He stepped out to meet the killers.
An eerie howl echoed through the camp and the assassins slowed in their advance.
Then the demon was upon them. A back-handed blow sent a man ten feet through the air. A second fell as her taloned hand opened his throat. Her speed was awesome. Tenaka ran forward, parried a thrust from a squat warrior, and slid his own blade between the man’s ribs.
Ingis raced in with forty warriors and the assassins lowered their weapons, standing sullen-eyed before the Khan.
Tenaka cleaned his sword and then sheathed it.
‘Find out who sent them,’ he told Ingis, then strode to where Subodai lay. The man’s left arm was gushing blood and there was a deep wound in his side above the hip.
Tenaka bound the arm. ‘You’ll live!’ he said. ‘But I am surprised at you, allowing yourself to be overcome by a few night-stalkers.’
‘Slipped on some mud,’ muttered Subodai defensively.
Two men came forward to carry the injured warrior to Tenaka’s tent. The Khan stood up and looked for Renya, but she was nowhere to be seen. He questioned the warriors nearby and two of them claimed to have seen her running towards the west. Tenaka called for his horse.
Ingis approached him. ‘It is not safe to go after her alone.’
‘No. Yet I must do it.’
He climbed into the saddle and galloped through the camp. It was too dark to see a trail, but he rode on and out on to the Steppes. There was no sign of her.
Several times he slowed his horse and called out, but there was no response. Finally he stopped his mount and sat quietly staring at the land around him. Ahead to the left was a small grove of trees, screened by thick bushes. He turned his horse’s head and cantered towards them, but suddenly the horse pulled up, whinnying in fear. Tenaka calmed the beast, stroking its neck and whispering soft words into its ear, but he could not make it move forward. He dismounted and drew his sword.
Logic told him that whatever was in the bushes could not be Renya, for the horse knew her. Yet something other than logic prevailed in his mind.
‘Renya!’ he called. The sound that greeted his call was like nothing he had ever heard: a keening, sibilant wail. He sheathed his sword and walked slowly forward.
‘Renya! It is Tenaka.’
The bushes exploded outwards and her body hit him with immense force, hurling him from his feet to land on his back. One of her hands was locked about his throat; the other hovered above his eyes, the fingers curved into talons. He lay still, staring into her tawny eyes. The pupils had become slits, long and oval. Slowly he lifted his hand to hers. The feral gleam died in her eyes and the grip on his throat loosened. Then her eyes closed and she slumped forward into his arms. Gently he rolled her on to her back.
The sound of hooves on the Steppes caused him to push himself upright. Ingis galloped into sight, his forty warriors behind him, and leapt from the saddle. ‘Is she dead?’
‘No, sleeping. What news?’
‘The dogs would say nothing. I killed all but one and he is being questioned now.’
‘Good! And Subodai?’
‘A lucky man. He will heal swiftly.’
‘Then all is well,’ said Tenaka. ‘Now help me get my woman home.’
‘All is well?’ echoed Ingis. ‘There is a traitor at large and we must find him.’
‘He failed, Ingis. He will be dead by morning.’
‘How can you be sure?’
‘Wait and see.’
*
Tenaka saw Renya safely installed in his tent before accompanying Ingis to the place where the assassin was being questioned. The man had been tied to a tree and his fingers had been broken, one at a time. Now a fire was being prepared beneath his feet. Tenaka walked forward and stopped the torturers.
‘Your master is dead,’ he told the man. ‘There is no further need of this. How do you wish to die?’
‘I don’t care.’
‘Do you have family?’
‘They know nothing of this,’ said the man, fear in his eyes.