{"id":337,"date":"2025-04-14T18:48:15","date_gmt":"2025-04-14T18:48:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/?p=337"},"modified":"2025-11-07T02:27:34","modified_gmt":"2025-11-07T02:27:34","slug":"righting-a-wrong","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/2025\/04\/14\/righting-a-wrong\/","title":{"rendered":"Righting a Wrong"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Genre: Historical Fiction<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Plot: A spy in the court of Genghis Kahn<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Words to use: mongol, invader, burn, expand, horde, gold, treasure, fear, lie, tribe, poison, magic, spirit, horses, warrior.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The dry wind, as if fire, blew across the dry grass, spreading their seeds out beyond his sight. He sat on his horse and gazed out across the steppe. Batujin, his mouth covered in his silk and woolen scarf, whispered his loyalty into it, swiftly nudging the horse forward. His gaze transfixed forward, fear<\/strong> beneath the surface of his skin, tingling and quaking. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Once, as Khaser al-Din, he had a family, a tribe, people he held dear\u2026until the hordes came, taking it all away. Fire spread in his heart, fire of hatred and revenge. The horde had been seeking gold, a treasure beyond man\u2019s desire. They found it around the necks of each woman and child. They took everything and out of the fire arose Batujin. Through tears and heartbreak, he gathered supplies and made his way east, from where they came one night filled with stars that fell from the sky as tears upon the dust. He joined their ranks, a lie<\/strong> upon his tongue, a man hidden amongst the many, an invader<\/strong> within the mongol<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Genghis Kahn, protected, a warrior<\/strong> with no equal, sat untouchable on his throne of power, feared by all. His goal \u2014 to expand his power beyond the steppe. His thirst\u2026insatiable. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The nights were long, in metal scepters fire danced along the perimeter. Men in dark robes and swords paced, remaining vigilant. Tent flaps waved in the wind. Batujin took his nightly spot as well. He watched the darkness, the stars moved positions in the sky night after night. He took out the golden medallion that hung on leather around his neck. The same medallion his wife once wore, before he removed it from her lifeless body. He remembered his promise he swore to her as her spirit<\/strong> left her, a tear welled in his eye, unseen in the dark. It was a promise, and he didn\u2019t lie<\/strong>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

An announcement went through camp, they were moving west in two days time. The horse. <\/strong>The poison<\/strong> rested against his chest in an inside pocket of his tunic, waiting patiently. He watched the mongol laugh, gulping wine, surrounded by warriors of immense size. He\u2019d watched as a girl refilled his cup, she winced at her captor’s attention. It would take an act of magic<\/strong> to get close to him. But he had to settle for strategy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As she weaved her way through the throngs of drunken men, dodging hands and mouths, she made her way out of the banquet tent. He followed her. She entered a tent, almost colliding with another servant. He looked back, everyone was busy with either chores or celebrating. Soon they would be heading west, eager eyes to watch the world burn<\/strong> before them. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He lingered by the tent, waiting for her to come out, the shadows safely hiding him for the moment. He hoped it wouldn\u2019t be too long and drew attention. His heart jumped as she exited the tent, holding a bowl, heading to the horses. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI have something special for you,\u201d she whispered to the horse who snorted in anticipation. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cExcuse me,\u201d he said. He stood near the tree and could see her jump at the sound of his voice. \u201cDon\u2019t be frightened. I am not going to hurt you. You look like my daughter.\u201d His voice hitched with the mention of his daughter, a fresh wound. He removed his scarf, his beard greyer, eyes sadder. \u201cI need your help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Her eyes softened, \u201cWhat do you need me to do?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cHow do you feel about your master?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The girl\u2019s gaze darted around, thinking about how to respond. \u201cHe\u2019s a monster,\u201d she whispered into the horse\u2019s ear. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI agree,\u201d he launched into his story, he kept his voice low but venomous, and she listened, never taking her eyes off the horses. She understood everything he said and her agreement came quickly after he proposed the question.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will do as you ask, and we will run,\u201d she replied.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He nodded his downturn head and handed the tiny bag he had retrieved from an inner pocket of his tunic. \u201cAdd this to his wine, and it will be over. We will flee and the world safe. And a monster will be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI will do as you ask, even if it means my own life,\u201d she replied, slipping it in her pocket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Batujin disappeared into the shadows, and waited. Waited for the call of treason and uproar of their master\u2019s demise. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It did come. And swiftly, the call with swords and vows of vengeance. But they were gone, heading west on Batujin\u2019s horse, night and day, riding to safety, and with pride and clarity of a moral right to correct many wrongs. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

He left her with her people, a tribe of nomads who welcomed her warmly. He continued west and found a new life in peace and memories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks for reading. To read more stories, head to my main pagehttps:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/<\/a>. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Copyright \u00a9 Rachel D. Knepp.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

All rights reserved. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents are products of the author\u2019s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental. No part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means\u2014including photocopying, recording, or other electronic or mechanical methods\u2014without the prior written permission of the author, except in the case of brief quotations used in reviews or critical articles.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Genre: Historical Fiction Plot: A spy in the court of Genghis Kahn Words to use: mongol, invader, burn, expand, horde, gold, treasure, fear, lie, tribe, poison, magic, spirit, horses, warrior. The dry wind, as if fire, blew across the dry grass, spreading their seeds out beyond his sight. He sat on his horse and gazed […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":338,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[24,1,13],"tags":[5,7,90,14,10,11,4,20,12],"class_list":["post-337","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-action-adventure","category-blog","category-historical-fiction","tag-author","tag-fiction","tag-genghiskahn","tag-historicalfiction","tag-shortstory","tag-story","tag-storywriter","tag-writer","tag-writingprompts"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=337"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":432,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/337\/revisions\/432"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/338"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=337"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=337"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/storytimebyrk.com\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=337"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}