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  Ruler of the Sky

  “This formidably researched and exquisitely written novel is surely destined to be known hereafter as the definitive history of the life and times and conquests of Genghis, mightiest of Khans.”

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  Ruler of the Sky

  A Novel of Genghis Khan

  Pamela Sargent

  For Joseph Elder

  List of Characters

  Aguchu Bahadur, son of the Taychiut chief Targhutai Kiriltugh

  A-la-chien, a Tangut follower of Temujin

  Alakha, daughter of Temujin and Jeren

  Altan, surviving son of Khutula Khan

  Anchar, son of the Onggirat chief Dei Sechen and brother of Bortai

  Arigh Boke, a son of Tolui

  Arkhai, a follower of Temujin

  Artai, an Onggirat girl

>   Bai Bukha, a son of the Naiman ruler Inancha Bilge and father of Guchlug

  Bekter, older son of Yesugei and Sochigil

  Belgutei, younger son of Yesugei and Sochigil

  Biliktu, a young girl and slave to Hoelun

  Borchu, son of the Arulat chief Nakhu Bayan; a comrade of Temujin

  Boroghul, a Jurkin and the fourth adopted son of Hoelun

  Bortai, a daughter of the Onggirat chief Dei Sechen

  Bughu, a shaman in Yesugei's camp

  Buyrugh, a son of the Naiman ruler Inancha Bilge

  Chagadai, second son of Bortai

  Chakha, a Tangut princess and wife of Temujin

  Chakhurkhan, a follower of Temujin

  Ch’ang-ch’un, a Taoist monk and sage

  Charakha, a Khongkhotat follower of Yesugei and father of Munglik

  Checheg, an Onggirat girl

  Cheren, a Tatar chief and father of Yisui and Yisugen; also called Yeke Cheren

  Ch’i-kuo, a daughter of the Kin Emperor Chang-tsung

  Chilagun, a son of the Suldus chief Sorkhan-shira and brother of Khadagan

  Chiledu, a Merkit warrior and first husband of Hoelun; also called Yeke Chiledu

  Chilger-boko, a Merkit warrior and younger brother of Chiledu

  Chimbai, a son of the Suldus chief Sorkhan-shira and brother of Khadagan

  Chinkai, a follower of Temujin

  Chirkoadai, a Taychiut; later named Jebe by Temujin

  Chohos-chaghan, chief of the Khorolas and husband of Temulun

  Daritai Odchigin, youngest brother of Yesugei and uncle of Temujin

  Dayir Usun, a Merkit chief and father of Khulan

  Dei Sechen, an Onggirat chief and father of Bortai

  Doghon, a Merkit woman and mother of Khojin

  Doregene, chief wife of Ogedei

  Gorbeljin, a Tangut queen

  Guchlug, son of Bai Bukha and grandson of the Naiman ruler Inancha Bilge

  Guchu, a Merkit and the first adopted son of Hoelun

  Gurbesu, a Naiman queen and wife of Inancha Bilge

  Gurin Bahadur, a Kereit general

  Hoelun, an Olkhunugud and mother of Temujin

  Hulegu, a son of Tolui

  Ibakha Beki, a daughter of Jakha Gambu and niece of Toghril Khan

  Inancha Bilge, Tayang of the Naimans

  Jakha Gambu, a brother of Toghril Khan; father of Ibakha and Sorkhatani

  Jamukha, a Jajirat

  Jebe: see Chirkoadai

  Jelme, an Uriangkhai and comrade of Temujin; older brother of Subotai

  Jeren, a Taychiut girl and mother of Alakha

  Jochi, first son of Bortai

  Jurchedei, chief of the Urugud clan

  Kerulu, a servant in Bortai's camp

  Keuken Ghoa, a wife of Jakha Gambu and mother of Sorkhatani and Ibakha Khachigun, a brother of Temujin

  Khadagan, daughter of the Suldus chief Sorkhan-shira

  Khagatai Darmala, a Merkit chief

  Khasar, a brother of Temujin

  Khojin, daughter of Temujin and Doghon

  Khokakhchin, a servant of Hoelun

  Khorchi, a Bagarin chief and shaman

  Khori Subechi, a Naiman general

  Khubilai, a son of Tolui

  Khuchar, son of Nekun-taisi and first cousin of Temujin

  Khudu, son of the Merkit chief Toghtoga Beki

  Khudukha Beki, an Oirat chief and shaman

  Khulan, daughter of the Merkit chief Dayir Usun

  Khuyhildar, chief of the Manggud clan

  Kokochu, a shaman and son of Munglik; also known as Teb-Tenggeri

  Koksegu Sabrak, a Naiman general

  Kukuchu, a Taychiut and second adopted son of Hoelun

  Kulgan, son of Khulan

  Lien, a Han concubine

  Liu Wen, a Khitan follower of Temujin

  Mahmoud Yalavach, a Khwarezmian follower of Temujin

  Mongke, a son of Tolui

  Mukhali, a Jurkin and comrade of Temujin

  Munglik, a Khongkhotat and son of Charakha

  Mu-tan, a slave of Ch'i-kuo

  Nayaga, a Bagarin warrior and follower of Temujin

  Nekun-taisi, older brother of Yesugei and father of Khuchar

  Nilkha, son of Toghril Khan; also known as the Senggum

  Nomalan, chief wife of Jamukha

  Ogedei, third son of Bortai

  Ogin, a follower of Jamukha

  Orbey, a Taychiut Khatun and widow of Ambaghai Khan; grandmother of Targhutai and Todogen

