The Great Khan Ch. 06

Near the musicians, the Uyghurs noted everything dutifully. The balance of power on the steppe would shift tonight.

***

"These baths... I have no words," Toragana sighed as she lounged in the large wooden basin, her arms draped over the sides as she sank a little farther into the steaming water. She didn't know what blossoms were used to scent it, but she had to admit that the heady aroma had her feeling slightly drunk, playing upon her senses in so many lovely ways. She'd never felt the like before, or even imagined it could be like this. "Maybe, just maybe, my sister, the Song has some uses after all."

Mai smiled serenely as she sat next to Toragana and reached over to caress her thigh gently with her dainty hand. She had to agree, this bath felt like absolute heaven. It had been so very long since she'd had a proper bath, she'd come to despair of ever having one again. She thanked the gods when she saw the wooden structure when they entered the settlement. Bath houses apparently looked the same no matter where you found them.

"As much as I would like to take credit on my people's behalf for the invention of bathing, I somehow doubt I can," she answered in a soft voice, still caressing Toragana's thigh. "It is my understanding from the scribes that most civilizations the world over have baths as traditions. Not to sound indelicate or punitive, sister, but... it may be your steppe folk who are the exception to this rule."

Toragana said nothing, her neck craned back so that her face was pointed at the ceiling, her eyes closed.

"To be fair, of course, water is a rare commodity where you live, so heating it for bathing in when it has so many other purposes is-"

"Galina, do us both a favour and shut up," Toragana mumbled, unwilling to spend any effort listening to the Chinese girl. There would be time later for lessons. "As lyrical as I find your voice, I care to hear only the sound of my muscles relaxing."

"As you say, sister," Mai giggled, not at all offended. This was Toragana and Solongo's first real bath. If it didn't transport them to the realm of bliss, what good was it? "But will you do me the honour of letting me clean you?"

"I think I can say yes to such an experience," the Sukh woman sighed, feeling the deep weariness already bleeding from her. "Just let me relax and enjoy these sensations for a while longer, if you will."

Mai nodded and leaned forward slightly to look past Toragana, where Solongo was sitting. If anything, she seemed even more undone by pleasure than her older sister. She was dangerously close to passing out and slipping under the water. Not even close to being the warrior or rider her sister was, the journey had been very hard on her.

"And you, my love?" the Chinese girl asked, smiling, trying not to smirk at the sight. "Is it safe to assume you are also enjoying your first bath?"

Solongo made a series of incoherent sounds that Mai assumed were meant to be words strung into a sentence but were no more than mumbled gibberish. It was as good an answer as she could hope for, frankly. Mai herself relaxed back into the basin, reveling in the scent of the blossoms floating on the surface of the hot water, and the smell of the pine that made the sturdy tub for them. It was more than big enough for the three of them and could easily have fit at least three more women their relative size. Mai was the smallest, of course, and Toragana the largest of build, although this wasn't saying much. Compared to Khorijin, she was almost a wisp.

The women said nothing for several minutes, with Mai's eyes fluttering open at the sound of someone snoring. She glanced over and saw that Solongo had indeed gone to sleep, her head tilted upward, and her mouth wide open. The indelicate noise had pulled Toragana from the reverie as well, and the older sister simply stared at her sibling with despair and annoyance.

"Never mind her, sister," Mai cooed, smiling as she turned to speak to Toragana. She sat up just enough that her lovely, pale breasts now broke the surface of the water, glistening invitingly. Toragana couldn't help but notice and smiled. "Would you like for me to clean and bathe you now?"

Toragana nodded. "Show me how, so that I may do it for you, then. I would want to know for next time."

Mai smiled, looking amused. "Next time?"

The Mongol woman nodded. "As Boldbator becomes more powerful, and his lands grow, then many rivers and waterways will come under his auspices. Perhaps we will settle on the banks of the Hanuy Gol, and with water in such plentiful supply, we can get him to build us a tub, and then bathe as we please."

"That sounds delightful, sister," Mai said wistfully, looking off at the far wall and thinking of the baths she took back home- such serene affairs, often intimate if her sister or her mother or select friends were with her. "But do you really think the khan would deign to indulge such frivolity?"

