Harold Lamb

“ It was just too late to appeal to the religious zeal of the Kankalis, because now they had grown curious as to what Robert wanted of the younger beg. They pressed closer to stare, and after a little reflection Jahan Khan took his hand from his weapon, choosing to make the conflict one of words.
“Do you,” Robert remarked to the attentive younger warrior, “take the leadership of the Kankalis, and fight as a man should. And you—” he turned to the doubtful bowmen—“confine this atabeg until he has slept off the opium in his tent. You have leave to go!” ”

“ When the dust settled, lines of gray tents, built over a wooden framework, stood in place; back of these the captives and the cattle were herded on the open plain, with the heavy carts of the Horde forming fences around them. Robert bade Will try to count the warriors, and the yeoman estimated a trifle over a hundred thousand, the knight somewhat less.
“By the foul fiend, his cloven hoof!” muttered the archer. “Here is woundy work, i' faith. Our foes be quartered already, and the day is not yet done. A true besieger now in Christendom would set about the work in seemly wise. ”

“ Genghis Khan will let no man of the Horde suffer injury unavenged. Aye, in our land a young woman might carry a sack of gold in her hand from Bishbalik to Kambalu, and she and the gold would be untouched. Nay, can there be two suns in the sky? War between the Shah and the Khan was certain, and now it has come to pass. Muhammad thought he was dealing with a nomad—a herdsman. ”

“ The crusader nodded and laughed.
“Verily you are something of a wizard, Abdullah. You led me hither to serve—as you said—the master of all men. And I serve Muhammad in a high place.”
“My master—” Abdullah glanced on all sides—“is not Muhammad, who is a slave, served by slaves. I follow the Manslayer.”
“Genghis Khan?”
“Aye.”
Robert's eyes narrowed. Here was a riddle, and he waited for the minstrel to explain it. And after perceiving that his friend would not speak, Abdullah went on. ”

“ In the temples sit the priests, seeing all things, for they are slaves of the gods. Aye, the wisdom of the gods is one with Fate. Yet the lips of the priests are locked.
In the palace are the rose-faced women. Their hair is fragrant as a garden at dusk, and their fingers are like silver, for they are the slaves of a king. ”

“ The Turkomans, who had become quarrelsome from long idleness, waxed supremely content and prepared to go and plunder the stalls of the merchants. And by the time they were in saddle the words of the new ameer had been repeated so often that to a man they were ready to swear they had been ordered to loot. ”

“ Rede me this riddle: How may men ride horses up a wall? Or tear down the wall with their hands? 'Tis a thing impossible.”
He rubbed his long chin and scowled.
“This paynim wizarder hath the right o' the matter. My lord, as he says, we should sally out and fall upon the foe, pikes and bills—sa ha!”
Osman had suggested a sortie of the garrison, arguing that the Bokharians outnumbered the Mongols. But Robert would not give assent to the plan. The Horde puzzled him, and he wished to see what they were about before trusting the Moslem soldiery against them on open ground. ”