The Mongrel Journey

After years dreading of returning to this place, I had finally come back. The grasslands, the horses that these Mongol people worshipped as some kind of god, and the horrid mutton scent that I have to endure again gave me vertigo. Why was I chosen to cause war amongst these tribes when there were many other perfectly capable candidates who were willing to go. Why did I have to draw the short straw. Screw the emperor, I thought vividly; after this, I’m done.

"Are we almost there,” I said.

“Yes, sir. We should be arriving shortly” Wei Ciao said.

Wei Ciao, the captain of a force tasked to protect me, was a burly built man; roughly 176 cm in height. He had to to win numerous tournaments in the whole of the Xia Xi Kingdom before allowed to become the captain of my personal task force, making him an extremely skillful man in the arts of war. Accompanying him were several other guards, all masters in the their art.

In my last expedition to the Mongol grasslands, I had visited the tribe called the Falcons. We had traded previously and were in a good relationship. It is this tribe that I approached first in seek of information.

Moments after Wei Ciao replied to me, smoke wisps could be seen far away. Soon later Gers (Mongol tents) could be spotted. Roundish shaped tents fairly large in size. We arrived at the clusters of gers in a heartbeat to be confronted by people standing in an almost horizontal line.

“ Greetings, people of the Falcons. I have come bearing gifts” I said.

“Come in” the Khan (The leader of a tribe).

We dismounted our horses and traveled into the Khan’s ger where we started to present our goods. Rolls of the finest silk, Chinaware and purified gold were all present. I informed the Khan that we sought out the most warlike and fierce tribe while in return for the information they’d be allowed to keep all the goods. It only took a heartbeat for the Khan to make up his mind before informing us of their location.

“Go North for about fifty miles and you will reach the Wolves. You should be cautious as the Wolves aren’t known for treating guests well. I wish you luck” he said.

I thanked him and with my guards we left the tribe. As directed we headed North and along the way I kept on revising my plan on how to convince the so called most warlike tribe to go to war. From the moment I received this mission, the task of convincing a tribe to go to war has always daunted me.

Although these tribes do often have minor skirmishes for women or cattle, to have an all out war, hell, that is almost impossible. Failure kept popping in my mind. My kids, my wives would all be killed and my possessions ransacked if this mission didn’t go smoothly. It was for them that I tried so hard, so they’d live a prosperous