When silence speaks, you know that something older than you has awakened.
The desert had always been silent,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgM3nu5fPth
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,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡklNQrOSwaJ
for sounds there do not die…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCvX6iOOrfs
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 sound99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqbW5sS0fSK
rising from the depths of the desert,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1QfeKMWCZY
striking the walls of the surrounding mountains,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaI1zGPk2rP
then returning to them doubled,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCtukVCMyZK
as though the earth itself were breathing…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4hHxz3uBKW
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,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlemL6j0u7i
“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,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxz8CZxq0TH
“No… this is the sound of men.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSHt0VaYQvm
But not ordinary men.”
The men exchanged glances.
Tafar spoke with unease he could not hide,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPzN0UhBhyh
“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.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡnIcSMxcck4
“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.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrT197MU7AX
A cry unlike human voice,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5DGSkKeT00
unlike animal,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVe5cP0yU0f
unlike wind.
It carried meaning.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT7cwHNK61X
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:99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmskv9sGdIl
“I know this sound…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4RY16HKqGS
It is calling.”
Aram stepped closer.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMLj9gyObaS
“Who?”
Orgus answered,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4YlRRbnGFb
“Oshan…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGkohWXBLLG
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,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCADOlKaPm2
“I ask your permission, Aram…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPSL3angbJ6
Someone is coming to us now99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCMmpGLrB13
and he cannot be stopped.”
Bodies stiffened.
Who would dare approach their camp this night?99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu2IDTAhaOc
And who could make horses tremble before appearing?
Suddenly
The fire went out for a heartbeat, then flared back to life,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ94zqbUyEAa
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.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8O13JzQAee
Eyes that did not see…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡerWNjERgkD
or saw what humans were never meant to see.
Yet stranger still was what accompanied him.
Three hyenas.
Calm.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlKNNwhQr0i
Tame in a way that inspired dread.
They circled him as guards… or offspring.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡri0DyTRHFw
Their eyes never left the men.
The man stopped near the well and slowly raised his hand.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡruOPat0Nhu
With the motion came the scent of wet clay99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡM7xpCMuJnN
the scent of coming rain,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZ1dRGEaSQQ
though the sky was clear.
Aram spoke, his voice taut:99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ5YMMKj05aB
“Who are you?”
But the largest hyena released a low sound99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1IDaOMopKk
not a true growl,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa3pdOX5PJW
but an attempt at speech.
Orgus said with a certainty unlike anything they had known from him:99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡWdlSbPtIlA
“He is Oshan.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqqN62l8Ku1
He knows me… and I know him.”
Oshan sat by the fire.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcYuVpjrpJ5
The three hyenas arranged themselves around him in circles,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrSYjvQKe3O
as if forming a throne of living protection.
Oshan extended his hand toward Aram.
He was asking to take his hand.
Aram hesitated99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXkxjy4Hxl0
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.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW1KTq7s8N1
He saw the blood of his tribe soaking into the sand.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7Zy8zSN4yI
He saw the mysterious man standing atop mountain peaks.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUViXO5XvnT
He saw a long road ending at a vast door beneath the earth.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡC33iXZYkGL
He saw blood that would be spilled
Not his own,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3wpSMt37Ax
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:99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdL6W8I7C3X
“You are surrounded by an ending and a beginning.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡE7dZtvwA0d
What you lost will not return99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCGQhJSWHy9
until you reach the place you were created for.”
Tafar stepped forward hesitantly.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7UczjgI7Bj
“Read me as well.”
He offered his hand.
Oshan held it only for a brief moment99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo9IQ8iRRq3
then released it abruptly.
Tafar staggered back two steps.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdd6ZwfAtzB
His face was pale.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjSqyaAtC5q
His hand trembled.
Siham asked in fear,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡm0vKQB9gRS
“What did you see?”
He did not answer.
But Aram understood.
Oshan had seen Tafar’s death99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFQfqmOo5fv
drawing near.
The strange man sat among them, ate from their provisions without fear,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcvJiCrfis
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.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmP8pWI38E3
• A long glass prism, shimmering with colors that appeared only when touched by wind.
Oshan said,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3J8pUVngVu
“Without these… you will not return.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwneM4xvJ8q
And I… will be waiting for you.”
He released a soft whistle.
The three hyenas stepped forward,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmQoVvH7IV
and together they walked into the darkness,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0tSYFuS52P
until his voice faded,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkgb3cNPTAb
then even his footprints vanished99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwdilxJANLZ
as if the earth itself had never been touched.
The men remained in long silence,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqiV5L7mTxb
each weighing what he had seen and heard.
But the quietest among them was Tafar
Because he alone now knew99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOqRCD8YtiN
that his journey99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdF0dQzuStZ
would end99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJlUvISnCub
before the caravan ever reached Saba.
The complete version of ARAM – HEIR OF SABA is now available on Amazon.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb31KoBcdgu
If you want to support the story, check it out there.
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqyVRbHONOe
and then Add to home screen.