Eyes of the Dragon

Chapter 10

Traversing the desert was more difficult, but also more enjoyable, than Tian's voyage across the sea. His training enabled Tian to cope with the challenges of desert travel easier than even seasoned travelers, and the merchants and their guards were much less rowdy than the crew of the Sun Dancer had been. The merchants that had agreed to Tian's presence were all private and quiet, and the entire trip might have passed mostly in silence were it not for another traveler that had joined the group.

Chase, as he called himself, was a traveler and professional minstrel. He was quite the storyteller, and had built up a name for himself as a finder of new tales, at least to hear him describe it. Despite his adventurous nature, Chase did not take to the desert as well as his companions and complained endlessly about the discomfort of traversing the sandy wastes. More than once he had offended the merchants and Tian feared that they might ask him to leave the caravan, which could easily mean death in the desert.

For his own part, Chase did not intentionally try to offend their hosts or to make a nuisance of himself, but the unintentional result was the same. Tian had trouble looking past his rough edges, but also found himself liking the minstrel. Because of that the man had picked up the habit of hanging around Tian as they rode, and filling the long ride with a never ending torrent of tales and talk.

While it was enjoyable at first, Chase was a good storyteller, it began to wear on Tian's nerves after a while. It was primarily, he knew, because of the anxiety of facing the warlord and his army, but also it was because so many of the tales were about heroes succeeding despite the long odds. Instead of comforting him, it simply made Tian keenly aware of the width of the gap between truth and fiction, and made him wonder if his own quest was hopeless.

The other main reason that Chase annoyed Tian was that he relentlessly hunted interesting tales, and his instincts told him Tian was one. Between his private nature or his disciplined silence, something alerted Chase to the presence of an interesting story surrounding the young monk. Cleverly the minstrel had pressed Tian during their trip, trying to get his story in almost unnoticeable little pieces. Before he was fully aware of the situation, Tian had revealed where he was going and where he was from. Once he realized that Tian refused to reveal more, but the privacy only seemed to intrigue Chase even more.

Because of his tiresome traveling companion, Tian found himself relieved as the caravan neared the point of his departure. The merchants were desert people much like Rafan, and they had steadfastly refused to get closer than a three-day ride from the mountains, despite the additional travel time to their destination. When Tian had mentioned his intention to travel there the leader shook his head and spat on the ground. Misgivings or not, they made no effort to hinder Tian's plans however, and so it was when they stopped to make camp that one of the guards approached him.

"We are at the closest point to the mountains now," he said briefly, "my master says that now is the time for you to leave if you still wish to do so."

"Thank you," Tian said with a polite bow, "I will take my leave shortly."

The man simply gave a short nod and walked away. Tian was grateful for the timing, as Chase was not nearby. As was his habit when everyone started making camp, he had wandered out to inspect the sunset. When the work was done he would return, as usual, to take his rest with everyone.

Tian knew that he could make good time towards the mountain traveling at night and camping during the day. Without the bulky caravan to slow him, or to make night travel too risky, it would be the best option. Also it would ensure that he arrived at the mountain at night, he did not wish to approach to the warlord's army during the day.

Without wasting any time, he led his camel in the direction of the Shav Mountains. Even at night they would be visible in the moonlight, and during the day they stood out on the horizon. Finding them would be little trouble, the trouble would be waiting for him.

Securing his supplies on the camel, Tian led the camel out into the desert alone. The time for companions had passed.