The deck of the ship rolled back and forth on the stormy sea. The sky was darkend. Normally the Red Sea was quite, especialy near the coast, but not today. The ship carried coffe to the Red Sea Port of Egypt. Or to the fish, if the weather continued to get worse. On the deck, a lone man stood and gazed at the coast. There were tiny villages here or open country. Nubian nations had yet to claim their exit to the Red Sea. Zenawe opened the trap door that led to the bottom compartment of the ship. Imru looked up from the fire that he was warming his hands by.
Zenawe: Nothing. Just villages. How far is it to our goal?
Imru: A day in good weather.
Zenawe walked to the fire.
Zenawe: Not good. We have to dock here, there is a village a River measure (OOC: Egyptian measurement unit= 10.5 km) ahead. If we are lucky we can dock there.
Imru: That place is on the southern Egyptian border, right?
Zenawe: Yes. Convenient considering that our destination is also owned by Thebes.
The ship slowly advanced to its destination, with a crunch, the mast flew off as the ship was blown to shore. A killometer south of the village, the ship was swept onto the beach.
Imru: And they say this route was calm.
Zenawe: The coffe is wet. Or at least, most of it. This shipment has no market value.
Imru: I cannot believe it. We almost died and you think of coffe! Its a good thing we are not spoiled!
By morning the storm cleared. The traders went up on the deck of their damaged ship.
Imru: The government got confirmation from a diplomat from Thebes that the port will be open. I think this route is safe.
Zenawe: Does Thebes have the power to keep its lofty promis? What of the other cities? Mesopotamia may soon be safer than this, now that the plague has passed.
Imru: And what do you reccomend? Sending this pile of driftwood around the Arabian Peninsula?
Zenawe: I doubt we will send this pile of driftwood anywhere but the wood market, to sell as low quality lumber.
Imru was planning to reply, but he was cut off by the arival of a women, a milkmaid from the village nearby, carrying a child. She looked frightened and confused. From her fragmented account, the traders gathered that the village had been sacked by bandits in the night. The women was traveling South to a fort where her husband was stationed to get help.
Zenawe: As you can see, we are without a method of transportation as well, and were planning to get one at the village. It seems we are going the same way.
Imru: Dark times truly, if the border of Egypt, once the greatest power on Earth suffers from banditry...