Chapter 1

Zithrusa and Vedeya took turns riding with Talus in the palanquin, carried by porters on the way to WhooWhee. They played games and sang children's songs to him, and taught him counting rhymes and the names of animals. He was having the time of his short life. Other times he rode before his Da John on the horse, or in front of his Uncle Tuk. Tuk proved surprisingly attentive and kind to the boy, feeling somewhat like a godfather, since after all, little Talus was his Heir. Heir of an abdicated Emperor.

The pace was much slower returning to WhooWhee, as they kept a pace which kept the camels with them. John missed Wong as his drover, but was glad his former slave was doing well as father and regent to the Imperial Heir. John had to take the droving job himself, but by now he was as used to walking as to riding a horse. It was funny, that although a fisherman, his last voyage in a boat made him not want to sail again, although he knew it was likely that he would at some point. If he wanted to see Stonehenge for instance.

The countryside became gradually more acrid and dry, as they moved inland towards the start of the caravan trail. No imperial guards asked for their pass, and it seemed that the ones they had slaughtered on Tuk's command were forgotten and erased, with no consequences.

It was a sad comment on what happens to the common man who gets caught up in the politics of the powerful. John hoped their families received a pension at least, but it was no longer their responsibility, and they were now just travelers on the road, and not any part of the political machine anymore.

They discussed trade items, and John jokingly suggested 'beads', which Zithrusa thought was a wonderful idea, and that there would be a lot of good barter at the gathering with pretty beads. They would be valued almost as much as the pretty rocks she and Vedeya had found in gravel of the Ceylon stream, because they would have a hole in them to attach them for ornamentation. John reminded himself that worth was what was valued.

So they started looking at beads, and selecting ones which would attract good barter at a gathering, and trading their soon to be worthless 'string money' for them. The nice thing was, the beads would go on strings also! They kept some of the taels, but used others to buy caravan camels, and hire drovers.

The standard practice was to pay ten percent of a wage, and offer either the balance or shares, whichever was greater at the end of the trek. John was becoming a Caravan master! It was thrilling for him, and he asked Tuk if he would like any responsibility, but Tuk wanted to emulate John's journey east, and offered to be the procurer instead, if he had the same terms John had, autonomy under attack.

John was more than happy to have Tuk be his own general, he had the utmost confidence in the responses and decisions of the young man in a crisis. Having the focused and competent warrior independently scouting and hunting about the trail would make all of them more secure and safe.

John suspected that at some point within the next few years, the young man would find love and a woman or girl, and would be just as obsessed and focused on that new interest as any of his previous ones. John didn't think the girl that he focused on would stand a chance of resisting Tuk's single-minded drive for his objective.

In order to not flood the market, or put all their hopes on one wish, they also selected other trade items. Silk was always good to take west from the east, and during the long trip, there would be plenty of time for the girls to weave raw silk into silk cloth for fine clothing or the ever popular waterproof silk tents. Of course they were merely water resistant, but even so were better than any other technology extant at this time, being light, and translucent, windproof and strong.

Silk was such a luxury that using it for a tent was extravagant and ostentatious, which was why it was such a 'value added' use. By having only limited tents available, and also limited fine robes in the latest Imperial style, they would much increase their wealth from the camel loads of raw silk skeins of thread.

Wanting to keep the Caravan family friendly, as he himself had two wives and his son along, John specifically hired drovers and guards who wanted to bring along wives an dependants. The only requirement would be that the wives would work with Zithrusa and Vedeya, for shares in the profit of the manufacture of silk weaving. The best weavers would only make the waterproof silk, but even the weavers of lesser skill could make shares in the fine clothing.

John needed help to figure out how much food would be needed, and if it would be economically better to purchase some of the supplies along the way. Vedeya was a huge help in this regard, and made sure that there would be enough basic dried provender for most of the trip. It would be augmented with meat from Tuk's hunting. John expected that Tuk would do well with acquiring furs, as well.

John gave Tuk three camel loads for his own use and trade, and Tuk thought that brass dishes, pots and kettles would be good barter. He also examined the kitchen chest which Zithrusa had been using all along, and stocked up on silver tea sets and copper and silver chafing dishes. Tuk wisely figured that young women would always need dowries, so good barter would be assured.

John, reminded by that, brought jade combs, boxes, and other items of women's luxury, such as mirrors and bracelets, earrings and fine gold chains. He wondered if he could interest women in belly chains, and in fact he was able to interest Vedeya and Zithrusa in fine gold and silver links to go about their waists, accenting their womanly charms.