Before departing, Praetextatus set military affairs in order. He summoned his son and heir, the Domestikos Nazares, and granted him command of a great part (though not the entirety) of the army - perhaps 10,000 infantry and 5,000 cavalry came under the 16-year old Domestikos' command. A further detachment of almost 3,000 horse was granted to the hard-faced young noble, Timurat Nicetius. Yet more warriors of Christ were retained by the Negus as a guard while he went on his tour of places which had either rejected Christ's teachings or rejected his rule (which was tantamount to the same thing). Thousands more troops, strong-armed infantry and well-horsed cavalry, were brought from the distant province of Atbara, a subsidiary ally of the great Makourian state; they had come many miles from their homes to defend the distant Christian city of Dunqulah from incursions by the infidels of the north. On the day when he and his guards marched forth through the great double gates of Dunqulah, set in thick walls of sunbaked dun-coloured brick, the heart of the Eparch swelled with pride - all Makouria resounded with the clatter of arms, armour, shield and helm, the cadenced sound of marching feet and the hooves of the magnificent Makourian chargers. Wherever the Negus looked, he saw soldiers, their weapons glinting proudly under the harsh of African sun. Above it all flew the banner of Christ. How could one see such a sight and not feel the calm certainty of God's final victory over the Infidel?

So it was that the Negus set off in fine spirits. It took several months of travelling over rough terrain before he reached Nubia, a pagan region which paid faithful tribute to Dunqulah. Briefly (for the Negus had a long journey before him), conferences were staged with the local dignitaries and chieftains; promises were given that the Christians would not try to proselytise the locals and there was a recognition by the Nubians that, if the choice were starkly put - to be ruled by the Christian Makourians or by the Fatimids - Makourian rule would be preferable. This being so, the Nubians agreed to commit themselves to the common defence by providing troops but they would operate only on a limited basis. This was enough for the Negus who departed for Kassala, an arid Christian province whose princes paid homage to the Negus. Again, after brief negotiations, the Kassalans agreed to enter more fully into the Eparchate while still retaining an element of autonomy - they would allow the officials of Dunqulah to impose taxes upon them but their feudal levies remained their own and would not be given to the Negus.

Praetextatus had been encouraged by his modest success so far but it was upon entering prosperous Adulis on the shores of the Red Sea that he achieved his greatest coup - with only the most perfunctory of diplomatic overtures made, the rather nervous men of Adulis willingly accepted the Negus Negesti as their overlord and suzerain. Under the benevolent gaze of Christ, the borders of Makouria now reached the Red Sea. Hossanah! So, with joyful heart, the Negus now went north to Suakin. All the while, his ministers were warning him that the government didn't have even close to sufficient resources to govern these many far-flung regions in any meaningful way but Praetextatus was not going to be put off by these nay-sayers - God had shown him the way and a means would undoubtedly present itself in due course. And it may be that God did not want any further expansion for the clans of Suakin agreed only to give the Makourians freedom of passage and nothing else. They would not be bound by any other treaty and they would pay not one brass dinar to the treasuries of Dunqulah. And, in fact, it was to Dunqulah that the Negus now turned. He reached home near the end of 1105 - his diplomatic tour had lasted more than four whole years and, all things considered, it had been an unwonted success. Yet, for all his faith in Christ, even the Negus could never have imagined that his son, Nazares, would present him with the Muslim province of Danakil and the heir to the Fatimid Caliphate, chained and bound and looking distinctly sheepish. This was clearly yet another in a long series of signs from On High that the victory of the faithful was at hand - that much was obvious but it still left Praetextatus uncertain of what to do with his captive. Decisions, decisions... (read on to find out how he was taken)

While the Negus had been busy, the Domestikos had been engaged on tasks of his own. There was truly only one thing for a 16-year old boy with more than 15,000 men under his command to do - invade someone. Nazares scanned the maps of the realm and contemplated, briefly, an invasion of the high plateau to bring the wild Abyssinians to heel but then he hit on an even more glorious idea - he would crush Danakil, the rich Muslim region on the coast and the site of many mercantile centres. Wealth would flow into the Eparchate's treasuries and glory would redound to the name of Nazares (and God and Makouria but, mainly, to Nazares).

