Genghis assessed the man he faced, fascinated. He had forced the idea of a nation on the tribes, but it was not shared by men like Chen Yi, not yet. Each city might have been ruled by the Chin emperor, but they did not look to him for leadership, or feel part of his family. It was clear that the nobles took their authority from the emperor. It was also clear that Chen Yi hated them for their arrogance, wealth, and power. The knowledge could be useful.

"I have felt their gaze on my own people, Chen Yi," he said. "We have become a nation to resist them-no, to crush them."

"And will you then rule as they did?" Chen Yi asked, hearing the bitterness in his tone before he could stop himself. He felt a dangerous freedom in talking to the khan, he realized. The usual curbs and cautions on his tongue were flimsy protection under that yellow gaze. To his relief, Genghis chuckled.

"I have not given thought to what comes after the battles. Perhaps I will rule. Is that not the right of a conqueror?"

Chen Yi took a deep breath before replying. "To rule, yes, but will your lowest-ranking warrior walk like an emperor among those you have conquered? Will he sneer and take whatever he has not earned?"

Genghis stared at him. "The nobles are the family of the emperor? If you are asking if my family will take what they want, of course they will. The strong rule, Chen Yi. Those who are not strong dream of it." He paused, trying to understand. "You would have me bind my people by petty rules?" he asked.

Chen Yi took another deep breath. He had spent his life with spies and falsehood, protection layered on protection against the day when the emperor's army would root him out in fire and blood from the city. That day had not come. Instead, he found himself facing one before whom he could speak without any restraint. He would never again have such an opportunity.

"I understand what you have said, but will that right be passed on to their sons and grandsons, further? When some cruel weakling kills a boy a hundred years from now, will no one dare protest because your blood is in him?"

Genghis remained motionless. After a long time, he shook his head. "I do not know these Chin nobles, but my own sons will rule after me, if they have the strength. Perhaps in a hundred years, my descendants will still rule and be these nobles you despise." He shrugged, draining his cup.

"Most men are like sheep," he went on. "They are not as we are." He waved away Chen Yi's reply. "Do you doubt it? How many in this city can match your influence, your power, even before I came? Most cannot lead-the idea terrifies them. Yet for those like you and me, there is no greater joy than knowing there is no help coming. The decision is ours alone." He gestured wildly with his cup, spilling some of the wine. Chen Yi broke the wax seal on another bottle and poured the wine once more.

The silence grew strained. To the surprise of both men, it was Ho Sa who broke it.

"I have sons," he said. "I have not seen them in three years. When they are grown, they will follow me into the army. When men hear they are mine, they will expect more from them. They will rise faster than a man with no name. I am content with that. For that, I work hard and endure anything."

"They will never be noble, those soldier sons of yours," Chen Yi said. "A boy from the great houses would order them to their deaths in a fire just to save a pot like the one I broke tonight."

Genghis frowned, troubled by the image. "You would make all men the same?"

Chen Yi shrugged. His thoughts swirled in wine and he didn't know he spoke in the Chin tongue.

"I am not a fool. I know there is no law for the emperor, or his family. All law comes from him and the army he wields. He cannot be under it like other men. For the rest, though, for the thousands of parasites who feed from his hand, why should they be allowed to murder and steal without punishment?" He emptied his cup as Ho Sa translated, nodding as if the soldier spoke in agreement.

Genghis stretched his back, wishing for the first time that Temuge were there to argue the point for him. He had intended to speak to Chen Yi and understand the strange breed that lived in cities. Instead, the little man made his head swim.

"If one of my warriors wishes to marry," Genghis said, "he finds an enemy and kills him, taking whatever he owns. He gives those horses and goats to the girl's father. Is that murder and theft? If I forbade that, I would make them weak." He was light-headed from the wine, but his mood was mellow and once more he filled the three cups.

"Does this warrior take from his own family, his own tribe?" Chen Yi asked.

"No. He would be a criminal, beneath contempt if he did," Genghis replied. Even before Chen Yi spoke again, he saw where the little man was going.

"Then what of your tribes now that they are bound together?" Chen Yi said, leaning forward. "What will you do if all Chin lands are yours?"

It was a dizzying concept. It was true that Genghis had already forbidden young tribesmen to raid each other, instead providing marriage gifts from his own herd. It was not a solution he could maintain for long. What Chen Yi suggested was merely an extension of that peace, though it would encompass lands so vast it was difficult to imagine.

"I will think on it," he said, slurring slightly. "Such thoughts are too rich to be eaten in one sitting." He smiled. "Especially as the Chin emperor remains safe in his city and we have barely begun. Perhaps next year I will be scattered bones."

"Or you will have broken the nobles in their forts and cities," Chen Yi said, "and have a chance to change it all. You are a man of vision. You showed that when you spared Baotou."

Genghis shook his head blearily. "My word is iron. When all else is lost, there is still that. But if I had not spared Baotou, it would have been another city."

"I do not understand," Chen Yi replied.

Genghis turned his hard gaze on him again. "The cities will not surrender if there is no benefit to them." He raised a clenched fist and Chen Yi's gaze was drawn to it. "Here, I have the threat of bloodshed, worse than anything they can imagine. Once I raise the red tent, they know they will lose every man within the walls. When they see the black, they know they will all die." He shook his head. "If death is all I offer, they have no choice but to fight to the last man." He dropped the fist and reached again for a fresh cup, which Chen Yi filled with shaking hands.

"If I spare even one city, the word will spread that they do not need to fight. They can choose to surrender when the white tent goes up. That is why I spared Baotou. That is why you still live."

Genghis recalled his other reason for seeking the meeting with Chen Yi. His mind seemed to have lost its customary sharpness, and he thought perhaps he should not have drunk quite so much.

"Do you have maps in this city? Maps of the lands to the east?"

Chen Yi felt dazed at the insight he had been given. The man who faced him was a conqueror who would not be stopped by the feeble Chin nobles and their corrupt armies. He shivered suddenly, seeing a future filled with flames.

"There is a library," he said, stammering slightly. "It has been forbidden to me until now. I do not think the soldiers destroyed it before they left."

"I need maps," Genghis replied. "Will you look over them with me? Help me plan the destruction of your emperor?"

Chen Yi had matched him drink for drink and his thoughts spun themselves to wisps in his head. He thought of his dead son, hanged by nobles who would not even look at a man of low birth. Let the world change, he thought. Let them all burn.

"He is not my emperor, lord. Everything in this city is yours. I will do what I can. If you want scribes to write new laws, I will send them to you."