Horselords

several neat stacks of paper scrolls, each carefully tied with a cord of red or gold.

Koja, startled as he realized that he was rudely staring at the second empress, turned his gaze to the other people in the yurt. The men sat to the left and the women to the right. There were three men on the left side. The first, sitting slightly out of the way, was clearly Bayalun's scribe: an old man, perhaps ancient, who hunched over his little writing table. To the scribe's left was another old man, dressed in robes of faded yellow silk. The robes were completely covered with Shou characters. This man looked quickly and sharply at Koja as the priest advanced to take his seat.

Taking his place between the two rows, Koja walked past the third man. His hair hung in loose, greasy hanks, and his teeth were crooked and rotten. The man was garbed in ratty-looking pelts, thickly layered over each other. Iron hooks, bars, plates, chain-links, and figurines were stitched all across the breast of his robes. In his lap he held a large skin drum and a curved drumstick. Koja was fairly certain the man was some type of shaman, calling on primitive spirits for his powers.

On the right side of the yurt were ten women. Two sat in the front row, facing the men, and seemed important. At the head of the row was an old crone, dressed in a warm del, the leather garment that served as both coat and robe to the Tuigan. Beside and slightly behind the crone was a younger woman dressed in similar clothing. She wore the headdress of an unmarried woman, a towering cone of wrapped red cloth held in place with tortoiseshell combs and silver pins. Long dangling strings of silver coins draped down over her shoulders.

Koja bowed low as he stood between the two rows of attendants. Head lowered, he waited for some word from the second empress. 'Welcome, Koja of the Khazari,' she said in a warm and friendly tone. 'You may sit.' Koja sat, making himself as comfortable as possible.

'The second empress does me great honor, more than I deserve,' he said.

Bayalun smiled in recognition. ' 'Second empress' is not a title I am accustomed to. Among my people I am better known as Mother Bayalun or,' she informed him with a wry smile, 'Widow Bayalun, even Bayalun the Hard. I prefer Mother Bayalun, if only because through me the House of Hoekun is traced.'

'Please pardon my ignorance, but I have only been here a short time. What is the House of Hoekun? Is it the same as the Tuigan, or is it something different?' queried Koja. He waited attentively for her answer.

'A quick mind. You ask questions,' commented Mother Bayalun as she leaned forward, setting the point of her staff on the rugs. She studied the priest's face intently with her dark, deep eyes. Raising the tip of her staff, she drew a large circle in the thick nap of the felt. 'This is the Tuigan empire.' Her staff tapped at the circle.

'Are the Hoekun part of the Tuigan?' Koja asked.

Mother Bayalun ignored the question. Instead she drew several smaller circles inside the first. The circles more or less filled the space. 'These are the people of the Tuigan empire. These,' she said, stabbing at one of the circles with her staff, 'are the Naican, conquered by Burekai, my husband before the khahan.' Bayalun went on to tap four other circles. 'These are the Dalats, Quirish, Gur, and the Commani. They were all defeated by the current khahan. And this circle,' she pointed at the last, in the center of all, 'is the Tuigan. There are many families among the Tuigan.' Using her staff, the empress poked the rug, leaving little dents. 'These are the people of the Tuigan. There are the Hoekun, the Basymats, the Jamaqua, and many more. Each house is named for its founder. Ours was Hoekun the Clever, son of his mother, the Blue Wolf.'

Koja nodded politely, though he wasn't sure he understood completely. 'The Blue Wolf?'

'A wise spirit. She whelped our ancestor in the middle of winter and caused our people to be born.' Bayalun leaned back and shrugged her shoulders. 'The children of the House of Hoekun are all the sons and daughters of the Blue Wolf. This makes the Hoekun the royal family of all the Tuigan. I am the oldest of the house, so I am called Eke-or Mother-Bayalun.'

'Then your husband before Yamun Khahan was also the khahan?' Koja noted, trying to make sure he grasped everything clearly.

A scowl knitted Bayalun's brow, but she quickly assumed a blank look. 'Burekei was khan of the Hoekun ordu, no more. It was his son, Yamun, who was chosen to be the khahan.'

