The Great Khan Ch. 04

"Khorijin wouldn't hear of it," replied the other First Wife. "Her hatred of Galina and myself runs deep."

"And as a result, you hate her, I guess," Toragana muttered. "That's horrid reasoning."

"I must protect myself," Galina murmured, gazing longingly at Sarantuya's supple breasts, which were inches away from her lips. "You might be a Mongol, but there is no one here who would not kill me in a heartbeat if it weren't for Boldbator. And I would kill anyone to keep myself alive, be it Khorijin, Sarantuya, Turkina, or yourself."

"Why would I want you dead?" reasoned Toragana, cuddling closer to her lover.

"You have already threatened to kill me," Galina said quietly, her voice distant. "You would claim to be different than the rest? You forced my subservience to you, just like all the rest of the damnable barbarians."

Neither Mongol woman took any offense at her words. At that moment, they understood exactly how precarious Galina's situation was every day and how terrified she must have been every moment. If Boldbator ever lost interest in her...

They both cuddled her close, enveloping her in feminine warmth. She allowed the gesture, surrendering to it. She needed to feel protected and at this moment, she would accept whatever she could find.

"I didn't threaten to kill you because you were an unwanted Chinese whore," Toragana purred, giving Galina's breasts a gentle, almost playful squeeze. "I threatened to kill you because you were being a bitchy little etsegtei when all I was trying to do was help you. I would have threatened the same to Sarantuya or Khorijin, or just about anybody. Well, except for Turkina."

Mai considered and sighed finally, nodding. "I was being a bitchy little cunt, wasn't I?"

"Well, to be fair, she had just returned from having Boldbator tear her ass apart," Sarantuya giggled, rubbing her nose against Galina's. "I am almost crippled for days afterward, I shudder to think how traumatic it must be for our delicate Chinese blossom here."

"I'll survive it." Mai said somewhat petulantly.

"Maybe, but I'm talking about us surviving one another," Toragana pointed out. "Other Mongols have multiple wives, and they are not doomed to behave thus. Sometimes, they're even the best of friends."

"I don't see that happening with Khorijin." Sarantuya muttered. "After a fashion, I love her, but it is a crystalline-pure hatred as well. Were it within my power and if I would not be punished, I would kill her."

Toragana drew a deep breath, trying to compose her thoughts. "But if things could be different, if we weren't always competing and trying to hurt or murder one another... would you desire that?"

Neither girl answered her question, they were silent.

"Imagine not having to wonder what fresh torture awaited you," Toragana pressed. "Not worrying about your pussy bleeding because Khorijin kneed you there. I'll be honest with you both, I have better things to worry about, such as my husband's aspirations to unite the tribes and how we fit into that picture."

Still no answer.

"More than that, though," she continued. "I would prefer to worry about my sister, Solongo, and her daughter, both of whom live in fear of the murderous rage and whims of our khan's brother."

Both Sarantuya and Mai shivered in dread at the mention of Kula, who terrified them.

"If you cannot be bothered to leave this destructive behaviour behind, sisters, at least do not include me in it," she said firmly. "I have worries enough without the silliness of women at my back."

Mai now turned onto her back and stared at the conical ceiling, watching the cloying grey smoke of the hearthfire curl about and exit through the aperture meant for it. The two Mongol women continued to caress her breasts while her dainty hands reached down and stroked their sticky pussies. Rarely could she remember such serenity as she was finding in this moment, especially not since she was brought north of the Great Wall.

"Does Boldbator like it when you fight?" Toragana asked.

"I know not for certain," Sarantuya answered truthfully. "I think it might arouse him once in a while, but mostly he seems to treat it as an activity or diversion to keep us occupied and out of his hair. I do not believe he is committed to the notion."

"So then it is unnecessary." Toragana concluded. "Why do we not simply stop fighting and get along, then? I certainly enjoyed making love to Galina more than choking her to make her behave. We could be fucking without harming one another."

"What a grand notion," Sarantuya giggled. "So, what, we just refuse to fight whenever Khorijin tries to pick one?"

"And you and I stand up to her when she threatens Galina," Toragana confirmed, nodding. "Once it becomes apparent that we are no longer interested in this stupid game, she will give up."

