The fat Rys merchant who called himself Igor (for thus did the Rys pronounce the name “Yngvarr”) had hired Fasti the Berserker to guard his caravan traveling east into Bjarmaland. Fasti's contract was not for the entire journey, but was renewed at the end of each leg of the journey, at each settlement the caravan reached. In Noregur, Gautland, and Svialand, Igor had traded for fine goods and wines from the feuding petty kingdoms of Gaunorria, as well as strange books and spices from the Caliphate of Nonorra. He intended to bring these things back to the Rys Khanate where such strange, foreign treasures would fetch a high price among the boyari, the aristocrats among the Rys. But the journey was long and fraught with peril, and so the fat merchant had sought out Fasti.

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