Tiglon came near the bed where his mother was lying. Now, his mother was skinny and fragile.
‘Come closer to me, my dear,’ Sasha spoke weakly.
Tiglon walked next to Sasha and knelt down.
‘Tiglon, listen to my last words carefully.’ she began, ‘I am going to die.’
‘No! Mum!’ Tiglon sobbed loudly.
‘No! Mum! You will be fine!’ Tiglon continued as his eyes brimmed with tears.
‘Calm down, my sweetheart,’ Sasha comforted Tiglon while stroking his head and tidying his
long hair.
‘Did I tell you that your father was a great camel caravan tribe leader? And he had
disappeared during a sandstorm and was not found when you asked about your
father before?’
‘Yes,’ Tiglon nodded, a drop of piercing tear dropped from his dark amber eyes and trickled
down his smooth, swarthy cheeks.
‘Your father is a camel caravan tribe leader indeed. But he wasn’t really lost in a sandstorm,
he was killed in a fierce battle with bandits,’ said Sasha.
‘What?’ squeaked Tiglon surprisingly, his amber eyes grew huge.
‘Yes,’ Sasha replied. ‘I met your father while I was lost in Gobi Desert, and then I married him.
At that battle, I was supposed to die with your father, but he told me to escape with you, so now,
you survived and so do I.’
Tiglon nodded and wiped his tears away from his face with the sleeve of his clothes.
‘This…is a knife your father gave me…’ Sasha whispered with a few struggling coughs and
handed Tiglon a knife.
The knife was well designed. A platinum made tiger was surrounded by three golden dragons.
They were carved on the scabbard. Its hilt was inlayed by five precious stones: diamond, emerald,
ruby, topaz and a sapphire in the middle. When Tiglon turned to the back of the knife, the five
colours of stones and the carving of tiger and dragon all shone glaringly, which made Tiglon’s
eyes glow too.
‘Cool!’ he exclaimed. ‘I feel real power coming from it.’
He read the words on the back of the knife in Mongolian language, ‘Khutga Ni Khuvi Zayaa.’
Then he murmured to oneself, ‘Knife of Destiny!’
‘Tiglon,’ Sasha nodded quietly and said feebly, ‘this is Baryon family’s heirloom. The three
bandits came for this knife on the night of the battle… all the bandits wanted to have was the
material that made this knife.’
‘Guide…your…steps… wisely and… follow your dreams…because this is your destiny...
remember my words…’ Sasha panted heavily and said.
‘Yes… mum,’ whimpered Tiglon.
Sasha got up and hugged Tiglon, gave him a kiss on his forehead and glanced at him for the
last time with her blue eyes sympathetically. Everything was quiet and peaceful. Tiglon closed his
eyes to feel the last warmness of his mother’s hug. While he was intoxicating in the warmness of
his mother’s loving hug, all the warmness gradually faded away, leaving Tiglon alone in the cold
room where the wind roared outside. Tiglon opened his eyes, everything remained still, but the
one difference was that Sasha could not soothe him evermore.
‘Mum?’ Tiglon cried out, looking at Sasha.
‘Mum?’ Tiglon repeated by pushing Sasha. He pushed several times again, but Sasha didn’t