Toragana smiled back. "Though I have only lived amongst the Tengger a short time, I have come to understand our lord in some ways, one of which is that he will give us whatever we want, as long as he thinks it helps us help him achieve our ambitions. So if bathing in these remarkable basins with this scented water if beneficial to us..."

"Heavens only know, each of us could have a basin, then," Mai concluded, smirking. "And while I have no clue how Khorijin would react, I think it is safe to assume that Sarantuya will happily side with us in this ambition, once you tell her about your experience."

The Chinese girl now moved closer, sidling into Toragana, and pressing her breasts into her sister-wife's. Toragana sighed languidly at the sensation as Mai began to slowly move her slippery, smooth skin around, massaging Toragana's breasts with her own.

"Are all baths supposed to happen like this?" she murmured.

"No, but it will be my happy exception for you," Mai chimed, now slowly moving until she sidled into Toragana's lap, facing into her. In the water, the Chinese girl was light as a feather. Her arms gently rested around Toragana's shoulders, while the Mongol girl's hands embraced Mai's tiny waist. They looked into one another's eyes, and moved subtly closer until their breasts were pressed together again. Mai began to squirm back and forth subtly, both girls shivering at pleasure at the slippery, silken touch, their nipples hardening as they brushed over one another. Mai leaned in and gave Toragana a light kiss on the lips, before they rested their foreheads together, sitting silently.

"I sense a change in you, sister, and I like it," Toragana whispered, her lips barely touching Mai's as she spoke. "Since our agreement as wives of the khan, you seem much less guarded, and perhaps even open. You are not so remote to me now."

Mai smiled, though her eyes remained closed. "It is you that I have to thank for this, sister, for it is you who forced us all into this new dynamic of peace and civility with one another. I am so confident in it that I have been willing to let my guard down, as it were, even around Khorijin."

"Thank you for saying so, but it was all of us who made it work, you know," Toragana murmured, her hands caressing Mai's sides slowly. "It would not be possible without everyone's agreement. Even Khorijin's."

"Mayhap, but it was you who proved the catalyst," Mai purred, leaning down and kissing Toragana's neck sensually, making the Mongol girl shiver and moan. "Without you, we would still be fighting and threatening to kill one another. There was no change to be had until you."

Toragana shivered again, pulling Mai close as the courtesan kissed and nibbled at the skin of her neck. "B-but you never fought, did you?"

"Not physically, no," Mai murmured, taking Toragana's cheeks gently in her hands and looking into her eyes for some moments before kissing her again. This kiss between them was deep and passionate, tongues slithering and rolling about as they moaned into one another's mouths. "I had a war of nerves with Khorijin, and even Sarantuya. They both resented me."

Toragana pressed herself into the kiss, pulling Mai's body tight against hers. "Foolish, to waste time on such things."

The kiss broke, both girls looking into one another's heavily lidded eyes and seeing the desire there. It thrilled Toragana that someone as beautiful as Mai could want her so. True, she could admit that Sarantuya was a great beauty, and Turkina was regal and attractive, if severe, but Galina, the enslaved courtesan Mai, was exotic and so very sensual, like nothing she had ever known before. She'd had exquisite training in womanly arts in her distant home, and there was no such equivalent here on the harsh steppes.

"I concur," the Chinese girl whispered. "When I think of the countless hours I lay awake, my stomach in knots and beads of sweat from dread on my brow, waiting and wondering when Khorijin would next try to rape me, or even Sarantuya on occasion. Thankfully, they were mostly occupied fighting one another."

"I am surprised that Sarantuya found the need to accost you and bully you so," Toragana breathed, her hands gliding up to rest on Mai's firm breasts, palms and fingers tracing over the hard nipples and making her sigh in quiet pleasure.

"I think she felt a need to, since Khorijin did so to assert dominance," replied Mai, her fingers gently squeezing, massaging and tugging on Toragana's earlobes, a spot of secret delight for so many women. "I do not believe she wanted to, but she was vying for power with our sister, and afraid of losing."

The conversation ceased as they began kissing again hungrily, almost swallowing one another's tongues. Solongo, meanwhile, had opened her eyes at the sound of the sensual moaning, and smiled as she saw Galina sitting in her sister's lap, the two of them in a deep and wet embrace. She slipped into the water and glided behind the Chinese girl, gently reaching up a hand and slow stroking along her pussylips, up to her puckered knot.

