The Gathandrian Trilogy 02 - Hallsfoots Battle

overcome them.
    “For a while, Kadron and the leaders and people who gathered to him lay low in the wood’s secret places and healed the wounds, both of the body and of the mind that they bore. Worst of all these was the murder of Kadron’s wife and only child, a daughter, in the battle. Many day-cycles found him weeping with the dawn and crying with the stars. But men of courage are not laid in the dust forever and soon, as the winter truly commenced, Kadron knew he could not abandon his people.
    “So he gathered them together into what men and women later called the Cave of Determination, and spoke to them in this way:
    “ We in the New Lands are a peaceful people. At least, that is what we were. But, when we did not expect it, evil men have risen up from amongst us and murdered our loved ones, snatched away our livelihoods and driven us from our homes. I cannot tell you how such an event has come to pass, but you know how much it has taken from me personally and I regret the laxity in my and my fellow leaders’ counsel that evil has had its way. But, for the sake of my people, I cannot let wickedness go unpunished. Although we are not trained in war, I believe it is time to learn, time to fight back and time to recover what is rightfully ours. Have fortitude, my people and, by the gods and stars around us, surely good will prevail.
    “These words fired up the New Landers, and Kadron and his people fought the rebels at the Battle of Long Corn Meadow. This was the first battle noted down in the legends of Gathandria and all our neighbours. The weapons they used were sticks, stones and harvest tools. They used no subterfuge and no New Lander has ever possessed mind-powers. They simply attacked Javagathlon and the rebels at dawn in the heart of the village as the snows started, and the fighting continued, bloody and cruel, until midday.
    “Because the villagers had not had any warning of what would occur, there was no true understanding of what was happening, and many died needlessly. Some who wished to fight for Kadron were unable to reach him before being cut down, whereas others who had opted to fight on the side of Lust could not reach Javagathlon and caused mayhem in the ranks of those who had chosen Fortitude. Whilst the initial numbers of those fighting were men, and few at that, soon others, women and children, too, joined them from the village and its surrounding hamlets, from the fields and from the woods. They came because they did not know the reasons for such an uproar and, once there, it was impossible to escape as the crush was so great.
    “Not only that, but fields and houses were set on fire during the battle, and this brought those who saw the smoke but who were too far away to hear the sound of the dying.
    “The fighting continued until—and surely from the beginning it was inevitable—at last Kadron and Javagathlon came face to face with each other. When that occurred, the sound of the battle gradually faded away. The soil was black with blood and even the birds and dogs were silent, most of the latter perhaps already dead. I do not know. The books do not tell us that.
    “When Kadron, Man of Fortitude, gazed at his heart’s enemy, compassion for the weaker man filled his mind. In spite of all that had happened, the slaughter of his family and the day-cycle’s terrible battle, he saw the lust that had twisted the character of a New Lander he had once known to an unrecognisable madness, and wondered, even then, if some good thing could be wrought in the midst of so much pain.
    “So he dropped the strong staff he was holding to the ground and stretched out his hand, part in mercy, part in judgement, to Javagathlon. And these are the words Kadron spoke, words that echoed through the silent air to the ears of all who remained alive:
    “ What we do here is wrong and you know it. Why did you start such a terrible series of events? Why do you long for what you cannot have? It is madness to destroy the peace we once possessed and to bring us to the cruel shedding of blood in this way. You will not win, Javagathlon. Your lust and overpowering desires cannot conquer forever the fortitude of those who have right on their side. Come, we can stop this now, the two of us. Surrender to me and my people and let the good harvest of the New Lands flourish again. Yes, there will be punishment for what you have done here on this day-cycle, but you can know that your surrender brought respite to us