When silence speaks, you know that something older than you has awakened.
The desert had always been silent,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡt11Tdr0Hw7
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡeRibP5HeAo
for sounds there do not die…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq1hul5L08N
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB1vzaxKb5U
rising from the depths of the desert,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡORGj39DZI7
striking the walls of the surrounding mountains,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyUIqUD4wYb
then returning to them doubled,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMcrHcVNZe9
as though the earth itself were breathing…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZOj6b9Twap
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMMfBpxvIQu
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmYbHuZ0Sb
“No… this is the sound of men.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxKf05kO4Dp
But not ordinary men.”
The men exchanged glances.
Tafar spoke with unease he could not hide,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBR2g6v7fW0
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPN4fcbKian
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRFgLLXvKah
A cry unlike human voice,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrO1DVOSdSa
unlike animal,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡomBX1tg7rd
unlike wind.
It carried meaning.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTabghLNveM
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyWepFa3pqr
“I know this sound…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡYjPdezhxYK
It is calling.”
Aram stepped closer.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsmSUj2ZVPU
“Who?”
Orgus answered,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPiGkp7jgCO
“Oshan…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJtSJaEOa7V
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBdIRKT3tjU
“I ask your permission, Aram…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHNzi1aSOmq
Someone is coming to us now99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkSbasWYBDu
and he cannot be stopped.”
Bodies stiffened.
Who would dare approach their camp this night?99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡo2H0RfFvsL
And who could make horses tremble before appearing?
Suddenly
The fire went out for a heartbeat, then flared back to life,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpWKuSExeG5
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡZcVtlq4Y4f
Eyes that did not see…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNnv7tZExXl
or saw what humans were never meant to see.
Yet stranger still was what accompanied him.
Three hyenas.
Calm.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcnmv2zHpy2
Tame in a way that inspired dread.
They circled him as guards… or offspring.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡB8JibLwffL
Their eyes never left the men.
The man stopped near the well and slowly raised his hand.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFentNiDvAj
With the motion came the scent of wet clay99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfePtKQntzg
the scent of coming rain,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwe52JbIkrE
though the sky was clear.
Aram spoke, his voice taut:99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡojORRspnhN
“Who are you?”
But the largest hyena released a low sound99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGUXsC2aZic
not a true growl,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKJ90Af339O
but an attempt at speech.
Orgus said with a certainty unlike anything they had known from him:99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgS1e96qpPt
“He is Oshan.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzGcOW6gsj7
He knows me… and I know him.”
Oshan sat by the fire.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVKzfBGt8sb
The three hyenas arranged themselves around him in circles,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqIdU4dlOxE
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDxR0jFf3O
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡadReBKJoBY
He saw the blood of his tribe soaking into the sand.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRstxH2Stpk
He saw the mysterious man standing atop mountain peaks.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe08NR6agKp
He saw a long road ending at a vast door beneath the earth.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡteGbxLNn6d
He saw blood that would be spilled
Not his own,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡW7sCJCaDk0
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNzbQwS4QLD
“You are surrounded by an ending and a beginning.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuobA6jEnVF
What you lost will not return99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqxhbbxT0X9
until you reach the place you were created for.”
Tafar stepped forward hesitantly.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTAZ2Ggp84J
“Read me as well.”
He offered his hand.
Oshan held it only for a brief moment99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXQ1rXdlRi7
then released it abruptly.
Tafar staggered back two steps.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡLSCWvr9eNn
His face was pale.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBNolsjnv4c
His hand trembled.
Siham asked in fear,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcEG95B5Vz3
“What did you see?”
He did not answer.
But Aram understood.
Oshan had seen Tafar’s death99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhCqgdHpx9W
drawing near.
The strange man sat among them, ate from their provisions without fear,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡhSGFyXOZ71
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡujIpDcNrF0
• A long glass prism, shimmering with colors that appeared only when touched by wind.
Oshan said,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡirxOJHVSMH
“Without these… you will not return.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPahkgH3MQc
And I… will be waiting for you.”
He released a soft whistle.
The three hyenas stepped forward,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzzZwZmLKV3
and together they walked into the darkness,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡI9HqLv845I
until his voice faded,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbIhJFUnPvv
then even his footprints vanished99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNSr46jm5Kt
as if the earth itself had never been touched.
The men remained in long silence,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbOTaEuii31
each weighing what he had seen and heard.
But the quietest among them was Tafar
Because he alone now knew99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKjUpJvAuSR
that his journey99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ09dSHvCPyW
would end99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJh6OU6HzEO
before the caravan ever reached Saba.
The complete version of ARAM – HEIR OF SABA is now available on Amazon.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJyNGvtlqJ7
If you want to support the story, check it out there.
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCl9XqeIp4X
and then Add to home screen.