-XV-
"This Land Was Not Enough"
Khutsleinaan, May 1125
Yeilkichi and his small retinue gazed upon the rude town rising from the eerily flat tundra shores at the mouth of a broad river and the ocean on the snowy morning. It looked nothing like the small Guteikh or Kh'adaasak [1] villages he passed on the way to this remote place, yet at the same time hardly resembled a proper town. A collection of sunken earth sod huts lined with driftwood and whale bones lay strewn about the place, but unlike amongst the Guteikh or Kh'adaasak, the houses seemed closer together with an almost familiar sense of aesthetics by the colourful painting applied to the wooden posts of the houses. A few unfamiliar-looking kayaks lay down at the shore of the river, and the familiar fishy smell of the ocean permeated the air. He shivered as flurries fell on his face.
Even in spring this place is still cold.
Two thick totem poles stood outside the village done in the familiar style of his home island of Keilchaniya, impressing Yeilkichi with their ornate carving despite the fact there stood few, if any, tall trees anywhere along this river. The pole on the left as Yeilkichi interpreted the symbols and carvings [2] recounted several legends common to many poles which greeted the entrance of villages and towns which from the top of the pole to the bottom presented the foundation of this area and town. Yeilkichi noticed a story about a supernatural bear at the bottom, supposedly a previous ruler of the place thanks to its rich salmon runs. The pole on the right Yeilkichi recognised referring to the Hlinkits coming to the land, killing its supernatural bears and other evil in exchange for walrus tusks. At face level he noticed a stylised man aside a great bear, different from the evil bears above, and people cheerfully submitting to him.
Inside the town he tried to ignore the gaze of the few villagers out that morning, noting the presence of a few small gardens not yet in bloom with plants, assuming they even could grow here. He noted with morbid curiosity racks of skulls outside one of the few wooden buildings in the town standing near the shore. On a shelf formed from whale bones, human skulls were arranged next to the skulls of reindeers, towey goats, seals, and what Yeilkichi assumed were walruses, the animals whose tusks made the ruler of this land rich.
The wild prince Khutsaayi, Yeilkichi thought, or "Kuleikhwaish", his other name, the "father of walruses", as derogatory as it seemed for such a powerful ruler. Yeilkichi did not wish to start conflict between Keilchaniya and this new land under the sway of this ruler Khutsaayi. [3]
Yet the tallest and most ornate building, a well-painted palatial structure of wood in typical Hlinkit style, stood on a hill in front of the town's plaza, surrounded by lesser buildings. A tall totem pole stood outside, crowned by a massive bear which Yeilkichi assumed was a polar bear, recounting the ancestors of its owner and their achievements and finally the achievements of the current owner, the prince Khutsaayi. According to the pole, Khutsaayi's uncle fled to the lands of the Kh'adaasak to escape injust Keilchaniyans--Yeilkichi winced as he noticed a raven with prominent wings, referring to his grandfather of the same name--and from there the locals enlisted him and his family to drive off cruel and wicked shamans. The carvings referring to whales and reindeer grabbed by these bears symbolised Khutsaayi's family bringing new prosperity to the village. He motioned his retinue to wait outside the palace, and walked in alone.
Inside the palace, Yeilkichi passed several slave families, then greeted two Hlinkit noblemen guarding the door warming themselves by an oil lamp, who opened the door to the inner chamber. The pleasant smell of sweetflag wafted through the air as oil lamps burned, illuminating and warming the inner hall. Seated on a fine couch of wood reclined the lord of the town, Khutsaayi himself, a man as massive and thickly built as a bear, chatting happily with a slave girl with peculiar facial features and even stranger hair which shone as golden as the sun. [4] Khutsaayi dressed himself in finely dyed tehi clothes as typical of a Hlinkit noble, but as a coat wore an outfit sewn from many animal skins. He drank darkly-hued cider [5] out of a skull cup.
"I shouldn't have to come to the end of the world to find you, Kuleikhwaish. I suppose you have returned to live among the Kh'adaasak?"
"End of the world? This is my home, the land of Khuutsleinaan!" Khutsaayi replied. "A home reclaimed from my inept cousin and once again established prosperity and justice to this country! Now what brings you to the end of the world, old friend?"
"Word has it the Lord of the Boyatkh wishes to meet us again," Yeilkichi said, speaking in the Atkh language to avoid anyone overhearing. "He claims to have an offer for you."
"Chakhwinak?" Khutsaayi laughed. "What he could he possibly offer me when I already have everything I need?"
"The wealthiest land along all the mountains and coasts. Suchuq and all the lands of the Qatmaqatkh [6]."
He laughed again, swilling his cider and taking another gulp.
"No place wealthier than here, as much as Chakhwinak might claim. There are no strange cultists here, no warlords with their disregard of human life, no thieving Wakashan merchants and pirates. Just myself, who rules with a fist of justice, and my people, who gain from my justice, and for it can truly partake in all this land has to offer!"
"It wasn't long ago we battled side by side," Yeilkichi noted, trying to change the subject to memorable times. "I know you remember the place the Qatmaqatkh still call Kalkhabe, where the Qatmaqatkhs fell upon us like a blizzard?"
Khutsaayi smiled. "Yes, of course, go on, recount my triumphs."
"I know you recall how we became the first of our people to enter a Kuksuist lodge and all the wealth to be had inside."
Etem, what a triumph, Yeilkichi thought, recalling sacking that town of the Qatmaqatkhs who called themselves the Micha. "You never would've gained enough followers to truly become the ruler of this place without the fame you gained bringing back treasure from that southern expedition."
"Ah, but I'm far wealthier in treasure now!" Khutsaayi replied. "The lakes and rivers and coasts of this country abound in wealth. The greatest runs of salmon, ample mines of copper and gold, the richest game, fabulous pastures for my reindeer and goats, seas full of seals and whales, and beyond all else, more ivory than one could imagine!" And no trees, Yeilkichi thought.
"There's many places outside what you control where the walrus live. You assume the Kh'adaasak and Guteikh and Gunana always want to trade with you and your people on the terms you demand?"
"No man dares trade ivory to any Hlinkit city without my permission," Khutsaayi said. "He won't trade it to the Gunana either. I've killed a lot of men and made their families slaves for smuggling my ivory. The Gunana know this too. I have helped them drive off clans who try and get around this law."
"We've been far south in the past, you know how wealthy the land of the Qatmaqatkhs can be. Endless people to offer their tribute to you as ruler, beaches full of money shells, deep mines of copper and precious metals, the greatest forests imaginable, exotic spices unthinkable to find here, the Qatmaqatkhs truly have the best land, and I know you know that as well."
"It's people who are the problem sometimes, my friend," Khutsaayi commented. "First are the Qatmaqatkhs, numerous as they are, they'll fight me to the end like they did at Kalkhabe if I want to rule over them. Second are my allies, like yourself and Chakhwinak. You'll want your fair share of the plunder. Here in Khutsleinaan and all the country around it, the place they call Anaaski [7], the locals allow me to rule over them while my allies
"If you meet with Chakhwinak you'll find he can give you far more than you'll ever imagine," Yeilkichi promised. He raised his finger toward Khutsaayi. "I know what you're thinking, you're thinking this is no different than other Chakhwinak's expeditions. But you've never been to Suchuq or its capital Suchui like he and myself have. Suchui's cult lodge is far larger than Etem's, and on top of it sits a palace where it's ruler Sayach'apis claims the tribute of hundreds of villages. This place, Kesukaan [8], and Etem combined have nothing on the wealth Suchui has."
