长篇大坑（不过没有医院长），保证填完（不保证何时填完）。
Part I. The Valley
It was a few hours before dawn when I was awaken by a light knock on my skin. I turned two of my eyes on, one above the doorframe and the other inside my belly.
“Hello. I am very sorry for waking you up.” A voice said politely. The light from the door eye fell upon a man. He was wrapped in a dirty caftan and his face hidden in a large hood over his head. His gait and voice indicated youth. “Are you the world-renowned caravamel Shishmehade?”
“I am.” I turned on one of my throats that faced outward and said, smiling to myself at his flattery. World-renowned? It was not difficult to be famous if there were only a dozen of your kind in the world, and I knew I was one of the three best among the dozen. “Are you looking for a ride?”
“Yes, if you please. My name is Ahbood. I am originally from the town of Pumjasi. I have traveled a thousand miles and have another thousand miles to go.” He bowed slightly. “I am going to the unimaginably grand city of Bashmeka. No one can pass the Koba-adeesh Valley without a caravamel, and I have been told that you are the best. I am hoping you could bestow me the honor to pay for your companionship.”
I chuckled. “You sure have a silver tongue, my dear, and lucky. I just came back from taking two merchants to Paladja three days ago and almost fully rested. The journey to Bashmeka would be long and hard, but it is a commission I can take on at the moment. Do come in and make yourself comfortable.” I opened the vertical lips of the mouth-door in this side of my belly and let him in. A breeze entered my internal cavity along with the young man. I shuddered and hurried to close the mouth and resealed it with the thick, leathery skin. He lost footing for a second, but steadied himself with a hand on the inner wall of my guest chamber.
“The desert wind can be chilly at night.” I said. “Pardon the turbulence.”
“You’re too kind.” He took off his shoes and the caftan, then stepped into the warmth inside my abdomen. He was even younger than I had guess, with short black hair and large dark eyes. His deeply tanned face showed weariness from long travel and hardship. The skin on his bare feet was soft for a traveler despite a few new calluses, I noticed. He was obvious not used to the fleshy floor of a Caravamel, his toes tensing up and grabbing the surface upon the rolling tide of my breath. Passengers of a caravamel usually needed a little time to get used to the subtle but constant motion.
“Is this your first ride in a caravamel?” I asked.
“Second.” He slightly bowed his head under the ceiling; he was quite tall. “But the first time the caravamel was very small. My friend and I spent the entire trip lying on our backs because there wasn’t room to sit up. The caravamel’s chamber was a quarter the size of yours and the ceiling was very low. Good thing the journey was only 3 days long.” He sat down on the floor, folding his legs and feet and leaning against an internal wall. “It’s amazing. I can almost stand up inside you.”
“I’m hardly the largest Caravamel there is. A friend of mine is twice as tall and ten times as long as I. But I am one of the most comfortable rides you can find in this desert, exclusively for single or double passengers on long-distance trips. I do breathe heavily sometimes --- getting old as we all do --- but you will not have any problem on the trip.” I assured him.
He looked around my interior with awe. I had switched the main light on when he came in. The soft white glow from my internal lighting could calm the most anxious traveler. The continuous wall of the tubular chamber was a thin and smooth membrane, a different material from the rough, hardened epithelium on the outside of my body. As particles and fluids passed in the veins and arteries behind the membrane and the dermis, vague shadows flickered in the light, like a web whose strands submerged and appeared alternately. The internal walls, cool to the touch, was seamless, but an opening of any size could appear anywhere I wanted in the wall to transport people and items in and out of the passenger’s cave.
The wind howled and tore up the night. I shut off my external eye and sealed all the cracks in my thick outer skin, so that my exterior returned to the shape of a tightly wrapped long tube lying flatly on the sandy ground.
“It’s late. You must have gone a long way to get here. Feel free to lie down anywhere by the wall. Is it warm enough in here?” I said.
“Perfect.” He crawled to the back corner of my abdomen and gingerly slid down into a half-sitting, half-lying position and placed his against the wall. I folded out a pillow-shaped piece flesh for his head to rest on. He let out a sigh of happiness. “Thank you.” He wrapped himself in his caftan and drifted into a light snore before I could reply, “You’re welcome.”
[原创]The Passenger (cont.)
[原创]The Passenger (cont.)
Last edited by Jun on 2006-10-24 6:40, edited 1 time in total.
10/24
A few hours later, the blue dawn broke. The wind died down in the laborious rise of the temperature. The endless desert valley glowed in the first ray of the cold, pale sun, waking up the biomechanical sensors inside my closed eyes. I yawned and stretched lengthwise muscle by muscle into a thin tube to twice my normal width. Winter mornings always filled me with lightness and peace. Then I expanded all the rings of my ribs, made of cartilage, so that my diameter grew by half and I shortened lengthwise. The ribs were the only semi-hard organ in my body, holding up a frame for the skin and flesh and the rest of the soft-tissue machinery, but they were still flexible and durable, allowing me to bend and twist without fracture. I began crawling toward the well a kilometer or so to the south.
“Good morning.” Ahbood, the young traveler from the passenger chamber in my belly, greeted me with a groggy voice. I had not noticed him waking up from the slight commotion and the light that came through my semi-transparent abdominal wall. “Are we already on our way?”
“Not yet, my young passenger.” I stretched a patch of skin on the side so that the creamy white wall became thin and nearly transparent
A few hours later, the blue dawn broke. The wind died down in the laborious rise of the temperature. The endless desert valley glowed in the first ray of the cold, pale sun, waking up the biomechanical sensors inside my closed eyes. I yawned and stretched lengthwise muscle by muscle into a thin tube to twice my normal width. Winter mornings always filled me with lightness and peace. Then I expanded all the rings of my ribs, made of cartilage, so that my diameter grew by half and I shortened lengthwise. The ribs were the only semi-hard organ in my body, holding up a frame for the skin and flesh and the rest of the soft-tissue machinery, but they were still flexible and durable, allowing me to bend and twist without fracture. I began crawling toward the well a kilometer or so to the south.
“Good morning.” Ahbood, the young traveler from the passenger chamber in my belly, greeted me with a groggy voice. I had not noticed him waking up from the slight commotion and the light that came through my semi-transparent abdominal wall. “Are we already on our way?”
“Not yet, my young passenger.” I stretched a patch of skin on the side so that the creamy white wall became thin and nearly transparent
-
helenClaire
- Posts: 3159
- Joined: 2003-11-22 20:12
Anyhow, I like it! Please go on. 
