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 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.