"I have proof of the wealth of this place, not that of Suchuq and Suchui," Khutsaayi said. He pointed to a jade axe above his head with a bone handle etched with a thunderbird. "The whale who gave its bones for that handle was like none I've ever seen. It was truly huge, with a mouth more massive than any whale I've fought has. I killed it on a cold winter day, after I heard from the Kh'adassak that whales often passed in the winter. From the ease I killed it compared to other whales that approached its size, it seemed as if the whale's spirit was more accepting of its death. And winter after winter, people around here see these whales. And not just whales like that, but the strange white whales of Keilchaniya often hang about here [9]." That gave Yeilkichi pause--he had fought whales alongside Khutsaayi since he was barely a grown man, since before Khutsaayi left with his uncle to this frontier, and Khutsaayi was as much a whaler as he was a warrior. To hear a story like that made him want to know more.
"It's interesting you mention whaling," Yeilkichi said. "Chakhwinak and myself only visited Suchui to begin with when we killed a whale offshore. We killed a massive and fierce whale which sank two of our ships, and brought it ashore with the permission of Suchui's lords. They supplied us with men to butcher the whale, and demanded their portion of the whale and its parts. We certainly gave them that and took our fair share home. There are many whales indeed off the Suchuq Peninsula."
"I'm sure, since wherever there are whales, there are Atkhs! Unless folk like us Hlinkit or the Dekina tell them that the whales don't belong to them of course!" Khutsaayi joked.
"This is actually why Chakhwinak wants to see you to begin with," Yeilkichi replied. "Not long after, other Boyatkh whalers began hunting there, using the lands of Tukwa and Damen as bases. One of these whalers, a brother-in-law of Chakhwinak, was forced into the harbour during a storm. He needed food, so he offered what little he had to a merchant with promise he would return with fish or even a whale. The merchant accepted, but complained to Sayach'apis he had been cheated when he received no fish by the next day. So Sayach'apis hacked off the whaler's hand."
"And what happened next?" Khutsaayi asked, grinning. He knew as much as Yeilkichi did how much of a grudge Chakhwinak could hold.
"His relatives asked for compensation from Sayach'apis, but Sayach'apis hacked their hands of too and branded them all thieves. He kept allowing the Atkhs to land and trade in Suchui and his lands regardless, which infuriated Chakhwinak even more. About this time I learned of it when Chakhwinak himself arrived in Kesukaan to seek my aid. He had already spoken to people he knew or heard about from all over, from some Tsusha in Lakhalidel to some Dekina in Llaginda to Sheit'ka and Yakwadat [10] in Ringitania, asking for their aid and promising glory. Chakhwinak would have visited you personally as well but had to attend to matters at home."
Khutsaayi fell silent, slowly sipping his cider from the skull cup. He seemed deep in thought
"A shame he couldn't visit me then," Khutsaayi shrugged, finishing his drink and setting his skull cup down. Yeilkichi noticed his hesistation. "It's not worthy of him to send someone as great as yourself as a mere messenger."
"Who's skull is that, by the way?" Yeilkichi asked. "Something tells me there's more to it."
Khutsaayi laughed, holding up the skull.
"A man from the place we're going. He was a Kuksuist Lodgemaster while he lived, at least that's what I remember. I stabbed him in the neck with an old jade spear I owned. This skull is that of the son of the man the Qatmaqatkh called K'owlichal, I killed him at Kalkhabe." He stood up, grabbing his jade axe from the wall above him and glanced at a cabinet in the corner engraved with a blood-stained polar bear. "Now then, let's go add another skull to my collection, the skull of this Sayach'apis."
---
Suchui, July 18, 1125
"Why are you so greedy, exalted Lodgemaster of Suchui?" K'owlichal begged as the man pelted him with money shells. "Truly, you are strong in spiritual powers, yet why are you so stingy in teaching others?"
Truly, the Sea Walkh are right to call him Sayach'apis. "High Above", he knew the name meant, yet the Walkh [11] called him that in a sarcastic tone instead of with the reverence he would think it meant. They called his uncle, the old Lodgemaster of Suchui that too, but K'owlichal suspected the Sea Walkh had far more reverence for that clever Lodgemaster who negotiated the treacherous realms of secular politics.
"You call me exalted and accuse me of greed in the same breath," he spat, "
Exalted Lodgemaster of Khadalam." He threw more money shells at K'owlichal, as he tried to shield his head. "Pathetic. Take your money and leave. Your followers have no reason to be here."
"We only wished for your wisdom, exalted Lodgemaster," K'owlichal pleaded. "It is the duty of the Lodgemaster to share with others his knowledge."
"My knowledge is only for myself and the protection of my people," the Lodgemaster spat. "Now leave!"
"The eclipse last night!" K'owlichal shouted, trying to figure something out. "I danced my all to restore the Kuksu's light to the heavens! Surely for this deed you would accept my payment for your teachings!"
"Eclipse?" the Lodgemaster sneered. "I don't remember one, must've been asleep. Now leave!" He motioned to a few bulky guards wielding thick redwood clubs impaled with chunks of metal. K'owlichal wanted to scream at the man's sheer impudence, sheer incompetence, and sheer blasphemy, but knew it indeed was time to leave.
K'owlichal and his entourage left the dimly lit palace of Sayach'apis and stumbled back into the cool and suddenly very foggy morning.
"I am not hurt, my fellows" he announced. "We will return home with little gain." He smirked a bit to try and mask the pure anger he felt as his men hoisted him onto his litter and carried him down the hills toward the shore. At the harbour, a few of his men loaded woven baskets of acorns and dried roots of kushi and valley turnip into their ship, a massive dugout canoe of the Sea Walkh, its sail emblazoned with a stylised dolphin crest. It is good even the Sea Walkh can be helpful, K'owlichal thought, glancing at the tall, elderly navigator whose clan owned the vessel.
As they cast off into the foggy sea where the tips of the watchtowers of Suchui faded from view, the memory of the humiliation and shocking display of evil and sacrilege burned in K'owlichal's head as his boat moved on. His young followers gave it their all as they rowed, their grunts and rhythmic chants making a peaceful drone good for meditation.
He did nothing during that eclipse, K'owlichal thought.
Perhaps his sacrilege will damn his city. He felt a tinge of sorrow for the no doubt many good people of Suchui who would be caught up in this because their leader failed them. Yet anything bad that happened to Sayach'apis and his entire clan, that would be most deserved. He found it inconceivable a Lodgemaster would act like that toward a fellow initiated Kuksuist. Yet from his travels, too many Lodgemasters had traits of Sayach'apis in them.
All they seek is power with no room for spiritual wisdom. Because of them, too many do not give back to the lodges and too many try and subvert the lodge. They give nothing but give a bad name to men of faith. They are no greedy and barbaric men, no different than the Walkh of Esach'atuk or the Sea Walkh raiders. He glanced at the navigator of the ship, and then at the fine redwood construction of the ship itself.
The same Sea Walkh who sent him to be with the ancestors at Kalkhabe, he thought, thinking of his deceased son.
Yet K'owlichal could not get the eclipse off his mind either. What did it mean? As he danced himself into exhaustion that night in the harbour, in his ecstasy he felt a sign that this eclipse meant monumental change. His dreams in the past few days offered more clues--dreams of fires and men and women screaming, a dream of a strange white bear transforming into a grizzly bear then into a human in bear skins wandering around before the oceans drowned everything, a man who reminded him vaguely of a Sea Walkh lord he saw at Kalkhabe.
Eclipses are ill omens, he thought. Truly something terrible would happen soon, as much as he tried to prevent it with his magic. Perhaps it would happen because that Lodgemaster of Suchui
did not try to prevent it.
After many days of travel, passing so many dramatic sea cliffs that marked this part of the world, the vessel steered past yet more cliffs to the mouth of a muddy creek, where a few docks had been set up. The tired rowers rested themselves as they slowly unloaded from the boat, while K'owlichal's men helped him from the boat and gave him a heavy sack.
