Steppe

'Of course I didn't realize you were actually there. But when I saw how Temujin handled himself, I had a suspicion. So the first pretext I had to come and see for myself—'

'Right!' Alp said, holding no rancor. Pei-li had played it smarter and could not be faulted for that. 'Wait till you meet Togrul!'

'I already have! That was another reason to come. We made a good team once—all the way up to Khagan! I think he has out-maneuvered the rest of us again—but we'll see.'

'Yes,' Alp agreed. 'These Mongol politics are worse than the Uigur—and China is stronger now.'

Togrul arrived. 'But together we can do it!' he said. 'It doesn't matter whom Jenghiz Qan derived from historically, so long as he manifests in the Game on schedule. I think the Machine will cover up if one of us pre- empts it. I figure it will happen in the next twenty Days.'

'That makes us potential enemies...' Pei-li said.

'Stop thinking like a barbarian!' Uga snapped. 'It makes us rivals—and we're friends.'

'Still,' Pei-li said thoughtfully, 'a part that size—'

'Let the loser support the winner,' Uga said. 'And let the winner see that the loser has his chance to make a good score too. Jenghiz may be good for a million points—and his chief generals a hundred thousand each.'

It made sense. Uga always did seem to have worked things out properly. Together they had three times the chance to become Jenghiz, and the support of the other two would sway other players toward the eventual winner. They could all do well and build this into an even better part than the Machine intended. 'Agreed!' Alp said, and Pei-li nodded.

'Now let's see about recovering your wife,' Uga said. 'That is supposed to be the point of all this! I heard she's a pretty one.'

Alp didn't answer. There was no sense in giving away exactly how important she was to him.

The three armies sufficed. They fell upon the Markit chief Toktagha in the Selenga River section of space and routed him. Temujin landed on the Markit campsite planet and ran among the tents even as the battle raged on land and in space. 'Borte! Borte!' he cried.

A woman ran out heavily. 'Temujin!'

It was Borte—and she was pregnant. Only a few hours had passed since she had been taken from him—but twelve Hours was equivalent to six months. The Machine had indulged in another expert job of makeup.

Was it Alp's child—or the brat of one of the Markit abductors? Alp had never had illusions about the use the Markit would have made of this lovely woman. But the possibility of pregnancy had not occurred to him before. It was only the Game—but if this had happened in history, it would have been vital to know the proper parentage. The agony of doubt was acute.

Borte waited anxiously for recognition, beautiful despite her condition, fearful that he would no longer want her.

Abruptly Alp realized that this question of paternity was beside the point. He had her back! All her future sons would be his, without doubt. There was only one solution to his dilemma: this first child would be his, no matter what. He would never make an issue of the matter.

Chapter 16

PROGRESS

Togrul went home, satisfied, but Jamuqa stayed on. Alp discovered that their present roles now gave him a greater community of interest with Pei-li, to whom he had not been that close as a Uigur. Uga had become too old, and he was not a Mongol. And—he had a disquieting amount of power.

For a Day-and-a-half Temujin and Jamuqa ranged the Mongol spaceways, enlisting the support of the other clans. Their defeat of the fierce Markit had won them authority, and the tribes were now rallying to the banners of these allies. The Mongols desperately needed a real leader. A Mongol hegemony was forming at last. Perhaps this time the old enemies would be vanquished: the traitorous Tatars, the Kin Chinese...

But there were differences between the allies, Alp and Pei-li. The demands of their new parts reversed their natural temperaments; now Jamuqa was the adventurer, prone to innovations that were dramatic but not always sensible, while it was Temujin who took no unnecessary risks. 'Take it easy!' he cautioned Pei-li repeatedly. 'Remember how the great Uigur empire fell! We don't want to throw away Jenghiz Qan before either of us becomes Qan!'

'You're too damned conservative!' Pei-li said, smiling. 'Nobody is going to conquer the world by plodding along safely!'

He was too far gone. He was a Galactic, carried away by the sensation of youth, overdoing it. The Game could not be won by a man who played it as a game!

Every so often Alp caught Pei-li eyeing Borte speculatively. This filled him with unspoken rage. She had delivered her son Jochi and now was pregnant again, but still...! Temujin already had other wives, as befitted a Mongol leader; in many respects it was more economical to take an extra wife than to support a concubine. But the only one he cared about was Borte and the only sons he intended to recognize would be hers. Even the first...

Borchu the Arulat, Alp's first Mongol ally and general, was careful to keep his eyes on his own women. Was it that Pei-li recognized the maid of Uigur times?

It saddened Alp to see this wedge forming between them, for there were many qualities he respected in Pei-li, and they had worked well together as a Uigur team. But as the prospect for achieving the ultimate part grew, so did the competition between them. Power was tearing apart their friendship.

And Pei-li recognized this. 'We're not good for each other, Alp,' he said. 'Not in this situation. When we both served Uga, it was easy to get along; now we are both striving to lead. We'd better separate and fight for it cleanly as Jamuqa and Temujin. That's the sporting way.'

Sport... But Alp had to agree. 'Maybe we can get together again, some other part—or even some other Game.'

They shook hands, and Jamuqa took off, taking the fleets of his supporters with him. They amounted to about