Part 15 (2/2)

”That's it? So simple?” Marco asked.

Little Li laughed again, a gap between his front teeth showing. ”Here!” he said, pointing to the ground. Marco poked the stick into the ground, but it fell over twice before he could get it to stand straight, with the heavy bamboo tube strapped to it. Marco lit another stick in the fire and touched it to the end of the thin rope.

This time, we all knew to stand back. The fire hit the bottom of the bamboo stick and the powder inside. Again, a noise crashed against our ears as the little stick shot up into the air, tracing a graceful arc of light and smoke.

”What is this 'fire medicine'?” Marco asked. Little Li showed him the three ingredients: common black charcoal, a foul-smelling yellow powder called sulfur, and a white mineral called saltpeter. The key ingredient, saltpeter, was something Marco had not known of before. Nor had I. It was a white powder, like flour.

Little Li took a handful of the white powder and tossed it into the fire. The flames turned pale purple and smoke billowed. Little Li laughed at how easily amused we were.

”Where can I get more of this?” asked Marco, his eyes blazing with interest. Marco stayed up late that night, talking to Master Li and Little Li about fire medicine. He wanted to know the exact proportions of the ingredients and the dangers in mixing them.

We left the next morning, leaving the young dragons in the care of Little Li, who promised to find a way to get them to Nesruddin's palace in Da-li. As we headed back to Da-li, we talked nonstop about the best way to transport them to the Great Khan in Khanbalik.

By the time we returned to Da-li, Suren's distrust of Marco had vanished.

Marco said he planned to go to the market in Carajan City and buy large quant.i.ties of saltpeter, which, Master Li had told him, was common and cheap in this warm southern climate.

Marco and I had not had one moment alone, but I felt closer to him than ever.

27 To Battle

When we reached Da-li, after an absence of six days, I expected everyone would be eager to hear our tales of dragon hunting. With eight live young dragons to care for and transport, Marco could no longer keep his mission a secret, although he warned us not to reveal that his purpose was to cure the Great Khan's ailment.

But in Da-li, everyone was too busy to listen to our stories. The moment we entered the city gate, I could see that the populace was in an uproar.

A pa.s.serby told us the king of Burma was headed toward the border region of Vochan with a huge army. Apparently, he had heard about the buildup of Mongol troops and decided to defeat them before the Great Khan could send a bigger army. Impudence!

General Nesruddin had begun organizing his troops for battle. He had only about twelve thousand hors.e.m.e.n, against a Burmese force rumored to be huge, so he needed every soldier he could get. Abaji had traveled with only twenty trained hors.e.m.e.n plus us thirty recruits, but he offered our services for the battle.

I couldn't believe my good fortune. Less than four months after joining the army, I would fight in my first battle. My muscles tensed, eager for action. Of course, I knew nothing of war, only the fast heartbeat I had felt listening to the tales of old storytellers in the safety of the Khan's court. I a.s.sumed I, too, would survive to tell great tales. Only the unknown died in battle.

I felt no fear. I was confident that the greatest army on earth would easily defeat these upstarts from a small, little-known kingdom to the south. The Mongol army conquered all.

The day we left for Vochan was like none other in my life. I packed my things on my horse as I had many times, but it seemed I was outside myself, watching. Every sound was magnified: the whinnying of horses, the slap of saddles landing on their backs, the creaks of the leather belts being pulled tight under horse bellies, the mud sucking my boots, the flapping banners, the high-energy voices of men heading off to battle. Suren could not stop talking, but I found myself almost silent, in awe.

We rode out of the city gate in rows of ten, one squad per row, wearing our full leather armor, a sword on the left, a bow on the right. Two full quivers on our backs held twenty lightweight long-distance arrows and twenty short-distance ones, with heavier tips. Our plan was to return to Da-li after the battle.

Although twelve thousand was considered a very small army, to me it seemed huge. I could not see the front of the line or the back. Each of us was also equipped with a mace and a dagger. I hated the mace, a crude weapon, a spiked ball on the end of a stick, a blunt force requiring no skill or training. But we were ordered to carry it.

We rode five days westward through the jungled hills toward the town of Vochan in the border province of Zardandan. Each night, we slept on the ground along the narrow road, and Suren kept close to me. The evening after we left, it began to rain, and the downfall continued most of the five days-a cold, continuous rain typical of winter in these parts. We were soaked, but the dreary weather could not dampen our spirits.

