The elders of the Taijiuts sent a detachment to catch the barimtachi. They caught Teemujin and put him in stocks as a criminal.
There was no revenge of Targutai-Kirultukh as later authors wrote. He did not suspect the existence of Temudzhin. He was one of several sons of Yesugei. If the capture action was directed against him, he was simply executed as a fratricide.
Temujin easily found a way to free himself and escaped. He was helped in this by an arat from the subordinate Taijiuts of the Turkic-Mongolian tribe Suldus — Sorgan-Shira. While everyone was looking for him in the steppe, he snuck into Sorgan-Shira’s yurt and hid for several days in a wagon with sheep’s wool. And then Sorgan-Shira helped Teemujin to get out of the Taijiut camp.
Arat gave Teemujin a mare, food for a few days and weapons. Since nomads are very cautious about livestock, he probably told everyone that Temujin had stolen all this from him.
Yesugei’s family moved. Most likely to the camp of Temujin’s anda — Dzhajirat Jamukha, who by that time was preparing to become the chief of his tribe. The Dzhajirats occupied the easternmost tip of the Mongolian steppe and were inaccessible to the Taijiuts.
Settlement of Mongol-Turkic tribes in the early XIII century
In the Dzhajirats, Temujin’s power became stronger. Instead of a gang of barimtachas, he began to gather a detachment of Mongol and Turkic tribes. To him went «people of long will» — those who were bored with life in the Horde or related factions with their petty intrigues. They wanted great deeds. They were few in number, but they were motivated people who saw in Temujin the realizer of their hidden hopes.
Temudgin’s power was growing. He needed a wife to take his due place in the steppe hierarchy. Borte became his eldest wife.
The Taijiuts could no longer get at Temudgin. They entrusted it to the Merkits-Uduits, who had not forgotten the offense to their leader Tokhtoa-beki and his younger brother Chileda, from whom they took away their bride. The Taijiuts let the Merkits through their lands.