and dry. Yet it was that lack of permanence that made him grunt in satisfaction as he peed into the earth. His people should not become used to comfort, he told himself blearily. Their hard lives kept them stronger than those who lived in cities.
His thoughts were interrupted by shouts and cheers nearby. Warriors seemed to be clustering around one spot like a swarm of bees. As Genghis blinked, he saw Chagatai climb a cart to address them. Genghis frowned as another sound stilled the crowd, a yowling, coughing roar that made the hairs on his neck bristle. Genghis dropped his hand to his sword hilt as he strode through his people, letting them fall back before him rather than touch the khan and lose a hand or a head.
His generals had gathered around an iron cage on the cart, but Genghis did not look at them, nor at Chagatai, who stood like a proud owner. The animal behind the bars was larger than any great cat he had ever seen. Genghis could only shake his head in amazement, closing one eye against the ache from his broken tooth and a throbbing headache. To numb the pain, he gestured for more airag and scored his throat with a line of it. Even then, his eyes did not leave the beast that prowled back and forth, showing its curved white teeth in a display of anger. He had heard of the orange and black striped tiger, but to see its jaws and hear the thump of its tail as it padded back and forth in the cage set his own heart beating quickly. There was a challenge in its yellow eyes that raked the awed crowd.
‘Is it not a gift for a khan?’ Chagatai said.
Genghis merely glanced at him, but Chagatai lost some of his cockiness in that warning. The crowd around them had fallen silent as they waited for the khan’s reaction. Jelme was visibly uncomfortable and Genghis nodded to him in appreciation.
‘I have never seen such an animal, general. How did you capture him?’
‘The tiger is a gift to you, lord, from the king of Koryo. It was raised from a cub, but they cannot be tamed. I am told it will run down even a man on a horse and kill both the mount and the rider.’
Genghis stood very close to the bars, staring into the tiger’s eyes. As they met his, the animal moved without warning, its weight rocking the cage as it hit the bars. Genghis was too drunk to dodge and felt a tearing impact on his arm as a paw lunged at him. He looked in dim surprise at the blood on his torn sleeve. A single claw had caught him and gashed his flesh deeply.
‘So fast …’ he said in wonder. ‘I have seen slower snakes. And at such a size! I can believe the tale of it killing a man and his horse. Those jaws could break a skull.’ He swayed slightly as he spoke, but no one there mentioned the wound in case it shamed the khan.
‘In Koryo, there are warriors who hunt the tigers,’ Chagatai said more humbly, ‘though they work in groups and use bows, spears and nets.’ Chagatai’s gaze fell on Jochi as he spoke and his expression became thoughtful. His older brother was as fascinated by the beast as Genghis himself and stood too close to the bars.
‘Be careful, Jochi,’ Chagatai warned him loudly. ‘He will strike you too.’
Jochi glared. He wanted to contradict him, but he could not boast of his speed while his father stood and bled.
‘Have you hunted one of these tigers, in Koryon land?’ Jochi asked.
Chagatai shrugged.
‘They are not common around the king’s palaces.’ Under Jochi’s flat stare, he could not help going on. ‘I would have taken part, if one had been found.’
‘Perhaps,’ Jochi said, frowning. ‘Though I doubt Jelme would have risked the life of a young boy against such a monster.’
Chagatai’s whole face flushed as some of the men chuckled. Moments before, he had been the master of the crowd. Somehow, his father and Jochi had stolen his moment from him, so that he had to defend his pride. At fifteen years old, he had only spite and he lashed out without a thought at the only one he dared challenge.
‘You think you could face a tiger, Jochi? I would wager a fortune to see that.’
Jelme opened his mouth, but Jochi’s anger leapt and he spoke rashly.
‘Name your terms, brother,’ he said. ‘I will consider teaching your cat a little respect. He has shed my father’s blood, after all.’
‘This is drunken foolishness,’ Jelme snapped.
‘No, let him try,’ Chagatai replied as fast. ‘I will wager a hundred cartloads of my share of the Koryon tribute. Ivory, metal, gold and lumber.’ He waved a hand as if it mattered nothing. ‘If you kill the tiger, it will be yours.’
‘And you will kneel to me, in front of all the tribes,’ Jochi said. Anger consumed him, making him reckless. His eyes glittered as he stared up at Chagatai, but the younger man still sneered.
‘For that, you will have to do more than kill a tiger, brother. For that you will have to be khan. Perhaps not even that will be enough.’
Jochi’s hand dropped to his sword hilt and he would have drawn if Jelme had not laid a hand on his wrist.
‘Will you fight like children in front of the camp? On the night my father is honoured? The tiger is a king’s gift to the khan. No one else may decide what is to be done with him.’ His eyes were furious and Chagatai dipped his gaze, instantly meek. During his training, he had endured harsh punishments and scathing lectures from the general. The habit of obedience ran deep.
Genghis spoke at last, having watched the entire exchange.
‘I accept the gift,’ he said. His yellow eyes seemed the same colour as those of the big cat yowling at their backs. Jochi and Chagatai bowed their heads low rather than have the khan’s temper erupt. When he was drunk, Genghis was likely to knock a man down for staring.
‘We could pack a circle with armed warriors,’ Genghis said thoughtfully, ‘pointing swords and lances to the centre. One man could face the beast then, if he wanted.’
‘These animals are more dangerous than anything else I have seen,’ Jelme said, his voice strained. ‘With women and children all around…’ He was caught between the need to obey his khan and the madness of what Genghis seemed to be considering.
‘Move the women and children back, general,’ Genghis replied with a shrug.
Jelme’s training was too ingrained to argue and he bowed his head to the inevitable. Chagatai did not dare look at him.
‘Very well, lord. I could have my men tie heavy planks together all the way around. We could use the catapults to form the structure.’
Genghis nodded, not caring how the problems were solved. He turned to Jochi as the young man stood stunned at where his bickering and pride had led. Even Chagatai seemed awed, but Genghis was making all the decisions and they could only look on.
‘Kill this beast and perhaps your brother will bend a knee to you,’ Genghis said softly. ‘The tribes will be watching, boy. Will they see a khan in you?’
‘Or a corpse, or both,’ Jochi said without hesitation. He could not back down, not with his father and Chagatai waiting for it. He looked up at the tiger in its cage and knew it would kill him, but somehow he could not care. He had ridden with death before, in Tsubodai’s charges. At seventeen, he could gamble with his life and think nothing of it.
