Chapter II

Year 8 of the reign of empress Lim-Kiririsha, 13th day of the month of Dumuzu

In two weeks, the ECSS fleet arrived at their destination, though most of that time was spent navigating the Indus and Ganges rivers, as the journey along the coast from Keshm to the Indus Valley only took about four days. While some raiders and pirates tried attacking the ships, they were always either scared away or easily defeated by the EC marines, who had superior organization and armaments. Due to travelling close to the coasts and later fully inland by way of rivers, the crew could easily disembark at most times, but that was done sparingly, so that the ships would always be on the move and so reach their destination quicker, while also being better protected from the locals this way. Thus, the journey went smoothly for the ECSS fleet, and in the middle of the month of Dumuzu it reached the main harbor of Asandivat, the capital of the Kingdom of Kuru.

“Hey, you’re cheating again!” Murdus exclaimed at Warad-Sin, with whom he and Anshar were playing a card game on the main deck of their ship.

“More lies from the barbarian’s mouth!” Warad-Sin replied, as he was laying his cards on the deck. “Doctor Warad-Sin never cheats. The gods have simply blessed me for my honorable ways, something you would know little about, son of Rhages.”

“The gods are blessing you awfully often though, huh,” Anshar added. “Also, Rhages is a city, not his father.”

“Perchance.”

“You can’t just say “perchance” with no explanation! Is this your best defense?”

“I do not need to defend myself against mortals such as you. I only answer to Nergal. Perhaps you should first improve your own strategies before throwing such accusations against me. I must repeat myself – the plaguedoctor never cheats.”

“Pack it up, gang, we’ve reached at our destination,” Uktannu said as he approached them. “Anshar, your services would be quite needed now.”

“Of course,” Anshar stood up. “Could you remind what I should say when we arrive? Meet the king, I mean.”

“You know, introduce our group, say that we’ve been sent from Elam to help him. He will probably say something about how he is fighting Pancala and needs our help to cripple it so that his forces could secure the region. That sort of thing. We’ll see how it goes when we meet him, I’ll tell you what to say if something changes.”

“Alright, got it.”

“I’ll go grab some weapons then,” Murdus said.

“But before we disembark in this foreign land, you need to receive some protection from local diseases. So unless you put on these masks-” Warad-Sin began.

“For the last time, we’re not putting on your stupid bird masks,” Nidintu retorted.

“Very well. Drink this then, should do the trick almost as well,” he distributed vials with some liquid to the remaining EC agents, who promptly drank it.

In a few more moments, their ship, along with the rest, docked at the harbor and the agents disembarked in Asandivat, followed by some of their crewmates, while the rest remained to guard and take care of the ships. Almost immediately, they were greeted by a distraught looking official.

“Oh, it’s you! The support from our Elamite allies, is that right? You have come to help us, yes?” the official said in Sanskrit, with Anshar translating it to Elamite for his group.

“Uh, yes, that’s us. We’re from Elam. I’m commander Uktannu Kuttimu, Eastern Coalition Secret Service. We’ve been sent here to take care of your… problems,” Uktannu said, and Anshar translated it to Sanskrit to the local official.

“That’s great! Your arrival couldn’t have been timelier! But where are my manners? First of all, welcome to Asandivat, the capital of the great Kingdom of Kuru. I am Patanjali, the mayor of the city and an advisor to our wise king Pratipa. I’m sorry for my rather erratic behaviour. It’s just that in recent days, we have had some serious trouble here…”

“Trouble? What sort of trouble? Something to do with Pancala?”

“Yes, indeed. We have been at war with the recently established kingdom and its founding rulers for a few years now, but we never managed to fully break them. Which is why we asked for your help. At least initially.”

“Wait, rulers? As in multiple kings?”

“Yes, it is an interesting situation. The Kingdom of Pancala was founded by five brothers: Mudgala, Yavinara, Pratiswan, Kampila, who founded the capital, and Sranjaya. They appear to be ruling together, though there may be some conflict between them, naturally. We thought you could pit them against each other and so help us win this war, but now we have more pressing matters.”

