Imperial Fire

XXI

Evening had fallen before the Outlanders disembarked, leaving the animals and stores to be unloaded in daylight. Vallon paid off Hauk and the Viking returned to their ships moored half a mile down the coast. During the night the sounds of a fierce argument carried from the Norsemen’s camp. At dawn both longships still rode at anchor. By then Vallon had despatched Yeke and two other Turkmen to scout for water and a trail.

If it hadn’t been for the storm, the country they’d landed on would have been as malignant as the coast around the Black Maw. It looked like a sea bed heaved high and dry — a scabrous waste of salt pans and bald domes of sun-shattered sediments gouged by gulleys that ran out into drains and sinkholes. But the cloudburst had germinated long-dormant seeds and water still lay in pockets and hollows. Once the squadron had unloaded the ships, they set to work digging pits lined with tarred sailcloth.

Vallon settled up with the Tarki shipmasters and provided them with more than enough water for the return voyage. The skippers reacted to the money as if they’d been paid in turds.

‘What use is gold to us?’ one said. ‘We don’t have enough men to haul the freighters up the Black Maw.’

‘You’ll find strength in desperation, and if that isn’t enough, you can drag one of the fishing boats up the rapids. It will be large enough to carry you back across the Caspian.’ Vallon dismissed the shipmasters with a curt farewell. ‘You’ll be back with your families in a fortnight, while we’ll be lucky to see our loved ones again. I hope that when you’re back at your hearths you find room for us in your prayers.’

The squadron left off their labours to watch the little fleet sail away, and there wasn’t a man among them who didn’t suffer a clutch of dread at seeing their last line of retreat severed. Glancing down the coast at the Viking camp, they envied the Norsemen with their longships and voiced their discontent until officers ordered them to hold their tongues and get on with their work.

After supper Vallon called a conference attended by his centurions and Hero. The officers lost no time in relaying the troopers’ anxieties and adding their own.

‘The ground’s drying by the hour,’ said Josselin. ‘We can carry only enough water for two or three days. If we don’t find wells inland…’

Vallon sat behind his camp table. ‘I trust the scouts will return with positive news.’

‘Your optimism might be misplaced,’ Otia said. ‘It was a mistake to release the ships before establishing what lies ahead.’

Vallon fiddled with a quill pen. ‘We have no more need of ships. Our path lies east, so stop looking back.’

The centurions traded glances, neither wishing to be first to speak his mind.

Vallon eased back. ‘I see,’ he said. ‘You have an alternative plan.’

Josselin’s voice was tight. ‘I agree we can’t return to Constantinople.’

‘So where?’

Josselin stared over Vallon’s head. ‘We have enough men and gold to found a colony. Once we’ve established a settlement, we can send for our families.’

Vallon was neither surprised nor angry. He tapped on the table with the quill. ‘And where do you intend to found this colony?’

‘There’s rich land in the Volga delta.’

Vallon threw down his pen. ‘Oh, for heaven’s sake. We’re not living in the days of Homer. Every scrap of fertile land between here and the Bosporus has been claimed and ploughed for scores of generations, as the Vikings discovered to their cost.’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘I trust you haven’t dangled this crack-brained idea in front of the men. If you have…’

‘Of course not,’ said Otia. ‘But you know as well as I do that they’ve lost all relish for the journey.’

Vallon placed both hands on the table. ‘Now listen. In a month we’ll reach the Silk Road — the greatest trade route in the word, blessed with rich cities and caravanserais all the way to China. There’ll be wine and whores for the men at every stop.’

‘As for that claim,’ said Josselin, ‘you have only the word of a scholar who construes the world from squiggles on parchment.’

‘If you’re referring to Hero,’ Vallon said, ‘know that he spent weeks consulting the best geographers and the most reliable maps. That isn’t all. As a youth he was employed by Cosmas Monopthalmos, a great traveller who explored the Silk Road as far as Samarkand. Unlike us, Cosmas followed the road there and back alone and unarmed.’ Vallon’s voice rose. ‘I’ve always encouraged my officers to speak freely, but I won’t tolerate you inventing perils like a pair of timid — ’ His head snapped up. ‘Yes?’

