I turn toward Vorarin and sit on my knees on the sands. My knees feel the heat of the sands immediately and the heat gradually turns to hotness. Then while I try to put myself in the wind blow direction to get the cool air, I say:
How’s she?
She’s good but we should take her to the shelter. She needs treatment. This way…
A shrill voice cuts our words and says:
No need to do this. I have to go as soon as possible.
The young woman opens her eyes and tries to get up from the pad:
Thanks. I’ll compensate your efforts, I’ll never forget you. For the time being, I just can appreciate you.
Vorarin tries to make her lie down:
No, you should back to the shelter.
But she resists, she sits on the pad and leans on her hand. Her hand is still on her stomach.
I should reach the “Ray” shelter. Ouch!
She tries to rise on her feet but suddenly a voice stops her from doing that:
Hello my lady!
I see a shadow which stops by me. I turn back and look toward the voice owner. He is the man who was standing a few steps far from us and was waiting for someone. His clothes is covered by dust, yet it can be seen that his clothes is black. His thoroughly white hair is combed to one side and his beard is wispy. His face is full of wrinkles and his skin is wizen. The same anxiety can be seen in his eyes. When he approaches the young woman, I also see inconvenience in his eyes. The young woman keeps still when she hears his voice and while stares at him says:
You are still here? I thought you…
Then she begins to cry. The elderly man’s eyes also fill with tears and tear drops roll slowly down his cheeks.
I’m really so sorry for all the things that happened to you. I never forgive myself.
The young woman says between her harrowing sobs:
Thanks god I see you alive. You can’t believe how much I have suffered till now.
Don’t worry. I swear I’ll never leave you alone anymore.
Then he turns toward us and says:
I never forget the favor you did to my daughter. If you weren’t here it wasn’t known what would happene to my lady.
Then he gives a little bow to us and sits on his knees near the young woman. He embraces her although she feels pain. Vorarin comes to me lest disturb them. He says in whisper close to my ear:
We should go now.
He throws his knapsack on his shoulders and signs me with his hand to be ready to go. Then he goes toward them and says:
We have to go. I just wanted to say you must give her one of these pills each day to she feels better. Don’t forget this at all. Its effect appears just in continuous use.
I set the umbrella over their heads and then we go. All of a sudden, after some steps, hearing the voice of the elderly man makes us to return.
Sorry!
Vorarin waits for the man to speak:
Can you help me take her to the “Dawn” shelter?
The young woman objects and says:
No, I’m fine. I’m sure I would be better with the pills these two gentlemen gave me. We should go to the “Ray” shelter.
But my lady you aren’t in good condition, we must…
You know the condition. We’ve to go to the “Ray” shelter.
The elderly man keeps quiet. They seem too exhausted, as though they need help. Their silence expresses this to me.
Well, our ways are the same to somewhere. I think we can go along with each other.
As I guessed, they were expecting this suggestion, so the elderly man immediately says:
Thanks. Really thank you!
Then the man lifts the young woman up. Vorarin takes off the umbrella and gives it to me. Then he helps the man to lift the young woman off the ground. They move her like a war wounded person whose legs are hurt. I go toward them and join them. I hold the umbrella over the young woman’s head.
Once in a while, the young woman’s groan breaks the silence, but we go ahead and watch the landscapes. Occasionally, they talk to each other that I can’t hear anything but a whisper. According to the map which I have reviewed it, we must follow a road to reach our destination, and the number of the people who are ahead of us make it easy to find the way.
An old road appears across the sands and shows its cracks and asks for help, as though it tries to save itself from sinking into the sands. The blackness of the road which has turned to a light gray by lapse of time, comes into view, and it tally with the map I have. The sands have created the valleys and the low height hills in our way, as they wished.
The wind sweeps the sands off the road, but this is an ineffectual attempt and sands cover the road again. In the left side of the road, there is a row of poles which are hung with cables like the crippled hands. Some of them are broken from their waists by lapse of time. After a rather short time we stop by the sudden groan.
Ouch!... I should press on my stomach by hand. This way I feel better and I feel less pain. Thanks for your help but Kabirad helps me.
Vorarin leaves her hesitated. Then he takes the umbrella and stands near them. The direction of sunshine is so that the shadow of the umbrella falls on them and on Vorarin himself. I perforce spread a kerchief on my head and pour some water on it.
We pass the hills one after the other until we reach a wide region. The road continues like a river as well but it is hard to find out it is a road, and only a small part of it can be seen. The wind has arranged and unified the wide part of this region. Like an untroubled sea, there is no hill and is steady. I wish there was a real sea instead of the sea of sands, and I could dive into it, but instead, there is a sun which has caused steady drip of sweat from our faces. My clothes is stuck thoroughly to my body and my feet slide in my shoes.
I wonder why no one speaks. Maybe none of us is in no mood for talk. I am so distressed that just my eyes look around for a refuge. After a period of time walking, almost about two hours by sun movement and the time of sunset, suddenly Vorarin stops and says:
Do you know how many degree is it now?
I wipe the sweat off my face and I say unawares:
It’s enough to make me crazy.
It’s forty seven degrees centigrade while two hours left to sunset.
Vorarin shakes his shoes to empty them of sands. Then he says:
I’m tired, I need some rest. You seem so. Of course it is most because of the sunshine. It’s too oppressive.
I feel it is not his words and it is just for giving them time to rest. I am also tired and agree him to sit on the sands. The man and the young woman, satisfied and thankful, also sit on the pad which Kabirad spreads on the ground. I put my knapsack on the ground and as I look around I say:
As far as I see, there is no sign of walls or houses. We’ll make camp here for a while and then rest. I can’t walk anymore. And what is more, here we must separate. Our way is toward right hand.
