Chapter 1.6

Chapter 7

A week before they had left Kaschgar, the site where the two branches of the Silk Road that traverse the north and the south of the Taklamakan desert meet. They had followed the south route because on the previous trip Andrea had chosen the north and now wanted to explore the area of the Yurungkasch River and its deposits of jade, material whose crafts were highly prized in Europe, but in reality his main purpose was very different .

Taklamakan is a gigantic desert of dunes surrounded by mountains from which several rivers flow that provide water to a series of oases that line the Silk Road and end up pouring the rest of its waters into the desert where they disappear swallowed by the sands and evaporation.

Andrea Bembo, his nephew Cosimo, their thirty Asian assistants including guides, armed guards and pawns as well as a long caravan of camels had reached Yarkant, on the banks of one of the rivers bearing the same name and of which, as in the other oases, the Chinese had progressively displaced the Mongols and Tibetans thus consolidating their control of the Route Of Silk, of enormous importance for the economy of the Celestial Empire.

Andrea had devised a plan which, if successfully carried out, would be of great importance to the success of the expedition, and bring incalculable economic consequences favorable to Venice and prejudices to China. Through his emissaries he had made contact before leaving Europe with a Uyghur merchant with whom he had already done business on previous trips. The business was of high risk since the process of making the silk was a state secret in the Celestial Empire and those who had tried to steal it had been decapitated.

Silk is a natural fiber produced by several insects, in particular by the larvae of the Bombyx Mori butterfly, commonly called silkworm. In the classic industrial process the worms lay their eggs on a specially prepared paper substrate and after hatching the resulting caterpillars are fed with mulberry leaves until they reach maturity with a considerable size and then begin to spin a cocoon by secreting through their heads a viscous liquid covered by a resin that then solidifies in contact with the air. The caterpillar ends completely surrounded by a cocoon that has a protective biological function. In the process of industrialization the buds are boiled by removing the caterpillars-except those necessary to give rise to the next generation of worms-and the silk filaments are gathered into threads, which are then rolled up for use.

By the time Andrea and his nephew traveled through Asia the process described was known to very few people and no one had been able to obtain live worms to begin production outside China. It was therefore a kind of "state-of-the-art" technology of the area and of the time.

Aware of the risks of the plan Andrea had decided to separate from his nephew, leaving him in the care of his personal assistant, a fearsome Persian warrior named Bahadur. This personage was a homosexual that served as concubine to the Venetian in the extended days in which he was distanced of the women and that owed to him total obedience.

Andrea left for the south, entering the Kunlun Shan mountain range to meet his Uyghur associate and carry out the exchanges that would enable him to obtain two live silkworms. He was followed by five ferocious Mongolian warriors who were prepared to fight any contingency that might come along the way. Meanwhile Cosimo accompanied by the bulk of the caravan led by Bahadur continued his course towards Khotan, the next step on the Silk Road. There they should wait Andrea to join them.

Three months had passed since the departure of Andrea and his reduced group and two and a half months since Cosimo arrived with the caravan to Khotan. Bahadur had already warned him that it was probable that the merchant would never return because the time to carry out the exchange and return was long exceeded. The Persian still had not wanted to alarm the young man but had reasoned that if Andrea Bembo had been caught by the Chinese it was a matter of time that these began to look for the rest of the expedition and that in fact all the foreigners would be suspicious to the zealous eyes of the Emperor´s representatives.

Cosimo, who had already tested the female company in earlier stages, felt the action of the hormones that gave him a constant restlessness and had rejected the insinuations of Bahadur who was willing to give him the service. He had finally found solace in a brothel located in a small oasis some distance from Khotan, surrounded by the sands of the Taklamakan desert. There he had tried several of the pupils and finally had chosen a prostitute of Mongolian lineage called Gerel of volcanic instincts that satisfied all the needs and fulfilled all the fantasies of the young man. Gerel, a mature woman, had grown fond of Cosimo, and at one point they had both gone to the camp where the woman's relatives lived, a group of wagons deep into the dunes, on the banks of a stream that disappeared just beyond the sands. The Mongol group, in fact a horde of bandits and their families and their cattle, was commanded by an outlaw named Ganzorig, a well known warrior of formidable appearance whom his men followed with devotion. Cosimo had been invited to have dinner with them in what turned out to be a bacchanalian in which he ate and drank without measure. The Venetian young patrician had at first rejected the uncivilized ways of the Mongols, but during the course of the two-day party all inhibitory barriers eventually fell, particularly after seeing Enkhtuya, the beautiful young daughter of the horde leader who had also laid eyes on the boy.