"Sea Walkh captain," K'owlichal said in the language the Sea Walkh spoke to outsiders like himself, motioning to the Sea Walkh man as he helped his crew. "Thank you for the safe passage. As promised, here is payment for you and your men."
The Sea Walkh captain emptied the sack, finding a woven basket of sedges and willow given even more color by the green feathers of ducks lined near the opening. He opened the basket, finding it stuffed with acorns on the inside with a few ropes of shells sitting on top.
"More than we expected, thank you, Lodgemaster," the man said, smiling as he examined the shells. "It is good our people are at peace, business is better that way."
Only because your master has found new people to terrorise, K'owlichal thought, trying to avoid scowling in front of the man. His traveling party hoisted him onto his litter and left the docks, carrying him through the town.
The town of Dakhwa itself didn't seem like much compared to Suchui, Khadalam, and certainly not Koru, but it was larger than other Sea Walkh towns K'owlichal knew of. Two rows of longhouses formed from redwood planks and tehi rope lined the muddy creek and the ocean front, with buildings of more important function standing out in size, and the impressiveness of the murals on the buildings. A few possessed the tall poles so loved by the Sea Walkh, carved with richly colored scenes and images of gods, animals, and men. K'owlichal wondered what they meant as he passed, for he knew the poles spoke an entire conversation, at least according to the Sea Walkh who carved them. The tallest pole and largest home stood on a small hill on the outskirts.
"The home of the Sea Walkh called Chakhwinak," muttered an older, battle-hardened warrior as some of his group nodded in agreement. "The Lord of the Sea Walkh, a cruel and immensely powerful leader." K'owlichal smiled at seeing the men there to meet him, an entire war party of twenty men, dressed in thick hides of deer and goat, some with bows on their backs and others with spear or club in hand. A few large white towey goats carried sacks of provisions.
Although peace reigns in this land for now, it is never truly safe to travel the roads.
"We should not speak of him, my friends" K'owlichal said. All the men around him knew well who he was, having fought in battle against his men many times. K'owlichal knew him the most. His men killed his sons and spent many decades plundering his land. He knew not a single lodge existed along the coast in this land anymore and the rituals given by Kuksu forgotten. In his youth he could never imagine a scourge like this having struck his homeland. Even as an elder, he remembered what this place once was, the town of P'dahaw--much smaller, yet no less vibrant. Then Chakhwinak came, and P'dahaw became Dakhwa, transformed and corrupted into the chief town and base of the Sea Walkh.
His men spent the next few days following the well-trodden paths inland as they passed through densely forested valleys with tall trees nearly blocking out the sun. The muddy creek presented the best path inland, and they drank from it, fished from it, and camped alongside it. K'owlichal traveled that road many times in his days, and was thankful it went uneventfully, even if he and his men occasionally had the feeling they were being stalked by evil intent. Whether it was evil spirits or simply men controlled by them, K'owlichal never bothered to find out, for they never seemed to come close enough to truly worry him.
Many days of travel inland, K'owlichal arrived in his small village one afternoon, a cluster of round houses partially sunk into the earth surrounded by carefully managed groves of sturdy oaks. A few houses had small, spindly bushes outside them, carefully pruned to maximise the amount of firewood and berries the bush might give. Behind the tall rushes of tule, leaves and stems and flowers of omodaka clogged the small ponds and creek, plants which come the rainy season would be harvested in a great festival, while alongside it on shore grew the small fields of tehi and kushi with their white flowers. A few white towey goats grazed with their young in the place, although their shepherds dozed off in the afternoon heat. Two buildings stood out to him from their size and importance--the first, in the center of the village, marked by its size and the artistically arranged redwood posts outside--the home of the village's lord and his family. The second, he noted as his men carried him past, was sunk into the side of a knoll with rich canvases fluttering about it portraying animals, gods, and men. Richly carved posts on the sod roof and around the building cast unique shadows around and as K'owlichal knew, inside the building. He cracked a faint smile at the familiar place, the Kuksuist lodge where an eternity ago as a boy he was first initiated.
Truly it was a peaceful place. Neither the fierce reindeer herdsmen to the north that called themseles Tanne nor the Sea Walkh nor anyone else would raid this place, as it lacked wealth. Even with K'owlichal's own following attracting those who sought his knowledge and wisdom, the village still was not very large, and the lure of Khadalam nearby would draw away friend or foe. He was often disappointed that the expectations of others forced him to stay at Khadalam most of the year as many sought his teachings and the Kuksu lodge at Khadalam refused to accept any Lodgemaster but him. In his youth he ran from home to Khadalam and joined its lodge where he discovered his true calling in life--he always figured this tie to Khadalam a punishment for his youthful errors.
With the journey ended, K'owlichal arrived safely at his meager shack in front of the oak groves commemorating his ancestors long ago. Sunk in the ground in the typical commoner fashion and covered with a meager roof, few expected it to be the home of a man so famed and powerful. Few except the spiritually wise, like his dear grandson, Ats'atal, who awaited him at the door with his wife. Ats'atal looked much as he once did, with his handsome ruddy face beginning to show signs of middle age and a thickly built body.
"It's been a while, grandfather," he greeted. K'owlichal smiled back as his men helped him off his litter and gave him back his walking stick.
"How are you today, my grandson?" He looked at the high afternoon sun and sighed. "It was a long and fruitless journey. The Lodgemaster of Suchui continues in his disgraceful and evil conduct, bringing shame on all of us. And he directs it personally at myself and my men this time."
Ats'atal looked worried, nervously stepping aside the door to the house.
"There are people here to meet you, grandfather. Many people."
A tall, fully armoured Sea Walkh man emerged from the home, equipped in the typical leather armour beneath thick furs reinforced with copper plates preferred by their nobles. His hand patted the sheath of his knife, but otherwise he seemed peaceful if on edge. He took his helmet off, revealing a face familiar and horrifying to K'owlichal that made his chest tighten and stomach sink. Scarred in battle many times with a light beard and long, matted dark hair, the glistening brown eyes of the leader's face screamed of vicious greed even if he tried to present himself peacefully.
"Chakhwinak!" he gasped. The Coastman grinned at the fear he struck in the old man.
"It's good you know my name," he laughed. "I drowned the traitor who told it to you Kuksuists. My shamans must be far stronger than you Kuksuists, for I've never once suffered a curse from you people no matter how much you must be trying to kill me and my family with your magic."
He noticed the grim look on Ats'atal's face, as if the Sea Walkh had taken him hostage.
"Leave! Leave here at once!" K'owlichal shouted. "If you've touched anyone in this village, I swear it, we of the Kaya and all the peoples who worship at Knokhtai will rise up and deal your people along the coast a far worse defeat than we gave you at Kalkhabe!"
A younger Sea Walkh in armour emerged from the house, handing Chakhwinak a bowl of acorn stew. He dipped his finger in it, tasting it and nodding with approval on his face.
"We aren't here to fight or pillage, Lodgemaster of Khadalam," Chakhwinak said. "We could if we felt like it, I have about a dozen men in your house now enjoying the cooking of your female kinsmen. No, we are here because we have an offer for you."
"It's true, grandfather," Ats'atal said. "These murderers claim they want to help."
"Peace has prevailed between our people since not long after the Kalkhabe battle. We would like it to continue," Chakhwinak started. "My people would also like to share some of the mountains owned by various Kaya villages, and know a Lodgemaster like yourself could easily convince those nobles and lesser Kuksuists."
"And what do we get in return?" K'owlichal growled.
