A Twist of the Sands

by P R Glazier

  Chapter 24. Trapped

  After several days a steady change came over the Jethrent. Many of the nomads had started to make preparations to leave. Whole clans were now concerned with packing up their belongings and bidding farewell to their friends and neighbours as they rode their Duagnuats up out of the valley and back to another year of traversing the desert. What was initially a trickle of riders leaving the Jethrent had become a steady flow as more and more left to return to their life in the desert. One morning Nar’Allia in solemn mood decided to dress in the chain mail and don the gear that once belonged to Serinae, rather than the garb of the nomads, even though she had been warned that the desert would persuade them to dress differently. However, Nar’Allia subconsciously was thinking that their time with the nomads was perhaps coming to a close and she had the feeling that they would find themselves on their own again shortly.

  All of the clans had left the valley when Nar’Allia and her companions came once more face to face with the Mecharmy clan. Daffid’s clan had already packed away it seemed, and some were already winding their way towards the great arch and out of the valley. Daffid riding on his Duagnuats stooped to say his last farewell to them all. His brother was with him. They both swung off their mounts and walked towards where Nar’Allia and Alicshea were helping to pack things away in readiness for the journey ahead. Nar’Allia could see them walking across the grass towards them, she felt very uneasy at the approach of these men.

  Daffid greeted Alicshea and proceeded to occupy himself with chatting to her. His brother however came up to Nar’Allia that same smile upon his lips. Nar’Allia wanted to turn away, but before she could say or do anything he said, “ah milady, perhaps you would consent to allowing me to show you something of great interest?” 

  Nar’Allia subconsciously took a number of steps backwards to where Amndo, Jonas and JDC were standing. “Perhaps my friends would like to share in what you would like to show me,” she said. The brother stood there his head slightly cocked to one side still a smile on his lips. He shrugged.

  Jonas stood up slowly, he was looking at Daffid’s brother slightly suspiciously, he had picked up on Nar’Allia’s unease. The brother lost his smile, but bowing slightly in agreement started to walk off in the direction of the lake. Jonas followed, as did JDC and Amndo, Nar’Allia was secretly pleased that her friends had rallied around her with the obvious intent of not allowing any harm to come to her under any circumstance. She slowed her pace and found herself at the rear of the small procession, she kept her three companions in front of her as she did not want to be close to the brother. But as they approached the lake her attentions were attracted elsewhere. Daffid’s brother was talking and pointing towards the waters. Nar’Allia could see that the waters had started to cloud, a red bloom had appeared from the depths and was slowly rising upwards. It looked like oily red ink dripped into a glass of water; it boiled and moved, perhaps in the otherwise invisible currents deep within the waters. Nar’Allia turned her nose up; there was an odour about the place also. A chemical, acidic smell, which caught in the back of the throat. She also noticed that the surface of the lake, where she was used to a mirror like flat finish, there were now small ripples of movement. This was accentuated by the red colouring slowly filtering through the waters. She turned away and went to stand with the rest of the party.

  Amndo was already talking to Daffid’s brother. He reached into his robes and brought out the Dolan which he showed to the brother. Nar’Allia gasped; her initial mistrust led her to warn Amndo not to release the Dolan into this man’s hands. But of course, Nar’Allia then remembered that they had agreed to show the Dolan to the Mecharmy clan. She had all but forgotten for the opportunity had never presented itself, until now of course.

  The brother took the Dolan and scrutinised it closely, “this must be an omen, you’re coming here was foreseen then, fate has shown you to me,” he now looked directly at Nar’Allia. “You woman, how come you by this token given to me by your guardian? He held his head high and his arm extended, his hand open as if he expected Nar’Allia to grasp it in her own. When she did not he stepped forward towards her, she in turn started to take steps back. “You return what is ours, what was stolen by your people the teachers! I accept this gift as a token of your offering peace. I accept you as my own, come, we will be made as one as is ordained by this token.”

  She was once more confused; she didn’t know what the brother was requesting of her. She only knew he was holding out his hand, she did not want to grasp that hand again; she recoiled in suspicion and a little horror.

  “I don’t think the lady wishes to go with you, I suggest you leave her alone and respect her wishes.” It was Jonas; he had drawn his sword and now stood facing the brother with Nar’Allia at his back.

  A snarl left the brothers throat. “Stand out of the way fool, who are you to deny the fates, it should be so, you bring this talisman with you, what else could it mean?” He again started towards where Nar’Allia stood. “This token I use as a sign of acceptance, of your intent to show loyalty to my clan.”

  Jonas raised the sword, “let’s just hear what the lady has to say on the matter shall we?”

  The brother stopped and remained still, glaring at Jonas. He seemed to compose himself and shook his hand as if waving away something of insignificance, “of what importance is it she has to say, her word matters little.”

  But Jonas with a slight nod of his head indicated to Nar’Allia that she should speak, his eyes never left the brothers gaze and his sword remained ready in a defensive grip.

