Chapter 1
The General
Staring out over the vast deserted plains the General eagerly awaited the return of his advance scouts. They had been travelling non- stop for three days now and he was eager to have them report back to him. He knew they often took their own time despite the pressures of the forced march they had all endured; besides it made no sense hurrying them when they were hard at work.
He had the pick of the best trackers in the Kingdom and no others could compete with the skill and expertise they possessed. Each of them could give you the number of days that has passed since an animal or human had travelled a road by scanning the disturbed earth and residue left on a path.
The trackers in his Tumen were accompanied by their personal tracking dogs who had become their constant companions over the years. Unlike the common hunting dogs used by many, the trackers dogs his scouts used were a skilled breed; picked and trained from birth by their trainers.
His trackers had each selected their canine companions at birth from the best of litters across the kingdoms and competed furiously in training them to become an extension of themselves.
He himself sometimes looked askance at their dependence on the dogs and believed it must necessarily dull their own skills; but some of his scouts had slowly begun to rely more and more on the dogs.
Some of his more wily scouts, he believed; had recognised the inherent risk of overdependence and losing their own skills and so concentrated on using the dogs to confirm their own findings rather than letting them lead.
Either way the strategies his scouts adopted worked because they could use their tracker dogs for following a scent when on the run but more cautiously when scanning their surroundings as advance scouts. He was satisfied as long as either worked since they got results, which was all that really mattered to him.
Berke was desperately tired and at the end of his tether with this campaign. He himself was no more a young man and had weathered many campaigns with much more energy and joy than this. He realised it was the emotional burden of his final campaign and the task that was weighing him down more than his physical state. He still stood tall and erect like the very best in his army.
He was an unusually tall man in an army composed largely of Mongols who were on the whole shorter than average. He himself towered head and shoulders over most of the men he commanded. His face in profile was sharp and angular with a sharp and large nose, bushy eyebrows that seemed to work themselves out of control and a bountiful fierce red beard to match his demeanour on the battlefield. He still wore the turban of his people as a sign of his origin and leadership. The Great Khan himself had admired his turban and praised its pomposity.
He could easily outrun most of the raw recruits who were half his age. He could lift weights and win fistfights without so much as breaking a sweat. His years in the Mongol army had served to harden and toughen him to the level of raw horse hide. He looked upon his Tumen with pride, these were the best of the best, decorated soldiers who had fought and displayed skill, judgement, discipline and perseverance in the toughest of battles.
Their journey had been brutal and harsh these last few months. As Mongol troops they welcomed these hardships and shunned the luxury and the soft bellied approach of the Southern Kingdoms who were accustomed to slower forced marches and more luxuries even in their more desperate moments. It was this tough and harsh training and commitment which had made the Mongol troops the winners in battle after battle across the continents.
Riding on their stirrups without a break for days, eating, sleeping and defecating on the move in their stirrups there was no army in the world which could match its pace or determination. When he had joined them he had found their habits barbaric but he had stuck to it knowing this was the only way to survive in the Mongol army. As an outsider he had been tested time and again and pushed to find fault in his capabilities but had excelled in everything. He was a quick learner and had turned his determination and focus to learning everything there was to learn about being a Mongol and was now an honorary Mongol leading Mongol Tumens.
Commanding 2 Tumens of 10,000 battle hardened troops each Berke reflected on the task he had carried out to perfection. They had trained for war and deception was always part of a war but this would be the greatest deception of all. One he hoped would never be uncovered but he had seen many Sun’s and knew in a world which seemed to dance to an unknown tune decided by its creator man was only a plaything in the greater story. He however knew he had a role to play and had carried out his task to the best of his ability. The rest was up to God.
The accompanying slave train and overseers had all met their end exactly as planned. Buried now under tons of soil there was no trace left and the scrub they had planted randomly over it had taken root and covered the area spreading out as far as the eye could see leaving no trace of any change on the landscape. They had worked hard to imitate nature, knowing any pattern would betray the reality of their deception they had made sure everything was as it would be in nature, tiny rivulets had been diverted to ensure water flowed gently to moisten the ground enough to give the plants hope of growing. They had later cut off the streams and ensured no water flowed anymore through the area so nature would take its own course not leaving any trace of their deception.
