On the sixth day after the Zakhira and the Sakhatul's union, the coalition broke camp and set out for the Sunrise Lowlands. It looked as if the entire city of Kudaldan was packed up as countless steppe merchants joined the tribes heading to war. Only the foreign traders remained, leaving the capital of the steppe only a small gathering of tents with the towering Jukhmahan in the center.
More tribes joined them as they traveled, swelling their ranks further. Since it was akin to a mass migration rather than a military march, their progress was slow enough for smaller tribes to catch up to them. It would be around a month before they reached the southern regions of the Sunrise Lowlands, where they could see the Zarukhan Mountain Range, which marked the Omagala Empire's northern borders.
Viyal stood up on her Shinoon and looked around in awe. The new Zakhira with the Sakhatul under them came second in the procession after the Shaankhor. Thus, she could see the overwhelming ranks of Shuva traveling before them as they disappeared over the hills in the distance. When she looked back, the countless tribes of the coalition extended beyond the horizon.
They counted over a hundred thousand people, with roughly a third of them warriors. It was a massive number for the steppe people, but Tashi had warned her that it was nothing compared to what the Omagala Empire's factions fielded against each other in their civil war. This was not an army to take on the entire empire. Their goal was to drive the expeditionary force back in one fell swoop so they would think twice about invading the steppe again.
Yunil sped up her Shinoon and came up beside Viyal. Her bushy tail swished left and right, a giddy smile on her face. Morale in the coalition was high, and she was affected by it. The feeling of might in numbers gave her a sense of self-confidence and pride. Viyal watched in amusement, wondering if she would start howling again to give voice to her emotions.
But she knew that the young Nokkoy would not join the fighting. She had been secretly training with the other young warriors of the tribe, but she was still too young to go to war. Tashi would obviously not fight, either. As a Gadat, nobody would trust him to be resolute when it mattered. He himself agreed that attachment to his people would likely hamper him.
Altuna traveled with her tribe. Most of her elder sisters would all lead troops into battle, but she was not yet of age. Depending on how long this campaign lasted, she could perhaps grow into it and be given command. In either case, they would likely not see each other much during the war. And once the coalition dissolved and all the tribes returned to their seasonal routes, they could perhaps not meet again for years on end.
Viyal hoped to maintain a good relationship with her for the future when she was old enough to begin her true path in life. As the seventh daughter, it was highly unlikely for Altuna to become the Shaankhor chief, but as a member of the ruling family, she held some influence over the tribe. Surely, she would need to forge an even larger coalition than this one to conquer the Omagala Empire on her path to fulfilling her prophecy.
The rolling hills of the steppe soon smoothened out into increasingly larger regions of almost entirely flat terrain. The temperature grew milder the farther southeast they traveled, even though summer had already passed. Even when it rained did it not sting on the skin like in the lands of the Zakhira migratory route. Viyal guessed that the empire's warmer climate was how it developed a farming culture that could support its now massive population. It was something tribal societies could not achieve in the harsher north.
Viyal learned much about the empire from Tashi. Its original name was Ono Miang La, the Land of Plenty, and the majority species were the Sama Gachin, called Samagshin by the steppe people, to which Tashi belonged. It counted over a hundred other species among its population, although most of them were considered second-class citizens.
Many of the empire's feudal lords traced their bloodlines back to the age of the gods, justifying the power they held as divine mandates. Chief among them was the emperor, who claimed direct descent from their principal god, Thao Woq, the Ruler of the Heavens and the Earth. Civil wars erupted every few decades or centuries between these feudal lords. They fought to control the next young emperor whenever the succession was in question and then married their family into the imperial household. Some wars took only a few years, but the most recent one lasted for almost a century.
The new emperor already looked outward for expansion despite emerging from a long war that doubtlessly depleted the nation's population. It was a testament to the ambition of the winner of this struggle, be it the one now sitting on the throne or whoever controlled them from the shadows. But it was the one chance for the steppe people to drive the Gadat back when they were still weak.
To Tashi's surprise, Viyal even expressed interest in learning the Omagala language. He wondered why she would want to speak the language of the enemy they were on the way to fight. Even the Shaankhor, who traded with the Gadat, did not bother to learn anything beyond the most basic forms of communication.
"Because a wise man once said, know yourself and know your enemy, and you will win every battle." Her answer was puzzling to her family members who overheard; they did not know any such wise man. She had to deflect and explain that she learned it from one of the scrolls Altuna showed her.
Thus, a relaxed month passed on the road, and the Zarukhan Mountain Range peeked over the distant horizon. The temperature was mild for the time of the year, and wild grains flourished here. It was no wonder the Omagala Empire eyed this fertile land, which the steppe tribes only used for grazing. If all of this were converted into farmland, it would boost the empire's ability to feed its people immensely and, in turn, grow its military for further expansion. It is what Viyal would do in their position.
Around noon on the third day after, messengers rode down the procession and reported that the Shaankhor decided to make camp ahead of them. Their scouts discovered the earthen forts the Gadat set up in their last incursion and found several more along a small river. They were a sixthday away as the Shinoon galloped, so the civilian population would remain here for when the warriors headed out to battle.
