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sides of rock. I could not see a way to flank them.’
Genghis frowned, rising from his seat. He made a clicking sound in his throat as he stepped across the ger and passed out into the bright sun. Khasar and Kachiun followed him out, hardly noticing the wide-eyed Tsubodai on their heels.
Genghis stood on the blue-green sand below them, looking up. He held a stick in his hands and gestured with it, drawing a line on the ground.
‘Show me,’ he ordered. It was Kachiun who took the stick and drew in neat strokes. Khasar watched in fascination as his brother recreated the canyon he had seen a few hours before. To one side, Kachiun drew a copy of the arched gate and Genghis rubbed his chin in irritation.
‘We could tear the carts up to make wooden shields to get men close,’ he said doubtfully.
Kachiun shook his head.
‘That would bring us to the gate against their shafts, but once we were there, they could drop stones on us. From that height, a few planks would be smashed to pieces.’
Genghis raised his head, gazing over the ranks of the families to the treeless expanse of the desert in all directions. They had nothing with which to build.
‘Then we will have to draw them out,’ he said. ‘A staged retreat, with valuable items left in our wake. I will send in men in the best armour and they will survive the arrows, but be driven back by them in panic, with much shouting.’ He smiled at the prospect. ‘It will teach our warriors a little humility, perhaps.’
Kachiun rubbed his boot along the edge of the drawing.
‘It might work if we could know when they open the gate, but the canyon twists. As soon as we are out of sight, we’ll have no way of knowing when they come out. If I could get a couple of boys onto the crags at the sides, they could signal to us, but it is a vicious climb and there’s no cover on those rocks. They would be seen.’
‘May I speak, lord?’ Tsubodai said suddenly.
Khasar started in indignation.
‘I told you to be silent. Can you not see this is important?’ The gaze of all three men turned on the young warrior and he blushed darkly.
‘I am sorry. I thought of a way we might know when they come out.’
‘Who are you?’ Genghis asked.
Tsubodai’s voice wavered as he bowed his head.
‘Tsubodai of the Uriankhai, lord.’ He caught himself in embarrassment. ‘Of the nation, lord. I …’
Genghis held up a hand.
‘I remember. Tell me what you are thinking.’
With a visible effort, Tsubodai swallowed his nervousness and told them. It surprised him that they had not thought of it. The gaze of Genghis in particular seemed to bore into him and he ended staring away into the middle distance.
Tsubodai suffered in silence while the three men considered. After an age, Genghis nodded.
‘That could work,’ he said, grudgingly. Tsubodai seemed to grow a little taller.
Khasar flashed a smile at the younger man, as if he was responsible for his cleverness.
‘See to it, Kachiun,’ Genghis said. He grinned at Tsubodai’s pride. ‘Then I will ride to see this place you describe.’ His mood changed as he considered destroying some of the carts that had carried the families across the desert. With wood so scarce, each one was much mended and handed down through the generations. There was no help for it.
‘Take the first ten carts you see and join the wood into a barricade that can be held and moved.’
He saw Kachiun’s gaze drift over the khan’s ger at his back and snorted.
‘Begin with the next cart you see, brother. Do not think to have mine.’
Kachiun moved quickly away to gather the men and materials he would need. Genghis remained, facing the young warrior.
‘I have promised you a horse and armour. What else would you have from me?’
Tsubodai’s face paled in confusion. He had not thought to add to the khan’s debt, only to solve a problem that had intrigued him.
‘Nothing, lord. It is enough to ride with my people.’
Genghis stared at him and scratched the side of his face.
‘He has courage and intelligence, Khasar. Give him ten men in the attack on the wall.’ His yellow eyes flickered back to Tsubodai who stood rooted in shock.
‘I will watch to see how you lead more experienced warriors.’ He paused for the news to sink in and added a barb to prick the young man’s swelling confidence.
‘If you fail them, you will not live beyond the sunset of that day,’ he said.
Tsubodai bowed deeply in response, the warning barely denting his excitement. Genghis grunted to himself.
‘Have my horse brought, Khasar. I will see this wall and these archers who think to stand in my way.’
The Xi Xia defenders could have no idea how many Mongols had crossed the desert against them. Though Genghis rode up to the edge of bow range with a dozen officers, he kept the main army well back in the twisting canyon. He had decided against sending climbers up the slopes. The plan depended on the defenders thinking of them as unsophisticated herdsmen. Watchers on the peaks would reveal at least some talent for planning and make the fort soldiers suspicious. Genghis chewed his lower lip as he stared up at the Xi Xia fort. Archers clustered like ants on the wall and at intervals one would send a shaft high into the air to get the range for any assault that might follow. Genghis watched the last of them sink into the ground a dozen paces ahead of him. His own men could fire further and he spat contemptuously in the enemy archers’ direction.
The air was thick and still in the canyon where no winds could blow. The heat of the desert was still strong while the sun crossed overhead and cut their shadows almost to nothing. He touched the sword of his father for luck, then turned his pony and rode back to where a hundred warriors waited.
They were silent, as he had ordered, but excitement was visible in their young faces. Like all Mongols, they relished the idea of tricking an enemy even more than overwhelming him by force.
‘The wooden shield is lashed together,’ Khasar said at his shoulder. ‘It’s rough, but it will get them to the foot of the wall. I have given them forge hammers to try the gate. Who knows, they might break in.’
‘If that happens, have another hundred ready to charge in support,’ Genghis said. He turned to Kachiun, standing nearby to oversee the last details. ‘Hold the rest back, Kachiun. It would be an easy killing ground for them to be packed in tight while only a few can climb through. I do not want them running wild.’
‘I’ll put Arslan at the head of the second group,’ Kachiun replied. It was a good choice and Genghis nodded assent. The swordsmith could follow orders in a storm of arrows.
At their backs, the wall seemed to loom still, though it was lost to direct sight. Genghis had no idea what lay behind the dark stones, or how many men defended the pass. It did not matter. In less than two days, the last water skins would be empty. The tribes would start to drop after that, dying from thirst and his ambitions. The fort had to fall.
Many of the men carried beautiful swords and spears to leave on the sand, anything that might catch the eye of the defenders and make them come out. To a man, they wore the best armour, copies of a Chin design. In the heat, the finger-width iron scales stung bare skin and their silk undertunics were soon sour with sweat.