PROLOGUE
Year of Our Lord 1190
The fall of the Kingdom of Kitara
The smell ofsmoke was heavy in the air.
That was all he really knew—that it was smoky and smelly and he was running. So much running. He was too young to know how critical this night was, how horrific in its measure. A kingdom that had existed for a thousand years was now in danger of going up in smoke and there was no way to stop it. A thousand years of life and love and beauty, of culture and joy, was about to become a pile of ash.
The hot desert winds were carrying the smoke and embers, flowing from one cottage to the next, igniting the thatched roof so that the dry grass went up like a torch. But the fire had been deliberate, set by the King of Kitara so that the Mongols from the north, and a leader namedTemüjin, could not have his beloved city. He’d rather burn it than surrender.
But it was even worse than that.
They had been betrayed.
King Amare, tall and powerful, with eyes the color of jade and skin as smooth as polished stone, watched the fire from LarkanaPalace, the residence of more than two dozen generations of his family. But tonight would see that legacy come to an end, because the royal family of Kitara had been betrayed from within. Amare was so emotionally wounded by the betrayal that it was difficult for him to face the task ahead. One of desperation, one of reckoning.
But it had to be done.
He had to kill his brother.
Prince Ekon was four years younger than Amare and had coveted the throne since he was a young boy. There had been numerous attempts on Amare’s life over the years, and the general belief was that most of them had been orchestrated by Ekon, who simply denied the accusations and threw himself on his brother’s mercy. It wasn’t mercy he wanted, but fragility. He played on his brother’s one weakness—his love for his family.
Even for those who betrayed him.
Amare knew this. He was well aware of his brother’s ploys. He was well aware of the man’s movements, his subversion, and even his attempts to seduce Amare’s own wife. Rumor had it that the youngest child, a beautiful daughter named Adanya, was Ekon’s child. Since Amare and Ekon looked quite similar to one another and the daughter had the same green eyes, perhaps the truth would never be known, even though Amare’s wife vehemently denied anything illicit. Given that Amare loved her, and she had always been quite loyal, he believed her. But the rumors continued, and Amare ignored them.
The price of his ignorance, however, would be high. Ekon had taken a journey some time ago into the north after he’d tried to assassinate one of Amare’s generals. Amare had sent him north as a diplomat, trying to give him a useful position in the hope that it would satisfy him, but it didn’t. The intent of Ekon’s journey was to seek trade with the tribes to the north and the vast empire that was established there, but Ekon haddone something quite different. Rather than establish ties for his brother’s kingdom, he’d managed to ally himself with the most feared warlord in the world.
A man he had promised his fealty, should he remove Amare from the throne.
And that was why Temüjin had come.
Amare and his loyalists had known of the approach of his army for a couple of weeks now, ever since the outposts began reporting the movement of the enormous army southward. Amare had listened to the reports in horror, and when he sent for Ekon, his brother was nowhere to be found. As the days passed and the army drew closer, Amare knew that his brother could be found somewhere in the approaching army, and he further knew that, given the size of the force, his own army, which was trained and sizable, would be facing a suicide mission.
And so would his people.
But Amare would have the last word.
It was with a heavy heart that Amare ordered his own city burned before the Mongols could get to it. His army was out there right now, helping the villagers flee and burning their homes behind them. When Amare had been told, by a double agent, that Ekon was indeed with the approaching army and was promised Kitara’s throne, Amare knew he had to destroy everything. He’d rather do that than let his brother have it.
Ekon would be the king of ashes.
As Amare pondered the course his life would take, in the stone halls of the palace, something else was happening. Fear was happening as his wife, Queen Kiya, went on the hunt for her children. They were supposed to be with their nurse, but the old woman seemed to have vanished.
Kiya could only pray that she hadn’t vanished with her children, but she had yet to find them. There was a caravanwaiting to take them away and time was growing short, so Kiya and her women were running down the corridors, checking chambers, until they finally came to the chamber where the old nurse usually slept. It was a small chamber with a wide balcony and linen curtains hanging in front of the opening that led to the patios beyond. The glow of the city to the east was creating a silhouette of small figures through the linen, and she pushed through them to find all three children on the balcony, watching the fires beyond.
“Thanks to God,” she gasped as she rushed to them, falling to her knees. “You are all safe!”
She was grasping Essien and Adanya, her baby. They were the youngest. Adanya had only recently learned to walk, but she was bright and quick and wanted to do everything her older brothers did. As usual, Essien had the baby by the hand. It was rare when he let her out of his sight, so Kiya put her arms around them, hugging them, as Addax stoically watched the fires.
“There is fire, Maman,” the boy said, pointing.
Kiya looked up from her youngest children, noting that the fire, which had seemed distant only minutes before, seemed to be growing closer. Smoke was in the air, embers blowing about. She was trying so hard to be calm, but it was difficult.
“I know,” she said. “We must go and find your father now. He will want us with him.”
“Bam said that soldiers are coming,” Essien said, referring to their nurse. “Are soldiers coming, Maman?”
