AlKabbani - Warriors and Warlocks: Outcast

All praise be to the Creator who made this world for the righteous

And for every seeker; it was He who made the phenomena and secrets

I t would be the very definition of the word insanity to try to rescue Borte from the clutches of the Merkit. What could he and his handful of horsemen possibly do against a thousand men? Only a lunatic would try to retrieve his wife after Chiledu, the Merkits Khan, had kidnapped her. There was no tribe Temujin could call on to join him on a raid. He was just an outcast, a wanderer, sheltered by a few who held to their friendship to Yesugei Khan, Temujin's father. Temujin wasnt even ten years old when the Tatars poisoned Yesugei. The tribe broke up after that, but the khans son remained an outcast; the boy and his mother deserted by his fathers supporters. All but his betrothed. She never gave up on him, it was she who insisted that her father honor the marriage contract he had made with Yesugei. The girl knew that Temujin would not be an outcast forever. She believed that the young Mongol, who held the keys to her heart, would one day conquer all his enemies.It is the will of Tengri, Lord of the Blue Sky, so speak the spirits. This boy is destined to stand above all. He shall accomplish what no other has before him and none shall after him. He will weave the impossible from the threads of despair and the world shall bend beneath his feet. Tabtinkar, the shaman, told Yesugei Khan when his wife gave birth to a son, born holding a clot of blood in his right hand.

Many of the steppes residents had heard of Tabtinkars prophecy, but few believed. Borte was one of those few, as were the seven warriors on horseback who accompanied Temujin as he went to retrieve his wife from the Merkits clutches.

***

On that moonless night, silence fell over the Merkit camp after their celebration. One raid after another had confirmed Chiledus place as one of the strongest khans on the steppes. No khan from any neighboring tribe had the strength to stand against his horsemen. Instead, they tried to curry favor by offering him a plethora of gifts including horses and mountains of wool and grain. Some had declared themselves his subjects, obedient to his command. Others simply felt that giving him their goods was a better alternative than forfeiting their lives and the lives of their families. Their actions led Chiledu to believe that no one living within his range on the steppes had the wherewithal to stand up to him. And here, surrounded by his warriors only a fool would believe he could penetrate the Merkit camp, and Chiledu feared no fool. Fools were never the victors; they were always the vanquished.

***

Temujin kept his distance, waiting in the brush as he watched the camp. His seven horsemen kept their eyes on him, watching in silence, waiting for him to reveal his plan to rescue Borte. They had absolute faith in his leadership and would follow without question. They knew that Temujin would never make a move on a mission like this without having a well-formed plan for infiltrating the Merkit camp unseen. Maybe he had a spy among the Merkit and was waiting for a signal indicating all the horsemen were asleep. Or he might ask his men to split up around the outskirts of the camp to cause a diversion, keeping the Merkit occupied as he went alone to the tent where Borte was being held to rescue her. In any case, they were ready to die for him this night. They each had their own story with Temujin, and every story ended with an oath of absolute fealty and a vow to lay down their lives for him. Not one of them even considered breaking his vow tonight.

But Temujin would not ask them to disperse around the camp or to infiltrate it under the cover of darkness. Instead, he asked them to remain hidden where they were as he advanced on the Merkit alone. He ordered them to stay where they were until Borte arrived. When she did, they were to take her back to their own camp immediately, without a backward glance. He made them swear before Tengri that they would leave the instant Borte came and that they would not wait for him. They tried to talk him out of it. They offered many alternative plans, none of which included his going into the Merkit camp alone. It was to no avail, however. The way things were, he had to go without his menTemujin planned to bring more than just Borte back with him!

***

Entering his tent, pitched in the center of the Merkit camp, surrounded by the tents of more than a thousand horsemen, Chiledu did not know what surprise awaited in his pallet, no khan on the Asian steppes would have anticipated it. Generations of khans from every tribe had learned that the strong rule the weak, that the strong can take valuables and women as spoils from the weak, along with anything else they wanted. The life of a horse warrior of the steppes resembled the lives of wolves. There were the strong and there were the weak. There were those who conquered and those who were vanquished. It was the duty of the defeated to tuck their tails between their legs and run home, bearing with them the shame their weakness brought upon their tribes. So it was that when Chiledu came upon Borte that evening, after celebrating with his men over mugs of fermented mares milk, he was looking forward to taking his pleasure from her. He was filled with lust in a way that he had never felt for any other woman. Who had not heard of Bortes legendary beauty, her agility of mind, and her courage? A woman like that only comes once in a generation. That bumbling boy Temujin does not deserve a woman like her!

Borte was laying on the low pallet, covered by a piece of hide. Chiledu moved to her, dropping down on top of her. With his right hand wrapped in the hair at the back of her head, he stripped her with his left. Borte did not resist. She remained still and silent, knowing that there was no point to fighting with a man like Chiledu who was so much stronger than she. Instead, she waited for just the right opportunity. She waited for the moment when he would be lost in his passion, in the throes of his ejaculation. She waited as his breath quickened in pace with the lurching thrusts of his fat thighs. Over and over again until she finally felt the weight of his body fall away from her back. When she twisted to look, she found him stretched out next to her, his eyes closed. This was her moment!

Without the slightest hesitation, Borte pulled Chiledus dagger from the sheath at his belt and, using every ounce of strength in her body, before the Merkit Khan sensed anything, she slit his throat and then plunged the dagger between his thighs. That was where she left the blade, a sign to any who may yet harbor thoughts of kidnapping her.