The Scent of a Most Strange Rebellion (ii)

Goshalion, the eternal realm, was a continent shaped like a massive fig leaf with five parts. The continent was a kingdom of six clans. Six distinct clans, each with a very important purpose. The people of Goshalion lived a peaceful life, meaning there were no major wars or conflicts to shake up the realm. They valued nature, were grateful for what the land gave, and thanked the continuous flow of water from the mountain in the middle of the realm known as Goshalion Mountain.

A subtle shift in this peaceful existence started slow, and from an aggressive clan known as the Bura, who lived in the northwest of Goshalion.

The people of the Bura Clan were proud, highly educated, skilled, industrious, and ambitious. Their lands straddled a mosaic of desert and semi-arid lands. The environment forced them to adapt to survive. The Bura learned how to manipulate the sands with lighting to mold glass. They mined their desolate lands to excavate valuable ore, various metals, and minerals. Then they put the academic minds in their ranks to work.

In time, the clans of Goshalion began calling Bura scholars the greatest engineers in the fig leaf-shaped continent.

The Bura forged the metal rails used to construct the train tracks running across the realm, facilitating smooth transportation. They designed the trains that ran on these tracks. They manufactured the engines found in four-wheeled motor vehicles, harnessing the power of the sun into batteries to run the engines. The Bura soon started to innovate, manage, and repair all the technical engineering in the realm. If one needed a moving part, then a Bura engineer was the solution.

Goshalion’s dependence on Bura resources and academic research led to the rise of a most strange rebellion.

As much as the Bura had managed to grow their influence in the realm using engineering marvels, they still needed the other five clans in the realm to live well. They could not do without them.

The Anjik Clan found to the east of the Bura lived on oil-rich desert lands. The Anjik had learned how to excavate the oil and it was essential to the Bura’s engineering ventures.

To the southeast of the Bura Clan lived the Jeri Clan. The Jeri Clan was a farming clan. They grew most of the food in the realm, their lands were fertile, and their people were skilled with knowledge of agriculture. The excess food they grew provided to the realm.

In the south, the Hodari Clan thrived. The Hodari were conservators. They protected the ocean waters on the realm’s beaches, protected wild animals, and ensured the realm maintained a healthy amount of wildlife. The Hodari were scholars. They managed all the schooling systems in the realm. They taught healers, educators, agriculturalists, politicians, artists, and others. They managed the systems of the realm. They were the most neutral clan in the realm.

Then, to the southwest of the Bura Clan’s lands lived the Gare Clan. The masters of the ocean waters. Their treasure was seafood, and their skill was growing oysters for pearls. The Gare clan traded pearls to the realm as the pearl dust was used in the healing arts. Especially by women to smooth their skin. The Gare Clan was a clan filled with artisans. When they were not fishing, they built furniture, housing, and molded utensils from the clay soils around the Gare Lake. There was not a house in existence in Goshalion that did not have a plate made by a Gare artisan.

Each of these five clans had one representative, a chief or lord who spoke for the collective.

These chiefs and lords then joined the Council of Seven and met every full moon to manage their people’s concerns in the sacred Goshalion Mountain where the most important clan lived, the Airi Clan.

The Goshalion Mountain stood tall and majestic in the middle of the realm.

The Airi Clan lived in Goshalion mountain. The daughters born to the original Airi Clan chief’s bloodline all had a sacred connection to the waters that sprung from the mountain and fed every river in the realm. The waters that sprung from Goshalion Mountain were clean, refreshing, and essential to every living soul in the realm.

And so, while the Bura were revered for their engineering prowess, all other clans viewed the Airi Clan as the most sacred and important to the realm. For thousands of years, every clan had married a son to the family of the Chief of the Airi Clan.

This intertwined fate grew into the source of the Bura’s rebellion.

The root of the problem was the seat of power that Airi held with undisputed authority.

In the year 4003, Queen Asha, the current head of the Council of Seven stood before the Azure Fountain, the most sacred spot on the Goshalion Mountain. The fountain was thirty feet high. The water speed was so strong it whispered, gushing up from the depths of the earth into the sky, then falling to the weathered mountain rock and flowing to a massive waterfall. Winding itself down the wide river to the realm in a fast river.

Asha had watched the thriving fountain for most of her life. She offered her blood every year at the grand celebration of thanks that ensured the fountain kept flowing.

Now, the future was pressing close.

Asha sighed and rubbed her hand over her stomach. Her baby was restless. Perhaps it was a daughter. She hoped so but would not be averse to a son. The Airi Clan needed strong warriors.

“Your Majesty, I’m here with a report from Eseran,” Zila said. “Castle Kontar is on the move.”

Asha breathed in the fresh air and tilted her head to look at the top of a massive fig tree growing in the middle of the mountain. She stared at it for a moment, then turned to give all her attention to her most trusted adjutant.

