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Batu sidestepped the clumsy lunge, then brought the blade up and drew it across the stocky general's
throat. "The penalty for treason is death," he said.
Kei Bot clasped a hand over the wound, his mouth open in astonishment. The surprised mutineer
dropped to his knees, blood oozing from between his fingers. Finally, he collapsed and pitched forward onto
the dirt floor.
"What have you done?" gasped Wak'an.
"Kei Bot disobeyed a direct order," Batu replied, noncha-lantly cleaning the sword on the fallen man's
k'ai. "He cost us the victory."
"Perhaps," countered Hai Yuan, "but to execute a general without a formal inquiry...."
Batu shrugged, then sheathed Kei Bot's ornate sword in his own empty scabbard. "He admitted his
crimes," the gen-eral said wearily. "I have chosen his punishment."
Killing Kei Bot had cleared Batu's mind, and he finally felt as if he could concentrate. "Pe, get me some
brushes and pa-per," he said, walking over to an empty table. "From what the prisoners say, there are over
a hundred thousand Tuigan inside the city. We'd better do some planning."
Batu's two subordinates simply stared at him, astounded by his indifference to the man he had just
executed. When they did not follow their superior to the table, the general from Chukei said, "Gentlemen,
your thoughts may prove valuable."
Both men shook their heads as if to clear them, then joined Batu. While Pe supervised the removal of
Kei Bot's body, the three surviving generals fell into a discussion of lo-gistics, debating the best type of
shelters to build for the months ahead, where they could secure a steady food sup-ply, how their soldiers
would fuel cooking and, eventually, heating fires, and a hundred other details.
By the end of the week, the Shou were making considera-ble progress toward establishing a siege
camp. A group of scouts found a bank of clay on the shore of a nearby river, so the Chief of Works built
kilns to fire bricks. Without straw or something similar to add to the mix, the bricks would not hold together
very long. That did not trouble Batu, for he needed them to last only a few months. Win or lose, the siege
would be over by winter.
Just outside arrow range, under the guidance of the engi-neers, the Army of Hai Yuan was encircling
the city with a trench that would eventually become a defensive fortifica-tion. The Master of Ample
Supplies solved the fuel problem by developing a program to collect dried horse dung, re-serving the small
supply of wood within riding of distance of camp for firing the kilns.
Still, the Shou could not solve all their problems easily. Batu sent a messenger to the summer palace
asking for artil-lery and reinforcements, but he knew it would be at least six weeks before any substantial
aid arrived. Food was espe-cially scarce, for the barbarians had been camped outside Shou Kuan for nearly
a month. To procure even small amounts of provisions, the Shou foraging parties had to travel over one
hundred miles. When the riders did find a village that might have some grain, the lookouts mistook the filthy
pengs for barbarians and burned the communal food-stores.
Batu and his subordinates were in his tent discussing these problems when Pe entered. "Excuse me,
General," the adjutant said, bowing low. "The Tuigan have dispatched a messenger and ten escorts under a
flag of truce."
The two first degree generals raised their eyebrows. "One thing is for certain," said Wak'an. "The
enemy isn't surren-dering this soon."
"Not ever," Batu replied. From the stories of his great-grandfather, he knew that the Tuigan did not ask
or grant mercy. That knowledge only made him more curious about what the envoy had to say. "Bring the
messenger to my pavilion."
Pe bowed, then turned to execute the order.
While he waited for the messenger, Batu supervised the rearrangement of the pavilion. The barbarians,
he knew, were careful observers, and he wanted the messenger to re-turn to Yamun Khahan properly
impressed. The General of the Northern Marches had his chair placed in the center of the room. His
subordinates' chairs were placed to either side and slightly to the rear of his own. Finally, he had fifty senior
officers summoned to the tent. After arranging them in a standing circle, he explained that no matter what
he said or did, they were to remain solemn and perfectly quiet.
A few minutes later, Pe entered the tent. Bowing very low, the adjutant said, "With your permission,
General, I present the Grand Historian of the Tuigan Empire, Koja the Lama."
Batu nodded, then Pe opened the tent flap. Koja was not the stocky, fierce figure Batu had expected.
Instead, the lama was a small wiry man with a priest's shaven head. His bulky armor hung off his hunched
shoulders like rags on a beggar. He moved forward at an overly confident pace, studying his environment
with alert, intelligent eyes.
Behind Koja came ten Tuigan warriors. They all wore black k'ai armor and skullcaps trimmed in sable
fur. Their swords remained in their scabbards.
Batu nodded to the messenger's escorts. "Who are they?"
"My bodyguard," the messenger replied in stilted Shou. "The khahan insisted. I am his anda, you see."
Because Batu spoke the Tuigan language, he knew that by anda, the messenger meant he was Yamun
Khahan's brother in spirit. Koja was politely informing the general that killing him would anger the khahan.
Batu found it in-teresting that the lama thought he should be concerned about the khahan's temper.
"Your bodyguards will wait outside," Batu responded, frowning at the messenger. "If I decide to kill you,
a hun-dred times that many men will not save your life."
The lama studied Batu with a dubious expression. When the Shou commander's face remained fixed,
Koja turned to the bodyguards and, speaking in Tuigan, told them to wait outside. The frowning warriors
reluctantly obeyed.
As soon as the escort was gone, Batu addressed his adju-tant. "Have the bodyguards killed."
Pe barely stopped short of gasping when Batu narrowed a warning eye at him. The other officers in the
room showed no emotion, though Batu felt certain they were as shocked as his adjutant.
"We came under a flag of truce!" Koja sputtered.
The only response to the lama's objection was Pe leaving the room to execute the order.
"The khahan will—"
"You need no bodyguard in my camp, historian," Batu in-terrupted, resting his elbows on the arms of his
chair. "The escort was an insult."
Batu did not truly find the bodyguard insulting. The gen-eral simply wanted to impress upon the khahan
that he was not afraid to fight. Doing something so deliberately provoc-ative would send that message.
Outside the tent, there were several screams and thuds. A Tuigan warrior stumbled into the pavilion,
three crossbow bolts protruding from his back. Two Shou soldiers followed and cut him down with their
chiens. The lama watched the display with an expression of revulsion and utter disbelief.
A moment later, the scuffle outside ended. Pe returned and bowed to indicate that he had executed the
order. As two guards dragged the dead Tuigan from the tent, Batu said, "Now, anda-to-the-khahan, you
may deliver your message."
Koja's face went white. Nevertheless, he looked Batu in the eye. "On behalf of Yamun Khahan, Ruler [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]