It was not long, a matter of mere days, after returning to Inukudish that a proposition was made regarding a new departure. Specifically, various discussions with the scholars of the town spoke of the oasis of Susmunshta, a small Nikkad settlement reached by eight days steady journey to the northwest. Though it was a small place and of limited renown, it was notable in two ways. It was designed wrapped about the shores of an unusually deep lake, and it served as the abode of a powerful sorceress who chafed under the commands of Nikkad princes and favored living in a place beneath their direct control, one that survived instead through steady tribute payments to the local Kharal nobility. The present occupant of the local chapter house was an essence sorcerer named Laveshassu, a master of the same path as Lady Indili and the first such practitioner encountered since the departure from Shnudidishgu. Though sorcerers who reach the accomplished rank of master are uncommon in any land, they are notably rare in Shdustu. Though the Kharal and Nikkad both seek out talented youths with the gift and direct them towards the nearest outpost of the chapter house, and in this way have managed to educate and train sorcerers within the confines of the steppe, there are numerous difficulties. While local resources suffice to provide instruction into the early stages of the manipulation of freely circulating divine energy, Shdustu entirely lacks the libraries, printers, and scholarly networks of the Sanid Empire or other grand polities with a tradition of scholarship. This tends to leave the progression of practitioners on this path stunted by comparison. Most sorcerers trained in the Sanid Empire will eventually reach the rank of journeyman, even if it be in their twilight years. By contrast, the greater majority of those trained in Shdustu will never surpass the wall of apprenticeship during their lives. Masters are therefore exceedingly rare, and those who practice the essence path rather than the more common fire, ice, and lightning paths doubly so. According to Ladi Indili's inquiries there were only three essence path masters in all Shdustu: the chapter house director of Shnudidishgu, a young genius in Sumumgigus, and the elusive resident of the Susmunshta oasis. As such, she had no intention of passing this close by without a detour to pay her respects, something the winter weather facilitated.

As the oasis contained an archive that the handful of resident scholars present in Inukudish, an unimpressive but enthusiastic handful of Nikkad experimenters who continually pressed me for instruction, believed contained some of the oldest extant written works present anywhere in the region, I successfully prevailed upon Erun that I might find old records of dragon sightings there and was allowed to accompany the Lady Indili. In addition to myself, the sorceress, and the pair of Redbone explorers, the three Nikkad warrior-women gifted to the expedition wished to make the trip. It happened that the senior member of their triad, Rubuya, had an aunt who had married into the oasis community many years before who she had not seen since and desired to visit. This escort was authorized, though Erun expressed that both he and Yomat wished that I should take the measure of these women and determine both their capability and loyalty. Therefore, it seems this is an appropriate point to describe the women among the Nikkad who take up arms, both in their capabilities and mentality.

Doubtless imperial readers find the idea of female fighters a considerable anomaly. Aside from a number of legendary stories of dubious veracity and several better documented but broadly ceremonial roles, women in the Core Provinces simply do not bear arms in battle. In Shdustu, by contrast, female practice of the martial arts is much more common. Kharal women do not ride into battle, but they learn the bow starting as young girls, with diligence equal to that of the boys, in order that they should have the ability to protect their herds when the warriors ride away to distant lands. While they primarily target animals and mystic beasts they can, and will, defend themselves against human raiders if placed in that position. Similar training for desperate need is common among the Bahab and Rutar, again focused on bows. Women who travel with caravans are also likely to have some weapons training, though their capabilities are a truly eclectic mix. Female fighters are also a component of the Silversheen Mercenaries, perhaps as many as one in ten. The Nikkad have, however, taken this further than any other group in Shdustu. While women perform their drills in compulsory Nikkad militia training, some have gone well beyond this and adopted the wielding of weapons professionally.

In addition to difficult to penetrate aspects of Nikkad beliefs, there are several more practical reasons why this practice has become common among the Nikkad while it remains rare or situational elsewhere. This includes certain approaches that reduce the advantages provided by the greater strength and endurance of males in battle. The first of these is the open embrace of poison use by the Nikkad. When a killing blow is determined only by the ability to induce an agent through the least gap, strength is reduced from its preeminence and swiftness and precision gain greater value. Tied to this is how the Nikkad primarily fight in defense of their settlements, with their tight corridors and narrow, twisted confines. In such an environment a smaller and more flexible body can move and strike from angles and positions larger men wielding larger weapons cannot. Heavy armor is also less used in such situations, reducing the advantages of the ability to sustain combat in thick but cumbersome protection.

Nikkad female warriors have fully embraced these methods of combat, and have developed a fighting style that, rather than emulate male techniques in bodies that are generally smaller and less robust, is fundamentally aligned towards their different capabilities. They wear little armor of their own, favoring maximization of mobility. Their movements are continual, in a practice of rapid strike-and-evade tactics while making full use of poisons, powders, and other unconventional weapons. They utilize throwing daggers and long, thin knives to seek out gaps in armor's protection through which they can introduce their toxins to vulnerable flesh. Their weapons are very sharp, but tend to be flimsy, to the point that they often break off tips in the body of their foes. They fare very poorly when forced into prolonged conflict with enemy blades or shields.