Marco joined us on the journey to Vochan, though he was no warrior. Nesruddin encouraged him to go so he could tell the story of the victory to the Great Khan. Marco had purchased a gray mare, to replace Principessa. He rode, I heard, near the rearguard. I did not see him during our journey, but I wondered how he was faring in the rain.

When we arrived at Vochan, we pitched our tents on a plain, a large greensward surrounded by hills on three sides. On the fourth stood a great wood, thick with trees. The rain stopped, and we spread out our belongings to dry. My boots were caked with mud. The warm baths and clean beds of Nesruddin's palace now seemed a distant memory.

Nesruddin commanded us to rest and renew ourselves. He used the time to give his colonels instructions for the upcoming battle. The king of Burma was known to employ as many as one hundred elephants in battle. Even the experienced soldiers among us had never faced elephants. I could not imagine how the Burmese could get the giant creatures over the mountain pa.s.ses from Burma to the Plain of Vochan.

Marco stayed in Nesruddin's large tent with him and Abaji. I envied Marco for his having the chance to listen to the two generals strategize before the battle. But I also pitied him because he had to camp with such a great host of Mongol hors.e.m.e.n but was not equipped or trained to fight. What would he do, watch from a nearby hillside?

Two days after we arrived, we saw great clouds of dust and heard the thundering of the enemy troops arriving at the distant end of the Plain of Vochan, about a mile away. The sound vibrated ominously in my body. The enemy poured over a low hill, thousands upon thousands, mostly foot soldiers but also hors.e.m.e.n. We jumped to arms, but soon it was obvious that the Burmese troops were making camp there after their long march over the mountains. The proximity of the enemy made my blood churn. How dare they invade the Khan's Empire?

Where the Burmese pitched camp, at the far end of the plain, it looked as if they had built a city. We could see and smell the smoke from their campfires. They were preparing for battle the next day.

In late afternoon, the distant thundering grew louder. The enemy's elephants were arriving over the low hill. I was amazed by their sheer number. Marching twenty abreast, they advanced onto the plain, row after row after row.

All twelve thousand of us Mongol soldiers watched in shocked silence as the ma.s.sive army of elephants crested the hill and advanced. The ground under our feet shook from their stomping. If their intent was to instill fear, they succeeded. I tried to control the dread swelling in my gut, but I had never felt so overwhelmed.

By the time the thundering stopped, more than two thousand elephants, all equipped for war, had marched onto the Plain of Vochan. How the king of Burma had achieved such a feat was a mystery. I could not believe that so many of these giant creatures existed in the world.

A scout returned, and I crowded with other soldiers to hear his breathless report. ”They are large and fearsome, the largest beasts in the world,” he said. ”Each one carries on its back a fortress of wood, well framed and strong, full of archers. At least twelve, maybe sixteen, on each elephant. All well armed.”

I quickly calculated. The archers on elephant-back alone far outnumbered our twelve thousand, and that was only one-third the number of troops the king of Burma had brought to Vochan.

All told, there were indeed sixty thousand Burmese troops. They outnumbered us five to one.

Clearly, the king of Burma was planning the battle to end all battles. We had been caught unawares, with the greatest strength of the Khan's army a two-month march to the east. There was no time to get reinforcements.

Many of us would not survive this battle. I looked at those around me, whom I had come to know well. How many of us would be trampled to death by elephants, felled by archers, or cleaved in two by swords?

Valor, I repeated to myself. It will take valor to face them. But another voice in my head kept repeating a different word: folly folly. I tried to suppress that thought.

Standing next to me on the Plain of Vochan, Suren spoke so low no one else could hear. ”You and I must leave this place at once.”

I couldn't believe he would say such a thing. ”Why?”

”I have strict orders, from the Khan. You are to return to Khanbalik alive.”

”What?” I was incensed. ”You want to flee before the battle has begun?”

”No, I don't. But you are a woman and cannot die on this battlefield.”

I laughed nervously. ”Those are the Great Khan's orders?”

”Yes. I have sworn to protect you.”

The Khan had allowed me to join the army, but he expected me to flee from battle. Suddenly, Suren, with his broad, kind face, seemed like the enemy. ”I'd rather die here than have it told that I fled in fear.”

It was as if Old Master were inside my head, shaping my words. He had molded my beliefs as a child so fully that I saw myself as part of a legend, conscious of a role I was acting. The thought of fleeing did not tempt me.

I could see conflicting intentions on Suren's face. He had not chosen this a.s.signment. I touched his shoulder. ”Together you and I will tell the Great Khan about our first battle. I will a.s.sure him that you tried to stop me.”

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