Excerpt One
“I don’t know about Ashur, but I’m really thinking of giving the civilian life a chance,” Sargon replied. “Civilian life is for the civilians, not for us. Assyrians are descendants of a warrior race. Warriors don’t cope well with a civilian life,” Maryam said with a serious face. “We need to be strong to survive. You never know, we might have to fight as Assyrians again one day. We need all the training we can get.” “I don’t know about that, sister,” Ashur replied. “Most Assyrians are out of their homeland and are living abroad. Plus, why would Assyrians want to live in an area that is surrounded by their enemies for so many centuries? Isn’t it enough that we were massacred by our neighbors every time we tried to claim our lands? Maybe it’s time for Assyrians to accept the reality and abandon their dream of having a country again. We are outnumbered by our enemies in our homeland, and the western countries side with our enemies for their own self benefit. The world has turned its face on the genocide of our people. No one cares for us, and the massacre of our people is continuing even today,” Ashur commented with bitterness. “I’m surprised to hear this from you little brother. You talk like the battle is over and we have lost,” Maryam replied...
Excerpt Two
Close to two thousand fighters were standing under and outside the large tent to hear Gilgamesh speak. Everyone stood at attention. Gilgamesh stood in front of the crowd on a podium so everyone could see him while he gave his speech. Gilgamesh raised his arm and the air filled with the sounds of drums. For, more than five minutes the drums played a low-based rhythm that cried battle. The sound was deafening and overwhelming, but it brought about a frenzy among the men as they stomped their feet on the ground with the beating of the drums. Everyone's blood was boiling, and it seemed harder and harder to contain oneself as the drums continued playing. Tears rolled almost every fighter’s cheeks. Tears also flowed from Baani’s eyes. These were the tears of pride and honor of the sons of Assyria—the tears that made men out of boys and heroes out of regular men. Suddenly, the nearby drums stopped but everyone could still hear drums playing further away with the same rhythm. Gilgamesh began to speak, and suddenly no other sound except that of Gilgamesh and the drums playing far away could be heard. "My beloved brothers in blood, I’m honored to be standing here among you. You’re the lions of Tel Tamer and I thank you for welcoming me into your den. Many of you know me as Gilgamesh, but my real name given to me by my Assyrian parents is Tiglat. Gilgamesh was my operational name during my service in the Russian Intelligence. I was born in Russia and lived and served there all my life. Therefore, I am Russian by birth and have considered Russia my country and served it all my life. However, I also made some promises to my father when he was lying on his deathbed...
Excerpt Three
Maryam knew that she had no option but to eject out of the plane. So she picked up her M16 and as many grenades as she could carry with some hand guns and ammunition and pushed the eject button. She knew there was a good possibility that she would be captured, but she would not allow that. She would fight the enemy and die in the process, but she would not surrender and allow them to get her alive. As she was approaching the ground, she remembered Sharrukin, her future husband, and felt sorry for him. She knew how much he would suffer when he would hear of her death. Tears came to her eyes just thinking of him, but she soon gained her posture as her feet hit the ground. She immediately removed the parachute and ran toward a large hill that she had viewed from the sky as she was coming down with her parachute. The weapons she was carrying were heavy, but she had to carry them with her if she wanted to buy herself some survival time. Maryam started climbing the hill to get to the top when from far away she noticed some dust in the air that could have only been produced by some vehicles approaching her location. She realized that the enemy had seen her and was now coming to get her. She would not make it easy for the enemy, but she first had to take the higher position on the hill where the enemy would not be able to use its vehicles and had no other way to get to her but on foot. She soon reached the top of the hill and looked down. The jeeps and small trucks carrying the rebels were easy to see now that they were near. Maryam positioned herself on the other side of the hill incline and placed all her weapons five feet apart to give her the space to move around and fire without needing to carry everything with her...
