THE YNGLING AND THE CIRCLE OF POWER by John Dalmas

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peror. I believe that this foreigner”—with a scornful head toss he indicated Fong—”has spelled you, and caused you to decide as you have. He is a wizard. We both know that. I believe he is a wizard who knows how to spell people secretly.”

Kaidu’s face first paled, then darkened with blood, and his brows knotted, but Achikh plunged on. “I believe your earlier plan, to invade the Yakut-Russ, was far bet­ter. For then the Buriat would stay a free people, not commanded by any Tibetan. The emperor has promised us honor and wealth and vast lands, but when we have been separated from our families and our herds, and great Chinese armies lie between, what . . .”

“SILENCE!!!”

Kaidu was trembling with anger now. With more than anger. Fong’s hypnoconditioning had caused him to do what he would not otherwise do, given the circum­stances, his heritage, and the information he had. And his brother’s words had forced these incompatibilities into contact in Kaidu’s mind. Nor had he any way to rationalize them; the only responses available were ir­rational, and he sensed this but could do nothing about it. Further, he had committed his honor, his chief­taincy, his people to this plan, and Achikh’s words shot doubt into his mind. Fong knew it, but dared not inter­vene now.

Achikh knew it too, but the cannon shot of Kaidu’s enraged command paralyzed his tongue. It seemed to him that he was a dead man, or would be before night­fall. So he did what seemed to him the most honorable thing. His sword hissed from its scabbard, and Kaidu’s guards, as shocked as Achikh by their chief’s explosion, reacted slowly. The younger brother took one stride for­ward, and although the Chinese tried to avoid it, his blade sliced through Fong’s fending hand and took him in the side of the neck, cutting through muscle, severing the spine. Blood fountained as the emperor’s envoy top­pled sideways, his head flopping on one shoulder, more than half cut off.

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Then Kaidu sprang upon Achikh insanely, hands at his throat, and Achikh let fall his sword, unwilling to spill his brother’s life. They fell to the bloody floor mat, Kaidu on top, panting, his hands choking.

THIRTY-ONE

After riding for several days, Hans and Baver had en­tered a stretch of the driest land they’d seen, a true desert. There they met a party of Mongols, who threat­ened them. Kaidu’s safe conduct stood them in good stead then. That and their seeming lack of valuables, beyond their weapons and their few horses. The Mongols were Khalkhaz traders and their retainers and slaves, who’d been to the imperial capital. In appearance the merchants didn’t match Baver’s preconceptions, for they carried swords, bows, and well-filled quivers, and looked fully competent with them. Their short robes, though, were of silk instead of the customary wool, and they had a caravan of camels trailing behind, laden with goods from the empire.

Neither Baver nor Hans had seen a camel before, though Baver knew them from history courses on New Home. The camel’s padded hooves did not much mark the road, but the many horses did, and after the caravan, there seemed little hope of finding Nils’s tracks. In fact, though neither said it, there seemed little hope of finding Nils. But they’d keep on. What else could they do?

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Several days later they passed what Baver thought must be a courier—a small wiry man on horseback, ri­ding hard, with a small string of remounts cantering be­hind. The man scarcely glanced at them as he passed trailing a train of dust.

The Mongolian Plateau began to break into ridges and mostly rounded canyons, with here and there groves of pine or birch or other trees on sheltered north and east-facing slopes. One day they heard the deep croaking of a raven, and looked up. Both remembered Svartvinge, and regretted his loss.

The next morning, ahead and to their right, they saw a great defensive wall crossing a ridge crest, and this too Baver knew from courses he’d taken. It had stood far longer than pre-plague cities, which had been mostly of knock-down construction, their buildings built to be replaced.