The camp had been running for a day by the time Batu was ready to enter the city.
The provisioning had gone through Torghul's office and the darughachi's station without requiring Batu's direct involvement, which was the correct way for it to work. The supply officers knew their role.
The stay here would be longer than the previous stops, and the tumen had its position outside the western walls with the organized ease of a formation that had done this several times now.
Batu found Suuqai at the guard section's eastern edge before the morning was far along.
"The courier," Batu said. He kept his voice low without performing the lowness of it. "He bought paper in Bukhara. Three months' worth in a single purchase, paid above rate, loaded his own cart and moved east."
He looked at Suuqai.
"He came through this city ahead of us. If he stopped here the way he stopped in Bukhara, there's a record of it somewhere."
Suuqai was already working through the search approach.
