HK: Chapter 8

We made it to Vipani in just over a week of marching along the Gadah River, taking three days to leave the Mrudutalam Marsh. On the fourth, we passed by the burned-out remnants of the Romaka Castrum of Marcus Claudius Cestus and his Legions. Between the Romaka taking whatever could be salvaged and the Yavana looting whatever was left, the charred husk of the Romaka Camp was pretty much useless for anyone who might be looking to pick over the remains for things that may be left behind. That didn't stop some desperate people from trying, however, and there were several men sifting through the charred timbers and ashes while we passed by.

These men ranged from small children to elderly old men, and were uniformly clad in ragged, soot-stained clothing, with poor or missing footwear. What jewelry they had, if any, was made of wooden beads, carved roughly and stained with ash or ochre. To a man, they seemed less healthy than anyone I had seen in Apsadanam Village, even though they presumably didn't live in the middle of a hostile environment filled with beasts like the Mrudutalam Marsh. I turned to cock an eyebrow at Darsh, questioning who these people were.

"Dalits. Untouchables. The City-Dwellers in Vipani stick much more closely to the Caste System than we do in the Marshes. To make matters worse, a number of the outlying settlements and communities under Vipani's sway have evacuated to the city thanks to the War with the Romaka. These poor, ragged, few must have been sent out of the City to make room for the refugees." Frowned my Second-In-Command.

"I see. Just how close do they stick to the Caste System in Vipani?" I questioned.

"Close enough that some of the Brahmins preaching in the Temples in the City have been trying to declare us Heretics for eschewing the Caste System in most regards." Answered my Second-in-Command.

"Is that going to be a problem?" I queried.

"Likely not. Vipani needs as many fighting men as they can get from what I've heard. The Romaka are still making their way toward the City from the East, after all. So long as we're there to defend the City, it should be fine." Hedged My Second-In-Command.

"Right. That's good to know. I'll keep that in mind." I huffed.

As we spoke and marched to Vipani, I passed by an Old Man among the Untouchables seated on a pile of scorched stones. His long white beard was streaked with gray ash, and his hands and feet were gnarled and bare from hard labor. As he looked up at me, I couldn't help but toss him a few of the coins that selling off the extra leather and Bag of Holding had gotten me, the Cave Lion-Stamped Silver landing in the ash at his feet. The old man crouched into the ashes, bowing at me as he scooped the coins up, offering me a smile that showed several missing teeth.

"The Caste System is pointlessly cruel." I muttered as I nodded at the Old Untouchable Man.

"One could argue that the Cruelty is the Point. It's meant to enforce the social order in the City." Pointed out My Second-in-Command.

"There are better ways, Darsh." I insisted.

"Perhaps there are, but all of the Devas in Vipani support it. Without Devas to aid them in abolishing it, even those who might wish to see a system closer to the Yavana one or the one we've implemented in the Marshes are powerless to do anything." Shrugged my Second-in-Command.

"Which might just mean that while we help defend the City, the Romaka can reach out to the disaffected and try to get an uprising going." I frowned.

"It's possible. Why, what are you thinking, Lord?" Asked my Second-in-Command.

"I'm thinking that I'm a Deva and that I don't like the Caste System either." I returned.

"Careful with that, Lord. You may just find yourself starting an even worse uprising in Vipani with the Romaka at the gates." Warned my Second-in-Command.

And with that, the march continued largely in silence. Of course, as I thought about the situation, I realized that Darsh was right. With the Romaka having Legions moving closer to Vipani with each passing day, any talk of changing the Caste System in the City was going to be premature in the extreme and might even wind up causing the Fall of Vipani to the Romaka if it caused enough unrest. It was one of those things that I was just going to have to get used to, it seemed. At least for as long as I was on this Island, anyway. It sucked, but it was just a fact of the world.

Regardless, we began to see villages that same day. Some of them were still partly abandoned after the Romaka Slave Raids, but the closer we got to Vipani, the more lively and inhabited the Villages became. These were largely farming communities along the Gadah River, with buildings of baked clay and wood. However, as we approached even closer to Vipani, proper stone buildings began to crop up, mostly in terms of temples or Chieftain's Halls at first, but as we got even closer to Vipani, large sections of villages would be made entirely of stone and baked clay, with wooden buildings relegated to poorer areas or the outskirts of villages.

