Talikan, spring 1323 “How soon will they get here?” the sheik said. The first scout exchanged a glance with his peers. “An hour, my lord,” he said. “Perhaps two. No more.” They stood on the wall next to the great eastern gate, watching Ogodei’s army spill from the hills onto the verdant plain between the…
Kabul, spring, 1323 IT TOOK A month for Jaufre to force himself back into health, or enough so that he could walk some distance mostly without aid. He never sat where he could stand, never stood where he could walk, and if he could only run ten steps before he had to stop, breathing hard,…
Read more “He is sulking,” Shasha said, and stalked from the room.
Kabul, spring, 1323 IT HAD BEEN a cold winter, one snowstorm after another, followed by thaws and rain, followed by freezing temperatures that turned everything to ice, followed by more snowstorms. The people of Kabul emerged from their homes like pale, thin ghosts of themselves, blinking dazedly in the sunlight of longer days, not quite…
Talikan, spring, 1323 JOHANNA SPENT AS long as she could in caring for North Wind after her ride – feeding him, watering him, grooming his coat, polishing his hooves – partly because his company was so much more acceptable than that of anyone behind the harem doors, and partly in hopes that the sheik’s son…
Read more He answered her with civility, familiar to a demon though she might be.
Talikan, spring, 1323 JOHANNA HAD NEVER been so bored. There was no lack of comfort in the harem, that was true enough. The blue-tiled floors had been built over a hypocaust, and were warm both winter and summer. So was the water in the rectangular bath that stretched the length of the main room. The…
Excerpt… Wu Cheng was seen to be pacing impatiently up and down in front of the East Gate of Chang’an, alternately kicking and cursing any camel unfortunate enough to get in his way. Johanna waved. “Uncle Cheng! Uncle Cheng!” He halted, staring at the three horses galloping in his direction, and then waved back vigorously…
Excerpt… 1312, Five days from Kashgar JOHANNA HAD GRADUATED to her own camel. Her father, Wu Li, had told her that if she managed to keep her seat from the beginning of Kuche to the city of Kashgar that he would let her off the leading string for the journey home. Shu Ming’s protest had…
Read more All three of them stared at the desiccated limb that her mount’s hoof had exposed.
Excerpt… “And Shu Ming?” Bayan’s face lightened. “Alive. The doctors say she has suffered no harm. No physical harm.” Bayan nodded at the open door of his study, and Wu Hai went through into the garden, where once again the plum trees were in bloom. Shu Ming sat with her back to one of the…
Excerpt… 1292, Cambulac “He is leaving this life,” Bayan said, his expression somber, “and he knows it. While he lives, you are safe here in Everything Under the Heavens. When he dies…” It was nothing Marco had not known before he had requested this audience. Many times over the past several years, ever since the…
Read more “But he holds my wife and my daughter hostage against my return!”
In honor of the June 1st publication of Silk and Song in trade paperback, here’s a post from the Silk and Song blog tour in January. Between Two Continents with Dana Stabenow From James Joyce’s Dublin to Bram Stoker’s Transylvania, readers everywhere have traveled to regions far and wide. All from the comforts of their…
