“Then I’ll start there,” he said. “In the final years, there were five factions left fighting the War. The Kongo and English had the largest armies, followed by the Indu. Then there were two smaller forces that had formed an alliance early on.”

“The Mandarin and Pacific-Asian forces,” I said. “I remember. They suffered a plague that decimated their female population. Both armies nearly perished.”

Hosea nodded. “Yes, before the plague they had impressive numbers. But, in the final days, they were forced to ally with each other against their foes. The key to their survival was their expertise in hand-to-hand combat.

“Well, in the last days of the War, the armies looked to the future. Habitable land was scarce and they questioned their methods of war. What good was victory if the winning army had no place to settle? The big three—the English, Indu, and Kongo—agreed to stop using heavy bombs altogether. And so, hand-to-hand combat became essential to victory.”

“Which is why the Indu fell behind,” I said. “They had been losing ground for years, because the English controlled all the raw materials needed to produce danomite swords.”

“Right, the Indu fought with steel and titanium, no match against the danomite fire sword. Additionally, the Indu lacked the brute strength of the Kongo. When it was obvious to the Indu that they would lose without better training, their general offered to ally his force with one of the two smaller armies—either the Mandarin or the Pacific-Asian armies.”

I frowned. “I don’t remember this. I don’t believe it was in our books.”

“Schoolhouse literature is censored,” Hosea said. “The English write the curriculum to reflect what they want you to know.”

I frowned. I knew our readers were censored, but I’d shied away from considering why until that moment. “Which of the armies did the Indu align with?” I asked tentatively, wanting to know more, but afraid of where the answers would lead.

“That’s just it, the Indu general didn’t choose a force,” Hosea said. “Instead, he pitted the two groups against each other, forcing them to break their alliance. Since both groups knew they didn’t have a chance without the Indu’s help, they fought it out in a tournament, using their specialized hand-to-hand combat styles.”

“They had specialized fighting styles?” I said. “I’ve never heard of them.”

“Few have. The styles are carefully guarded. No one knows them all, but I’ve mastered a few techniques. Sword and grappling, strike and stick—Kyudo.”

“Kyudo,” I said, practicing the word on my tongue.”

“The art of archery,” he explained. “Every style was fair game in the tournament, and every fight was a death match with the Indu as spectators. I believe the Indu leader was trying to flesh out the most successful techniques. Several styles perished during the tournament, when the last master fell.”

“So, who won the tournament?” I asked.