Chapter 15; The Robbers
Lar was not the only one who watched from the gloom. A band of armed strangers was camped in a sandy hollow. With the darkness, they left their tan covers and moved close to watch the People’s camp. They were the lead by Jud and Hul, the sons of the chief of the Tall Ones from past the Narrow River. These two brothers and their evil companions had planned this escapade for several years.
Two summers ago, they had found one of the hunts men in a tavern at the edge of the Dark Woods. He was deep in his cups. Astonished, they watched him pay for many drinks with these beautiful jewels. He had been completely unconcerned when the money was gone.
“I’ll get more in a few moons…” He had bragged. Acting friendly, they had listened as he told them the whole legend of the Watcher’s Tears. As they kept his wine glass filled, the weakling told them everything but where these treasures were to be found.
Finally, Jud lost his patience, “Where is the mine, brother! Please ! Tell us!”
“I dunno, mate…I jes’ follows the mob.” The grizzled man shook his head as if to try to clear it, “I can track a new born sleezle through the thickest brush back to it’s mum, but, I’m lost in half an hour in the trackless wastes of the desert.” He began to cry “Lost…I’ll be lost…” and the old man fell asleep.
The two men waited. “He’ll wake up after a bit and head for camp. Maybe he’s got a stash back in his tent.” Said Jud.
“Yeah…we’ll be rich,” said his brother.
A little while later the barman shook the hunter, “Hey, bub… waddle on home, now. Come on…move it. I’m closing up…”
Jud and his brother had followed him through the rough glens as the hunter had staggered off. They followed him to a small encampment of heavily armed hunters.
“Damn…they are armed.” Jud said to Hul, “We will need more men and a plan. Let us go to our father’s house past the Narrow River. We can gather a few men and plan our trek.” Thus began a long quest for him and his brother. Through all these two years, Jud dreamed about this time and this place. It had finally come.
The old man had told them about the First Fall. So, they waited until the Dark Wood turned to flame. They gathered their men and traveled quickly, disguised as simple folk, to Last Well. They had hidden there and waited for the People to gather. Jud looked at his brother, “It is just as the old man said. When the People leave, we will follow just close enough to see their dust cloud in the distance.”
“Right!”
“These animals need water. They will lead us to their water holes. We will be fine.” His brother clapped him on his shoulder, “We are going to be so rich!”
“Rich as kings…rich as kings!”
Following the plan, they had followed the People’s winding road through the desert from one water hole to the next. The robbers had followed the tracks of the people and their animals to find the secret stashes of water, “Man…we would never have found these on our own.”
Jud shook his head, “Didn’t need to… The plan is sound…we follow the plan.”
For twelve days, they followed in this manner. The People's trail was clear in the hard packed places. A giant dust cloud lead them when the sand ate the trail. One morning, late, the sun beating down from straight over head, Jud leaned forward in his saddle, “Look the dust cloud has settled.”
“The men were nearly comatose from the heat and the traveling, “Wha..?”
Jud pointed with his, “Look there!”
His brother looked out, “What does it mean?”
“It means that they have stopped traveling. Either it is another watering hole or they are home.”
“Oh, I see…”
“We must wait here. Make camp until evening. Then, we can move slowly closer to check on our bounty.”
They found a place between two mounds of sand. One of their recruits was a desert fighter from across the sand. He showed them how to shade themselves and their animals with cloth strung across the mounds. They all waited in this shade for evening.
That night, the band of robbers had moved as close as they dared. In the failing dusk, the clear shape of the People’s strange mountain was clear.
One of the men said, “The stories are true. It is a man inside the sand.”
Jud smacked the man with his mailed glove, “It is a piece of rock. The shape of the rock does not matter. What I know is, here is the place where the gemstones are to be found.”
All of the next day, from distant dunes, they had watched in amazement as the women gathered the stones, just picking them up off the ground. That night, back at their hidden stable they had their dinner. Jud, their leader, grunted in pleasure, "Here, my brothers, is a king's ransom for the taking."
They had argued through that night on just how to approach. Some of the older ones remembered the stories that this mountain was the resting place of a powerful God. " Maybe we should wait until the People move away from the mountain and pick up what is left."
Jud stirred. "What are we, women? Are we to fear hunters and herds men?
“No…” answered the men solemnly.
He looked at his brother, “Do you remember what the that drunk fool said? We have told it and retold it enough times.”
The men just looked at him. He let out an exasperated sigh. “He said that these crazy people gather the jewels for fourteen suns. So... today is only the second sun. If we wait for them, they will only gather more wealth for us.”
The men nodded, “Yes…this seems right.”
One looked around, “Jud is a wise leader. We will all be rich!”
Jud drank from his horned cup, “So say I…” He looked one to another. He answered for them all, “So say we all.”
No one spoke. “It is settled, then. In a fort night, we can easily take a king’s ransom for each of us from these weaklings." Having said this, he turned and fell fast asleep. Satisfied, the other men distributed themselves around the small fire and joined him in slumber. One by one, they awoke to take their turns at guard, letting the others sleep in rotation.
In the morning, they quietly broke camp and slipped through the low dunes. A half day’s hard travel following a faintly packed trail, found them back at the previous water hole. They pitched their tents in the shade of the few trees there to wait and rest and prepare.