O l i v e r B e n j a m i n
said over the roar of the wind, “but I believe that when one sets out
to conquer, he must not worry about higher principles. The conquest
is itself the higher principle. God is the all-knowing one, and he will
continue to guide you. Concern yourself not with what you do not
know, but act as he moves you. Remember that your hunger for
conquest is only the divine impulse of a higher intelligence. Act
accordingly and all will be as it should.”
“Yes. That is all very true. Thank you, honorable Bar.”
“Your welcome, Great Khan. I will return to the yurt now.
Perhaps you would like me to dress your sword for you? It looked a
bit weathered.”
“Yes, thank you,” said the Khan, happy to have such a loyal
commander in his ranks. He withdrew his weapon and proffered the
handle outward.
Any problems Genghis might have been preoccupied with were
swiftly resolved. A flash of metal, and his head landed on the cracked
earth of the Central Asian steppe. His lifeless body soon followed.
Bar smiled. “Ha!” he said tauntingly, shaking his fists at the sky.
Johanness Barth then hefted the remains of Genghis Khan onto
his shoulders and carried them a short way to the hole he had dug
minutes earlier.
When he had finished disposing of the body, he cut slices in his
own legs and arms, and across his cheek. Then, bathed in blood, he
staggered back to the camp with the horrible news: The Great Khan
had been abducted by a horde of vengeful Muslims, and they had
taken him westward. They must follow at once.
Camp was broken immediately. Naturally, canceling the planned
advance on Russian soil, they instead charged madly due West down
the plains, in the direction of Palestine.
Barth would have loved to go along and take part in the
destruction, but he had done enough damage already.
Tengri called him home.
CHAPTER 40
By the time the stock market closed the following day, Black Monday
looked like a hot fudge sundae. The crash of 1929 might as well have
been a fender bender compared with the utter wreck in which the
world economy now found itself.
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