Conn Iggulden - Lords of the Bow

Ruin Chu swallowed, visibly afraid. He had hoped that the Mongol khan would not ask to see a seven-year-old boy. Would little Xuan survive the meeting? Ruin Chu could not be sure. The Mongols were cruel and nothing was beneath them. Yet there was no choice and he bowed even deeper than before.

"Your will, my lord."

As the sun rose in the sky, the great train of treasures was halted to allow the emperor's litter out onto the plain. With him came a hundred men in armor, walking at the side of the box borne by matching slaves. They came in grim silence and the Mongols too fell quiet at the sight, beginning to drift in after the group as they made their way to where Genghis waited with his generals. No special tent had been raised for the emperor, yet Genghis could not help a twinge of awe as the ranks marched toward him. It was true that the boy had played no part in the history of the tribes. Yet he was the single symbol of everything they had come together to resist. Genghis dropped his hand to the hilt of one of Arslan's swords at his waist. When it had been forged, he had been khan of less than fifty men in a camp of snow and ice. He would hardly have dared dream then that the emperor of the Chin would one day come at his command.

The litter shone in the sun as it was lowered with incredible gentleness. The slaves straightened from the poles, staring straight ahead. Genghis watched in fascination as small curtains were lifted aside by Ruin Chu and a small boy stepped onto the grass. He wore a long, jeweled green jacket over leggings of black. A high collar made the boy hold his head up. His eyes were not afraid as they met those of the khan, and Genghis felt a touch of admiration for the child's courage.

Genghis took a step forward and sensed the hard gaze of the soldiers on him. "Have these men stand back, Ruin Chu," he said softly.

The minister bowed his head and gave the order. Genghis stood stiffly as the officers glared at him before retreating a grudging distance. The idea that they could protect the little boy in the heart of the Mongol camp was ludicrous, but Genghis could feel the fierce loyalty in them. He did not want them startled into an attack. Once they had moved, he thought no more of their presence and approached the emperor.

"You are welcome in my camp," he said in the Chin tongue. The little boy stared up at him without a reply and Genghis saw his hands were shaking.

"You have everything you wanted," Xuan said suddenly, his voice high and brittle.

"I wanted an end to the siege," Genghis replied. "This is one end."

The boy raised his head even further, standing like a gleaming mannequin in the sun. "Will you attack us now?"

Genghis shook his head. "I have said my word is iron, little man. I think perhaps if your father stood before me now, I would consider it. There are many among my people who would applaud me for the strategy." He paused to swallow against his itching throat and could not stop a hacking cough working its way loose. To his irritation, an audible wheeze remained as he continued.

"I have killed wolves. I will not hunt rabbits."

"I will not always be so young, my lord khan," the little boy replied. "You may regret leaving me alive."

Genghis smiled at the show of precocious defiance, even as Ruin Chu winced. With a smooth movement, Genghis drew his sword and rested the tip on the boy's shoulder, touching his collar.

"All great men have enemies, emperor. Yours will hear that you stood with my sword at your neck and not all the armies and cities of the Chin could remove the blade. In time, you will understand why that gives me more satisfaction than killing you ever could." Another cough made his throat clench and he wiped his mouth with his free hand.

"I have offered you peace, boy. I cannot say I will not be back, or that my sons and their generals will not stand here in years to come. You have bought peace for a year, perhaps two or three. That is more than your people have ever given mine." With a sigh, he sheathed the blade.

"There is one last thing, boy, before I go home to the lands of my childhood."

"What more do you want?" Xuan replied. He had gone a sickly white now that the blade had been removed from his neck, but his eyes were cold.

"Kneel to me, emperor, and I will leave," Genghis said. To his surprise, the boy's eyes filled with furious tears.

"I will not!"

Ruin Chu came closer, hovering nervously at the emperor's shoulder. "Son of Heaven, you must," he whispered.

Genghis did not speak again, and at last, the boy's shoulders slumped in defeat. He stared blindly as he knelt before the khan.

Genghis stood in the breeze and enjoyed a long moment of silence before he motioned to Ruin Chu to help the boy to his feet.

"Do not forget this day, emperor, when you are grown," Genghis said, softly. The boy did not reply as Ruin Chu guided his steps back to the litter and saw him safely inside. The column formed up around it and began the march back to the city.

Genghis watched them go. The tribute was paid and his army waited for his order to move. Nothing more held him to the cursed plain that had brought weakness and frustration from the moment he set foot on it.

"Let us go home," he said to Kachiun. Horns sounded across the plain and the vast host of his people began to move.

The sickness in Genghis's chest worsened in the first weeks of travel. His skin was hot to the touch and he sweated constantly, suffering from rashes at his groin and armpits, wherever there was hair to grow foul. His breath came painfully, so that he wheezed every night and could never clear his throat. He longed for the cool, clean winds of the mountains of home, and against reason, he spent every day in the saddle, looking to the horizon.

A month out from Yenking, the outskirts of the desert realm were in sight and the tribes halted by a river to take on water for the trip. It was there that the last of the scouts Genghis had left behind came riding into camp. Two of them did not join their friends around the campfires and instead rode straight to the khan's ger on its cart.

Kachiun and Arslan were there with Genghis and all three men came out to hear the final report. They watched as the two scouts dismounted stiffly. Both were caked in dust and dirt and Genghis exchanged a glance with his brother, swallowing against a twitch of his tortured throat.

"My lord khan," one of the scouts began. He swayed as he stood and Genghis wondered what could have made the man ride himself to exhaustion.

"The emperor has left Yenking, lord, heading south. More than a thousand went with him."

"He ran?" Genghis demanded in disbelief.

"South, lord. The city was left open, abandoned behind him. I did not stay to see how many people survived inside. The emperor took many more carts and slaves, every one of his ministers."

No one else spoke as they waited for Genghis to cough into a closed fist, straining for air.

"I gave him peace," Genghis said at last. "Yet he shouts to the world that my word means nothing to him."

"What does it matter, brother?" Kachiun began. "Khasar is in the south. No city would dare give sanctuary-"

Genghis silenced him with a furious gesture. "I will not go back to that place, Kachiun. But there is a price for all things. He has broken the peace I offered him to run to his armies in the south. Now you will show him the result."

"Brother?" Kachiun asked.

"No, Kachiun! I have had enough of games. Take your men back to that plain and burn Yenking to the ground. That is the price I will have from him."

Under his brother's fury, Kachiun could only bow his head.

"Your will, my lord," he said.

GenghisLordsoftheBow

Nature has left this tincture in the blood,