THE BATTLE
AA was brave as well as cruel. He did not doubt that Hiwa's spirit had
appeared in his camp and on the heights of Kukuihaele; but, although
it troubled him greatly, he hoped it was a lying spirit. Did not the
whole nation know that the _moi wahine_ had committed the unpardonable
sin and had died from Ku's implacable wrath, which descends from
parent to child even unto the third and fourth generation? How, then,
could her claimant to the throne enjoy Ku's favor? And how could he be
of the sacred race which the gods had sent from heaven to rule men?
Yet Hiwa's spirit had thrice proclaimed him as heaven-born, The Chosen
of Ku, and living witnesses had seen him and Hiwa and Kaanaana issue
from the depths of the sea, where mortals unaided by the gods would
have perished. Superstition balanced superstition. Men were afraid to
support Aelani, and afraid to fight against him, lest the heavy wrath
of Ku should fall upon them.
It was not so with the spearmen of Kohala. Kaanaana had always
believed that Aa invented the story of Hiwa's sin as a pretext for
hunting her to death, and what the high-chief believed was accepted in
his own domains without question. Had it not proved true? Was she not
now with them in living flesh and blood? Was not the story of her
rescue by Ukanipo, God of Sharks, reasonable and in accord with the
sacred _meles_ that had come down from the wise men of old? Most
convincing of all, would Ku have permitted her to live if she had
committed damning sin?
Before the spearmen of Kohala arrived, Aa succeeded in persuading most
of his immediate followers, and also himself, that Hiwa was a lying
spirit. He even won over Kaaahu, Lord of Honokaa, who was swaying
between opposing opinions like a fern in the wind, and set him and his
men in the front of battle, where they could not easily run away.
The old men, the women, and the children had collected in the
_puuhonua_. This was a city of refuge corresponding to those of
ancient Israel. These sanctuaries, some of them very large and with
accommodations for many people, were scattered throughout the Hawaiian
Islands. Their gates stood always open, and the vanquished warrior,
the rebel, the red-handed murderer, the violator of _tabus_, the
vilest criminal, or the bitterest enemy of the _moi_ or of the
priesthood, was safe when once within their sacred walls. There he
offered thanks to the gods for his escape, and, after a few days, was
free to depart under their protection. It is said that, in the latter
part of the fifteenth century, long after the period of this story,
Hakau, The Cruel, proposed to slaughter the followers of his
half-brother, Umi, within the sanctuary, and was deterred by the
threatening vengeance of the gods--incidentally, also, by his own
death, and the complete triumph of Umi. Where did these people, so
remote and isolated, get this and so many other of the customs
described in the Jewish scriptures?
It was past noon when the conflict began--less than eight hundred
tired men attacking twenty-two hundred fresh ones. But as the spearmen
of Kohala advanced, amazement paralyzed the ranks opposing them. The
_moi wahine_, or her spirit, marched in front, and beside her strode a
youth, wearing the royal _mamo_, who was the living image of
Papaakahi, The Mighty, in his younger days, but of more gigantic
stature, and handsomer, and more regal in his bearing, than even that
great conqueror.
Kaaahu and his men, crying that the dead had come to life, and that
Aelani must be The Chosen of the Gods, broke and fled without throwing
a spear. They made their way with no great loss to the heights of
Kukuihaele, and watched the battle in safety. But, in the confusion,
Aa and his spearmen were forced back, and were hedged in with the
cliffs of Kukuihaele at their left, and the river at their right, and
the sea behind them. They could not run away, and, as they expected
no quarter, they fought with desperation. The odds, too, seemed
greatly in their favor, for they were picked warriors, many of them
nobles, and were fresh, and far outnumbered their assailants.
But doubt and superstitious fear were with them, while the spearmen of
Kohala were confident of victory, and forgot their weariness in the
blood-frenzy of battle. Their _moi kane_ was at their head, and beside
him the _moi wahine_, and Kaanaana, their high-chief, the foremost
warrior in the land. So, although they fell thick and fast before Aa's
skilled spearmen, they pressed on and slew and slew and slew. The _moi
kane_ and the _moi wahine_ and the Lord of Kohala, excelling all
others in deeds of strength, and skill and valor, were ever in
advance, their spears, dripping with blood, yet they received no hurt
so that men said that Ku went before them. They continually strove to
reach Aa and kill him, for his death would end the war; but his
spearmen, knowing the rout and slaughter that would follow, protected
him with dense ranks of spears.
Then Aelani did a marvellous thing, one that was told in after ages,
which no man could have done without long and patient training. He
hurled a spear over the heads of Aa's men, fully seventy yards, so
that it struck Aa below the waist and passed through his body. Aa
fell, and his warriors, supposing that he was dead, became
panic-stricken, and, being hemmed in by the cliffs and the sea and the
river, were slaughtered without mercy.
Just as the fighting changed into a butchery, Aelani plunged into the
river and swam across, and ran with all his speed towards Aa's palace.
He had heard a shriek, and, looking that way, saw Manoa rush from the
palace in the direction of his army, pursued by three men armed with
spears. So he hastened to her rescue. As he drew near to the men, they
flung their spears at him at the same moment. He evaded one of the
spears, and caught the other two in his hands as he had been taught to
do in his childhood. Then he flung the two spears back, killing two of
the men with them, and the third he killed with a stone. Thus he saved
Manoa's life.
The thing was the wickedness of Aa, for, knowing that Lilii and Manoa
were of the divine blood of Wakea and Papa in the female line, he had
commanded that they should be killed if the battle went against him,
so that the victor might have no goddess-born wife. He had assigned
the murder to the three men he trusted most, and they killed the
mother before the daughter escaped.
The slaughter ended when darkness came. A few of Aa's men scaled the
heights of Kukuihaele; a few swam out to sea and got away; a few score
swam across the river and reached the _puuhonua_ and were safe, but
many more were speared in attempting it. The greater part perished. A
fourth of Kaanaana's men perished also. In all more than a thousand
men lay dead and dying on the field. The victorious survivors, worn
out with marching and slaughter, sank on the ground beside them and
slept until morning.
Hiwa and Kaanaana slept from dark till dawn; but the young _moi kane_,
who had that day won his kingdom, lay awake many hours, and when sleep
came to him he dreamed of love, and not of glory.