"Destroying the most wicked, so I'm told, Lodgemaster around," Chakhwinak said. "We will help you kill the Lodgemaster of Suchui and grind into ruin his clan, his followers, and his followers' clans."
K'owlichal paused, suddenly thinking of the potential use of this evil force.
Can they really kill that man? The Sea Walkh were not invincible as he knew from experience, but they certainly were skilled fighters and had the greed to want to destroy Suchui. He wondered how many of his own people, let alone others in the area, might go with them if he told them to.
"You will get past his high walls and his many towers?" K'owlichal asked. "I will not lead my followers to their deaths."
"Of course we will," Chakhwinak replied. "I've torn down many city walls in my time. Perhaps you know of the Lodgemaster of Etem far to the south?" K'owlichal grit his teeth as he recalled what he heard of the tales of the sack of that city.
Suddenly K'owlichal heard the slow beat of drums common of the Coastmen, announcing the arrival of some other noble. He turned his head to the source of the sound, seeing nearly fifty men and a few pack reindeer emerging from a clearing in the oak groves. At the head of the men stood a tall, massively built man wearing shining copper armour over plates of wood and a fur cloak crudely sewn from skins of grizzly bears and strange white bears, their heads preserved casting a fierce howl. His shoulders glistened with shining cast silver bear skulls acting as shoulder plates, and in his hand he wielded a carved whalebone club impaled with a long blade of jade to turn it into a fierce axe. If Chakhwinak frightened and angered him with his evil presence, this man was truly worse.
"You! You will pay for what you did to my son" K'owlichal accused, too angry--or frightened--to speak Trade Wakashan [12], instead screaming in his own language, jabbing his finger at the man as he drew near. The Bear-Armoured Man laughed, and Chakhwinak sighed.
"I wasn't expecting you until later, friends!" Chakhwinak greeted in Trade Wakashan. "Let's treat our hosts kindly now."
"Yes, let's," the Bear-Armoured Man replied. "We're conducting business after all, unless you truly want a fight," he laughed, twirling his club around.
"Now then, my friend has brought many of his own men, from far in the wilds beyond civilisation, among people not even I have met," Chakhwinak said. K'owlichal indeed noticed amongst the common soldiers some men wearing strange armour and with stranger facial features than he had ever seen, not amongst the Dena or Sea Walkh. "They will also assist, and I suspect they will be a powerful force as well. But as to how we conquer Suchui, I suggest you trust in myself and this man, for our plan is unbreakable."
"Why should I trust in that murderer?" Ats'atal shouted, breaking his silence. "He killed my father and hacked off his head! I will never trust nor fight alongside a man like that!"
"Ah, that man," the Bear-Armoured Man chuckled. "Yeah, I killed him and I drink out of his skull occasionally, but that's not important now." K'owlichal's heart sank as he held his hand to silence Ats'atal's righteous anger, fearing that if the negotiations broke down everyone in the village would perish at the hands of these monsters.
Damn these Sea Walkh!
"I suppose I'll tell you if you must know," Chakhwinak conceded. "Our men will lay siege to Suchui and attack the villages around it, taking down their watchtowers. Your men along with my good friend you hate so much will act as reinforcements, arriving after us and finishing off their army. We will deliver the Lodgemaster of Suchui to you and will not harm its Kuksuist lodge. Our men will transport your men by sea to the Suchuq Peninsula and transport your men home along with your share of the treasure. We will be certain to award you many animals from this raid."
"How can you be sure your men will succeed against the awful might of that Lodgemaster?"
"My shamans have foretold it," Chakhwinak replied, at which K'owlichal recoiled in shock.
So even the Sea Walkh have seen it? "The eclipse we saw, they tell me, signifies the doom of that man and all his people. They've seen it in a dream, the bear swallowing the moon over a town. The grizzly bear then killed a white bear, and as it devoured them it became a man," he glanced over at the Bear-Armoured Man. "They tell me that this great warrior here, whose name in his own tongue means 'Called After the Bear', will be the one to lead to the destruction of the Lodgemaster and his people. Take this as you will."
"Don't trust them, grandfather! Their wicked shamans must be speaking nonsense!" Ats'atal shouted. K'owlichal gave pause to his grandson's demand, but shook his head, knowing that if even the Sea Walkh shamans saw the destruction of Suchui in a dream then the evil Lodgemaster was doomed.
"The Lodgemaster of Suchui is truly evil, far more evil than these men. They may have personally harmed our family, but the Lodgemaster presents an even greater spiritual harm," he answered.
"You know as well as I do the threat corrupt Lodgemasters pose to the order of this world. There are far too many corrupt Lodgemasters, all nobles trying to usurp spiritual power for their greedy ambitions, and none worse than the Lodgemaster of Suchui. If even the Sea Walkh can see this, then trusting them may not be as unwise or immoral as it may seem."
Ats'atal grit his teeth, furious at this idea, but seemingly accepted it. K'owlichal faintly smiled.
The boy became a strong man, strong in forces seen and unseen. Already the Lodgemaster of this village, K'owlichal wondered if one day he could become Khadalam's Lodgemaster. He'd grow much through this awful situation.
"I will make my decision by tomorrow. If I agree, we will smoke together to secure our alliance and we will each live up to our end of the bargin." K'owlichal said, bowing his head and leaving for the Kuksu lodge. He hoped for spiritual aid on this matter, but knew already what he would be told.
The men who once tried to destroy everything we had will now help us destroy an even greater evil.
---
Esach'atuk, July 1125
"So you Coastmen are coming to punish Suchui," Rurak mused, finding his command of Trade Wakashan a bit wanting. He glanced at the heavily scarred and tattooed war leader in front of him who earlier introduced himself personally as Chikhatmiik. Rurak assumed such a direct greeting meant the Coastmen needed his help. "Interesting." He wondered how else these Coastmen could help him. In the five years he had been Prince of Esach'atuk, he dealt with far too many challengers to his authority and rule. He'd won most of those battles, but they'd cost him too much manpower, and worse, the death of his sons. The Lodgemaster of Suchui interfered every time he could, sending raiding parties to his villages and allies and even once looting villages right outside the walls of Esach'atuk.
"Our master Chakhwinak of the Boyatkh plans to lead a great force to Suchui," Chikhatmiik informed. "If you help us, we will gladly share the plunder with your men. And we will not interfere with your attacks elsewhere in those lands. Our shamans say the recent eclipse signifies doom for the Lodgemaster's country, ensuring his success."
Rurak glanced around his hall at the faces dimly lit by the red light of the sunset shining through the eaves. His trusted lieutenants clad in their goat leather armour and with their tall spears seemed interested in the Coastman's proposal by their pensive looks. He rose from his well-painted chair, his finely dyed cotton robe (claimed from an enemy Lodgemaster he killed) flowing around him.
"What do you say, followers?" he shouted in his native K'ahusani. "What do you say to this man's idea, that we assist the Coastmen in looting Suchui? If the Coastmen truly are this angry at Suchui, then we have nothing to fear from their warriors or their walls!" he shouted to command their attention.
"We attack!"
"We bring the Lodgemaster down!"
"We take them all for ourselves!"
All sorts of cries like that rose up, even from the few women in the room, no doubt eager to see what their husbands would bring home from this battle. The Coastman grinned, looking around the room at the eager warriors and their supporters.
"It's like you see here, my friend," Rurak shrugged. He raised his hand to silence the room, and all fell silent, eyes on him and his guest. "Now tell me when this Chakhwinak will be coming?"
"He will be here by the start of the rainy season," Chikhatmiik replied. "When night is longer than day. Lord Chakhwinak plans to spend his winter in Suchui."
"Then we will make our plans for that season. Thank you, honored guest of the Coastmen!" The hall arose with noise again, with some cheers followed by even more excited conversation. Rurak himself felt excitement for this coming war in the next few months.
