Beyond Samarkand

Babur has taken Samarkand. Now he has to feed it.

The ovens are cold. His soldiers expect their rewards. Beyond the walls, rivals are reaching for the lands he left behind. He has won the city of his ancestors, but the men who brought him here can still choose to leave.

Babur knows how to win people back. He remembers a father’s service, shares a companion’s joke, and finds another road when defeat closes the first. He can also mistake a welcome for loyalty—and ask too much of those who have already followed him too far.

Driven from one foothold to the next, he keeps looking toward Samarkand. His family and followers have their own claims on the future: somewhere to live, a promise kept, a campaign that finally ends. Kabul offers a new home. Returning north means risking what they have begun to build.

Beyond the mountains, rulers in India offer opportunities with conditions of their own. Babur must decide whom to trust, what to promise, and how much he can ask of an army that may win a country without agreeing to stay.

From the streets of Samarkand to the mountain roads of Kabul and the plains of northern India, Beyond Samarkand follows Babur through rivalry, friendship, exile, and war. At every new beginning, the people beside him must decide whether to follow once more.