From Nishapur Mohammed hastened on to Kazvin, where his son Rokn ud din had an army; there he took counsel with the leaders of that army which was thirty thousand in number, and sent for Hezerasp, prince of Lur, who advised a retreat across the mountain chain lying between Fars and Lur. The Shah wished to stay in Irak and increase his defense there; he had just stated that wish when news came that Rayi had been taken and plundered. Chiefs and princes fled straightway on hearing this. Each went his own road, and the whole army vanished immediately, so great was the terror inspired by the onrushing Mongols.
The Shah fled for safety to his sons in Karun. On the way Mongol forces were in sight and almost caught him, unwittingly. They sent arrows at the fleeing man though not knowing who he was and wounded the horse which he was riding, but the beast held out and bore him safely to the fortress. Next morning he fled farther along the road lying westward toward Bagdad. Barely had he ridden away when the Mongols, who knew now whose horse they had wounded, rushed in, thinking to seize the hunted man surely. They attacked the fort furiously at first, but learning soon that the Shah had escaped they hurried after him. On the way they met men who professed to be guides dismissed by Mohammed; from these men they heard that he was fleeing to Bagdad. They took the guides then and rushed forward, but the Shah was on a new road at that time. The Mongols soon saw that they had lost his trail, and were tricked, so they cut down the guides and returned to Karun.
Mohammed had fled to Serdjihan, a strong place northeast of Kazvin on a mountain. Seven days he remained there; he then fled to Gilan, and next to Mazanderan, where he appeared stripped of property and almost unattended. The Mongols had preceded him, having sacked two towns already, Amol the capital, and Astrabad a place of much commerce. “Where am I to find safety from Mongols? Is there no spot on earth where I can be free of them?” Such was the cry of Mohammed. “Go to some little [[117]]island in the Caspian, that will be the safest place!” said some of his friends. This advice pleased Shah Mohammed, so he stopped in a village on the seashore, intending to follow it. He prayed five times each day in the mosque, had the Koran read to him and promised God tearfully that justice would reign in his Empire as never on earth up to that day, should power ever come to him a second time.
While Mohammed was thus engaged in that village, Mongols appeared on a sudden. They were guided by Rokn ud din, a small prince of that region. This man’s uncle and cousin had been killed by Shah Mohammed, who seized their lands in the days of his insolence and his greedy ambition. Rokn ud din’s hatred had sent him as a guide to the Mongols, and thus he recovered his family inheritance. The Shah had barely time to spring into a boat and push out from shore when his enemies were upon him. Enraged at the loss of their victim, many horsemen sprang after the boat, but they failed to reach it and were drowned in the Caspian.
Mohammed, who was suffering gravely from pleurisy and weakness, declared as he sailed from the shore, that after reigning over many kingdoms and lands he lacked even a few ells of earth for a resting place. The fallen man reached a small island and was childishly joyous at finding a safe place of refuge. His house was a tent with little in it, but the people of the coast brought him food, and whatever else might be pleasing to the monarch, as they thought. In return Mohammed gave them brevets of office, or titles to land which they wrote themselves frequently, since he had sent most of his small suite to bring his sons to him. Later on, when Jelal ud din had regained some part of his possessions he honored all gages of this kind.
The Shah’s illness increased, and he lost hope of recovery. His sons came and then he withdrew from Oslag the inheritance. “Save Jelal ud din there is none of you who can recover the Empire,” declared Mohammed. The failing monarch took his own sabre which he girded on Jelal ud din, and commanded the younger brothers to show him obedience. Mohammed breathed his last some days later, January 10, 1221, and was buried on that island. There was no cloth for a shroud, so he was buried in another man’s shirt. His funeral was small and the ceremony scant at his burial. Such was the end which Jinghis gave a great sovereign who, till [[118]]his attack on the Kalif of Islam, ruled over a vast country and found success everywhere save in the struggles with his mother.
Before crossing the Oxus, Mohammed directed Turkan Khatun, who governed Urgendj, the modern Khiva, to retire to Mazanderan and live there in the mountains, taking with her his harem. Jinghis, informed clearly of the quarrels between the Shah and his mother, sent Danishmend, his chancellor, to that relentless, harsh woman, and this was his message: “Thy son is ungrateful, I know that. If thou agree with me I will not touch Kwaresm, which thou art ruling. I will give thee, moreover, Khorassan when I win it. Send a trusty man, he will hear this assurance from my own lips directly.”
Turkan Khatun gave no answer, but left Kwaresm as soon as she heard that her son had fled westward. Before going, however, she put to death all the princes whom the Shah had despoiled and imprisoned; among these were both sons of Togrul, the last Seljuk sultan of Irak; the Balkh prince and his son, the sovereign of Termed; the prince of Bamian; the Vakhsh prince, the two sons of the lord of Signak, and the two sons of Mahmud, last prince of Gur. She had all these men thrown into the Oxus and drowned, sparing only Omar, Khan of Yazer, who could be of use on her journey, since he knew all the roads which led to his own land and birthplace. In fact he served the woman well, till they were near Yazer, when his head was cut off at her order, as she had no further use for him.
When Mohammed had fled to Mazanderan he directed his mother, as we have seen, to live in Ilak, the best stronghold in all that great region of mountain. Later on Subotai, who was hunting Mohammed, left a body of men to invest that strong fortress. As Ilak was in a rainy, damp climate no reservoirs had been made for dry periods; while the place was invested that happened which came to pass rarely, a dry season. After a blockade of some months drought forced a surrender. But just after the Mongols had taken possession, the sky was covered densely with clouds which brought a great rainfall.
Turkan Khatun and the harem were taken to the camp of Jinghis, who was before Talekan at that time and besieging it. She was held captive there strictly. All the sons of Mohammed found in the harem were put to death promptly. Two of his [[119]]daughters were given to Jagatai, who made one of them his concubine, and gave the other as a present to his manager; a third was given as wife to the chancellor, Danishmend. The widow of Osman, Khan of Samarkand, she who had insisted on the execution of her husband, and was the daughter of the Gurkhan, was given in marriage to a dyer, but by another account she was given to Juchi, who had by her afterward several children. Turkan Khatun, the strong, brutal woman, was taken to Kara Kurum, the Mongol capital, where she died eight years later. Just before she was captured a eunuch had urged her to find refuge with Jelal ud din, her own grandson, who was near by, he declared, with a numerous army. Turkan replied that captivity of any kind was sweeter to her than salvation at his hand. Such was the hate which she felt toward her grandson. Nassir ud din, the vizir who had defied Shah Mohammed, was put to death at Talekan with a number of others.