There was no link left between them and the final resting place of the Great Khan. His scouts had confirmed they had erased every trace of their journey and actions from prying eyes. They had then managed the task of diverting the two rivers to overflow the neighbouring ravine about two day’s march from the location to further muddy the waters.
Misleading friend and foe was a tough task and they would not leave any stone unturned in ensuring the Khan’s resting place was secure. They ensured they dug up and deepened the route the new path the river would take to such a degree that any person coming across this change would suspect it was to hide something and not suspect the deception. They had similarly spread remnants of the belongings of the slave train at a distance of three days journey from the location where they had changed the course of the river further misleading any searchers intent on locating the great Khan’s tomb.
These additional levels of subterfuge had added another two months to their journey and greatly increased the workload of his Tumens. Each of them however had vowed to complete their task fully and would not waste any time in fulfilling their tasks.
He looked around at the camped troops and was pleased to see that they remained true to form. The elite Tumens he commanded were camped in perfect defence formation. This late in the game they could have broken rank and in preparing for the final reckoning loosened the rules but that was not to be. He recognised their commitment and honour was at stake and no one would betray the great oath they had taken. There were no more slaves or women for the men in his Tumen’s. Each and every person in the accompanying caravans had been dealt with and no one would accompany them on this their final journey.
Travelling across unknown lands for over twenty two months now, they had completed their assigned tasks. The final phase had taken more time than expected but they had been carried out successfully. The 2 Tumens he commanded had been in charge of this most secret and envied task. Travelling along paths revealed only to the most trusted lieutenants, they had crossed countries on their journey to arrive at the final resting place of their great leader. He would rest on ‘Altai’. It was the least they could do as followers of the greatest ruler who ever lived.
Their journey had been dogged by pursuers; they were followed and tracked, harassed and hounded all through their journey the first few months. Scouts and spies attempted to try and discover their final destination over the first few months but no one had dared attack them. They had spread word of the curse laid on any who dared to gaze on the great leader in his sleep. This warded off most of the wary enquiries that made its way to the soldiers. The accompanying train of treasures had also become a magnet and this was what had thwarted their attempts at secrecy despite their best attempts at a low key departure.
His Tumen’s remained committed to their death as was their fate and no one would wary from that path under his command. Each soldier was chosen to be part of this Tumen after having fought in various campaigns across the reign of the Khan. They were tested and tempered on the battlefields and their loyalty and commitment was beyond question. The troops from the Tumen’s under his command had been gathered for their fierce loyalty and commitment to the Khan unto death.
Some had suspected their commitment would wane on the Khan’s death and they could be bribed to release details of his final resting place. The Khan however exerted a greater hold on them even after his death in the way he enforced his power from beyond the grave. They had all admired and worshipped the great leader and now would lay down their lives for him.
The body had been embalmed by experts and placed in a sealed metal coffin placed on blocks of ice and salt in a technique developed in the southern lands to ward off decay during the journey. The metal coffin was enclosed in a second coffin made of timber and then placed in a third intricately carved coffin made of Rosewood, topped off with solid gold and ivory inlay work.
The Eagle Talon and the Sky Rock were nestled in a depression carved into the top of the metal coffin accompanying the Great Khan on his final journey. The carved imagery on the Rosewood coffin depicted the Great Khan’s many glorious campaigns and would be sealed permanently with melted gold bands by the goldsmiths accompanying them when the body reached its destination. The whole coffin was to be further decorated at the final site with the gold sheets and precious jewels that accompanied the coffin in a separate chest guarded by twenty of his fiercest warriors in two groups of 10 each who rode weapons unsheathed.
