The Ancient World Order

Chapter 28: Sahej of The Great Sands

The sun was about to set over Elder's peak and the red moon was on its way to replace it. Hour after hour, the Sashs had argued who was worthy of the title Great Sash of Sashs, a title which hadn't been used since the days of Achea. It should have happened weeks ago, but the clansmen couldn't even agree upon a proper election procedure until now.

The elder council meeting had started just at dawn. After several hours, the Sashs, in agreement with the elders from various clans, had finally chosen two candidates to lead the host of the united clans, Tahej, Sash of the Blood Sand clan and Kirkesh, Sash of the Rado clan. It was rather a choice between going to war or attempting to avoid it. The Darma tribe had at first seemed to be advancing rapidly through the Great Sands, but it didn't take long until they were forced to slow down their approach. The desert is a treacherous place for those who don't know it. The clans had taken advantage of that fact, always keeping their distance and slowly retreating to a more favourable position, while in the process burning down villages and poisoning available freshwater. Now they couldn't anymore. In just a matter of days, the Darma tribe would reach the holy city of Kanaj Datesh. Even though more and more of the desert clans had got accustomed to more permanent settlements along the trade cities, by the Oval Coast, this was the only one truly belonging to them.

"Why do we even bother with a useless pile of heavy rocks?" Sahej had asked their tribe elder Garesha at the meeting. They were sitting amongst the common elders, in a circle surrounding Tahej and Kirkesh, listening as they made their cause for leaders.

"Here lay the ancient artefacts from the giant we know and worships as the sky father. Along with the relics created by mother earth herself. Their temples of worship had stood there even before the time of humans wandering into the desert." Garesha educated Sahej like he was a child.

"I know what Kanaj Datesh is..." Sahej said, annoyed by the none answer. "Why make all of us die for it? It's just buildings and statues of stones, they will remain."

Garesha frowned his eyes. "Don't mention that to the shamans. Speaking of allowing foreigners ravaging our lands and sacking the holy city. They will curse your name and cast it to the winds. They might even declare you an enemy to the clans. No, any man with political ambition does well to be on the good side of the shamans."

Sahej spit provokingly on the ground. "What do the shamans even do? Nothing! They go around pretending to talk to spirits... They do not work, they do not fight. When winning a battle, they praise the gods, rather than credit the Sash. The absence of shamans won't be noted by many. They are in fact parasites..."

An elder of the Wey Hooves clan, sitting in front of them, turned his back and eyed Sahej in anger.

It seemed to amuse Garesha. "The work of the shamans is far more significant than you can understand." He whispered to Sahej. "It's complex and grants them more power than just holding a sword does. It's their influence, most of the warriors believe in the gods and the spirits that walk the desert. A warrior believing in nothing... How can you ask him to sacrifice his life for something...? Faith is by far the most powerful weapon there is. A warrior armed with faith is ten times stronger than a warrior without it. Learn from your brother. He notices the importance of religion and having the shamans on his side. Kirkesh knows as well."

"Yeah, I understand..." Sahej agreed. Looking at his brother standing with his upper body naked, painted all over with ritualistic blood painting, reaching from below the navel to his forehead. "But men make their own right. The gods are just spectators!"

He quickly got aware that more surrounding elders had taken notice of him. They too frowned their eyes. It was nothing that bothered him that much. He had always spoken his mind and rarely someone agreed. He shifted his focus towards the electoral ritual as Kirkesh spoke in response to something that Tahej had said.