Yeni Bir Kavga- A New Fight - Aylah's story

Chapter Ten

Aylah was sitting on the floor of the cave, playing a made-up game with the twins and Kayi. "Hey! You can't do that!" "Yeah, well who said snakes can't shoot fire!" Melike countered, "Logic, Melike, Logic!"

 Kayi pointed out in frustration, Aktemur, who had been watching from the side made a face, "What the hell are you guys even playing?"

"Language," Aynur tsked, making Aktemur roll his eyes. 

"A game," Orhan said briefly, focused on the sticks and stones that consisted of their game. "Kayi! Stop cheating!" Melike called out, "I'm not cheating, I'm doing exactly what you did!" Kayi defended, and Aktemur looked between the two, raising an eyebrow, "I'm so confused right now."

"I stopped questioning it a long time ago," Gunduz said with a sigh. "Dang it!" Melike shouted, making Kayi smirk, "Stop being a sore loser, Melike." "Stop being a loser in general, Kayi," Melike said back, in the same tone.

"Ooh, burn," Aynur whispered in amusement, making Aktemur snicker.

"Do you want to play with us?" Aylah asked Aynur and Aktmeur, who looked at each other, then shrugged. "Yeah, sure," "Oh boy, this will be interesting," Gunduz said, shaking his head.

"I chose to..." Aynur narrowed her eyes at Aktemur as he dramatically drew out his choice of attack, "I chose to attack... Aynur with cannons that shoot fire." "Damn it, Aktemur!" Aynur said, hitting his leg, making him laugh, "Language, Aynur." 

"Goktug Emmi, do you want to play?" Melike called out to him, and the tall alp shook his head, "Nope, definitely not." "You're just mad that we beat you last time," Aylah pointed out.

"You guys cheated, you teamed against me!" Goktug said, accusingly, "No one ever said we couldn't do that," Aylah reasoned, and Goktug scoff. "You make the rules up as you go, Aylah, you could do anything you want." 

"You're just mad about your terrible loss, Emmi," Aylah taunted, making Goktug narrow his eyes at her. "You better watch it, kid-" "Okay, Okay." Gunduz said, sighing, "Little child," he said addressing Aylah, "Grown man," said Gunduz addressing Goktug, "Just stop, please." 

"I would hate for us to all be discovered by Mongols because of a game, that Goktug can clearly not take lightly," Gunduz said pointedly, making the alp make a face.

"Orhan, you're out," Aylah pointed out and the boy pouted, "Why do I always get out first?" "Because," Aylah patted his arm, "Your sister is a cheater."

"Am not!"

"You're all cheaters," Goktug grumbled, making all the kids roll their eyes.

 Aynur walked outside for a moment after signaling something with her eyes to Aktemur. Aylah watched carefully, everyone seemed to have a secret, some were simple, but some were complicated.

Aylah didn't really understand how they did it. So much pretending, it was beyond her how they managed to have multiple faces. People like her father, her uncles, even Yigit and Ahmet managed to show no fear no matter what.

"Aktemur," Aynur said quietly when she entered the cave, as if all the laughter had been sucked away, she handed a small piece of paper to her partner. Aktemur frowned, opening the paper, his eyes widened as he read.

Aylah watched the exchange take place and Gunduz nodded to the paper in his son's hand, "What happened, Aktemur?" Aktemur looked up his expression grim, "An emergency is what happened and I need to get over there as soon as I can."

"I?" Aynur asked, making Aktemur nod, "They said me only, I'm sorry." Aynur scrunched her nose, "Fine. But, Be careful, don't die." 

Aktemur grinned, "Yeah, you too." 

Aktemur went over the Gunduz, first kissing his hand and nodding to whatever his father had to say to him. Then he walked over to the kids, "Let me know who wins, and... I'm rooting for Aylah because Melike's still cheating."

"Hey!" Melike protested, crossing her arms and Aylah laughed, bumping Aktemur's fist when he held it up. "Alright, I'll see you guys later, hopefully in a better circumstance."

Aktemur ran a hand through his hair before standing up and walking back towards the exit where Aynur stood. "Good luck, tell me if you need me to come and save you again."

Aktemur rolled his eyes, but still smiled, "Yeah, yeah, of course." 

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Osman Bey and Boran returned only a little later, a mysterious-looking box. "What's that?" Aylah asked, "Something very, very powerful." Osman replied and Aylah frowned. Why couldn't someone just give her an answer for once?"

"Does this mean we can go back to the tribe?" Orhan asked hopefully, making Osman smile at his son, "Soon, Oglum, Soon." 

As soon as he stepped away for a moment, the kids' questions started. 

"What do you think is in that box?" Orhan asked, narrowing his eyes at the mysterious object. "I don't know," Aylah responded at the same time as Melike said, "A super-weapon."

They all turned and stared at her for a moment, "Yeah, no, definitely not." Kayi concluded and Melike only shrugged, "It could be anything." "Anything, but that, Melike," Orhan retorted at his sister.

"It has to be something important if the Mongols want it that bad," Kayi pointed out logically. 

"Yeah probably, I don't care what it is as long as we can go back home." 

A/N: Woah this chapter was a STRUGGLE. I had a crap day on Monday, which kinda carried over most of the week. Today was pretty good since it was my best friend's birthday. I do hope you all had a good week. 

Oh yeah, and the phrase, "Be careful, don't die," is from my favorite book. The Maze Runner. My favorite character, Minho, who is a sassy child, says this when they're about to do something dangerous. And then the other character Newt goes, "Great, we're all bloody inspired." Just wanted to share that.

Salaam and Have a great day!

-Laraib