10/25
Cluster 1: The Origin of Ahbood and His Kidnapping by Wizard Fayedi
I was born 17 years ago in Hamjasi. My father was a sugar merchant and had a store full of dream-inducing candies. My mother was a famous beauty in the whole town and. My parents desperately wanted a child, but for many years they were barren. One day my father was passing through a bridge and began weeping. A stranger in a black shawl, a small, thin man with a pale face stopped and asked him why he was sad. When my father told him of his unfulfilled desire to have a son, the stranger assured him that this could be arranged immediately. Ecstatic with joy, my father offered the stranger gold and diamond as his gratitude, but the stranger declined his offer of gifts. Instead he said, ‘When your son is 13 years old, he will be mine.’ My father was so desperate for a son that he agreed to the man’s conditions. And 9 months later I was born.
I grew up showered in my parents’ love and indulgences. Several teachers were hired to educate me, but I spent most of the time running wild in the streets and the woods outside of the town. Of all the people who spoiled me, the person who loved me the most was my nurse. She was pregnant almost the same time as my mother did and had a daughter, Aikhula. She was the prettiest girl in the land. As we were growing up, we shared every piece of candy and toy; we fought and made up; I pulled her hair and she kicked my shin; I kissed her delicious cheeks and she smacked me in the head. We always knew that we belong together all our lives.
My parents never told me about the tragic bargain with the man in a black shawl. Two days before my 13th birthday, they lied to me, saying that the town was going to be ravaged by plague, and locked me in the attic with fruits, bread, cold meat, and water, enough for survival of a whole year. My father warned me not to make a sound. ‘It is a matter of life and death, my son. If you do not remain absolutely silent, it would mean the death of me and your mother.’ I was terrified, but I nodded and sat in my prison, barely able to breathe. So I remained in my shelter for 2 full days, mostly lying on a cot. It was better during the day because the walls had small cracks that let in light and allowed me to peek outside, but the nights were lonely and full of nightmares.
Just when the clock struck midnight on my birthday, a storm descended upon us. Howling wind tore open the bolted front gate of our house. Blood-red lightening brightened the night sky. Out of the pouring rain, a humongous black moth emerged from the horizon and shot into the house. I was lying face down on the floor, prying the wood floor with my nails, trying to widen a crack in it so that I could see what was happening in the main hall.
The moth flapped his giant, leathery wings and smashed the chandeliers into a million tiny stars. The moth morphed into a man
Cluster 1: The Origin of Ahbood and His Kidnapping by Wizard Fayedi
I was born 17 years ago in Hamjasi. My father was a sugar merchant and had a store full of dream-inducing candies. My mother was a famous beauty in the whole town and. My parents desperately wanted a child, but for many years they were barren. One day my father was passing through a bridge and began weeping. A stranger in a black shawl, a small, thin man with a pale face stopped and asked him why he was sad. When my father told him of his unfulfilled desire to have a son, the stranger assured him that this could be arranged immediately. Ecstatic with joy, my father offered the stranger gold and diamond as his gratitude, but the stranger declined his offer of gifts. Instead he said, ‘When your son is 13 years old, he will be mine.’ My father was so desperate for a son that he agreed to the man’s conditions. And 9 months later I was born.
I grew up showered in my parents’ love and indulgences. Several teachers were hired to educate me, but I spent most of the time running wild in the streets and the woods outside of the town. Of all the people who spoiled me, the person who loved me the most was my nurse. She was pregnant almost the same time as my mother did and had a daughter, Aikhula. She was the prettiest girl in the land. As we were growing up, we shared every piece of candy and toy; we fought and made up; I pulled her hair and she kicked my shin; I kissed her delicious cheeks and she smacked me in the head. We always knew that we belong together all our lives.
My parents never told me about the tragic bargain with the man in a black shawl. Two days before my 13th birthday, they lied to me, saying that the town was going to be ravaged by plague, and locked me in the attic with fruits, bread, cold meat, and water, enough for survival of a whole year. My father warned me not to make a sound. ‘It is a matter of life and death, my son. If you do not remain absolutely silent, it would mean the death of me and your mother.’ I was terrified, but I nodded and sat in my prison, barely able to breathe. So I remained in my shelter for 2 full days, mostly lying on a cot. It was better during the day because the walls had small cracks that let in light and allowed me to peek outside, but the nights were lonely and full of nightmares.
Just when the clock struck midnight on my birthday, a storm descended upon us. Howling wind tore open the bolted front gate of our house. Blood-red lightening brightened the night sky. Out of the pouring rain, a humongous black moth emerged from the horizon and shot into the house. I was lying face down on the floor, prying the wood floor with my nails, trying to widen a crack in it so that I could see what was happening in the main hall.
The moth flapped his giant, leathery wings and smashed the chandeliers into a million tiny stars. The moth morphed into a man
Cluster 1: The Origin of Ahbood and His Kidnapping by Wizard Fayedi
I was born 17 years ago in Hamjasi. My father was a sugar merchant and had a store full of dream-inducing candies. My mother was a famous beauty in the whole town and. My parents desperately wanted a child, but for many years they were barren. One day my father was passing through a bridge and began weeping. A stranger in a black shawl, a small, thin man with a pale face stopped and asked him why he was sad. When my father told him of his unfulfilled desire to have a son, the stranger assured him that this could be arranged immediately. Ecstatic with joy, my father offered the stranger gold and diamond as his gratitude, but the stranger declined his offer of gifts. Instead he said, ‘When your son is 13 years old, he will be mine.’ My father was so desperate for a son that he agreed to the man’s conditions. And 9 months later I was born.
I grew up showered in my parents’ love and indulgences. Several teachers were hired to educate me, but I spent most of the time running wild in the streets and the woods outside of the town. Of all the people who spoiled me, the person who loved me the most was my nurse. She was pregnant almost the same time as my mother did and had a daughter, Aikhula. She was the prettiest girl in the land. As we were growing up, we shared every piece of candy and toy; we fought and made up; I pulled her hair and she kicked my shin; I kissed her delicious cheeks and she smacked me in the head. We always knew that we belong together all our lives.
My parents never told me about the tragic bargain with the man in a black shawl. Two days before my 13th birthday, they lied to me, saying that the town was going to be ravaged by plague, and locked me in the attic with fruits, bread, cold meat, and water, enough for survival of a whole year. My father warned me not to make a sound. ‘It is a matter of life and death, my son. If you do not remain absolutely silent, it would mean the death of me and your mother.’ I was terrified, but I nodded and sat in my prison, barely able to breathe. So I remained in my shelter for 2 full days, mostly lying on a cot. It was better during the day because the walls had small cracks that let in light and allowed me to peek outside, but the nights were lonely and full of nightmares.