With the plunder we seize from Suchui, we'll be able to regain everything we've lost and destroy our worst enemy at the same time. Such plunder would allow him to lure more men from the valley to replace his fallen warriors, not to mention be enough to keep the loyalty of anyone who dared to doubt it. The widows and children of the deceased would end up well-fed and clothed thanks to all this. And above all, he and his people of Esach'atuk would stand alone as the most powerful in all this land.
"We will make a more formal treaty in the morning tomorrow," Chikhatmiik said. "For now, I will alert my men outside so Chakhwinak may be informed as quickly as possible."
"Good," Rurak replied. Chikhatmiik strolled out of the room, bumping into a man who seemed drunk, but ignoring his angry protests either out of lack of understanding K'ahusani or out of unwillingness to make a scene as a guest. Rurak went back to dreaming of the results of this alliance, thinking of how much glory and wealth was to be gained. Suchui's walls stood tall, and its watchtowers even taller. Every hill in all Suchuq seemed to have watchtowers like that, always making sure to report what they saw to the Lodgemaster of Suchui. Unlike in the many years his uncle ruled, his people now would never try and raid Suchuq out of fear, but with the Coastmen on their side, they'd be as motivated as they were in his uncle's day.
One of his lieutenants walked over as the excitement began to die down.
"Can we actually trust this Chakhwinak?"
"No reason not to," Rurak replied. "Once the walls of Suchui fall, the wealth will flow to all of us like the blood flows from a gutted goat. That man, Chikhatmiik, gave his birth name to me earlier, he must be quite serious about what will happen."
"I'd hope you are right," he replied. "Lest we wager too much on this one fight."
It's a gamble worth taking, Rurak though to himself.
---
Ch'ayapachis, September 1125
"It is all well, my lord!" Chikhatmiik announced as he walked into the longhouse at Ch'ayapachis. "Both the Qatmaqatkh of the Delta and the Qatmaqatkh of the hills and lakes agree to our proposal. Suchui's fate is as good as sealed."
"And do we have our ships and men of the Ch'ayapachatkh [13] prepared?" Chakhwinak asked as he sipped his cider.
"Indeed we do," Chikhatmiik answered. "Fifteen ships and 700 warriors will arrive in Dakhwa to meet up with the Boyatkh men, then sail to Tukwa to meet with the Tukwatkh men and from there to Dama to meet with the Damanatkh men [14]." Chakwinak nodded with approval.
"Animals for our supplies?"
"Ever the organiser," Chikhatmiik smiled. "Five reindeer, twenty towey goats, and a moose."
"Perfect. We should have a total of 35 ships and 1,500 warriors when we meet with the Boyatkhs, Tukwatkhs, and Damanatkhs and the toweys they'll have with them." Chakhwinak stated. "From our Qatmaqatkh friends, that old prophet we fought at Kalkhabe, we can count on a few hundred more, and from our friends from the north," he glanced at Yeilkichi and Khutsaayi, "We have another fifty men and likely more." He grinned. "Not that most of these people will be doing much but plundering."
"What do you mean, Lord of the Boyatkhs?" Khutsaayi asked.
"The Walkh will be doing the heavy lifting, Kuleikhwaish" he replied. "Chikhatmiik is watching them with a spy in their ruler's court. They'll be launching their own attack on Suchui."
"Truly a clever plan, Lord of the Boyatkhs!" Khutsaayi shouted as he started to realise what was being planned, clapping Chakhwinak on the back. Chakhwinak smiled, brushing his matted dark hair from his face.
"This is the largest force ever assembled since our ancestors's ancestors," Chakhwinak noted. "Far larger than at Kalkhabe, and only our ancestors at Tlat'sap had such a force with them [15]. Not much larger and the spirits themselves would protest at the might assembled." He clapped Khutsaayi on the shoulder. "To give you what I promised requires a certain element of cunning and deceit," he spoke. "Suchui and Suchuq are just where things begin. You'll find Esach'atuk and the land of the Walkh quite wealthy too. And you'll deal the first blow against them alongside the other people your friend of Kesukaan has gathered."
Yeilkichi winced. "So that was your point of sending me to the lands of the Lik'wil'dak and the Dekina and all Ringitania and even to Kuleikhwaish's land?"
Chakhwinak laughed. "It is as I say, friend of Kesukaan! You are famed for the sack of Etem and your fierce fights against these Kuksuists so you would be great for attracting more great warriors!"
"So me and Kuleikhwaish are nothing but pawns in your scheme?" Yeilkichi protested.
"Not at all," Chakhwinak answered. "We will give you the glory of destroying the Walkh outside the gates. Sayach'apis will no doubt call a Coastman force to help his own people, and you will act as that force."
"What do you plan, Chakhwinak?" he asked, patting his copper-gold knife on his waist. "I'm sure it's interesting." Khutsaayi trusted no one, and he knew that Chakhwinak was a truly crafty man.
"I'll spell it out, my friend from the end of the world. You and your friend of Kesukaan and other northern warriors will join our Qatmaqatkh friends. Chikhatmiik's friend who will be with the Walkh of Esach'atuk will tell you of their progress. When you hear they have laid siege to Suchui, you will destroy that force."
"W-What?" Khutsaayi stumbled. "We will betray our allies?" It wasn't out of the usual for Chakhwinak, but he seemed intent on this plan.
"As I said, this is how the land of the Walkh will be open to you, as their warriors will die in this fight," Chakhwinak answered. "Suchui and Sayach'apis himself will open the path, since their warriors will help defeat them by your side. Study them well. When the fight is won, you'll know what to do. Invite yourself to his hall--he's arrogant enough to think you are an ally. We will raid along the peninsula and lay siege to Suchui, and then your men will open the gates from within."
Khutsaayi laughed heartily, fantasizing about the bloodshed to occur. "Devious! Now who gets the head of Sayach'apis?" He thought immediately of how it would become another skull cup, like the Dena chiefs who had opposed him, or the Kuksuist Lodgemasters of P'dahaw or Etem, or the son of K'owlichal, the Lodgemaster at Knokhtai.
"Preferably our allies, the Qatmaqatkh," Chakhwinak replied. "Leave Kuksuists to kill Kuksuists. But your men or other Ringitsu or Dekina may claim his head."
"True," Khutsaayi nodded. Facing the stares of the Wakashans and his own Hlinkit like Yeilkichi in that cider hall, he resolved to turn over the Lodgemaster of Suchui's skull to K'owlichal.
Chakhwinak seemed to sense his sudden hesitation.
"You will be the Lord of Suchui, the gateway, and use it as base to seize the wealth of the Walkh at Esach'atuk. And you will need myself and other great warriors to hold down the peasants you will subdue," he spoke in a suddenly hushed voice.
"Tahsis," Khutsaayi laughed. "So many villages are called that in hopes they'll be the gateway to traded wealth!"
"The greatest 'Tahsis' will be conquered," Chakhwinak said. "Such is Suchui." He motioned the bartender at the cider hall owned by Chikhatmiik for a drink. "You are fit to rule that place and will be a good ally to raiders such as myself."
Khutsaayi laughed again. "I thought that promise of ruling Suchuq and Suchui was insane when my friend from Kesukaan told me it. Even at Etem I was told the Kuksuists there ruled over a realm of tall watchtowers and strong fanatics."
This time it was Chakhwinak's time to laugh as Yeilkichi looked on nervously.
"That was Sayach'apis the Elder. The younger Sayach'apis, the current Lodgemaster of Suchui, ignores us Coastmen and presumes we are still allies. If you wish to rule there, you will rule."
