Tsin-ta'i smiled and took a sip of wine from his lacquered cup. "What was the name of the man who told you this?"
"Shiu Lao Tze."
Tsin-ta'i stopped in mid-swallow. "Shiu Lao Tze?"
Casca nodded. "Yes, lord."
Tsin sat silent for a moment holding his fingers together, the points of his polished nails touching his chin. Then he spoke softly. "Shiu Lao Tze died over two hundred years ago. He was a great teacher and gentle man. I would not like to think you are using a name you picked up on the road frivolously." The warning was thinly veiled.
Rising, the counselor indicated that Casca was to follow him and led him out of the room and deep into the interior of the palace down into the cellars carved from the mountain.
Guards became fewer as they progressed until finally there were none at all to be seen. Shiu led Casca into a room lit with oil lamps, a library filled with scrolls and documents, many of which were sheepskin and even a large number of Egyptian papyrus. Tsin quickly scanned the markings on a number of scrolls and then selected one.
He unrolled the parchment carefully, almost reverently. "Roman, this is the chronicles of the travels of the sage Shiu Lao Tze." Placing the parchment on the table, he quickly scanned the rolls. Sucking his teeth, he turned to Casca. "What is your full name?"
"Casca Rufio Longinus."
Sighing, Tsin set the scroll aside and rubbed his eyes. "Turn your face," he ordered and held the lamp up to see better. "Yes, the scar is there. Sit down, Roman."
Casca did as he was bade, opposite the counselor.
Tsin pointed to the scrolls. "Your story is there. When Shiu Lao returned to his homeland after many years among the barbarians, he spent three years here, teaching. In that time, he wrote the story of all he had seen and experienced. His story of the Roman soldier condemned to live by the Jew called Jesus we took to be but the wanderings of the aged mind. But you are here, and if you are who you say you are, then it is indeed a wonder. The ways of the gods are inscrutable and we can only play the part our fate dictates. I believe the best thing I can to is to help you on your way, but not to Khitai as you wish to go. Khitai is where Shiu Lao Tze was born and lived as a child, but the land of his father's birth, and where he studied, is now known as the Chin. Before it was known as the kingdom of the Han dynasty but has since been broken into warring nations-the two most important, eastern and western Chin-it is to the western Chin you want to go. Now, we will find a suitable place for you and will talk more of what must be done to speed you on your way. The problems you present are more than I can deal with; I am not the great scholar and teacher that Shiu Lao was, only a poor bureaucrat. In the land of Chin, you will find scholars and wiser men than myself."
Taking the scrolls he led Casca back through the labyrinth of passages to his offices. Casca was turned over to the palace major-domo and shown to ' the rooms that would serve him for the time he remained in Kushan.
Eleven
Tsin-ta'i welcomed his guest and made him comfortable. With his own hand, he poured tcha and then dismissed all others, leaving the two of them alone. "I have thought the last two weeks on your plight and desires and feel that my original inclinations were correct. It is best for me to help you on your way. But before you go, it should be understood what you are going to and know something of the people of whom I am honored to be counted, though here I serve the Lord of Khosun."
From beneath the rosewood table, Tsin took a scroll like the ones Casca had seen in the dungeon library, and carefully laid it on the table.
"These are the writings of the scholar and historian, Ssu-ma Ch'ien. Over four hundred years ago, one Chang Ch'ien was sent by the Emperor, Wu Ti, to negotiate an alliance with a far tribe living beyond the boundaries of the Hsuing-nu. He was captured along with his servant and spent ten years as prisoner of the Hsuing-nu. After escaping, he made his way to this very place. Here he found the Yueh-chih who had been driven from their homelands by the Hsuing-nu and taken this place for their own. When the Yueh-chih came to this land, they first conquered Bactria, which still held to much of the culture of the Greeks, even to their art and writings. Here he found friends. To the south were other great nations not known to the people of Chin. Here too, he found goods from the southern provinces of the Empire of Wu Ti. The lands from which these goods came was then called the Shentu, far to the south and east where the inhabitants go to battle on elephants and live along a great river. For this information, he and his servant were honored. Though their original mission to make a treaty with enemies of the Hsuing-nu had failed, he found here other friends and the news that there was a great land close to the southern provinces. Chang Ch'ien was given high office. Even his faithful servant was rewarded with the title of Lord Who Carries Out His Mission.
"After leaving here, Chang Ch'ien was once more captured by the Hsuing-nu, but this time was able to escape after only a year's captivity and finally made his way to the Jade Gate, which guards the western end of the Wall from barbarism. The scholar Ssu-ma includes a description of that route and that is the one I think you should take. There is another route-the Silk Road runs all the way to the markets of the west-but to reach it from here would take you far back to the. north.
Taking the route of Chang Ch'ien, you will intercept the road at Ho-T'ien on the southern margin of the Tarim basin. An oasis is there that has given the city wealth and its placement on the Silk Road will supply you with more current information as to what is occurring in the Empire. A point of interest-Ho-T'ien is fed by two rivers which descend to the basin from the Kunlun mountains. The/form one river and then join and disappear into the sands of Tkla-Makan except for a couple of months when it may reach the Tarim river if the season has been sufficiently wet."
Taking yet another scroll from beneath the table, Tsin laid it carefully out, using a couple of alabaster ink pots to hold the ends down. "This is the map of the way to the Jade Gate." The map was exquisitely drawn, the work of a master-the high and low regions were in different colors as were the rivers and deserts. Tsin pointed one polished nail to a spot on the chart.
"We are here. The Indus comes from the north and that will be the beginning for you. Follow the Indus. You will go through great gorges and valleys and the way will be difficult many times, but keep the river always to your right. The Indus will turn south again when you see the great peaks of the Naga Parat rising above all others. To reach the clouds, go another three hundred miles march and the Indus will then be joined by the Panglong Shoa. Follow the Panglong Shoa which will be the branch on the north for another one hundred miles and you will reach the trail leading north through the Karakoran pass and thence to the last of the mountain passes before you descend to the Tarim. Suget pass will be the final marker that you have left the highlands behind and will soon reach the Silk Road. You will know when you are on it by the bones of those who failed to survive the trek. Turn to the east once more and in three days you will reach Ho-T'ien. From there, the way is well known and you will have no trouble reaching the Jade Gate." The exquisitely drawn scroll attracted Casca like a magnet. The beautifully drawn mountain ranges and rivers seemed to sweep him up into them.
"How far to the Jade Gate?"
Tsin looked at the border of the map and the confused squigglings that made up the writing of this people. "Something over two thousand miles."
"When do I leave?"
Tsin grinned gently. "Even now your animals are being prepared and supplies gathered. In the morning you will leave and to tell you the truth, I will be glad to see you go. I have the feeling that trouble is never far behind your steps and we have enough of that here already with the Hsuing-nu pushing from the north and the savage tribes to the south. It may be that our days are numbered already. If that is so, I feel no need to rush them by having you remain here any longer than necessary. Nothing personal you understand, just good business."