Authors: Conn Iggulden
The Khan Series 5-Book Bundle: Genghis: Birth of an Empire, Genghis: Bones of the Hills, Genghis: Lords of the Bow, Khan: Empire of Silver, Conqueror (192 page)
K
HAN:
E
MPIRE OF
S
ILVER
The Great Khan is dead. His vast empire hangs in the balance, an empire forged with raw courage, guile, unswerving dedication to his people, and the force of his own indomitable will. Now the very qualities that united the fierce Mongol tribes threaten to tear them apart, as the heirs of Genghis maneuver for dominance.
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Conqueror: A Novel of Kublai Khan
is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are the products of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
Copyright © 2011 by Conn Iggulden
All rights reserved.
Published in the United States by Delacorte Press, an imprint of The Random House Publishing Group, a division of Random House, Inc., New York.
D
ELACORTE
P
RESS
is a registered trademark of Random House, Inc., and the colophon is a trademark of Random House, Inc.
Originally published in hardcover in the United Kingdom by HarperCollins Publishers Ltd., London.
Map copyright © 2011 by John Gilkes
LIBRARY OF CONGRESS CATALOGING-IN-PUBLICATION DATA
Iggulden, Conn.
Conqueror: a novel of Kublai Khan/Conn Iggulden.
p. cm.
eISBN: 978-0-345-53233-6
1. Kublai Khan, 1216–1294—Fiction. I. Title.
PR6109.G47C66 2012
823′.92—dc23 2011029727
v3.1
To Clive Room
A STORM GROWLED OVER KARAKORUM CITY, THE STREETS
and avenues running in streams as the rain hammered down in the darkness. Outside the thick walls, thousands of sheep huddled together in their enclosures. The oil in their fleeces protected them from the rain, but they had not been led to pasture and hunger made them bleat and yammer to each other. At intervals, one or more of them would rear up mindlessly on its fellows, forming a hillock of kicking legs and wild eyes before they fell back into the squirming mass.
The khan’s palace was lit with lamps that spat and crackled on the outer walls and gates. Inside, the sound of rain was a low roar that rose and fell in intensity, pouring as solid sheets over the cloisters. Servants gazed out into the yards and gardens, lost in the mute fascination that rain can hold. They stood in groups, reeking of wet wool and silk, their duties abandoned for a time while the storm passed.