Mai shuddered in shock and squeaked, before turning her head to see what was happening. Solongo smiled slyly at her, before she returned to kissing Toragana, letting the younger sister do as she pleased. Gods, a proper bath, and a sensual fucking...

***

She trained her sight down her arm and past the wooden, bone, and lacquer bow, peering at the target far down the practice range. It was not even close to a difficult shot, but discipline called on her to never be casual in her efforts. Not with the bow. She was the best shot in the entire clan, even better than Gerel or Boldbator. She was the expert marksman of the Tengger. Of to the side, the men of her arvahn watched silently, along with a group of Kyrgyz warriors.

She felt her fingers loosen their grip on the nock, and in what seemed like slow motion, the arrow sprang forward, hurtling down the range toward the man-shaped target made of straw, bedecked with armour. She watched intently as she lowered the weapon, seeing the arrow spinning through its flight, straight, true and lethal, the barbed head whistling of death.

With a loud thud, the arrow drove deep inside the head of the dummy, where the right eye had been drawn on. The arrowhead punched out the other side, along with most of the shaft, while the fletching was all that remained visible on the front. The hemp casing that held the straw in place was shredded and torn by the spin of the missile, and most of the face had been ripped off as a result, now wrapped around the arrow and deep inside the dummy.

Her men called their approval, while the Kyrgyz expressed their admiration for her skill. She turned to look at them and nodded. If Toragana and Nur were to handle most of the negotiations, she would find other ways to impress the Kygyz, to make them respect her brother's envoys.

"Lady Khorijin, that was indeed a superb shot," one Kyrgyz warrior said, speaking the Khalkha language in a slow, thick accent. "But could even a marksman such as yourself ever make such a shot again?"

While the words sounded like admiration, the tone carried a note of skepticism to it, as if the shot had been a lucky one. She could see the tiniest hint of a smirk on the man's face, as well as those of the other Kyrgyz present. She felt her temper flare but gave no sign of it. If they were taunting her, she would not rise to the bait. This mission for Boldbator would not fail before she was goaded into rash action.

Still looking at the man off to her side, she drew an arrow from her quiver and nocked it into her bow. Her eyes never left his as she drew the string back to it maximum tension and then let fly. The arrow shot forward and drove into the nock of the first one, splintering it as it ripped mercilessly through the dummy's right eye and punched out the other side.

Dead silence reigned as she turned and walked toward the group. Even the man of her arvahn seemed stunned, or even cowed into not speaking. The Kyrgyz were all gaping at the ruined dummy in shock, and then at her.

"And that is why my brother will one day rule the world..." she said simply as she walked by them, her bow still in hand.

Her heart was soaring, but there was no outward expression from her. She could now expect no less from herself than what she had just done. Maybe she had taken that risk to shut the man up, to put him in her place, but there was no going back. She would be driving herself relentlessly, determined to make sure that she was the most renowned archer in all of the Khamag and beyond. Even the world.

Now where was her damned sister-wife and that whore of a concubine?

***

Toragana moaned as she stood in the center of the wooden basin, the water up to her waist. Her eyes were closed and she bit her lip, trying not to call out loudly while Galina and Solongo squirmed their slippery bodies up and down her form. Mai had slathered a small, soft bar of animal fat and herbs onto her body and Solongo's, and the pair were now slithering all over Toragana, ostensibly cleaning her with this substance.

If this was how the Chinese and the Kyrgyz cleansed themselves, she couldn't see a downside to it.

Galina's nipples grazed up and down her front, while Solongo did the same thing to her back, the pointy nubs sending shuddering thrills through her as they pressed into her wet skin. Their hands also roamed over her, teasing her until her knees were weak.

Toragana grunted as she felt Galina's dainty hand slide between her legs and begin rubbing her pussy. Seconds later, two fingers slid up inside her, stroking in slow motions. As if on a cue, Solongo had wiggled one of her fingers into her backside. If it hadn't been for their sensual bodies pressed into her, she would have collapsed at this point.

They were kissing and fingering one another in great need, when the door to the room opened, and there was a sigh of exasperation.

"Might've known I'd find you lot defiling yourselves when there's a mission from my brother to complete," Khorijin muttered as she watched them squirming and undulating against each other in the tub. "Is that one of the baths you were always prattling about, woman?"

