He heard her panting and the slight scrape as she sank down the wall.

'Can you understand me?' he asked in the Chin tongue, turning.

She looked blankly at him and he sighed. The Russian language had little in common with either of the tongues he knew. He had picked up a few words, but nothing that would let her know she was safe. She stared at him and he wondered how a father would feel in such a position. She knew she could not escape back down the stairs. Violent, drunken men roamed the church and streets around it. She would not get far. It was quieter in the bell tower and Tsubodai sighed as she began to sob softly to herself, bringing her knees up to her chest and keening like a child.

'Be silent,' he snapped, suddenly irritated with her for spoiling his moment of peace. She had lost her shoes somewhere, he noticed. Her feet were scratched and bare. She had fallen silent at his tone and he watched her for a while until she looked up at him. He held up his hands, showing they were empty.

'Menya zavout Tsubodai,' he said slowly, pointing at his chest. He could not ask her name. He waited patiently and she lost some of her tension.

'Anya,' she said. A torrent of sound followed that Tsubodai could not follow. He had all but exhausted his stock of words.

In his own language, he went on. 'Stay here,' he said, gesturing. 'You are safe here. I will go now.'

He began to walk past her and at first she flinched. When she realised he was trying to step past onto the stone steps, she cried out in fear and spoke again, her eyes wide.

Tsubodai sighed to himself. 'All right. I will stay. Tsubodai stay. Until the sun comes up, understand? Then I will leave. The soldiers will leave. You can find your family then.'

She saw he was turning back to the window. Nervously, she crept further into the room so that she sat at his feet.

'Genghis Khan,' Tsubodai muttered. 'Have you heard the name?' He saw her eyes widen and nodded to himself. A rare bitterness showed in his expression.

'They will talk of him for a thousand years, Anya. Longer. Yet Tsubodai is unknown. The man who won his battles for him, who followed his orders. The name of Tsubodai is just smoke on the breeze.'

She could not understand him, but his voice was soothing and she pulled her legs in tighter, making herself small against his feet.

'He is dead now, girl. Gone. I am left to atone for my sins. You Christians understand that, I think.'

She looked blankly at him and her lack of understanding freed words that were lodged deep in his chest.

'My life is no longer my own,' Tsubodai said softly. 'My word is worthless. But duty goes on, Anya, while there is breath. It is all I have left.'

The air was frozen and he saw she was shivering. With a sigh, he removed his cloak and draped it over her. He watched as she curled into its folds until only her face showed. The cold intensified without the warm cloth around his shoulders, but he welcomed the discomfort. His spirits were in turmoil and sadness swelled in him as he rested his hands on the stone sill and waited for the dawn.

CHAPTER TWENTY

Yao Shu fumed as he faced Sorhatani. Even the air in the room was subtly scented as it had not been before. She wore her new status like heavy robes, taking delight in the number of servants attending her. Through Ogedai, she had been given the titles of her husband. At a single stroke, she controlled the heartlands of the Mongol plains, the birthplace of Genghis himself. Yao Shu could not help but wonder if the khan had considered all the implications when he made the offer to Tolui before his death.

Another woman would have quietly managed the lands and titles for her sons until she passed them on. Surely that was what Ogedai had intended. Yet Sorhatani had done more. Only that morning, Yao Shu had been forced to stamp and seal an order for funds from the khan's treasury. Tolui's personal seal had been used on the papers and, as chancellor, Yao Shu could not refuse it. Under his sour-faced glare, vast sums of gold and silver had been packed into wooden crates and delivered to her guards. He could only imagine what she would do with enough precious metal to build herself a palace or a village, or a road into the wilderness.

As Yao Shu sat in her presence, he ran a Buddhist mantra through his mind, bringing calm to his thoughts. She had granted him an audience as his superior, fully aware of how her manner irked the khan's chancellor. It was not lost on him that Ogedai's own servants scurried to serve them tea. No doubt Sorhatani had chosen ones he would know personally, to demonstrate her power.

Yao Shu remained silent as he was handed the shallow bowl. He sipped, noting the quality of Chin leaf that had been used. It was probably from the khan's personal supply, brought at immense cost from the tea plantations at Hangzhou. Yao Shu frowned to himself as he put the cup down. In just a few months, Sorhatani had made herself indispensable to the khan. Her energy was extraordinary, but Yao Shu could still be surprised at how deftly she had read the khan's needs. What was particularly galling was that Yao Shu had respected the orders he had been given. He had accepted Ogedai's need for privacy and seclusion. The chancellor had done nothing wrong, yet somehow she had bustled into the palace, wielding her sudden authority over servants as if she had been born to it. In less than a day, she had furnished and aired a suite of rooms close by Ogedai's own. The servants assumed the khan's approval and though Yao Shu suspected she had overreached his favour a hundred times over, Sorhatani had dug herself into the palace like a tick burrowing under skin. He watched her closely as she sipped her own tea. Her robe of fine green silk was not lost on him, nor the way her hair was bound in silver and her skin dusted with pale powder, so that she looked almost like porcelain, cool and perfect. The robes and manner of a Chin noblewoman were deliberately assumed, but she returned his gaze with the calm directness of her own people. In itself, her stare was a challenge to him and he struggled not to respond.

'The tea is fresh, chancellor?' she asked.

He inclined his head. 'It is very good, but I must ask…'

'You are comfortable? Shall I have the servants bring a cushion for your back?'

Yao Shu rubbed one of his ears before settling himself again.

'I need no cushions, Sorhatani. What I need is an explanation of the orders that were delivered to my rooms last night.'

'Orders, chancellor? Surely such things are between you and the khan? It is certainly no business of mine.'

Her eyes were wide and guileless and he covered his irritation by signalling for more of the tea. He sipped the pungent liquid once more before trying again.

'As I'm sure you know, Sorhatani, the khan's Guards will not let me speak to him.'

It was a humiliating admission and he coloured as he spoke, wondering how she had come between Ogedai and the world with such neatness. All the men around the khan had respected his wishes. She had ignored them, treating Ogedai as if he were an invalid or a child. The gossip in the palace was that she doted on him like a mother hen with a chick, but instead of being irritated, Ogedai seemed to find relief in being cosseted. Yao Shu could only hope for his swift recovery, that he might throw the she-wolf out of the palace and rule again in earnest.

'If you wish, chancellor, I can ask the khan about the orders you say were sent to you. However, he has been unwell in spirit and body. Answers cannot be demanded from him until he is strong again.'

'I am aware of that, Sorhatani,' Yao Shu said. He clenched his teeth for an instant, so that she saw the muscles ripple in his jaw. 'Nonetheless, there has been some mistake. I do not think the khan wishes me to leave Karakorum for some pointless tax-gathering tally in the northern Chin towns. I would be away from the city for months.'