Jordana and Maya were cooking lunch for Lashia and me. Lashia and I were playing in the garden like any twelve year old girl would do. The flowers were very pretty this spring because of the rainfall. We don’t get much rainfall here; India is a dry, humid place. Unfortunately, the river overflowed. After the flooding stopped, we played in the clay banks of the Indus River.
My name is Neelam Hujo and I have been living with the Vermas for about a year now. My mother, younger sister, and my father went to a faraway city during the battle. The enemies crossed over the Indus river, and attacked our city, Mohenjo Daro. That same battle Jordana and Lashia’s father, Kilon had been killed. Kilon was a warrior, just like my father. Kilon was riding on horseback when he got a spear through his back. I remember I stayed with the Vermas after my family went to the other city. Those days were hard because Maya had been crying and mourning for days over her husband’s dead body.
We sat down and ate rice with beans, when the news came. A young warrior from the Vedic area of Mohenjo Daro said,
“They are coming, the Mupka tribe! They will be here in 2 days maximum.”
A rush of terror came over me when I heard this news. Though, I was not shocked. Jordana looked angry in a way. She looked like she wanted to get revenge. Though, she could not, because women could not fight. After he left, we all went to our separate rooms. Lashia and I shared a room. She walked in, and then cried. She cried because she thought of her father. I comforted her, and then we talked. Lashia forgot about her father and moved on with the conversation. During her endless talking, I thought of my family. I didn’t know where they were, and they had not come back yet. I had almost completely lost hope. Later, we ate dinner and talked around the yagna. Then, we went to bed, and dreamed about the battle.
I woke up early to the sound of a knife. I left Lashia and followed the person with the knife. The person turned away from the streets and I followed him or her for about an hour. Then, I found myself staring at the person, at the Indus River. The wind blew and the beads of my necklace shook and made a sound. I was caught; there was no escaping from the person now.
The figure turned around and it was Jordana. I was shocked, yet frightened. She told me everything, about why she came out here. Her father, Kilon, taught her how to fight. She even knows how to shoot a bow and arrow while standing up on a horse. She made me promise to keep this a secret. We walked back to the house. When we arrived, Maya said she was going out to the market to get food for lunch.
She ran back in less than five minutes, telling us that the Mupka tribe just crossed the river, where Jordana and I were just at. The Mupka tribe were mad they lost, and were going to kill the chief’s family, the Vermas. I went to the roof and I saw them coming. Jordana got her bow and arrow and knife and was ready for battle.
First, the foot-soldiers came with their knives, and some had bow and arrows. Maya was running, like everyone else. She was getting pushed and then she got shot with a bow and arrow. Jordana saw this and avenged the person who killed her mother. The horsemen came in last in the terrifying battle. Jordana quickly called us, and we followed her. She knocked two soldiers off their horses. She grabbed the horses and threw Lashia and me on one, and she hopped on the other one. She rode us out of town. We looked back, and we knew that we could never return.
That night, we slept under a nearby tree, on the hard ground. We were unaware of the dangers that live out in the wilderness. When we woke up, we had nothing to eat except for one piece of bread and some grains of rice. We managed on that for a while. Somehow, Jordana seemed to know the way to somewhere. But, we looked like we were going nowhere. We looked like we were on an endless plain of grass and wheat that went on forever. I asked Jordana where we were going and if she if been there before. Jordana’s response was much different than I expected. She said,
“We are going to the city of Harappa, and yes, I have been here many times when mother sent me.”
We rode for hours on end. Finally, at dusk we stopped. We sat down and our horses started to rear up. We looked around but saw nothing. Our horses went thirty feet in the other direction. Suddenly, a snake out of nowhere came and was right next to Jordana. Jordana started hitting it with a stick, but that only made the snake angrier. The snake striked at her neck and then slithered off into the tall grass. When I told Jordana that the snake didn’t look poisonous, Lashia said that was a Naja-Naja, India’s deadliest snake. Blood rushed from Jordana’s neck and she said,
“Go on without me, I am going to die. Take my bow and arrow just in case you meet enemies. Head north until you see the hill. Go east from the hill and you will find Harappa. Go now.”
Lashia was crying, but obeyed her older sister. She got on her horse and we rode away. The tragedy of what happened to Jordana, told us that even the toughest and strongest people can be wounded. We were scared that another snake would come so we slept on our horses.
The next morning, we saw the sun coming out from behind the hill that Jordana was talking about. We headed east until noon. Noon was the most important part of our journey. It was when we found the city. Our horses galloped quickly down the hill, into Harappa. A woman stopped us, and asked if we had any parents or anybody and would like to have us over for lunch.
At lunch, she asked the question again, do you have any parents. We told her our stories about our family and our journey. During Lashia’s story she just nodded, and said ok. During mine, she burst out into tears. When I asked her why she was crying she said,
“Neelam, it’s me, your mother.”
A few minutes later, my father and younger sister came down. Now, I was in tears. At that moment, I felt like nothing ever happened. I felt like my family was always with me, through my journey.