Just when the clock struck midnight on my birthday, a storm descended upon us. Howling wind tore open the bolted front gate of our house. Blood-red lightening brightened the night sky. Out of the pouring rain, a humongous black moth emerged from the horizon and shot into the house. I was lying face down on the floor, prying the wood floor with my nails, trying to widen a crack in it so that I could see what was happening in the main hall.
The moth flapped his giant, leathery wings and smashed the chandeliers into a million tiny stars. The moth morphed into a man
I was born 17 years ago in Hamjasi. My father was a sugar merchant and had a store full of dream-inducing candies. My mother was a famous beauty in the whole town and. My parents desperately wanted a child, but for many years they were barren. One day my father was passing through a bridge and began weeping. A stranger in a black shawl, a small, thin man with a pale face stopped and asked him why he was sad. When my father told him of his unfulfilled desire to have a son, the stranger assured him that this could be arranged immediately. Ecstatic with joy, my father offered the stranger gold and diamond as his gratitude, but the stranger declined his offer of gifts. Instead he said, ‘When your son is 13 years old, he will be mine.’ My father was so desperate for a son that he agreed to the man’s conditions. And 9 months later I was born.
I grew up showered in my parents’ love and indulgences. Several teachers were hired to educate me, but I spent most of the time running wild in the streets and the woods outside of the town. Of all the people who spoiled me, the person who loved me the most was my nurse. She was pregnant almost the same time as my mother did and had a daughter, Aikhula. She was the prettiest girl in the land. As we were growing up, we shared every piece of candy and toy; we fought and made up; I pulled her hair and she kicked my shin; I kissed her delicious cheeks and she smacked me in the head. We always knew that we belong together all our lives.
My parents never told me about the tragic bargain with the man in a black shawl. Two days before my 13th birthday, they lied to me, saying that the town was going to be ravaged by plague, and locked me in the attic with fruits, bread, cold meat, and water, enough for survival of a whole year. My father warned me not to make a sound. ‘It is a matter of life and death, my son. If you do not remain absolutely silent, it would mean the death of me and your mother.’ I was terrified, but I nodded and sat in my prison, barely able to breathe. So I remained in my shelter for 2 full days, mostly lying on a cot. It was better during the day because the walls had small cracks that let in light and allowed me to peek outside, but the nights were lonely and full of nightmares.
Just when the clock struck midnight on my birthday, a storm descended upon us. Howling wind tore open the bolted front gate of our house. Blood-red lightening brightened the night sky. Out of the pouring rain, a humongous black moth emerged from the horizon and shot into the house. I was lying face down on the floor, prying the wood floor with my nails, trying to widen a crack in it so that I could see what was happening in the main hall.
The moth flapped his giant, leathery wings and smashed the chandeliers into a million tiny stars. The moth morphed into a man
10/31
When Ahbood got to this part of his story, it was almost high noon and an intense purple light from the sun beat down on me. My skin had been busy generating new layers of epidermis to increase my protection. I figured by the next morning my outer skin would be thick and tough enough to not feel anything at all. The first day was always the hardest, unless the supplies ran out too soon (but I had taken every precaution). I left the invisible path that no one but Caravamels could sense, which was why only we could carry people and cargo across the Gobi valley. Within half an hour, I found a patch of shadow at the foot of a rectangular hill and stopped.
“It is the hottest time of the day.” I said to Ahbood. “Let’s take a rest and resume when the sun shifts a little in the sky. I’ll take a nap. Why don’t you do the same?” He hesitated for a moment, then asked shyly, “May I get out for a bathroom stop?”
“Of course,” I was amused by his awkwardness. “But be careful not to stay outside too long. More than 15 minutes in the sun at this time of the day, the desert will suck out more than 10% of your body fluid. Before you feel thirsty, you’re dead. Remember to water-up after you return inside.”
He did as I said. Then we both took a nap in the shadow of the rocks, away from the scorching sun, before I set off again in the slightly diminished heat.
Millions of stars showered intensely bright light down on us during the first few hours after sunset. The rolling dunes glowed under the starlight, stretched into a disappearing horizon all around us. I opened one of my mouths on the top of my head and another mouth on the side to let in the dry, cool breeze. It was the best time of the day. My rolling movement forward became lighter and faster. I gazed up into the sky and sighed, “How beautiful! I have seen the desert starry sky a thousand times, but have never got tired of it.”
Ahbood nodded in agreement, “I am a stranger to the desert. Most of my life has been spent in the green mountains and bustling cities. I have only seen the desert since I reached this region a month ago. And I have never spent a night in the Valley until now. It is so bright!”
“It is bright now, but in a few hours the whole desert will fall into an absolute darkness. Look closely, and you will see the stars moving slowing toward the horizon, until they all sink into the edge of the world. When the last star to the west falls, we will rest and sleep.” I said. “But we still have a few hours to go, so tell me, were you really abducted by the man who was a black moth?”
“Yes. Later he told me his name
When Ahbood got to this part of his story, it was almost high noon and an intense purple light from the sun beat down on me. My skin had been busy generating new layers of epidermis to increase my protection. I figured by the next morning my outer skin would be thick and tough enough to not feel anything at all. The first day was always the hardest, unless the supplies ran out too soon (but I had taken every precaution). I left the invisible path that no one but Caravamels could sense, which was why only we could carry people and cargo across the Gobi valley. Within half an hour, I found a patch of shadow at the foot of a rectangular hill and stopped.
“It is the hottest time of the day.” I said to Ahbood. “Let’s take a rest and resume when the sun shifts a little in the sky. I’ll take a nap. Why don’t you do the same?” He hesitated for a moment, then asked shyly, “May I get out for a bathroom stop?”
“Of course,” I was amused by his awkwardness. “But be careful not to stay outside too long. More than 15 minutes in the sun at this time of the day, the desert will suck out more than 10% of your body fluid. Before you feel thirsty, you’re dead. Remember to water-up after you return inside.”
He did as I said. Then we both took a nap in the shadow of the rocks, away from the scorching sun, before I set off again in the slightly diminished heat.
Millions of stars showered intensely bright light down on us during the first few hours after sunset. The rolling dunes glowed under the starlight, stretched into a disappearing horizon all around us. I opened one of my mouths on the top of my head and another mouth on the side to let in the dry, cool breeze. It was the best time of the day. My rolling movement forward became lighter and faster. I gazed up into the sky and sighed, “How beautiful! I have seen the desert starry sky a thousand times, but have never got tired of it.”
Ahbood nodded in agreement, “I am a stranger to the desert. Most of my life has been spent in the green mountains and bustling cities. I have only seen the desert since I reached this region a month ago. And I have never spent a night in the Valley until now. It is so bright!”
