7 Crossing the Strait

Borislav briefly thanked the innkeeper, whose beady eyes were still full of worry. Amyntas followed their group leader outside, to announce the bad news to the rest of the caravan. Not only the bad news presaged war, the lands of Cherson were now left unprotected with the departure of Khan Aibek. Although Abkhazia and Alania were not so far, the Khan would not be able to move his troops freely in and out the battlefront.

Besides, now that Saleen had moved, the innkeeper could not provide its exact location and they would lose precious time by tracking it. The tribe may be nomadic, however thousands of people and horses leave behind tracks that are difficult to hide, which was why they still had a chance to find it, provided they could move fast enough.

Their group didn't need to know all this though. Sometimes, holding back bits of the truth could prevent internal conflict. And this was a lesson Borislav knew very well.

"Listen everyone !

Khan Aibek left with Saleen to the South. They brought with them the people of Kerch, and most likely of the surrounding villages too.

For now, we should split up. A small group will follow me and keep travelling to Saleen. We will take with us the spices since they are less encumbering, and we still need to exchange for food.

The others shall head back to the village, and report to Annara and the Oracle."

Borislav paused for a moment, reflecting on his next words, and leaving to his men a bit of time to register what he said. Before they could start asking questions, he resumed his speech.

"I will take with me…"

His eyes roamed over the group, stopping successively on Amyntas, his two lieutenants, Blagoy and a few others.

"Pavlo, Maksym, Blagoy and Amyntas."

Turning to his lieutenants, he said :

"I count on the two of you to lead the rest to their homes safely."

[Hmmm. Truly a capable man. He knows how to leave behind the troublesome people. I still wonder why he trusts Amyntas so much though.]

Ignoring Blagoy's cheerful smile, Borislav immediately followed up on his ideas.

"My group will depart now. We cannot afford to lose any more time."

(Hah !

Looks how this dumb guy's happiness flew away !

Sigh… it's gonna be hard to keep going at this rhythm though…)

"Maksym, Amyntas, since you were on duty last night, you should rest a bit while we transfer the merchandise."

(Can he reads mind ?

Nah, I guess he is just farsighted. I will take up his offer though.)

While he and Maksym went in the inn to take a nap, Pavlo, the young brown-haired man that would do the rest of the journey with them, joined Borislav and the others in discharging the packages.

Luckily, the spices were light and unlike the dyes, they were not kept in clay bottles and did not need to be carried carefully.

Less than an hour later, everything was ready and Blagoy gleefully went in to wake up his two companions. When Amyntas exited the building, he saw with surprise that his horse had been changed. His previous common courser had been replaced by a thoroughbred horse not inferior in any point to Borislav's.

"Hey !

Why did I got another horse ?"

"We will need to be faster. Just take it and don't dwell on it. Take this too."

Borislav handed him a bow and arrows. Examining them, Amyntas quickly noticed that the points were made of steel, forged to form small barbs.

"Well, thanks. Do we depart now ?"

"Yeah. We need to find the Khan as soon as possible. He may give us troops to defend Cherson."

(Well… I wouldn't hope for much in your place...)

…

…

They quickly left the village behind, heading towards the floating bridge that crossed Kerch Strait. The Sea of Azov was not very developed yet, since the merchant unions were too busy fighting each other in the Old Empire. The free traders had not enough wealth to maintain a functioning port, so the only structure that could be used was a floating bridge crossing the shallowest waters of the Strait. Luckily, under lenient weather, few waves formed at the surface of the sea, giving the bridge relative stability.

The horses were still neighing nervously when they left the solid ground and that wood replaced the comfort of earth. The wind whipped Amyntas' hair askew, covering his eyes until he couldn't see the path in front. His horse kept going forward though, following the lead of Borislav and Maksym.

The marine scent was stronger than ever, even though they had just left the coasts of Kerch. It was like being in the middle of the sea, yet without a boat under to provide any sense of safety.

Blagoy's mare missed her step a few times, threatening to throw the big man directly into the water, but they managed to keep their equilibrium and make their way to the other side safely.

When they finally left the floating bridge and exited the lands of Cherson to enter in Adyghe, they could not help but let out a relieved sigh, even though they just left their homeland. Amyntas was not one to lose time on feelings though, and directly went to the crux of the matter.

"Now… where do we go ?"

Borislav thought for a second before answering in a determined tone, his traits hardening.

"We have no choice but to go to Saleen's previous location. Else we won't find the tracks."

Blagoy's exclaimed, his rare good sense expressing itself.

"Shit !

Isn't that the slowest method ?!"

"Well, I'm open to suggestion."

Noticing that Borislav was not very prone to bearing Blagoy's speech and lack of… 'restraints', Amyntas quickly interfered.

"I don't know much about tracking, so it's still up to you to see if it's manageable but… could we track the escort of Khan Aibek instead of the whole city ?

Since he came to Kerch and took most of the villagers with him, then they must have crossed the Strait. And since they knew where they had to go… their tracks would lead us directly to Saleen…"

"Smart. But their group would have been made of a few hundreds at most… tracking them will be much harder than the thousands of people and carriages from Saleen…"

Maksym added his thoughts to the contribution in a quite subdued manner.

"Well… the ground from the steppes is much harder than the ground of Cherson… the horses won't leave many tracks…"

Unable to read the mood, Blagoy exclaimed for the second time.

"So what ?

It's impossible ?"

"Shut up, Blagoy."

(Is there anything useful in the Gift from the Divines ?

… yeah, there seems… to be memories…

Some rituals… and…)

As Amyntas was sinking in a trance of remembrance, delving deeper and deeper to what had been transmitted to him, strands of his hair slowly turned white, bringing a striking contrast between dark and light. Slowly waving in the air by themselves, they looked like unnatural tendrils feeling out a world that they didn't belong to.

The next ones to transform were his pupils that became completely white, followed by his irises soon after. His lips were trembling, muttering disconnected words while his eyelids were fluttering faster and faster.

"Carriage… escort…

fire… steppes… tears…

power…

raw…"

If before the Gift had transformed his personality and granted him knowledge, now it was molding, shaping his soul under his conscious will.

Under Luka's 'eyes', Amyntas soul was once again swallowed under the power of the Twins, scouring his soul. Yet the divine tendrils didn't stop here, invading every inch of their shared mind, creeping towards Luka, slithering along his ethereal body…

"Leave…!

run… away…

saints…

Ade…"

[ENOUGH !!]

Luka cried out with all his strength that came from desperation. Now he understood what the Divines had in mind for both of them. Now he understood that whatever he held precious would be taken away…

And that he would do his utmost to protect it.

This was his.

Only his.