  “Well, I err, I mean, the offer is kind, but I, well it is unexpected and really I…….” was all Nar’Allia could think to say, she did not want to offend the brother, or escalate the situation into violence. But she also felt mistrust and a great dislike of the arrogance he was showing.

  “So you wish to come with me,” stated the brother.

  “Well no, not exactly no.”

  The brother frowned and went to move towards Nar’Allia, she walked further back. The tip of Jonas’s sword appeared suddenly at the brother’s throat, the brother froze, his hand upon the hilt of a dagger in his belt.

  Nar’Allia walked forward, she had managed to get a grasp of the situation at last, she felt angered. “Look I do not want to go with you, it is not what we came here to seek, it may seem coincidental that we have that which you hold, but to us, to me, it has nothing to do with what you ask, its significance is unknown to us. I’m sorry but other forces are at work here; other priorities rule our actions.”

  A look of anger appeared on the brother’s face, he looked at Jonas and sneered, he looked back at Nar’Allia, “you refuse me! You insult me! Never have I suffered such. You willingly accept my kiss yet now you deny my offer to you. It is true then, the teachers are deceitful and filled with malice.”

  How dare he take such an uneducated view of her people. He didn’t know them at all, all he had to go on was one action by a group of misguided individuals.

  Before she knew it the two short swords sang in her hands and she took a defensive pose, the brother did not seem to notice as he didn’t falter in his step. But his face took on a different expression, one of hate, he drew a long curved sword from somewhere in amongst his robes and knocking the sword at his throat aside, ran at Nar’Allia.

  The next few seconds were a blur, Nar’Allia remembered parrying a few blows, but it all seemed to happen in slow time, the brother’s attacks seemed clumsy. She became annoyed that he should be wasting her time and energy with such futile behaviour so when the next slash came at her she blocked and twisted her sword and then drew it sharply round in a circle twisting the brothers blade and forcing him to let go of the hilt. His sword flew away and landed point down in the grass several metres away. Nar’Allia’s other weapon appeared at his throat, the brother was forced to lift his head and look down his nose at her. They stood like this for what seemed an age, but eventually the brother held up both hand
s in surrender. Nar’Allia withdrew the blade from his skin, not a mark could be seen.

  The brother spat at Nar’Allia’s feet and turning walked briskly back down to the lake edge. He didn’t attempt to retrieve his sword, but instead before anyone could say anything or attempt to stop him he drew back his arm and threw the Dolan as far as he could far out over the lake.

  Nar’Allia gasped, she heard a cry of “NOOOOO,” then realised it was her own voice she heard. The Dolan arched over tumbling as it went and eventually splashed into the waters far from the shore. A ripple went out and once the waters had subsided the little the Dolan could just be seen drifting down through the still clear top level of water like a leaf falling from a tree in autumn, it swung back and forth like a pendulum as it sank. A great anguish came over her.

  Daffid’s brother said, “there, I give your token to the Leviathan, to the monster that lies there. This is what I think of you and your kind.” He again spat at Nar’Allia’s feet and turned and looking at Amndo said with an accusing look in his eyes, you are better off without it, I spit on this union and the talisman you brought to me.”

  Nar’Allia remained speechless.

  Amndo said, “that was the only clue we had to the whereabouts of the lady Minervar, it may have been useful in finding her, it may have been key to doing so.”

  Daffid’s brother scoffed and said, “nothing good would have come of that thing, I now know, believe me when I say you are better free of it.” He turned a snarl on his face and strode back to where his brother was mounted once more onto the backs of their Duagnuats. After mounting his beast the two rode of in the direction of the exit to the valley.

  Nar’Allia turned back and tried to see the sinking Dolan. As she looked she was surprised for the small disk seemed to be glowing brightly, so bright that it could be clearly seen as a pinpoint of light as it sank into the darkening depths. It moved erratically and then suddenly disappeared from view; the effect was just like ground bait disappearing down the gullet of some well camouflaged fish. Try as she might she could no longer see the Dolan, it had gone. She dropped to her knees on the grassy bank and sat upon her ankles.

  Vaughnal and Alicshea had not seen the events of the last few minutes they had already mounted their Duagnuats, and were making their way up the gentle sloping grass towards the arch in the rock wall. Nar’Allia was still speechless; Jonas was looking at her a strange expression on his face. He walked over and knelt beside her.

  Nar’Allia looked into his face and felt the need to say something, “it’s not what you think, the other night when I went off with Alicshea to visit Daffid, he, he,” she hesitated for she realised she didn’t even know his name. This thought was the last straw, her anger flared within her again. She stood and started to pace around in circles with her fists clenched. “Well that arrogant, chauvinistic, narrow minded brute, well he took me by surprise, yes he did kiss me, but I did not invite him to do so, he just took advantage, it meant nothing, not to me, he surprised me is all.” She scowled at Jonas, JDC and Amndo. Suddenly as quickly as it had risen, her anger was spent, something akin to slight despair had replaced the hole where her anger had been and glancing at each of her companions she sighed and said, “so what now, where do we go from here?”

