The Tiger-Headed Horseman (16 page)

‘What's that?’ asked Lily. ‘It doesn't sound so bad.’

‘What do you know about this place?’ asked Danyal. Lily confirmed their suspicions that she knew very little. They felt it was important she did know what sort of place she was visiting and set about informing her of the Khadist regime and the city Khad had created, not omitting any of the fun elements the bureaucrats felt were so important.

‘But you don't laugh like that five times a day,’ said Lily, ‘do you?’

‘Absolutely not. We keep away from most people,’ said Danyal. ‘We help out with things here and there.’

‘You could say we live on the fringes of society,’ said Drudger. He nudged Danyal knowingly. His friend ignored him.

‘You must be careful,’ said Danyal. ‘There is nothing but evil in this place. Especially now.’

‘Why?’ asked Lily. ‘What's going on at the moment?’

‘As I said earlier,’ continued Danyal, ‘the Khadists have been running the show here for centuries. People have never really liked them but they were told by the Khadists they had been
given so much freedom it was difficult for them to fight back. They were told that it was they who had made the rules, that it was they who had insisted that life be full of fun and laughter. The Khadists were smart when they started. If the people had fought back they would have felt that they were fighting themselves. Instead they put up with it. They put up with all the discipline, all the things that are wrong with this city. Instead, they made things worse. The people figured that, if they could live as they wanted to, then they would live for themselves – greedily, hungrily, evilly. Control people too much and they are so afraid they'll commit suicide. Give them enough rope and they will also hang themselves. Those bureaucrats knew exactly what they were doing. By giving them freedom they “permitted” the people of Baatarulaan to become addicted to living as they wanted, addicted to gambling, to prostitution, murder, rape, drinking, disrespect and, of course, Khem.’

‘I can't believe it is human nature to act like that,’ said Lily. ‘And what's Khem?’

Danyal explained that it wasn't human nature to behave like that but, if those in charge manipulated people the right way, then they could force them to behave that way. Those in charge had found the people easier to manipulate if they were living by their own self-proclaimed freedom, and of course the people in charge had also invented Khem.

‘Why doesn't someone just stand up to them and tell them that it's not fair?’ asked Lily.

‘People are simply too scared,’ said Danyal. ‘They know that there is every chance they'll end up in the House of Fun.’

‘There is Tengis,’ offered Drudger. Danyal shot him a look of contempt.

‘He is not to be trusted,’ said Danyal spitefully. ‘Nothing can be built upon sand and it is nothing but sand that he buys his power with.’ With that Danyal sloppily scooped brunch into
their bowls and they sat eating in silence.

‘I need some fresh air,’ said Lily. Now that her stomach was filled she had time to think. Her fellow herders might live a simple existence when compared to those in Baatarulaan but at least they lived an honest, virtuous and respectful simple life. Lily needed time to absorb what she had heard; everything she had experienced in the preceding twenty-four hours. After petting Lucky and assuring him that they would be going home as soon as she had found some answers, and hopefully her father to boot, she set out through the alleyways. Before leaving, Drudger had messed up her clothes with some oil, fats, mud and blood, then ripped her trousers a little, given her an odd wide-brimmed hat that was slightly crooked and a thickly set wooden walking stick that could double up as a weapon if required. It made her look far more like a city dweller than the Steppe girl she was.

The streets of Baatarulaan were as busy and chaotic as they had been the previous day. Lily may have been awestruck when she had arrived but now that she knew how people behaved in this town she was afraid. However, she was not afraid enough that she would pass up an opportunity to find out what the golden box containing Chinggis's words might have really been saying. People ignored her as she walked along the busier roads. They would have done so normally but now that she had been dressed
à la
Drudger she was almost invisible. She scoured the city for signs of cats, tigers, bells and fish. Now that Lily knew about Khadism, she also looked for its signs in a bid to better understand the evil.

The more that Lily walked among the people the keener she understood that they weren't naturally aggressive. These people were scared. They were trying to conceal themselves in the crowd. They didn't want to be noticed. Those that did raise their heads above the parapet of people were either in the employ of
some group called the Leggie or trying to force others to buy their presumably illegal wares. Lily noticed that some of the salespeople were peddling Khem, and she stayed well away from them. Although she spent the entire day looking, she saw no signs of anything she was looking for.

