Desert Rhapsody - Chapter 19

Chapter 19

The consequences of this incident went far beyond the loss of money. By nightfall, the bandits had fully moved into the camp. Before the loot had even been divided, and before the camels and warhorses had been stripped of their armor, men from both sides were drawing water and cooking together in the canyon. Dead cattle and sheep lay everywhere on the ground, wine had been spilled across the dirt, and the air was filled with women’s screams.

Expressionless, Jiang Yuan walked along the trampled path. She did not recognize the guards by the tent, who were holding women in their arms and joking with them. But they recognized her. After all, they had only robbed her that afternoon. She stepped aside and showed them the cart behind her, stacked with chests of silk and porcelain. The two black slaves were panting hard, though probably more from terror than exertion. Jiang Yuan had no choice but to open the chests herself and show the guards what was inside.

“No problem,” one of them said after a single glance, clearly uninterested in inspecting the contents. He turned and shouted into the tent, “Chief, that Jia Nan is here!” The woman’s voice inside immediately stopped. He moved aside and said, “Go in. But only you!”

Jiang Yuan nodded. So far, so good. The cart could still be dragged this far. She turned back and ordered, “You two go back first.” Then she took up the rope herself and pulled the cart into the tent.

Abal clearly had not gotten so carried away that he forgot himself. He had only removed his headscarf; the rest of his clothes were still on. Two girls were prostrate at his feet. To keep up appearances, Jiang Yuan had still been forced to spend money and find a few willing young girls among her own people for Abal’s men. In any case, earning money and receiving some guarantee of safety was far better than what anyone else in the caravan had. Abal said lazily, “Leave.” The girls happily grabbed the silver and gold coins they had been rewarded with and ran out.

The bandit leader’s blue eyes then settled on her at leisure, waiting for her to speak. He drank his wine, long legs stretched out, leaning back against a papyrus mat. Boys in the middle of growing up really did seem to change by the day. His Adam’s apple was more pronounced, his shoulders broader, and his eyes had grown deeper and bluer. Compared to when Jiang Yuan had seen him half a year ago, he looked much more like a young man now.

Jiang Yuan said, “As promised, I have brought the gifts I selected for you.” She opened the chest and took out the beautiful porcelain pieces one by one. Abal at least made a show of looking at them a little longer. Then he reached out, and Jiang Yuan handed him the small porcelain vase she was holding.

“Truly exquisite,” he said. “You have a good eye. I like it very much.” Those blue eyes were not looking at the vase at all, but staring wickedly at Jiang Yuan. Without changing expression, Jiang Yuan took out the silk wrapped in thin paper. “This is silk from the East. A single bolt is worth thirty gold coins. It has the finest texture and feel, and only young girls are allowed to touch it. Please have a look.”

Abal leaned forward with interest to examine it. Both their hands were covered in calluses, so they could not touch silk like this directly. They could only stroke it through the cotton paper a couple of times to feel its texture. Under the cover of the shadows cast by the oil lamp, Jiang Yuan took a small box from inside her robe and passed it to him. Aloud, she said grandly, “This is a separate token of thanks for you, to thank you for helping us.”

Abal accepted the box as naturally as could be, then leaned close with a smile. In a breathy whisper, warm with the scent of wine, he murmured by her ear, “This time, you only need to pay seventy percent, my dear Jia Nan.”

Jiang Yuan glared fiercely at him.

During the journey that followed, they held a perfunctory discussion about where to sell this batch of goods. Jiang Yuan had originally planned to sell them in Taif, but Abal insisted she dispose of thirty percent at the next town, and that all the money earned, apart from what was needed for living expenses, be handed over to him. Jiang Yuan did as she was told.

News of Abal’s deal soon spread through the caravan. This thirty percent was already close to the amount that had initially been allotted to Blood Eye. Yet Abal would still receive three times this amount. Many people did not say that he had shown the patience and courage to wait and take the risk. Instead, they mocked Blood Eye for being stupid and missing out on a huge sum of money that had practically been handed to him. Blood Eye soon came looking for Abal and accused him of harboring malicious intentions.

“That is not quite fair,” Abal said unhurriedly when the conflict broke out as they were breaking camp and preparing to leave. “Back then, this merchant proposed a trade to you. You were the one who refused.”

What bandit would ever agree to something like that? They lived their lives with blood on their blades. Buying on credit was absolutely impossible. But that pile of gold coins was enough to make a man so envious he lost all reason. Blood Eye screamed and charged at Abal with his blade raised, and the men behind him followed. Abal gave a sharp whistle. Moonlight shot into the sky, and the subordinates behind him, newly invigorated after having split Jiang Yuan’s thirty percent among themselves, charged after him with murderous energy. The two sides crashed together and fought until the chief of the bandit group rushed over to stop them.

“A man’s word is like a galloping steed-once spoken, there is no turning back! Since you agreed to the trade, you cannot go back on it!” Jiang Yuan did not go over. Everyone in the caravan huddled to the side, holding their breath as they listened to the bandits’ internal strife. Their furious roars rose and fell like thunder.