Vorarin pulls out his tent of his knapsack and says:
No need to your tents. Mine is four person-tent. This way we’ll waste less time to make camp. It’s easy job, I’ll make it soon.
So, both me and Kabirad, return our tents into the knapsacks. During making camp by Vorarin, I spread the pad on the ground and then empty sands of my shoes. I say:
We should find a remedy for the sands. I have an idea but I haven’t things to do this.
From inside the tent, which is being ready quickly, Vorarin says:
I also have a remedy for it. Simply you should wear these plastic bags on your feet and tie them with some strings.
The young woman and Kabirad show their approvals by shaking their heads. Kabirad goes to help Vorarin. The young woman stares at the work I am doing, once in a while she ponders.
Well, the tent is ready. Come in before the sun roasts you.
The howling wind passes by the tent entrance, as if it brings someone’s death news and laments in their absence. The tent dances with the wind slowly. Two si
des of the tent is like a troubled water and the waves move the tent slowly. This is not a good sign at all. I am really worry about it and when it stops blowing, I become more worry. I should not leap before looking and not to leap in the dark. This exactly expresses and reminds me something. I remember a book in which was written:
“It is possible to capture a country with a few armies and endless ammunition, and with the same meaning, there is another way in which it is possible to capture a country just with one shot. There are so many differences between them but both of them express the same thing; that is, the success! Therefor everything must be considered so that it would be a help one day.”
Vorarin, I go roaming around and back soon. Get some rest.
I take my mono scope binocular which I have made it of some pieces of aluminum, and then wend my way. I go ahead through the sands in which my feet sink ankle high. I go on my way untill I see the tent in a view of three-quarter of its real size. I stand on the top of a hill and put the binocular on my right eye.
I should find our thoroughfare. According to the map, I must see a wide road here. But everywhere is covered by sands like the snow, although this view has its own beauty. The sun has lost its power now, although it still makes me sweat. Its light hasn’t turned to red yet and it still shines powerfully. There is no mountain to hide the sun behind. It has to change its shift with the moon in the vast horizon.
Here, the road divides in two which will separate the way of four of us. The straight route is the way me and Vorarine should go on and the left is the way they should go. Some people seem like the scarecrows which they have to walk over there.
They seem a rather faded. Some of them are sitting on the ground and some other are going out of sight behind a hill. In their way nothing can be seen but the sands. The road on the left is buried under the sands completely, yet it appears again behind the hill, because a man is mounting a signpost on the hill to show the way.
Through the binocular, I can read the writing on the signpost, but it is just an arrow which shows the direction that we should go through it. The road has come out of a vast border and shows its size. The road which had only two routes, now has twelve thoroughfares.
I spend a length of time to find a specific thing which may effect on our future, but I get no result. In the last second when I back to the tent, suddenly I see a ceiling which is mounted on two walls and half of it is collapsed. Its color is same as the sands and it is the only reason that I could see it. That’s it. It is not far from me, maybe about half an hour walking.
I look through my binocular for the last time to be sure. All of a sudden, on that side, near the signpost, a group of people run away to other side. The clamor of some people can be heard through the wind blow. All of them are in motion to get away from there. Their feet sink in the sands as in a marsh. It is like some hands come out from the sands and take their feet. I move my binocular looking for someone or something caused this, but I can’t see anything but the people.
Suddenly all the people freeze in place! I also lie on the sands spontaneously. My eyes are in motion to find the reason of the chaos. All of a sudden I see a man in black behind a hill who moves toward the people slowly.
The nomads!!!
Behind some other hills, a number of the nomads, more than ten, appear like the zombies. They move toward the people slowly. Each of them has a weapon in his hand and goes at the people like a viper to its prey.
When they besiege the people, one of them goes between the people and looks at the faces who are trembling. There is a danger in ambush. I must back to the tent as soon as possible. I recede creeping lest someone sees me. I am sure if I stay, I would not see a good scene at all. Considering the road, I back toward the tent quickly.
Something is warning in me. I try to put my feet on the sands softly lest my speed reduces. The sands are like the glowing coals which burn my feet. But more important is they are flying in the air and this is a bad sign and we must move as soon as possible.
Suddenly I feel a metal thing behind my head. A cold wave enters my body from the touch point of that metal thing and it trembles all of my body. I just stop without motion.
Pushing his weapon on the back of my head, he makes me move. I wend my way without any resistance. My brain doesn’t issue any direct command, and just tells me to change my way or increase my speed whenever I feel more pressure of the weapon on my head.
We pass by a sand hill and I see a few people who sit on their knees and some nomads are standing over them. The fear and anxiety can be seen in all people’s faces.
When we reach them, he stops pushing his weapon on my head. One of the nomads who seems to be their chief, when sees me, approaches me and stares at me. After a slight hesitation, he turns back toward the crowd and looks at each of them.
All of a sudden, all the nomads hold their guns at the ready and then aim at the people. I feel my heart stops working. More than eight frightened people look at the nomads. Two people run away howling but…
The sound of the lightning fills the space for five seconds and then nothing…
The dead bodies who slept in their blood forever. The bloody sands are now their mattress. Some of them are still alive and take their last breathe. When they cough, the blood flows out of their mouth. The plaintive sound of the wind moans about their death. It seems the perception of the wind of this event is more than ours which it laments like this.
The nomad’s chief signs with his hand indifferently, then goes away from me. The rest of the nomads walk with him and leave me shocked.
Chapter 12
The valley