Ayto shrugged. ‘Thaxa’s wife has already cleared off to Carthage, without telling anybody. How honourable is that? And she’s not the only one, by the way. Look, we don’t have to do this yet. It’s a fallback, that’s all. Every smart man has a fallback. Are you in, or not?’

Crimm wondered if he could betray Ywa. She was Annid of Annids; he could not discuss this with her. ‘I need to think.’

‘Don’t take too long.’

‘Or what?’

‘Or you might find yourself on the other side of the barricade, my friend.’ And Ayto began to prowl around the old cistern, sniffing, scattering dust, peering up at the walls.

41

Avatak learned that the capital of Mongol Cathay had several names, given it by the many peoples who lived and worked here. The Turks called it Khanbalikh, which was a rendering of the phrase ‘city of the Khans’. The folk of Cathay called it Ta-tu, which meant ‘great capital’. The Mongols themselves had adopted the Cathay name, ‘Daidu’.

On the day they arrived, thanks to Pyxeas’ paiza they were escorted safely through scrubby outer suburbs, through gates in a double layer of city walls, and into the city itself – and Avatak, who had seen too many wonders during the long journey, was overwhelmed once more. Daidu was huge, clean, bright, opulent and luxurious. Even the roofs of the lesser buildings, lacquered and glazed, were visions in brightly coloured green and yellow and blue that seemed to float in the air. Thinking about what a Mongol city might be like, Avatak had vaguely imagined a huddle of yurts – tremendous yurts, perhaps, made of expensive felt encrusted with jewels and set on golden platforms, but yurts nonetheless. Uzzia told him that the capital of Genghis himself, the first great conqueror, called Karakorum, had not been altogether unlike that vision. But Daidu was different. Kublai Khan had eschewed his ancestors’ habits of burning down cities, and had built his own to match the best.

They were given three days’ rest before they would have to meet the scholar Pyxeas had come so far to speak to, and a small apartment near the western city wall to rest in. Avatak chose the smallest, plainest room he could find. Even so the couches were so soft he felt as if he was drowning when he lay on them. So he unrolled his own blankets on the carpeted floor, and slept away most of two days.

On the third day he found a sanctuary that would take the mule. It was a place where sentimental and wealthy Mongols retired their favourite ponies. It wasn’t cheap, but Uzzia said she was happy to pay. The mule was dismissive of the whole affair.

On the fourth day they were summoned to the Khan’s palace.

Pyxeas insisted they dress as smartly as they could.