42 Chaos in the Camp

We saw a large tent nearby, but not only its size distinguished it from the others, it was more decorated and better made, it was obvious at first glance that it belonged to someone significant. The tent was also guarded by the Tatars, there were about 50 of them in its vicinity, they watched the surroundings and our actions vigilantly, although they did not react to it.

They probably hoped that someone else would stop us, or they didn't want to endanger their leader by leaving the tent unguarded ... I wondered why Khan himself didn't show up, but that wasn't my biggest worry right now ...

Our diversion in the form of freed prisoners worked well, they attacked the Tatars in all possible ways, threw stones, massacred them with their bare fists ... although they suffered heavy losses, the enemy, despite their numerical outrage, did not have an easy time with them.

The whole camp resembled the nightmares in Beksinski's paintings... the fires were not contained, after initial attempts to extinguish with water, which did not work, the Tatars stopped trying ... on the ground there were flaming bodies, earth became in slippery with blood and water. The animals were running around, screams of pain and rage were heard. The smell of burning meat, excrement, and blood filled the air.

Although there were only three hundred of us, and two thousand other prisoners, the enemy had more than four times as many people, the losses we inflicted were large, but too small to win in open combat... I looked around, the enemy was on each side of us.

"Who else has grenades and wineskins?" (MC)

I heard a few voices.

"Throw two grenades at the guards by the tent ... Spill the contents of the wineskins on the ground and set them on fire, try to make a barrier. If you have water, pour it out to increase the flames." (MC)

Moments later my orders were carried out ... I turned to Saddata.

"If your men still have any arrows, let them make use of them now." (MC)

He nodded his head and signaled to his people ... suddenly there were two explosions several meters in front of us, they were two grenades thrown towards the tent. Several guards fell to the ground, I did not know if they were killed or only wounded, but there was such a breach that we could try to get into the tent ... they say that an army without a leader is useless, I hope they are right.

We split into several smaller groups and started the attack, it was nothing sophisticated, we just tried to force our way to our goal ... Tatars put up fierce resistance, at that moment we outnumbered them, but it could change quickly... we were in the middle of a fucking Tatar camp.

I do not know how much time passed, the number of guards decreased each moment, but we also suffered losses ... I saw several of my men fall to the ground without life.

Finally, the road to the tent was open to us ... all the time it seemed strange to me that Khan did not appear in person. He must have known there was fighting going on outside.

"Take a few people and go into the tent, bring whoever is there." (MC)

Suddenly I heard a pistol shot and I saw Cyril fall to the ground ... I looked in the direction of the tent, there was a man at the entrance with a gun in his hand. He was wearing lamellar armor, misiurkę and in the other hand he held a saber... I think he wanted to say something ... but I didn't give him a chance, I ordered my people to catch him, a dozen people attacked him, he tried to defend himself, but without success. After a while he was lying down on the ground, his hands tied ...

"Let me go ... you pigeaters! Dogs! Fight like men ..."

The man tried to break free and cursed my people. I ordered them to bring him to me.

"Check the tent or someone else is there and prepare to defend yourself, we don't know when someone will attack us ... And you, say who you are." (MC)

"You pigeater ..."

In response, I got a pile of insults, at the same time my men brought a woman from the tent, she looked like a maid or maybe a slave girl and two boys, both were under ten years old.

I ordered to bring them to me, when they were close one of the boys shouted "father" to the tied man ...

"So this is your son, well, very well ... Saddat take the woman and ask her who they are, if she refuses to speak ... kill her." (MC)

A few minutes later, Saddat returned with the woman ... she had knife marks on her face and torn clothes.

"Lord, this is Khan Temir, his two sons and a concubine." (Saddat)

I looked at the tied man.

"You have two options, either you order your people to surrender ... or I will make you eat your son before you die ... if you have an appetite, even both, everyone is entitled to a last meal." (MC)

"You will die ..." (Khan Temir)

"It's true, but everyone will die someday, you can die like a man in a fight, you can also die like a dog." (MC)

I grabbed one of Khan Temir's sons and ran a knife over his cheek, the boy began to struggle and cry. I pushed him to the ground.

"Bark boy, be a good dog ..." (MC)

The boy was not barking, but just lying on the ground, crying and trembling with fear. I put my foot on his neck... and I slowly began to increase the pressure, the boy gasped and tried to lift my leg ... a wet stain appeared on his pants.

"Command your people to surrender, for I will kill your sons. I swear by God and the Bible and all holiness that then I will let you go, but if you refuse ... we all die here." (MC)