One Night in Xanadu

Chapter 06 - Zerleg Muur, Wildcat, I Name You

For a moment, a mere moment, my head spun with exhaustion and my feet were uncertain and in that moment the Khagan could have taken me and I knew it. The Khagan's eyes met mine and he too knew and I was filled with despair for this was not the end that I had sought.

"Hold." The Khagan raised his hand. "The Princess of the Xiongnu has been riding all day. She must be famished, and I would have my other wives and my concubines come to greet their new sister. Bring food, bring wine, bring kumis, summon the drummers and the chant-singers, summon my wives and concubines, bring lights, for we will not fight in darkness."

Grateful I was indeed, for I was tired and famished though I would admit it not. I sank to the grass, seating myself cross-legged as a low table was placed between us, the Khagan on one side, I on the other and behind me Aranjagaan whickered softly, his nose brushing the back of my head and while we waited, I shed my white felt dress to sit in my black leather breeches and tunic.

Food was bought, food and hot tea for me, salted and with butter, and I drank gratefully. Kumis, fermented mare's milk, for the Khagan, and he drank of it as he ate, drank copiously, ate enormously and I, I ate the roast mutton and the tender lamb and the steamed rice and the meat of the steppe antelope. I ate hungrily. I ate gratefully, my strength restored with every mouthful, but I did not eat to excess for I intended to fight and fight well. I would be no easy victory for this Khagan.

I smiled now as he drained another great wooden bowl of the kumis, for every bowl he drank would slow him a little, and when his bowl emptied I took the jug from the servant's hands and refilled his bowl myself as a maiden would fill her suitor's bowl. I picked the choicest meats for him with my fingers and placed them on his dish, smiling shyly as I did so for he was not yet my husband, and I was not yet vanquished, but all who watched saw and nodded their approval, for my actions were those of a courted maiden who favors her suitor, and it was not as if there were any doubt as to the outcome of this nights wooing.

At his back, the drums of the hastily summoned shaman's now beat softly, their song background to our meal. The Khagan's ladies arrived on foot or in palanquins, the Han ladies twittering like the helpless birds of pleasure that they were, the Mongol women silent, their eyes assessing me as they seated themselves on carpets spread across the grass before the Khagan's guards. I bowed my head low to she to whom all others deferred, and she was Mongol, the Khagan's First Wife, and I knew her name was Borte for the Captain of Five Hundred had told me of her.

Her returned smile warmed me.

The Khagan sat cross-legged, as did I, and with a gesture and a word, he summoned Chingay, the Captain of Five Hundred, to his side. I listened as they talked, not understanding their words for they spoke a dialect unknown to me, their faces inscrutable, expressionless although their eyes glanced at me on occasion, so that I assumed they were talking of me. At last, Chingay backed away.

"Has the Princess Altani of the Xiongnu refreshed herself?" the Khagan asked me, his eyes twinkling. "Is she ready to continue?" And he winked but I needed not that warning.

"She has, Lord, and she thanks you for your hospitality, and she is more than ready to continue," I said, and as he threw himself across the table at me, scattering the food, smashing priceless porcelain, any piece of which would have been a treasure beyond price amongst my people, I rolled backwards, flipping myself to my feet and slamming one foot into his head hard enough to rock him sideways, hard enough that I evaded his grasping hands, and his nose was bloody as he rolled to his feet for I had in no way pulled that kick.

"A Princess of the Xiongnu is not so easy to vanquish with little tricks, Lord," I said, feinting, but he did not move. The gasp from his wives and his concubines was audible, the hisses of appreciation from his men even louder, and the Khagan's laughter louder still.