Arriving at a square she presumed marked the centre of the city, the atmosphere was different. It was more charged. People were talking frantically with one another; speaking close to one another so as not to be overheard. The Leggie were there in great numbers milling and mixing with the throng of city inhabitants. Before she could move away, Lily found herself getting caught up with the movement of the crowd and pulled further into the middle of the square. Oddly-dressed people with frightened faces cast her quick glances. None of the gazes lingered but there was a haunted expression behind every look. Nobody looked healthy. The glowing ruddiness she had grown up accustomed to simply did not exist in this place. City people's pallor paled in comparison.

Lily stepped out of the human current that had swept her into the square and stood next to a group of older residents huddled around a small fire. Two of them grunted to acknowledge her. The other three nodded in her direction. She did likewise. Nobody wore anything other than a deeply fixed frown.

‘Did you hear what he did last night?’ asked one of the group. His fellow conspirators shook their heads. ‘He only went and nailed a copy of the Ten Recommendations to the door of the Khadist Chamber.’ His co-connivers gasped. ‘He wrote something underneath, something along the lines of: “To the Fat Cats of Baatarulaan, this is your Diet of Words; may you choke on them.” Can you believe it? Tengis is really standing up to them. I thought when he came with his Recommendations he was just another lunatic that would surely end up in the House of Fun . . .’

‘Don't you mean the House of Hurt?’ interrupted one of the others.

‘Yes, of course,’ said the original speaker, ‘House of Hurt. Anyway, with that shimmering stuff he seems to have won over a lot of friends. It's a bit like the story of Chinggis and the Five Fish.’ His fellows remained silent. ‘You know, the one where he feeds his entire army with a few enormous fish. Well, Tengis is doing the same. He's managing to win over all the influential and wealthy people of Baatarulaan, as well as us by the way, with just a few lumps of that yellow-brown-orangey substance. I don't know how he's done it but he's got everyone believing those Recommendations of his.’

‘You sound like you don't believe in the Ten Recommendations?’ said another man. The group turned to look for the original speaker's reaction; Lily presumed they all felt the same way.

‘Of course I do,’ said the original speaker. ‘Anything is better than the Khadist freedom movement. I would rather have rules and regulations than none. As for the youth of today, if I had my way they would all spend time in the Leggie learning all about discipline.’

‘Who is this Tengis?’ asked Lily. The group turned to look at her more carefully. She pulled the brim of her hat down further over her face and repeated the question in a pretend deep voice.

‘What do you mean?’ asked one of them. ‘How can you not know who Tengis is?’ Her question had made the group suspicious.

‘I know who Tengis is,’ said Lily. ‘I just wonder who Tengis really
is
; like
inside
. Who is the man? Where has he come from? That sort of thing.’

‘Oh,’ said the original speaker. ‘They say he was born and raised in Baatarulaan but when he was twelve he was spirited away from the city and schooled in the outside world.’

‘What, in another country?’ asked one of the group.

‘No,’ said the original speaker, ‘somewhere a whole one hundred miles from here. Can you imagine it; being a hundred miles away from Baatarulaan?’ Lily bit her tongue. She knew that she could travel almost that distance in a day if she really pushed Lucky hard. Her home was a good three days’ ride from here. ‘They say he learned how to think for himself; how to debate; he was taught the martial arts that have been forbidden under Khadism; as well as geography, history, literature and woodwork. It was while on a field trip that a voice is said to have spoken to him and taught him about the shimmering glimmering stuff as well as the Ten Recommendations. They even say that Tengis isn't really Tengis anymore. There are rumours that he is . . .’ He beckoned the others to move closer so that he could whisper. ‘They say that he is Chinggis Khaan himself!’ Lily was floored. She could hardly believe what she was hearing.

‘Do you think Chinggis Khaan is really here in Baatarulaan?’ asked Lily. She had pushed herself to the front of the group and was speaking directly with the original speaker. She couldn't accept that she would be able to find answers so easily or that she had a real opportunity to meet Chinggis. He heart exploded in a flurry of excitement. ‘Please, do you believe he is here?’ She grabbed the lapels of the original speaker's coat.