“It is bright now, but in a few hours the whole desert will fall into an absolute darkness. Look closely, and you will see the stars moving slowing toward the horizon, until they all sink into the edge of the world. When the last star to the west falls, we will rest and sleep.” I said. “But we still have a few hours to go, so tell me, were you really abducted by the man who was a black moth?”
“Yes. Later he told me his name
11/2
I would never forget the night he took me. Fayedi said to my father, ‘Say goodbye to you son, for you will never see him again.’ My father said nothing with his eyes fixed on me, as if frozen. My mother screamed and embraced me, but she let me go as soon as the wizard demanded, ‘Enough. It’s time to go, my pupil.’
I had only a vague understanding of what was happening and was frightened witless. I ran to my father and held onto his arm and begged him not to let me go, but he turned away his face and uttered, ‘I’m sorry, son. A promise is a promise.’
Fayedi placed a hand on my shoulder. Suddenly a force tore me away from my father and lifted me up. In a thunderclap, a lightening blasted a large hole in the ceiling. Rain and wind, along with debris, showered everyone. I felt myself rising, my shoulder pulled by a strong hand. In a panic, I waved my arms and legs in the air. The wizard and I quickly flew out from the hole in the ceiling and floating mid-air. The lightening and thunders had stopped, but the rain continued to pour. Strangely, the night was bright even without the moon and stars, as if each raindrop glowed like a firefly. I looked down and saw the hole in the ceiling of the house in which I grew up and were to never see again, and the white, frightened faces turned up toward me, and my own feet dangling in the air. Suddenly, a small figure ran out of the front door and waved at me.
‘Ahbood!’ Aikhula yelled. ‘Come back, Ahboob!’
Only then did I start to cry. I choked on my tears and screamed meaningless words to her.
‘I will come for you, Ahbood. I will find you no matter where you are.’ She screamed.
I struggled in the wizard’s grip, which seemed to surprise him. Suddenly I fell out of his clutch and straight down like a stone. The free fall felt like someone punched in my chest, and the ground was swelling fast and enormously underneath me. Facing certain death, I lost all my senses. When I woke up, I was back in Fayedi’s grip as we soared in the rain toward the western sky and the wind howling in my ear. I was surrounded by nothing but heavy darkness. I dared not looking down, which made me almost throw up, and kept my eyes tightly closed. My heart was beating so fast that I thought I was drowning.
Somehow, the rain had stopped to glow and we flew in absolute darkness for god knows how long. I could see nothing but my dangling legs and felt only the cold wind and water beating against my face. Suddenly, we slowed down and descended until my feet touched the solid ground. He let go of me. My legs gave way in total disorientation. Only then did I realize that my extremities were frozen stiff in the night flight.
Feeling the earth underneath my knees and palms, I lifted my head and saw a black, giant column in front of me. High above the ground, a few thick arms extended from the column. It was a tree of indeterminate height for my sight could not reach its tip, but its branches were few and far between. Surrounding us were impenetrable walls of dark, erect figures and blankets.
The wizard pulled me up by the arm and said, ‘Welcome to your new home.’
I stumbled away from his grip, still a little wobbly. ‘Please,’ I pleaded. ‘Let me go home
I would never forget the night he took me. Fayedi said to my father, ‘Say goodbye to you son, for you will never see him again.’ My father said nothing with his eyes fixed on me, as if frozen. My mother screamed and embraced me, but she let me go as soon as the wizard demanded, ‘Enough. It’s time to go, my pupil.’
I had only a vague understanding of what was happening and was frightened witless. I ran to my father and held onto his arm and begged him not to let me go, but he turned away his face and uttered, ‘I’m sorry, son. A promise is a promise.’
Fayedi placed a hand on my shoulder. Suddenly a force tore me away from my father and lifted me up. In a thunderclap, a lightening blasted a large hole in the ceiling. Rain and wind, along with debris, showered everyone. I felt myself rising, my shoulder pulled by a strong hand. In a panic, I waved my arms and legs in the air. The wizard and I quickly flew out from the hole in the ceiling and floating mid-air. The lightening and thunders had stopped, but the rain continued to pour. Strangely, the night was bright even without the moon and stars, as if each raindrop glowed like a firefly. I looked down and saw the hole in the ceiling of the house in which I grew up and were to never see again, and the white, frightened faces turned up toward me, and my own feet dangling in the air. Suddenly, a small figure ran out of the front door and waved at me.
‘Ahbood!’ Aikhula yelled. ‘Come back, Ahboob!’
Only then did I start to cry. I choked on my tears and screamed meaningless words to her.
‘I will come for you, Ahbood. I will find you no matter where you are.’ She screamed.
I struggled in the wizard’s grip, which seemed to surprise him. Suddenly I fell out of his clutch and straight down like a stone. The free fall felt like someone punched in my chest, and the ground was swelling fast and enormously underneath me. Facing certain death, I lost all my senses. When I woke up, I was back in Fayedi’s grip as we soared in the rain toward the western sky and the wind howling in my ear. I was surrounded by nothing but heavy darkness. I dared not looking down, which made me almost throw up, and kept my eyes tightly closed. My heart was beating so fast that I thought I was drowning.
Somehow, the rain had stopped to glow and we flew in absolute darkness for god knows how long. I could see nothing but my dangling legs and felt only the cold wind and water beating against my face. Suddenly, we slowed down and descended until my feet touched the solid ground. He let go of me. My legs gave way in total disorientation. Only then did I realize that my extremities were frozen stiff in the night flight.
Feeling the earth underneath my knees and palms, I lifted my head and saw a black, giant column in front of me. High above the ground, a few thick arms extended from the column. It was a tree of indeterminate height for my sight could not reach its tip, but its branches were few and far between. Surrounding us were impenetrable walls of dark, erect figures and blankets.
The wizard pulled me up by the arm and said, ‘Welcome to your new home.’
I stumbled away from his grip, still a little wobbly. ‘Please,’ I pleaded. ‘Let me go home
[I plow. I plow. I am waiting for Knowing to do the same!]
11/6
I made few more miles before the second half of the night descended upon the desert. All the stars had sunk beneath the horizon. A muffled blackness thickened around me. It was impossible to see anything. I could have turned on my internal navigational organ to find the right direction, but the organ consumes much energy, and I was growing weary. I moved a few feet away from the road and swept a shallow nook behind a sand dune with my broad tail. The surface had been thoroughly chilled in the night’s breeze. I snuggled in the nook and slept.