Scanning the horizon; he gazed over the barren plateau he stood upon. The sun shined lazily behind him and he looked out over the expanse of green wavy grass whistling in the breeze. The tree line was close enough and the cool dense darkness invited him and his troops inwards to their shade. Ruminating over the journey and the preparations since the death of the Great Khan he shivered in the wintry air. No one had expected the Khan to die so soon and his sudden death had been a shock to everyone. A vibrant and powerful individual many had expected the Khan to live into dotage and would not accept his death. The death of the Khan had come as a shock and surprise to the majority of his people. There were those that knew of his deteriorating health after his fall from the horse had surmised the inevitable end but stayed their lips out of fear and respect for the Great Khan.
There were many who said a curse had been laid on him by the White Ghost he had taken into his tent. Berke did not believe this, no woman white or otherwise could conjure a curse against the Great Khan while he was in possession of the Sky Rock. There were others who expected him to rise again from the dead and would not believe he had passed away. He was sure there were some who would rejoice at the Great Khan’s passing, looking for a way to enhance their standing in the new order away from the Great Khan’s iron grip over power.
During the final weeks when the fever had taken its hold and all the medicine the physicians could offer failed the great Khan had begun to call meetings in his Ger. It was often with the Sky Stone and |the Eagle Talon gripped fearfully tight in his hands that he conducted these meetings binding people to oath and making plans and offering dispensations. There were murmurs in the camp about these meetings but most believed them to be planning for the impending attack on the Southern kingdoms.
Upon the Khan’s demise certain events took place and the Khan’s instructions were carried out to the letter. Actions which could and would have risked causing ripples in their tribe during the Khan’s lifetime were now executed with scant regard for others. The Great Khan had as always been a farsighted individual who had lived his life to the fullest. He fought bravely, travelled alone, scouted the land himself if it took his fancy, often fought with sharp weapons in training risking injury and death, took more women into his Ger than any other ruler before him, granted favour’s and meted out punishment with an even hand.
Knowing betrayal and deceit awaited his trusted ones and the Empire he had built he had prepared plans to be executed on his death. Berke had commanded one of the groups that had carried out his command. They had been notified as prearranged of the Khan’s death immediately on his passing and before the rest of the tribe had understood what was happening they had carried out the tasks assigned.
There had been much crying and cursing and threats being bandied about, but the Khan had always known who had to be dealt with and who could be controlled. With their leaders dead within minutes of the Khan’s death any opposition or infighting within the tribes had died before it could even arise. The Khan had once more extended his strong arm out over the tribes from beyond the pale of death and maintained his power.
He remembered rushing into the Ger of Kirjo of the Ashiwa tribe with his short sword drawn and the slaughter that had taken place. When he and his helpers were done there were fourteen bodies piled up inside the Ger with blood everywhere. Three of the family had been away but had been located, bound and dragged into the Ger in front of awestruck onlookers never to leave again.
No one was left alive, even the slaves the families held right down to their smallest children were slaughtered. As the Great Khan had said, ‘Never leave an enemy standing who can meet your eye someday, even if he can only see your feet today!’ The Ger was set alight and he and his men waited until the Ger and its inhabitants were reduced to tinder.
Nothing remained of the enemies and conspirators against the Khan. The hillside was lit late into the evening, not by the campfires that usually dotted the hills but by the light from the number of Ger’s which had been set on fire. It was a night of silence, there was no wailing and crying, there was only stillness in the air, anguish over the loss of the great Khan’s departure had robbed the people of their future. No one would shed a tear for the dead in the many Ger’s across the kingdom for fear of a visit from the Great Khan’s angels of death.
It was both a portent and a sign of the Khan’s next journey. There had been some talk of opposition but seeing the swift hand of justice and the Khan’s death had tempered these ambitions. Messengers were dispatched for a meeting on the banks of the Onon River where the great Khan had spent his early years to pay final obeisance to the Khan. All the tribes would be gathered together to remember the Khan and pay their respect. There was much preparation to be carried out for this gathering as there was every possibility of rivals vying for the new Lords favour and fights and skirmishes could be expected.