‘Excuse me, sir,’ his servant said. ‘The Viking commander requests an audience.’

Vallon stood. ‘Admit him.’ He noticed his centurions’ grimaces. ‘We’ll continue our discussion later. Hero, I’d like you to stay.’

The two officers brushed past Hauk as he entered and he turned to watch them depart. ‘Your officers don’t look happy.’

‘Take a seat,’ Vallon said. He nodded at his servant. ‘Bring us wine.’

Hauk perched on a folding stool and examined the interior of Vallon’s tent. When the servant poured the wine, neither commander would drink before the other. It was Vallon who spoke first.

‘You gauge my officers’ mood correctly. Neither they nor my men have any more appetite for this adventure.’

Hauk sipped. ‘Nor mine. You probably heard them last night. Half of them are for returning home.’

Vallon raised his beaker. ‘And given the chance, half of mine would go with them.’

‘But you intend to drive them on.’

Vallon drank. ‘If I reach China and establish amicable relations with its ruler, I’ll return home to riches and titles. If I fail, but die in the attempting… well, at least my honour will remain unsullied and my family will receive a pension. But if I turn back simply because of fears and rumours, I’ll be vilified and my family ruined.’ Vallon drained his beaker and held it out for a refill. ‘What about you?’

Hauk smiled into his cup. ‘Wealth wastes, fortune turns, we ourselves must die. Only one thing lives on — the dead man’s reputation.’ He emptied his drink in one and wiped his lips. ‘Still, there’s no merit in making a name by throwing your life away on a hopeless quest.’ Hauk nodded in Hero’s direction. ‘This learned fellow told me a little about the journey. I confess that until we met, I’d never heard of China. What are your chances of reaching it?’

‘Slim to vanishing point,’ Vallon said. He hunched forward. ‘I’ll tell you something I haven’t even confided to my officers. Last year the former Byzantine emperor despatched another China mission. It vanished into the sands before it had got halfway to its goal.’

Hauk held Vallon’s gaze. ‘I’d appreciate your frankness even more if you tell me how you intend avoiding the same fate.’

‘My expedition is better manned, better equipped and — dare I say it — better led. With those advantages, I’m confident we can deal with any hazards that present themselves. Right now, though, I have too many immediate concerns to worry about dangers that might lie months in the future. As you Vikings say, “A man who doesn’t know his fate in advance is free of care.”’

Hauk threw back his head in unaffected laughter. ‘You learned some good Norse wisdom in the northlands.’ He shifted on the stool. ‘Even so, it’s a foolish leader who marches into the unknown, never sure from one day to the next what lies ahead.’

Vallon gestured at Hero. ‘Tell Hauk where our route will take us.’

Hero stepped into the lamplight. ‘The next month will be the hardest — a desert crossing with few if any permanent settlements. Survive that and we’ll reach the fertile lands of Chorezm, watered by the Oxus, a river followed by Alexander the Great.’

Hauk’s interest quickened. ‘A river. Is it navigable?’

‘Alas, no. It wastes itself in an inland sea. The capital of Chorezm is a city called Khiva.’

‘A rich town?’

‘Passably rich, but not as wealthy as Bukhara and Samarkand further along the Silk Road. Their wealth rivals that of Constantinople.’

Hauk nuzzled the rim of his wine cup. ‘Could a small, well-disciplined force impose itself on these centres?’

Hero’s eyes drifted in Vallon’s direction. ‘If you mean, could you exact tribute by superiority of arms, I’d say the answer is no. The emirs who rule the trading centres defend their interests by maintaining large standing armies.’

Hauk hoisted his sword onto his lap. ‘Slaves, then. Do these cities deal in slaves?’

‘Yes, they do, but I suspect you’ll find the natives have cornered the market in that commodity.’

Hauk frowned at Vallon. ‘You told me you intended to dabble in the slave trade.’

‘That was a lie. A man who treats his fellows as beasts is no better than a beast himself.’

Hauk set down his beaker. ‘I promised my men riches. You claim I can find them in the East, yet offer no clue as to how I can obtain them.’

