Kiaulune, here labeled as "Shadowcatch", and surrounding lands
The Kiaulune wars were a series of conflicts, lasting for a total of five years, between the Black Company and its military allies against the Protectorate. The Kiaulune wars took place during the first 5 years of the 15-year gap between She Is the Darkness and Water Sleeps. They are only mentioned in retrospect in the available Annals. The result was the decisive defeat of the Company.
During the Kiaulune wars, the Black Company was led by its Annalist, Sleepy, and her ally, Ky Sahra. They were desperately outclassed in terms of sorcery and resources. The Protectorate was ruled by Soulcatcher, who appointed Mogaba to be the Great General of her armies.
Before Water Sleeps
Immediately before the Kiaulune wars (at the end of She Is the Darkness), Soulcatcher trapped the Black Company's leadership (the "Captured") beneath the glittering plain. She then seized control of Taglios and declared herself its Protector.
After Soulcatcher was resisted by the remainder of the Black Company, she set out to destroy them. The fighting took place near the city of Kiaulune, the fortress Overlook, and the wider Shadowlands in general.
The Company remained safe in Overlook for the 5 years of fighting, as the structure had been hardened against sorcery by Longshadow. From there, the Company mounted assaults on Soulcatcher's newly-consolidated Protectorate forces. A final crushing blow came when the Bahrata Battalion was betrayed by the Company defector Khusavir Pete and was wiped out by Protectorate forces at Kushkhoshi. During this bloodbath, about 500 people (containing many Company brothers but mostly consisting of the Company's "largest surviving force of allies") were lost. This marked the defeat of the Company and an end to the Kiaulune wars. Soulcatcher emerged from the war as the undisputed ruler of both Taglios and the former Shadowlands, collectively the Protectorate.
Aftermath
After the Kiaulune wars ended, the Company survivors remained holed up in Overlook for at least 2 years. Their presence was not a secret. Soulcatcher eventually devoted her entire attention to obliterating Overlook itself with a specially crafted sorcery, a task which took 2 years. The remaining Company members and allies secretly moved north and dispersed into the urban sprawl of Taglios. The Company became an underground movement, and was secretly headquartered in a warehouse on the banks of the great river owned by their elderly Nyueng Bao collaborator Banh Do Trang. The subsequent events are detailed in Water Sleeps.
Black Company veterans
When the Black Company transformed into an underground urban guerrilla movement in Taglios, its backbone was comprised of veterans of the Kiaulune wars. Prominent such veterans were:
- Sleepy (the Annalist and ranking officer)
- the elderly wizards One-Eye and Goblin
- both Singh brothers: Runmust and Iqbal
- Riverwalker
- Spiff
Although not explicitly mentioned as such, these other Company men were almost certainly veterans of the wars as well:
The following close-knit Nyueng Bao allies were also veterans: