Basileus Prochoros gathered his top two generals: Diodotos and Chariton.
“The journey ahead of us is a long and perilous one. We cannot survive with just one army, so we shall raise three armies, each one of us commanding one of them. We shall be heading towards the island of Crete, just below Hellas. The island is controlled by the nation of Knossos, but they have no friends, no allies, so we can take it over quickly and use it as a staging area to make Hellas our home.
But while taking Crete will not be a huge challenge, getting there will be much harder.”
Basileus Prochoros brought out a large map of the known world, laying it out on the table. There were three paths on it, each marked in a different color.
https://i.imgur.com/w3YIqgk.png
“As you can see, I marked each possible path we can take with a different color, and distinguished them as A, B, and C.
Path A has us going south, then boarding ships and going around the Arabian Peninsula, up the Red Sea, landing in Egypt, crossing to the Mediterranean, and finally landing in Crete. This is a dangerous path as it has us at sea for a long time, and we are not a seafaring people. Many lives will be lost, but it is not quite as dangerous as Path B.
Path B goes straight through from our lands to Syria. This is even more dangerous than going by sea, as the Seleucid Empire do not like us very much, and is sure to harass us every chance they get.
Path C is the last one that I could think of. We cross Massagetae lands to the Caspian sea, then we land in the Caucuses, cross into the Black Sea, and sail to Crete. This is also very dangerous, for while there is less land to travel, the Caucuses are not kind to foreigners, and it could mean our total destruction.”
Diodotos and Chariton both looked concerned.
“So Basileus, which path are we going to take?” Chariton asked.
“I do not know, but whichever path we do take, we must all take together. Splitting up will not bode well and will only result in our destruction as a people.”
Diodotos spoke up.
“If I might add, while we do not know anything about ships or anything of the sort, hiring people who do is always an option, and I think that Path A is the best one we have. We can travel far in the naval vessels and we can avoid most enemies, but if we are engaged in combat, that will be our undoing.”
Chariton countered that the ocean was unpredictable, and going with Path C, while slightly more dangerous, had us going over sea much less, and was therefore safer.
In the end, Basileus Prochoros decided that we would take Path A to our new home. One army was already raised in preparation for this journey, and two more are being raised as I write this. I certainly hope that the Basileus is making the right decision about which path to take. I have never sailed on the water before; I hope it is a pleasant experience, but I guess I will find out in due time.
