Shan Yu, Ulaan and Shirchin found Lasuluun bent
over his bed of furs, staring down at a neatly folded gift that had been
laid there. A pair of finely stitched trousers of soft, tanned gazelle
skin dropped from their folds as he lifted them for his companions to
see. He grinned and gestured to their beds, where similar offerings had
been left. "Are they trying to tell us something?"
Gingerly, Shirchin picked up the knee-length
del laid on his bed and held it up to his shoulders without
touching it to his muddy body. The soft, dark blue fabric fell in a
perfect mimic of his form. A fur-lined hat of the same cloth also lay
there, along with a pair of gazelle leather trousers. The big man almost
seemed to blush when he noticed the new loincloth folded neatly on his
bed.
"Ondalho will wonder what I did to deserve a
gift like this!" he observed sheepishly, holding the strip of linen
at arm's length.
Shan Yu gathered up his own, and rolled the fabric
of the del between his fingers. The finely woven, dark green
fibers were shot through with a faint pattern of interlocking circles.
"Chinese textiles," he said. "Fine, expensive silk. Sukhe's traders
must be doing very well to afford things like this. It looks as if
we’re still honored guests, even after Batu and Gaitan's adventures
with the village girls."
At once, his head shot up. He dropped the clothes
on his furs and strode purposefully out of the ger, leaving Lasuluun,
Ulaan and Shirchin to exchange puzzled glances until their
commander’s voice boomed from next door. "You louts! Don't put
those on until you're washed! Haven’t your wives taught you
anything?"
Temur and Altan arrived presently to escort them
along the winding canyon path leading to the hotsprings. Deep into the
wooded canyon, the path forked and the brothers turned sharply right.
"Don't go that way, Noyon," said Altan
gesturing to the left. "The Priestess might turn even you into
marmots if she catches you down there!"
Before long, drifts of sulfur began to mask the
earthy tang of the alders and willows that drank the river singing beyond
the trees. Laughing male voices barked sharply over the rush of water.
The group emerged onto the smoothly eroded rock border of a large,
steaming pool. A few dozen village men, neck deep in the spring, yelled a
greeting to the newcomers.
"Hottest parts are over there,
Noyon," said Altan, pointing to the edge of the spring as he
shed his clothes. "You’ll have no trouble finding the cold
areas!" He dove into the water, surfaced with a yelp and turned,
gasping. "Like this one!" he panted. "Oi! The
current’s changed!" Flipping his long hair away from his face,
he dove under the surface to seek warmer water.
Shan Yu could see from the corner of his eye that
the village men were trying politely not to stare as he and his men
stripped down to join them. But the Urga natives could hardly help
themselves. They were not accustomed to seeing men who had spent most of
their lives training their bodies for war, and not herding.
Shirchin was the first to cautiously lower his
great, lean bulk into the water. His chest was nearly twice as broad as
an average man’s. His belly, flat and hard as stone, was a double
row of square, bunched muscles. Like many of his far northern race, he
was thatched from collarbone to ankle with thick, black hair that made him
look half bear, despite his cleanshaven jaw.
Gaitan and Batu followed. They were nearly
hairless, their massive muscles all the more visible for it. Each sinew
flexed and stretched as they waded, arms outstretched for balance. Both
brothers sported enough scars to speak clearly of fierce battles survived
and fiercer enemies who had not. Batu’s head was completely shaven,
as was Gaitan’s, save for a short, bristling mane down the center of
his scalp. The two took great pride in sculpting their facial hair into
fierce, snarling moustaches. Even now, wincing as they contacted icy
currents among the hotsprings, their faces showed the fearsome effect of
their efforts. A faint, grim smile tugged at Shan Yu's lip. Sloshing
through the steaming pool, the three huge warriors might look to the Urga
men like demons freshly emerged from the world of Erleg Khan.
He glanced to his side at Lasuluun and Ulaan.
Though closer in size to the Urga men, they, too, were scarred towers of
well-defined muscle and bone. Clothed, Ulaan looked almost thin. But
stripped of the baggy clothes that lent that illusion, his sleek body
fairly danced with long, round muscles that played quickly and smoothly
under his thin skin. He unselfconsciously surveyed the pool, dove in and
moved under the surface as gracefully as an otter.
Lasuluun was hanging his old shirt on a gently
bouncing pine branch. The tracker’s form was typically Avar. His
sculpted back was long and muscular, his haunches taut and narrow over
short, powerful legs. Slow and deliberate, he moved with the strength and
grace of a snow leopard, and could strike as quickly and as finally. Shan
Yu knew his old friends’ more gentle sides. But as he watched the
villagers’ expressions pass from curiosity to deference, he suddenly
could see his men through the herdsmen’s eyes. He knew then, beyond
doubt, that despite the ease they had shown in the corrals, no matter
their playfulness in the muddy game at the Stone Hall, his warriors would
have no trouble commanding complete respect from the troops once they
reached the training grounds in the Gobi.
