CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO

Temuge was sweating, though the air was cold in the courtyard of the palace. He could feel the hard length of the knife he had concealed under his robe. There had been no search of the men summoned there that morning, though he had made sure by hiding the weapon so that it chafed his groin and caused him to shift his weight.

In the distance, Temuge could hear hammering, the sound that filled his days. The fortification of Karakorum went on day and night, as it would do until the banners of Chagatai were seen on the horizon. If Sorhatani and Torogene held the city long enough for Guyuk to return, they would be praised above all women. Men would talk of the way they had girded Karakorum for war for generations to come. The name of Temuge, keeper of the khan's libraries, would be forgotten.

He stared coldly at Sorhatani as she addressed the small crowd. Alkhun was there as the senior minghaan of the khan's Guards. Temuge felt the man look strangely at him and ignored him. He breathed deeply of the cold air, thinking, planning, deciding. His brother Genghis had once walked into a khan's ger and cut his throat. Genghis should not have survived it, but he had quieted the man's tribe with words and threats. They had stopped to listen. Temuge burned at the thought that the men and women in the courtyard would stop and listen to him.

He fingered the hilt of the knife under his clothes. There was no destiny in life, nothing beyond what a man could take and hold for himself. Temuge had been witness to the bloody birth of a nation. Whether they understood it or not, they owed him their city, their lives, everything. If it had not been for Genghis, the men and women in that cold yard would still be grubby goatherders on the plains, with each tribe at the throat of the next. They were even living longer than the men and women he had known as a boy. Chin and Moslem healers had saved many from illnesses that had once been mortal.

Despite the surging anger, part of him was still terrified of what he planned. Again and again, Temuge let his hands fall open, telling himself the moment had passed: his moment in history. Then the memory of his brothers would surface and he could feel them mocking his indecision. It was just a death, nothing more, certainly nothing to unman him in such a way. He felt sweat trickle down his neck and wiped at it, drawing the gaze of Yao Shu. Their eyes met and Temuge was reminded that he was not alone in his plotting. The chancellor had been more than open with him. The man hid a vicious hatred of Sorhatani that had led Temuge into revealing more of his thoughts and dreams than he had planned.

Sorhatani dismissed the officers of Karakorum to their day's work and began to turn away. Torogene went with her, already discussing some detail.

'A moment, my lady,' Temuge said.

His mouth seemed to work without his volition, spitting out the words. Sorhatani was in a hurry and barely gestured for him to follow her as she stepped down and walked towards the cloistered hallway back into the palace rooms. It was that casual gesture that firmed his nerve with anger. To have such a woman treat him as a supplicant was enough to bring a flush to his features. He hurried to catch up with the women, taking strength from the presence of Yao Shu falling in with them. He glanced back at the open courtyard as they passed into shadow, frowning as he saw Alkhun was still there, staring after him.

Sorhatani had made a mistake in letting him come so close in the shadows. He reached out and took her arm. She shook off his grip.

'What do you want, Temuge?' she snapped. 'I have a thousand things to do this morning.'

It was not a time for words, but he spoke to cover the moment as he reached for the knife under his deel robe.

'My brother Genghis would not want a woman to rule his lands,' he said.

She stiffened and he brought out the blade. Torogene gasped and took a step away, already panicking. Sorhatani's eyes widened in shock. Temuge grabbed her with his left hand and drew back his arm to drive the dagger into her chest.

He felt his arm gripped with such strength that he stumbled and cried out. Yao Shu held him and the man's eyes were cold with disdain. Temuge yanked at his arm, but he could not free himself. Panic spread through his chest, making his heart flutter.

'No,' he said. Spittle had gathered in two white specks at the corner of his mouth. He could not understand what was happening.

'You were right after all, Yao Shu,' Sorhatani said. She did not look at Temuge, as if he had ceased to matter at all. 'I'm sorry to have doubted you. I just never thought he would truly be so stupid.'

Yao Shu tightened his grip and the dagger fell with a clatter on the stone floor.

'He has always been a weak man,' he replied. He shook Temuge suddenly, making him cry out in fear and astonishment. 'What do you want done with him?'

Sorhatani hesitated and Temuge struggled to find his wits.

'I am the last brother of Genghis,' he said. 'And what are you? Who are you to sit in judgement of me? A Chin monk and two women. You have no right to judge me.'

'He is no threat,' Yao Shu went on, as if Temuge had not spoken. 'You could banish him from the khanate, send him far away like any wanderer.'

'Yes, send him far away,' Torogene said. She was shaking, Temuge saw.

Temuge felt Sorhatani's gaze on him and he took a long, slow breath, knowing his life hung in her hands.

'No, Torogene,' she said at last. 'Such a thing should be punished. He would not have shown mercy to us.'

She waited while Temuge swore and struggled, allowing Torogene the decision. Torogene shook her head and walked away, her eyes brimming.

'Give him over to Alkhun,' Sorhatani said.

Temuge shouted for help, suddenly desperate as he writhed against the grip that kept him helpless as a child.

'I was there when we found you in the forests, monk!' he spat. 'It was I who brought you back to Genghis. How can you let my nephew's whore rule over you?'

'Tell Alkhun to make it quick,' Sorhatani said. 'I can do that much for him.'

Yao Shu nodded and she walked away, leaving the pair alone. Temuge crumpled as he heard footsteps approach and saw Alkhun come out of the sunlight into the shadowed cloister.

'You heard it?' Yao Shu said.

The minghaan's eyes were furious as he took his own grip on Temuge's shoulders, feeling the thin bones of an old man through the cloth.

'I heard,' he said. He had a long knife in his hand.

'Damn you both,' Temuge said. 'Damn you both to hell.'

Temuge began to weep as he was dragged back into the sunshine. By the second day after the night attack, Bela's men had repaired the sandbag walls with broken carts and saddles from dead horses. His archers were on permanent alert, but they were already dry and gasping. There was barely enough water for a single swallow in the morning and evening for each man. The horses were suffering and Bela was desperate. He rested his chin on the rough canvas of a bag, staring out over the Mongol army that had camped nearby. They of course had access to the river and as much water as they could drink.

As he gazed out across the grassland, Bela struggled with despair. He no longer considered the reports from the north to be exaggerated. The Mongol general had far fewer men, but they had routed the superior force in a display of manoeuvre and tactics that made him burn. For the rest of that appalling first day, Bela had expected an all-out assault on the camp, but it had not come. He felt trapped there, crushed in among so many men and horses that they could hardly move. He could not understand why they had not come, unless they took some perverse pleasure in seeing a king die of thirst. They were not even threatening the camp and had moved back far beyond arrow range. Bela could just make out their movements in the distance. It gave a false sense of security to see them so far away. He knew from reports and his own bitter experience that they could move at incredible speed if they wanted.