"Why can't I come with you?!" Viyal stomped her feet and played up her spoiled princess act before her father as he stepped out of his tent. The Zakhira tribe had finished setting up their camp not long ago and finally received word from Chief Ivakha to head out. They were going to survey the surrounding land and discuss how to assault the earthen forts, and Viyal wanted to join them. To fulfill her prophecy, she needed to witness every aspect of warfare first-hand and as early as possible.
"Because it could be dangerous," Amiro turned around and responded with a stalwart expression. He would not budge this time.
"You're only going to scout out the enemy from afar. What dangers could there be?" Surprisingly, Gavro came to Viyal's aid. "We all know she's far more interested in those things than playing hoops with the other girls her age."
Amiro furrowed his brow, then glanced at Nayavi. Viyal understood his concern and knew he could not ask his wife for help outright. Their daughter's prophecy said she would die before she turned thirteen or live to conquer the world. She had yet to see her sixth thawing season, and they were now entering the reach of a powerful enemy. It was only natural to be more cautious.
"You may join us on the next outing," Amiro conceded with a sigh. He would make sure the area was safe before bringing her along. Viyal could live with that and reluctantly gave up.
"You are quite the spoiled brat," came a familiar voice from behind as Amiro rode off with his entourage. Viyal turned around to find Altuna approaching with a towering Shuva she had never seen before.
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"I would prefer to call it a viable method of achieving what I want," the young Mosyv declared with her arms crossed. Then she gestured at Altuna's attendant or perhaps bodyguard. "Who may this be?"
"She's Toragan. My mother appointed her as my new combat tutor," the Shaankhor princess explained, pointing at the spear Toragan carried. The towering Shuva was an outlier within her species. She was over a head taller and had shorter wing and tail feathers than her peers. Meanwhile, her beak was thicker and curved downward into a sharp point. One could think her a hybrid between a Shuva and a Hyarul. "I know what you may be thinking, but her mother did not breed with a Hyarul."
Toragan stared at her charge with clear disapproval in her eyes; as always, Altuna lacked tact. Viyal shook her head and sighed. The Shuva princess was smart in every other way, but she spoke her mind too freely. Nobody around her age liked being around a person who spoke her mind unabashedly. Only Viyal could become friends with her since she was the same, except she knew to hold back when it mattered.
"What did you come here to do?" she asked, exchanging a meaningful glance with Toragan.
"Do I need a reason to visit my friend?" Altuna wondered with her head tilted.
Viyal's eyebrows shot up, and she smiled. "No, if you had not come, I would have gone to see you. We need to use our limited time together well."
"Your father instructed me to continue your archery lessons, young lady," Soroca walked up to Viyal and declared. She had been waiting on the sidelines and decided that the time was right to bring down her mood.
"Can I not skip for a day? It has been a while since I last spoke to Altuna," Viyal tried to talk her way out of her obligation, knowing it was futile. Soroca had a strong sense of duty, and teaching the chief's daughter was the greatest duty in her eyes.
"That is alright. I can join you in your lessons. Perhaps I could learn something from a Bavadi," Altuna said innocently, seemingly not understanding that it could only be taken as words of belittlement. Shuva valued archery over any other form of combat, so they were naturally considered the greatest marksmen of the steppe. As one of the Shaankhor chief's daughters, she surely enjoyed the greatest education in it.
"Very well. But please do not distract each other during the lesson." Soroca did not comment on Altuna's thoughtless statement and nodded curtly. She walked ahead, expecting Viyal to follow. The young Mosyv looked at the instructor's back and realized that perhaps she was as much a pain in her ass as Altuna was in Toragan's.
The archery range was set up facing in the direction of the Zarukhan Mountain Range. It almost felt symbolic to shoot at where the Gadat came from. But Viyal showed once again that she had no talent for the bow, as every shot missed no matter how well she tried to line it up. Her body was not yet that of an adult, but her bow was not at the draw weight used in war either. It showed that she likely would never become as good a shot as her peers.
Meanwhile, Altuna was comfortably shooting at thrown targets. She wielded one of the Shuva signature composite longbows, almost twice the length of those used by other steppe tribes. Only they, with access to Hyarul leg bones and sinew, could construct these. And they made sure to keep it within their people. After all, their draw weight and penetrative power were unparalleled, and they could even punch through the Gadat lamellar armor.
"I cannot watch this," commented Altuna when she saw Viyal miss her stationary target once again. Even after Soroca patiently corrected her stance again and again, she could not get it right. "How can a Mosyv be this weak?"
"Hey, I'm decent with the spear," Viyal shot back.
"I'll be the judge of that," the Shuva declared, her eyes showing that she was serious. Viyal glanced at Soroca, who sighed and waved her off. She did not gain the ambition to improve herself after witnessing her friend showing off far superior skills for the past few hours. Even if she could not say it outright, perhaps the chief's daughter was a lost cause.
Thus released from her archery training early, Viyal guided Altuna to the training grounds where the young adults of the tribe practiced under the watchful eye of Jederal, the Zakhira's one-eyed spear instructor. Rausama physiology made it difficult to fight from the back of a mount, so they learned to use the spear on the ground better than any other species.
