the distance, they could hear the khan’s son crying out, a mournful wail that seemed to go on and on.
Moving such a vast host of people and animals was no small task. As well as a hundred thousand warriors, a quarter of a million ponies had to be herded, with as many again of sheep, goats, yaks, camels and oxen. The need for grazing land had grown to the point that the nation could only remain in one place for a month at a time.
On a frozen dawn, with the sun barely touching the east, Genghis rode through the busy camp, noting every detail of the cart lines with the huddled figures of women and young children on them. The column stretched for miles, always surrounded by the herds. He had lived with the sounds of animals all his life and barely noticed the constant bleating of goats and sheep. His generals were ready; his sons were. It remained to be seen whether the Arab nations were ready to meet them in war. In their arrogance, they had invited annihilation.
Jochi had survived having his wounds burned. As Genghis had promoted Chagatai to lead a tuman of ten thousand warriors, he could hardly do less for an older son, especially one who had triumphed against a savage beast. The people talked of it still. Yet it would be months before Jochi was able to take his place at their head. Until then, he would travel with the women and children, tended by servants while he healed.
In the middle of the host, Genghis trotted past the ger of his second wife, Chakahai, who had once been a princess of the Xi Xia kingdom. Her father had remained a loyal vassal for almost a decade and the tribute kept the Mongols in silk and valuable timber. Genghis cursed softly to himself as he realised he had not arranged a way for the tribute to follow him into the west. He could not trust the king to hold it for him. It was one more thing to tell Temuge before the tribes moved. Genghis passed the cart where Chakahai sat in furs with the three children she had borne. His oldest daughter bowed her head and smiled to see her father.
He did not leave the path to find the carts of Borte and his mother, Hoelun. The two women had become inseparable over the years and would be together somewhere. Genghis grimaced at the thought.
He passed two men boiling goat meat on a small fire while they waited. They had a stack of unleavened bread pouches ready to pack with meat for the trip. Seeing the khan himself, one of the men offered up a wooden platter with the head on it, touching the white eyes with a finger to make sure Genghis saw them. Genghis shook his head and the man bowed deeply. As the khan moved on, the warrior threw one of the eyes into the air for the sky father before popping the other in his mouth and chewing lustily. Genghis smiled at the sight. His people had not yet forgotten the old ways, or been spoiled by looted riches. He thought of the new way stations that stretched in lines into the east and south, manned by crippled warriors and the elderly. A scout could change horses at a dozen of those places, covering land faster than Genghis would once have believed possible. They had come a long way from the hungry, quarrelling tribes he had known as a boy, but they were still the same.
In a mass of carts and animals, Genghis dismounted at last, having ridden more than a mile from the head of the column. His sister Temulun was there, she who had been a babe in arms when his own tribe had abandoned him years before. She had grown into a fine young woman and married a warrior from the Olkhun’ut. Genghis had met the man only once at the wedding, but he had seemed healthy and Temulun was pleased with the match.
As he adjusted the belly strap on his pony, she was ordering Chin servants to collect the last of her belongings. Her ger had been stored before dawn, leaving a black circle on the grass. When she saw Genghis, Temulun smiled and went to him, taking his reins.
‘Don’t worry, brother, we are ready, though I cannot find my best iron pot. No doubt it is at the bottom of the packs, under everything else.’ She spoke lightly, but her eyes were questioning. The khan had not visited her even once since she had been properly married. For him to come as they rode to war made her uneasy.
‘It will not be long now,’ Genghis told her, losing some of his stiffness. He liked Temulun, though she would always be a child to him in some ways. She could not remember the first winters alone, when the brothers and their mother were hunted and starving.
‘Is my husband well?’ she asked. ‘I have not seen Palchuk in three days now.’
‘I don’t know,’ Genghis admitted. ‘He is with Jebe. I have decided to have Palchuk command a thousand and carry the gold paitze.’
Temulun clapped her hands with pleasure.
‘You are a good brother, Genghis. He will be pleased.’ A slight frown crossed her face as she considered giving her husband the good news.
‘Is it for him you have done this, or for me?’
Genghis blinked at her changing moods.
‘For you, sister. Should I not raise my own family? Can I have my only sister’s husband in the ranks?’ He saw her expression remained troubled. This sort of thing was beyond him, though he struggled to understand.
‘He will not refuse, Temulun,’ Genghis said.
‘I know that!’ she replied. ‘But he will worry that the promotion comes from you.’
‘It does,’ Genghis replied.
Temulun raised her eyes at her brother’s failings for an instant.
‘I mean it will matter to him that he did not earn the new rank.’
‘Let him prove he is worthy of it then,’ Genghis said with a shrug. ‘I can always take the paitze back.’
Temulun glared at her brother.
‘You wouldn’t dare. Better not to raise him at all than lift and drop him as you please.’
Genghis sighed to himself.
‘I will have Jebe tell him. He is still reordering Arslan’s tuman. It will not be so strange, unless your precious husband is an idiot.’
‘You are a good man, Genghis,’ Temulun replied.
Genghis looked around to see who was close enough to hear.
‘Keep it quiet, woman!’ He chuckled to himself, remounting and taking back the reins.
‘Leave the pot behind if you cannot find it, Temulun. It is time to go.’
The restless urge that had made him tour the carts faded away as he rode back to the front. He nodded to his generals and saw that they too felt the same simple pleasure. Their people were on the move again and every day would bring a new horizon. There was nothing like the sense of freedom it brought, with all the world before them. As he reached his brothers and his generals, Genghis blew a long note on a scout horn and urged his pony to a trot. Slowly, the nation moved behind him.
CHAPTER SEVEN
It was snowing in the high passes. The Altai mountains were further west than most of the families had ever travelled. Only the Turkic tribes, the Uighurs and the Uriankhai, knew them well and then as a place to avoid, a place of poor hunting and death in the winter.
Though the mounted warriors could have crossed the range in a single day, the heavily laden carts were ponderous,
