A Debt of Honor to Be Paid

Yun-Men stretched and smiled as her lover fed her a grape - courtesy to a 'donation' a passing caravan had made to her troops. Nirmal was a few years younger than she was, with a firm body, endless enthusiasm and enough courage to match his Khan's fire in bed. At some point Yun-Men would need an heir, but she certainly could not afford to be with a child for a long time still - Nirmal was purely for pleasure purposes. Perhaps she could adopt children some of the chosen women would give birth to? But right now she was in no immediate hurry.

- "Your dream is true now, my Khan," Nirmal murmured. "You are the single Khan of all the six tribes on the Plain of Horses. You lead your own empire."

- "That is only the beginning of my dream, Nirmal," Yun-Men replied. "There is no greater honor than that of a fearless warrior and conqueror. When I die leaving the greatest empire known to Red Earth to my people, then my dream has come true."

- "But no-one has gone even this far before. Manis Khan, so long ago is said to be a great leader of the T'aghur, but he fell against the Shou."

- "A debt of honor to be paid," Yun-Men nodded. "When I was a young girl, I used to dream of being his soldier and follower. My father says he is just a legend. I don't know. It isn't so important anymore. I have already gotten further than he did."

- "Indeed you have," Nirmal said, stroking the muscular and yet well-shaped body of his Khan. "In more recent history Yamun Khahan, the leader of Tuigans conquered a lot, but he fell too... some people say it is the curse of the Plain of Horses."

Yun-Men's eyes flashed and she gripped the young man's hand.

- "There is no such curse! It would suit all those smug leaders very well that we believed ourselves lesser beings, animal-like barbarians with no hope of greatness," she hissed. Nirmal realized that she was not really angry with him and relaxed a little.

- "Yamun Khahan made a strategic mistake," she said calmly. "He attacked Shou Lung, but before that was finished, he turned his gaze to the west and tried, unsuccessfully, to conquer it. Too many strong nations, capable of using battle magic and different tactics on their home turf. It is essential that all the Shou Lung is ours before we go anywhere else. Not only can we not afford to be left between two fronts - we also need their magic and their experience in siege warfare, and their blacksmiths."

- "Those Shou engineers you had kidnapped co-operate very well," Nirmal remarked.

Yun-Men shrugged.

- "Why not? They are treated very well, and Shou are practical people. That is really how I got all the tribes but the Igidujin to join me with minimal losses. They knew that I would leave them alone, their businesses, their property, free to practice whatever religion they want and their own government. Of course, it did help that we annihilated Quaraqand to the last man, woman and child."

- "Did it bother you?" Nirmal asked quietly.

- "Such things are not allowed to bother me," Yun-Men said evenly. In truth, killing the children had bothered her greatly, but the feeling had vanished with drunken killing fury. Still, she was glad that she hadn't had to slaughter helpless civilians after that. She would do it again if need be, but there was no honor or joy in that.

- "Now, the sixth companies don't still work fast enough. We will have to rehearse," she said. She had arranged the army so that for each five companies there was a sixth one whose sole purpose was to act as a line of communication to the command center. The army was large enough now that otherwise an organized battle was impossible.

- "And when they are fast enough?" Nirmal asked, dread and enthusiasm equal in his tone.

- "Then," Yun-Men smiled, "we will attack Shou Lung."


Jelena was finishing her evening prayers.

My lord, I would pray to the god of Winds now, if you don't mind.

Not at all. After all I know why.

Shandaukul, lord of Winds. Hear a traveler, and send a message to another one..


Saemon Havarian stood on the deck of his ship and thought about Peri the Bhaalspawn, as he now and then did. Sure, Esmeralda who currently shared the cabin with him, the lass with dark eyes and black curls was pleasant enough companion - but he had fond memories of the godschild all the same. Suddenly he felt strange, as if the current warm gust of the wind was especially persistent on him. The wind carried a fleeting vision of an... infant? A child with reddish hair and blue eyes, chubby arms and full mouth. The child looked somehow familiar. Saemon squinted, but the vision was already gone.