The Hyborian Age | Page 8

of the
defensive sort, and were generally attained with the aid of Hyperborean
armies. During this period Aquilonia's only defeats were: her failure to
annex Nemedia; the rout of an army sent into Cimmeria; and the almost
complete destruction of an army by the AEsir. Just as the Hyrkanians
found themselves unable to withstand the heavy cavalry charges of the
Aquilonians, so the latter, invading the snow-countries, were
overwhelmed by the ferocious hand-to-hand fighting of the Nordics.
But Aquilonia's conquests were pushed to the Nilus, where a Stygian
army was defeated with great slaughter, and the king of Stygia sent
tribute--once at least--to divert invasion of his kingdom. Brythunia was
reduced in a series of whirlwind wars, and preparations were made to
subjugate the ancient rival at last--Nemedia.
With their glittering hosts greatly increased by mercenaries, the
Aquilonians moved against their old-time foe, and it seemed as if the
thrust were destined to crush the last shadow of Nemedian
independence. But contentions arose between the Aquilonians and their
Bossonian auxiliaries.
As the inevitable result of imperial expansion, the Aquilonians had
become haughty and intolerant. They derided the ruder, unsophisticated
Bossonians, and hard feeling grew between them--the Aquilonians
despising the Bossonians and the latter resenting the attitude of their
masters--who now boldly called themselves such, and treated the
Bossonians like conquered subjects, taxing them exorbitantly, and
conscripting them for their wars of territorial expansion--wars the

profits of which the Bossonians shared little. Scarcely enough men
were left in the marches to guard the frontier, and hearing of Pictish
outrages in their homelands, whole Bossonian regiments quit the
Nemedian campaign and marched to the western frontier, where they
defeated the dark-skinned invaders in a great battle.
This desertion, however, was the direct cause of Aquilonia's defeat by
the desperate Nemedians, and brought down on the Bossonians the
cruel wrath of the imperialists--intolerant and short-sighted as
imperialists invariably are. Aquilonian regiments were secretly brought
to the borders of the marches, the Bossonian chiefs were invited to
attend a great conclave, and, in the guise of an expedition against the
Picts, bands of savage Shemitish soldiers were quartered among the
unsuspecting villagers. The unarmed chiefs were massacred, the
Shemites turned on their stunned hosts with torch and sword, and the
armored imperial hosts were hurled ruthlessly on the unsuspecting
people. From north to south the marches were ravaged and the
Aquilonian armies marched back from the borders, leaving a ruined and
devastated land behind them.
And then the Pictish invasion burst in full power along those borders. It
was no mere raid, but the concerted rush of a whole nation, led by
chiefs who had served in Aquilonian armies, and planned and directed
by Gorm--an old man now, but with the fire of his fierce ambition
undimmed. This time there were no strong walled villages in their path,
manned by sturdy archers, to hold back the rush until the imperial
troops could be brought up. The remnants of the Bossonians were
swept out of existence, and the blood-mad barbarians swarmed into
Aquilonia, looting and burning, before the legions, warring again with
the Nemedians, could be marched into the west. Zingara seized this
opportunity to throw off the yoke, which example was followed by
Corinthia and the Shemites. Whole regiments of mercenaries and
vassals mutinied and marched back to their own countries, looting and
burning as they went. The Picts surged irresistibly eastward, and host
after host was trampled beneath their feet. Without their Bossonian
archers the Aquilonians found themselves unable to cope with the
terrible arrow-fire of the barbarians. From all parts of the empire

legions were recalled to resist the onrush, while from the wilderness
horde after horde swarmed forth, in apparently inexhaustible supply.
And in the midst of this chaos, the Cimmerians swept down from their
hills, completing the ruin. They looted cities, devastated the country,
and retired into the hills with their plunder, but the Picts occupied the
land they had over-run. And the Aquilonian empire went down in fire
and blood.
Then again the Hyrkanians rode from the blue east. The withdrawal of
the imperial legions from Zamora was their incitement. Zamora fell
easy prey to their thrusts, and the Hyrkanian king established his capital
in the largest city of the country. This invasion was from the ancient
Hyrkanian kingdom of Turan, on the shores of the inland sea, but
another, more savage Hyrkanian thrust came from the north. Hosts of
steel-clad riders galloped around the northern extremity of the inland
sea, traversed the icy deserts, entered the steppes, driving the aborigines
before them, and launched themselves against the western kingdoms.
These newcomers were not at first allies with the Turanians, but
skirmished with them as with the Hyborians; new drifts of eastern
warriors bickered and fought, until all were united under