The journey in the next few days were monotonous and extremely hot. The amount of water Ahbood and I drank was not large, but I lost a vast amount to evaporation just to keep my interior cool enough for my human passengers to survive. The heat did not bother me much because my organs operate in a large temperature range. Without water a human would lose consciousness in minutes as the desert sucks the water out of his skin, and he would die within an hour. My skin was a shell that almost let no water molecule through. A caravamel by herself could go for almost a month without water supplement, but my cargo could not. Ahbood lied on the floor all day trying to limit the speed sweat was pouring out of his skin. He was so quiet sometimes that I thought he was asleep.
“It’s only a state of self-induced hibernation where I try to lower my body temperature.” He explained. “This morning I saw your water storage down to the last chamber. Are we going to be all right?”
“Don’t worry, my child.” I assured him. “It has been particularly hot in the past few days, and my arthritic ribs are slowing me down, but relief is near. Tomorrow before sunset, we should be able to reach an oasis where we can rest and replenish our supplies.”
“An oasis?” His eyes brightened. “I had no idea they existed in this deadly world.”
“Oh, yes, they do, otherwise even us Caravamels could not make it through the inferno.”
Just then a cloud appeared on the horizon. Odd, I thought, for the rest of the sky was a hard glass of blaring sunlight. The desert could not squeeze a drop of water out of the brittle pebbles and sand, not to mention a growing puff of droplets hanging idly in the sky. Soon the mystery was solved. The rapidly approaching cloud became a herd of black birds swarming toward us, a low frequency hum that was inaudible to the human ear threatened my ear drum. Ahbood felt the turbulence in my strides and asked, “What is it?”
“The Reshat Raiders.” I tried to keep my voice steady. “They don’t usually attack passenger vessels. And they usually stay at the edges of the desert; I have never seen them so deep in the valley. I don’t know why we are running into such a large troop here.” I tried to hide the confusion in my voice, but he was too sharp for me.
“Are we in danger?” He sat up in alarm.
“Maybe.” I said. The last time I skirted Reshat Raiders was two years ago. They took all my food, but left me with some water, which allowed me to make it out of the desert and into the city. I was lucky that I had no passenger in me at the time. It looked a little dire now. The Reshat Raiders came and went in large hordes and could be vicious sometimes, depending on how long them had been going without food and water. When they were desperate, few creatures of the desert would not fear their shadows they cast. The nearest oasis was only one day away, and I could probably still make it on my own, but Ahbood would not be able to survive in this weather if I lose the ability to cool the passenger chamber inside me.
11/6
I made few more miles before the second half of the night descended upon the desert. All the stars had sunk beneath the horizon. A muffled blackness thickened around me. It was impossible to see anything. I could have turned on my internal navigational organ to find the right direction, but the organ consumes much energy, and I was growing weary. I moved a few feet away from the road and swept a shallow nook behind a sand dune with my broad tail. The surface had been thoroughly chilled in the night’s breeze. I snuggled in the nook and slept.
The journey in the next few days were monotonous and extremely hot. The amount of water Ahbood and I drank was not large, but I lost a vast amount to evaporation just to keep my interior cool enough for my human passengers to survive. The heat did not bother me much because my organs operate in a large temperature range. Without water a human would lose consciousness in minutes as the desert sucks the water out of his skin, and he would die within an hour. My skin was a shell that almost let no water molecule through. A caravamel by herself could go for almost a month without water supplement, but my cargo could not. Ahbood lied on the floor all day trying to limit the speed sweat was pouring out of his skin. He was so quiet sometimes that I thought he was asleep.
“It’s only a state of self-induced hibernation where I try to lower my body temperature.” He explained. “This morning I saw your water storage down to the last chamber. Are we going to be all right?”
“Don’t worry, my child.” I assured him. “It has been particularly hot in the past few days, and my arthritic ribs are slowing me down, but relief is near. Tomorrow before sunset, we should be able to reach an oasis where we can rest and replenish our supplies.”
“An oasis?” His eyes brightened. “I had no idea they existed in this deadly world.”
“Oh, yes, they do, otherwise even us Caravamels could not make it through the inferno.”
Just then a cloud appeared on the horizon. Odd, I thought, for the rest of the sky was a hard glass of blaring sunlight. The desert could not squeeze a drop of water out of the brittle pebbles and sand, not to mention a growing puff of droplets hanging idly in the sky. Soon the mystery was solved. The rapidly approaching cloud became a herd of black birds swarming toward us, a low frequency hum that was inaudible to the human ear threatened my ear drum. Ahbood felt the turbulence in my strides and asked, “What is it?”
“The Reshat Raiders.” I tried to keep my voice steady. “They don’t usually attack passenger vessels. And they usually stay at the edges of the desert; I have never seen them so deep in the valley. I don’t know why we are running into such a large troop here.” I tried to hide the confusion in my voice, but he was too sharp for me.
“Are we in danger?” He sat up in alarm.
“Maybe.” I said. The last time I skirted Reshat Raiders was two years ago. They took all my food, but left me with some water, which allowed me to make it out of the desert and into the city. I was lucky that I had no passenger in me at the time. It looked a little dire now. The Reshat Raiders came and went in large hordes and could be vicious sometimes, depending on how long them had been going without food and water. When they were desperate, few creatures of the desert would not fear their shadows they cast. The nearest oasis was only one day away, and I could probably still make it on my own, but Ahbood would not be able to survive in this weather if I lose the ability to cool the passenger chamber inside me.
11/7
Within seconds the Reshat Raiders descended on me and began prying open my skin. They were dark, rat-sized creatures with a long mouth shaped like a long tube with a needle-like end that could reach into the deepest crack to suck out the last drop of water. They could smell water from miles away and immediately knew where the water chamber was. I twisted and rolled in the sand, trying to get rid of them, but there were too many of them. I could not hide my bewilderment. The more rolled off me, the more landed with a blind persistence. I could feel the long beaks entering my body and sucking up the precious water.
“Why do you rob me?” I yelled out in pain. “The oasis is at most half a day’s fly if you keep west. I am not carrying any cargo that would satisfy your appetite.”
They let out screeching laughter that pierced my ears. “We have already been plenty satisfied by someone else. We have no intention to rob you, but your passenger has a ransom on his head. Do you think we enjoy venturing so far into the desert?"
In the many years of crossing the desert, I had never been severely attacked, despite the many times I had to “negotiate” with a few species that made their living off of the travelers. As harsh as the condition was, the road was relatively calm, for few robbers like the heat either.
“Throw him out of you.” The Reshat Raiders yapped in my ear. “Give him to us.”
“No.” I whipped out all the appendages that had been coiled inside and waved them madly, trying to fend off the deadly flock. It was futile, as I had no natural weapon to defend myself against such small and agile birds in large numbers.
“Let me out!” Ahbood shouted.
“What?” I said breathlessly, “No. There are too many of them. They will suck your blood dry. And even before that you’ll be scorched!”