By the end of 1101, his army was storming into Danakil via Adulis (which he entered without anyone's permission provoking a deal of fear amongst the locals and, perhaps, giving the region a very good reason to join the Eparchate). The Arabs and African Muslims of Danakil could field only a pitiful force of about 800 spearmen and a similar number of lightly-armed skirmishers and archers while the Christians numbered, in full, 6,000 stout Makourian footmen bearing sword and spear, almost 3,000 psiloi, 2,500 outstanding horsemen and about a further 2,000 knights, covered from head-to-toe in chain armour and their horses with barding. There also milled about a few hundrer sappers. The men of Danakil chose to stand and fight in open battle though, indeed, there was no doubt on either side about the outcome. A Makourian victory followed but, shockingly, the Christians didn't have it all their own way - the young general proved incapable of handling so vast a host of warriors - there were simply too many men for the boy to control with any kind of effectiveness - and, wherever his guiding hand was missing, officers would follow their own instincts. The Domestikos had planned a careful advance by the entire force followed by a massed charge by the cavalry who would ride the contemptible Muslim phalanx into the ground; in practice, a regiment here or a company there would break away and charge the smaller force without support and would pay for their rashness dearly. After a couple of hour's, the battle was won, the Muslims all dead or dispersed, but, nevertheless, Nazares (now styled "the Bold") felt that the indiscipline of the army had place a stain on the victory by causing unnecessary deaths. Almost 500 good Christian knights lay dead or injured on the field; considering how heavily they had outnumbered the enemy, such losses were as unacceptable as they were inexplicable. None of the more experienced officers had the heart to explain that the fault lay with the boy for failing to keep a firmer grip on the army. Perhaps next time if he had a couple of subordinates to command on the wings....

As the Makourians pacified their newest possession, they uncovered something absolutely fascinating - the Fatimid Prince, al-Amir, hiding out in the home of a local Muslim sheikh. He had been sent by the Caliph of Cairo to secure the friendship of Danakil and he had offered fine incentives - dynastic marriage and a great new port city. So unfortunate that his visit coincided with the Makourian invasion. Nazares the Bold, feeling as pleased as punch at this new turn of events, had the Fatimid heir clapped in chains and dragged behind the victorious host on its march back home to Dunqulah.

While all this excitement had been going on, Timurat had taken his swift cavalry and gone haring off into the desert. This activity was widely met with trepidation at Dunqulah for the oases had never been part of Makouria's traditional sphere - they were the domain of the Bedouin, the Tuaregs and whatever other of the Infidel tribes were stupid enough made their home in so hellish a place. In any case, Timurat arrived at the oasis of Ayn al-Ghazal and swiftly convinced the local Mahometans (who were Sunni and, hence, not nearly so annoying as the Shi'ites) that they should allow the Makourians freedom of passage. This was duly granted (a concession granted perhaps rather more in view of the several thousand Makourian horsemen who now occupied the oasis rather than because of Timurat's cogent arguments and silver-tongued diplomacy).

Timurat pushed on to Al Kufrah where the Bedouin were far more aggressive and refused even to contemplate parleying with the Christian dogs. In short order, Timurat annihilated the oasis' defenders and even pursued a few escapees into the desert. Planting almost a thousand horsemen to hold the place, he pushed on to Yanaka Dinga where the local traders and tribesmen were a mixture of pagans and Sunnis. They refused to discuss any possible involvement with the distant Makourian kingdom - a place they had barely even heard of and with which they had no interest whatsoever in being associated. Indeed, some of the locals began to encourage Timurat to leave the service of the Negus and settle among the oases where there was much money to be made by those who were canny. Timurat admitted that there were attractions to the idea but he really couldn't do what they asked so he and his men departed peaceably and returned to the oasis of Ayn al-Ghazal and remained on the lookout for any Cairene raiders who might venture this way. None came. Yet.