"I am not so sure of that," Sarantuya said uneasily. "I once refused to fight and she just beat the shit out of me anyway."

"Then I will stand with you, sister." Toragana said firmly. "You may rely on me. Neither of us may be a match for her individually, but together, she would stand no chance."

"This sounds whimsical," Mai sighed. "I do not see it happening."

"Can you promise me that you will not sabotage my efforts to make it happen?"

Mai did not answer immediately and Toragana gently took her chin and turned her head to look into her eyes. The Chinese girl did not see an enemy or a disgusting barbarian, she just saw a woman, someone who, like herself, wanted more. Did she dare dream?

She nodded finally.

"Good," Toragana declared, smiling and kissing her nose. "Now, our husband has told us to get out of his ger and back to our own. Khorijin is no doubt still engaged with activities related to the battle that was just fought. Shall we retire and continue to make love?"

"I would like that." Mai said softly, pulling them both to her and sharing a deep, sensual kiss.

***

"How many prisoners did we take in total?" Boldbator asked, standing around the smouldering campfire with Kula, Khorijin and the leader of his keshig, Gerel. Nearby, a small mountain of salvaged armour and weapons was sitting, to be inspected for utility. The ponies they had captured had already been led off to their corrals.

"Some eighty-seven, my khan," Gerel replied, bowing his head. "Our Jirgin allies took maybe three hundred."

"Good for them," Boldbator grunted, nodding. "If they're smart about it, they might be able to swell their ranks and add to our numbers."

"I am not amenable to this, my brother," Kula groused. "To take on defeated warriors and add them to our ordus? Should they not be simply slain for their disgrace?"

Boldbator sighed, knowing that he had to have infinite patience for his brother, who, while ferocious as a thunderbolt on the battlefield, was slower than a Spring thaw when it came to reasoning. It had always been that way and he was unlikely to change now. Boldbator was more than happy to just point him at a designated enemy.

"We will never have the numbers to sweep aside the Xia-Xia and Khitans to conquer the Song if we keep killing warriors who merely happen to be on the wrong side. Galina already told us what we are likely to face when we go over the Wall."

"Pah," snorted the younger brother. "What does a Chinese woman know of war?"

"You do not need to be a scholar of war to understand that if I united all the tribes under my banner, the armies of the Song would still outnumber us ten to one," Boldbator stated. "They could send one million arrows sailing into the air to blot out the sun and each of my warriors would need to dodge ten to live on and fight. Even without Galina's insight, we know they vastly outnumber us. That being said, it would be smart of me to not execute everyone I defeat."

Kula grumped, scowling at the fire. "That doesn't mean I have to like it."

"Perhaps," Boldbator laughed. "But those men must be commanded, and the only way for you to avoid commanding them is to remain in charge of a simple zuun, while lesser men go on to command the mighty tumens I must raise. How would that look? The Great Khan's younger brother and strong right-hand, relegated to commanding a mere hundred men?"

Kula said nothing. Growing weary of her brother's petulance, Khorijin spoke up. "So let's say fifty of the eighty agree to serve you, brother. The rest are executed or become slaves. These numbers are hardly likely to mean we are ready to march on the Song."

"You speak truth, we are not ready to march on the Song yet," Boldbator agreed. "We have much work to do uniting the tribes first. And to do that, there is more fighting to happen and more gold to dole out. Over half the treasure of Targetai remains to me, to be given out as I see fit to new allies."

"That might be good for another battle or two," Gerel mused. "But after that, we will need further incentive for new allies and warriors. If we conquer land and give it to allies, it might just create resentment and resistance."

Boldbator stared into the fire silently, his mind working through the details, looking for opportunities and creating every possible crisis so it could be addressed readily.

"I know that expression," Khorijin breathed, smiling. Kula noticed the look in her eyes and scowled. How could Boldbator fuck his own sister, the hellion? As far as he was concerned, fucking women was best when they didn't want to be fucked, like when he was capturing them after destroying their homes. "You've got something big in mind, don't you?"

Boldbator looked deep into the flames, lost in thought. "The scouts and reports from tribes furthest south tell us that the Khitans and the Xia-Xia are constantly warring over their border. Though the Khitans currently hold the upper hand in overall strength, the Xia-Xia are a formidable foe, using infantry, cavalry, chariots and strange engines of war."

