The Boy of the Desert Pt. 3

I knew calling it a weekly story would be a bad idea. But, ah well, life happens. Now, on to the the sand.

            After what seemed an eternity, the wind slowly ebbed and the coarse grains of sand stopped trying to wear Azad down to bone. The sun was low in the sky. In his rock hole, the boy realized he was exhausted. And, without even trying, he fell into a deep sleep.

Azad dreamed of ruins carved from stone. Ancient places, worn down by centuries of sand. He also dreamed of a single, white rabbit.

When he awoke, the sun was just rising above the horizon. His head was filled with fading memories of places he didn’t know. He collected himself, and stepped out of the alcove to stretch.  He had a thick layer of sand in his clothes and was desperately wishing for a bath. At least he had some water to clear his dusty throat.

“What do I do now?” Azad asked no one in particular. He was, despite his willingness to voice it aloud, lost. The tracks he had spent all of the previous day following were long gone. Meaning his father’s camel was too. And He was ill prepared to spend more than a day or two in the desert. Azad was miserable.

With no real direction to take, he sat down in defeat.

“Ow!” he yelped.

Azad had sat down on the mystery piece of jewelry from yesterday. Taking it out of his dusty robes, the boy took the time to examine it in the sunlight. The necklace itself was made of two shapes of translucent stones, one square and the other triangular, strung together on a golden chain.

The square stones were red and seemed to be on fire when the light hit them right. The triangular stones had a yellow cast to them, almost like amber. Azad then studied the central reflective piece of glass. It was azure, the color of the sea. And on its surface were etched images.

“Huh, I didn’t see these yesterday.” He spoke aloud, to nobody in particular. He then thought that of course he hadn’t, he’d been running for his life from the sandstorm.

On the lower part of the glass disk were two outlines of what looked to be mountains. In between these was the likeness of a tree, from the roots to the branches. A circle was in the very center of the tree. The upper part of the disk had three images. On the left, what appeared to be a crescent moon and on the right, the sun.

It was what was in the center that sent new chills down his spine. The head of a rabbit. He bolted up to his feet and scanned around the rocks again, looking for the white rabbit he knew was following him. Haunting him even.

Questions bloomed in his mind. What was going on here? Why a rabbit? What did this have to do with father’s camel? Why had I not just stayed home? Why is my stomach growling?

“Ah, at least I can answer that last one.” Azad said to himself. Maybe eating would help calm him enough to think of a way home, or to find El Deloua, preferably both. He hoped it would take his mind off of what had become a frightening, confusing and mystifying situation.

Finding his satchel (glad he had not lost it in the blinding sand) with the few remaining pieces of bread and goat meat, Azad set about dusting off bits of grit and chewing his way through the rest. Twenty minutes later, his stomach placated, the boy decided to go back and look at the tree where he had first seen the necklace.  

He did not realize he had run so far and it took him another ten minutes to get back to the desert tree. Standing in front of it, hands on his hips, Azad stared. Hoping something would occur to him. Then an idea did strike.

“This is the tree!” He exclaimed loudly. “And over there and there are the mountains.”

The scene from the necklace disk was now before him. Looking up, he saw the faint crescent of the moon to his left. And the sun was now to his right. The whole thing was coming together before his eyes. But where was the rabbit?

Azad was not sure if he actually wanted to see it again, or where all of this was leading. But within him, a desire for adventure welled up. He had never truly thought of himself outside of his family life. Away from the camels and his siblings. If he could figure out what all of this meant, his father would for sure notice him.

He turned his attention back to the tree. A flash of white beyond it caught his attention. The rabbit? Whatever it was had gone in a straight line from the tree, between the mountains and between the sun and moon to a valley beyond. Now why hadn’t he seen the valley before now?

Sighing, the boy said “If I want to know what is going on, I better follow. The blasted camel can find its own way home.”

Azad then set out, not knowing that what he would find would be life altering.

A rough sketch of the necklace