Viyal was about to call out to him when she noticed Yunil standing in the middle of the field while surrounded by four young warriors: Two Bavadi, a Jagul, and a Rausam. She seemed relaxed, with her quarterstaff over her shoulders, while they aimed theirs at her with deep concentration in their eyes. On a silent signal, they charged from all directions at once. The Nokkoy pivoted the staff around her neck and swung it in a wide arc, dissuading the attackers coming from behind and the left.
In the same motion, she lunged forward, barely avoiding a thrust aimed at her midsection, and struck one of the Bavadi on the shoulder. The other Bavadi aimed low at her feet, but she stepped on the quarterstaff, which caused him to let go of it in surprise. With one quick swing, he was down, too. With an almost dance-like spin, Yunil thrust her weapon to her left and caught it at the very base, increasing her range immensely. It hit the young Jagul warrior in the knee, striking him out.
Finally, only the Rausam remained. His stocky physique gave Yunil the range advantage, and he understood that fact. He tried to get closer, but she circled him and kept him at a distance. Jederal bared his sharp teeth in disapproval as he watched her play with her opponent. "Yunil! Take it seriously and finish it!"
"I am! I'm practicing my footwork!" the young Nokkoy looked at him and argued. Her Rausam opponent took the opportunity to thrust his staff at her, but she knocked it aside with her own and struck him in the broad chest. He dropped his weapon and collapsed to his knee, gasping for air.
Yunil did a double take and noticed Viyal and Altuna watching her from behind Jederal. She looked around in a panic, then threw down her quarterstaff and acted like she just happened to be standing in the middle of the training grounds surrounded by four downed warriors. Viyal stared at her with an eyebrow raised. Had her sister always been this clumsy?
"I request a sparring match, Yunil!" Altuna chirped across the field, pointing her wing at the young Nokkoy as she walked toward them gingerly. It would appear that witnessing her dispatch her four sparring partners so one-sidedly stirred something in the Shaankhor princess.
Yunil was frozen to the spot and glanced at Viyal with a confused expression. She had already revealed too much in front of her sister but now hoped she would get her out of this situation. Viyal would do no such thing. Fighting four young warriors in training was one thing; facing Altuna, the strongest Shuva in her age group, was another. She wanted to see how far Yunil had come in her not-so-secret training.
"That is a brilliant idea," Viyal acted dumb and declared with a bright smile. Her sister's expression of betrayal elicited a sliver of remorse in her heart.
"Fine then." Jederal sighed in resignation. He knew Viyal's stubbornness too well to argue with her. They were cutting into training time, but anything for the chief's willful daughter. The one-eyed Rausam then raised his voice and roared across the training grounds, "Make space for the young ladies!"
"You didn't need to do that. It's not meant to be a show match," Viyal put a hand on Jederal's arm and said with an apologetic expression.
"Oh, no, that's fine. I'm interested to see how a Shaankhor princess does against our little prodigy," the Rausam said with a boisterous laugh.
"Prodigy, huh?" Viyal looked at Yunil, who averted her gaze in embarrassment.
One of the young warriors handed Altuna a quarterstaff and stepped away with a curious look. None of them had seen a Shuva fight before. Their hands were large and leathery, but they only had three fingers. How could those handle a spear as well as someone with five fingers that could be articulated individually for better fine control?
"One strike wins?" Altuna asked as she stepped up to Yunil confidently. The young Nokkoy was too distracted to hear her, glancing at Viyal with an apprehensive look on her face. It caused the Shuva to narrow her eyes in displeasure.
Without waiting for a signal, she spun her quarterstaff around and brought it down on Yunil's head from high above. She reacted in time and blocked the strike with her weapon. As if a switch was flipped in the dog girl, her expression grew sharp. Stepping back and taking a stance, she focused her amber eyes on Altuna, and the world receded beyond her notice.
Yunil thrust her quarterstaff forward and aimed for Altuna's chest. The Shuva deflected it with the shaft of her weapon and countered with her own thrust. With a twist of her wrist, the Nokkoy directed it off course and swung the tip of her staff up from below to hit the bird girl in her beak. She moved out of the way just in time and swept her weapon horizontally below Yunil's to strike her elbow, but it, too, was narrowly avoided.
The exchange lasted only a couple of seconds, but even Viyal could tell that they fought at a high level. Jederal could surely point out where to perform sharper strikes and reduce wasted movements. Still, it reminded her of Rowen's show duel against Adaro of the Khadarta. If these two children could already fight at this level, how would they improve as they matured?
A drum suddenly rang out across the Zakhira camp, followed by yells, interrupting the heated duel. Viyal looked around in confusion. She could hear commotions rising in the other camps all around theirs. Jederal recognized the call to arms and bellowed across the training grounds, "Get in gear! War is upon us!"
It sounded like a general mobilization across the entire coalition. Yunil and Altuna crossed the field and joined Viyal, concern written on their faces. Were they being attacked by the Gadat? What happened to the chiefs who left to survey the land? What happened to her father?