"The reason why I went on this journey was because there was something missing from my life. Although I had avenged the death of my wife, killing the Great Tigress had still not left me satisfied. I thought this trip would help me forget Binya; it did not, but it removed much of the grief. However, there was another reason as to why I went on this journey.
"There was a chest of treasure buried at the foot of a mystical mountain. All the precious metals and gems known to man were there: sapphires, emeralds, diamonds, gold, silver, rubies, and amethysts were only a few among all the riches present. There was also a stone called the Glory of Raj - Raj, the goddess of all things. This blue jewel was an anathema, repellent if you will, against the enemies of its owner (the followers of Allah and Mohammed call the worship of Raj the height of heathendom, but we know that She is the Goddess). The Glory of Raj also brought its possessor riches and good luck. The path going to the mountain from the city closest to it was very treacherous, however; there were many poisonous animals and otherworldly creatures.
"The mountain was way up somewhere in the North, in Britannia. Here it was not unusual for a person to have skin as white as new milk and hair as golden as sand. The North was a long way away (at the time I was living in a port city on the Caspian), so I started my journey in early spring to have fair weather throughout the entire trip. With two shaggy pack mules that could stand the coldest weather hitched to a wagon, and three servants, I set out. We were well-provisioned, for I had found much gold and jewels in the cave of the Great Tigress; Binya's father had also rewarded me for avenging his daughter's death. The trip to the North was fairly uneventful, except for three odd occurrences.
"Firstly: We had crossed the Hellespont by means of a ferry, and it was twilight. My steward Hhrim - a dark, gaunt man with straight black hair - and I were planning what to do next:
"'Master, I think we shouldn't camp out here even though we haven't slept well for days because of the animals out at night. Here there are no such animals, but thieves are rampant in this area, for most of the ferry users are very rich, and you are very rich...'
"'Honestly Hhrim,' I began angrily - I was annoyed that Hhrim, one of those overly cautious anal types, wanted us to push further on before getting rest. I was so tired that I couldn't have given a grain of sand about being careful; I just wanted to rest! 'Do you really think that we'll be robbed? Of all the inane-'
"I would have berated Hhrim some more had he not screamed. I turned around just in time to see something ram into my temple, and as I fell away into unconsciousness, I remember thinking to myself that Hhrim was right."
Suresh sipped his ale, found it unpleasantly warm, and resumed the story. "When I woke up, it was late afternoon the next day. When my servants saw that I had come to, they did not let me move and told me that they had been unconscious also, and had all woken at various times during the night; they had washed me and watched over me while I was out. They also said that the thieves had taken everything, apparently after reveling all night in our own wagon.
"Distressed, I walked to the wagon, all the while touching the bruise on my temple to determine how badly I had been hit. Inside the wagon, I opened a secret compartment in the floor that only I knew of, expecting to find nothing, but I found the compartment full and almost bursting, when I had filled only about a sixth of the cache! Suppressing a wild shout of glee, I realized that the thieves had found the compartment and put their own loot inside for storage; being so drunk and tired, they must have left without it. The most valuable loot they had left was a large, dark purple amethyst carved into a stunning bunch of grapes; a brilliant blue stone, walnut size, which shone like a cobalt-glass vial that was filled with water and reflected moonlight; and a delicate wreath made of emeralds and gold.
"The second odd occurrence was that from the time of the robbery at the Hellespont to the time we reached Britannia was that the four of us constantly felt like we were being watched. It wasn't a menacing presence; it was more like a mother watching her child to see if he would be good, but nevertheless something hard to define was very palpable and we all felt quite uneasy.
"Lastly, when we hiked up the path to the mountain from the city closest to it, we encountered none of the dangers that we heard about: oversized scorpions, banshees, demons... none of these we saw.
"When we finally reached the mountain, we saw that it was shrouded in a mist. But as we approached, the mountain seemed to dissolved into the air. After a couple of moments of astonishment, we began to search the place to see if the mountain was still there and was just invisible, or if some magic was the cause of this, but the mountain had truly vanished. We looked everywhere, even dug up some earth where the mountain had been in the vain hope of finding riches, but there was no mountain and no Glory of Raj. Disconsolate and discouraged, we headed back.
"In eastern Asia Minor, at the house of a kind peasant woman named Isla, we stopped to rest and eat; our journey was about over. I had my eyes on Isla's daughter, Uma. Not only was she sweet and beautiful like Binya; she was also devastatingly witty. We married two years later, but after just ten years she died in childbirth.
"At any rate, while we ate I learned that Isla and Uma were followers of Raj, too. I told them of my journey, concluding by saying, 'And all I have to show for it is a walnut-sized sapphire and a couple of rubies, as we had to use the rest of the thieves' loot to cover for our stolen food and supplies.' I produced the handful of jewels I had left to show Isla and Uma how little the remainder was.
"At the sight of the blue stone Isla's eyes widened, and then turned into narrow slits as she frowned thoughtfully. 'How much do you know of the Glory of Raj, my lord?'
"I told Isla the little I knew and she frowned even harder. 'My lord, don't you know that once the Glory of Raj is taken and then brought back to the mountain, the mountain will vanish as soon as the Stone draws near? That mountain's sole purpose is to hide the Glory of Raj, and once it's been taken there is no more need for the mountain. If that is the Glory of Raj in your hand that would explain why you were not threatened by anything on the way to the mountain and why you felt like you were being watched. The Goddess always watches the one who finds the Stone to see if he is a good man or an evil one. That's why the thieves lost the Glory of Raj so easily to you, since the Goddess refuses to let persons such as them possess her Glory, and that's why you had such good luck in your journey; true, you're low on money now, but you never came to any real harm. You never had to go farther than the shores of the Hellespont in your search for Her Glory. That so-called sapphire you're holding-'
"Isla never got finished with her sentence, for all three of my servants, obviously overwhelmed by the amount of unnecessary distances we had traveled and places we had searched in vain when the object of our journey had always been with us, all three excused themselves at the same time and went outside; soon Isla, Uma, and I heard the sounds of retching and sobbing. I only allowed myself to turn pale, and muttering, 'Thank you, thank you,' I pressed the last of my rubies into her hands in gratitude and ran out."
Suresh rose and beckoned for everyone to follow. He went out of the caravanseri and stood on a cliff overlooking the sea, watching the waves of the Mediterranean come in and ebb out. The moon was full, and the surface of the sea shone as bright with liquid light.
When everyone was gathered around him, Suresh shouted, "My journies have enabled me to overcome all my fears except one. That the Glory of Raj might fall into the wrong hands and that the bearer of those hands might become too powerful before the Goddess comes to take Her Glory away from such a person." With these words, Suresh pulled something out of his pocket that was shaped like and shone like a glowing coal, only the light was a hot blue instead of red; he hurled it into the Mediterranean.
There was a murmur of astonishment from the crowd and a twinkle of light from the coal-like thing as it hit the surface of the water.