Harold Lamb

“ So said Shotha Kupri.
But Hugh noticed that he was to ride with the Georgian in the first sledge, Arslan perching behind on the runners. The horses, likewise, were to be taken from them. So he sought out the Khan of Almalyk and the other gaunt and silent Mongol, who had uttered never a word and had roused only at the prospect of a fight in the deodar grove.
“My brothers,” he said in their own speech, choosing the words with care, “we go henceforth upon two kibitkas without wheels. I say to you: Draw not your weapons, lift not your hands against the Georgians. ”

“ Hugh shook his tawny head quietly.
“No pagan spy. For ten years I have fought the paynim, under the standard of the Cross.”
“Hai!” Shotha Kupri raised his shoulders and held out gnarled hands. “You come out of the East, with accursed Mongols at your back; you speak the tongue of the thrice-accursed Arabs. Shall we trust you?”
“And yet,” mused the singing girl, glancing from the mighty crusader to the old chieftain, “his hair and eyes be unlike the Muslimin. Nay, his sword is a strange weapon.” ”

“ Hugh singled out the best armed of the lot, a handsome giant with the straight nose of a Greek and the deep, piercing eyes of a mountain-bred, a man whose close-cropped head bore no helmet, but whose long limbs were clad in full Turkish mail covered with a white linen cloak embroidered with tiny crosses. ”

“ Remembering his first visit, Hugh could well believe this, and he advised the Mongols to dismount and sit by him at the fire. The singing girl vanished into the forest, but Arslan came to gossip.
“Noyon,” quoth he, “it is true that some of this band are like to horse-lifting Gipsies; it is also true that others wear costly mail and are armed with heavy weapons. Look! Here are huts and a cart, but where are horses, goats, brats, crones and dogs? Ekh! It is too clean, this place.” ”

“ They seemed to be hunters, stalwart fellows in bear-skin burkas and ragged leg-wrapping; but among them gleamed bronze helmets and a shield or two. They came forward snarling like wolves and with no hesitation at all. ”

“ Hereupon the warriors began to argue among themselves in their harsh voices, and Rupen made no secret of his enmity, while Shotha Kupri seemed dubious, until the singing girl silenced them and answered swiftly and musically, so that Hugh wondered at the quietude that came upon them.
“We have never seen a Frank before,” she assured him simply, and added eagerly. “Now I will let you tell me of the wars in all the world, and the lords of men and how they bore themselves in battle, because it is clear to me that you have served long, as you say. ”

“ It was no easy matter in Arabic eked out with a little Turki that seemed more familiar to the listeners, but Hugh said that beyond the sea that lay at the back of their mountains—they nodded assent to that—there was the Greek empire, and beyond that, toward the setting sun, Frankistan, the land of the Franks. From an island called England he had come, when the warriors had been summoned to free the city of Christ from infidel dominion. ”

“ Then she sprang down from the wagon and pushed through the men, who objected instantly and noisily, until she stood at Hugh's stirrup and searched his face with keen eyes. “Am I not queen of my people? ”