For a brief, painful moment, the proud face of Kong
Xiang flashed through his mind. He shut his eyes with a frown, silently
sending a blessing to his father's memory as he banished the image.
Tossing the last of his clothes onto the rock, he dropped into the pool,
intentionally landing in the same icy spot that Altan had found. It
helped clear his mind.
Lasuluun was about to dive in when he paused,
noticing a generous pile of clean, rough cloths laid on the rock at the
edge of the trees.
"For drying off!" called one of the
village men in the pool. "We have all the latest luxuries here in
Urga!" Lasuluun waved an acknowledgement, then walked over to
examine a basket of small, yellowish bricks laid beside the towels. He
laughed in surprise and raised one brick to his nose.
"Soap!" He sniffed and gave an
exaggerated start. "Woo! Cedar oil! This ought to kill anything!"
He looked down at Shan Yu, neck deep near the rock’s edge, and gave a
wicked grin. "Batu and Gaitan will smell as sweet as little girls."
Lasuluun tossed several bricks into the water. Shan Yu caught two in one
hand and trod water to turn himself around.
"Batu! Gaitan!" he barked. The twins
whipped their heads around to face him. "Time to thin the
herds!" He flung the bars at their heads, wincing as they
practically knocked each other over trying to dodge the scented
projectiles. Batu pawed after one of the bobbing soaps that had splashed
beside him and captured it.
"Yes, Khagan!" he grinned. "Once a
year is fine!"
Batu, Gaitan, Shirchin and most of the villagers
had left by the time Ulaan roused himself from a blissful reverie in one
of the hottest parts of the spring. Eyes half-closed and hands folded
behind his head against the bank, he spoke to Shan Yu and Lasuluun, who
were soaking nearby.
"It would bring good fortune on us and the
newlyweds if we were to bring them a gift."
Lasuluun opened one eye and scanned from side to
side. "That's funny," he said. "I would swear I just heard Iriltai.
Shan, did you just hear Iriltai talking?"
Ulaan opened his eyes, flicked his gaze over his
companions’ faces and seemed relieved to find them non-judgmental.
"Very amusing," he said. Then he smiled languidly and slipped
lower into the pool. "You know as well as I do that she'd be chasing us
off to at least bring them some game."
"Is that why you brought your bow?" said
Lasuluun, scratching lazily. "I wondered."
"Let's go, then," said Shan Yu, glancing up at
the sun.
Reluctantly, the three pulled themselves from the
warm water into the breeze and toweled off. Clad in the new red
del and tan trousers he had been given, Lasuluun held his old,
weather-beaten shirt at arm’s length and eyed it with mild disdain.
"Almost doesn’t seem worth keeping!"
"You'll want it again once we're on the trail,"
said Shan Yu. "You'd be an easy target from across the valley in what
you're wearing now."
Hoping to find an area that had not recently been
disturbed, the men crossed to the opposite bank. They climbed several
hundred feet up the canyon before flushing three summer-fat chukars which
Ulaan brought to earth as quickly as they took flight.
As they collected their prey, the men bowed their
heads to each one and thanked it for giving its life in sustenance of
Qaidu and Kaaje. As they did, Shan Yu closed his eyes. Of all the
customs he had learned in his years with the tribes, he always found this
one touching. It spoke simply and completely of their grave acceptance of
themselves as a small part of a greater whole on which their lives
depended.
"Let me carry them in case they drip,"
offered Lasuluun. "No one will notice a bloodstain on this
del." Even the Tracker seemed amused by the bright colors he was
wearing.
The three men tramped back down the slope until
they found an old, disused trail, overgrown with branches. Not sure
exactly where it would lead, they followed it in the general direction of
Urga. They moved silently. The new, soft leather boots they had been
given were not designed for long travels, but they made almost no sound on
the gravel path. As they descended, the old trail cut faintly along a
swath of chin-high young aspens. A fire had taken the older trees, and
from this vantage they could see clearly to the river, now only about a
hundred feet below them. Ulaan led the way, with Shan Yu bringing up the
rear.
They had walked only a few feet into the clear area
when Shan Yu, his eyes fixed closely on the trail, collided with Lasuluun,
who had come to a complete and sudden halt in mid-stride behind Ulaan.
"What the...!" Shan Yu started in
annoyance, only to be stifled by Lasuluun’s hand across his mouth.
He drew back and shook his head with a frown, then noticed his companions
gawking, wide-eyed, down the slope. Ulaan’s upper arm was clutched
close to his side, but his forearm was extended down, one long finger
pointing towards the river. Slowly Shan Yu turned his head to follow the
gesture.
The sight made him draw his breath deeply.
"Ah," he whispered with a broad smile. "Might this get us
turned into marmots?"
Below them, easily visible between the aspen
branches, village women were bathing in a hotspring. Tall pines and
aspens shaded the pool on the western side. But from the eastern side,
the men’s view was unobstructed, though they themselves were fairly
well obscured by the yellow foliage of the young trees bordering the
trail.