  Samukha, a follower of Temujin

  Secbe Beki, a Jurkin chief and kinsman of Temujin

  Shigi Khutukhu, a Tatar and third adopted son of Hoelun

  Shotan, wife of Dei Sechen and mother of Bortai

  Sochigil, a wife of Yesugei; mother of Bekter and Belgutei

  Sokhatai, a Taychiut Khatun and widow of Ambaghai Khan

  Sorkhan-shira, a Suldus chief and follower of Targhutai; father of Chimbai,

  Chilagun, and Khadagan

  Sorkhatani Beki, a daughter of Jakha Gambu and niece of Toghril Khan

  Subotai, younger brother of Jelme; a follower of Temujin

  Sukegei, a follower of Temujin

  Tabudai, a Tatar warrior and husband of Yisui

  Taichu, a Jurkin chief and kinsman of Temujin

  Targhutai Kiriltugh, a Taychiut chief and brother of Todogen

  Ta-ta-tonga, a Uighur scribe and adviser to Inancha Bilge

  Taychar, a cousin of Jamukha

  Teb-Tenggeri: see Kokochu

  Temuge Odchigin, a brother of Temujin

  Temujin, son and heir of Yesugei; later, Genghis Khan

  Temulun, sister of Temujin

  Todogen Girte, a Taychiut chief and brother of Targhutai

  Toghan, a Taychiut warrior and husband of Khadagan

  Toghril, Khan of the Kereits; later known by the title Ong-Khan

  Toghtoga Beki, a Merkit chief

  Tolui, fourth son of Bortai

  Tolun Cherbi, a follower of Temujin

  Tugai, a Merkit woman and a wife of Temujin

  Yeke Cheren: see Cheren

  Yeke Chiledu: see Chiledu

  Ye-lu Ch’u-ts'ai, a Khitan nobleman and scholar

  Yesugei Bahadur, a Borjigin chief and head of the Kiyat subclan

  Yisugen, a daughter of the Tatar chief Yeke Cheren

  Yisui, a daughter of the Tatar chief Yeke Cheren

  Zulaika, a young girl of Bukhara

  Mongolia at the Time of Genghis Khan

  Asia During the Early 13th century

  Table of Important Mongol Clans

  Yesugei and Family

  Genghis Khan and His Heirs

  Part One

  Hoelun said, “He rides into the wind, fleeing for his life. I call out his name, but he cannot hear me.”

  1

  On the northern bank of the Onon River, a grove of willows and birches rippled in the heat. Hoelun gripped the reins of the horse that pulled her covered cart. The gently rolling green land, bright with wild flowers, would soon grow parched and brown. Spring and early summer were no more than a brief respite between the icy winds of winter and the scorching midsummer heat.

  Hoelun's robe and leather trousers lay next to her, under the square, feathered birch head-dress she had worn at her wedding. A short woollen shift covered her; she had shed her other garments earlier that morning. Her home was under the curved covering of her two-wheeled wooden cart—the frame and felt panels of the yurt she would erect in her husband's camp, the trunks that held her pots, clothes, hearth, jewellery, and rugs, the bed where they would lie.

  Yeke Chiledu rode at her side, his back straight under his quiver of arrows. His bow was inside the lacquered case hanging from his belt; his short, trousered legs hugged the flanks of his chestnut horse.

  At fourteen, Hoelun had known that she would be married before long, yet her wedding had been upon her as swiftly as a summer storm. A month ago, Chiledu had come among the Olkhunugu
ds to find a wife, and had seen Hoelun outside her mother's yurt. By that evening, he was speaking to her father of the gifts he would offer for her; before the moon had grown full once more, she was Chiledu's bride.

  Chiledu turned his head, and the faint lines around his small black eyes deepened as he smiled. His teeth were white against his brown skin; his face was broad, his cheekbones flat. He was eighteen, his moustache only a light sprinkling of hairs above his mouth; two coiled black braids hung down from under the wide brim of his hat.

  “You should cover yourself,” he said, accenting his words as his Merkit people did.

  “It's too warm.”

  Chiledu scowled. She would put on her clothes if he ordered it. The young man suddenly laughed. “You are beautiful, Hoelun.”

  She flushed, wishing he would say more, remembering all the words he had used to praise her golden-brown eyes, her small flat nose, her thick, braided hair and pale brown skin. She had closed her eyes during their first night together, unable to stop thinking about her father's mares and the way his stallion mounted them. Chiledu's quick thrusting inside her had brought her pain; he had moaned, shuddered, and withdrawn, to fall asleep at her side a few moments later. The next night had been much the same; she had hoped for more.

  Chiledu turned and scanned the horizon. On open land, any danger could be seen from afar, but here, with patches of wooded land by the river, they would have to be more cautious.

  They rode slowly towards the Onon's narrow stream. The river was shallow here, barely more than a small creek; they would be able to cross it easily. A small flock of ducks were feeding upriver. Chiledu trotted towards them. Further up the bank, he dismounted, took out his bow, and crept towards the distant flock.

  Hoelun pulled at her reins; the cart rolled to a halt. She untied the spare horse from the back of the cart and led the animal to the water. Long fingers of willows and birch trees came nearly to the edge of the opposite bank; in the distance, a massif abruptly jutted from the land. Tengri, Heaven, was a vast yurt under which parts of Etugen, the Earth, thrust upwards, reaching towards its roof. The mountains, with pines and larches that hummed and sighed whenever the wind stirred them, were places of spirits, of voices that might whisper to shamans, of ghosts that might enter the bodies of animals to protect a man or lead him to his death. The slender stream of the Onon trickled as it flowed over the rocks; running water also harboured spirits.