In the end, Abal and Blood Eye were both ordered to leave the group. Only their deputies would continue the journey from there. Abal was still allowed to take a few men and escort Jiang Yuan to sell this batch of goods that belonged to him. How much he could get from it-or whether Jiang Yuan would turn the tables and kill him instead-was no longer any concern of theirs.
Jiang Yuan arranged for some of the people to stay with the caravan under the care of reliable leaders, while the rest went on ahead to Taif. She and Abal found a small village nearby and settled into the familiar life of being watched. Soon after, Adnan’s letter finally caught up with her.

It was Abal who brought her the letter. The servants and stewards who had arrived first in Taif had received it, and when they sent over the gold coins, they brought the letter along as well. “That was fairly quick,” Abal said teasingly. “Were those goods of yours really only worth eight thousand dinars?”

Jiang Yuan ignored him. Of course they were not worth only eight thousand gold coins. In truth, the principal value of the goods she had been escorting was a full thirty thousand dinars. Including the camels and men traveling with them, the total value came to somewhere around forty or fifty thousand dinars.

But there was no need to tell Abal that. She imagined she was hardly the only one who had underreported. Abal understood perfectly well, and with tacit agreement, he had taken the eight thousand gold coins to divide the spoils. Jiang Yuan, for her part, swiftly checked the wax seal. Only after confirming there was nothing wrong with it did she take out the small knife she carried and slit the letter open. Letters sent over such long distances were written on parchment to keep them from being damaged, and several identical copies would be made and sent out at the same time.

All the letters spoke of the same thing: Adnan had arrived in Oman three months ago. Judging by the dates, that was around the time Jiang Yuan had set out from Damascus. Traveling by sea really was fast.

[The sea route is even quicker than I imagined. Perhaps this means the long road ahead will be even more dangerous and distant. We have not yet left the Persian Gulf, and I hear we must still wait before we can set out for Aden. The ship will pitch and roll even more violently then. Now I understand what you told me before. Spending so long on a ship truly is a miserable affair. Every day, many people vomit, and we have been sailing through bays filled with floating filth. Fortunately, not many have fallen ill, and everything remains under control… But for a Baghdadi, seeing is believing. What I witness each day at the harbor surpasses a hundred times over all the tales my friends once told me at banquets…

…I have already sold the goods and exchanged them for gold. The people of Oman are fierce, and there are many chieftains here. Aside from having to pay more in bribes, the goods have sold very well. I purchased many pearls here and selected a fine box of them for you. I hope all goes smoothly, my dear Jia Nan, my child. We are set to depart in a month and a half, when the sea winds rise. If all goes well, we may spend the winter in Aden or at the Cape of Good Hope. When that time comes, I will write to you again. Adnan Marwan Shesuri]

Jiang Yuan smiled as she read the letter. By now, Adnan was probably on a ship somewhere, wearing a face of misery as he was tossed about by the waves. Jiang Yuan had also spent more than a month in this little village. Now that the ransom was enough, she was free, and the people left with the caravan as collateral could be sent for and told to turn back to Taif. Abal told her she could leave at any time, though he still suggested she wait a little longer.

So Jiang Yuan waited for two more days. On the morning of the third day, he said to her, “Get on your horse and come with me.” Night whinnied beneath him, then stretched out all four hooves and broke into a run. Moonlight was not here, and the identifying marks of the black horse and blue falcon were honestly a little too conspicuous. Jiang Yuan pressed her knees into her horse’s belly and followed him at an easy canter out of the village, then into the depths of the dunes. This place was part of an oasis, the edge where the wadi met the wilderness. Sometimes Jiang Yuan truly wanted to ask Abal how he remembered the way. He seemed to need no observation at all, as if he knew every faint trace and hidden landmark by heart. After they had ridden for about three hours, Jiang Yuan suddenly pulled on the reins.

“Is that…?”

Abal also reined in his horse and looked into the distance with her. Deep among the dunes, a snow-capped mountain stood tall and proud. Abal realized what was happening even faster than Jiang Yuan did. “Don’t pay attention to it. It’s the devil’s temptation.”

Even so, they rode toward the devil’s temptation, toward that floating snow mountain. After roughly another hour, they finally saw a small oasis in the distance, standing quietly at the foot of the snowy peak. Abal put his fingers to his lips and gave a long whistle. “Whew-”

Night whinnied. Then Jiang Yuan suddenly heard the sound of hooves. A small dapple-gray horse came running up from behind, with a hound barking joyfully at its side. It had grown bigger, beautiful and strong, running swift and steady through the sand, its hooves kicking up a trail of dust. It gave a happy, ringing neigh as well, racing toward them as they slowed down. Jiang Yuan cried out in surprise and delight:

“Sun!”

Good, they’re alone again.

Whenever it’s time for relationship progress, I arrange for them to be alone.

The first time, they exchanged names [the horses’ names]. The second time, they killed a lion. The third time, they went to Baghdad and told stories. What do you think they’ll do this time, hehehe? If you have any ideas, feel free to say them boldly.