Chakhwinak's grim smile expanded further. "You will need your fellow Coastmen of course to subdue these Kuksuists in Suchuq. But I knew for you that land at the edge of the world was not enough."
---
Suchui, October 1125
The Lord of Suchui gazed down from the watchtower at the campfires from the enemy Walkh formerly encamped in the hill and spilling onto the slopes in front of the tall wooden walls of Suchui.
So they're making their move finally. He grasped his Pasnomsono copper axe in anticipation. He found it was truly a large number of them, but his own men he called from Suchui and the villages around equalled this force. A few men walked lagged behind, advancing beneath a hide-covered roof to protect them from arrows. Around them a few other warriors seemed to be carrying ladders. He planned to wait for the foolish Walkh to pass over his walls and then make them pay the price in blood for making such a bold attack.
"When they get near enough, fire arrows!" he shouted to the men around him as they reached for their bows. He looked toward the other watch towers, nodding with approval as their own men readied their bows. On the ground outside the gate, men with spears, clubs, and slings paced anxiously as they awaited the arrival of the enemy. The majority of the men in Suchui, including boys and the elderly, came out to defend the place, but many of the men came from nearby villages--some already pillaged by the Walkh--as he could tell from the animal emblems sewn on their hempen clothes.
"Lodgemaster, there's an additional force coming from the west," his lieutenant warned. The Lodgemaster turned his head, noticing the smoke signal rising from a distant watchtower.
"Allies or enemies?" the Lodgemaster wondered aloud. He noticed the Walkh warriors drawing within range of his archers and the whir of arrows being fired by the men around him. A few Walkhs drew their own bows, attempting to shoot back at the men on the powers. The Walkh underneath the hide arrow shields attempted to manuever to the gate with their battering ram while the men with ladders and ropes rushed for the walls in an attempt to pass over the walls. The Lodgemaster slid down from the tower hugging the rope which granted access there, drawing his axe. A few men managed to accomplish crossing the wall while under arrow fire, at which the Lodgemaster himself greeted them, hacking at the first warrior's neck while his own men dealt with the rest of this initial group.
Despite the losses the Walkh took, they kept on advancing, and the battering rams at the gates and walls worried the Lodgemaster even as his men tried to set it aflame. The presence of the unknown force advancing from the west similarly bothered him. Perhaps that emboldened the Walkh to make such a brazen attack, as they expected reinforcements.
Some of the men around him broke off to run to elsewhere within Suchui as the Walkh attempted to sneak around to the less guarded parts with their ropes and ladders. Although their own men equalled the Walkh in number, the Lodgemaster suddenly felt a bit worried as he witnessed a boy of his people left writhing on the ground from a spear wound.
"Lodgemaster," his lieutenant shouted. "The Walkh are shifting to the west side of the town where they have managed to enter!"
"We'll fight them house to house as we need," the Lodgemaster replied. "Have men hide in the houses in ambush."
***
"Forward!" Khutsaayi screamed in his own Hlinkit. He raised an ivory club impaled with a jade blade to make an axe. "Charge!" he shouted in Trade Wakashan. His motley collection of warriors from all around the coasts--Kh'adassaks, Guteikhs, and Gunanas from Khutsleinaan, many Hlinkits and Dekina, and even some Whulchomish warriors--rushed first as the lightly armoured slingers and spearmen of the Qatmaqatkh followed him.
They have almost twice our number outside that west entrance, Khutsaayi noted as the men scrambled to get over the palisade on ropes and ladders. A few more Walkhs arrived at that corner from the south entrance, looking to get through that way. Not that it should be an issue when the warriors he handpicked from home could probably deal with the majority of these Walkhs on their own, especially when they thought Khutsaayi was there to assist them.
As they ran the last distance, a few of the Walkhs in the rear seemed to notice Khutsaayi and his force were not allies by the speed of their advance, as they learned by the crash of Khutsaayi's jade axe on their necks. His Qatmaqatkh allies started their own onslaught, slinging their rocks at surprising speed toward the Walkh force.
"Forward again! Don't leave a man alive!" Khutsaayi swung his axe with wild glee, cutting down Walkh after Walkh as they barely knew what hit them. He noticed panic spreading as the Walkhs screamed in chaos, and his grin widened as he only wanted to keep chopping more Walkhs. He snatched the spear out of the hand of a half-dead Walkh as he crushed his face with his boot and threw it clean through an important-looking noble's neck. Yet Khutsaayi had no time to admire his handiwork. In this moment, he could only kill and destroy with wild abandon.
***
Rurak could scarcely believe what was happening. He didn't want to believe it and looked around for signs he was in a nightmare of some sort. His army lay in disorder as the Coastmen and their allies descended on them with that monstrous man in bear-skin armour at their head. Why did they betray him? Why had Chikhatmiik betrayed him? This was nothing short of a disaster as what should've been his greatest triumph turned into a moment which would bring ruin to him and his people.
But first he needed to rally his men so they might make a coherent retreat. He raised his Pasnomsono copper axe over his head.
"Do not panic! Follow my lead so we may escape safely!" he shouted, looking around. Some of the men closest to him shouted in approval as well, including his closest lieutenant.
The same man who now collapsed right into him with a spear through his throat, thrown by the gian. Rurak flung his body to the ground and planned his next move. He needed to kill that giant man. If he did, his force--which he outnumbered--may collapse as Rurak's own army was collapsing.
As he rushed toward the bear-armoured monster with a few of his soldiers by his side, the enemy leader smiled with glee at noticing a noble challenger such as Rurak.
"Treacherous Coastmen! Damn that Chikhatmiik!" he shouted in Trade Wakashan as he swung his axe down, getting it caught in the man's thick fur and leather gauntlets as the monstrous man swiftly dodged.
"Chikhatmiik?", the monstrous man laughed as he grabbed Rurak's arm. "I've never heard of him! Khutsaayi though," the man said. "That's the name of the man who's about to kill you!"
"Rurak!" he shouted back, giving only his nickname, not that the monstrous man would know. "That is mine, and I will be the one to kill you!" he reached for his hidden dagger, ready to stab it through the man's heart. But Khutsaayi caught him off balance as he snapped his wrist and threw him to the ground.
Rurak watched helplessly as the Coastmen routed his guards as they tried to rescue him. The Suchui men, emboldened by the unexpected help, sortied out from their walls to join the fighting.
"Nunak [16], huh," Khutsaayi said. "Interesting." He brought his axe down on Rurak's neck, and Rurak embraced the sudden silence.
***
"Do you think they really are preparing a trap to take our city?" the Lodgemaster's lieutenant asked.
"If they wanted to defeat us, they would've joined forces with the Walkh," the Lodgemaster shrugged. "I'm a hospitable man after all, so I had to invite them in," he sneered. He believed the bear-armoured man's explanation that his spies in Esach'atuk told him the Walkh would be attacking Suchui, and immediately wondered if these Sea Walkh had any spies in Suchui. The only way to find out was invite in the leaders of those Sea Walkh, and spring a trap on them.
"Send our forces down to the quarters we prepared," the Lodgemaster asked. "They should be plenty drunk and exhausted now after the third night of celebration." The lieutenant nodded, leaving to grab his soldiers. The Lodgemaster reclined back on his chair, reflecting with grim joy on how in the span of three days, his greatest foes the Walkh of Esach'atuk suffered a major defeat and their ruler's death and now a major group of Sea Walkh would soon be killed in their beds and the rest of their force cut down outside the walls of Suchui. The Lodgemaster fell asleep with those thoughts in his head.
He then saw bears, several of them, led by a great white bear like he'd never seen before. Fire burned a village as the bears wandered around it, devouring people and animals and plants alike. He tried to run, but no matter how much he ran the bears seemed to be catching up with him. He tried to dance to summon Kuksu's spirit within him, but his movements were sluggish. He wanted to scream as the massive pale bear moved to devour him, but his voice died in his throat.
