When silence speaks, you know that something older than you has awakened.
The desert had always been silent,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfi1gQxVmQr
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlWLzUYyuL1
for sounds there do not die…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCD9Rx75dSc
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡty4xVwoUSw
rising from the depths of the desert,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡa0Gqg8W7cd
striking the walls of the surrounding mountains,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpGkUdSpEAa
then returning to them doubled,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9HKfuuYNF0
as though the earth itself were breathing…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3D4Rv6iqlO
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHWzI1GwFUf
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqzXarMMVHp
“No… this is the sound of men.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbLhRHRwp0y
But not ordinary men.”
The men exchanged glances.
Tafar spoke with unease he could not hide,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡx8AfDtUqoB
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡSfqbVPPMfh
“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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡml647x45GP
A cry unlike human voice,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2io0xNh5rV
unlike animal,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7MVxE2iUYd
unlike wind.
It carried meaning.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQA8TVu8bJS
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsQKvwDiWZI
“I know this sound…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRdELQSZABi
It is calling.”
Aram stepped closer.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡGalFyrFOc3
“Who?”
Orgus answered,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡniEPIflkAL
“Oshan…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9cIVLRiRuu
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpg4Xnk8nys
“I ask your permission, Aram…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ37RRp1GnGf
Someone is coming to us now99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6ifyewdu4z
and he cannot be stopped.”
Bodies stiffened.
Who would dare approach their camp this night?99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4j8H13pAQl
And who could make horses tremble before appearing?
Suddenly
The fire went out for a heartbeat, then flared back to life,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ6oOwEEmrLi
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡxFnRsBPmNz
Eyes that did not see…99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrmonEtRw0E
or saw what humans were never meant to see.
Yet stranger still was what accompanied him.
Three hyenas.
Calm.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡfx3nJxQ7Tv
Tame in a way that inspired dread.
They circled him as guards… or offspring.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHnnohkDhz3
Their eyes never left the men.
The man stopped near the well and slowly raised his hand.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdOgCE0Nyfc
With the motion came the scent of wet clay99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0F5FLt97z5
the scent of coming rain,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlnQQOyBhVG
though the sky was clear.
Aram spoke, his voice taut:99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRI8i9O4Cr1
“Who are you?”
But the largest hyena released a low sound99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDadqLugPco
not a true growl,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡq3FkVlWce0
but an attempt at speech.
Orgus said with a certainty unlike anything they had known from him:99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡEEBBzeIGEW
“He is Oshan.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ9fzRY1F8sw
He knows me… and I know him.”
Oshan sat by the fire.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqia9gnmgT3
The three hyenas arranged themselves around him in circles,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAEy3ljUbbS
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡDLqxMCLDuY
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡiL93PSD1FG
He saw the blood of his tribe soaking into the sand.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡtH8DXP1MgU
He saw the mysterious man standing atop mountain peaks.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2GSNKs2rXZ
He saw a long road ending at a vast door beneath the earth.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdgmXMpYvML
He saw blood that would be spilled
Not his own,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡdWpHpmAARs
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡjWBSrFTMun
“You are surrounded by an ending and a beginning.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ7huFCjpxjd
What you lost will not return99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡUGaK334Uu7
until you reach the place you were created for.”
Tafar stepped forward hesitantly.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsOOuv0PoG9
“Read me as well.”
He offered his hand.
Oshan held it only for a brief moment99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡV9McgLmWzM
then released it abruptly.
Tafar staggered back two steps.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ32VMmOeOLR
His face was pale.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8A0CiDLY79
His hand trembled.
Siham asked in fear,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlmFYOXgqCw
“What did you see?”
He did not answer.
But Aram understood.
Oshan had seen Tafar’s death99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡz7chjtGHBX
drawing near.
The strange man sat among them, ate from their provisions without fear,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpNmwS9YbyN
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.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpEwxHLfcVE
• A long glass prism, shimmering with colors that appeared only when touched by wind.
Oshan said,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNVsyOo7rQ2
“Without these… you will not return.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFf4PnLwn8d
And I… will be waiting for you.”
He released a soft whistle.
The three hyenas stepped forward,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡvAMeVnjkfU
and together they walked into the darkness,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡQKoZVpp0TH
until his voice faded,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBm7tyVfoE1
then even his footprints vanished99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ31krFflsxN
as if the earth itself had never been touched.
The men remained in long silence,99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡAMNeF61w06
each weighing what he had seen and heard.
But the quietest among them was Tafar
Because he alone now knew99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8XTpMwc4Ev
that his journey99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrheUO6igHJ
would end99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡkiD0Vzsvkk
before the caravan ever reached Saba.
The complete version of ARAM – HEIR OF SABA is now available on Amazon.99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡadA6NvacdL
If you want to support the story, check it out there.
99Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ0AOxSZfPeY
and then Add to home screen.