[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
said defiantly, his young eyes flashing. "Since my father is stricken, I'm in
command. The dead bodies will pollute the yurt. That cannot be allowed."
"But I must have the bodies. I must touch them," protested Koja.
Jad mulled over the lama's words. "Very well, but it must be done in secret,
and it cannot be done here." The prince got to his feet and paced back and
forth as he gave his commands. "Goyuk, have one of the nightguards not
the dayguards go to Sechen the Wrestler's yurt and order him to come with
us. Issue a proclamation: all khans are to assemble their men this evening for
a review by their prince. That will keep the curious occupied and out of our
way."
"By your will, it shall be done," Goyuk declared as he left.
"Thank you, wise counsellor," Jad replied as the tent flap fell closed.
Exhausted, the son turned back to his father. Spotting Koja, Jad stopped.
"And you, priest, go and get yourself ready."
Koja bowed and then left. There was little he needed to prepare, but he
obeyed all the same. Yamun would manage without his care for a little while.
As he walked back to his yurt, Koja could feel the gloom that had settled on
the camp. The warriors were tense, uncertain of the future.
Back in his tent, Koja quickly gathered the few things he would need. Hodj
prepared him a hot meal, the priest's first in days. The food revived Koja,
bringing him back from the edge of exhaustion. The meal finished, the priest
opened his scrolls and once more reviewed the sutras he needed to know for
the upcoming rite.
He was still reading when Sechen brought horses. Packing up a small
pouch, Koja joined the others. They rode silently across yesterday's
battlefield. Most of the dead men were gone, taken by relatives or friends to
be properly buried. A few still lay where they had fallen, their bodies looted.
Still, the battlefield was far from clean. Littering the field were the bodies of
horses. Nearly all the dead animals had been left to rot. The victors had taken
what saddles, bridles, and tack they could carry, but the carcasses were left
undisturbed. Only a few horses had been butchered for their meat. Most were
puffy and bloated after many hours in the sun. Vermin were feasting on the
carcasses. Vultures squawked at the riders as they went by. Jackals yipped
when the men ventured too close.
Jad worried that they were being watched as the group rode along. The
prince had forgone his fine white stallion with the black and red saddle for a
plain black mare and a saddle borrowed from one of the dayguards. He did
not want to attract undue attention. Several of the dayguards had asked to
ride along, since the prince was almost certain to be their new khahan, but he
had firmly refused them.
Ahead of the prince, Koja, too, rode quietly, thinking of what was to come.
He was worried. When he'd made the offer to summon up the spirits of the
assassins, he hadn't considered the possible results. What if he were wrong
and the assassins were paid by Prince Ogandi? The farther they rode, the
less confident Koja became.
"Down there," said Sechen, interrupting the thoughts of both men. "We hid
the bodies down there." He pointed to a small overhang that projected from
the other side of the gully. "That way there would be no questions."
"Good," Jad said. "You have served my father well. He will see that you are
rewarded."
"To serve him is my only reward," answered the wrestler. Koja had no
doubts the man meant every word.
Stopping at the edge of the gully, the group dismounted in the shade of the
trees. Sechen hobbled the prince's stallion so it could not wander. The rest
slipped off the bits and bridles so the mares could graze comfortably. The
mares would naturally stay near Jad's stallion, so there was no need to hobble
them. Leaving their mounts, the men slid and stumbled down the bank to
where the bodies were hidden.
If the battlefield hadn't already stank of death, they would have smelled the
bodies some distance away. With so much death around, the smell of the
corpses was only a minor thing. The heat of the day had not been kind to the
dead. Drawn by the decay, flies buzzed thickly around the small shelf where
the bodies were tucked. Sechen reached in, brushing the cloud of insects
away, and pulled the corpses out.
The bodies had already started to rot, and something had been gnawing at
them. A noxious, poisonous wind exhaled from their inner cavities as the two
corpses came tumbling out of the crack. They flopped and rolled down the
slope until they jammed up on a small pile of rocks. Koja felt a quick squeeze
of queasiness and resolutely choked it back. This was all his idea; he couldn't
be sick now. Goyuk and Jad stepped back, well away from the bloated
remains. Sechen quickly hurried away as soon as his job was done.
Koja was not as fortunate as the others, for the spell he meant to cast
required him to touch the bodies. However, he was slightly prepared. He
pulled a spice-infused cloth and pressed it over his face. The heady smell
made him dizzy, but at least now his nostrils weren't filled with the odor of
rotten flesh.
"Get started," Jad said impatiently.
The priest thrust a small stick of incense into the ground, then waved to
Sechen. Reluctantly, the tall fellow shambled over with a small metal cage
hung from a chain. In it glowed a hot ember. Taking the chain, Koja picked out
the ember with silver tongs and touched it to the incense. Within seconds, a
[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]