  Amndo just looked at her and said, “perhaps we should return home, we have failed her Nar’Allia, I know not what further to do here, all hope of finding out what that Dolan did is now gone and I do not know where we can pick up the trail again, if indeed we were on the right trail to start with.”

  Nar’Allia rose and walking with her friends turned to go back to where their Duagnuats waited patiently for them. They mounted and made to follow the remaining nomads up the grassy meadow. If they had taken the time to look they would have realised that they would be the last to leave the valley. What remained of the caravan of nomads had already nearly all passed through the arch back out into the desert beyond.

  They rode in silence, but eventually they found themselves approaching the great arch. All of the nomads were now through and gone. The Jethrent was over for another year, the lake was clouding and turning poisonous, all this fed Nar’Allia’s feeling of despondency as she stopped at the entrance to the tunnel through the rock, she turned in her saddle and looked back across the valley one last time. It looked the same, the grass was green and the flowers still shone their petals turned towards the sun, surprisingly it all looked untouched, as if the Jethrent had never been there at all, as if the valley didn’t notice the passing of the nomads. It had just shaken itself and resumed life once more. Jonas called to her to come, but something had caught her eye. There was a watery cloud hanging over the lake, it was like a fine mist hanging right above the spot where the Dolan had splashed into the water. The surface of the lake was agitated; many small ripples adorned the surface as if some vibrating movement was occurring deep within its watery depths. Then a shudder went through her. Then another, she suddenly realised that it was not her body shuddering but the ground on which her Duagnuats stood, the animal started to click loudly the sound was picked up by the other beasts and all started to click. All of a sudden her beast rose up upon its hind legs and rotated suddenly and started to run towards the archway. Perhaps because she was turned at an angle looking at the lake, or maybe just because of the unexpected and awkward movement that Quinak had made in alarm, Nar’Allia found herself off balance and she toppled from her mount landing heavily upon the grass bank.

  Once on the ground Nar’Allia could feel great vibrations going through the rock, she could hear a great low rumbling noise that sounded like massive rocks being ground together. Jonas had swung off his mount and already returned to see if she was alright, he bent down to help her to stand. JDC and Amndo had also abandoned their Duagnuats because they couldn’t control the panic that they exhibited and all four of the beasts had turned and were running for the archway. Nar’Allia was finding it difficult to find her feet and stand; Jonas grasped her arm to help her. Eventually the four of them stood alone in the valley facing the lake, a great red mist had risen and was flowing over the grass towards them at a brisk walking speed, soon they would be enveloped, it was getting increasingly difficult to stand for the vibrations in the rock were of such ferocity now. The low grinding sound became deafening, it seemed to be coming from the entrance arch. As they looked that way they saw the land immediately beneath the entrance to the tunnel rising up, rock heaved, dust flew and clods of soil and grass were being flung high into the air. The entrance was closing, they knew they would not make the opening, for rising up through the rock beneath the tunnel arch there rose a great structure, it was grey in colour, not rock but some kind of smooth metallic substance it extended across the whole width of the entrance way to the valley. It was already some twenty or so metres high, the company watched in horror as the wall, for this is all Nar’Allia could think of to describe it, continued to rise up until it stopped completely filling the arched entrance making it impossible for them to leave. They were trapped within the valley.

  The rumbling noise subsided. They were alone; their Duagnuats had sped to the entrance and managed to get through before the barrier had risen. They turned to look back at the lake. Thankfully the mist had also stopped rising and in fact seemed to be falling back into the waters, where it had overflowed the bank they could see a red wetness covering the grass at the edge of the lake, it was like paint spilt on the grass below a newly painted window frame. The grass was shrivelling, the flowers wilting as they watched. Nar’Allia stepped backwards fear in her heart, never had she seen such poison to life, the sight abhorred her.

  “Well we are stuck here for at least a year then,” said Jonas.

  “At least ten years I think you’ll find,” said Amndo.

  “That was not normal,” stuttered JDC. “I have passed the entrance to the valley on occasion, never have I seen this wall blocking it off before, even when the time of Jethrent has passed. As far as I know it is only superst
ition that keeps the clans out of here during the rest of the year not a physical barrier like that.” He pointed at the smooth metallic wall in front of them.

  “You don’t think that Daffid’s brother throwing the Donal into the water caused this do you?” Suggested Nar’Allia as she turned and looked towards the lake with a deep suspicion mixed with some fear.

  JDC followed her gaze. “Who knows, but I guess we had better find a way out for we have precious supplies, all we have is what we carry about our persons everything else managed to leave the valley on the backs of our Duagnuats. I suggest we walk back down and see if we can find a way over the mountains or maybe another entrance.”