"If you move, I will cut your throat," Kokchu whispered into his ear. "Be like a statue, slave, while I search you." The spy did as he was told, enduring the bony hands as they ran over his body. The shaman could not reach right down to his ankles and still hold the blade to his neck. He did find a small knife and threw it away into the darkness without looking. The one in the boot went undetected and the spy let out a slow breath of relief.

They stood in complete darkness between the gers, hidden from the moon and the feasting warriors.

"Why would a slave follow me, I wonder? You come to me for your master's paste and your little darting eyes are everywhere, your questions so innocent. Are you a spy for Temuge, or another assassin? If you are, you are a poor choice."

The spy did not reply, though he set his jaw at the sting to his pride. He knew he had barely glanced at the shaman all evening, and he could only wonder what sort of mind produced such constant suspicion. He felt the knife press more firmly into his neck and blurted out the first words that came to his lips.

"If you kill me, you will learn nothing," he said.

Kokchu remained silent for an age, digesting this. The spy swiveled his eyes in his head to see the man's expression and found curiosity mingling with spite.

"What could there be to learn, slave?" Kokchu asked.

"Nothing you would want overheard," the spy replied. He ignored his usual caution, knowing his life hung in the moment. Kokchu was quite capable of killing him just to deprive Temuge of a supporter. "Let me speak and you will not regret it."

He felt a shove and stumbled forward. Even in the dark, he sensed Kokchu behind him. The spy considered ways of disarming the man without killing him, but forced himself to relax. He put his hands on his head and let Kokchu walk him forward to his ger.

It took courage to duck low at the doorway with the shaman holding a blade at his back, but the spy had gone too far to pass off his words as a bad joke even then. He knew the offer he had to make. The lord regent himself had met him on the wall on his last report. He took a deep breath and pushed the small door open.

A girl of great beauty knelt on the floor by the open door. A lamp lit her features as she looked up at him, and the spy felt his chest tighten that such a delicate girl should be made to wait on the shaman like a dog. He hid his anger as Kokchu motioned for her to leave them alone. She exchanged one final glance with her countryman as she turned in the door, and Kokchu chuckled.

"I think she likes you, slave. I am growing tired of her. Perhaps I will give her to your Chin officers. You could have a turn when they are finished teaching her humility." The spy ignored the words, taking a seat on a low bed so that his hands dropped naturally near his ankles. If the meeting went sour, he could still kill the shaman and be back at the walls before anyone else found out. That thought gave him a confidence that Kokchu sensed, frowning.

"We are alone, slave. I do not need you, or anything you have to say to me. Speak quickly, or I will give you to the dogs tomorrow morning."

The spy took a long, slow breath, preparing words that could mean death by torture before the sun rose. He had not chosen the moment. The bodies in Yenking had done that. Now he was either right about the shaman, or dead.

He straightened his back and rested one hand on his knee, looking sternly up at Kokchu with a faint expression of disapproval. The shaman glowered at the change in the man, going from frightened slave to a dignified warrior in just a moment.

"I am a man of Yenking," the spy said softly. "A man of the emperor."

Kokchu's eyes widened.

The spy nodded to him. "Now my life is truly in your hands." A sudden instinct made him take the dagger from his boot and place it on the floor at his feet. Kokchu nodded at the act of faith, but did not lower his own blade.

"The emperor must be desperate, or mad with hunger," Kokchu said softly.

"The emperor is a seven-year-old boy. The general your khan defeated now runs the city."

"He sent you here? Why?" Kokchu asked him, genuinely curious. Before the man could speak, Kokchu answered his own question. "Because the assassin failed. Because he wants the tribes to leave before the people starve to death, or burn the city down in riots."

"It is as you say," the spy confirmed. "Even if the general wanted to pay tribute for the city, the black tent is up before the walls. What choice does he have but to hold out for another two years, or even longer?" No trace of the desperate lie showed on the spy's face. Yenking would fall in another month, three at the most.

At last Kokchu put away his knife. The spy did not know how to read the action. The lord regent had thrown him to the wolves to make the offer. All he had was an instinct that Kokchu was in the tribes but not of them, a man apart. Such men were ripe for picking, but he knew his life could still be measured in heartbeats. A single spasm of loyalty from the shaman, a single shout, could end it all. Genghis would know he had broken Yenking and the jewel of the empire would be lost forever. The spy felt sweat break out on his skin despite the frozen air. He went on before Kokchu could reply.

"If they have the white tent raised once more, my emperor will pay a tribute to make a hundred kings weep. Silk enough to line the roads back to your homeland, gems, slaves, written works of great magic, science and medicine, ivory, iron, timber…" He had seen Kokchu's eyes flicker at the mention of magic, but did not falter in his list. "… paper, jade, thousands upon thousands of carts laden with wealth. Enough to found an empire if the khan desires it. Enough to build cities of his own."

"All of which he would have anyway when the city falls," Kokchu murmured.

The spy shook his head firmly. "At the last, when defeat is inevitable, the city will be fired from within. Know that I speak truth when I say your khan will have only ashes and two more years of waiting on this plain." He paused, trying and failing to see how his words were being received. Kokchu stood like a statue, barely breathing as he listened.

"Why have you not made this offer to the khan himself?" Kokchu asked.

Ma Tsin shook his head, suddenly weary. "We are not children, shaman, you and I. Let me speak plainly. Genghis has raised his black tent and all his men know that it means death. It would cost him pride to accept the emperor's tribute, and from what I have seen, he would let Yenking burn first. But if another man, one he trusted, could take the news to him in private? He could suggest a show of mercy, perhaps, for those innocents in the city who suffer."

To his astonishment, Kokchu barked laughter at the idea. "Mercy? Genghis would see it as weakness. You will never meet a man who understands fear in war as well as the khan I follow. You could not tempt him with such a thing."

Despite himself, the spy felt anger surface at the shaman's mocking tone. "Then tell me how he can be turned from Yenking, or kill me here for your dogs. I have told you all I know."

"I could turn him," Kokchu said softly. "I have shown him what I can do."

"You are feared in the camp," the spy replied quickly, grabbing his bony arm. "Are you the one I need?"

"I am," Kokchu replied. His face twisted at the other man's relief. "All that remains is for you to name the price for my help in this small thing. I wonder, how much is your city worth to your emperor? What price should I put on his life?"

"Anything you want will be part of the tribute paid to the khan," the spy replied. He dared not believe the man was toying with him. What choice did he have but to follow where the shaman led?

Kokchu was silent for a time then, weighing the man who sat so stiffly erect on the bed.