"You think that if we were to deal the Xia-Xia a defeat, we could pacify the Khitans along our borders, as well as study the technology of the south and their tactics?"

Boldbator nodded. "The Khitans fight much as we do, especially the northern tribes. I would rather not squander my strength on them, when I could strike fear into the hearts of the Chinese by wounding a client-state and sowing doubt in their mind about their military methods."

He looked at his bahatur. "Gerel, I need a map out the areas lying between ourselves and the Song, the lands of the Khitans and Xia-Xia."

The keshig warrior nodded and hurried off.

"Though they are not the Song, the Xia-Xia are rich, certainly by our standards," he mused, returning his attention to the shifting shapes in the fire. "If we raid them and plunder, we will have yet more wealth to give to knew allies."

Gerel returned with a vellum map, which he spread out on the ground, close enough to the fire to be illuminated. Maps meant nothing to Kula and very little to Khorijin, so they waited silently while their elder brother pondered his options.

"The Ordos Valley..." he mumbled to himself. He looked at the map, seeing the red circles indicating towns and villages, while large circles represented cities and squares were fortresses or fortified cities. The capital, a place called Yinchuan, lay south of the imposing Ordos basin.

"There," he said finally, pointing at a cinnabar-red square that sat on the southern coast of the Huang River. "The stronghold of Wulahai. We will cross the Huang and take the city, levelling it for all to see."

"We've never crossed a river before, brother," Kula said, scowling. "Not a real one like the Yellow River in any event. Our ponies don't swim, at least not when there's a fully-armed and armoured warrior on their back. And there is the matter of our supply carts."

"Galina had the Uyghur scribes draw something for me," Boldbator replied, squatting down and drawing something with a stick in the brittle sand. His three companions leaned in, watching him curiously. "It's called a 'pontoon bridge'."

The other three looked on, accepting that Boldbator had grand visions none of them could ever hope to match.

"We create strong rafts or boats..." he explained, still drawing his rough diagram. "And over these floating structures, tied to one another by ropes, to keep them in position, we can lay down planks of strong wood... if they're wide enough for ponies to cross three abreast... we could get almost half a tumen across the Yellow river in under an hour, not counting for construction time."

"Where will we get all this wood?" Kula asked. "You may not have noticed, brother, but the steppes are not exactly littered with trees. So unless you can turn yak-shit into these pontoons of yours, we have a rather major problem."

"And that's where another portion of the treasure so generously given to us by Targetai comes into play," Boldbator said confidently. "We will buy the wood we need and make the bridge ourselves, here. It can then be taken with us to the Huang and we will cross before they are ready."

Kula seemed unconvinced, as did Khorijin, although she at least said she was keen to try, especially if it meant plundering the Xia-Xia. She had not been old enough to fight when their father, Arslan, accompanied by the young Boldbator, had raided into Xia-Xia lands via a little-known ford, but that portal to the south had long-since been destroyed. Unable to fight the Mongols fairly, it seemed, the Xia-Xia simply made it impossible for the two sides to come to grips.

Until now.

"Who will you send to procure all this magical wood, brother?" Kula asked, ever the skeptic. "The Chinese have it, but they are unlikely to sell it to you once they know you intend to make bridges so you can come and attack them."

"I'm working that part out as we speak..." the khan mumbled, gazing into the hypnotic flames.

***

"You summoned me, my khan?" Toragana said, bowing before his chair inside the ger he lived in.

"I have been told that to the west, there are tribes who live in regions that are covered in trees." Boldbator stated. "Is this true? The Sukh clan must have had some contact with them."

Toragana considered. "Beyond the Tian Shan River, my lord, on the shores of the great Aral, live a people called the Kyrgyz. We had some small contact with them over the years, although I remember it not, or even if my father Delger would have. But it is said that in their territories are stands of tall trees as far as the eye can see, rolling up the sides of the mountains and beyond the blue horizon."

"Very pretty language," he said dryly. "But is it true?"

"I have not seen it for myself, my khan, though I also have no reason to doubt the report. It is said that a great deal of their money is made in the purchase of their timber."

