there are also conflicting versions of emperor eskender's death, which occurred when he was only 22. one source holds he was killed fighting the maya, a vanished ethnic group known for using poisoned arrows, east of enderta. on the other hand, both bruce and the explorer richard burton writes that eskender was assassinated at tegulet: bruce stating that zasillus of amhara was responsible, while burton claiming that mahfuz had him assassinated. he was buried in the church of atronsa maryam, which his father had begun construction on. his early death immediately led to civil war. while the court kept the emperor's death a secret, one major noble, zasillus, immediately marched to the royal prison of amba geshen, freed na'od, and proclaimed him emperor. another noble tekle kristos, who had remained at the imperial court, championed eskender's son amda seyon ii as emperor. although tekle kristos' forces defeated the followers of zasillus, warfare continued through the realm.