Along the shore, a few grey-haired grandmothers
were laving warm water and soap onto squirming toddlers. Mothers and
young daughters swam together, their dark hair floating behind them in the
rippling currents. Voluptuous women, thin ones, plump ones, all were
bathing in the bubbling pool.
But it was the small group towards the southern end
of the pond that had caught Ulaan’s attention. It seemed that the
loveliest of Urga’s young women were bathing together there. The
three men gazed, unblinking, at their graceful, golden forms. The women
were laughing and talking as they washed each other's hair and sponged
foamy soap over each other's smooth skin. Some were slender and willowy,
with narrow, almost boyish hips. Others were more curvaceous and
round.
"By my grandfather's beard," Ulaan sighed softly.
"I am liking this place more and more with each passing
moment."
They fell silent, watching and drinking the sight.
Lasuluun broke the silence with a whisper.
"Isn’t that Somiya?" He gave Ulaan
a congratulatory nudge with his shoulder. "Not bad, Old Man!"
Ulaan returned the compliment with a jab in the ribs that made Lasuluun
grunt, but didn’t silence him. "And there comes Marayash."
All three scanned over to where Marayash had
emerged from the shadows. She rose from the water, momentarily lifting a
silvery curtain along with her soft, slender form. The tawny skin molded
smoothly over her round, uplifted breasts and curved hips and thighs was
as flawless as a desert dune after a storm. She lifted her long, supple
arms to wring her hair, glided to the edge of the trees and bent down to
take a towel. Her every silken move was made with complete confidence and
grace, her brightly lit beauty almost preternatural.
"Great Mother..." sighed Lasuluun. "What
pillows those breasts would make for a spent man."
As he spoke, another woman emerged from between the
trees. Her skin was the tone of seasoned ivory, lighter than that of the
girls in the pool. She reached back to release the tight knot at the nape
of her neck and shook her head to free a thick coil that bounced down
below her waist. Damp with sweat and dusty though it was, her hair
flashed bronze, dark gold and copper in the sun. Shan Yu caught his
breath and uttered a barely audible expletive. It was Tianlin.
Speechless, he stared. Her form, shaped from a
different mold by her Western and Hun ancestors, was unlike those of the
village girls. Her shoulders and chest were broad and strong, her long
torso tapering to a small, deeply curved waist. Her full breasts, hips
and buttocks were taut and firm, her lean belly as flat as the cliff
walls. Her legs were those of a nomad rider, shapely, short and powerful,
with well-formed muscles that flickered faintly into view under her
softness as she moved. She slipped into the pool, crossed it with a few
smooth strokes, and emerged on the opposite side to fetch a brick of
soap. Standing for a moment on the stone bank, she gazed out over the
pool, her curves shining wetly in the low sunlight.
"Gazar Eej..." breathed Shan Yu.
"Did Gaitan say something about her being ‘more like a man than
a woman?’"
Lasuluun murmured beside him. "He hasn't seen
her unwrapped!"
Ulaan smiled and folded his arms, "Perhaps our
brother was referring to the fact that she could probably break Shan in
half with those legs."
"I don’t know," Shan Yu breathed,
smiling ever more broadly, "but I’d be willing to let her
try."
"I suppose we shouldn't delay their festivities,"
Lasuluun said, not sounding particularly eager to move
on. "How soon do we have to move on to be back in time for…"
As the words left him, the three men saw Tianlin
stiffen and raise her head, as if hearing an unwelcome sound in the
trees. She paused, waiting. Then her shoulders dropped slightly, and her
head tilted to the side as she ever so slowly turned completely around and
raised her face to the trail from where the men watched. Instantly, she
found Shan Yu’s gaze. His eyes went wide. He half expected her to
shriek and dive into the pool. But she merely folded her arms under her
breasts and fixed him with a withering stare. The look shot him back
twenty years when he had stood, blushing, stammering and unable to
correctly recite his lesson under the similar reproachful gaze of his old
Chinese astronomy teacher.
Without moving enough to betray the men’s
presence, Tianlin lifted the index finger nestled below her full, wet
breast and pointed towards the trail leading back to the village.
"Now seems appropriate!" Shan Yu said,
straightening quickly without breaking Tianlin’s stern gaze.
Lasuluun and Ulaan smiled, turned and marched obediently down the trail.
With one hand, Shan Yu tossed her a merry salute. Then, chuckling under
his breath, he turned and sauntered down the trail after his men.
Shan Yu, Ulaan and Shirchin found Lasuluun bent
over his bed of furs, staring down at a neatly folded gift that had been
laid there. A pair of finely stitched trousers of soft, tanned gazelle
skin dropped from their folds as he lifted them for his companions to
see. He grinned and gestured to their beds, where similar offerings had
been left. "Are they trying to tell us something?"