When silence speaks, you know that something older than you has awakened.
The desert had always been silent,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdPLFOKWxF6
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,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2qHuYG2Qkl
for sounds there do not die…97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMw1B58fFLq
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 sound97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDUnLdcLDS4
rising from the depths of the desert,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡihIOTjMYGG
striking the walls of the surrounding mountains,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdF1IBH6M37
then returning to them doubled,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡudqShSjuOP
as though the earth itself were breathing…97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbFrzCVvRfy
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,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUc3qqFcrk4
“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,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgLK9WHZdhM
“No… this is the sound of men.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZbw0FMdQtq
But not ordinary men.”
The men exchanged glances.
Tafar spoke with unease he could not hide,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡID4RyTMM2D
“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.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOOwdUTaN8i
“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.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5QG3pJS1lX
A cry unlike human voice,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpyrrHGsKds
unlike animal,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡs40HJJc5Ng
unlike wind.
It carried meaning.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9iGlJF01mo
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:97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKDTvTjxMgy
“I know this sound…97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW4RePmkBnY
It is calling.”
Aram stepped closer.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeHQbBHgorA
“Who?”
Orgus answered,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZKgStfXlO1
“Oshan…97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgNF7aVt7Qi
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,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqSrALMuaXo
“I ask your permission, Aram…97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6WtnUz6zQj
Someone is coming to us now97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxqSS3VDVrj
and he cannot be stopped.”
Bodies stiffened.
Who would dare approach their camp this night?97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT1CWbEyCMI
And who could make horses tremble before appearing?
Suddenly
The fire went out for a heartbeat, then flared back to life,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAzqzvbkYmL
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.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtbNGMnJbgy
Eyes that did not see…97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX9FHP3OMms
or saw what humans were never meant to see.
Yet stranger still was what accompanied him.
Three hyenas.
Calm.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9petdUNZCe
Tame in a way that inspired dread.
They circled him as guards… or offspring.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ29l8VlTWLy
Their eyes never left the men.
The man stopped near the well and slowly raised his hand.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4N5aMF82kO
With the motion came the scent of wet clay97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4Ux7RXuGWF
the scent of coming rain,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkgietmFCxA
though the sky was clear.
Aram spoke, his voice taut:97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXiLhIlNjXG
“Who are you?”
But the largest hyena released a low sound97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhT27QJCasA
not a true growl,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbriUYH6xc7
but an attempt at speech.
Orgus said with a certainty unlike anything they had known from him:97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeEFyxUBp2H
“He is Oshan.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1X5pgNsmET
He knows me… and I know him.”
Oshan sat by the fire.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT7T9qlrm2W
The three hyenas arranged themselves around him in circles,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡATxmdICj6M
as if forming a throne of living protection.
Oshan extended his hand toward Aram.
He was asking to take his hand.
Aram hesitated97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRHalfXBQKB
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.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡayYamj1ys2
He saw the blood of his tribe soaking into the sand.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡY9gaIjuFtb
He saw the mysterious man standing atop mountain peaks.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb6wUAqdQyE
He saw a long road ending at a vast door beneath the earth.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4JJoA8p5CY
He saw blood that would be spilled
Not his own,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbhN5TFhMb0
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:97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZRSn9tujJo
“You are surrounded by an ending and a beginning.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlbi4CCeAbx
What you lost will not return97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIYjMkaTMA1
until you reach the place you were created for.”
Tafar stepped forward hesitantly.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzeVLb4ec1c
“Read me as well.”
He offered his hand.
Oshan held it only for a brief moment97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqOiOvObxJC
then released it abruptly.
Tafar staggered back two steps.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡML8j3fkLuZ
His face was pale.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa6bCBfCLNW
His hand trembled.
Siham asked in fear,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmYSVqPhMlq
“What did you see?”
He did not answer.
But Aram understood.
Oshan had seen Tafar’s death97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrQfbtvfNvF
drawing near.
The strange man sat among them, ate from their provisions without fear,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVfNevagvhG
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.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFeAWdF3Uy5
• A long glass prism, shimmering with colors that appeared only when touched by wind.
Oshan said,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTocPirVA1u
“Without these… you will not return.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUAbQW6tMC4
And I… will be waiting for you.”
He released a soft whistle.
The three hyenas stepped forward,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡh7D1OfNZ6v
and together they walked into the darkness,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqmzKEchOKh
until his voice faded,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡIiUy1bPwjO
then even his footprints vanished97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvbQlyag7AH
as if the earth itself had never been touched.
The men remained in long silence,97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV1skWMeX0P
each weighing what he had seen and heard.
But the quietest among them was Tafar
Because he alone now knew97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpwRjJ9YvxD
that his journey97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBGdb9MW8U2
would end97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRZdgqX28OR
before the caravan ever reached Saba.
The complete version of ARAM – HEIR OF SABA is now available on Amazon.97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4a7fnXulFh
If you want to support the story, check it out there.
97Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡX3xVcnuRhL
and then Add to home screen.