Rina frowned. ‘You speak of the Trojan Invasion. Yes, Northland was saved. Yes, otherwise my ancestors would have been enslaved, Northland ploughed up for crops. But we were saved through a terrible act we call the Black Crime. It is a history that shames us.’

‘Then you should be glad your ancestors were stronger-minded than you are, madam, or you would not be here to indulge in that shame. As for the Hatti, we venerate Kilushepa. She is remembered as a hero; she made the Hatti great again, where we might have been forgotten. Erased. And at her side was a warrior princess called Mi, said to have been a Northlander. Imagine that!’

‘And you want to be a new Kilushepa – is that it?’

‘Not that. But the Hatti kings have little contact with Cathay. Who knows what might come of such a venture, especially at times like this? Ambition is easily mocked, but times of crisis are also times of opportunity. What one must do is to seize that opportunity when it comes along. And I sense,’ she said, turning to Pyxeas, ‘that in you that opportunity might have come knocking on my door.’

Pyxeas smiled. ‘On Xavu’s door, strictly speaking.’

‘Now your turn,’ she said bluntly. ‘You are an old man, yet you want to make a journey halfway around this hazardous world of ours. You must want to achieve something very badly.’

‘I do.’

‘Tell me what that is.’

And he began to speak of the weather.

Avatak recognised Uzzia’s expression; she was like a student struggling to keep up in one of Pyxeas’ classes. ‘And why must you go to Daidu to pursue this?’

‘Because the scholars in Cathay – and they have managed to continue their work under the Mongol dynasty – have been making complementary studies to mine. Measurements of other aspects of the world, the atmosphere – oh, it is too much to explain without my scrolls! Suffice it to say that I believe that putting together my studies with the science of Cathay, specifically of a scholar called Bolghai with whom I have corresponded—’

Uzzia held up a hand. ‘Tell it more simply. Tell me why you want to go to Daidu. The real reason, the core of it.’

He thought for a moment, baffled by the question.

Avatak said, ‘He wants to save the world.’

They were all staring at him, Rina open-mouthed, Pyxeas oddly moist-eyed.

And Uzzia – Uzzia was excited. The Hatti woman leaned forward. ‘When can you leave?’

‘Mad,’ Rina said. ‘You’re all mad. Do you have any more of that mulled wine? The sooner I’m back home in Etxelur the better, though the mothers only know what the weather must be like there . . .’

14

For Crimm, as for most people, the day of the Autumn Blizzard started normally, like any other day With no warning of what was to come.

That morning, when Crimm got to the dock on the Wall’s ocean face, Ayto, his navigator, was already waiting, with, Crimm counted, only two missing of the Sabet’s ten-man crew, their gear at their feet, a heap of provisions on the growstone ledge beside them. Not a bad turnout for a blustery, blowy autumn morning. At least there hadn’t been any frost, for once, and up here the growstone footing was always sound.