He would never understand women, he thought. They were life’s great mystery.
For the khan, we will take their cities, their women, and their lands. This is the great raid, the farthest strike in the history of the nation of Genghis. We will not be stopped.
History was more than just stories, he reminded himself as the men walked forward with their burdens. It taught lessons as well.
Sometimes, power could change hands as quickly as a knife thrust.
The world cannot be full of lead dogs, or the pack would pull itself apart.
There is a price for all things, my son, for all men. I have merely to find his.
No worthy goal should come easily, he told himself. Suffering created value.
Be careful in your life, Tolui. I want you fit and strong for when I come for you.
The nation of my father is too strong for a man who cannot command even his own body.
A man needs to feel a little fear, Tolui, if only to have the pride of conquering it.
I am not you and all my choices have already been made, good and bad.
If he had learned anything in manhood, it was that it didn’t matter what other people thought of him—even the ones he respected. In the end, he would patch together a life, with its sorry errors and its triumphs, just as they had.
As he prepared to ride on, he chuckled at the thought of the wolf entering the sheepfold. He would not ride with fire and destruction. The shepherd did not frighten his own pretty lambs.
I am the rightful khan of the nation. I am the gur-khan. My word is iron and my word is law.
The wisdom of age is bitter when those you have failed have gone.
It’s all you can say, when the end comes: ‘I did not waste my time.’ I think that matters. I think it may be all that matters.
Sung Win smiled to himself, enjoying the tension across his shoulders and the way his pulse beat in his veins. All life involved risk.
You have a powerful army, Kublai, but the best force is one you do not have to use.
We are all fools with our sons. We wipe them and suckle them and all we expect is for them to be grateful to the end of their days.
My word is iron,” Kublai said to the guards, as Meng Guang was led away. “Your people will come to know this, in time.