At the next noon, when Cosimo and Gerel were barely recovering from the hangover, they woke up startled by shouts coming from outside the tent where they had spent the night together. They both left the dwelling and saw several Mongols bringing a man they had imprisoned as he approached the camp. Alarmed Cosimo recognized the newcomer whose face was bloodied as well as his arms and torso.

"Bahadur, what happened to you? Have the Mongols hurt you?”

"It was not them, but the Chinese of the Emperor's representative." The Persian lowered his eyes.

“What happened? Tell me.” Urged the Venetian.

"I'm sorry Cosimo ... a week ago the Chinese caught your uncle and his Uyghur partner when they were closing the deal for the silkworms ... both were executed on the spot. They did not take long to go through the oases in search of the rest of the expedition and finally found us. All the guides and pawns were beheaded immediately and I could barely escape making my way with my scimitar and cutting heads with it. I have left a trail of decapitated Chinese behind my steps so that they have paid a high price, but the fact is that your entire expedition has ended in the worst possible way. You have saved yourself by coming to this camp of which the Chinese have no knowledge.”

Chief Ganzorig had approached and one of his men had translated the conversation.

The warrior meditated a few moments during which the heart of Cosimo hung from a thread, and then he spoke on his language in a hoarse voice. Unexpectedly, Gerel addressed the chief, engaging in a bitter argument. At that moment the young Enkhtuya approached and addressed her father in a firm voice. Ganzorig was red with anger at the argument with the two women but finally waved his arms in the air and left. The rest of the Mongols who had surrounded them dispersed throughout the camp except Gerel and Enkhtuya.

“What happened? What was all this argument about?” Cosimo asked Gerel.

"Upon hearing of what happened in Khotan, Chief Ganzorig wanted to hand over you and Bahadur to the Chinese or at least to expel you from the camp so as not to create a problem with the Emperor's men, but we opposed him calling him coward."

"Did you call the boss of the horde coward in front of his men?" Cosimo's face reflected his perplexity. "And what happened then?"

"As you have seen Enkhtuya approached and demanded his father to let you stay in the camp.”

"What was her reason for asking him that?"

"That she wants you for her. As her husband.”

Cosimo could not believe what he heard.

"How is it that a woman working in a brothel calls the warlord a coward?" And how is it that a young woman with whom I have not spoken a word because I do not know her language claims me as her husband and gets her father to accept her request?”

"You do not understand the role of Mongol women, and more important you do not know Enkhtuya.”

“What do you mean?”

"She is the worthy daughter of her father. She always takes what she wants ... directly.”

Once he was alone Cosimo reflected on the drastic change in his situation. That was the first serious crisis en his young life. From his departure from Venice a year earlier he had been potentially connected with everything that had represented his life only through his uncle and the caravan. Indeed, the expedition that had brought them to Central Asia was both the means that would bring them back, their vital connection with their family, their home, and their culture. Now his uncle had been beheaded and the expedition scattered or annihilated. Only the situation of the moment he was living in, without plans or alternatives, remained in his life. It was only a young man uprooted in the vastness of the desert surrounded by breathtaking mountains.

A couple of weeks later the Mongolian wedding ceremony was held. After a new feast and libation of a wine made with fermented milk Enkhtuya and Cosimo, who had already begun to exchange some words in the language of the horde, retired to a tent that Ganzorig had given them as his wedding present. The girl proceeded to undress immediately and urged the Venetian to do the same. They both roamed their bodies, and in a moment the girl asked.

“ What is this stain that you have at the base of the neck?”