“I have my weapon.” He pushed on the door in my flank. “Trust me.” He tried to smile.
I had no choice. I opened my door with a whisper, “Be careful.”
A few Raiders left me and turned their attention to him. “Protect your face. Come back in!” I yelled randomly. They would stick their beaks into every orifice of an organism and suck out all the moisture inside in seconds.
Ahbood remained still for a second, oblivious to the attacking Raiders and the burning hot air, as if lost in thoughts. Then, in a move so fast I almost did not see, he ducked from the first few Raiders that were aiming at his eyes and nose. The Raiders missed him. Now more Raiders left me and flew toward him. He straightened with a handful of sand and pebbles in both hands. In a flash he waved and sent the particles flying toward the Raiders.
In a series of popping sound like firecrackers, a dozen or so Raiders were hit and exploded into a pink puff, their life force diffusing into the air. Ahbood continued to duck and shoot at the ones around us. A pink cloud of dead Raiders thickened around us as the black birds thinned. A few Raiders turned around to escape, but Ahbood’s deadly precision caught them all in one flicker of his fingers. They were all dead within 30 seconds. Ahbood turned his heels and rushed to my door, and I in my astonishment fumbled a little before opening wide enough to let him through.
He fell on the floor immediately, breathing heavily and shuddering as if he were cold. Heat shock. I had seen it and treated it many times before. I raised a flap of endothelium with cilia and, using them like fingers, tore open his shawl and shirt. One of the cilia sharpened into a needle and found a vein in his arm, then injected a few drops of anti-heat-shock serum. His shakes quickly subsided. He laid there motionless for a while but began to sweat, which was a good sign. With his eyes closed, he said, “Thank you.”
“Shut up.” I said with annoyance. “You almost got yourself killed.”
“I’d be dead anyway if I hadn’t gone out.”
Within seconds the Reshat Raiders descended on me and began prying open my skin. They were dark, rat-sized creatures with a long mouth shaped like a long tube with a needle-like end that could reach into the deepest crack to suck out the last drop of water. They could smell water from miles away and immediately knew where the water chamber was. I twisted and rolled in the sand, trying to get rid of them, but there were too many of them. I could not hide my bewilderment. The more rolled off me, the more landed with a blind persistence. I could feel the long beaks entering my body and sucking up the precious water.
“Why do you rob me?” I yelled out in pain. “The oasis is at most half a day’s fly if you keep west. I am not carrying any cargo that would satisfy your appetite.”
They let out screeching laughter that pierced my ears. “We have already been plenty satisfied by someone else. We have no intention to rob you, but your passenger has a ransom on his head. Do you think we enjoy venturing so far into the desert?"
In the many years of crossing the desert, I had never been severely attacked, despite the many times I had to “negotiate” with a few species that made their living off of the travelers. As harsh as the condition was, the road was relatively calm, for few robbers like the heat either.
“Throw him out of you.” The Reshat Raiders yapped in my ear. “Give him to us.”
“No.” I whipped out all the appendages that had been coiled inside and waved them madly, trying to fend off the deadly flock. It was futile, as I had no natural weapon to defend myself against such small and agile birds in large numbers.
“Let me out!” Ahbood shouted.
“What?” I said breathlessly, “No. There are too many of them. They will suck your blood dry. And even before that you’ll be scorched!”
“I have my weapon.” He pushed on the door in my flank. “Trust me.” He tried to smile.
I had no choice. I opened my door with a whisper, “Be careful.”
A few Raiders left me and turned their attention to him. “Protect your face. Come back in!” I yelled randomly. They would stick their beaks into every orifice of an organism and suck out all the moisture inside in seconds.
Ahbood remained still for a second, oblivious to the attacking Raiders and the burning hot air, as if lost in thoughts. Then, in a move so fast I almost did not see, he ducked from the first few Raiders that were aiming at his eyes and nose. The Raiders missed him. Now more Raiders left me and flew toward him. He straightened with a handful of sand and pebbles in both hands. In a flash he waved and sent the particles flying toward the Raiders.
In a series of popping sound like firecrackers, a dozen or so Raiders were hit and exploded into a pink puff, their life force diffusing into the air. Ahbood continued to duck and shoot at the ones around us. A pink cloud of dead Raiders thickened around us as the black birds thinned. A few Raiders turned around to escape, but Ahbood’s deadly precision caught them all in one flicker of his fingers. They were all dead within 30 seconds. Ahbood turned his heels and rushed to my door, and I in my astonishment fumbled a little before opening wide enough to let him through.
He fell on the floor immediately, breathing heavily and shuddering as if he were cold. Heat shock. I had seen it and treated it many times before. I raised a flap of endothelium with cilia and, using them like fingers, tore open his shawl and shirt. One of the cilia sharpened into a needle and found a vein in his arm, then injected a few drops of anti-heat-shock serum. His shakes quickly subsided. He laid there motionless for a while but began to sweat, which was a good sign. With his eyes closed, he said, “Thank you.”
“Shut up.” I said with annoyance. “You almost got yourself killed.”
“I’d be dead anyway if I hadn’t gone out.”
11/12
I knew he had said the truth. Things began to worry me. I hurried my trek toward the oasis to the west, fearing more surprises behind us. Ahbood crawled himself to the corner and picked up the water hose and took a long drink. Sweat poured down his face. Color returned to his cheeks. He laid down again.
“What did they mean by ransom?” I had to ask. It was not the first time I had done business with a fugitive, but I needed to know what kind of trouble we were in.
“Fayedi, my godfather.” He shrugged.
We both fell silent. Something in his voice told me we both should be very worried.
“Is he after you?” The question was unnecessary, but he knew what I was really asking about.
“I stole something from him.” He confessed.
Nevertheless, we had to go wherever we had to go. Caravamels were not born with worries and anxieties. We just pushed ahead, patiently but persistently. So I kept going. The first priority was to replenish the water supply. I was moving as fast as I could when I said to him, “You had a deadly aim, my friend. That was quite impressive.”
He chuckled a little. “One of the few things I learned from my godfather. Actually, I’m a better shot than he is…”
The pink cloud that had been the life of those Raiders slowly diffused behind us. Without wind, they would be floating over the battlefield for a while in the windless desert, but we would be far gone when they completely disappear from this world.
I pushed forward nonstop for two days and two nights because the Raiders took some of the water storage after all. I was afraid we’d run out before we got to the oasis. The Raiders’ beaks also left some scratches on my skin, but my body was tough and healed quickly. Caravamels were creatures that could endure more or less everything.