On the eighth day of the March, we finally made it to Vipani. The City itself was large, with what had to be at least fifty-thousand people living there, though if I had to guess, there were no more than one-hundred-thousand souls crammed into its walls. Large temples of Vedic Architecture made of stone and covered in reliefs and statues stuck up above the walls, as did a large palace complex in the very center of the City, everywhere you looked, tan stone predominated over baked clay and wood, showing the wealth of Vipani as a center of trade along the Gadah River.

As we approached the City, passing by a small village of stone buildings surrounding a temple, with wooden buildings on the outskirts, from which we caught our first glimpse of Vipani on the horizon, I couldn't help but grin. Here was a proper city, one which surely would allow massive wealth to be extracted and bragging rights to be gained by any of the Romaka Legions who might manage to conquer it. As a city-dweller for most of the previous lives that made up my composite soul, however, it was quite clearly a familiar sight to me.

A few hours later, as we approached the gates, we were greeted by soldiers led by a noble of some description. He was young, still a teenager, though clearly about to grow out of that phase of his life, with his hair pulled up into a topknot, Brahmin-caste face paint, and a golden pendant showing over his richly dyed saffron tunic. The beginnings of a beard were growing in on his face, though he hadn't gotten one yet, and he bore an Iron Sword sheathed at his waist. He was flanked by burly men with spears in black iron armor, clearly Soldiers of Vipani. As we approached, he bowed to me.

"Hail, Lord Trito. We have been expecting you for some time." Spoke the Captain.

"Is that so?" I questioned.

"Indeed, it is. We expected you to arrive via the River. That you did not is puzzling to us." Frowned the Captain.

"Marching builds discipline and allows us to more easily get the lay of the land. However, you seem to have me at a disadvantage, Captain. You know who I am, but I do not know you." I returned.

"Ah, of course. I am Captain Diyan, one of the three Sub-Leaders of the Army of Vipani under the Command of Champion Sanjay. I have been sent to greet you." Introduced the Captain, Diyan.

"Just to greet us?" I queried.

"Just to greet you in particular, Lord Trito. My men will show yours to their assigned billets, but I am to convey you to the Palace for a Meeting with the Prince, Champion, and Kings." Informed Diyan.

"Kings? Plural?" I asked.

"Yes, our Yavana Allies have men stationed here as well under the command of King Theros of Sinos." Nodded Diyan.

"Very well. Lead on. Darsh, I trust you can handle getting the men settled?" I questioned.

"Indeed, Lord. You can count on me." Smirked my Second-In-Command.

"Good. If you will follow me?" Queried Diyan.

Then, the bronze-reinforced wooden gates of Vipani opened, and Diyan turned on his heel and led me inside. I left Darsh there with the two Soldiers to begin getting the Men situated and followed my Guide as I made my way through the City of Vipani. As we walked through dusty streets, I picked up on a slight undercurrent of nervousness among the populace as they went about their days. I couldn't blame them, of course. Not with the Romaka advancing on the City, intent on conquest. Still, it wasn't a good sign that the nervousness was so easily discerned. That sort of thing might just spell disaster when the Romaka finally stopped pausing in their advance to seize outlying villages and made their way to the City Proper. Panic could be a major problem for a city under siege just as much as starvation, disease, or enemy attack, after all.

It didn't help that the City seemed overcrowded, either. My Guide had to force people aside in the street at times just to get us to continue making our way toward the Palace in the Center of the City. An extended siege by the Romaka would be bad here, not just because of the Panic that would set in eventually, but also because this many extra mouths would deplete the food stores of the City that much quicker than would normally occur. No wonder the King of Vipani had ordered the untouchables out of the City. He would already have enough mouths to feed as it was.

Shaking my head as we passed through the crowds trying to go about their lives, my Guide took us around the main Bazaar to avoid even more crowds, which wound up taking us past the harbor, where several triremes of Yavana Design were tied up. These boar banners of a Black Haast's Eagle on a field of Blue and were guarded by Yavana Hoplites. These must have been the ships that carried King Theros of Sinos and his men to Vipani as reinforcements. With Ten Triremes tied up at the docks under guard, that had to be two thousand troops from Sinos, plus my fifty Elites, and however many Vipani had. There had to be at least a full Romaka Legion's worth of allied troops here. With multiple Devas, the allied forces should be able to sally forth and bring the Romaka forces advancing on the City to Battle successfully. The question was, why hadn't they?

