Remember

Death

The first mongol comes at me, swinging his sword above my head. Being small, my dodging reflexes were good. I swung behind him, and as his sword hit the dark earth, I sent him in there.

I guess the mongols underestimated me, because now they all came at me, at once. "Remember, don't harm her, Osman Bey would be furious if we touched her pretty little face." Cerkutay sneers. Ahh, I think, so that is what they are after. Setting a trap for Osman Bey. Little do they know, Osman doesn't even know I exist. The second mongol jumps on top of his dead friend and swings high.

When taking one of Ilbilge Hatun's fighting classes, she was talking about the mongols. "All mongols swing at you from high once the fight starts. They jump and raise their sword. The best time to kill them is when they do that move." Ilbilge shows a demonstration of the move. Once the mongol swings up, duck down and slice your weapon through his legs, injuring him. She then kicks his shin, making him bow. "You can do a clean death for them, and send them to Hell."

I used her advice to kill two more mongols. But I was losing strength, and five mongols came at me, surrounding me with their spears. I dropped my knife, putting my hands in the air. Cerkutay came into the spear circle. He put his sword to my neck. "I am not afraid of death, Komutan, Evelallah!" He sneers then laughs, his whole body shaking with the sound of his stupid evil laugh.

"Ashedu an la illaha illallah ve ashedu ana muhammedan abduhu va rasulluh."

I raise my head high, and watch his sword swing at my neck, the words of Allah on my tongue. He hits me, and the world goes black.