Into the unknown

 

Very few people knew the young clerk in the king's court and even fewer noticed that when he disappeared. Those who did notice learned that the sochib has sent him to find new trading partners and routes. It was reasonable since he worked in the trades department. Though he was intelligent and levelheaded, it was nevertheless a serious responsibility and a great opportunity for his age and stature. Some foretold the height he would rise to in the future while some foretold the doom he would face. Orco (the sun) himself was very surprised when he was summoned to the king's office. Though he maintained his aura of calmness, he thought hard about what mistake could have earned him a rebuke from the king. It wasn't that he had a low opinion about himself, he knew he was doing a good job and he was satisfied with the occasional praises and encouragements from the sochib and other seniors. But it was a rarity even to meet the chief advisor and only to provide him with necessary documents, so an audience with the king was rather unnerving. The king had his full council and there were no junior officials, servants, or guards in the room; the commander of Nisorgo himself closed the door. 'I have a very dangerous and important mission for you' the king went straight to the point.

Since the previous dry season, the king had been hearing rumors of a strange army marching relentlessly towards the east. The tellers of the tales lived or came from many days' journey away, and they have heard the stories from people who lived many days' journey away. Although the stories were evidently exaggerated and varied wildly from tellers to tellers some of the elements remained largely unchanged; fair-skinned soldiers with peculiar hairs and eyes clad in metal armours. The trickles of rumors made him uneasy. More than the perceived threat, it was the lack of facts that troubled him. There wasn't even any hint about those strange people in his massive collection of scrolls and scripts, and though he had instructed all his ships sailing west to collect any documents on those people, none of those he received looked very factual. He and his council concluded that the invaders are still far from their immediate realm. They decided to use whatever time they had to prepare the defense, but it could be a waste of precious time, energy and resources to prepare against an enemy you don't know. So knowing the enemy became the priority. The king briefed Orco about the rumors, 'Are you prepared to go as far as it's necessary to locate these invaders and gather as much information as possible about them?' he asked the young clerk.

And so he had left for the perilous unknown over a year ago. Sometimes he traveled as a merchant's clerk and sometimes he traveled as a young merchant; sometimes he traveled as a scholar's protégé, and sometimes he traveled as a wanderer out to see the world. His ship got wrecked by a storm, leaving him stranded on a desolate shore; his ship got stuck in a hidden shoal, leaving him stranded in the middle of the river; bandits attacked his caravan, and tigers prowled his camps, but he trudged on. He didn't head straight west as none even had any credible idea about where the shetango might be. He would listen to all the stories with interest, and from the teller of the most reasonable story, he would take his source and travel there. All the while he would also gather information about the kingdoms along his way. Whenever he could, he would send whatever useful information he could gather back to his country. A silk robe, a box of spices, or a dagger with an ivory handle would contain information unknown to the eager merchants carrying them to the king in the hope of gaining his favor. But as he moved further and further west, such packages became increasingly infrequent. This far west, people didn't have any dealings with his land and only a handful have actually heard about it. However, the rumors about the invaders became increasingly strong and frequent too.

Finally, he reached a mountain range blocking his way to the west. Although they looked impregnable, barren, and hostile; he soon learned that there are mountain passes snaking through the maze of mountains and there are fertile valleys and lush slopes inhabited by people too. The hellish summers, the frigid winters, and the sparse resources have made those people hardy and fierce. Here, at the camps and at the inns, he heard about the invaders. They have flanked the mountains and have come from the south; there somewhere, many days journey away, they have crossed a desert and have set encampment on the bank of a river. He couldn't believe what he saw, it was more of a city than an encampment, and it was as big as some of the great cities he have passed on his way. Lines and lines of tents as far as his eyes could see, and in the middle stood the grand tents of the emperor and his generals and council. He watched the encampment from a distance for a few days but it soon became obvious that he has to be among the thick of things if he were to get a fair idea of this grand scheme. He hid his meager possessions and baggage deep inside the forest overlooking the camps, dressed into some ragged clothes, and outwalked Solis towards the encampment.