"Captain, how many troops are in the City right now?" I questioned.

"Including your men? Six-thousand-two-hundred-fifty." Answered Diyan.

"And how many Romaka Troops are advancing on the City?" I queried.

"Ten-thousand, though of that Ten Thousand, only their Legate and broad-Striped Tribune are Devas, while with you here, we have more than twice that many." Responded Diyan.

"That should be enough to win, shouldn't it?" I asked.

"It should, but King Ikawala does not wish to sally out from behind the protection of the walls." Explained Diyan.

"That seems a mistake." I mused.

"I suppose he thinks it better to avoid a pitched battle after the Battle of Tyrgos three days ago." Shrugged Diyan.

It turned out that a force of another thousand Hoplites and Peltasts moving south from Naukressos toward Vipani had been ambushed by an unknown Deva working for the Romaka and his forces. They'd quite literally appeared out of nowhere as the Naukressos Force had stopped at the small, Yavana Iron-mining Town of Tyrgos in the Hills northwest of Vipani to rest and resupply. The Romaka Force moved quickly, attacking in the dead of night, slaughtering the Naukressos reinforcements, and sacking Tyrgos, a town that was supposed to be safe in a rear area, in the massive raid. Naukressos had deployed a second force, led by a Deva with the ability to see things which couldn't be seen and strike at them accordingly, even through cover, but so far they had little luck tracking the Romaka Raiding Force down.

Mind you, that shouldn't have been nearly enough to cause this kind of hesitation. If anything, the opposite was true. The Allied Forces in Vipani should have sallied forth outside of the walls to defeat the Romaka Army coming in from the East before the Raiding Force could join up with them and narrow the advantage in Devas that we possessed down further. Waiting would only let the Romaka link up and hit Vipani in a coordinated attack. Besides, Tyrgos had walls too, and that hadn't seemed to stop the Romaka Rading Force from sacking the town. Why was King Ikawala so adamant that Vipani's Walls would protect him when Tyrgos' walls couldn't?

I frowned as I thought on that. That was either cowardice, rank incompetence, or, more troublingly, there was enemy action going on in the City already. It would be best to figure that out as soon as I could. If there were enemy spies influencing the decision-making of King Ikawala, they would have to be dealt with as a priority. As my Guide led me past the double gates of the Palace, guarded by more Black Armored Guards, and into a lavishly appointed Main Hall, complete with a gilded fountain, expensive throne, and carved marble pillars, I was resolved to go snooping tonight. First, though, I had to meet with the rest of the Commanders of the Allied Forces in Vipani. It would turn out that the meeting was being held, not in the Great Hall, but in a smaller Antechamber.

As soon as my Guide led me to the door, a massive slab of carved sandalwood that was flanked by yet more black armored soldiers, he knocked twice on it. Champion Sanjay opened the door, hand still bandaged from our duel, where I had stabbed my original blade through it while he had been in his Bronze Form. He grunted at seeing me, but nodded at My Guide, stepping aside to let me pass. Captain Diyal then bowed, turned on his heel, and walked away, leaving me to enter the Meeting on my own. It felt a bit like he had thrown me to the sharks, if I was being honest, but I could handle it. As I entered the Meeting Room, however, it would swiftly become clear that everyone present was a Deva as well as I was.

And that was seemingly the cause of some command friction within the ranks of the Allied Command. . .

XXXX

AN: All right, so here's the next chapter. Trito and his men have arrived at Vipani, and we get to see hints of how the War with the Romaka has been going for Vipani so far. The answer is not well, especially as there is a potential Romaka Spy with Master/Stranger Powers lurking around and forcing King Ikawala to make strategic errors like refusing to sally out and leverage his superiority in superpowered combatants to defeat the Romaka Legions before they can put Vipani under siege.

Of course, the Hesitance could also be from the unknown Parahuman with Mover/Stranger powers that led a Romaka Raiding Force in annihilating a column of a thousand reinforcements and sacking the Yavan Town of Tyrgos on the Border between the territory of the Yavana Hellenic League of Four Poleis and Vipani's Territory. Either way, it's not looking good for Vipani.

At any rate, the next chapter will include the Meeting with the Allied Commanders, and then we'll have an interlude back in Brockton, showing the Protectorate's Response to the Gang War going on between the ABB and Empire while Trito is dicking around on Insula Damnatorum. I'll also have more images out before then as well.

Stay tuned. . .