97
With a great effort you manage to dominate their wills, holding them under control. You walk up to them and order them to take you to Ogedai Khan and to pretend you are a messenger. They walk through the door with a rolling, bandy-legged gait and you follow entering a store room lined with barrels of Koumiss, fermented mare's milk. A row of carcasses hangs on hooks above a smoking fire. In the corner lies the huddled form of an unconscious mongol, obviously drunk. The two guards lead you out of a door opposite into a banqueting hall whose walls 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 the storeroom door. Turn to 278.