“What do you mean?”

“Well, now the situation has changed quite a bit, and certainly not in our favor. You see, our king Pratipa was on campaign, heading for the capital of Pancala, the fortress city of Kampila, before he… disappeared.”

“Disappeared? You mean he was captured.”

“Not necessarily. His forces were ambushed, and so we at first suspected that he was killed or captured by the enemy, but we found no body. Furthermore, our enemies claim that they do not have Pratipa in captivity, that they know nothing about his whereabouts.”

“Could they be lying?”

“Maybe, but I don’t see why they would do that. Having our king would be a valuable bargaining chip for them, so if they had him they would most definitely flaunt him in front of us, baiting our forces into their traps.”

“That is true. So where could he be then?”

“That’s what we have been trying to figure out as well, and I’m hoping you could help us in this matter. You are technically a neutral party and so could venture deep behind enemy lines to search for him, something we couldn’t do so easily. The king went missing six days ago, our soldiers reported that they lost track of him in the middle of a battle and couldn’t find him, so they were forced to turn back without him, as they were being pursued by Pancala’s army.”

“A most peculiar predicament indeed,” Warad-Sin said.

“Of course we will help,” Uktannu said. “Our mission is to help your kingdom, so the task of finding its ruler does fall into this category.”

“Thank you, honorable allies,” Patanjali bowed before them. “If you find him, you will be rewarded most generously.”

“So who is in charge of the kingdom, now that the king is gone?”

“That’s the problem – no one really is. The king has three sons, but neither is really fit to rule at the moment. The oldest one, Devapi, has leprosy, and so the elders refuse to acknowledge him as the new king, not to mention that he himself doesn’t feel adequate for the job. The second son, Bahlika, was trained as a warrior, not as a ruler, and so also isn’t prepared for the job, nor accepted by everyone. The youngest son, Shantanu, has the most potential, but he is too young to rule, he’s still just a kid. So we have to deal not only with a massive war, but also with a succession crisis now. And that’s not the end of it…”

“Really? What else is the problem?”

“Well, once we saw that this war wasn’t going to be easily and quickly won, we hired a mercenary company to boost our forces. We were richer than Pancala and could afford it. And not any company – an elite one, originating in the west, near your lands. Called Resheph’s Blades.”

“Oh, I heard about them. Mostly Ugaritics, Phoenicians, and Alashiyans who felt that the OFK doesn’t provide enough excitement and money, so they left to fight someone else’s wars. A pretty brutal bunch.”

“Yes, they are. And hiring them backfired pretty badly for us. Once they learned that our king was missing, they abandoned the front and went back here, demanding immediate payment, as they were now confident that we were about to lose the war. So they wanted to cash out and leave, or possibly switch sides. We refused to pay them, since they had breached their contract by leaving the war early, and told them that they would receive their main payment once their contributions resulted in the defeat of Pancala. They had none of that, and so started ransacking our cities, taking what they could and threatening to continue looting until they were paid.”

“Quite a conundrum. Where are they now?”

“They have scattered around our kingdom, but most, including their leader, are right here in Asandivat. In fact, they are fighting our city guards right now.”

“I suppose that is the first issue that needs to be solved then. Could you take us to them? Maybe we could talk some sense into them and stop this infighting before it gets worse.”

“Certainly, commander. Please, follow me.”

“Great, more pointless side missions to add to our already difficult task. Sure, why not. Let’s go help every farmer find his missing chickens and deal with the tax collectors at that,” Nidintu annoyedly said. “You better get some good rewards for this detour, Uktannu.”

“Less talking, more working, woman!” Murdus said as he strode past her.

“You seem distressed, gentlelady,” Warad-Sin said to Nidintu. “Must be the premenstrual syndrome. I have just the remedy for that, however.”

“You know, I will actually murder you one day,” Nidintu sped past him. “Though… Alright, fine, give me that fucking thing.”