On the third morning, before the sun reached its peak radiation, a wave of blue walls appeared on the horizon. Relief surged in my heart (which was inside the first segment of my long body). These mountains in the middle of the desert formed patch of paradise in the middle of hell. As we approached, the slopes, sharp and bare, stood imposingly.
As soon as we reached the narrow cracks and into the shadows, the temperature fell considerably. Even I could taste the moisture in the air. The ground under me was cool and soft. The underground spring water had been bubbling under the surface for millennia. Many years ago, Caravamels had discovered the cooling refuge in the desert and drilled a cave in the mountain, then dug a well inside the cave. This was our oasis, a replenishment station on the way across the desert so that we could carry a couple more passengers or a few more loads of cargo instead of water and food.
I squeezed myself through a chasm between the rocks and pushed deeper and deeper into the dark cave. The walls were smooth from years of rubbing by us. The cave sloped into the ground, and a fine mist drifted into my airway as I opened my nose and mouth wide. Even though we were creature of the desert, water was still the essence of life. Soon I felt my belly landing on a cool, flat surface. I turned on the light in the front segment and saw the opening of the Well.
Ahbood opened the side door and whooped in the cool, moist air. He rushed to the well and sighed. All he could see was a black, bottomless hole. My ingestion tube slipped out of its opening and slithered down the rough, stony wall. After about 20 meters down the well, the tip to the tube, which was loaded with sensory cells, felt a sharp, icy sting. I immediately began pumping the water up the tube. The first mouthful of water bypassed the water storage chambers. Instead I squirted a stream of icy water out of a side breathing hole into Ahbood. He jumped at the surprise shower, then laughed with delight. I squirted some more water straight into his mouth, then let out a trickle into his cupped hands as he washed his face.
Clean and hydrated, Ahbood turned around and rubbed the stone walls around us with admiration. “Amazing. This cave and well right in the scorching hell. How much work did your ancestors have to do?”
My entire body was rapidly cooling off as the chilled spring water flowed into my chambers. I replied, “It took them 10 years to widen and deepen the original cave, another 10 years to dig the well. And that was 300 years ago. This was not the first oasis in the middle of the desert. There are a few others scattered in various places in the valley. But they are all far enough from the edge that very few species can get to them.”
We got out of the cave and climbed back up. Near the exit where the light began to push out the darkness, I made a turn toward my left.
“Where are we going?” Ahbood asked behind me.
“To see an old friend,” I said.
I knew he had said the truth. Things began to worry me. I hurried my trek toward the oasis to the west, fearing more surprises behind us. Ahbood crawled himself to the corner and picked up the water hose and took a long drink. Sweat poured down his face. Color returned to his cheeks. He laid down again.
“What did they mean by ransom?” I had to ask. It was not the first time I had done business with a fugitive, but I needed to know what kind of trouble we were in.
“Fayedi, my godfather.” He shrugged.
We both fell silent. Something in his voice told me we both should be very worried.
“Is he after you?” The question was unnecessary, but he knew what I was really asking about.
“I stole something from him.” He confessed.
Nevertheless, we had to go wherever we had to go. Caravamels were not born with worries and anxieties. We just pushed ahead, patiently but persistently. So I kept going. The first priority was to replenish the water supply. I was moving as fast as I could when I said to him, “You had a deadly aim, my friend. That was quite impressive.”
He chuckled a little. “One of the few things I learned from my godfather. Actually, I’m a better shot than he is…”
The pink cloud that had been the life of those Raiders slowly diffused behind us. Without wind, they would be floating over the battlefield for a while in the windless desert, but we would be far gone when they completely disappear from this world.
I pushed forward nonstop for two days and two nights because the Raiders took some of the water storage after all. I was afraid we’d run out before we got to the oasis. The Raiders’ beaks also left some scratches on my skin, but my body was tough and healed quickly. Caravamels were creatures that could endure more or less everything.
On the third morning, before the sun reached its peak radiation, a wave of blue walls appeared on the horizon. Relief surged in my heart (which was inside the first segment of my long body). These mountains in the middle of the desert formed patch of paradise in the middle of hell. As we approached, the slopes, sharp and bare, stood imposingly.
As soon as we reached the narrow cracks and into the shadows, the temperature fell considerably. Even I could taste the moisture in the air. The ground under me was cool and soft. The underground spring water had been bubbling under the surface for millennia. Many years ago, Caravamels had discovered the cooling refuge in the desert and drilled a cave in the mountain, then dug a well inside the cave. This was our oasis, a replenishment station on the way across the desert so that we could carry a couple more passengers or a few more loads of cargo instead of water and food.
I squeezed myself through a chasm between the rocks and pushed deeper and deeper into the dark cave. The walls were smooth from years of rubbing by us. The cave sloped into the ground, and a fine mist drifted into my airway as I opened my nose and mouth wide. Even though we were creature of the desert, water was still the essence of life. Soon I felt my belly landing on a cool, flat surface. I turned on the light in the front segment and saw the opening of the Well.
Ahbood opened the side door and whooped in the cool, moist air. He rushed to the well and sighed. All he could see was a black, bottomless hole. My ingestion tube slipped out of its opening and slithered down the rough, stony wall. After about 20 meters down the well, the tip to the tube, which was loaded with sensory cells, felt a sharp, icy sting. I immediately began pumping the water up the tube. The first mouthful of water bypassed the water storage chambers. Instead I squirted a stream of icy water out of a side breathing hole into Ahbood. He jumped at the surprise shower, then laughed with delight. I squirted some more water straight into his mouth, then let out a trickle into his cupped hands as he washed his face.
Clean and hydrated, Ahbood turned around and rubbed the stone walls around us with admiration. “Amazing. This cave and well right in the scorching hell. How much work did your ancestors have to do?”
My entire body was rapidly cooling off as the chilled spring water flowed into my chambers. I replied, “It took them 10 years to widen and deepen the original cave, another 10 years to dig the well. And that was 300 years ago. This was not the first oasis in the middle of the desert. There are a few others scattered in various places in the valley. But they are all far enough from the edge that very few species can get to them.”
We got out of the cave and climbed back up. Near the exit where the light began to push out the darkness, I made a turn toward my left.
“Where are we going?” Ahbood asked behind me.
“To see an old friend,” I said.
11/17
The narrow opening grew larger and brighter as we proceeded. Finally, passing through a ridge, the mountain opened up to a flat opening at the bottom of walls of stones rising up to the sky, leaving only a piece of the sky above us that was no bigger than a piece of lashka bread. Protected in the constant shade, away from the desert heat, the little patch of shelter was cool and calm. I shuffled my well fed body across the sandy ground to a familiar corner, where a tall, blue plant stood almost as high as myself. It looked thin: its usually meaty leaves shriveled to half of their normal size, its stalk rough and wrinkled, its skin looked gray and tired.
