The terrain around Karakorum was flat, mostly scrub and pasture; to the west lay the Orkhun River, a broad ribbon of water that bisected the valley. Typically the Khagan stayed at Karakorum for a few weeks during his transition from his summer to his winter residence, and during that time, the population of the city increased a hundredfold. Dozens and dozens of small clans made pilgrimages to the city to pay tribute to the Khagan; long caravans, weighted down with all manner of exotic goods, spilled into the trade district; priests, representing more religious sects than a man could reasonably count, erected shrines—some grandiose, some very austere—as physical manifestations of their spiritual inclinations; princes, courtiers, and displaced nobility sought to curry favor from the Khagan. They all arrived at Karakorum on hooved animals—horses, asses, oxen—and the ground around the city was trampled again and again.
But it had rained a few days ago, driving away the dust and softening the ground, and Gansukh had been able to find a few hoofprints—sharp indentations in the ground pointing away from the city. The river was a natural barrier; the assassin wouldn’t try to ford it at night unless he knew exactly where to cross, and Gansukh doubted the man had that information. The tracks indicated the assassin’s intent: keep the river on his left, the city behind him. Hanging low in the night sky directly ahead were the Seven Gods. A simple route. Gansukh could track the man all night.
He kept his stolen horse pointed at the brightest of the Seven Gods and let it pick its own pace. Even though the ground was very flat, there was no reason to push the animal. It might step in a hole and injure itself, and an exhausted horse would be of no use to him. When he caught up with the assassin, a fresher horse might make all the difference in the final chase.
He would have to answer for taking the mount when he returned. There hadn’t been time to negotiate a loan—not that any true steppe warrior would loan his horse to a complete stranger who had just come running up to him. In some clans, horse thievery was punishable by death. He could only hope that catching the assassin might provide some extenuating circumstances by which the Khagan might grant him amnesty.
Gansukh sat up a little straighter as his horse’s gait changed. He peered ahead, straining to see anything in the near darkness. The sky was clear, and the moon was still in the sky, but he couldn’t see anything distinct on the plain around him. The river called to him and he tried to block out its noise; then the smell hit him and he realized what had spooked his horse.
Tightening his legs, he forced the horse closer until he was sure the large shape on the ground was just a horse and not a horse and rider, and then he let his horse shy away from the dead animal—its blood still wet and fresh on the ground. He kept his horse’s head canted to the left as he made a large circle around the corpse, trying to ascertain which direction the assassin had fled after killing his downed mount.
The assassin had been riding too fast, and the horse had stepped in a divot, breaking its leg. The assassin had killed it quickly to prevent its screams from giving away his position, but Gansukh had been tracking him closely enough that the smell of blood had been enough to betray him.
Wolves howled in the distance as Gansukh pulled his horse’s head around. There hadn’t been any clear indication on the ground of which direction the assassin had gone, and so Gansukh continued north. Behind him, he could make out the distant glow of Karakorum. The Seven Gods, the dead horse, and the city—that was a line easily followed, and there was no reason to think the assassin had changed his course.
He leaned forward as he rode, listening intently to the world around him. Overhead, thousands of stars stared down at him, a multitude of silent observers watching tiny shapes crawl across a wide plain. The hairs on his neck bristled as he was momentarily filled with an awareness of the immensity of the world and the heavens. No matter how big the empire, he thought, there is always a greater world beyond. Ordinarily such a thought comforted him. He loved to be alone on the plains, loved to surround himself in the vast majesty of nature. Tonight, though, that vastness unsettled him. There were things out there in the darkness, things he couldn’t see or hear or feel, and they were ghosts of a world he could never completely understand. ?gedei Khan—and the Khans after him—would spread throughout the world, but the world would spread through them too, and it would change them.
He looked back over his shoulder at the faint bubble of light that was Karakorum—a tiny flicker of fire in a vast emptiness. Gansukh had heard stories of other empires riding out from the steppes, riding out to conquer the world, and he couldn’t help but wonder what happened to them. What happened when their light went out and the darkness rushed in again? He had seen the weathered foundations of their ruined forts. Would Karakorum share the same fate in a thousand years’ time? If the Khagan is dead, Gansukh thought, what will happen to that light? Was the plain already starting to nibble away at Karakorum while he rode through the night? Were the wolves already calling to one another? Fresh meat, brothers. Fresh meat for all of us.