121522b

Ill-Met on Leng

A trackless waste, stretching far as the eye can see. But there is a track; a subtle color difference delineates an east-west trail. It is little used, it seems, but one figure races eastward on camel back. A faint plume of dust slowly settles behind the beast. The omniscient observer perceives another track, equally faint, oriented NNE-SSW, along which another camel and rider gallop approximately SSWerly. The two riders meet at the crossroads, resulting in a hard knock. Disoriented, each leaps to his steed and gallops on, retracing the other's route. Thus do empires fall, and people lose their heads.