When silence speaks, you know that something older than you has awakened.
The desert had always been silent,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwF8IWcq21o
but the silence of that night was different heavy, suffocating, as if it carried a secret that did not wish to be spoken, only felt.
After long days of travel, and after surviving the maw of the shifting sands, Aram’s group reached an ancient well set within a depression surrounded by dark, jagged hills a place Orgus knew well, known among the people of the desert as the Valley of Echoes.
A place sought only in necessity,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnYY5HXv9gC
for sounds there do not die…92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcXZcCsG3Gh
they return.
They needed water, and a short rest to steady their breath. Yet fatigue alone was not what weighed on their hearts there was that subtle, persistent sense that something followed them, watching from a distance not measured in footsteps.
As night fell, tents were raised near the well, and a small fire was lit shy, restrained, as though hiding itself from the desert cold.
The moon hung half-formed and pale, suspended in the sky like a tired eye. The wind, unnaturally, was still.
Then the sounds began.
Not a single cry, but strange waves of sound92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD0e3JYRaE1
rising from the depths of the desert,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQTcRz6Z78p
striking the walls of the surrounding mountains,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEoe7AaNNPe
then returning to them doubled,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbY0wVi7qFU
as though the earth itself were breathing…92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7M6Drg4BGT
as though silence were testing them with a voice that refused easy understanding.
Nibalion slowly tightened his grip on his bow and said in a low voice,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡp4HtHrvn61
“This is the sound of an animal… but not one I know.”
Rayhan stepped closer, scattered a little sand between his fingers, listened to the way it fell, then said,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6JeCFkaAie
“No… this is the sound of men.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ02XaA6Wzhw
But not ordinary men.”
The men exchanged glances.
Tafar spoke with unease he could not hide,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvUskxN1vF2
“It could be the Sand Men… or that mysterious man.”
But Orgus said nothing.
He sat by the fire, closed his eyes, and listened as though to an old memory one he both knew and feared.
Then came the sign.
The horses suddenly grew restless. They whinnied sharply, struck the ground with their hooves, stepping back in panic, as if something unseen were drawing near.
Samer clenched the hilt of his sword.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRk2NWJ2nEA
“This is no ordinary enemy… horses don’t fear like this.”
Before anyone could move
A long cry rose from the heart of the desert.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2MmhqBsk6e
A cry unlike human voice,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrrFoYg6IWG
unlike animal,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJE2qJaLQw8
unlike wind.
It carried meaning.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7A6cVO2vY3
It carried a summons.
But no one understood it.
Except one man.
Orgus opened his eyes slowly and said in a hushed voice, as though uttering a forbidden name:92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzNkhtRm2Y
“I know this sound…92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8GB2QLXOVi
It is calling.”
Aram stepped closer.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVuBNzoiqOq
“Who?”
Orgus answered,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBiMlAM3Nmz
“Oshan…92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAL8GDEN791
The man of wind and water.”
No one understood, yet the silence that followed the name spoke louder than explanation.
With a strange calm, Orgus said,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkcmdHg4kME
“I ask your permission, Aram…92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbVoqdH21zY
Someone is coming to us now92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOZImFrf2e
and he cannot be stopped.”
Bodies stiffened.
Who would dare approach their camp this night?92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd7oHXSfXam
And who could make horses tremble before appearing?
Suddenly
The fire went out for a heartbeat, then flared back to life,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4I8lQMkFJL
as if a wind had passed through it without stirring anything else.
A man appeared at the edge of the light.
He was tall, slender, moving as if his joints swam through air rather than touched the ground.
His eyes
Eyes entirely blue, without pupil or iris.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡN32ORVhyyM
Eyes that did not see…92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyYJvrxM2Mu
or saw what humans were never meant to see.
Yet stranger still was what accompanied him.
Three hyenas.
Calm.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhFxZby8pSD
Tame in a way that inspired dread.
They circled him as guards… or offspring.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIxDIz37dBB
Their eyes never left the men.
The man stopped near the well and slowly raised his hand.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqt8Z2WCPCt
With the motion came the scent of wet clay92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvyCOJN9PUF
the scent of coming rain,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQ7UAJBMAm
though the sky was clear.
Aram spoke, his voice taut:92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyQ8zHIVpoa
“Who are you?”
But the largest hyena released a low sound92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJ2VklvKTII
not a true growl,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHwRFic9F1c
but an attempt at speech.
Orgus said with a certainty unlike anything they had known from him:92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKQo4owzVfo
“He is Oshan.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxDmHGGdmI7
He knows me… and I know him.”
Oshan sat by the fire.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡChYIbZG0We
The three hyenas arranged themselves around him in circles,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFA9umfyyQd
as if forming a throne of living protection.
Oshan extended his hand toward Aram.
He was asking to take his hand.
Aram hesitated92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkCFv3tqWRt
yet something in the man’s eyes compelled him to yield.
The moment their hands touched
Visions poured in.
Aram saw his wife the day she told him she was with child.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9qXFiyhkw
He saw the blood of his tribe soaking into the sand.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwndCA6WQdV
He saw the mysterious man standing atop mountain peaks.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIA1fcTJWas
He saw a long road ending at a vast door beneath the earth.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVY5VidiHR2
He saw blood that would be spilled
Not his own,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwQtY6NPDYb
but the blood of one of his men.
Aram tore his hand away.
His heart thundered in his chest.
Oshan spoke in a voice like wind moving through caves:92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6CfnyF3IZP
“You are surrounded by an ending and a beginning.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqMujY88ar
What you lost will not return92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDApSwCnoQ5
until you reach the place you were created for.”
Tafar stepped forward hesitantly.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzV1xaWMz7m
“Read me as well.”
He offered his hand.
Oshan held it only for a brief moment92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvc8mcayNsq
then released it abruptly.
Tafar staggered back two steps.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqeXVY0gGwJ
His face was pale.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd4tGXvWMTH
His hand trembled.
Siham asked in fear,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLattU8XjB
“What did you see?”
He did not answer.
But Aram understood.
Oshan had seen Tafar’s death92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtBsutn03b8
drawing near.
The strange man sat among them, ate from their provisions without fear,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2d4glgymMx
as though he had been one of them for years.
Before he left, he placed two things before Aram:
• Four dark stone rods, like charcoal, yet glowing with a faint inner light.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWozZ2VOoCi
• A long glass prism, shimmering with colors that appeared only when touched by wind.
Oshan said,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSwIX4xUjfF
“Without these… you will not return.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfZCUeCRCQI
And I… will be waiting for you.”
He released a soft whistle.
The three hyenas stepped forward,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq6DnnuzJuy
and together they walked into the darkness,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQ9UpvghLG9
until his voice faded,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbcM8DScv2
then even his footprints vanished92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnttspb7Xxe
as if the earth itself had never been touched.
The men remained in long silence,92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAYmP5Lwb8A
each weighing what he had seen and heard.
But the quietest among them was Tafar
Because he alone now knew92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiP9jzt2wH
that his journey92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡd46XmobqxR
would end92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0YB7Tc0C9v
before the caravan ever reached Saba.
The complete version of ARAM – HEIR OF SABA is now available on Amazon.92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg790sx1ypg
If you want to support the story, check it out there.
92Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUmZ2piq2pW
and then Add to home screen.