The War of the Vustrigans and the Gauneskhuns
As recorded by Liuko Ionkankofaš Terača, Valliuka of Ardefas, in the year 1028, as the Wolf counts.
Two and fifty summers have I now seen, and my wife seven and thirty. The teeth of the wolf grow long and the crow’s blackest feathers fall not before the winter of her choosing. This very year she bore a daughter of me, the second sister of our son, Sailiuko the Bluewolf, who of late has been schooled in Valiukoaia among his brothers. This year corresponds with the 17th year since the defeat of Arkem and the wolf-men who were cursed; and the 14th year since the end of the War of the Blue Ax, in which the west of our country was lost to the grabbers that sit on the hill of the giant.
By chance I met the Vustrigan Sage Kutho of Artholetstuwa (arth-let-STOO-wuh) at a trading post by the Rushy Lake down the highway from Troistobala. By the books of our kind, and after consultations with elders, I have put the tale into words pleasing to Aito and Manta.
In the 3013th year of the Gauneskhun calendar, corresponding with the 1026th year of the Kuetran reckoning (Čerontna do Velos, 'Advent of Velos'– ČdV), the Hanka of Renkerong, Rikalreg III, son of Anreg I, made common cause with all the Hankas, Hufard of Dös Tsavarturos and Stireg of Artholetstuwa, against the people of southern Gauneskhu – that is, those who inhabit the wood known in their tongue as Hetjeol (het-JOLE), ‘the Calf’. A prince called Skrownayud (SCROH-nai-yoot), named for his woody home, rules there from a town called Skrowi Nai. His realm is called by his folk Walun Otolgíluna, kingdom of the Great Men. Hetjeol—rendered Ečiolea in our tongue—is such called being the second home of the Gauneskhuns, whose homeland has been in the northern wood across the Lifonkre (LEEF-on-kree) River and is called Huopu’umsi (WAH-poo-UM-see), 'The Mother Cow.'
It should be said here that the Hanka Anreg I, father of Rikalreg III, was the very killer of the Bandit-king.
The war between the Vustrigans and the Gauneskhuns, Kutho said, grew from offenses committed by the Gauneskhuns against the Vustrigans. For instance, he said the Gauneskhuns had begun collecting levies from travelers and traders on the ‘wolf-road’, the highway just beyond the Wolf’s Teeth Mountains (Liuko Véná Thamoá) from Vustriga and which leads southeast toward Tunšalén. This way had previously been free of interference, said Kutho. The Vustrigans also claimed the Gauneskhuns were capturing and trading in slaves, many of them Vustrigans who lived in the southeast range of the Wolf Teeth.
It is uncertain what the Gauneskhuns would have said of these declarations, and since the tale comes to us from the Vustrigans—though Kutho is both a wise and a measuring man—one must attempt to see the folk-pride in the tale and test it against the full truth, which we may discern through endeavor. The levying of passage dues had been a matter of dispute for some time. However, it is a truth unkind to the Vustrigans that the Gauneskhuns had watched and kept the highway since the days of the Bandit-king without assistance from the Vustrigans. As for the trade of Vustrigan captives, it is likely the Gauneskhuns had been doing this since they had surely and shamelessly confessed as much before. It is no infamy to them and in their view hardly a cause for war since their kind trade in captives all the time. Further, in some previous instances, Vustrigans were found among those so peddling bondage. Thus, the Gauneskhuns certainly could not have expected to have roused the anger of those with whom they had done such trade. Vustrigans, though often faithful keepers of the ways of Aito and Manta, have not been above slaving. When with certain gentleness I raised these matters with Kutho, he verged between annoyance and consideration, and ended with a sigh of deference.
Kutho after that related to me that an appeal to Velos—whose most ancient realm is in the northernmost Wolf’s Teeth Mountains—had been made. Though it had been denied by the Father of Wolves since, we can see, he found no innocents among the haughty men. Such is the wisdom of the Wolf, he who is the very figure of Aito. "War if you must," Kutho said, relaying the Wolf's words, "but your deeds and your words will be seen by the heavens, Moon and Sun, Cloud and Wind."
The Hankas of Vustriga, bent on war, failed to heed the word of the Wolf. Vustriga and the Gauneskhuns fought bitterly for three years, during which time many outrages astonished fair men, and the Vustrigans burned Skrowi Nai, seat of Skrownayud, to the ground. The war after that lessened. Within that year, Vustrigans under Rikalreg and Stireg were collecting passage dues along the 'wolf-road' even as the Gauneskhun's licked their considerable wounds. Certainly they await the day their sword-arm becomes strong again.