'Yamun Khahan was elected? He wasn't born to become the khahan?' Koja asked in surprise. He had assumed the khahan was a hereditary rank, like that of king or prince.

'All men are born to become what they will. Such is the will of Teylas, Lord of the Sky,' she explained, playing her fingers up and down the staff. 'When Burekei died, Yamun became khan of the Hoekun. It was only later, after he conquered the Dalats, that the families named him great prince of all the Tuigan.' Bayalun crossed her feet and adjusted her seat.

'But, I did not invite you here to answer all your questions, envoy, although they have been amusing.' She gave him a slight mocking smile and watched to see what kind of reaction her gentle barb would bring.

Koja became red-faced. 'Accept my apologies, Second Empress,' he meekly responded, bowing his head slightly.

'Please, call me Mother Bayalun,' the empress chided. Sitting back in her seat, Bayalun carefully set the staff down by her feet. 'You say you are a lama of the Red Mountain,' she began casually. 'What teachings do you follow?'

'The lamas of the Red Mountain live by the words of the Enlightened One, who taught us how to reach peace and perfect oblivion. We seek to banish our passions, so we can understand the teachings of the Enlightened One.' He paused, waiting for some sign of understanding. Bayalun watched him closely but gave no indication that she understood.

Koja continued. 'If I drink tea and I like tea, my life will be ruled every day by the desire for tea and I will not know anything else. Every day I will think about my cup of tea and will miss what is happening around me.' The priest's hands mimed holding a cup of tea. 'Only after we no longer savor life can we truly feel everything life has to offer.' Koja tried to keep his explanation simple, not wanting to confuse his hostess with the complexities of Red Mountain theology. Judging from the shaman beside him, the Tuigan were not all that familiar with sophisticated philosophical teachings.

Mother Bayalun squinted at him. 'I heard it said you followed Furo the Mighty. Isn't he the god of the Red Mountain Temple? But today you talk of the Enlightened One. Do you follow the teachings of one and worship the other?'

Koja scratched at the stubble on his skull. His simple explanation was getting more complex. 'We know it is a truth that Furo the Mighty is a divine agent of the Enlightened One.'

'So, you practice the teachings of the Enlightened One, but pray to Furo to intercede on your behalf?'

'Yes, Mother Bayalun.' Koja marveled at the astuteness of her questions.

' 'He is like the wind all about us. Felt but not touched, heard but not spoken, moving but unmovable, always present, but always unseen,'' quoted Bayalun, her eyes closed in concentration.

Koja stared at her in amazement, too dumbfounded for words. 'That is from the Yanitsava, the Book of Teachings,' he whispered.

'And you're surprised that I know it,' she chuckled. 'I, too, have spent my life learning the teachings of wise men. These worthies have been my instructors.' She waved a hand toward the men who sat down the row from Koja. 'This is Aghul Balai of the Tsu-Tsu, a people close to the border of Shou Lung,' she said, introducing the thin man in the mystical robes. 'For many years he studied in Shou Lung, learning the secrets of Chung Tao, the Way.' The wizened man pressed his palms together and bowed slightly to Koja.

While at the temple, Koja had heard a little about Chung Tao. It was powerful within the Shou empire, far to the east. It was said that the emperor of the Jade Throne himself followed its teachings. Koja had been taught its teachings were wrong and had heard many evil stories about its practices. To Koja, the mystic suddenly looked sinister and dangerous.

'This other,' continued Bayalun, pointing to the fur-clad man, 'is Fiyango. Through him, we are able to speak with the spirits of the land and our ancestors, and learn much good advice.' The shaman, whose age Koja found impossible to place, smiled a toothless smile at him.

'And she,' concluded the second empress, tapping her staff in front of the old crone, 'is Boryquil, and this is her daughter Cimca. Boryquil has the gift to see things as they are and things as they should be. She knows the ways of the kaman kulda, the dark spirits that come from the north.'

'With my eyes I can see them; with my nose I can smell them,' cackled the hag, reciting an old, ritualistic formula. Her lungs labored from the exertion. With each gasping breath, her necklace clacked and rattled. Peering at it from across the aisle, Koja saw that it was a leather cord strung with broad, flat bones. Each bone was covered