‘Trade,’ Hero said. ‘Along the Silk Road you can buy goods for a penny and sell them a month later for a shilling. Take coral for example. In Samarkand its value is set at five solidi a pound, but in Khotan it will fetch four times that sum, enough to purchase an equal weight of jade. Carry that as far as China and you’ll sell it for ten times what it cost.’

‘We don’t have coral or jade,’ Hauk said. ‘The only trade goods we have left are a few fragments of Baltic amber.’ He placed his hand on his knees and made to stand. ‘I hoped to carry more encouraging news back to my men. Thank you for the wine.’

‘Stay and have another cup,’ Vallon said. ‘There are other avenues to wealth.’

Hauk resumed his seat with feigned reluctance. ‘Lead me through them.’

Vallon waited until his servant had replenished their cups. ‘Some of the Silk Road caravans contain as many as a thousand camels laden with trade stuffs. That much wealth requires protection — which comes at a price determined by the value of the goods and the dangers to which it’s exposed. Suppose a caravan carrying goods to the value of ten thousand solidi is approaching a pass where bandits have robbed the last three trains down to the last scrap of horse harness. How much do you think the merchants would pay for guaranteed protection — a tenth of their goods’ value, a fifth?’

‘Hmm,’ Hauk said. ‘Yes, I can see profit in that line of business.’

Vallon cocked his elbows on the table. ‘Unfortunately, neither of us commands enough soldiers to take advantage of those opportunities. If we were to combine our forces, however…’

Hauk stuck up a hand. ‘Hold on, General. These opportunities might not fall into our paths for months. My men won’t proceed unless they can see the reward for their labours within close grasp.’

Vallon spoke softly. ‘They’ve already earned from us by cooperation more than they would have gained by piracy. Stay with us until we reach the Oxus and I promise to pay the least of your men the same wages as my troopers receive. I’ll reward your officers according to rank. In your case, I’m happy to pay you the same rate as my centurions.’

‘I’m not a kept man.’

‘Yes, you are. If we hadn’t fed and watered you, you’d be food for crows by now. Don’t bridle. Better a reclaimed hawk well nourished by its keeper than a free bird starving for lack of prey.’ Vallon half-rose as Hauk stood and made for the door. ‘Hear me out.’

‘There’s nothing more to say,’ Hauk said. ‘I’m not a sword for hire.’

Vallon’s servant whisked aside the entrance for the Viking to exit.

Vallon stood to full height. ‘Cross that threshold and I won’t allow you back.’

Hauk stopped at the last moment, his hands bunched against his thighs. ‘What about our ships?’ His hands splayed. ‘Without them…’

‘They’ll be safe enough if you leave them here,’ Vallon said. ‘Nobody visits this coast except for a few nomads who wouldn’t know what to do with a sailing vessel.’

Hauk turned. ‘We don’t have horses. I’m not walking to China.’

‘We have a few spare mounts for you and your lieutenants. The rest of your men can ride on the carts if they’re that lazy. We’ll purchase horses for them at the first opportunity.’

‘Let me get it clear. If we accompany you as far as the trade road, you’ll pay us in gold. A month’s wages.’

‘Two months. Serve my purpose as I trust you will, and I’ll pay for your return journey. You’ll not only profit from the gold, but also gain experience and knowledge.’

Hauk sneered. ‘I’m beginning to see how you deal with problems — by throwing money at them.’ He pushed off into the dark. ‘I’ll return with my decision before midnight.’

‘Don’t leave it too late,’ Vallon called. ‘A man of my age needs his sleep.’

Hauk’s laugh rang with good humour or mockery.

‘He’ll agree,’ Hero said. ‘He has no choice.’

‘That’s the problem,’ Vallon said. ‘Drive a wolf into a corner and he’ll go for your throat.’ He sat. ‘On your way out, summon my centurions.’

Vallon didn’t mince words when they marched in. ‘I’ve asked Hauk to throw in his lot with us as far as Khiva. I don’t want to hear any more about retreats or colonies. Understand?’

‘Yes, sir.’

‘Try to sound more wholehearted.’

Josselin waggled his Adam’s apple. ‘There’s a rumour running through the ranks that a previous expedition to China disappeared without trace.’

‘It’s fact, not rumour. I’m determined we won’t meet the same fate. Good night.’