Crusade - James Lowder [98]
A pall of smoke to the east became visible at about the same time Azoun spotted the other riders. From the blue-gray haze hanging low in the cloudy sky, the king realized that they were getting close to the Tuigan camp. After Azoun and his escort topped two more rises in the road, the huge collection of tents revealed itself to them.
The round, domelike tents lay scattered to either side of the road.
Thousands of fires trailed thin wisps of smoke, which then joined together in the blue haze Azoun had spotted earlier. Wicker corrals of horses and sheep dotted the camp, spaced seemingly at random amidst the soldiers' quarters.
Men lounged in groups or raced about on horses, the most activity seeming to center around a large white tent in the middle of the camp, right next to the road.
The bald emissary reined in his horse and waited for the king to reach his side before allowing the mount to move. "This is our camp, Azoun of Cormyr.
Yamun Khahan waits for us here."
This was the first time the emissary had been close to Azoun, and the king could now see that he was not a Tuigan. Not only were his features less severe, but they seemed to mark the gaunt, bald man as a resident of the oriental lands. "How did you come to be the voice of the khahan?" Azoun asked after a moment. "You are not Tuigan."
"I was once a citizen of Khazari, a land now under the khahan's rule," the man said a little wistfully. "My name is Koja, and I am presently grand historian for Yamun Khahan." He bowed again in greeting. "The khahan sent me to meet you because I have seen you before, at the Council of Semphar. I was still an envoy from Prince Ogandi of Khazari then."
Azoun cast his mind back to the meeting that seemed to signal the beginning of the problems with the Tuigan. Over a year ago, the countries of Faerun and of Kara-Tur had met in Semphar to discuss the Tuigan and their attacks on trade caravans crossing the steppes between the two great powers. There had been many nations represented at the council, and the eastern land of Khazari had claimed only a small voice in the proceedings.
Koja smiled warmly. "It is not surprising that you cannot remember me, Your Highness. I had very little to add to the discussions." He paused and motioned for the lead riders to move ahead to the camp. They set off at a gallop. "But I remembered you quite well. I even mentioned your speech at the council to the khahan when I first met him."
Azoun looked puzzled. "My speech?"
"Yes," Koja said. "You spoke after Chanar Khan interrupted the meeting.
Chanar informed us all that the khahan demanded a tax on all caravans, that he wished to be recognized as sovereign over us all, but you told him-"
"-that Yamun Khahan could expect no gold from Cormyr," the king said, finishing Koja's recollection. "I bade the general inform the khahan that he did not rule the entire world."
"Yamun Khahan has not forgotten that," Koja said, a hint of a warning buried deep in his voice.
Azoun brought his horse to a stop. "Is that why my emissary was slain?" he snapped, his eyes growing hard. "Because of something I said a year past?"
"Of course not," Koja said quickly. He turned from the king and watched a group of forty or so soldiers race from the camp toward them. With a smile, he glanced at Azoun again and concluded, "Your emissary refused to honor our customs and insulted Yamun Khahan in his own tent. He was punished according to Tuigan law."
Vangerdahast, who had been napping in the saddle, snorted awake when the procession stopped. Thom held out a hand to steady the old man.
"Vangy," he whispered. "Are you feeling all right?"
The old wizard motioned to the bard as if he were ready to reply. Suddenly his eyes rolled back in his head and he slumped from his horse to the ground, unconscious.
Azoun spun around in his saddle, and the Cormyrian guards all drew their swords. The western soldiers closed a tight circle around the king, but Koja, who had been trapped in the press with Azoun, shouted, "It's no use to fight.
Hundreds of soldiers block