Prologue
Jalal al-din surveyed his troops from his tent. He smiled. The enemy was nowhere in sight. All was safe in Persia.
For many years, the Persians had fought against their vicious enemies, the Mongolians. The confrontation started when Genghis Khan, ruthless leader of the Mongols, had invaded the Khwarezmian Shahdom (which controlled Persia, Uzbekistan and Turkmenistan). After many years of struggling, the Mongols conquered most of the Shahdom's Eastern lands, leaving only some of Persia in the hands of Jalal's people. They had tried to destroy that, too, of course - but the heroic resistance from the Kwarezmians had halted their advance. Temporarily.
A cold, Northern wind blew through the campsite, and Jalal shivered. He turned to his brother, Ghiyath.
"Any news from the North?" he inquired.
Ghiyath shook his head. "None, my Sultan."
Jalal looked thoughtful. He was glad that the Mongols wouldn't attack from the Caucasus, but he was still worried. They would have to wait to see if the Mongols were approaching from the East.
After a few minutes of anticipation, a horse rode through the campsite. Heads whipped around to see who the occupant was: it was Saif al-Din, Jalal's general and ally.
Saif rode over to where the Sultan stood.
Jalal welcomed him: "Saif al-Din! What news do you bring?"
But Saif looked extremely perplexed. He spoke quickly, hurriedly - a look of terror in his eyes.
"The Mongolians have amassed a great force," he whispered. "Enough to destroy all of Persia. I think they could conquer most of the world with such an army."
Jalal al-din's blood went cold, but he managed to ask: "How many were there?"
Saif replied: "At least 100,000 strong. They are approaching with considerable speed. They will be here in a matter of weeks."
Jalal nodded, his worst fears confirmed. He turned to Saif.
"Go to the West, and get help from the Turks, Egyptians, and Abbasids," he ordered. "Come back as soon as you can. We'll try to hold off the Mongols until help arrives."
Saif nodded, then remounted his horse and rode away in a flash.
Ghiyath watched him go, then turned to Jalal. "Are you sure help will arrive on time?"
Jalal gazed into the distance. The sky was darkening overhead, and the trees rustled their leafless branches menacingly. To Jalal, it seemed as if the trees were alive, threatening them with twisted, clawed hands.
But of course that was his imagination. He took several deep breaths before he was ready to address Ghiyath.
"No, but we have to hope it does," Jalal drew his sword. "Because if they don't, the whole world will be in great danger."
Chapter 1
The creature crawled through the treetops, jumping from branch to branch. A glimpse of a claw, the movement of a muscle - that was all Abbas could see of the strange animal.
That is, if it was an animal - Abbas found himself thinking that it might just be his mind playing tricks on him.
Rubbing his eyes for good measure, Abbas continued to watch, careful to not make a sound.
Suddenly, there was the sound of a low growl: a figure hurled itself out of a tree just a few metres away. Abbas gasped. He had never seen anything like it - large, green eyes, huge black muscles, claws like sharp daggers.