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

The group, including the five EC field agents, their supporting personnel, and local guards, left the harbor and followed the mayor through the city towards the site of commotion, where the main group of the mercenaries currently was. While the harbor and the adjacent royal palace looked clean and well maintained, the situation began getting worse and worse as the group ventured away from the center and closer to the fighting. Soon, the EC agents started seeing ransacked or burnt down houses, items thrown on the ground all around them, animals going around freely and their owners trying to catch them, and eventually – puddles of blood and disfigured dead bodies next to them. Shouting and screaming of locals and mercenaries also intensified as the group was nearing the edge of the relatively small city. Finally, they approached the site of an ongoing street fight between local guards and the mercenaries, with the latter seemingly having an advantage, though both sides had already suffered casualties not too long before.

“This is what we have to deal with every day now,” Patanjali told Uktannu, having to raise his voice so that he would be heard through all the shouting. “And it’s just getting worse by the hour. Please, if you have any idea on how to calm the mercenaries down…”

“I’ll see what I can do,” Uktannu said. “Though you stay back, mayor. For your safety.”

Uktannu stepped ahead, closer to the fighting, while his guards moved around him and readied their weapons for a potential confrontation. The EC commander cleared his throat and addressed the mercenaries.

“Cease this needless fighting at once! You are fighting on the same side, this is just pointless blood shedding! Lay down your weapons and let’s negotiate, I’m sure we can easily come to a solution which can work for everyone here!” he proclaimed in Akkadian.

“Huh, Akkadian? What’s another civilized man doing here, in the land of these mongrels?” one of the mercenaries replied.

“Yes, I am, as you say, from a civilized land. I’m from Elam, and I’ve come here to negotiate with you. I just want to talk.”

“Beat it, Elamite,” another mercenary, in the process of fighting a local guard, replied. “We ain’t going anywhere until we get our payment. These motherfuckers don’t wanna pay, so they will pay in their blood!”

“It doesn’t have to be this way! We can arrange something for you, just stop this fighting right now!”

Uktannu’s call was ignored and the fighting continued.

“I don’t think this approach of yours is working, Uk,” Nidintu said. “They’re in some fucking blood rage and won’t listen to anyone, it seems.”

“I bet they will listen to this,” Uktannu pulled out his gun and shot it in the air.

Now both fighting parties stopped and everyone turned to the commander to hear what he had to say.

“Alright, listen up motherfuckers, because the next time I shoot this thing it won’t be a warning shot anymore. I can’t have you fighting each other here. You don’t need to know the specifics, just know that we have been sent here from Elam to help Kuru, and so dealing with your little insurrection is part of this task. Now, get me your leader, so that I could negotiate for you returning to fighting for Kuru, or, at the very least, fucking right off and letting us do our jobs unimpeded,” Uktannu stated, while Anshar translated it to the Indians so they would know what was happening.

The mercenaries stayed frozen for a moment.

“Now!” Uktannu roared and reloaded his gun to shoot again.

“Alright, fine, just chill out,” one of the mercenaries said. “He’s outside, in the camp we set up recently. He won’t go in here before it’s safe, so you will have to meet him in the camp. Do you wanna go now?”

“Yes! Lead me to him. And don’t try anything funny, because we are all packing heat.”

“That’s goddamn right,” Murdus brandished his long gun in front of the mercenaries.

“Perhaps even more than a single one,” Warad-Sin pulled out two guns, one for each hand. “My personal bullets are coated with the deadliest poisons, I might add.”

“We got it, birdman,” the mercenary said. “Let’s just go.”

Most of the mercenaries remained where they were, though now they were not fighting and instead were only in a heated standoff with the locals, while a few led the EC party out of the city, beyond the rather rudimentary walls, into the mercenary camp not too far away. It was a fairly large camp, with a couple thousand of mercenaries there, all seeming rather restless and ready to jump into action at any moment. They viewed the ECSS agents with suspicion, but did not pay them too much mind and usually returned to their activities momentarily. Eventually the group reached the main command tent, where the leader of this expeditionary force was supposed to be.

