Far Horizons: Tales of Sci-Fi, Fantasy and Horror. Issue #18 September 2015 | Page 45

jigsaw puzzle fell into place.
“My father died unexpectedly, two years
before I was lost. I had not anticipated becoming King
so young. I still had to find a wife and settle down. I
was about to be married, when the stranger arrived.
That’s why I left no heir. Though it would seem that
your family has done well in my absence, Gamyon.”
That might appease him a bit. Gamyon stared straight
ahead, unmoved. Perhaps not. “We had been worried
for a long time about Tamarlan’s geographic location.
In reality, it was a strange place for a city to develop.
We had limited trading opportunities. We were
restricted to trading with the dwarves and to what we
could bring over the mountains in summertime. We
needed a trade route to the north. The Northland had
always been a strange and feared place. It was said
that great evil dwelt there. Over the years, we had
mounted many expeditions in the hope of finding a
safe trading route. All of them were lost without a
trace.
“Then the stranger arrived. He staggered
into Tamarlan on foot. He was half-dead and
appeared three-quarters-mad. He was of a race we
had never seen before and spoke a language we
could not understand. Everything about him was
different and strange; he was very tall, he wore
strange garments made of animal skins that covered
his legs, his mannerisms were crude, he carried a
strange short bow, he was exceedingly hairy, and
even his body odour was different. He turned out to
be very intelligent and quickly began to pick up our
language. Soon we were able to communicate quite
well, with drawings and simple vocabulary. He said
that his name was Ivan and that he came from a city
far away to the North called Kyiv. He had been part
of an expedition that had been looking for trading
opportunities, and I suspect conquest opportunities.
They had sailed southwards but had faltered in a
storm and had been washed up on a strange shore.
The best part of half the expedition had been lost in
the wreck. A few of their horses had survived, so they
set off inland, heading south through mostly empty
semi-desert country. After many weeks of travel, their
horses perished, and almost dead themselves through
thirst, they came upon a city on a high, arid plateau.

“At first, they thought it was a mirage, because
of its immense beauty. It was a walled city, and one
that they quickly realised would be difficult to defeat
in battle. They threw themselves on the mercy of
its inhabitants and were treated well enough, so that
they recovered from the travails of their journey. As
they regained their strength, though, they found that
their freedom was restricted and they were effectively
held under house arrest. The city was called Illium.
It was a centre of artistic, cultural, and philosophical
excellence. It was everything that Tamarlan aspired
to be, and perhaps has become while I’ve been away.
Slowly, the visitors proved themselves worthy and
they were allowed more freedom. Ivan became
friendly with a local family and became enchanted
with the arts. They would take him to see plays and
to attend philosophical discussions. He became a
civilised barbarian and decided to stay in Illium. The
rest of his comrades were becoming more and more
homesick. Th