Conn Iggulden - Empire of Silver

There was nothing like that at his home post. Gurban and a couple of crippled warriors managed it with their wives and they seemed happy enough with so little. Kisruth had dreamed of taking important messages and his heart still thumped at the words he had been given by an exhausted rider. 'Kill horses and men if you have to, but reach Guyuk, the heir. His hands alone.' Kisruth did not know what he carried, but it could only be something important. He looked forward to handing it over formally to his brother and repeating the words to him.

He was irritated to see no one waiting as he came charging across the last stretch. No doubt Gurban was sleeping off the batch of airag his wife had brewed the week before. It was just typical of the old sot that the most important message of their lives should find him sleeping. Kisruth gave the bells a last flick with his hands as he dismounted, but the gers were peaceful apart from the line of smoke from one. Stiffly, he strode across the open yard, yelling for his brother or any of them. Surely they could not all have gone fishing for the day? He had left them only three days before, taking a sheaf of minor messages down the line.

He kicked at the door of the ger and stood in the yard rather than go inside, his letter giving him confidence.

'What is it?' his brother said peevishly from inside. 'Kisruth? Is that you?'

'Am I the one who has been shouting your name? Yes!' Kisruth snapped. 'I have a letter from Karakorum, to go fast. And where do I find you?'

The door opened and his brother came out, rubbing his eyes. There were creases on his face from where he had been sleeping and Kisruth struggled with his temper.

'Well? I'm here, aren't I?' his brother said.

Kisruth shook his head. 'You know what? I'll take it on myself. Tell Gurban there is a family of thieves on the road east. They nearly had me off my horse.'

His brother's eyes cleared at the news, as well they might. No one attacked the yam riders.

'I'll tell him, don't worry. Do you want me to ride on with that bag?' he said. 'I'll go now if it's important.'

Kisruth had already made up his mind and, in truth, he was reluctant to see his part in the excitement end. It had not been hard to decide to go on.

'You go back to your sleep. I'll take it to the next post.' He jerked back as his brother reached for his reins, wheeling the pony in the yard before his brother's temper woke them all. Suddenly Kisruth just wanted to be gone.

'Tell Gurban about the thieves,' he called over his shoulder, kicking his mount into a gallop. It would be almost dark by the time he rode the next section, but they had good men there and they would be ready when they heard his saddle bells. His brother shouted incoherently behind him, but Kisruth was riding once again.

Day after day, the tumans of Tsubodai stayed just out of reach of the Hungarian riders. Batu had lost count of the Hungarian king's attempts to bring them to battle. The foot soldiers on both sides slowed them down, but on the first day away from the Danube river, King Bela had sent twenty thousand horsemen out on the charge. Tsubodai had watched dispassionately as they closed on his rear lines until, with what Batu considered to be infuriating calmness, he ordered volleys of arrows, while the ragged conscripts grabbed saddle horns and let themselves be taken over a fast three miles, opening the gap once more. When the Magyar horsemen pressed too hard, they were met with swarms of dark arrows, shot with terrifying accuracy. The Mongol minghaans had a discipline their adversaries had never seen, able to take position in the teeth of a charge, shoot two volleys and then turn to rejoin the main tumans.

The first day had been the hardest, with repeated lunges and attacks that had to be beaten back. Tsubodai had worked in a frenzy to keep the two armies separate as they marched, until Buda and Pest were lost to view. As the sun set that first night, he had smiled to see the huge walled camp Bela's army built, almost a town in itself. The Magyar host lined sandbags to the height of a man in a vast square on the grasslands. They had carried the weight of them all the way from the Danube. In its way, it explained why they could not run the Mongols down. It confirmed Tsubodai's impression of the king that only he and his most senior officers rested behind the security of the sandbag walls. The rest of his army camped in the open, as unregarded as any of his servants.

The Hungarian king might have expected to eat and sleep well in his command tent, but each night Tsubodai sent men with horns and Chin firecrackers to keep the Hungarian army awake. He wanted the king exhausted and nervous, while Tsubodai himself slept and snored, making his personal guards smile as they watched over his ger.

The following few days were less frantic. King Bela seemed to have accepted he could not make them turn and fight his host. The charges continued, but it was almost as if they were for show and dash, with knights pulling up with brandished swords and insults before triumphantly trotting back to their own lines.

The tumans rode on, retreating mile after slow mile. On broken ground, some of the horses went lame and were quickly killed, though there was never time to butcher them for meat. The foot soldiers running by their saddles were hardened, but even so a few of them picked up injuries. Tsubodai gave orders that anyone who fell behind was to be left with just a sword, but his tumans had worked and fought with the ragged conscripts for a long time. He turned a blind eye as they were heaved up behind warriors, or tied to a saddle on one of the spare mounts.

By the afternoon of the fifth day, they had covered the best part of two hundred miles and Tsubodai had learned everything he needed to know about the enemy he faced. The Sajo river was in front of him and he spent most of the morning giving orders about crossing the sole bridge. His tumans could not risk being trapped against the river and it was no surprise that the Magyar riders began to press more closely over the morning. They knew the local land as well as anyone.

Tsubodai summoned Batu, Jebe and Chulgetei to him as the sun passed the highest point in the sky.

'Jebe, I want your tumans to cross the Sajo river without delay,' he said.

The general frowned. 'If I were the Hungarian king, I'd hit us now, with the river preventing us from manoeuvres. He must know there is only one bridge.'

Tsubodai turned in the saddle, staring out over the thread of the river, just a few miles away. Already, Chulgetei's tuman was being compressed on the banks. They could not stay there, up against the deep river.

'This king has driven us in triumph now for five days. His officers will be congratulating themselves and him. As far as he knows, we will run right to the mountains and be pushed back over them again. I think he will let us go, but if he does not, I will still have twenty thousand ready to show him his error. Go quickly.'

'Your will, orlok,' Jebe said. He dipped his head and rode clear to pass on the order to his tuman.

Batu cleared his throat, suddenly uncomfortable in Tsubodai's presence.

'Is it time to reveal your plans to lowly generals, orlok?' he said. He smiled as he spoke, to take out the sting.

Tsubodai glanced at him. 'The river is the key. We have run and run. They will not expect an attack, not now. They will press us when they see we are beginning to cross, but we will hold them with arrows. By nightfall, I want them on this side and our tumans on the other. It is no more than this king would expect from such easily driven enemies.'

Tsubodai smiled to himself. 'Once we are across the Sajo, I will need the last minghaan to hold that bridge. It is the only weak spot in my preparations, Batu. If that thousand is quickly overwhelmed, they will be on us and the choke-point of the river bridge will have been wasted.'