Steppe

  And Uga, thus misjudging the temper of his adversary, was lulled. He actually thought all was forgiven.

  Alp made a secret march through space. He also disguised himself and went into the enemy lines to complain of ill-treatment—and to admit incidentally that Temujin's horde was still far away. The Kerayit officers, not to be fooled, sent him back with an escort of several ships to check for themselves. Togrul might be foolish; his strategists weren't.

  Naturally the party encountered the deploying Mongol forces. But Alp, alert to what to look for, was first to spy the advancing fleet. He knew that the Kerayit, well mounted, could turn and escape, giving the alarm—if they realized. Quickly he reined in his horse.

  "What are you doing, deserter?" his suspicious escort-captain demanded. "We have a long way yet to ride—if what you say is true."

  "A malfunction in my engine," Alp said. It was good to lie freely again! "I think I can fix it in a moment."

  "We'll give you a remount."

  "No need! This has happened before, but I like this horse. Just let me nudge the panel, here..."

  And while he stalled, to the sputtering frustration of the captain, the Mongol vanguard surrounded the Kerayit party. There was not even a fight; the Kerayit were taken prisoner, and the secret was preserved.

  "You should not take such risks, Qan!" Jebe reproved him on the screen, smiling because it was exactly the type of exploit Jebe himself indulged in.

  " Qan? " the Kerayit captain demanded, astounded. Had he but known...

  Not long thereafter the Mongols fell upon the Kerayits, who were taken utterly by surprise and scattered. Wang Qan did not retain a loyal cadre this time, and there was no ally Temujin to succor him. He fled to Naiman space where, unrecognized, he was shot down. That quickly did his elimination from the Game follow his defeat.

  Alp sighed, his rancor gone. He had done what was necessary. But he wished it had not been necessary. If only Uga had kept faith!

  The surviving Kerayit made submission to Temujin. Alp resettled their elements among the various Mongol clans, his standard precaution. Never again did he intend to face a unified enemy Kerayit nation! In time the Kerayits would be absorbed, and they would be Mongols, with complete loyalty to the Mongol Qan. Uga had hoped to assume the Mongol title; Alp had converted the Kerayits to Mongols in another way!

  Now only one major independent power remained in central Steppe: the Naiman. They controlled the western part, while Alp controlled the east. Jamuqa was with the Naiman now, though he no longer had the nerve to sport the pretentious Gur-Qan title. Alp knew that he could not rest until that threat had been eliminated.

  Alp reorganized and drilled the enlarged Mongol forces, forging them into the most formidable fleet yet. Then in 1204 he prepared to move against the Naiman.

  Jamuqa, awed by the force Alp had mustered, fled with his Jajirat clansmen just before the battle was joined.

  Alp, advised of the desertion, sneered; without Uga, Pei-li turned out to be nothing more than an opportunistic coward!

  Meanwhile, the bulk of the Naiman stood firm. Qasar commanded the Mongol center and showed consummate leadership: courage counted for more than craft, this time. The Naiman were pushed back, decimated. Their Tayang was wounded. Barely clinging to Game-life, he was conveyed to a small planet to the rear of his lines. Alp had a spy in that entourage who managed to broadcast what followed:

  TAYANG: "Who are these who pursue our ships with such devastation?"

  FIRST OFFICER: "They are the hunting dogs of Temujin: Jebe the Arrow, Jelme the Devout, Subotai, Borchu, Qasar... They feed on spaceships and are leashed with lasers; their skulls are of brass, their teeth hewn from primeval rock; their tongues are swords and their hearts of iron!"

  SECOND OFFICER: "What should we do, Tayang?" (Silence.) THIRD OFFICER: "Arise, Chief! Your wives and mother await you!"

  (No response.)

  Then the last of the Naiman returned to their ships and resumed the hopeless battle. Alp, moved by their courage in adversity, would have spared them. But they fought on resolutely until the last man was eliminated from the Game.

  "They must have had a great leader!" Alp said, shaking his head. Would his own troops serve him like that, after he died?

  The bulk of the Naiman populace now submitted to Alp. But Jamuqa remained to be hunted down. That was to take two more Days but was inevitable, for Alp had conquered Steppe.