The General
Staring out over the vast deserted plains the General eagerly awaited the return of his advance scouts. They had been travelling non- stop for three days now and he was eager to have them report back to him. He knew they often took their own time despite the pressures of the forced march they had all endured; besides it made no sense hurrying them when they were hard at work.
He had the pick of the best trackers in the Kingdom and no others could compete with the skill and expertise they possessed. Each of them could give you the number of days that has passed since an animal or human had travelled a road by scanning the disturbed earth and residue left on a path.
The trackers in his Tumen were accompanied by their personal tracking dogs who had become their constant companions over the years. Unlike the common hunting dogs used by many, the trackers dogs his scouts used were a skilled breed; picked and trained from birth by their trainers.
His trackers had each selected their canine companions at birth from the best of litters across the kingdoms and competed furiously in training them to become an extension of themselves.
He himself sometimes looked askance at their dependence on the dogs and believed it must necessarily dull their own skills; but some of his scouts had slowly begun to rely more and more on the dogs.
Some of his more wily scouts, he believed; had recognised the inherent risk of overdependence and losing their own skills and so concentrated on using the dogs to confirm their own findings rather than letting them lead.
Either way the strategies his scouts adopted worked because they could use their tracker dogs for following a scent when on the run but more cautiously when scanning their surroundings as advance scouts. He was satisfied as long as either worked since they got results, which was all that really mattered to him.
Berke was desperately tired and at the end of his tether with this campaign. He himself was no more a young man and had weathered many campaigns with much more energy and joy than this. He realised it was the emotional burden of his final campaign and the task that was weighing him down more than his physical state. He still stood tall and erect like the very best in his army.
He was an unusually tall man in an army composed largely of Mongols who were on the whole shorter than average. He himself towered head and shoulders over most of the men he commanded. His face in profile was sharp and angular with a sharp and large nose, bushy eyebrows that seemed to work themselves out of control and a bountiful fierce red beard to match his demeanour on the battlefield. He still wore the turban of his people as a sign of his origin and leadership. The Great Khan himself had admired his turban and praised its pomposity.
He could easily outrun most of the raw recruits who were half his age. He could lift weights and win fistfights without so much as breaking a sweat. His years in the Mongol army had served to harden and toughen him to the level of raw horse hide. He looked upon his Tumen with pride, these were the best of the best, decorated soldiers who had fought and displayed skill, judgement, discipline and perseverance in the toughest of battles.
Their journey had been brutal and harsh these last few months. As Mongol troops they welcomed these hardships and shunned the luxury and the soft bellied approach of the Southern Kingdoms who were accustomed to slower forced marches and more luxuries even in their more desperate moments. It was this tough and harsh training and commitment which had made the Mongol troops the winners in battle after battle across the continents.
Riding on their stirrups without a break for days, eating, sleeping and defecating on the move in their stirrups there was no army in the world which could match its pace or determination. When he had joined them he had found their habits barbaric but he had stuck to it knowing this was the only way to survive in the Mongol army. As an outsider he had been tested time and again and pushed to find fault in his capabilities but had excelled in everything. He was a quick learner and had turned his determination and focus to learning everything there was to learn about being a Mongol and was now an honorary Mongol leading Mongol Tumens.
Commanding 2 Tumens of 10,000 battle hardened troops each Berke reflected on the task he had carried out to perfection. They had trained for war and deception was always part of a war but this would be the greatest deception of all. One he hoped would never be uncovered but he had seen many Sun’s and knew in a world which seemed to dance to an unknown tune decided by its creator man was only a plaything in the greater story. He however knew he had a role to play and had carried out his task to the best of his ability. The rest was up to God.
The accompanying slave train and overseers had all met their end exactly as planned. Buried now under tons of soil there was no trace left and the scrub they had planted randomly over it had taken root and covered the area spreading out as far as the eye could see leaving no trace of any change on the landscape. They had worked hard to imitate nature, knowing any pattern would betray the reality of their deception they had made sure everything was as it would be in nature, tiny rivulets had been diverted to ensure water flowed gently to moisten the ground enough to give the plants hope of growing. They had later cut off the streams and ensured no water flowed anymore through the area so nature would take its own course not leaving any trace of their deception.
