The Witch Woman's Prophecy

8 | Into the Desert |

At sunrise the next morning I stood outside the wall of Merthgem with others who were seeking work. Because I had no real skills to offer, I was hoping to find work labouring or caring for animals, the sort of work that I had done on the farm.

The plump woman who stood next to me was a cook, when she described the kinds of food she could make, my mouth flooded with saliva and my stomach rumbled loudly. Smiling, she took pity on me and handed me a small loaf dotted with black poppy seeds inside. I thanked her as I accepted it and once I had bitten into the soft, fluffy middle, I told her she was unlikely to wait for long for work. A thin, nervous man who had a bag of tools slung over his shoulder had come from a village in the mountains far to the north of Merthgem and sought carpentry work. He whittled away at a piece of wood as he waited to pass the time. In no time at all he had produced a carving of a bird and then started on a whistle.

A richly-dressed woman came looking for a guard to accompany her on a visit to her home village far away. She passed me by without a glance and chose a sturdy man from further along the wall. Employers came and went, taking advantage of the cool morning air to select their workers in comfort. The cook and the carpenter were both chosen and left soon after the sun had cleared the cliff behind Merthgem. There was nothing for me to do, other than look interested in potential employers, most of whom walked past me without even bothering to ask questions.

By midday most of the workers had been chosen or had drifted away. I was left waiting alone slumped against the wall. What should I do now? I could not go back into Merthgem. Maybe Tasmi could bring me some food if I could find somebody to take a message to her. I might have to wait outside the walls for days before anyone chose me. A sense of panic rose up inside me.

Just as I was starting to look for a likely urchin to run a message for me, a fat man came out of the gate, he was slightly unsteady on his feet and he had food stains down the front of his robe.

'What are your skills?' he asked me in a slurred voice.

'I'm a farmer, sir. Good with crops and livestock. I can build or mend walls—'

'Can you dig?' asked the man, then stifled a belch.

'Yes, sir,' I replied, glad that I could do something the man required.

'Show me your hands.' I was surprised but held out my hands. He told me to turn them over and looked at my palms, he peered at the calluses formed from seasons of digging.

'I'm Brandis. I'll pay you two coins a day for coming with me to dig. We'll be gone ten or twenty days. I'll provide your food and water. Get your things and we'll be off,' he said with a grunt.

'I have nothing to collect, sir,' I told him. All I had were the clothes I was wearing, a water skin and the bag of coins Tasmi had given me the night before.

He took me to where two kneeling camels were tethered and held out the leading rope of the first one. It stared at me through its long, black lashes, then drew back its top lip in a sneer and a string of slobber drooled down from its mouth. Flies buzzed around it and a rank animal smell came from it. This was the first time I had ever been close to a camel and I wasn't sure I liked it. The camel stayed kneeling while Brandis climbed up into the saddle, but he lurched from side to side and cursed at the beast for not staying still. The second camel was tethered to the first camel's saddle and was loaded with water skins and other supplies including a shovel. While Brandis rode on the first camel, I would be walking and leading the camels.

He had a map which he consulted before we set off, and I marvelled that the world could be shown in a drawing when I saw what it was. He squinted at the sun, looked back at the rocky outcrop that held Yardin's cave and then towards a hill to the south. He told me to head towards that hill. I tugged on the lead rope of the camel and began to trudge through the sand. The camel seemed to be well trained, as it followed me without complaining, but I was wary of its teeth and long legs and made sure I kept as far from it as possible.

By the time we stopped in the late afternoon my arm was aching from leading the camels, but we had reached the hill Brandis has pointed at earlier in the day. We tethered the camels and climbed to the top so Brandis could decide on the direction of our travel the next day. My eyes were sharper than his and he had me point out the peaks of the mountains which lay off to the west. At the foot of the hill below us an empty channel looped and snaked its way through the sand.

'What's that, sir?' I asked.

'The dry riverbed of the Nineh. It flowed past here to the sea.' Brandis frowned as though annoyed, but I risked one more question.

'What's the sea, sir?'

Brandis' eyebrows rose as he looked at me. Perhaps he thought I was joking with him. His voice was curt when he answered. 'More water in one place than you can imagine. Tastes of salt and spreads out so far you can't see the end of it.'

I was not sure that I believed him, but thought that it would be unlikely for somebody I had just met to play tricks on me, so I nodded and tried to look as though I trusted what he was telling me.

The desert spread out in front of us beyond the dry river bed. There was no end to it; dunes and hills of red sand rolled over each other far into the distance. When I asked where we were going Brandis pointed in a direction that would take us across the river bed and into the middle of the desert. He told me that we would have to travel for several days. We would travel in the cool parts of the day and into the night while there was enough light to see by.

We returned to the camels and made camp for the night. Brandis did not speak to me while we ate but took sips from a small flask which gave off a fermented smell which he did not offer to me. As darkness fell, he rolled himself up in his bedding and began to snore in deep, startling blasts. The noise reminded me of the way Kershel had snored and I could not stop the tears from trickling down my face. I gazed into the fire with aching eyes and let memories of home drift into my mind to comfort me.

Veena was the first person I thought of. One day, when I was a young boy, I had frightened her by hiding below the surface of the small spring-fed pool we fetched our water from. She had seen me under the water, thought I had drowned and screamed so loudly that she brought all the others running. By the time they had arrived I had come up for air and all they saw was Veena holding my wet robe with one hand and whacking my bottom with the other. When they had all finished laughing at me I was made to promise that I would never play in the deep pool again without there being somebody to watch me. The memory made me smile, although I was sad now that I had ever caused Veena any pain.

My thoughts roamed to the expression on Halash's face one day when I had managed to put his coat onto one of the goats. It had been spooked when Halash had shouted and chased after it. Halash had spent the greater part of the morning running after the nimble goat, which leapt up onto the high rocks of the ridge behind the farm whenever Halash got too close.

I had learnt what curse words were that day. I also learnt not to upset Halash again, as he made me muck out the goat shed for many days afterwards. Kershel had smiled at the joke and had sent me to retrieve the coat when it was clear that Halash could not manage it.

Before I had gone to bed that night Kershel told me of the tricks he used to play when he was a young boy and we had chuckled together beside the fire. I smiled again, missing my foster father more than I could ever have thought possible. I missed his solid strength, his calmness when he spoke and his patience as he taught me to throw a knife and to spar with him using a wooden sword.

I fell asleep thinking of Doya, of how she would hold me close to her to comfort me when I had suffered some childhood hurt. I recalled the smell of smoke and cooking that clung to her clothes and the way my head fitted in just below her chin when I sat on her lap. She always put my childish problems right and I missed her most of all.

Thamet has managed to get out of Merthgem. How do you feel about that?

Any feedback good or bad is truly appreciated, I am trying to make this the best story I can. Please let me know if you find anything confusing or if you think I've left anything out.

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Anni X