  Chapter 18

  QAN

  For the moment there were the Naiman to be assimilated into the empire. First Alp checked the officers and aristocracy among the captives, determining their potential usefulness to the new order. It was his policy to waste nothing, and he considered human skills to be the greatest resource of all. By properly utilizing the talents of the men in his empire, he could forge it into a stronger power than had ever been seen in Steppe before. One that could successfully tackle the perennial enemy of all the nomads: China.

  Some of the captives were well-dressed Uigurs. Alp recognized them instantly, for they were his kind, even when only players in the Game. He had paid scant attention to the political affairs of the diminished Kingdom of the Uigur, fearing that this could adversely effect his objectivity and make him prone to mistakes. He was a Mongol now and had to cultivate Mongol thinking, lest he slip and lose everything... as he almost had. But he was aware that the Uigurs, after being displaced by the Kirghiz in 840, had settled in the Tarim Basin of the galaxy and become civilized farmers and traders. Later barbarian powers had drawn on Uigur literacy and been somewhat civilized by it

  —such as the Khitans and more recently the Naiman. So the presence of a number of Uigurs here was not surprising. Now Alp had reason to cultivate them specifically, for the Kingdom of the Uigur was his new neighbor to the southwest. He was in a fashion returning to his homeland!

  Alp's hands were sweaty, but his voice was steady. "Who are those?" he inquired, as if he did not know.

  "They are savants, astrologers, physicians, scribes," came the answer. "They read the stars, make predictions, care for sick women, write letters."

  "That one," Alp said, pointing to a minister holding a curiously wrought gold object.

  "I am Tata-tunga, keeper of the Tayang's seal," the Uigur said.

  Alp froze. Tata-tunga in person! The author of the historical manuscript that had led to the entire Mongol quest! What did this portend?

  But he kept his voice even. "The Naiman's power is broken. You are a Uigur; you owe the Tayang nothing more."

  But the Uigur would not speak against the dead Tayang. "He was a good master."

  Alp liked this. The man who was loyal to one leader even after death would be loyal to another—once won over. "What is the purpose of this object?"

  Tata-tunga lifted the gold. "This is the Tayang's seal. Whenever he made an order he stamped it with this seal to prove the order was not forged. No other seal duplicates this pattern."

  This was something new to Alp. He had been aware of seals but had thought they were relics of the ancient western peoples like the Sumerians. So now the nomads were finding use for them! "Who writes out the orders?"

  "I do, usually," Tata-tunga said.

  Naturally the man was literate! But not the way Alp was, this player would write in Galactic script, not Uigur.

  "You will join my court," Alp said, "granting me the same loyalty you gave your former master. You will arrange to have a seal made for me—not gold, something more precious. Jade, I think. And you will instruct my children in writing and in history." He thought a moment, then added: "And you will compile a survey of national mythologies

  —Mongol, Naiman, Uigur—and Khitan. The process of empire is unkind to separate subcultures, so we want an accurate record."

  Tata-tunga looked at him with new appraisal, then acknowledged with a formal tilting of his head. An extremely able scholar had just been added to the empire. And so long as this Uigur remained in Alp's service, Temujin had to be Jenghiz.


  Meanwhile, Alp's enormously increased power brought new problems. He was not accustomed to the niceties of organizing a real empire, and leaned heavily on the intelligent Tata-tunga from the outset of their acquaintance. The man knew more about government than Alp did. If Tata-tunga were a true representation of the Uigur original—and Alp's secret document suggested this was the case—the breakup of the Uigur empire was as much blessing as tragedy. Uigurs now ran a larger portion of Steppe than they could have on their own. Stripped of their military role, they had concentrated on education—a more enduring asset.

  Alp had his first serious taste of palace intrigue. Old Munlik, Temujin's stepfather, remained a capable adviser.

  There was so much work to be done that Alp could not conveniently dispense with his services, apart from the potential stickiness of eliminating a technical relative. So Alp continued to tolerate him, and Munlik continued to handle the myriad noisome details of nomad organization and discipline with unquestionable loyalty to Alp's interest... and that was one of the things Alp disliked about the man. The darker side of Alp's personality was mirrored in Munlik too clearly...