Then he heard a shout and jolted awake from his nightmare. And then he heard even more shouts. Were his "guests" resisting? He grabbed his knife from beside his bed, and shouted for his guards.
Only one man came after what felt like an eternity, clutching a bleeding wound on his shoulder.
"They were not drunk or exhausted as we thought and fought back as if they knew we were coming!" the man shouted. "They opened the gates for their comrades outside! And there's even more of them in the hills, far more, arriving under cover of darkness!"
The Lodgemaster didn't even try to process this. He knew the city was in even greater trouble than when the Walkhs attempted their siege. He ran to grab his weapons and armour and hurried to put it on before the Sea Walkh succeeded at their plan.
The Lodgemaster rushed outside into the cool night air and saw the man right there, amidst burning roofs of the earth-sunken homes of the people of Suchui and the screams of dying men and women. Lit by flames and moonlight, the Lodgemaster gazed upon the horrifying face of the bear-armoured man wielding his jade axe alongside well-armoured Sea Walkh warriors. With only a few of his own guards around him, the Lodgemaster knew he was outnumbered.
"Clever plan, Sayach'apis!" he shouted, using the Lodgemaster's Wakashan name. "But I assumed trickery was afoot!"
"H--how!" he shouted. "Was it your spies within these walls like your spies within Esach'atuk?"
"Spies?" the man said. "Only Esach'atuk had any spies, no, I figured you were up to something by your constant insistence on having my men drink. No man is that generous to give away that much of his own cider without having some nefarious purpose in mind!"
Arrows fell around him, as hostile warriors on his towers fired at them, striking some of his men. The bear-armoured man raised his hand to tell them to stop.
"We want you alive, Sayach'apis!" he demanded, twirling his jade axe. "Surrender, so the Qatmaqatkhs can punish you for the insults you gave to one of their Lodgemasters. It's thanks to that man and his grandson inspiring all their people that they'd even send that many men!" A Sea Walkh noble walked up to the bear-armoured man, and he mentioned something to the man, pointing at the Lodgemaster.
The Lodgemaster drew a dagger from the hip, wishing the end of this second nightmare. He thought of his respected father and how he shamed his legacy by letting it end like this. With fear, hatred, and despair, cursing the Sea Walkh who outwitted him, he plunged the dagger into his own gut in an eruption of sickening pain. The bear-armoured man ran over to him, trying to force him to stop, but the Lodgemaster kept stabbing before finishing with a slash to his own neck.
Such is the end of the line of the Lodgemasters of Suchui, he thought in his dying breaths.
Such is the end of Suchui. Truly the world belonged to those who held the most power, power he thought was once his but now realised belonged to the Coastmen.
---
Ni Qian and Jin Yue, A House of Oak: The Wakashans in South Fusania (Jinshan [San Francisco, CA] University Press, 1970)
The 1125 sack of Suchui and the collapse of the initial Esach'atuk state opened the greatest era of Wakashan raids in Fusanian history in terms of the number of men involved in the pillaging, the amount of wealth seized, and the scope of the conflict. While the ravages of time and the since-fragmented oral history of the many peoples involved consign many of the details to myth and legend, a certain truth reveals itself through study of what oral history and legends were recorded over the years. In particular, the figure of Khutsaayi (among many of his names) reoccurs in nearly every telling of these stories.
The famous Namaru historian Gaiyuchul wrote of Khutsaayi in the 1460s:
"The wild man Khutsaayi helped reshape Fusania in his image nearly as much as the Transformer himself if the tales can be believed. But it seems the gods themselves were so jealous of his fame they saw it fit to give the people so many stories of this man so to confuse later generations as to who he really was. This is the price he paid for his great success in both the battlefield and in the bedroom as well. For it seems Khutsaayi had so many descendents that the usual tales of exploits of great ancestors becomes confused. Even I, the Prince of Katlamat, can hardly trust my own ancestors in telling me about this man. Perhaps the only way to truly understand this man is to meet him in the afterlife!"
Stories of Khutsaayi, or figures commonly identified as him occur from the furthest reaches of Ringitania along the Ringitanian Strait to as far south as the Tugang Islands, and in disputed accounts as far south as the Jiqi center at Yaangna [17], demonstrating the sheer reach of this man which no doubt contributed to the confusion from the sheer number of stories about him. A conventional biography assumes he was born sometime in the 1080s in Kesukaan, fled with his father to the Anasugi Peninsula following conflicts with the ruling nobles there where they lived among the local peoples before gaining authority over them and ruling from Khutsleinaan. After Khutsaayi's uncle died, he took control along with his brother and became rich trading walrus ivory alongside inviting in other Ringitsu as whalers and herdsmen. At some point around 1107, Khutsaayi left Khutsleinaan to become a Coastman, possibly to gain more wealth not linked to that owned by his clan, where he encountered Chakhwinak, ancestor of the Boyatkh, Tukhwatkh, and Damanatkh peoples, who had been ruthlessly invading settlements of the Kaiya (a Knokhtaic people) and carving out his own state around modern Dahua. The two became close allies, fighting at the Battle of Kalkhabe in 1110 and in the years to come conquering many of the Micha people and settling their land. In 1116, he sacked the city of Etem alongside Chakhwinak.
True to Gaiyuchul's description, he indeed left many descendents--it has been hypothesised that one particular haplotype within Haplogroup C2, found in Fusanians well within this range and particularly in Ringitania and Daxi Bay marks descent from Gaiyuchul, although counterarguments suggest it is instead another marker of the expansion of Dena peoples and a legacy of the Ringitsu component of the Wakashan Expansion.
He returned to Khutsleinaan sometime in the 1120s, seemingly content with his wealth gained, but for unknown reasons decided to return to the south, abandoning his ancestral land for the pursuit of yet more wealth. There, Khutsaayi played a key role in the conquest of the Suchuq Peninsula, where alongside Chakhwinak and another prominent Wakashan warlord Chikhatmiik they sacked Suchui and at the battle backstabbed their Sani allies, killing their ruler Rurak. Notably, it seems that Chakhwinak and the Wakashans present fought alongside their former Kaiya enemies, who perhaps had been recruited as mercenaries or in some way "bought off" to allow for the consolidation of the emerging Dakhwa city state--Kaiya stories state they joined forces with the Wakashans due to a "personal insult" of the Lodgemaster of Suchui, conventionally named Sayach'apis the Younger after his Wakashan name. Following the sack of Suchui, Khutsaayi and his Wakashan allies founded the new city of Tahsis (a common Atkh toponym meaning "Gateway") on its ruins.
From there, Khutsaayi became ruler of Tahsis and alongside Chakhwinak and Chikhatmiik conquered the rest of the Suqiong Peninsula and much of the interior parts of Daxi Bay. These raids caused the total collapse of Esach'atuk by 1140, although other enemies of Esach'atuk may have helped it along--Esach'atuk would not regain its former prominence until long after Khutsaayi's death. Many Menma fled south from Suqiong to escape the unusually violent Wakashan intrusion, carrying with them their own stories of Suchui's destruction. Khutsaayi seems to have helped Chikhatmiik in his battles further south against the Menma and Chuma [19] as Chikhatmiik sought to conquer his own land in his advancing age. They were repelled from the Chuma city of Tsitqawi around 1148, but sacked the Menma city of Sahontaruk in 1150. However, their attention was soon turned to another band of Wakashans who had been attacking the Menma near Changmang Bay [19]. They allied with the Menma to conquer these Wakashans, but soon betrayed the Menma and conquered them. There, Khutsaayi seems to have returned to the north, while Chikhatmiik ruled the new city of Chabasapis [20] and became the ancestor of the Chabasapatkh.
