The tide of victory

accounts of 'hordes' are preposterous. It was always their mounted mobility combined with archery which made them so formidable. But firearms are superior to bows, and no primitive nomads can make the things. Once civilization became armed with guns, the threat from the steppes vanished soon enough.'

She leaned forward. This time, her enthusiasm was so great that she barely noticed the pain that movement caused her. 'I spent many hours, with Belisarius, speaking with the Talisman of God. Let me now pass on to you what the Talisman told me of the future. Of a great nation that would someday have been called Russia, and how it conquered the steppes.'

And so, until long after nightfall, Irene told her Kushans of the great realm they would create. The realm that she called by the odd name of Siberia. A realm which would be created slowly, not overnight. More by traders and explorers and missionaries than armies of conquest-though armies would also come, when needed, from the secure fastnesses of the great mountains which bred them. Slowly, but surely for all that.

Let the Kushans avoid entanglements with Indians and Persians, and there was no power to stymie their purpose in Siberia. The distant Chinese, as ever, were preoccupied with their own affairs. The other power that might contest the area, the nation that would have been called Russia in a different future, was still centuries from birth. Whether it would be born in this new future was not something which Irene could foresee. But, even if it were, it would remain forever on the far side of the Urals. Siberia, with all the great wealth in its vast expanse, would be Kushan.

And so, while the Kushans built the foundation of their own future, they would also shield the rest of civilization from the ravages of barbarism. Having no cause for quarrel over territory, the Romans and the Persians and the Indians would acquiesce in the Kushan control of the great trade routes through central Asia. Might even, when called upon, send money to defray the costs of holding back the barbarians.

In the end, the queen's soldiers were satisfied. The queen's plan appealed to their military caution in the present as much as to their political ambitions for the future. They were small and weak, still. By planting their roots in the protected mountains, not exposing them to the peril of the oases and the plains of the Indus, they would lay the basis for the great Buddhist empire which would eventually spread throughout half of Asia. To the north!

* * *

As they made their way back to their tent, Irene still mincing her steps, Kungas allowed the smile to spread across his face. In the darkness, illuminated only by the cookfires and the few lanterns in the market, there was no one to see that unusually open expression on the king's face.

'That went marvelously well. Tomorrow, of course, you will twist the screw on Baresmanas.'

Irene grimaced. Not at the thought of the next day's negotiations, but simply because her back now seemed like a sea of fire. 'He'll shriek with agony,' she predicted. 'But he'll still give me the guns.'

* * *

As it happened, Baresmanas did not squeal with pain, because he put up no more than a token resistance.

'Please! Please! I can't bear the thought of spending so many hours locked in combat.' For a moment, his patrician Aryan face took on a severity which the most rigid Roman paterfamilias would have envied. 'Not for myself, of course! Perish the thought. But you are a frail woman, in much pain because of the rigors of the journey. So my chivalrous instincts seem to have overwhelmed me. The guns are yours, Irene. The cannons, at any rate. Khusrau insisted that I hang onto the hand-held firearms.'

'I want half of them as well,' snapped Irene. The pain was making her grouchy. 'And three-fourths of the powder and bullets. Your damned dehgans can't use the things properly anyway-and you know it as well as I do!'

Baresmanas shifted uncomfortably in his chair. 'I foresaw this. Even warned the emperor!' He sighed again, and shook his head ruefully. 'Ah, well. We Aryans have always been noted for our chivalry. I am a pawn in your hands.'

Irene eased herself back into her own chair, again using the pressure of her hands on the armrests to stifle the pain in her spine. Then, smiled cheerfully. 'Oh, don't be so gloomy. Khusrau can hardly punish you very severely, after all. Not with your own daughter being the new Empress of Rome! That might start a new war.'

* * *

Three days later, the entire Kushan army departed Marv, leaving Baresmanas and his Persians in sole possession of the fertile oasis. With them went all of the Kushan artisans whom Lord Damodara had resettled in Marv the year before, in the course of his own campaign in the Persian plateau. The Kushan artisans wanted no part of Aryan rule. The Persians were notorious for their haughty ways.

But, still more, they were fired with enthusiasm for the Kushan cause. Most of them, after all, had come from Begram in the first place. And that city-the largest Kushan city in the world, and the center of Kushan industry and craftsmanship-was where Kungas proposed to march next. March upon it-and take it.

* * *

So, as Irene minced her way toward her horse, the Kushan camp followers and the new artisan families which had joined them cheered her on her way. Even more loudly than the Kushan soldiers, who were themselves cheering.

Before she reached the horse, several Kushan soldiers trotted up bearing a palanquin. They urged her to avail herself of the device-even offered, against all custom, to bear it themselves instead of putting slaves to the purpose.

Irene simply shook her head and minced past them. Behind her back, she could hear the gleeful sounds of the wagers being settled.

'The next time I see Antonina,' she muttered bitterly, under her breath, 'I'm going to have some harsh words to say to her on the subject of staring at a horse.'

* * *

Three hours into the march, a party of Kushan women trotted their horses up to ride alongside her. Five of them, there were, all quite young. The oldest was no more than twenty, the youngest perhaps fifteen.

Irene was surprised. Not by the sight of Kushan women on horseback, which was uncommon but by no means considered outlandish. But by the fact that all five of them had swords belted to their waists, had bows and quivers attached to their saddles, and held lances in their hands.

'We're your new bodyguard,' announced the oldest proudly. 'Don't let anyone tell you otherwise!'

'The king said it was suitable,' said the youngest. Very stiffly, as if she expected contradiction and argument.

The oldest, apparently fearing the same, rushed further words to the fore. 'We checked with the oldsters. Every one of us-every one! — has Sarmatian ancestors.' A bit uncertainly: 'Some ancestors, anyway. All Kushans do, after all.'

Irene grinned. 'Splendid! I couldn't have asked for a better bodyguard. I feel better already.'

The queen's sarcastic wit had already become famous among her Kushan subjects. So, still uncertain, the young women stared at her anxiously.

Irene erased whatever trace of humor might have been on her face. 'I'm quite serious,' she said serenely. 'I'm sure you'll do well enough, if I'm ever attacked. But what's even more important is that you'll guard me against the real enemy.'

The oldest girl laughed. 'Boredom! Men never know what to talk about, on a march. Except their stupid wagers.'

At the mention of wagers, all the girls looked smug. Irene was quite certain that every one of them had just gained a significant increase in their wealth.

'Do any of you know how to read?' she asked.

Seeing the five girls shake their heads, Irene's sarcasm returned in full force.

'Typical! Well, there'll be none of that, my fine young ladies. If you expect to be my bodyguard, you'll damned well learn how to read! I can teach you from saddleback-you watch and see if I can't.'

Serene calm returned. 'That way we'll really have some fine conversations, in the weeks and months ahead. Not even women, when you get right down to it, are superhuman. Ha! I sometimes