  But Munlik's seven sons lacked their father's discretion. One among them, Tab-tangri, was a shaman: a worker of magic. Few Galactics actually believed in sorcery, but it was considered valid in the context of the Game, and Tab did have an impressive array of tricks. He could make a burning fire appear in his hand, then quench it and show his hand ungloved and unburned. He could make his ship vanish from the screens of other ships as if he had fallen into another continuum. And he had helped Alp by proclaiming that Temujin was the man chosen by the Game Machine to be the next and only lord of all Steppe, the Great Qan. Many dubious allies were swayed by this, and it enhanced the image Alp was so laboriously forming among the various Steppe peoples: his inevitable supremacy.

  But Tab was personally ambitious and vied with Temujin's own sons for influence at the Mongol court. He became insolent, and worked insidious mischief. He quarreled with Temujin's brother Qasar, and when unable to move the stout warrior, set upon Qasar's ship with several of his brothers, crippling it.

  Qasar survived and promptly complained to Alp. "That bastard Tab tried to eliminate me!" he shouted, redfaced on the screen.

  At first Alp didn't believe it. "You—a leader of the Mongol archers? How could he touch you?"

  Black rage showed on Qasar's face, and he cut the connection. Alp hadn't meant to insult him—but certainly Qasar should never have been taken unawares by the likes of Tab! It was a good lesson.

  Next Tab himself called. "The Spirit has revealed to me a command from Eternal Heaven," he intoned in that shamanistic way of his. "Temujin will reign first, and after him Qasar. How fortunate to have such a brother!" He faded.

  This hardly seemed like a quarrel with Qasar! Tab was endorsing him for Qan, just as he had endorsed Temujin before. Why was Qasar so surly?

  But as Alp thought about it, he liked it less. Why should Qasar rule after him? Was something going to happen to Temujin?

  He imagined Qasar pre-empting the empire, dispossessing Temujin as Togrul's brother had dispossessed the Kerayit Qan. Such things happened to the unwary.

  A fury built up in Alp. He was not going to be ousted like that! He called his personal guard: "Arrest Qasar!"

  Qasar was bound and brought to the Qan's pavilion on the planet of Karakorum. Alp drew his sword, shaking with fury. "Do you dare to plot against your own brother?" he demanded.

  Qasar looked confused. This ploy only inflamed Alp's nomad rage. "I'll kill you right now!" he roared.

  Qasar looked at him as if he were insane. But as Alp lifted the sword to smite that expression away, their mother Oelun-eke rushed in. She went to Qasar and released his bonds while Alp stood somewhat stupidly, sword in hand. Of all times!

  Oelun-eke turned to Temujin and removed her dress, baring her breasts. "These breasts suckled you both!" she cried. "How can you quarrel between yourselves? Hasn't Qasar always served you loyally? When did he ever have ambition for more?"

  Alp's rage turned to embarrassment. Even though it was all a drama in the Game, he hated being exposed to this sort of scene. He might question the loyalty of almost anyone, but never that of his mother. "I am ashamed," he said, leaving the pavilion.

  Afterwards he wondered just what had happened to him. Of course Qasar wouldn't plot against him! The man was too stupid to be other than loyal. Tab was the schemer. He had so cleverly planted his poison barb without actually accusing Qasar of anything...

  Alp had almost made a bad mistake. He was over-extended, making snap judgments, turning against his most loyal allies. As Uga had, before the end... He needed to ease up before he let schemers like Tab worm him into real trouble.

  But Tab was not finished. He gathered quite a following among the Mongol horde. Galactic players were more credulous than they pretended; many of them were coming to believe the shaman's magic was genuine. Alp, who had experience with real magic in life, could tell the difference, fortunately.

  Soon Tab turned against Temujin's youngest brother, Temuge, catching him on the streets of the city and forcing him to kneel to the sons of Munlik. Temuge was a real firebrand, and this was a terrible humiliation for the brother of the Qan!

  Unlike Qasar, Temuge did not complain. Perhaps he was afraid it would only lead to another scene with the Qan! But the story was circulated, and this time it was Alp's beloved wife Borte who interceded. "If even during your lifetime your brothers are open to insult," she said, "what will happen to your sons after your death?"