“He’s there,” a mercenary told Uktannu and stepped into the tent to tell their leader of the guests’ arrival, before returning. “Go in alone. And leave your weapons here.”

“Sure enough,” Uktannu gave his gun and a couple daggers to his agents and entered the tent.

He was met by a Phoenician man in his forties, with an eyepatch over one eye, sitting at a table and reading a tablet, while drinking some beer. Upon seeing Uktannu, the man put down the tablet and prompted Uktannu to sit down across him.

“You didn’t leave all your weapons outside, did you?” the mercenary leader asked.

“I’m an ECSS agent. If I had to take out all my weapons, I would spent a whole day doing it. But I’m not here to kill you – that would be detrimental to my cause. A leaderless mercenary rabble would cause even more chaos here,” Uktannu said.

“ECSS, huh? Well, doesn’t surprise me. Was only a matter of time before you guys decided to expand to India as well. So I gather that the EC is supporting Kuru, is that right?”

“Yes. And you are too. We have the same ally and the same enemy. We are on the same side.”

“Oh, not at all. The only side me and my boys are on is the side of money. We don’t care for your petty expansionist desires, we are only here to get rich. If Pancala or some other statelet began paying us more, we would switch to their side the same day.”

“I got that. And now that you think that Kuru is about to lose, you want to extort as much money out of them as you can while Asandivat still stands, before fucking off for some other campaign in India or elsewhere.”

“More or less. We did the work and we want to be paid, simple as that.”

“But you didn’t. You abandoned the campaign halfway and didn’t uphold your end of the deal.”

“And what are you going to do about it? Besides, they didn’t either – no one told us their king was going to fucking vanish and leave its main army leaderless!”

“Still, you didn’t need to start rampaging through Kuru and looting every house right afterwards.”

“I didn’t, sure, I am a rich man already. But my soldiers need some payment. They were promised it, and they are going to take it one way or another, with or without my blessing. I just make the process more… efficient.”

“And what if you got your payment? Would you stop attacking Kuru? And return to campaigning in Pancala?”

“We would have no need to continue fucking around here if we got our money. As for campaigning – that ain’t happening, soldiers of Kuru already hate our guts, so they wouldn’t agree to continue fighting alongside us.”

“I didn’t say anything about fighting alongside them.”

“What are you getting at?”

“I want to hire you and your company for the duration of this campaign, so that you would return to and finish the fight.”

“Hah, really? And why would you do that?”

“Because otherwise we would have to send in our own soldiers here, which, while possible, would be very costly for both of us. We would have to spend a lot on transportation costs, deal with difficult supply routes, and would receive some casualties while fighting your guys. But it would be worse for you still, as your entire mercenary company would be eliminated, including you. The coalition takes these things seriously, and, believe me, you don’t want to fuck with us. You remember what happened to the Assyrian Liberation Army?”

“Yeah, I sure do.”

“So you must realize that me paying you to leave Kuru alone and help us defeat Pancala is the optimal solution, since it costs much less for us, rather than having to send in the army, and also allows your company to not only continue existing, but even make a profit from this fucked up situation.”

“You make a compelling argument, agent. But where would you get the money to pay us?”

“We have lots of gold and other valuables on our ships. They were intended for the king, but since he’s missing, they would be better used in some other way. Such as making sure you do your jobs.”

“Now, we’re talking! You should have started with this! Like I said, we only care about working for those who pay us the most. So if the Eastern Coalition has boatloads of gold for us, fuck yeah we will fight for the Eastern Coalition!”

“I am glad you saw reason. Working with us will be a boon to your company in and of itself. Who knows, if you do this job well, I might even inform the empress of your contributions, which could result in even more lucrative contracts from our side in the future.”

“Sounds like a deal,” the mercenary leader stood up and shook Uktannu’s hand. “I am Barekbaal Adad, by the way.”

“I know. I’m Uktannu Kuttimu. I’ll get back to the city to inform the mayor of this resolution. And I’ll return here tomorrow, with my first down payment to you, so that we could get down to business and begin planning the king’s rescue and Pancala’s downfall.”

