Daughter of Xanadu - Dori Jones Yang [48]
I detected a look of annoyance on Chimkin’s face. Suren and I had felt certain that we were on time, but instead, we had disappointed him by arriving late. We advanced and stood beside him, facing the troops. I heard murmurs of surprise when they realized I was a woman.
“Soldiers of the Great Khan!” The recruits stood stiffly at attention when Chimkin addressed them in a loud, firm voice. Chimkin held his arm out toward my cousin. “You have the honor of training with my son, Prince Suren, eldest grandson of the Khan of all Khans! Show your respect.”
The men fell to their knees and put their foreheads on the ground. Suren looked embarrassed. No one had ever kowtowed to him.
“Rise!” Chimkin continued. They did. He pointed to me. “We also have a woman from the court, Emmajin Beki.” No mention of my father, Prince Dorji.
The men stayed silent. Some soldiers, I suspected, would consider it bad luck to have a woman soldier in the army. But these were recruits, eager to please. “The Great Khan has honored us with the command that this girl be allowed to train with us.”
I gazed into the sea of faces, trying to seem more confident than I felt. I saw curiosity but not hostility or alarm. Could I keep up with them?
Chimkin did not ask the soldiers to kowtow to me, of course. No one bowed to a woman, except that Latin Marco Polo. Why was I thinking of him now?
“Make room for the new soldiers.”
Two of the men in the front row moved out of the front ranks. Suren and I took these spots, front and center, and turned to face our commander, General Chimkin. I held my bow at exactly the same angle as the others and matched the stance of the other men.
I had done it! I stood among the soldiers of the Great Khan’s army. A dizzying rush of excitement rose from my gut to my head, and a huge smile spread inside me, hidden behind the stern mask on my face. I was a part of the great Mongol army, which had conquered most of the lands of the world.
“Soldiers of the Great Khan!” Chimkin was referring to me as well as the others now. “Let us practice how we will kowtow to the Great Khan. Imagine you have just marched into his illustrious presence.”
“Long live the Khan of all Khans!” we soldiers shouted, in precise unison. We put our swords to our foreheads, fell to our knees in the mud, and kowtowed three times. I matched the movements of the others, anticipating the moment when I would do so in front of the Khan himself, as part of his personal guard. I was no longer powerless. Although I was a woman, I had served the Khan by gathering intelligence. I had proved myself both loyal and worthy. Face to the mud, I was exactly where I wanted to be.
My first day of training started well. Chimkin explained that we were to spend at least half our training on archery, mostly mounted archery. That was my strongest skill, and I looked forward to competing with these soldiers. But what made my blood rush with excitement was to hear that we would also be trained with weapons used for close combat: hatchets, maces, lances, lassos, and especially swords.
The large group was split into companies of one hundred soldiers, each under the command of a centurion. Suren and I were assigned to a sergeant called Chilagun, who seemed to be in his thirties. Chilagun had sun-darkened skin and bowed legs from riding all his life.
He immediately began barking out orders. His job was to break us as one breaks a wild horse, molding us so that we would work together as one. He said we were raw and untested, spoiled by too many years at court. Many of us were members of the Golden Family or pampered sons of high officials. None of us had ever taken orders from a commanding officer. I craved the discipline of military life.
Although we would ride as mounted archers, Chilagun immediately began teaching us how to march in formation. He held a whip and flicked it at us occasionally, just missing. When he made us race on foot, something I was not used to doing, I immediately fell behind. After a short distance, a cramp in