  Her pointed words affected Alp as the words of his brothers had not. His sons were threatened! Tab had overstepped his bounds, and had to be dealt with.

  But the Qan was supposed to be an objective arbiter—and Mongols were forbidden to settle personal quarrels by arms. Alp had laid down that doctrine himself, enforcing it by the death penalty; he could not be the one to violate it. Also, Tab was a powerful political force in his own right, and his untimely removal could trigger a disastrous split in the Mongol ranks that would cost Alp his base of power.

  This was one problem that Munlik could not solve, for Munlik's own sons were the cause of the mischief. And Tata-tunga wisely disdained to participate in palace intrigue, however clever he was in organizing the larger empire.

  Alp had to work this out by himself.

  Well, how would clever Jamuqa have done it, or shrewd Togrul? Or Munlik himself, had this involved some other man's son? How did a ruler dispose of a ranking figure in his court, while maintaining the facade of neutrality? This was unclean business, but Alp saw what had to be done.

  He called Munlik on the screen. "You and your sons will visit my ger for conference," Alp said.

  "Delighted!" Munlik agreed, anticipating further enhancement of his influence.

  Then Alp called Temuge: "Munlik and his sons are visiting me for conference. Come also, if you choose." He paused, noting his brother's perplexity. "It does not behoove the Qan to take sides. Deal with someone as pleases you."

  Now Temuge's eyes lighted. Alp had let his brother know he would not interfere, keeping his hands technically clean. Temuge knew that Alp knew of his fury with Tab...

  In a few Minutes Munlik and his sons arrived. They seated themselves, weapons left outside the ger, according to protocol. Then Temuge appeared, unarmed but fierce. "Let's see how you do on your own!" he cried, seizing Tab by the throat.

  Munlik and the others stood in alarm and sought to interfere. "Go outside and settle your difference!" Alp cried with unfeigned annoyance. He had expected more subtlety than this!

  Tab was a larger man than Temuge and a skilled brawler. He was quite ready to fight, especially since he obviously had the right of it and the Qan had given permission. Angrily the two went out, while Alp gestured Munlik and the others to resume the conference.

  There was a scream, then silence.

  Now Alp and the others looked out. Temuge stood there, untouched. Tab lay on
the ground, obviously out of the Game. Three guards stood near the tent. It took no great perception to know that there had been an ambush.

  Munlik, white-faced, turned to Alp. "O Qan, I have served you until this day..."

  Alp was alone in the tent. The six strong sons made as if to set upon him physically. He had no weapon.

  "Aside!" he said peremptorily, brushing by them. They might have laid hands on him despite their awe of his office and the certain consequence of such action; but Temuge and the three guards now stood at the entrance, seeming rather eager for a pretext for mayhem, and Qasar was coming down the street by seeming coincidence with another troop of warriors. In fact, there were suddenly a great many loyal and strong Mongols in the vicinity.

  The sons of Munlik gave way. "...and I shall continue to serve you," Munlik finished bravely.

  Then Alp told him: "You did not teach your sons proper obedience. Tab conspired against my interests, so I removed my protection from him. See that it doesn't happen again; I have no other quarrel with you and need your continuing service as a loyal adviser."

  Munlik nodded gravely. He had been outmaneuvered, his own tactics used against him; but he was being allowed to save face.

  So it ended—a difficult situation, but a useful lesson to those who thought they could manipulate the Qan.

  Even Qasar's understandable grudge abated, now.

  In 1206 Alp called a great assembly of all the Mongols and their subject tribes of the Steppe and had himself once more proclaimed Jenghiz Qan—leader of all the nomads. This time it was real.

  Chapter 19

  RECKONING

  Mongol was now a highly disciplined giant, and there was little danger of his falling apart into dwarves again. He fought well, riding up on his stocky, fiery horse when the enemy least expected it, but avoiding battle when the enemy was ready to fight. Sometimes Mongol would feign retreat, as though afraid—and when the other giant tried to chase him, Mongol would lure him into some trap, then shoot an arrow into him from behind. When the other was confused and hurt by the arrow in his posterior, Mongol would charge in screaming and cut him to pieces with his sword.