East

"Impressive. But how are you with tribal dialect?" the commander asked me.

It all sounds like English to me. I didn't understand the technology Carter put in my brain or used to talk to me via a cell phone nearly a thousand years from my own time.

The other men were murmuring. Several of them spoke. I assumed they were testing me, though none of them sounded any different.

Finally, the commander appeared satisfied that I spoke every language he could think of, and the men of his war council were equally pleased that it was a sign from their god.

Exhausted from my first experience in the past and from the time travel, I eventually sat down and tried to focus on listening to them talk about the route they were sending me to meet their leader as well as their destination.

The servants kept refilling my mug with milk. It didn't take long for fatigue, warm milk, and a blazing fire to knock me out. Whether or not I should have tried harder to stay awake, I didn't know, but I dropped into a deep, dreamless slumber not too long after passing my language test.

***

The vibrating of my cell phone against my hip woke me sometime later. I rolled onto my back and gazed up at the ceiling of the tent, recalling where I was. I was warm and snuggled under about four layers of blankets.

Shifting to reach my phone, I ducked beneath the covers to check it.

Your mission isn't actually there, Carter had written. It's later but still within the Empire about a hundred years past this point. The Mongols had a history of slaughtering anyone not deemed useful, so … make yourself useful. Is your history chip working?

Carter was the worst history tour guide ever. I suppressed a sigh and shot him a quick response. I already figured out they respected someone who spoke multiple languages, which I hoped made me useful enough to survive an encounter with the legendary Genghis Khan.

Lowering the phone, I started to doze off again when Carter messaged once more.

Okay. From what I can tell, you're in the middle stage of his campaign to take over the world. He hasn't reached the Arab countries or Turkey. He's been focused on China and the east after consolidating the Mongol tribes. He just returned from a defeat with the Chinese and is regrouping in the mountains of his home. He's in his fifties now, and has four sons, an unknown number of daughters but assumed to be at least five. The Empire eventually becomes more diverse. You'll see the influence of Islam on the western tribes and Buddhism on the eastern. Shamanism is central to their religious beliefs and they are very superstitious. Nine is a lucky number and they are huge on loyalty and honor. The women are expected to shoot a bow and ride a horse as well as the men, and …