"Would they remember the name of the Sukh?" he asked pointedly. "Would they remember it fondly?"

"I do not know if they would remember us at all, my khan, although if they do, I know of no grievance we ever gave them," she said somewhat suspiciously. "Why?"

"Because I am going to attack Wulahai with pontoon bridges."

Toragana blinked. "What?"

"Oh, don't make me draw the damn diagram again!" Boldbator groused, standing and coming down from his dais and preparing to squat in the dirt and began drawing with a stick.

"There is no need for that, my khan," she said gently, putting a staying hand on his muscular forearm. "I just need some context so I know what we're talking about."

Boldbator sighed, pleased he had been spared etching out another drawing. "I plan to plunder the Xia-Xia fortress city of Wulahai. But it lies on the south side of the Yellow River and the method my father and I used to raid their lands once before is simply not available. Therefore, I plan to use a pontoon bridge to span the river and attack before they know what hit them. And for that, I need wood."

"Which the Kyrgyz can amply supply and the treasure of Targetai allows you to pay for," she concluded before faltering, a look of unhappy realization washing over her face. "And you intend to send me to negotiate this transaction with them, because I am khan of the Sukh and they will hopefully remember us fondly..."

"Precisely," he confirmed, pleased that she was so adept at this. "Any questions?"

"Just one." Toragana sighed.

"And what is that?"

"What did I do to make you hate me?" she asked, trying to keep the bitterness out of her voice.

***

"So you're heading to some far-off land to buy wood," Sarantuya said flatly, looking at her sister-wife. "Whose idea was this?"

"Three guesses," muttered Toragana, sitting on a carpet with her legs crossed, scowling. "The name sounds distressingly like 'Boldbator', just in case you need a hint."

"Because our clan had dealings with these Kyrgyz people forever and a day ago, so now you're the expert on buying timber from them?" her sister Solongo asked, sitting nearby with her daughter in her lap.

"Seemingly so," sighed the older sister. "He didn't say it, but from the tone of his voice, I could tell that he was saying 'Come back with my wood or don't come back at all.' I asked him what I did to make him angry, he just laughed and told me to be ready in five days for my journey."

"It will be dangerous," Mai intoned, kneeling nearby and making salt-tea over a small fire. "Surely he knows that enemies sit astride this route to the lands of the Kyrgyz."

"He knows," Toragana said dully. "To that end, he has assigned me an arvahn to guard me and the treasure I take with me."

"I feel bad for those fools," Khorijin almost cackled, clearly enjoying his sister-wife's discomfiture. "Stuck guarding a failed orkhan, not to mention a woman, on some menial errand that has everything to do with money and nothing to do with battle."

"Feel bad for yourself, then," Toragana replied snidely. "Because you're the commander of the arvahn that will accompany me."

Sarantuya, Mai, Solongo and even Turkina all turned their heads to look at Khorijin, interested to see her reaction to the news. Her eyes widened and then her breasts rose with such fury that she popped the bone frog that clasped her tunic in place, exposing her cleavage. Her face was almost white with anger as she rose and hurried out of the tent. She was gone for several minutes and no one said anything.

Then the wooden door swung open, almost smashing off its hinges before Khorijin stomped back to the fire and sat down, scowling into the flames, the look in her eyes daring anyone to say anything to her. Even Turkina knew better.

"In any event," Toragana continued, ignoring her sister-wife's sulking. "I will head northwest, accompanied by my troops and the treasure we bring, so-"

"Won't that be dangerous?" Solongo asked, concern in her voice. "To go traipsing across the steppe, into unknown territory with chests of gold?"

"That's why She-Bitch is coming," replied the older sister, tilting her head at Khorijin. "And if they thought she was cantankerous before, wait until they try to fight her when she doesn't want to be there."

"Very funny." Khorijin muttered, ignoring the snickering.

"I will also be accompanied by some Uyghur scribes the Sukh clan employs, since I do not speak Kyr-"

"You have Uyghur scribes going with you?" Mai asked, listening suddenly.

"Yes," Toragana admitted. "I do not speak the language and my knowledge of finances is not that formidable."

Mai seemed to think about that for several seconds. "It would be nice to be in scholarly company again. Do you think the khan would let me accompany you?"