Prolouge

The prologue

The sun was high in the sky as the small troop of wagons crossed over the merciless desert. The men and women didn’t speak to each other, and no children were playing in the brush on either side of the caravan. The only sounds were the creaking of wagons and the occasional cry of a baby.

In the last wagon in line was an old woman. She sat on a wooden box, behind a ruby red curtain, among other small possessions taken by the people on their long journey.  She was tall but her hunched back made her seem much shorter. Her black knee length robe labeled her a rebel, an outcast. She fiddled with something in her snarled hands, and almost dropped it when the wagon hit a particularly large bump. She slipped the object into her robe pocket and laid her hand over it protectively. She looked up. Her eyes were milky white with small pale blue orbs as the pupils. She was blind. “Stop” She said suddenly. A group of people wearing robes the same color as the curtain came into her space. “Stop” She repeated.

“Stop here? We’re in the middle of the desert, can’t you feel the heat?” The man in front asked incredulously. The woman looked sharply at him; her milky eyes meeting his brown eyes squarely.  She stood up; towering over her company. She breathed in heavily.

“Yes, here.” She pulled her way to the opening in the back of the wagon. She turned her face up to the beating sun. “I can feel it.” The man looked back at the men and women clustered behind him, then back at the woman and sighed in defeat. He nodded his head. At his signal the people stopped the wagon and went to go tell the rest of their company that they had found the spot.

The man walked up behind the old woman. “Aaqila, you have stopped us in the middle of a desert; how are we to get food, how are we to get water. We cannot live out here. You have doomed us.” Aaqila didn’t reply. The man continued, “These men put their trust in you. They gambled the life of their families, and for what, the word of an outcast!” He spat the last word at her feet, and waited for her response. It was slow in coming.

“These men,” She said gesturing with one wild hand. “They know what they gave up. They could have gone with the other groups to any other place on this island. They all have their own reasons for following me. Do you doubt their decision Tanveer?” Tanveer looked out over the sand dunes.

“No I don’t.” He sighed. “But where are we to get water Aaqila? Where are we to get meat? I do not doubt your decision, but I doubt this desert.” He looked up just in time to see a desert hawk circle over head for several moments and fly away. He watched for several more moments before he turned to the old woman. She was also watching the hawk.

Finally she turned to him. “There is life here you just have to look for it. These people, our people, they will have to adapt. So will everyone in this new land. As for water…” She smiled. “We have enough in our stores for about a week. How long do you think it will take to dig a well?” Tanveer smiled.

“We got lucky, this is a good group; we will survive here.” He looked out over the group of several hundred. They all looked similar, dark hair and skin, mid height and strong, and although he couldn’t see it from such a distance he knew that they most of them had dark brown eyes. “We will receive word from the other two groups within the next two weeks if they survived.” He informed Aaqila. Tanveer jumped gracefully out of the wagon. He turned to help his companion just in time to see her leap from the opening. She landed delicately next to him and held out her arm so he could guide her. He took her arm and pulled her towards the commotion ahead. Despite her leap from the wagon she was slow and unsteady on her feet. Her body felt frail.

“We must find Rajam.” Aaqila stated quietly. “I have to tell him my plans.” Tanveer scanned over the crowd until he saw Rajam sitting at a hastily constructed bench and worktable with three other people. It looked as though they were arguing. Tanveer apprehensively guided Aaqila towards the small meeting.

“What’s going on here?” Tanveer asked when they reached Rajam’s group. “You should be working not arguing, we need to have a camp setup before nightfall.” Rajam replied,

“These three think we should keep moving and try to reach the other shore.” He looked reprovingly at the three women. “I tried to tell them that I didn’t make this decision!” One of the women interrupted. 

“We are sorry Aaqila.” She said bringing her right fist to rest on her sternum in a sign of respect. “But we are only five days from the shore where there is food and water. My company and I believe we would be better off if we could settle there.” Aaqila held up her hand and the woman became silent.

“I have brought you here for a reason. I’m not yet sure yet what it is. I feel this place will bring us prosperity. As I told Tanveer, we will need to adapt, but I am confident in our abilities so survive.” She stopped and looked at her audience. “I will not stay here if everyone is so against it, all I ask is for a chance, I ask for two weeks and if we do not settle in that time we will move on to the sea.” The women considered Aaqila for a moment.

“We agree to give you two weeks. If we do not prosper we will move on.” Aaqila nodded. With the dispute decided, Aaqila asked Tanveer to lead her to her camp. As they left the group Tanveer glanced back to see the women looking at Aaqila’s black robe with disgust and knew what they thought about being led by an outcast. He stretched his neck to whisper in Aaqila’s ear.

“I hope you are right about this desert, you have made powerful enemies.” He paused, “What did you feel that made you want to stop in this area?” His companion didn’t respond for several minutes. When she did her response surprised him. She pulled the item she had been holding in the wagon from her pocket. It was a necklace.

“This necklace was given to me by the Shaman of the great island Yumu when I was but a child. It was before I was exiled. He said he could sense a great shift in me, that I would make a decision that would change or destroy lives. He gave me this necklace and said it would help when the time came. I believe the time has come.” She gently handed the small piece of ivory to Tanveer. He looked closely and gasped in amazement. The small piece if ivory was actually a large tooth from one of the great wolves that lived on the main land. That alone made it special. The wolves were extremely vicious and difficult to kill, but that wasn’t all, the tooth was hallowed out so it resembled something like a ring, and covering the entire surface were tiny inscriptions and illustrations. The inscriptions on the inside of the rig were inlayed with gold. Tanveer shook his head in amazement.

“I have never seen anything like this. Even our best craftsmen and carvers could not match the amount of skill shown in this tooth.” He examined the tooth for several more minutes. “What do the carvings mean?” He reluctantly handed the necklace back to Aaqila.

“I was told they tell of a great coming; a shift that will change the world. A great visionary, who foresaw other events in our history, carved it. It says that the one who will bring the change will be born in a place of desolation. Our other groups on this island have gone into the jungle and to the shore, which left our group to go into the desert. The one who will bring the change will be born here from our future generations.”

Tanveer was silent, until finally he sighed. “I don’t know what to say. What you are telling me is amazing; I am not sure if I even believe it yet.” He paused “And yet something about it makes sense. I need some time to think about this. We should check to see how setting up camp is going.” A smile came to his lips. “Gods only know what could be going wrong out there with out you.”  A slow smile came to the matron’s lips.

“I will give you time, but I hope that with that time you will come to trust me. In the meantime let’s check up on camp.

 

Tanveer bid farewell to Aaqila with the excuse that he was going to oversee the well construction. Aaqila went to see how the families were doing; a friendly boy guiding her. Some families welcomed her into their tents confiding with her their thoughts and fears. Aaqila did her best to comfort them all, but more often than not she passed by people and tents feeling their glares and hearing their whispers. Aaqila sighed to herself. These people would understand someday. A runner ran up to Aaqila. “Excuse me” He said placing his fist on his sternum. “Your tent is set up and ready for you.”

“Thank you.” She smiled. “What is your name?”

“Ol” he said. He was the same dark color as the rest of his company, but surprisingly he had bright green eyes that could have only come from having mainland blood. Aaqila thought for a moment. Then very suddenly she took the necklace from her pocket.

“Ol,” She rolled the name around in her ancient mouth as if tasting it. “I’m going to give you a gift, and I want you to take it and keep it safe.” She held the necklace out by the leather cord and waited for the young boy to take it. She waited a long time until she felt a small tug on the cord; she let go and heard a quiet gasp. She smiled and thought, “I have chosen well.”