded in contemplation. "The abundance of fresh, running water in these lands have made our officers lax in cleansing what they consume. Perhaps even more importantly -- this shows that our opponent has changed commanders."
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| "The Oriflamme who joined the battle?"
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| "Some prisoners claim it was their Princess."
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| Salim could only scoff at Hakim's implication:
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| "A mere child then. With the Emperor's untimely demise, her own authority swings in the balance. What can a maiden barely out of her teens command?"
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| "She doesn't have to," the Wazir warned. "The Weichsel Knights Phantom that devastated our Aerogyros must have arrived with her. Even if she stayed a mere figurehead, that crusader state has more than enough competent generals to lend an experienced commander."
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| ''...And the Lotharins might just be desperate enough to listen to those blackened warmongers.''
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| Squeezing his bearded chin, General Salim went quiet as he considered it briefly. No follower of God would forget that it was Weichsel who sparked the First Crusade, thus igniting centuries of Holy Wars between the Caliphate and the Trinitian states.
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| "That makes sense. Lady Estelle may be a nonbeliever, but she is also a courageous and honorable woman," he spoke with earnest respect. "Such treachery is beneath her dignity and conduct. To poison the water supply would not only harm us, but also their own civilians for many months to come."
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| ''Not that there remained many of them,'' Salim thought, as most of the nearby villagers already fled across the river to take shelter behind the fortified walls of the Avorican Capital.
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| "Do we have any information on the status of their command?"
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| "None," answered Hakim. "We killed and 'captured' several of our own spies during the last battle, two of whom being signal officers that we relied upon to pass information from our agents within their camp. Intelligence has already taken efforts to re-infiltrate them back into the Lotharin ranks, but we have yet to hear back from either."
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| It really spoke for just how savagely Caliphate forces had mauled the Lotharin army -- that they ended up severing even their own spies' communication lines.
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| "What of the Lotharin saboteurs you encountered?" Salim addressed Major Hamid once more.
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| "We had cornered their squad, but..."
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| "But--?"
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| "Their leader did not surrender; he insulted God in his cowardice, and therefore I killed him in battle."
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| "What did he say?"
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| The cavalry major's expression tensed, having realized late that he had already said too much.
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| "...''There is no deity but God,''" he then uttered before bowing his eyes to the ground.
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| It was a phrase sacred to the Tauheed religion; words spoken not only as a prayer, but as an official declaration of one's conversion -- a transformation for which all prior sins might be forgiven.
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| "Then why did you kill him?" Salim demanded, his calm but chilling voice penetrating all resistance in a display of his twenty years' experience as a military judge.
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| "B-but he spoke them out of fear of our arms!" the Major stammered under the oppressive pressure that loomed in the atmosphere. "They were an insolent lie to God!"
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| "How do you know? Did you split his heart open and see?"
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| "Sir, I..."
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| "Answer me, how do you know? How could you be sure of his insincerity?"
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| "''How do you know?''"
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| Kneeling down to the earth, Major Hamid could only bow in regret as the General repeated the question again and again.
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| "I do not... I cannot!"
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| With a softening sigh, Salim looked down upon the subordinate who failed to remember one of the fundamental teachings of the Prophet.
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| "It is not our role to pass judgment upon his faith and piety. If he lies in the name of God, then it is God who shall judge and punish him. Whom are you to take such decisions into your own hands in arrogance?"
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| For minutes, no words came back as the Major could only stare into the dirt in guilty silence.
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| ''Even if there is no military code to adjudicate this, I have to pass judgment,'' Salim exhaled a deep breath.
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| The Major had broken a law of God, a law of moral conscience. For discipline and ethics were to be upheld among the soldiers, he must serve as an example and be punished accordingly.
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| But at the same time, Major Hamid was already a seasoned veteran with countless deeds of battlefield valor; if the penalty was excessive, it would discourage the other men. Furthermore, Hamid was among the best wilderness scouts in the army; it would be difficult to replace him and maintain the same level of efficiency.
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| Salim pursed his lips as he felt his scholarly mind turn, seeking legal precedence as far back as the Prophet's Companions. But unlike his theological counterparts who administered civil law, time was one leisure that he did not have. Every minute in a war zone could be measured in lives; he needed a swift decision so that the Major -- or his replacement -- could be sent back with new orders.
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| "Major Hamid," the stern-faced General said after a half-minute of deliberation. "You are hereby ordered to fast for the next two months, from sunrise to sunset as if they were the Holy Month of Revelation, in repentance for your sin. Furthermore, you will surrender two years of your salary as blood money."
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| Relief flooded the young Major's face before bowing again:
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| "Yes Sir!"
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| It was easy to be considered merciful when one had a reputation for legal severity.