“What has Lord Kontar done now?” Asha asked.

“There are two Lord Kontars,” Zila said. “Lord Sahur Kontar has fallen ill and is bedridden. His wife, Anath, has convinced the clan council to appoint Lord Sahur’s cousin, Jesah Kontar as the new lord of Castle Kontar. Jesah has the support of both Anath and the Bura council in Eseran.”

“The Hodari people have submitted several reports. They say Lord Jesah is amassing an army in the flat lands of Eseran. He hides their presence by claiming they are miners pulling ore from the flat lands. His politics is building up a rebellion in the northwest. What do you think he wants?”

“Goshalion Mountain,” Asha said, shaking her head.

“What do you mean?”

“We have been too peaceful,” Asha said, rubbing her hand over her stomach

The baby was kicking. She was restless because Asha felt restless. Letting out a soft sigh, Asha started a slow walk to the main house, her sandals rapping a beat on the rough rock floors.

“Why would Lord Jesah want to attack our mountain, Your Majesty?” Zila asked.

“Prosperity has brewed a villain,” Asha concluded.

Asha’s gaze swept over the expansive gardens surrounding the home built into the mountain by her ancestors. Kezana House was a clan house, she lived here with her husband and parents, but she also worked here. Airi clan members walked along the many paths into the buildings curved out of the mountain. The front face of the building boasted glass windows and doors to always have a view of the Azure Fountain.

Asha walked on a path that would lead her to the main Kezana House, where she lived with her parents and husband, and soon, their child.

“Zila, the Council of Seven has grown unbalanced,” Asha said. “The Bura Clan has gained immense recognition this life cycle. My husband is from the Hodari clan, and my daughter will marry one from the Anjik clan. The Bura can only see their cycle of ruling when my daughter’s daughter is ready to marry. That may take another century. Lord Jesah is too impatient to wait. He wants his dues now.”

“You think he wants the right to sit on the Goshalion throne,” Zila said, with a gasp.

“Not think,” Asha said, as she reached the glass doors that would lead her into the cool great room of the Kezana House. She wanted to sit down, but the baby made her tired and her feet were hurting.

“I know Lord Jesah wants unlimited power,” Asha said. “The problem is that he does not understand that we are all beholden to the realm. If it were up to me, I would have lived my life in the vibrant Hodari clan lands, watching wild animals and playing to my heart’s content.”

“Your Majesty, what would the Goshalion Mountain be without you?” Zila asked.

“A quiet beautiful mountain enjoying its existence,” Asha said as she moved to sit in a large armchair with her favorite cushions. She sank into it with a heavy sigh and smiled when Zila hurried to help her rest her feet on a footstool.

Comfortable, Asha gave all her attention to Zila who sat on a stool a few feet away.

“The Council of Seven is the source of Lord Jesah’s greed,” Asha said. “The Airi Clan holds two seats in this council. Mine, as Queen, and my husband who is from the Hodari clan and is King. The Bura do not get to touch this title for another two cycles. Jesah means to take it by force.”

“Will the Anjik clan sit and watch this happen?” Zila asked.

“No, I’m afraid Jesah will not give them a chance to protest,” Asha said, shaking her head, her gaze thoughtful. “The Anjik may face a calamity before he decides to fight us.”

Asha thought about her clan for a moment. The Airi Clan held two seats in the Council of Seven. The chief of the Airi Clan’s seat, and her husband who represented the clans in the Goshalion Mountain. The generations of husbands married into the Airi Clan first started with Anjik, Gare, Bura, Jeri, and Hodari.

A new cycle would start again with the Anjik Clan sending a young man to marry the next generation of Airi daughters. This young man would become a king while his wife, the chief of the Airi Clan would be the Queen of Goshalion and the head of the Council of Seven.

It would take another generation of a hundred years before a Bura man would sit on the throne in the Council of Seven. In a world where the Bura had become essential, to the armies and the administration of the realm, this wait felt like an insult. And so, unrest reigned in the Bura Clan. Born of the very traits that made the Bura people outstanding.

“We should consider our resources,” Asha said, finally meeting Zila’s gaze. “How many of our warriors are battle-ready?”

Zila thought for a moment, then shook her head.

“Queen Asha, the warriors in our lands are not battle-hardened. They are guardians of peace, deployed on the borders to check papers, and manage crime levels in our villages.”

“True. This is a true weakness,” Asha said. “But, we can counter the worst of the attack with Hodari warriors. My husband’s people will have a few thousand who have trained to fight true battles.”

“Five thousand at the most,” Zila said. “Our scouts say that Jesah’s troops are in the hundred thousand. He has planned for a long time.”

Asha bit her bottom lip, thinking. A war felt like a distant thought. Wars were found in the mortal realm beyond the fig tree in the depths of the mountain.

