“Thank you.” Shih-ka’i wasn’t really listening. He was engrossed in his work once more.

He had to hide in the training reports for a while. This stroke of fortune would take some digesting.

Shih-ka’i found that he had to guard thirty-four hundred miles of border with thirty thousand men. The eastern legions were, at least, at strength. None had been involved in the ill-starred western campaign.

He also had to govern and keep the peace in the military frontier zone.

His predecessor had done the obvious and employed local auxiliaries. They weren’t much. The peoples of Shih-ka’i’s new proconsulate were all savages. Only a few tribes had a Bronze Age level of technology, though storytellers spoke of a past age of greatness. They had revealed a few ruins in support of their claims.

Shih-ka’i followed the lead of his predecessors and made his headquarters with the Seventeenth Legion. The Seventeenth’s zone of responsibility faced the questionable desert. The legion had taken all the reported losses.

The Seventeenth had raised a stout new fortress just miles from the edge of the badlands. Shih-ka’i arrived to find the commander engaged in a vigorous program of exploration. One wall of the fortress’s main hall had been plastered smooth. Legionnaires were painting in a huge map, bit by bit, as exploratory teams contributed details. Shih-ka’i did not bother visiting his new quarters before going into conference.

He strolled along the one-hundred-fifty-foot length of the wall, studying and memorizing each detail. At one point he asked, “Does it truly begin this suddenly?” He indicated a line near the floor, where green gave way to brown along a well-defined line.

The commander of the Seventeenth, Lun-yu Tasi-feng, replied, “Virtually, Lord Ssu-ma. It fades from forest to grassland to dust and sand within a mile. Were the wind not blowing consistently eastward, the desert would crawl this way like an unstoppable army.”

“Rainfall?”

“Considerable, Lord. Both here and there. In the desert you can watch the clouds pile up against these mountains, but nothing grows.”

“Uh-hmm.” Shih-ka’i studied the sketchy outline of the mountain chain. “Rivers?”

“Several flow out. The only life we’ve found is a few fish that have swum upstream. They don’t travel far. They find nothing to sustain themselves.”

Shih-ka’i let his gaze wander. In time, he asked, “Elements of the Seventeenth were involved in the war with Escalon, were they not?”

Tasi-feng replied, “I was there myself, Lord.”

“Does this compare to the desolation created there?”

“It’s even more thorough, Lord. The thought occurred to me too. I’m operating on the assumption that the land was smitten by the Power, though we’ve yet to find certain proof.”

“Historical research?”

“Nothing on record anywhere, Lord.”

“It’s very old, then. What about oral traditions among the tribes? I’ve heard there are ruins in the forests. Have you tried to determine their age?”

“The tribes say there was a war among the gods. The ruins are at least a thousand years old. Probably a lot older. I have my leading necromancer working in the best preserved city. He hasn’t been able to determine more.”