Unauthorized usage: this narrative is on Amazon without the author's consent. Report any sightings.

Only a fool would call any method of battle safe, but I confess this approach struck me as stunningly dangerous. Everything these women do in combat depends upon speed and agility, for even a successful attack rarely kills instantly and demands stunningly quick retreat to avoid deadly riposte. This necessitates a truly mobile approach, one that relies upon striking precisely from the right point and constantly shifting and evading. Any move that pins the warrior in place will bring death, even if it kills the opponent. Milling, wheeling, chaotic motion is therefore at the heart of their fighting style. It is very much the opposite of the close rank fighting of Sanid Empire infantry and is broadly useless on the open steppe. On its chosen ground, however, this method is effective, especially as most Kharal warriors are only lightly armored and are at a disadvantage when forced to discard their bows in confined spaces. Seeing as this, aside from their own kind, is the primary opponent such a warrior-woman is likely to face, their method works, though casualties are high.

Unlike in the case of Kharal mounted archers, who are forged into soldiers by the very act of living as herdsmen on the steppe throughout their lives, dedicated warriors among the Nikkad are rare. While all, including the women, undertake militia training and have some skill with arms, poisons, and combat tactics, those who dedicate themselves fully to the practice are few. They compensate for this by training relentlessly. Endurance, being key to such a mobile combat style, inspires them to nearly constant motion. They will do almost anything to avoid prolonged stillness. In times of peace, they often take work as couriers or porters, roaming about their towns and learning every street, alley, turn, and gap. They make training throwing knives from wood, weighted the same as the deadly metal ones, and play endless games with them, hurling darts at targets for hours. They will even use blades of the same shape and feel as their combat ones in food preparation.

For those who wonder what would possess any woman to move from weekly drills to a lifelong dedication to the implements of death, there are no simple answers. The Nikkad believe that the Divines place women who choose this way upon the path directly. This statement is perhaps overly dramatic, but it is not completely unfounded. Warrior-women are different from most, primarily by the fact that they are universally unable to bear children, whether due to innate infertility or injury. This trait can be detected by alchemists at a surprisingly young age, a test not nearly so well-practiced in the Sanid Empire though unfortunately kept secret in Shdustu. Additionally, women who become incapable of childbirth later in life, such as through damage to the body through birthing or illness, may choose to take up the blades, especially if they are widowed. There is a saying regarding this, surprisingly simple: 'the scorpion carries life and death alike, but humans are given only one path, walk.' Eerily, this seems to truthfully represent scorpions, which are surprisingly caring mothers, transporting their young upon their backs for some time after hatching. This is a rather terrifying sight to witness with regard to the giant scorpions of the Nikkad; a mind-scarring tangle of churning appendages.

Rubuya, who led the three warriors placed in service to the Dragon Expedition, explained such things to me quite casually. The military tradition of Nikkad women, and the need for each settlement to project a united front in the face of Kharal aggression even when deeply divided internally, has given these people a position on the relations between the genders that is unusual among farming peoples who build city-states. As far as I am aware, their particularities are unique, not closely duplicated elsewhere. It may, perhaps, be best enunciated using a religious verse common among them, one that I translated alongside Princess Romou while in Inukudish. 'The Divines each exercise dominion over their portion of the universe. Male in the sky above. Female in the earth surrounding. That which is not in the realm below. But our universe is bounded by walls, within which all must coexist side by side.' This belief, I suspect, also helps to explain the fascination with scorpions and poisons, for to the Nikkad death waits among them always, and is not to be pushed aside.

In some accounts, the warriors of the Nikkad, and especially female ones, are labeled dishonorable and cowardly. Leaving aside the folly of considering warfare, a practice shared by all peoples, something that can be judged by the rules of anyone living beyond the guidance of the Enlightened Revelation, this assertion must be rejected. Methodology does not measure bravery. The Nikkad are deeply brave in battle, and often greatly selfless. Only the largest cities possess the strength to truly resist a Kharal warband unleashed in full assault upon them. They choose to fight knowing that the riders may, in their rage, light fires and lay waste to their towns, but battle for every street and room all the same knowing that losses incurred in overcoming one town shall spare others the same. Indeed, their warriors hold in their tales not the names of heroes or formations, but cities and towns, and Nikkad princes raise megaliths of stone on the steppe commemorating where lost settlements once stood, overcome by drought, plague, or Kharal.

The ladies of the Nikkad go into battle with knives in hand, darts in belt, and unarmored save for diaphanous folds of skirt and sleeve to catch barb and arrow. They braid their hair in dark scarves and give themselves to the shadows, adding their own number to Ukit's count till the battle is done. Doubt not their deadliness.