He also learns that a massive Tartar army is advancing into Mongol lands. Upon interrogating a Tartar prisoner, Temujin learns that the leader of the Olkhunut conspired with the Chin to lead the Tartar assassins to his father. It is in the following battle that Temujin begins to show outstanding tactical abilities, as the Mongols ease to victory. Temujin joins his small fledgling tribe with Toghrul’s, and leads a joint army to advance on the Tartars. It is then that a Chin emissary approaches Temujin with an offer from Toghrul, Khan of the Kerait. The Tartars respond by sending armies to crush the new menace. The small army retaliates with repeated raids on Tartar camps. Temujin and his brothers chase down the captors and murder them, recovering Borte. Shortly after, Borte is captured by a Tartar raiding party ( in real, Borte was kidnapped by the Merkits and not the Tartars). Temujin returns to the Olkhunut to claim his wife Borte. They join Temujin and his family and begin a new tribe, accepting other wandering families into their protection. He is freed by Arslan and Jelme, father and son wanderers who joined the Wolves after looking for Yesugei, whom Arslan owed a debt. He is taken back to the tribe where he is tortured, and kept in a pit, in preparation for a ritual murder. But the Wolf tribe return to the area, and advanced riders, sent by Eeluk to ensure the family had perished, capture Temujin. In an argument over food, Temujin kills his older brother Bekter, much to his mother’s anguish.Īfter a few years of trading with other wandering families, the family establish a small home. The expectation was that Temujin’s family would perish in the unforgiving winter, but Temujin, along with his mother Hoelun, his four brothers Bekter, Khasar, Kachiun, Temüge, and his baby sister Temulun, survived against all the odds, albeit in poverty. Fearing the sons of the former khan may contest his leadership when they reach adulthood, Eeluk banishes Temujin’s family from the tribe, leaving them to fend for themselves on the harsh Steppes. Yesugei’s first bondsman, Eeluk, assumes control of the tribe. His father is attacked by assassins and soon dies from his injuries. The narrative follows the early life of Temujin, the second son of Yesugei, the khan of the Mongolian “Wolves” tribe.

His series “Conqueror”, covers the Mongol Empire created by Genghis Khan – Iggulden covers Temujin’s humble beginnings and the background which resulted in him growing from Temujin to the man who would soon become Genghis Khan. In 2007, Iggulden became the first person to top the UK fiction and non-fiction charts at the same time. Connor Iggulden is a British author who writes historical fiction, most notably the Emperor series and Conqueror series.

Iggulden khan series