There was no link left between them and the final resting place of the Great Khan. His scouts had confirmed they had erased every trace of their journey and actions from prying eyes. They had then managed the task of diverting the two rivers to overflow the neighbouring ravine about two day’s march from the location to further muddy the waters.
Misleading friend and foe was a tough task and they would not leave any stone unturned in ensuring the Khan’s resting place was secure. They ensured they dug up and deepened the route the new path the river would take to such a degree that any person coming across this change would suspect it was to hide something and not suspect the deception. They had similarly spread remnants of the belongings of the slave train at a distance of three days journey from the location where they had changed the course of the river further misleading any searchers intent on locating the great Khan’s tomb.
These additional levels of subterfuge had added another two months to their journey and greatly increased the workload of his Tumens. Each of them however had vowed to complete their task fully and would not waste any time in fulfilling their tasks.
He looked around at the camped troops and was pleased to see that they remained true to form. The elite Tumens he commanded were camped in perfect defence formation. This late in the game they could have broken rank and in preparing for the final reckoning loosened the rules but that was not to be. He recognised their commitment and honour was at stake and no one would betray the great oath they had taken. There were no more slaves or women for the men in his Tumen’s. Each and every person in the accompanying caravans had been dealt with and no one would accompany them on this their final journey.
Travelling across unknown lands for over twenty two months now, they had completed their assigned tasks. The final phase had taken more time than expected but they had been carried out successfully. The 2 Tumens he commanded had been in charge of this most secret and envied task. Travelling along paths revealed only to the most trusted lieutenants, they had crossed countries on their journey to arrive at the final resting place of their great leader. He would rest on ‘Altai’. It was the least they could do as followers of the greatest ruler who ever lived.
Their journey had been dogged by pursuers; they were followed and tracked, harassed and hounded all through their journey the first few months. Scouts and spies attempted to try and discover their final destination over the first few months but no one had dared attack them. They had spread word of the curse laid on any who dared to gaze on the great leader in his sleep. This warded off most of the wary enquiries that made its way to the soldiers. The accompanying train of treasures had also become a magnet and this was what had thwarted their attempts at secrecy despite their best attempts at a low key departure.
His Tumen’s remained committed to their death as was their fate and no one would wary from that path under his command. Each soldier was chosen to be part of this Tumen after having fought in various campaigns across the reign of the Khan. They were tested and tempered on the battlefields and their loyalty and commitment was beyond question. The troops from the Tumen’s under his command had been gathered for their fierce loyalty and commitment to the Khan unto death.
Some had suspected their commitment would wane on the Khan’s death and they could be bribed to release details of his final resting place. The Khan however exerted a greater hold on them even after his death in the way he enforced his power from beyond the grave. They had all admired and worshipped the great leader and now would lay down their lives for him.
The body had been embalmed by experts and placed in a sealed metal coffin placed on blocks of ice and salt in a technique developed in the southern lands to ward off decay during the journey. The metal coffin was enclosed in a second coffin made of timber and then placed in a third intricately carved coffin made of Rosewood, topped off with solid gold and ivory inlay work.
The Eagle Talon and the Sky Rock were nestled in a depression carved into the top of the metal coffin accompanying the Great Khan on his final journey. The carved imagery on the Rosewood coffin depicted the Great Khan’s many glorious campaigns and would be sealed permanently with melted gold bands by the goldsmiths accompanying them when the body reached its destination. The whole coffin was to be further decorated at the final site with the gold sheets and precious jewels that accompanied the coffin in a separate chest guarded by twenty of his fiercest warriors in two groups of 10 each who rode weapons unsheathed.