Uktannu and his party returned to the city while at the same time the mercenaries left it for their camp, after receiving orders from Barekbaal. The ECSS agents were soon met again by the mayor Patanjali, now overjoyed that the fighting in his city had ceased.

“You managed to get them to leave! That’s great! My deepest gratitude to you, honorable commander,” Patanjali said.

“Yeah, I did,” Uktannu confirmed. “They shouldn’t bother you again. Ever.”

“If I may ask – how did you do it?”

“I hired them myself.”

“W-what? Why?”

“Because a rampaging mercenary band numbering in the thousands is not good for us either. And since you couldn’t pay them, I stepped in. Not like there was any other way out. At least not one without a massive loss of life on all sides.”

“I… I see. But do you actually have the payment you promised them? Because we, uh, didn’t. That’s why we couldn’t pay them before the war was over. We had hoped to loot Pancala and pay the mercenaries with the spoils we got from there, but they returned earlier than expected and you see where that led.”

“I figured that. But we do have a way to make our payments. We have expensive valuables on our ships. They were intended as gifts for your king and other officials, but they will now have to be used for another purpose.”

“Oh, I understand that perfectly, commander. You helping us deal with the mercenaries is already worth very much. And if you find the king too, that would be invaluable.”

“That’s what we will be focusing on next. Finding the king and winning the war. And I bet these two issues are rather intertwined and will have to be solved together.”

“Indeed. Now that we don’t have to fight the mercenaries anymore, we can reassemble our armies and send them back to Pancala, before it manages to recover.”

“You would be wise to do that. But do you have capable commanders who could lead it now that the king is gone?”

“Well, we still have our army chief, our king’s second in command in the field, who is well respected and can continue to lead the troops. There is also Bahlika, the king’s second son, who is a warrior at heart and is quite good in this field. He is young, but he is of age to lead the troops. He will probably depart for the front shortly.”

“Good, seeing a royal fighting in the field would help maintain and even raise morale among the troops.”

“That’s the idea. But what about these mercenaries? What will you do with them?”

“Send them to fight Pancala, of course. But don’t worry, they will be used for missions separate from yours. Supply convoy raids, city infiltration, camp captures, that sort of thing, so that your army would be free to focus on field battles.”

“I suppose that could be a workable solution. Our army would not get along with these mercenaries now, but it is true that we need all the soldiers we can get so that we could end this war as soon as possible.”

“And, of course, Resheph’s Blades would help us find your king, so that you wouldn’t need to waste your soldiers on such endeavors.”

“I will inform the council of this. I am just a mayor, after all, I don’t make the decisions regarding the war.”

“The council? What’s that?”

“Oh, I’m sorry, I must have forgotten to mention it. It’s a rather haphazard attempt to restore some semblance of authority in the absence of Pratipa. It consists of our purohita – high priest – the army chief, the king’s wife Sunanda, and the oldest son Devapi. The one with leprosy.”

“I see.”

“But, truth be told, they haven’t had many ideas on what to do, so I think they will accept your proposal without much resistance.”

“Good. We don’t have time to waste. The sooner we get back out there, the sooner this war can be finished.”

“You are very right. Still, it will take at least a few days before everything can be arranged. It’s a small town here, we don’t have any luxurious hotels for you to stay in, but you can stay as guests in the palace. At least you and your agents, commander.”

“Thank you, I appreciate it. It will be just the five of us, the rest will camp outside the city or stay in the ships.”

“That can certainly be arranged. Follow me then.”

“The palace, huh?” Murdus said. “Ask him if there will be any… special entertainment, heh.”

“Not for your barbarian ass,” Nidintu replied.

“These Indians are even more barbarian! Come on, ask him!”

“I’m not translating this request,” Anshar said.

“You’re no fun. And what use are you if you’re not gonna translate?”

“Why did I even bother bringing you all here…” Uktannu said.

“How droll,” Warad-Sin remarked. “What peculiar specimens you all are.”