257

With a great effort you manage to dominate their wills, holding them under control. You walk up to them and order them to Like you to Ogedai Khan and to pretend you are a messenger. They walk across the Palace courtyard with a rolling, bandy-legged gait and you follow. At the palace door, two more guards stare at you impassively. One of the guards, controlled by you, speaks listlessly at your command. 'We bring a messenger whose message is for the ears of Ogedai Khan and no other.' The door-guards step aside and usher you in. The doors open into a banqueting hall, the walls of which are lined with gold, the plunder of half the world. It is full of mongols, eating and drinking. To your surprise there are no tables, but a great fire has been lit in the centre of the hall. Musicians are playing fast, rhythmic music and some of the mongols strut around the fire, showing off the splendour of their leather coats, decorated and lined with fur. Others are still gorging themselves, tearing chunks of meat from whole carcasses with their hunting knives. As the music quickens some begin to whirl and leap around the fire, dancing wildly. Your guards lead you up a wooden stairway just to the left of a store-room door. Turn to 278.

Turn to 278