In 1153, he and Chakhwinak embarked on their last campaign, attempting to raid into the Central Valley and conquer Koru. They raided and plundered the valley for nearly three years, even sacking the city of Mokel [21] in September 1153. It seems likely these immensely destructive raids and the continual failure of ambitious nobles to defeat the Wakashan raiders further strengthened the Kuksuist Lodgemasters, who already had been regaining their authority and power with the defeat of Sayach'apis and his supposed blasphemy and the destruction of the anti-Kuksuist force of Esach'atuk in the decades before. In 1155 before the walls of Koru, the Coastmen and some local allies met a massive Kuksuist coalition which scattered the besiegers and forced an end to the campaign. Retreating and raiding as they returned to Tahsis, they encountered a force of Esach'atuk and several other Sani towns blocking their retreat path as they were pinned against the Yuliu Delta. Heavily outnumbered and low on morale, Khutsaayi and Chakhwinak attacked this army and managed to scatter the Sani and save the remnants of their force. During the fighting, the Sani isolated Chakhwinak and a small group from the rest forcing Khutsaayi to lead a small force to save his old friend.
Accounts of Khutsaayi's death differ between Sani stories and Wakashan stories. The latter claim that after being pierced with many arrows fighting his way to Chakhwinak, Khutsaayi and the "last son of Rurak" clashed in single combat, where in his last breath Khutsaayi tackled him into the river where supposedly an orca came and killed the Sani ruler while carrying Khutsaayi safely into the lands of the dead. The Sani claim a wounded Khutsaayi clashed with a powerful noble attempting to defend Chakhwinak and dragged him into the river, where the "spirits of the sea" tore Khutsaayi apart while the noble was able to swim to safety. With this in mind, it is likely that Khutsaayi died in combat, potentially by drowning, thus ending his story and beginning the true legacy of the "wild man of the north" in South Fusania, starting with his deification amongst the Coastmen as a god of war.
---
Author's notes
This was quite a theatrical entry to write, and also rather time-consuming due to its length. It's not entirely intended as "narrative", since the point of the narrative is to illustrate the different cultures and "take you on a tour of the world" so to speak. I felt a bit rushed at the end since this was getting a bit lengthy (and I wanted to move on from this bit) and I don't think I'm the best at writing combat scenes. This went through a bunch of drafts and was written over quite a period of time, so it come across as disjointed at times. In addition to the epilogue I wrote above, some characters, people, and places will likely be revisited or their later deeds alluded to in later entries.
This is the end of the "South Fusania/California" arc here. Next two entries will cover North America outside Fusania up to 1100 AD or so as well as one regarding plant and animal domestication and land use patterns (especially relating to forestry). That should be the end of Part One of this TL.
[1] - Guteikh is a Ringitsu exonym for the Aleuts and Aluuitiq people, while Kh'adaasak is a Ringitsu exonym for the Yupik and Inuit, and a somewhat insulting term at best.
[2] - Like OTL, totem poles come in many forms and commonly recount stories using common regional motifs which have been passed down from previous artists and carvers. There is a similarity to Mesoamerican codices in this regard, although in the era this story is set the art/proto-writing system is still in its infancy.
[3] - A Ringitsu, especially a noble, may have several names in their life, some of which may be inherited or even stolen from others. They guard their true names for ceremonial occasions only, lest they believe one can steal their name for black magic. Such beliefs are common in much of North Fusania, and in South Fusania as well.
[4] - Blonde Inuit were not unknown in historic times, and Khutsaayi has taken an interest in an exotic blonde Inuit woman he has managed to come across
[5] - I've neglected to mention it for some reason until now, but this cider is made from the crabapples of
Malus fusca (not Old World apples) and as alluded to in other updates has become a culturally preferred alcoholic drink. I'll discuss this more in a future update. The other drink I refer to as cider is made from manzanita berries and is common in South Fusania (it existed OTL, but TTL this manzanita cider often has more potency). As a side-note, for Khutsaayi to be able to drink cider in a place far from where
Malus fusca grows is a sign of his wealth.
[6] - "Qatmaqatkh", meaning "people of oak", is a generic term for Kuksuist-practicing South Fusanians (as well as the non-Kuksuist K'ahusani). It gave rise to the Chinese term "Kama" with a similar meaning.
[7] - Anaaski is the Hlinkit term for the Alaska Peninsula. It derives from a local Aleut term essentially meaning "mainland", which is how people on the various islands the Hlinkit hunt on, trade with, or even settle refer to the area. It is the same origin of OTL's term "Alaska".
[8] - Kesukaan is Kodiak, AK--it is the largest center of the land known as Keilchaniya
[9] - Khutsaayi is refering to the bowhead whale, occasionally found as far south as Bristol Bay in historic times. These massive whales are not found in the North Pacific (outside of the Bering Sea) and are essential to the lifestyle of many indigenous Alaskans. As the Hlinkit expand along the coast, this would be their own whalers's first encounter with this new species of whale. The other whale Khutsaayi mentions is the beluga, which the Hlinkit would have first encountered in Keilchaniya although it is rare in the North Pacific (outside of the Bering Sea) and would be rarely, if ever, encountered in the Hlinkit homeland.
[10] - Llaginda is roughly west of Queen Charlotte City on Haida Gwaii, Sheit'ka is Sitka, AK, and Yakwadat is Yakutat, AK
[11] - "Walkh" is a variant of "Walkh", a term (IOTL the Takelma term for the Shasta, meaning "enemy") which TTL has given rise to many South Fusanian words referring to the Dena/Tanne, Wakashan, or Shastan peoples--it is much like the false cognate "walhaz" (from Proto-Germanic) in that regard. The "Sea Walkh" here is essentially the same as the term "Coastmen".
[12] - Trade Wakashan is a simplified form of various Atkh dialects (including those with a large non-Atkh substrate) with ample loans and borrowings from other languages (mostly Dena languages), especially from Coast Tanne. Those who frequently deal with the Wakashans and other Coastmen tend to learn the language.
[13] - The Ch'ayapachatkh ("people of many boats/people of Ch'ayapachis") are an Atkh tribe who rules Ch'ayapachis and the nearby area. Chikhatmiik is a noble of this group, but he serves the Boyatkh under Chakhwinak. "Tribe" in this sense is closer to a Germanic or Slavic tribe than your typical Amerindian tribe or OTL Nuu-chah-nulth tribe.
[14] - Tukwa is roughly Bodega Bay, CA, while Dama is Olema, CA (and is a Wakashanised form of the Miwok toponym "Olema").
[15] - The Coastmen's Sack of Tlat'sap has entered their legend, including possibly exaggerated numbers. Still, the total number of people fighting in this battle is indeed small by the standards of European or Chinese Antiquity, although perhaps more like the Northern European "Dark Ages" or early Bronze Age conflicts.
[16] - Ringitsu has no /r/ or /l/ sounds, so "Nunak" is how Khutsaayi hears Rurak's name. As common in his culture, Khutsaayi will take Rurak's name as one of his own names and his descendents may inherit it
[17] - The Ringitanian Strait is the Bering Strait, while the Tugang Islands are the (Californian) Channel Islands. Yaangna is roughly Los Angeles, the Jiqi being roughly the OTL Tongva.
[18] - The Menma are the Chinese exonym for the Ohlone/Coastanoans, derived from a common word in their languages meaning "person". The Chuma are the Chumashan peoples.
[19] - Tsitqawi is Morro Bay, CA, while Sahontaruk is Salinas, CA.
[20] - Changmang Bay is Monterey Bay, while Chabasapis is Monterey, CA.
[21] - Lodi, CA