A firm knock at the door broke into his thoughts. With a disapproving frown a monk informed him that they had visitors, but being female they could not enter the lamasery. Nicander gave a start: it could only be Ying Mei and Tai Yi.
He was escorted to the gate. Ying Mei stood outside wearing borrowed novice’s robes. Apart from the high colour of a sun-touched face she seemed none the worse for her ordeal. Tai Yi had not been so lucky and her swollen features obviously gave her pain.
Ying Mei gave a hesitant smile. ‘Tell me, how is Ah Wu?’
‘He’s on the mend. Complains all the time of lying still. We’ve been told he’s too weak to leave yet, so I worry we’re going to miss the next caravan.’
‘That’s why I came to talk to you. I’ve an idea to get us on the caravan. Why don’t we hire a camel or a horse just for him? When he’s better we can take turns on it.’
‘He won’t like it, but it’ll get us going.’
She hesitated. ‘Ah Yung – would you walk with me? There’s something I want to say to you.’
Tai Yi gave her mistress a sharp look.
‘This is private between Ah Yung and me, Tai Yi, please understand.’
Nicander’s heart skipped a beat. Could it be that she had similar feelings for him? Damn his monk’s disguise. Was she going to…?
They began walking; Tai Yi fell behind at a distance.
‘It’s… well, we’ve come through a horrible time and it was all of us together, wasn’t it?’ Her tone was stiff, unsure.
‘Yes, it was,’ he answered carefully.
‘And if it wasn’t for Marius we wouldn’t have…’
‘We owe him much.’
They walked further in an awkward silence.
‘Ah Yung.’
‘Yes?’
‘We’ve been good friends, haven’t we? I’ve learnt such a lot of Greek, about your country and… things. And you’ve come along a long way with your Chinese characters. You’ve a natural gift, do you know that?’
‘And it’s been a pleasure, always,’ he said softly.
She hesitated, then said so quietly he had to strain to hear, ‘I want you to know, Ah Yung, that I will never forget you as long as I live.’
‘And… and I also, Ying Mei. I will remember these times until the day I die.’
This caravan was far bigger than their last – a cavalcade of nearly a thousand camels and horses, stretching for miles. It was a rich one with not only the usual precious jade of Khotan but tons’ weight of finished silk goods, ivory and spices from India, carpets and tortoiseshell, ornaments and toys – and, it was rumoured, quantities of musk which was known to be four times the value of gold, weight for weight.
So close to the great Kunluns there was no shortage of water run-off and horses were plentiful and easy to sustain; not just Marius but all four were able to go by horseback.
This was an official caravan. High-ranking bureaucrats from Khotan and Tibet were going north on diplomatic business and the escort was impressive, a column of Turghiz cavalry. There was also a promised oasis caravanserai every night – no tents for this caravan. And with the need to keep the dignitaries at their accustomed level, the rations and entertainment were of the highest order.
With such comforts, time passed congenially.
On their left the Kunlun range kept pace, snow-capped and majestic. After some days they began to change: to loftier, more complex jagged peaks – some said that for those with the courage, fabled India lay far beyond.
They continued following around the mountain’s flanks on the left and across the vast plain to their right, another white-tipped mountain range rose above the horizon.
The two gradually converged – and there ahead was Kashgar.
‘Not as if it’s a place I’d like to spend my days in,’ Marius muttered when they arrived. It was big, sprawling and had an air of hard trading and squalor.
As their caravan made its stately way through mean streets to the vast caravanserai, a chill squall flapped their clothing. From an unrelieved humid and grey sky, rain began falling and the streets soon ran with mud. Quite unprepared for a heavy downpour, they were quickly soaked and arrived at the caravanserai dripping.
‘How wonderful,’ laughed Ying Mei. ‘I feel like a child again!’
Although small, their cells were adequate in which to refresh after their journey but Marius wanted no time wasted. ‘We get together, ten minutes!’ he ordered.
It was more like half an hour as the ladies begged time to make themselves presentable.
When they were all assembled Marius got down to business. ‘This caravan moves out in two days – and we’re not going to be on it. Instead we’re going over the mountains!’
‘We know all this, Marius,’ Nicander said gruffly. ‘What we don’t know is where? I mean, it’s all very well saying we’re going across the mountains, but in what direction? We choose the wrong one and we’ll end up in India or some place the world hasn’t heard of.’
‘Simple! Like you said, we follow the silk. It’s eventually going to end up in Constantinople.’
‘Not so easy,’ Nicander came back heavily. ‘From here they’ve got camel trains going everywhere under the sun.’
‘We ask, bugger it!’
‘Ask what? “Are you going to Constantinople, sir?” Nobody here’s even heard of it!’
‘For fuck’s sake! We ask to go somewhere on the way, o’ course!’
‘Do you know any town on the way? You can’t, because the Sogdian’s keep very quiet about it. They don’t want any outsider connecting east and west and turning into a business rival, so they keep it all a great secret. No one else knows because they pass the silk between themselves. We’re stuck, Marius, admit it!’
‘Please try, gentlemen,’ Ying Mei pleaded. ‘I’ve heard camels can’t walk in snow. What do they have to carry the loads? If we can find a caravan without camels perhaps we can see if-’
‘No idea. You, Marius?’
He scratched his head. ‘Never really thought about it. Hannibal did well with his elephants but I’ve not seen many around here…’
Ying Mei looked blank at the foreign words.
‘I’ll explain later,’ Nicander said hastily. ‘Right now time’s short. Su’s caravan could be along at any time, and this one will be on its way soon.’
Marius lifted his chin and growled, ‘I’ve made a decision.’
‘And what’s that?’ Nicander said archly.
‘While the ladies and I go to the caravan master and tell him we’re stepping off and need to settle up, you, Nico, will go around the caravanserai and, any way you like, find out about mountain caravans and stuff. Right?’
Nicander smiled wryly – all the blame would be his if he couldn’t find a way out.
He returned late with mixed news. ‘I made out I had a cargo needing to be shifted west and they all said the same thing – that it would be going through the Terek Davan Pass. Wouldn’t say where to, but at least we’ve got a direction.’
‘That’s wonderful, Ah Yung. But you also said bad news?’
‘We’re too late. The last freight has gone through and now the pass is closed by snow. Nothing now until the following travelling season, next year.’
‘Next year?’
‘About seven months to wait.’ He paused. ‘But I did hear from one of the cameleers that if they’ve got need to get hold of more carrying capacity, they hire a small crew on a temporary basis to follow on independently. This lot are Kyrgyz and while unreliable, know the mountains well. Could be they’re running for a little while longer…?’
Marius beamed. ‘We find ’em! Ask what they’ll take to get us through!’
‘Ah. Now there’s a problem.’
‘Bugger you, Nico. Always coming up with something as will queer things! What is it now?’
‘Our friends the Sogdians. Nobody’s saying, but it’s clear that if they’re keeping their whole system end to end a secret they’ll slit the throats of any who let through spies. And we look just that – a couple of western barbarians and their Chinese concubines.’
‘Ni lao na! I resent that!’ Tai Yi spluttered. ‘In front of the Lady Kuo, as well!’
‘Yes, yes. But look at this from our caravan master’s point of view. Is he going to risk taking on spies and having the Sogdians down on his neck? I don’t think so. We have to come up with a good story.’