‘No I don't,’ said the original speaker. He took hold of Lily's hands and pushed her away from him. ‘How could he? He has been dead for almost eight hundred years. Tengis is just a shrewd politician who is going to save us from the tyranny of Khadism. What's it to you anyway? Why are you so keen? I haven't seen you here before; are you a Khadist spy or something?’ He made to grab Lily but she narrowly ducked away and was soon lost from him in the crowd which had been swelling further as Lily had been listening to the group.

Wherever she turned, there were faces turned to one side of the square. She was too short to see over the heads in front of her. Standing on tiptoes, Lily could see nothing more than hundreds if not thousands of heads staring at a space that seemed unusually darkened. People jostled her out of the way as they sought to get closer to the front. She lost half of her disguise. It didn't matter; people weren't interested in her. The only thing that mattered was what was in the darkness ahead of them. Lily was confused. She could not imagine what was going on. The crowd was beginning to get out of control. People were pressing hard against one another in a bid for a prime position. Some shouted agitatedly at others who were being overly forceful. Lily felt the pulse of the throng quickening. Violence seemed only a heartbeat away.

From deep within the darkness ahead of the swarming multitude came a noise. It was barely audible above the din of people but they soon quietened in heady anticipation. A steady drum beat quelled the restlessness of the masses. Nothing but a solid beat resonated around the square. Everybody stood stock-still facing the source of the sound. There was a crescendo as the beat sped up. Lily looked around, almost everyone was standing with their mouths gaping, eyes fixed in a glaze that was half panic, half sublimation. Startling white beams shone upwards in four huge columns of light. Enormous flags unfurled all around coloured blue, black and white. The crowd half closed their eyes but were so afraid to miss a thing that they readily risked blindness.

Lily tried to see what was on the flags but the light was too strong. The beat intensified. Boom-boom-boom roared the deep drums; and then the drumming stopped dead as the lights became less intense save a solitary focus on the centre ahead. Rising from behind the plinth rose a man. As he ascended he kept his head facing downwards. His face was set in serious
contemplation. His hands were stuck to his sides. He wore a black suit and matching cap with a blue armband. The moment he reached the height he hesitated and as the drums beat out a deafening final, one-off ‘boom’ he lifted his head to face his people.

‘I love you, Tengis!’ yelled a girl near to Lily moments before the crowd erupted in a volcano of molten emotion. Tengis theatrically lifted both his arms above his head to embrace the crowd. They responded in kind. Some screamed; others began to chant his name. Then came the drums again, now accompanied by trumpet blasts. The noise built and built until the noise was again deafening. Then it stopped. Tengis stepped forward and there was silence. He was about to speak. There was a universal hush.

‘I am Tengis Khaan,’ said the figure. ‘I represent the Chinggist movement and the Ten Recommendations. I bring you the sparkling metal and I offer you salvation!’ The figure lifted a large piece of shimmering metal above his head. The swarm chanted its approval. Women fainted, men screamed and children picked their pockets. The assembly acted as though under a spell. Tengis continued decanting further vitriolic verbiage. People cried his name and shouted whatever words he orchestrated them to.

After what Lily had heard earlier she had dearly hoped to see Chinggis Khaan. The person presenting himself in front of her was not he. This was a bad man. Once upon a time her stomach had begun to move whenever she was close to Chinggis in mind, body or soul. Tonight she simply felt sick. This person might purport to be Chinggis but he wasn't. Whoever he was, she felt he had to be an imposter. She listened to his words and they were delicately laced with slivers of spitefulness. She knew that Chinggis would never speak of hatred.

‘In a good word there are three winters’ warmth,’ continued
Tengis. ‘In one malicious word there is pain for six frosty months. Let us give the Khadists an eternity of frost.’ The figure said nothing of substance. People didn't seem to care. So long as the figure held aloft the glittering metal they would do whatever he wanted. Lily had to get away. She was being filled with a hatred that she knew would consume her absolutely if she didn't leave the rally that moment.