Steppe

the men who served him in time of crisis, and he was glad Chilaun had proved himself.

Chapter 17

POWER

But success only brought more trouble. No sooner had Alp reorganized his forces after the Tay battle, than a conspiracy formed against him. It seemed that a number of clans and even nations were appalled at his victories, fearing that he was becoming too strong to stop. Their plot was nearly successful.

An unmarked ship visited the Mongol camp by night. It was Dai-Sechen the Qongirat, Borte's father. He insisted on transferring personally to Alp's horse in space.

'Father of my most cherished bride, you have no need to slink about like this!' Alp exclaimed. 'I shall be happy to welcome you with ceremony in my ger, as befits your station and the esteem due you, and if you need anything at all—'

'If they learn of this, they'll kill me!' Dai-Sechen said. 'I must speak and get out of here before dawn!'

'That's only a Minute away!' Alp said with a smile.

But the man was serious. 'Temujin, they're plotting to murder you! My own clan is in on it. An ambush near Lake Buyur—'

Alp snapped to attention. 'Stay with me, Chief! I'll put out word that your ship was brought down by raiders, so they won't know you reached me.' He touched the communications stud. 'Borchu! Chilaun! Here to me.'

Dai-Sechen insisted on hurrying home again. Outwardly nothing changed. Temujin and Togrul proceeded on their scheduled trek to Buyur.

And slaughtered the ambushers. Thanks to Dai-Sechen, the Mongols and Kerayits had not been caught napping.

Then Jamuqa formed a counter-league, gathering in the remnants of the clans Alp had defeated, as well as elements of the Markit, Oirat, Naiman and Tatars. It was a formidable association, more powerful numerically than Alp's own. At a great assembly in 1201 Jamuqa had himself proclaimed Gur-Qan: the Emperor of Steppe.

Could he get away with that? The historical document had named Jenghiz Qan—but the Game did not follow history precisely. The name meant nothing if the power was not there.

There was nothing to do but meet this threat directly. If Alp dallied, Pei-li would come after him at his own convenience. It would all be very civilized on the personal level, and Alp privately admired the job Pei-li had done for his role of Jamuqa. But there was room for only one overall Qan of Steppe—and Alp had to be that one. Even if he hadn't been playing for the highest stakes—his own life in the real world—he would have responded to the political challenge raised here.

Alp laid his plans carefully. He cemented his pact with Uga, who now had assumed a title of his own: Wang Qan. 'We're all competing for the ultimate Qan,' Alp said to him, privately shuddering at this unhistorical duplication of the title. 'If you and I do not act now, Jamuqa will walk away with it, and both of us will lose. Is that the way you want it?'

'I suppose you're right,' Uga said reluctantly. 'I don't like to fight against an old friend, but he has been pushing it recently. I really hadn't thought he would show that amount of skill on his own...'

That had surprised Alp, too. Almost as much as Uga's own ineptitude! Circumstance was bringing out new facets...

Together they amassed a great army and set out to meet the current enemy.

A supernova exploded before them.

'The Naiman magicians have raised this storm against us!' Alp exclaimed, frustrated.

Borchu laughed merrily. Alp, embarrassed, shut off his screen. He had forgotten, as he sometimes did: people no longer believed in magic, except when they called it God. He believed in it, of course, but it was not expedient to advertise that among the supposedly sophisticated Galactics.

But the storm was real enough. The fleet had to pick its way through the pelting stellar fragments—and Pei-li's army was just beyond it. What a liability!

Still, the battle, when it came, was a great victory for Alp. He did not catch Jamuqa, but he scattered the forces of the enemy.

Then his 'enemy brethren,' the Tays, made trouble again despite the loss of their chief Targ, and Alp had to campaign there. He thought it would be routine, but the Tays fought back with inspired ferocity and repulsed his forces. One arrow struck his ship glancingly; his horse was incapacitated and Alp himself was partially stunned. Helpless, he drifted out of control.

His captain Jelme spotted him and closed with his ship in space. Jelme, at great risk to himself, boarded, found Alp half-conscious, and carried him bodily to his own horse. They limped out of the fray.

'The battle!' Alp cried in more than physical anguish.

'The engagement is more than one attack,' Jelme reassured him. 'We shall regroup and take the Tay another time. Let Borchu command in your absence. Right now you have to rest; you took a bad stun.'

Jelme had risked his own part to fetch Alp out of that mess. Yet Jelme was only one of many Mongol officers, and Alp knew that any of the others would have done the same. 'How do I deserve such loyalty?' he asked as his body grew fevered from the pain of stun-recovery. 'Real nomads would have let me die...'

'I don't know,' Jelme said. 'I suppose we are pretty far removed from the original Game plan—but we've got to play by the rules we know. You're the best leader we've had, so we have to stand by you. You seem to have a genuine feel for nomad tactics; you think of things the rest of us don't. Sometimes I wonder just what you do in civilian life.'

Discreetly inquired—but Alp wasn't ready to tell others. Every man who learned his secret was a potential Pei- li, rival for the prize. 'Nothing,' he said with a wry grin.

Borte came to care for him, and soon he felt better.

A few Minutes later—the next day—Alp's forces smashed the Tay. Those surviving who would not swear loyalty to Temujin were systematically massacred; he had had too much of betrayal. The others were worked into