Forces of Equals

Chapter 1: Dawn of Defiance

The Euphrates river had flooded, bringing nutrients and life with its flowing waters. I was a young man in the Dahsalaam Tribe. We existed on the banks of the end of the Euphrates, somewhere near modern turkey. At the time my whole world was farming, there seemed to not be enough food for everyone. Someone died about every 3 days from starvation, the most recent being a little girl just that morning.

I winced at the thought. For reasons I tried desperately to push away.

Dahsalaam was the third most powerful tribe in the region, behind the Suli-Ufdalla which was behind the Nelhelle-Belgorod. Day in and day out we paid tribute to both of these clans while we starved. Both of those tribes used to be separate until unifying with another, resulting in a powerful alliance. I prayed to Allah to help us in case they ever decided to invade...

I was disturbed from my morbid thoughts when I heard the yelling of the tribal elder.

He was calling a meeting.

An emergency meeting?

I shuffled my feet towards the center of our village along with every other farmhand. When we arrived the elder was already delivering his proclamations.

"My Children!" He cried. " We do not have enough rations feed our people!"

I wasn't surprised, but what he said next struck fear into my heart.

"To make more rations we will no longer be paying tribute to Suli-Ufdalla!"

I heard someone wail in fear. Multiple people started trying to reason with the Elder but he was not persuaded.

Suli-Ufdalla was only the second most powerful tribe in the fertile crescent , but its military had a cloth armor that was thick and hard to puncture. We would not win.

He announced, "I have thought for many moons about this! We will still give tribute to Nelhelle-Belgorod so they will aid us in the inevitable war!" His eyes skimmed over the crowd and a chill ran through me when they landed on me.

Such a powerful man, with such powerful eyes, that rested on me.

"We need Warriors! We need Weapons! We need Food!"

Was I dreaming?

"No actions are to be taken that don't aid these three needs!"

I had to be dreaming...

"WORK MY CHILDREN, FOR OUR PROSPERITY!" He cried, as he went with his obsequious advisers back to his hut.

What was the world coming to?