The Emperor's Tomb

770–481 BCE

Spring and Autumn Period

551–479 BCE

Confucius lives

535 BCE

Origin of the eunuch system

481–221 BCE

Warring States Period and emergence of Legalism

200 BCE

Chinese first drill for oil

221 BCE

Qin Shi unifies the warring states into China and becomes First Emperor

210 BCE

Qin Shi dies; terra-cotta army is completed and interred with First Emperor in Imperial tomb mound

146 BCE – 67 CE

Eunuch system expands into a political force

89 BCE

Sima Qian completes

Records of the Historian (Shiji)

202 CE –1912 CE

Dynastic rule of China flourishes

1912 CE

Last emperor is forced from throne; dynastic rule ends; eunuch system is abolished; Republic of China is formed

1949 CE

Communist Revolution; People’s Republic of China is formed

1974 CE

Terracotta army is rediscovered

1976 CE

Mao Zedong dies

PROLOGUE

NORTHERN AREAS, PAKISTAN

FRIDAY, MAY 18

8:10 AM

A BULLET ZIPPED PAST COTTON MALONE. HE DOVE TO THE rocky ground and sought what cover the sparse poplars offered. Cassiopeia Vitt did the same and they belly-crawled across sharp gravel, finding a boulder large enough to provide the two of them protection.

More shots came their way.

“This is getting serious,” Cassiopeia said.

“You think?”

Their trek had, so far, been uneventful. The greatest congregation of towering peaks on the planet surrounded them. The roof of the world, two thousand miles from Beijing, in the extreme southwestern corner of China’s Xinjiang Autonomous Region—or the Northern Areas of Pakistan, depending on whom you asked—smack up against a hotly disputed border.

Which explained the soldiers.

“They’re not Chinese,” she said. “I caught a glimpse. Definitely Pakistanis.”

Jagged, snowy summits as high as twenty thousand feet shielded glaciers, patches of green-black forest, and lush valleys. The Himalaya, Karakoum, Hindu Kush, and Pamir ranges all merged here. This was the land of black wolves and blue poppies, ibex and snow leopards. Where fairies congregated, Malone recalled one ancient observer noting. Possibly even the inspiration behind James Hilton’s Shangri- la. A paradise for trekkers, climbers, rafters, and skiers. Unfortunately, India and Pakistan both claimed sovereignty, China retained possession, and all three governments had fought over the desolate region for decades.

“They seem to know where we’re headed,” she said.

“That thought occurred to me, too.” So he had to add, “I told you he was trouble.”

They were dressed in leather jackets, jeans, and boots. Though they were more than eight thousand feet above sea level, the air was surprisingly mild. Maybe sixty degrees, he estimated. Luckily, both of them carried Chinese semi-automatic weapons and a few spare magazines.

“We have to go that way.” He pointed behind them. “And those soldiers are close enough to do some damage.”

He searched his eidetic brain for what they needed. Yesterday, he’d studied the local geography and noted that this slice of earth, which wasn’t much larger than New Jersey, was once called Hunza, a princely state for over nine hundred years, whose independence finally evaporated in the 1970s. The fair-skinned and light-eyed locals claimed to be descendants of soldiers in Alexander the Great’s army, from when Greeks invaded two millennia ago. Who knew? The land had remained isolated for centuries, until the 1980s, when the Karakoram Highway passed through and connected China to Pakistan.

“We have to trust that he’ll handle it,” she finally said.