[1] Sitting at the foot of a column, Corto still has his head full of images from his previous treasure hunting in Venice, dreaming of St Mark's Basilica.

It speaks of the poet Lord Byron's memoir, hidden by Edward John Trelawny on the Kawakly mosque, under the moon.

Thus, the sailor discreetly climbs the dome of the mosque and removes the crescent moon adorning the top.

He speaks of a legendary treasure hidden by Alexander the Great somewhere in the Afghan mountains, as shown on an attached map.

The sailor is confused by the participants with a man named Timur Chevket, a leader of a Turanist movement, who is as alike as two peas in a pod.

Commander Bahiar recounts recent events: General Enver Pasha, ousted by Mustafa Kemal Atatürk (now president of Turkey), wants to regain his place.

His aim is to create a great state unifying the Turkish peoples, from Turkey to western China.

Corto has already met him in Venice in the story The Angel in the Window to the Orient (in the volume Celtic Tales).

She uses her skills in tasseography to guess his future in Greek coffee grounds: he will experience dangerous and sad events.

Two days later, Cassandra's brother Narcissus takes Corto across the Levantine Sea (the easternmost part of the Mediterranean) aboard his sailboat.

The man, who is British and disguised as John Bull, will die quickly of a syncope brought on by the distressing events.

In the end, Corto gets away with promising their leader Reshid a part of the treasure he is looking for and arranges to meet him in the city of Van.

At this era, the country has suffered the consequences of the World War I: the Ottoman Empire, which is almost dead, was dismembered by the 1920 Treaty of Sèvres.

While walking through the streets of this city, he meets a girl who recites a quatrain by Omar Khayyam (Persian poet of the 11th - 12th century).

A dream follows where he finds himself in Paradise and where Rasputin drives him to Pandora, an old love (in the center of the story The Ballad of the Salty Sea).

The youngest of the priests invokes the circle and the young peacock (Melek Taus, head of the seven angels in-charge for watching over the world).

Then, he calls Shaitan, whom Corto has already met in Africa under the name of Samael (in the story More Romeos, More Juliets, published in the volume The Ethiopian).

She tells him that Bahiar and the other Turkish nationalists now know his true identity (thanks to the papers found on him) and, moreover, she revealed to them his quest for the treasure.

This man, an adept of Isma'ilism (a branch of Shia Islam), leads them to the area of the Alamut Castle.

Maltese continues his account, claiming that the existence of this terrible sect is confirmed by the testimonies of various people.

Approaching it, members believe it is occupied, possibly by a Persian Cossack Brigade ruled by Reza Shah, and get scared.

Hearing this, Venexiana recalls "The Man Who Would Be King", Rudyard Kipling's famous 1888 novella which takes place in this region.

Afterwards, Chevket offers Rasputin to accept a military post in exchange for his freedom, having all the required qualities.

Cyrus II the Great, founder of the Persian Empire, presented an enormous treasure to Tomyris, queen of the Amazons, whom he wanted to marry.

After researching, they find the entrance to a cave, guarded by a statue of Ahriman, a demonic spirit of Zoroastrianism.

From there, Corto leaves for Bombay (in present-day India), then drives the young girl to Venice, so that she can live with the Armenian community that resides there.

In a future adventure in Argentina (in the episode Tango), Corto will explain to a friend that Rasputin is during this time the host of a Maharaja.

Speaking of this subject, Pratt wanted to use this "fascinating character" in a story, after his friend the French essayist Jean Mabire explained to him that he was going to write a book about him.

Interestingly, Pratt has used Mabire's book "Ungern, le Baron fou" (1973) on Roman von Ungern-Sternberg in a previous story, Corto Maltese in Siberia.

[2] The program Le dessous des cartes produced an episode on Corto's journey, presented on the Franco-German channel Arte[9]