How could Goshalion face a war?

“Greed will undo us,” Asha said. “Zila, find Renali and give him the same report. Ask him to reach out to the Hodari Clan Chief. Also, write to Raziya, Renali’s twin sister. I have a task for her.”

Asha touched her stomach, thinking of her unborn child. If she failed to stand up to Jesah, she needed to plan her child’s future.

“I would call the council, but if Jesah has taken over from his cousin, Anath has done her homework. She probably has the clan leaders in check. I cannot pull Goshalion into an all-out war without a foolproof plan.”

Asha cursed under her breath at this new predicament.

“Call the Airi Warrior Commander,” Asha said. “I need to talk to him before I meet with the elders of our clan. Zila.”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Zila said.

“You and I, we must plan the next steps with care,” Asha said. “All our lives, and this unborn child’s life, depend on it. Do you understand?”

“Yes, Your Majesty,” Zila said with a nod.

“Then, one more thing before you find the warrior commander,” Asha said. “The Anjik Clan should be Lord Jesah’s first target. Send a discrete warning note to them to protect their young. The next generation is in danger.”

“I’ll go right away,” Zila said, getting up. She hurried away in a mad dash, and Asha hoped she would not trip on the way in her excitement. She sat in silence for a period, her thoughts on the future and what it would take to win against Jesah of the Bura.

“What makes you so thoughtful, my love?” Renali asked, his voice filling the great room.

Asha looked up and smiled at the sight of her husband. He looked energetic, dressed in a red tunic, and dark trousers that disappeared into fine black boots. His hair was in long thick braids held in a ponytail with a knitted leather cord.

Asha held out her hand to him when he reached her. Renali leaned in, kissed her cheek, and sat on the stool before her armchair. Renali removed her sandals and started massaging her aching feet.

“How is our baby treating you today?” Renali asked.

“She’s restless,” Asha said, sitting back, and rubbing her stomach. “Or maybe I’m restless. Zila was here. She brought news that the Bura have changed ranks. Lord Jesah is now in charge.”

“That bastard,” Renali swore under his breath.

“He has a trained army in the hundred thousand,” Asha continued, meeting Renali’s gaze. “These Bura warriors are said to be training in the flatland mines. You know how brutal the Bura can be, and their weapons master are sinister. I’m afraid there will be no peace left when Lord Jesah makes his move. We are not ready, Renali.”

“I agree, but we should still hold some hope,” Renali said, massaging her right foot with the perfect hit on sore pressure points. “Hodari warriors can assist us.”

“Yes, they can, but I’m not confident they are enough to face an all-out battle. Our borders are weak with only ten thousand guarding them. No one has ever attempted to harm the Airi Clan. We made no effort. What should we do?”

“Make a plan to survive,” Renali said. “We’ll call up every able-bodied man in the clan and among the Hodari. We’ll start training them. If we’re not able to win against Jesah, we will have tried our best. I don’t think we have a choice.”

Renali paused in the act of massaging her feet when she kept looking at him.

“You want to avoid a war,” Renali guessed.

“No matter how I look at it, I don’t think I’m a prepared queen,” Asha said. “I may have lost this war the moment Jesah became Lord of Castle Kontar. I’ve been ignoring the dissent in the Bura Clan for too long. I did not see him coming. However, we can plan to build a strong army for our children in the future. We’ll work to make sure our child will not be at a disadvantage. Things have already advanced to this point. I don’t doubt that Jesah will find his way to the Azure Fountain.”

“You’re so sure,” Renali said. “Our warriors could hold him off.”

“We have swords, daggers, and spears,” Asha said. “While our soldiers are very brave, I do not see them winning against the Bura with their refined weapons made by their frightening weapons master. I have no illusions about winning. I know Jesah will reach our Kezana house. He will. The question is, what should be done before he arrives?”

“So, we need to minimize the amount of damage Jesah does to our house,” Renali said.

“Yes,” Asha said with a swift nod. “We protect our unborn child so that she will be able to fight back where we could not.”

“Asha,” Renali said, his hands moving to touch her stomach.

When Asha placed her hands over his, Renali let out a soft sigh.

“I have hoped we would continue to live in this peace forever.”

“It has been my hope too,” Asha said. “This is the first time Goshalion will face an internal calamity. Jesah, this dark knight, has sprouted horns over wanting more power in the realm. I’m afraid we’ll need to cut the horns off before we can gain peace again.”

“How long do we have to plan?”

“I’m guessing until this child is born,” Asha said.

“Three to four months is enough to plan what we need,” Renali said. “Including where we shall take our child to keep her safe.”

“Yes.”

Asha agreed with a small nod, still thoughtful.

****

Prologue (i) | Table of Contents | Prologue (iii)