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| "Hasten your search and identify any fresh water sources remaining, Major Hamid," the General continued. "Focus on our rear where there is less chance of sabotage. Put a watch on any unspoiled water supplies; you may pull two infantry battalions to assist you as needed."
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| "Yes Sir! It shall be done!"
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| "In the meantime," Salim added as his voice softened and he squeezed the young man's shoulder. "Repent, reflect, and atone. I will pray for God to forgive you, for it is his law you have broken."
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| "Yes Sir! ...and thank you," the Major saluted again, this time with gratitude reflecting through his eyes.
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| As the cavalry commander descended the hill, General Salim exchanged a look with his wazir Hakim:
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| "You don't approve, dear brother?"
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| "It simply seems... unlike you," the marid stated, his expression as emotionless as ever.
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| Salim returned his gaze to the young Major's back with the traces of a smile. There was a time when he was just like his wazir. But the more he aged -- and the more children his wives gave him -- the more he realized that being logical and impartial was far from enough to being a responsible leader."
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| "The Caliph once gave me advice to be more fatherly to my men; I am trying to follow it still."
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| "Sentimentality has little to do with legality though," Hakim simply replied.
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| "Sure," Salim admitted. "But it has everything to do with humanity."
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| ''After all, it was the Prophet himself who said that 'Kindness is a mark of faith, and whoever has not kindness has not faith.'''
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| The General then watched as the descending Major grew distracted, perhaps even entranced for a brief moment, by the figure of a new arrival traversing up the slopes. The woman's face was obscured by a black veil that revealed only a pair of large, onyx eyes. But in spite of her armor and the robes she wore underneath, it was obvious that she was slender of build and her every step possessed a heavenly grace.
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| Salim couldn't help but shake his head as he watched the encounter. ''Boys.''
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| It wasn't rare to see a woman in the army. The tribes of the south had been forced to enlist women ever since they ran out of manpower during the Dragon-Demon Wars -- over a thousand years before the coming of the Prophet. But although women had relinquished their role among the line infantry and assault cavalry, female-only battalions could still be found among both the logistical and specialist troops.
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| Of course, the two genders were strictly segregated by both unit organization and camp arrangements. Just because God allowed the two groups to work together didn't mean he tolerated frivolous indecency.
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| Nevertheless, it ''was'' an unusual sight to see a woman wearing the red-striped lamellar armor of the Mubarizun -- champions of the Caliphate armies.
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| Salim felt his thought clash as he eyed the newcomer. He had nothing against women; he loved his wives dearly, and had already sent two daughters to institutes of education in law. But hell would freeze over before he allowed any of them to clash blades against the finest killers of his enemy.
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| ...Even if they were also women.
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| ''But then...'' Salim felt his lips twist into a faint smirk. ''She and her girls are probably the reason why my supplies arrived unhindered.''
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| Not only were these women famous for their keen awareness of the surroundings, but few men could challenge a dervish of ascetic traditions to a sword fight and live.
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| "Colonel Farah ad-Durr Ismat ad-Din, commander of the ''Crimson Dervish'' Mubarizun squadron, reporting for duty, General Salim!" a crisp yet soft voice emerged from her hidden lips as Farah took a deep, respectful bow.
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| "Welcome, Colonel Farah," Salim returned a polite nod. "If memory serves, your are the third wife of His Excellency, Emir Salih."
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| "Yes, General," she replied before preempting his next question: "and my husband is glad to see me participate in safeguarding God's faithful and bringing down this so-called 'Saint' of the infidels."
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| ...
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| As the meeting on the hill continued, neither the Caliphate commanders nor their bodyguards paid any attention to the two disheveled, stray kittens playing among the tall grass just outside earshot.
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| They were partially right. One of the kittens was a true stray, who stayed with the army thanks to the bits of food that sympathetic soldiers would toss their way. However the other had been carefully disguised with dirt, grime, and natural coloring, as well as intricately woven illusory wards that concealed her magical aura as a familiar.
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| The playtime was but a pretense, as she kept a keen eye and two ears upon the Cataliyans' conversation at all times. Both sensory feedback relayed straight to her master -- prone and hidden among fallen leaves in a dense patch of the woods nearly three kilopaces away.
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| ''So a new challenger appears,'' Cecylia Renata von Falkenhausen mused to herself as she stroked the largest body of her matryoshka cat. Three days of lying on the cold, hard ground had all been worth it. Her ceaseless observation had gained dividends on its own, but that was nothing compared to the absolute treasure trove of insider information that she overheard now.
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| ''Thank the Lord for human carelessness,'' she smiled to herself.
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| Of course, as one of the detail-obsessed dhampirs, she had none of that particular weakness.
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| <nowiki>----- * * * -----</nowiki>
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