"Your son will be a fine warrior," Kachiun murmured. Genghis winced at the words and Kachiun did not look at him, knowing the expression he would see.

"While they can retreat behind walls five times higher than a man," Genghis said stubbornly, "they can laugh at us riding around on the plains. What does their king care for a few hundred villages? We have barely stung him while this Yinchuan city sits safe and he resides in it."

Kachiun did not respond as Chagatai rode the line. His arrow cut the wand, but his flailing hand failed to snatch it before it fell. Jochi laughed at his brother and Kachiun saw Chagatai's face darken in anger. They knew their father was watching, of course.

At his back, Genghis made his decision, rising to his feet.

"Get the men sober and ready to march. I will see this city of stone that so impressed the scouts. Somehow or other there must be a way in." He did not show his brother the worries that plagued him. He had never seen a city girdled in high walls as his scouts described. He hoped that the sight of it would bring some insight into how he could enter without seeing his army dash itself uselessly against the stone.

As Kachiun left to relay the orders, he saw Chagatai had said something to his older brother. Jochi leaped from his pony as he passed, sending them both thumping into the ground in a flurry of elbows and bare feet. Kachiun grinned as he passed them, remembering his own childhood.

The land they had found beyond the mountains was fertile and rich. Perhaps they would have to fight to keep it, but he could not imagine a force capable of defeating the army they had brought a thousand miles from their home. As a boy, he had once levered a huge rock free on a hillside and seen the way it gathered speed. At first it was slow, but after only a little time, it was unstoppable.

Scarlet was the Xi Xia color for war. The king's soldiers wore armor lacquered in vivid red, and the room where Rai Chiang met his general was unadorned except for polished walls of the same shade. Only a single table spoiled the echoing emptiness, and both men stood to gaze down at maps of the region, held with lead weights. The original secession from the Chin had been planned within those red walls; it was a place to save and win a kingdom, rich with its own history. General Giam's lacquered armor was such a perfect match for the room that he almost vanished against the walls. Rai Chiang himself wore a tunic of gold over black silk trousers.

The general was white-haired, a man of dignity. He could feel the history of the Xi Xia hanging heavy in the air of that ancient room, as heavy as the responsibility he would bear himself.

He placed another marker of ivory on the lines of dark blue ink.

"Their camp is here, Majesty, not far from where they entered the kingdom. They send their warriors out to raid a hundred li in every direction."

"A man cannot ride further in a day, so they must make other camps for the night," Rai Chiang murmured. "Perhaps we can attack them there."

His general shook his head slightly, unwilling to openly contradict his king. "They do not rest, Majesty, or stop for food. We have scouts who say they ride that far and then back from dawn to sunset. When they take prisoners, they are slower, driving them before them. They have no infantry and carry supplies with them from the main camp."

Rai Chiang frowned delicately, knowing that would be enough criticism to make the general sweat in his presence.

"Their camp is not important, General. The army must engage and break these riders who have caused so much destruction. I have a report of a pile of dead peasants as high as a mountain. Who will gather the crops? The city could starve even if these invaders left us today!"

General Giam made his face a mask rather than risk further anger. "Our army will need time to form and prepare the ground. With the royal guard to lead them, I can have the fields sown with spikes that will destroy any charge. If the discipline is good, we will crush them."

"I would have preferred to have Chin soldiers with my own militia," Rai Chiang said as if to himself.

The general cleared his throat, knowing it was a sensitive subject. "All the more need for your own guards, Majesty. The militia are little better than peasants with weapons. They cannot stand on their own."

Rai Chiang turned his pale eyes on his general. "My father had forty thousand trained soldiers to man the walls of Yinchuan. As a child, I watched the red ranks parade through the city on his birthday and there seemed no end to them." He grimaced irritably. "I have listened to fools and counted the cost of so many over the dangers we could face. There are barely twenty thousand in my own guard and you would have me send them out? Who then would defend the city? Who would form the teams for the great bows and hold the walls? Do you think the peasants and merchants will be of any use to us once my guard have gone out? There will be food riots and fires. Plan to win without them, General. There is no other way."

General Giam had been born to one of the king's uncles, and promotion had come easily. Yet he had courage enough to face Rai Chiang's disapproval.

"If you give me ten thousand of your guard, they will steady the others. They will be a core the enemy cannot break."

"Even ten thousand is too many," Rai Chiang snapped.

General Giam swallowed.

"Without cavalry, I cannot win, my lord. With even five thousand guards and three thousand of those on heavy horse, I would have a chance. If you cannot give me that, you should execute me now."

Rai Chiang raised his eyes from the map and found General Giam's gaze steady. He smiled, amused at the bead of sweat that was making its way down the man's cheek.

"Very well. It is a balance between giving you the best we have and still keeping enough to defend the city. Take a thousand cross-bowmen, two of cavalry, and two more of heavy pikes. They will be the core that leads the others against the enemy."

General Giam closed his eyes in silent thanks for an instant. Rai Chiang did not notice as he turned back to the map.

"You may empty the stores of armor. The militia may not be my red guards, but perhaps looking like them will give them courage. It will relieve the boredom of hanging profiteers and whitewashing the barracks, I have no doubt. Do not fail me in this, General."

"I will not, Your Majesty."

Genghis rode at the head of his army, a vast line of horsemen that stretched across the plain of the Xi Xia. As they came to canals, the line would bulge as men raced each other over the drop, laughing and calling to anyone who fell into the dark water and had to ride hard to catch up.

The city of Yinchuan had been a smear on the horizon for hours before Genghis gave the order to halt. Horns sounded up and down the line and the host came to a stop, with echoing orders passing down to alert men on the wings. This was hostile country and they would not be taken by surprise.

The city loomed in the distance. Even miles away, it seemed a massive construction, intimidating in its sheer size. Genghis squinted into the haze of the afternoon sun. The stone the builders had used was a dark gray, and he could see columns that could have been towers inside the walls. He could not guess their purpose and strove not to show his awe in front of the men.

He looked around him, seeing that his people could not be ambushed on such a flat piece of ground. The crops could have hidden crawling soldiers, but his scouts would sight them long before they were close. It was as safe as anywhere could be to set up camp, and he made the decision, dismounting as he gave his orders.

Behind him the tribes scurried in the routines they knew. Gers were lashed together and raised by individual families long used to the work. A village, a town, a city of their own sprang out of the carts and herds of bleating animals. It was not long before Genghis's own cart came up and the smell of frying mutton filled the air.