So, I pretended to be a great host to the Duke of Suzdal and his people. My Chinese doctors went to help the Russian wounded. All the noblemen were cleaned up, given the fresh clothes and invited to a meal in my tent. I told them that I want to negotiate a good relationship between them and us. I promised them that they could go back to their estates, keep owning them and just paying us a negotiated tribute. I also vowed to defend the Russian lands from the Swedish and the German knights and any other aggressor to be. They liked that so much. We had such a good time. Many of them sent emissaries to other noblemen asking them to come over and join the agreement and the celebration. We even stopped the attacks on Kiev, offering them to come over for a talk. I gave the order to send some food to Kiev, and the Duke’s wife came out to receive it and to thank us. Everything was so civil, but I had to be wicked. I was Khan. Subutai was playing the role of the proper Mongol. I heard him saying to the Duchess:
“My dear lady, are you pregnant? Is not it the level of hardship the pregnant women should not endure? I can offer you the safe conduct to anywhere you may want. Even more, I can offer safe conduct to all women and children in Kiev. Take it. Think of the children. We are not the barbarians as some of the Christian and the Muslim tribes. We understand life while we live and not just when we die. You don’t have to suffer. Suffering is for men and only if they prefer it. Really, no one should suffer. There is no need for that. Life is too harsh already. Is life harsh in the Russian land? It is harsh in our steppes?”
It was an unusually warm day for the season. Subutai was wearing just the silk shirt and the hardened leather vest generally used under the chainmail armor. He was still looking young and fit, and he was in the late forties already. He saw so much of hardship already. He was in the saddle since he was three years old and his mother gave him birth in the saddle as well. The family was on the move, and there was no reason to stop for a mere birth of a child. A cow, horse, or a camel would be another matter. That’s how it was and still is in the Nomad lands. The life lessons started early. Yes, he belonged to the strong and robust generation of my grandfather and his associates. They knew it all.
“Thank you, my noble knight. This is very kind of you. You see, we, the Russian women, always stand by our men and so, we will do now. We will stand by our men now and share equally whatever the future has in store for them. I am sure you understand that.” She looked at us intently. She was not beautiful by our standards but quite pleasant in a soft plumb way.
The Northern people seemed entirely different from us. They had no color. She was pale maybe because of the heat of the day or because she was talking to Subutai constantly moving her gaze from him to the guards and to me. There also were a few Khazar bodyguards that accompanied us. Khazars were well known to the Russians. They were enemies for hundreds of years. The Russians appeared strange to us, and we looked at least exotic to them. I predicted then, and I know it now: Russians will start looking more, and more like us and quite soon. Interesting to see if I was right. Would I see that? The day was still young but getting old by the passing minute.
“Dear lady, Grand Duchess, we Mongols, have a lot of respect for the Russians, men and women alike. We really like your children. You are a powerful nation destined to make history. We do not want to fight you, destroying your towns and the way of life. We do not want our great soldiers to die, fighting your great soldiers. This is such a waste of life and good fortune. We prefer to live side-by-side, as good neighbors and brothers. This is much better than killing each other. Would not you say so? Tell your husband to come over to our camp, join the other noblemen, and talk to us. They are all there, in our camp. We are ready, and we want to talk. I am certain we can negotiate a comfortable peace for both sides. Peace is better than a war, no matter how you look at it.” Said Subutai pointing at the golden tents housing the Russians from Suzdal in not so great distance.
The Russians looked happy waving to her and calling her husband to join them. Most of them were close relatives of the Grand Duke. Some were her relatives. She was of the noble blood herself. The whole picture gave the impression of being very real and down to earth. There was no death over there, but there was death in Kiev. Many had died already. The fighting and sickness were taking its toll. The losses were huge, in hundreds if not thousands. Kiev — the Capital, the Kremlin, the walls, the town, the hills, the Dnepr River and the Russian people — all was in ruins. Maybe the Grand Duke was too stubborn? Perhaps the peaceful way was the way to deal with the Mongols? At least for now. Perhaps the hard peace was better than the brutal war. What was it going to be? Subutai was smiling, and I was amused. After all, we were civilized people. He could talk, I know that. But to what degree? Subutai was sly, crafty; he was a master deception.
“I’ll talk to my husband. He will join the negotiations.” She said firmly.
“This is good. This is very good. Do you need anything else from us, my lady? Anything? No? Any time you need something you can call on me. I am Subutai. I can, and I will help. You can trust me.” Subutai was all smiles and gentleness. His Kazakh interpreter smiled to the very extent of his mouth showing the rotten black teeth but in a very polite Kazakh way. He was a well-trained interpreter worthy of his masters. We had a full contingent of the interpreters from every language to every language, and they were fitted explicitly to any situation. They did a good job and were paid well. We always paid well to the worthy people. Everything looked so good, natural, authentic, in the oriole of sunshine and warm weather. What could go wrong? Where… How… Maybe there was no war, and everything was just right? Perhaps the horror was just a dream. Very bad, terrifying dream. At least we could pretend that, and we did.