BOOK 1 CHAPTER 1
Waking Dragon Horde
It was in the thirty-fourth year of Abeakos’ reign as khashaya of the Sauromatae that the nomad tribesmen began to expand. At this time the Sauromatae consisted of the Saitae, Yazyga, Roxsalanna and Aursa tribes.
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In the springtime of that year Abeakos gathered together warriors from the Yazyga, Siracae and Roxsalanna in preparation for an attack on the Maeot, who dwelled on the shores of the Black Sea and were neighbours to the wealthy Yavana’s colonies in the Bosphorus. Meanwhile Babai, warlord of the Saitae, gathered together warriors from the Saitae, Siracae and Aursa in order to strike at the Gargar tribe, who were situated along the coast of the Dead Sea and the mountain passes into the rich cities of Hayasdan.
As the hordes converged the khashaya had his spies explore the surrounding lands in search of wealthy places to raid and weak tribes to subjugate. The Tissagaetae lie to the north-west and are mighty warriors, it would take many years for the Sauromatae to gather an army capable of defeated them. To the west are the Budinos. A formidable people, but if the Sauromatae gathered their armies then the Budinos would fall before them.
Another order of Abeakos’ was to send his cousin, Rastbarag, as his emissary to seek out the peoples of the south. The mountain settlements of Hayasdan, the colossal Arche Seleukeia, even the rebellious satrapy of Baktria will hear the Sauromatae.
Rastbarag wasted no time and raced to treat with the Arkah of the Hayasdan in Armavir, as to end our people’s feud. With the matter brought to a conclusion he then sought out a representative of Arche Seleukeia, so as to asses the power of the largest kingdom on this Earth.
And as Rastbarag was being entertained by the Shah of the Pahlava (whom are a great tribe like the Sauromatae, and have been making incursions into Arche Seleukeia) the armies of the Yazyga and Roxsalanna, led by the prince Alouthagos, descended upon the Maeot with a great fury.
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It was the first slaughter of many.
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Another such slaughter was that of the Gargar. Bravely their champions charged forth into the midst of Babai’s war host: they were dead in a shorter time than it took them to sally forth into the horde.
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The rest of the Gargar soon followed suite.
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By the time of the subjugation of the Gargar, Alouthagos had led the warriors of the Yazyga, Siracae and Roxsalanna (Rumo, warlord of the Siracae, remained behind to secure the newly acquired territory) south to meet Babai’s Saitae and Aursa army just shy of the passes of the Caucasus Mountains. These war hosts melded together to form an endless sea of demons who flew down into the Khalybe city of Kotais, spewing out tongues of iron into the settled peoples.
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Death had rare been so easy, nor so gold gilded, as the death of the Khalybe. They hid behind their walls and then we rained arrows down upon them as dragons do their fire. Few survived, and our warriors revelled in their war won wealth taken from the corpses of many merchants.
Meanwhile Rastbarag had also visited the courts of the Basileus of Baktra (a Hellenic satrapy on the eastern edge of Arche Seleukeia), and spoken with the Saka Rauka (like the Pahlava, another mighty tribe who rule over all the nomads of the mountain steppes north of Baktria). Like with the Pahlava Rastbarag extended the hand of friendship to these peoples and negotiated trade agreements. Although we Sauromatae take our wealth from those too weak to keep it, we are not above or beyond the merchants and their lucrative ways.
With the Maeot, Gargar and Khalybe peoples made part of the Sauromatae the tribes began recruiting more warriors to create an army capable of bringing the rest of the nomads to heel.
To this end two new warlords joined the ranks: Phidas: come of age son of Abeakos, of the Saitae and Aspar: newly-wed husband to Tirgateo (daughter of Alouthagos), also of the Saitae. And with the horde riding north to meet with Phidas’ and Aspar’s warriors, the Budinos will soon come face-to-face with the bearers of the Dragon Banner.
