A coterie of elite Kerait warriors greeted Karnus’s army. Khadakh , Ilkha, Ong Khan , and dozens of senior officers are there to receive him. Besides Karnus are Taimur, Baidu, and Erlek as well as other veteran warriors.

Karnus walks towards Ong Khan’s party and stands before them. Ong Khan waits for him to bow but Karnus stood in silence and the chill spreads through the entire audience. Ong Khan frowns and his son Ilkha is fuming at the thought of waiting, even stalwart Khadakh is starting to squirm.

This fat bastard who got my father killed wants me to bow? I should kill him where he stands. Karnus darkly ruminates as he grips his sword handle. The warriors around them went on guard as they feel the tension rising.

“Brother…” Taimur pleads with Karnus. Karnus controls his rage and swallows his pride as he bow, no more than etiquette dictates, to Ong Khan.

“My father is dead. Mongols ravage our camp and scattered our army. I fought and save our people so that we can steal a chance to survive.” Karnus looks as Khadakh as he might lose his cool when facing Ong Khan. The memory of his father’s death still burns in his mind.

“Torgur can’t even kill a lowly Mongol.” Ong Khan complains without sparing a thought for those who sacrificed their lives for him.

“We mourn the loss of your father, boy.” Khadakh quickly intervenes before any conflict arises.

“I am thankful. Yet do not call me boy anymore, not after I have save my people from the jaws of death.” Karnus waves to the host at his back.

“My people.” Ong Khan growls.

“My lord, it is true. If it wasn’t for Karnus, Mongols would’ve slaughtered us like sheeps.” Erlek defends Karnus and echoed by other warriors who were saved by him.

“I heard that some of them deserted.” Senggum chuckles with his goons, still unable to comprehend the dire situation they are facing.

So the rumours have already travelled here. Karnus thinks.

“Enough, Ilkha. Karnus have done beyond what anyone of us has thought of him. I estimated that Karnus brought with him a thousand horsemen and with that, we have almost matched the forces of Temujin with our remaining forces.” Khadakh answers.

As if on cue, the ground began to shake Karnus turns around to see torches numerable as the stars coming towards them. He estimated based on the torchlight he can see that Temujin’s forces number twenty thousand strong but he sees through the trick. They had doubled their torchlight to spook them, half that number might be the accurate count.

Still, there is a sense of dread as Temujin advances. The nervous tension in the air around the camp thickens. The torchlight trick is very effective in damaging their morale.

“We must ready for battle!” Khadakh orders his men to mobilize. His commanders burst with activity to ready the men.

“Lord Khan, let me be in the center. I will be the one to kill Temujin.” Karnus pleads with Ong Khan.

“Know your place, boy! I will have the pleasure of putting down that rabid dog!” Ong Khan grins to the delight of Ilkha and his stooges, “Khadakh will lead the left wing as the ground is flat near the river, with his powerful cavalry he will break through Temujin’s right wing and together we will pin that dog on two sides. You will be at the right wing, your duty to hold their left wing in place. Erlek, I give you the command of the right wing.”

“My lord, we do not have the numbers to hold them.” Erlek voices out his concern. Karnus is also concerned about their manpower but discussing the battle plan out here in the open is foolish. The camp is littered with spies. How else Temujin did launched a surprise attack on our camp? Bone divination?

No.

It because he has an excellent intelligence network and using that to their advantage will be the key to Karnus’s survival.

“We do not need you do anything special just keep them in place long enough for us to crush them under our hooves.” Ilkha drawls which earns frigid stares from Erlek and Karnus.

“Men, to your battle formations!” Ong Khan declares, walking towards his tent with his inner circle.

 Karnus watches them go. After the destruction of the camp, they still haven’t realize that Temujin outmatches them in every martial aspect and will kill them all eventually.

“I am sorry, Karnus.” Khadakh approaches him. The man is weary but still has more gravitas than Ong Khan and his brood combined.

“I will mourn later, Uncle. Can you defeat their right wing?” Karnus asks with concern.

“From what we have seen and heard, their right wing is led by Jebe who is said to be the greatest cavalry commander in the steppes. I think that we settle for that title in this battle once and for all.” Khadakh chuckles to himself for a moment then went serious, “The enemy you face is Mukhali. I have seen that man in action. He is a warrior general who will not engage unless he is confident but make no mistake, he is not timid. He will attack with relentless fury.”

“I will keep that in mind.”

“What should we do, brother?” Baidu asks as they look towards the menacing hordes of Temujin across the field.

“We must put into field our extra hourse. Make them look like they have riders using straws. If we put them amongst our forces, we can make it look like we have more numbers.” Karnus minds crunches the possible permutations of the battle taking into account every variable and unknown factors. “What we need to do is stall for time.”

“It will be done, brother.” Baidu orders his men to prepare the dummy horses.

“Karnus, you can lead the army if you want. If you didn’t save us earlier, we wouldn’t be here.” Erlek says.

“I appreciate it, Erlek but the men will be more confident if you lead them.” Karnus declines the offer, “I would like for us to discuss something beforehand.”

“Of course, what is it?” Erlek asks. To that, Karnus shakes his head. “Not here.”

They ride away from the camp, away from prying eyes and earshot. The rain had finally stopped leaving a muddy ground in its wake.

Karnus looks at Erlek, Baidu, and Taimur with grim seriousness to convey the heaviness of the conversation.

“Give your oath to the Eternal Blue Sky that you will not reveal to anyone what I say here.” Karnus speaks.  Erlek and Taimur looks at each other, unsure of what is coming.

“I promise to the Eternal Blue Sky.” Taimur and Erlek gives their oath then waits for Karnus to reveal his plan.