Mai broke her kiss with Toragana, turned her head and nodded, smiling. "Yes, and it is absolute heaven. You really should try it, sister."

Khorijin wrinkled her nose in distaste. "Your soft Chinese ways will not corrupt me, I see no virtue in such things."

"Suit yourself," Mai replied placidly, going back to fucking Toragana with her fingers, shivering as the Sukh woman returned the favour. "But after a month in the saddle, even your muscles must be screaming for release."

"The water smells funny," Khorijin sniffed, still scowling.

"It is indeed scented, and it has balms in it to soothe an aching body," Mai sighed in rapture, as pleasure bloomed through her. "You really should join us. I can guarantee, you'll smell better than Sarantuya for a change."

Toragana tried not to smirk, because she knew exactly what Galina was doing. Khorijin may have hated Galina for being Chinese, but she was so very competitive with Sarantuya, always looking for ways to outshine her. She had her eyes closed, but sneaked a peek at the Tengger woman, and saw that she was considering Galina's words.

"Oh, fine," Khorijin muttered, casting down her bow, arrows, and knife. Let me go tell my men to stand guard outside so that I'm not interrupted in my... bath..."

She was barely out the door again before all three women were giggling so hard that they had to stop fingering one another. Toragana took Galina's face gently in her hands and kissed her almost lovingly. She then smiled at the smaller woman. "Not a day goes by that I do not find you more fascinating. I hope you are not corrupting me with your soft Song ways, sister."

"If I told you that I thought bathing would allow us to better serve our khan by providing relaxation for the body and clarity of thought, would you believe me?" Mai asked, looking up into Toragana's eyes.

"That's a chance I'm just going to have to take," replied the Sukh woman, kissing her again as they all sank into the tub, fondling and caressing. "I'm certainly enjoying it for its-"

"All right, you lot, move over," Khorijin grunted as she opened the door and then swung it shut behind her, marching toward them. From outside, they could see one of the warriors of her arvahn squinting in confusion, trying to get a look into the darkened room before the door closed on him. "Do what you want with one another, but I'm not here to fuck. I want to feel this bath for what it is."

"As you wish, sister," Mai lilted, smiling as the three of them snuggled into a corner, still kissing and molesting one another while Khorijin stripped off her clothes. She tried awkwardly to clamber into the tub, bracing her hands and attempting to reach a leg over, but the basin was built too high for that, because of the smouldering fire beneath it that kept the water warm. The other three were too busy fucking each other to help her, so she scowled as she tried to figure out how to get in. If that runt Galina could do it...

She saw the small step-stool, and rolled her eyes, feeling foolish. The other three doubtless all saw her struggling, but at least they were smart enough to not remark on it. She'd quite happily drown them all at this point. She could just lie to Boldbator and say the wolves ate them.

The stool in place, she pulled herself over the side and began easing down into the basin. Her foot entered the water but then shot back up as she gasped, her eyes wide. "It's fucking hot water!" she exclaimed to no one and everyone all at once.

"Yes, hence the steam, sister," Galina murmured, not looking at her but still making out with Toragana while Solongo sucked hungrily on one of her older sister's breasts. "It is a hot bath, perfect for weary muscles and bones."

"What if I don't want to be cooked like a fucking goat?" protested the Tengger woman, glaring at the water as if trying to subdue it."

"Then spend all your time outside the tub, wondering what devilry we three possess to endure this agony, and you can lie to your men later about taking bath," Galina said simply, still not looking at Khorijin, her fingers buried in Toragana's cunt. "I refuse to believe a Mongol warrior is not the equal of a Kyrgyz bath."

Khorijin's nostrils flared indignantly at the perceived slight by Galina, but that only strengthened her resolve to conquer this challenge. She glared at the water again before slipping her leg back over and steadily pushing her foot into the water. She bit her lip as she sank her lower leg in, easing her body over the edge of the basin. Her other foot entered, then her leg, and she was standing in the tub now, facing away from the others, her tight, muscular cheeks presented to them. Toragana and Solongo both stifled snickers and Mai smirked, resisting the urge to reach out and smack Khorijin's ass. The Mongol woman would probably kill her, but it might have been worth it.