Scanning the horizon; he gazed over the barren plateau he stood upon. The sun shined lazily behind him and he looked out over the expanse of green wavy grass whistling in the breeze. The tree line was close enough and the cool dense darkness invited him and his troops inwards to their shade. Ruminating over the journey and the preparations since the death of the Great Khan he shivered in the wintry air. No one had expected the Khan to die so soon and his sudden death had been a shock to everyone. A vibrant and powerful individual many had expected the Khan to live into dotage and would not accept his death. The death of the Khan had come as a shock and surprise to the majority of his people. There were those that knew of his deteriorating health after his fall from the horse had surmised the inevitable end but stayed their lips out of fear and respect for the Great Khan.
There were many who said a curse had been laid on him by the White Ghost he had taken into his tent. Berke did not believe this, no woman white or otherwise could conjure a curse against the Great Khan while he was in possession of the Sky Rock. There were others who expected him to rise again from the dead and would not believe he had passed away. He was sure there were some who would rejoice at the Great Khan’s passing, looking for a way to enhance their standing in the new order away from the Great Khan’s iron grip over power.
During the final weeks when the fever had taken its hold and all the medicine the physicians could offer failed the great Khan had begun to call meetings in his Ger. It was often with the Sky Stone and |the Eagle Talon gripped fearfully tight in his hands that he conducted these meetings binding people to oath and making plans and offering dispensations. There were murmurs in the camp about these meetings but most believed them to be planning for the impending attack on the Southern kingdoms.
Upon the Khan’s demise certain events took place and the Khan’s instructions were carried out to the letter. Actions which could and would have risked causing ripples in their tribe during the Khan’s lifetime were now executed with scant regard for others. The Great Khan had as always been a farsighted individual who had lived his life to the fullest. He fought bravely, travelled alone, scouted the land himself if it took his fancy, often fought with sharp weapons in training risking injury and death, took more women into his Ger than any other ruler before him, granted favour’s and meted out punishment with an even hand.
Knowing betrayal and deceit awaited his trusted ones and the Empire he had built he had prepared plans to be executed on his death. Berke had commanded one of the groups that had carried out his command. They had been notified as prearranged of the Khan’s death immediately on his passing and before the rest of the tribe had understood what was happening they had carried out the tasks assigned.
There had been much crying and cursing and threats being bandied about, but the Khan had always known who had to be dealt with and who could be controlled. With their leaders dead within minutes of the Khan’s death any opposition or infighting within the tribes had died before it could even arise. The Khan had once more extended his strong arm out over the tribes from beyond the pale of death and maintained his power.
He remembered rushing into the Ger of Kirjo of the Ashiwa tribe with his short sword drawn and the slaughter that had taken place. When he and his helpers were done there were fourteen bodies piled up inside the Ger with blood everywhere. Three of the family had been away but had been located, bound and dragged into the Ger in front of awestruck onlookers never to leave again.
No one was left alive, even the slaves the families held right down to their smallest children were slaughtered. As the Great Khan had said, ‘Never leave an enemy standing who can meet your eye someday, even if he can only see your feet today!’ The Ger was set alight and he and his men waited until the Ger and its inhabitants were reduced to tinder.
Nothing remained of the enemies and conspirators against the Khan. The hillside was lit late into the evening, not by the campfires that usually dotted the hills but by the light from the number of Ger’s which had been set on fire. It was a night of silence, there was no wailing and crying, there was only stillness in the air, anguish over the loss of the great Khan’s departure had robbed the people of their future. No one would shed a tear for the dead in the many Ger’s across the kingdom for fear of a visit from the Great Khan’s angels of death.
It was both a portent and a sign of the Khan’s next journey. There had been some talk of opposition but seeing the swift hand of justice and the Khan’s death had tempered these ambitions. Messengers were dispatched for a meeting on the banks of the Onon River where the great Khan had spent his early years to pay final obeisance to the Khan. All the tribes would be gathered together to remember the Khan and pay their respect. There was much preparation to be carried out for this gathering as there was every possibility of rivals vying for the new Lords favour and fights and skirmishes could be expected.
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