cold hands, and promised him that I would get him help.
“
Hold yourself together, brother!” I begged and sobbed. I ran to our tent as fast as I could, and woke up
our men, and we all rushed to Jochi. Temüjin held him in his arms, and asked me how it happened.
“
Thank you, Father.” Jochi mumbled forcefully, and closed his eyes.
“
How did this happen, Ögedei? Who did this?”
“
I don’t know, father. I heard a sword piercing through armor, and saw him on the floor.” I sobbed.
That night, we burned him and buried his ashes and prayed.
“
I told you this was a bad idea, Temüjin.” Hasar said, reminding him about foolishly finding the treasure.
“
It’s too late now, Hasar. We have to keep going. People die now and then. I am very sorry, Temüjin, for
your loss.” Haichiunun, another brother of Genghis, considered.
The next morning, the group set off to the mysterious journey in the Great Wall of China. We commenced
in the North Pass. The treasure was located in the heart of the Great Wall, underneath actually. I asked for the
telegraph from Börte, my uncle. He took off his sack, kneeled down, and searched for it. He took out the
scroll-like telegram, and handed it over. I carefully unrolled it and examined every detail. At the back of the
scroll, a fierce dragon was drawn. I sighed.
“
There are no such things as dragons,” I thought, calming myself. “It’s just a drawing.”
Börte must have noticed my troubled expression, and decided to calm me down.
“
It’s OK, Ögedei.” he assured. “We will return home in one piece.”
I felt a little better after that.
It was already getting dark, and it felt like we weren’t getting anywhere closer to our destination. It
somehow felt like we were going backwards. We decided to take a rest, because most of us were fatigued.
“
How much longer?” Chagatai, my older brother, complained.
I shrugged. He was rather an impatient fellow, Chagatai.
My uncle, Temüge, immediately dropped his bags, took out a straw mat and placed it on the floor. He
took out some leftover food wrapped in dried leaves and devoured them all quickly.
My uncle was a very big person, round and tall. Of course, judging by his appearance, he loved to eat.
Rumors have said that he even ate a foul wolf out of desperation. But rumors are just rumors.
We were camping in the narrow pathway, and the view was breath taking. The sky was so clear, not a
single cloud was to be found. There was a full moon, and stars were shining brightly. Suddenly, we were
stopped by this sound. This disturbing sound. The same sound from the night before.
Thump. Thump.
My heart started pounding quickly. I warned everyone that this sound had something evil about it.
Haichiun chuckled. “Scared of a little sound, aren’t you, young one?” He laughed.
“
I am serious!” I shouted.
Then, the wind came. That same wind from the night before. The next second, Haichiunun was in air. He
started screaming in pain as his arms and legs started ripping apart. The sight was so horrible and still disturbs
me to this day. He begged for mercy. Mercy from no one but the air. After a few minutes, his arms and legs fell
on the ground. His limbless body immediately fell on the ground, joining his disconnected limbs. He was dead.
I was sure that my father got scared, too. It’s very hard to make my father frightened. The last time he got
frightened was when he was a small boy, I think.
“
Who are you?” he shouted. “Fear me, for I am Genghis Khan! I won’t be scared of some puny wind”
Suddenly, the wind attacked again, attacking the people behind my father. The wind punished three other
soldiers, including my uncle, Temüge, the same way Haichiun was punished. Eventually, the wind disappeared,
but the passageway was filled with blood. Blood and limbs of our four men.
“
This is a curse!” Hasar cried. “We must leave this place, brother!”
I, as well as the other men, nodded.
“
We will leave now!” Börte ordered. “Genghis, I have had enough! We have seen enough.”
Genghis sighed. “That telegram is a curse. It is bad luck.” He said, looking at the accursed scroll. He threw it to
the mountains, and started crying. “I am so sorry, my men. I was so focused in the treasure and was so foolish.
Forgive me, my men.” He pleaded.
That night, we placed the bodies in the side of narrow pathway, and prayed a ritual. After a few moments,
we went backwards, towards the village. Then, something shocking appeared. The pathway to the treasure was
there.
We somehow found the pathway to the treasure in front of our eyes. And the scary part was, something
was pulling us into it. We couldn’t stop ourselves from that something, and after a while, we were in this
chamber with the treasure. It felt like an illusion, but it looked real too. There were statues of old fearsome
warriors made of old stone around the corners of the chamber, as well as a huge dragon statue made of marble in