Conn Iggulden - Conqueror (2011)

‘I remember you. You have returned from the Sung lands, then?’

Kublai chuckled. ‘You are a man of rare insight, with me standing before you. Now surrender your city, Lord Alghu. I will not ask again.’

The older man’s mouth opened, but no sound came out. He shook his head, simply unable to take in what he had been told.

‘Arik-Boke is khan,’ he stammered at last. To his horror, Kublai’s expression turned cold and the yellow eyes seemed to gleam with anger.

‘No, Lord Alghu. No, he is not. I claim the khanate and all the nations within it. My brother will bow the knee to me or fall. But that is for another day. Give me your answer or I will take this city and put another in your place.’ Kublai turned to Uriang-Khadai, his voice light. ‘Would you be interested in ruling Samarkand, orlok?’

‘If it is your will, my lord khan,’ Uriang-Khadai replied. ‘But I would rather ride with you against the usurper.’

‘Very well. I will find another.’ He turned back to Lord Alghu, still watching with a slightly open mouth. ‘Your answer, Lord Alghu?’

‘I … I gave my oath to Arik-Boke. To your brother, my lord. I cannot take the words back.’

‘I release you from your oath,’ Kublai replied immediately. ‘Now …’

‘It is not as simple as that!’ Alghu snapped, anger finally breaking through his shock.

‘No? Who else has the authority to release your oath, if not your khan?’

‘My lord, this is … I need time to think. Will you enter the city in peace for a night? I grant guest rights to you and your men.’

For an instant, Kublai felt for the man he had put in an impossible position. Twelve tumans faced his city, promising certain destruction. He could not break his oath to Arik-Boke, but Kublai was giving him no choice. His will hardened.

‘No, Lord Alghu. You will make a decision here and now. You have chosen to give oath to the usurper, but I do not hold you responsible for his crimes. I am the rightful khan of the nation. I am the gur-khan. My word is iron and my word is law. I tell you again that you are released from your oath, your vow. It is done. At this moment, you call no man lord. Do you understand what I have said to you?’

Lord Alghu had grown pale. He nodded.

‘Then, as a free man, you must make your decision. My place is not here. I have other concerns than this khanate, but I cannot leave an enemy behind me while I seek out my foolish brother. I cannot leave a supply line into Karakorum, when I will bring that city under siege. Do you understand that ?’

Lord Alghu nodded again, unable to reply. Kublai’s voice softened, almost to friendliness.

‘Then choose, Lord Alghu. We have so few real choices in our lives. I will have no choice but to destroy Samarkand if you make the wrong decision here, this morning, but I do not wish to threaten you. The nation is in error, Lord Alghu. I have merely to put right what has gone wrong.’

Alghu thought of his children, already on their way to a safe village. He had no illusions about what Kublai was describing. Arik-Boke had a vast army and he would never surrender to his brother, not now he was khan. No Mongol force had ever fought against their own people in battle, but it would come, and it would bring destruction on a scale he could hardly imagine.

Slowly, carefully, under the watchful eye of Kublai’s orlok, Lord Alghu dismounted and stood by his horse, looking up at the man who claimed to rule the world. The Chagatai khanate was just a small part of that, he told himself. Yet if he gave a new oath, Arik-Boke would send his own tumans in reprisal. There would be no mercy, no quarter for an oath-breaker lord. Lord Alghu closed his eyes for an instant, caught between impossible forces.

At last, he spoke.

‘My lord,’ he said, ‘if I give you my oath, my cities lie within reach of Karakorum. It will be an act of war with the great khanate.’ He blinked as he realised the words he had used, but Kublai only laughed.

‘I cannot promise you safety, Lord Alghu. There is no safety in this world. I can say that I will keep my brother’s attention on me for this summer. After that, the khanate will be restored and I will look kindly on your cities.’

‘If you lose, my lord …’

‘If I lose? I do not fear some weakling brother who thinks he can stand in my place. The sun is hot, Lord Alghu, and I have been patient with you. I understand your fears, but if I stood in your place, I would know what to do.’

Lord Alghu stepped clear of his horse. On the dusty ground, he lowered himself to both knees.

‘I offer you gers, horses, salt and blood, my lord khan,’ he said, his voice almost a whisper. ‘You have my oath.’

The tension went out of Kublai’s frame as he spoke.

‘The right decision, Lord Alghu. Now welcome my men into your city, that we may rest and drink the dust from our throats.’

‘Very well, my lord khan,’ Lord Alghu said, wondering if he had just thrown away his honour, as well as his life. He had been considering bringing his children back to the city, but it would do them no harm to spend a season with the villagers, as safe from harm as anyone could be with the khanates about to erupt into civil war.

General Bayar watched sourly as Batu paced up and down in the wooden house. The man had not taken the news well and Bayar was still searching for the right words to convince him. He knew most of Kublai’s plan and part of it was making certain the princes of the nation stayed out of the struggle between brothers. It was a difficult request that struck at the root of their honour and their oaths, but Kublai had been clear in his instructions.

‘There has never been civil war in the nation,’ Kublai had told him. ‘Make sure Batu understands the normal rules are suspended until my family have made an ending. His oath is to the office of the great khan. Until this is settled, until only one man is khan, he cannot honour his oath. Tell him to stay in his lands and we will have no quarrel.’

Bayar thought back over the words for the hundredth time as Batu sat down at his great oak table and nodded to the servants bringing steaming platters of meat and potatoes in butter.

‘Join me, general,’ Batu said as he pulled out a bench. ‘This is beef from my own herd.’

Bayar looked at the bloody slices and his mouth watered. He shrugged, then sat down, pulling pieces towards him with his fingers and chewing so that the juices ran down his chin.

‘It’s good,’ Bayar said, suppressing a groan of satisfaction. The meat came apart in his mouth almost without chewing and he pulled more into reach, leaving a pink trail on the old wood.

‘You’ll never taste anything better,’ Batu replied. ‘I am hoping to sell the meat to the khan’s cities in a few years, when I’ve built the herd up.’

‘You’ll make a fortune,’ Bayar said, ‘but not while the fighting goes on. I still need an answer from you, my lord.’

Batu chewed slowly, savouring each mouthful, but always watching the man who sat across from him. At length, he cleared his throat with a long draught of pale wine, then sat back.

‘Very well. I have three choices, general, as I see it. I can let you go, do as Kublai wants and stay out of the fighting, tending to my own lands and my own people until it is done. If he loses, I will have the khan …’ He raised a hand as Bayar opened his mouth. ‘I will have Arik-Boke riding here in a fury, asking why I kept my head down while my rightful lord was under attack. If that is the result, I could lose everything.’

Bayar didn’t reply. Neither he nor Batu knew for certain what would happen if Kublai lost. Arik-Boke might well exact some kind of vengeance. A sensible man might declare an amnesty for the small khanates, but nothing in the bloodline suggested Arik-Boke would be sensible.