Chapter 10
The Frontier Zone was cloaked in a thick fog, and the path wove almost invisibly between the bushes and shrubs. Dreadful sounds emanated from the trees: the rustling of undergrowth, the cracking of branches, and the growling of wild animals. The sentinel, however, looked neither right nor left, but merely spurred his horse onwards so he could give the sultan, Sabahattin, his account of the flying creature as soon as possible.
He slowed his pace upon leaving the forest, and the dark city wall loomed up before him. The heart of the barbarian empire sprawled over a stony plateau bisected by a narrow river. Globular buildings carved into the sturdy grey rocks were laid out haphazardly, like scattered marbles, and linked together by a maze of paths. Tiny windows, which looked like