Copyright © Ron Leighton 2012
Two and fifty summers have I now seen, and my wife seven and thirty. The teeth of the wolf grow long and the crow’s blackest feathers fall not before the winter of her choosing. This very year she bore a daughter of me, the second sister of our son, Sailiuko the Bluewolf, who of late has been schooled in Valiukoaia among his brothers. This year corresponds with the 17th year since the defeat of Arkem and the wolf-men who were cursed; and the 14th year since the end of the War of the Blue Ax, in which the west of our country was lost to the grabbers that sit on the hill of the giant.
By chance I met the Vustrigan Sage Kutho of Artholetstuwa (arth-let-STOO-wuh) at a trading post by the Rushy Lake down the highway from Troistobala. By the books of our kind, and after consultations with elders, I have put the tale into words pleasing to Aito and Manta.
In the 3013th year of the Gauneskhun calendar, corresponding with the 1026th year of the Kuetran reckoning (Čerontna do Velos, 'Advent of Velos'– ČdV), the Hanka of Renkerong, Rikalreg III, son of Anreg I, made common cause with all the Hankas, Hufard of Dös Tsavarturos and Stireg of Artholetstuwa, against the people of southern Gauneskhu – that is, those who inhabit the wood known in their tongue as Hetjeol (het-JOLE), ‘the Calf’. A prince called Skrownayud (SCROH-nai-yoot), named for his woody home, rules there from a town called Skrowi Nai. His realm is called by his folk Walun Otolgíluna, kingdom of the Great Men. Hetjeol—rendered Ečiolea in our tongue—is such called being the second home of the Gauneskhuns, whose homeland has been in the northern wood across the Lifonkre (LEEF-on-kree) River and is called Huopu’umsi (WAH-poo-UM-see), 'The Mother Cow.'
It should be said here that the Hanka Anreg I, father of Rikalreg III, was the very killer of the Bandit-king.
The war between the Vustrigans and the Gauneskhuns, Kutho said, grew from offenses committed by the Gauneskhuns against the Vustrigans. For instance, he said the Gauneskhuns had begun collecting levies from travelers and traders on the ‘wolf-road’, the highway just beyond the Wolf’s Teeth Mountains (Liuko Véná Thamoá) from Vustriga and which leads southeast toward Tunšalén. This way had previously been free of interference, said Kutho. The Vustrigans also claimed the Gauneskhuns were capturing and trading in slaves, many of them Vustrigans who lived in the southeast range of the Wolf Teeth.
It is uncertain what the Gauneskhuns would have said of these declarations, and since the tale comes to us from the Vustrigans—though Kutho is both a wise and a measuring man—one must attempt to see the folk-pride in the tale and test it against the full truth, which we may discern through endeavor. The levying of passage dues had been a matter of dispute for some time. However, it is a truth unkind to the Vustrigans that the Gauneskhuns had watched and kept the highway since the days of the Bandit-king without assistance from the Vustrigans. As for the trade of Vustrigan captives, it is likely the Gauneskhuns had been doing this since they had surely and shamelessly confessed as much before. It is no infamy to them and in their view hardly a cause for war since their kind trade in captives all the time. Further, in some previous instances, Vustrigans were found among those so peddling bondage. Thus, the Gauneskhuns certainly could not have expected to have roused the anger of those with whom they had done such trade. Vustrigans, though often faithful keepers of the ways of Aito and Manta, have not been above slaving. When with certain gentleness I raised these matters with Kutho, he verged between annoyance and consideration, and ended with a sigh of deference.
Kutho after that related to me that an appeal to Velos—whose most ancient realm is in the northernmost Wolf’s Teeth Mountains—had been made. Though it had been denied by the Father of Wolves since, we can see, he found no innocents among the haughty men. Such is the wisdom of the Wolf, he who is the very figure of Aito. "War if you must," Kutho said, relaying the Wolf's words, "but your deeds and your words will be seen by the heavens, Moon and Sun, Cloud and Wind."
The Hankas of Vustriga, bent on war, failed to heed the word of the Wolf. Vustriga and the Gauneskhuns fought bitterly for three years, during which time many outrages astonished fair men, and the Vustrigans burned Skrowi Nai, seat of Skrownayud, to the ground. The war after that lessened. Within that year, Vustrigans under Rikalreg and Stireg were collecting passage dues along the 'wolf-road' even as the Gauneskhun's licked their considerable wounds. Certainly they await the day their sword-arm becomes strong again.
Copyright © Ron Leighton 2012