“You don’t look too good,” I called out to my old pal Marioonu. “What ails you, my dear friend?”
With some effort, Marioonu lifted her head that was a dried, closed flower bud. “Oh, it’s you. I have been waiting for you for three months. Quick, feed me some of your stories, or I’d really starve this time. As you can see, not much stories have passed by lately.”
“Don’t worry,” I assured her. “I have brought some good stuff.” I motioned Ahbood to come closer and introduced him, “This is Abhood, my passenger. He has had fantastic adventures as a magician …”
“A novice magician.” He corrected me, and took a deep bow. “Are you one of the rare frosty peonies told in legends but few have seen?”
“Yes.” I said, “She is a frosty peony and my good friend Marioonu.”
“It is an honor beyond words for me to meet you, Madam Marioonu.”
A deep blue glowed underneath the dusty bud. The pale gray stem straightened and seemed taller. “Thank you. You are a sweet boy. Have you been through much adventure? Have you lived a fascinating life? Have you witnessed high drama and torrent events? I hope you have a feast for me.”
“It would be my pleasure to offer the best of my stories for your consumption.” Ahbood proceeded to tell again his origin, his abduction, and his apprenticeship with the magician Fayedi. As he went on with his story, including the strenuous study he was forced to follow under the strict training and his repeated attempts to escape, Marioonu’s leaves began to fill up again into their round, meaty thickness as if freshly watered after a long drought. Its skin shed the chapped, tired look and became smooth and soft, delicate as the first flecks of snow. She extended her leaves and branches into the air. Her skin took on a blue-gray metallic shine that sparkles and glistened in the dim shadow of the rocks, a chilly beauty. A frosty peony lived on not only water and nutrient from the soil, but also the nourishment of good stories. Unfortunately they could not travel an inch away from the spot they were born in and had to thrive on others’ narratives. Ahbood’s story was just the food she had hungered for.
Cluster 2: Ahbood’s Escape from Fayedi’s Castle
“When did you escape from your master?” Marioonu asked.
“About a year ago.”
“And you are looking for a girl named Aikhula, who was last seen in Bashmeka?”
“Yes.” Something in the peony’s question made his voice trembled a little. “I have been searching for her for an entire year. I have gone from Takhan in the west to Veeshmiri the Twin Garden in the east, from Kinslabi forest to the metropolis of Luven. Finally I heard a group of wanderers describing a beautiful princess in Bashmeka who sounded exactly like my Aikhula. That is why I have commissioned our friend here,” he pointed at me, “to take me across the valley to the city of a million jewels. I will not rest until I find her.”
“My dear friend,” I said to Marioonu. “You have collected so many stories and memories from people who have passed through the desert. I thought you might have run into some travelers that hold a clue to Ahbood’s quest. Can you help him?”
“I just might…” Marioonu hesitated. “But I do not know what your lover looks like. And I doubt you know what she looks like now either, since you have not seen her in … four years, is it?”
“Yes, but I do know what she looks like as she is now,” he said. “I had not seen her since the stormy night when Fayedi took me from my home, but I had visited her night after night for a year. You see, after two years of captivity, I finally found a way to reunite with my love -- in dreams.” He continued ---
The narrow opening grew larger and brighter as we proceeded. Finally, passing through a ridge, the mountain opened up to a flat opening at the bottom of walls of stones rising up to the sky, leaving only a piece of the sky above us that was no bigger than a piece of lashka bread. Protected in the constant shade, away from the desert heat, the little patch of shelter was cool and calm. I shuffled my well fed body across the sandy ground to a familiar corner, where a tall, blue plant stood almost as high as myself. It looked thin: its usually meaty leaves shriveled to half of their normal size, its stalk rough and wrinkled, its skin looked gray and tired.
“You don’t look too good,” I called out to my old pal Marioonu. “What ails you, my dear friend?”
With some effort, Marioonu lifted her head that was a dried, closed flower bud. “Oh, it’s you. I have been waiting for you for three months. Quick, feed me some of your stories, or I’d really starve this time. As you can see, not much stories have passed by lately.”
“Don’t worry,” I assured her. “I have brought some good stuff.” I motioned Ahbood to come closer and introduced him, “This is Abhood, my passenger. He has had fantastic adventures as a magician …”
“A novice magician.” He corrected me, and took a deep bow. “Are you one of the rare frosty peonies told in legends but few have seen?”
“Yes.” I said, “She is a frosty peony and my good friend Marioonu.”
“It is an honor beyond words for me to meet you, Madam Marioonu.”
A deep blue glowed underneath the dusty bud. The pale gray stem straightened and seemed taller. “Thank you. You are a sweet boy. Have you been through much adventure? Have you lived a fascinating life? Have you witnessed high drama and torrent events? I hope you have a feast for me.”
“It would be my pleasure to offer the best of my stories for your consumption.” Ahbood proceeded to tell again his origin, his abduction, and his apprenticeship with the magician Fayedi. As he went on with his story, including the strenuous study he was forced to follow under the strict training and his repeated attempts to escape, Marioonu’s leaves began to fill up again into their round, meaty thickness as if freshly watered after a long drought. Its skin shed the chapped, tired look and became smooth and soft, delicate as the first flecks of snow. She extended her leaves and branches into the air. Her skin took on a blue-gray metallic shine that sparkles and glistened in the dim shadow of the rocks, a chilly beauty. A frosty peony lived on not only water and nutrient from the soil, but also the nourishment of good stories. Unfortunately they could not travel an inch away from the spot they were born in and had to thrive on others’ narratives. Ahbood’s story was just the food she had hungered for.
Cluster 2: Ahbood’s Escape from Fayedi’s Castle
“When did you escape from your master?” Marioonu asked.
“About a year ago.”
“And you are looking for a girl named Aikhula, who was last seen in Bashmeka?”
“Yes.” Something in the peony’s question made his voice trembled a little. “I have been searching for her for an entire year. I have gone from Takhan in the west to Veeshmiri the Twin Garden in the east, from Kinslabi forest to the metropolis of Luven. Finally I heard a group of wanderers describing a beautiful princess in Bashmeka who sounded exactly like my Aikhula. That is why I have commissioned our friend here,” he pointed at me, “to take me across the valley to the city of a million jewels. I will not rest until I find her.”
“My dear friend,” I said to Marioonu. “You have collected so many stories and memories from people who have passed through the desert. I thought you might have run into some travelers that hold a clue to Ahbood’s quest. Can you help him?”
“I just might…” Marioonu hesitated. “But I do not know what your lover looks like. And I doubt you know what she looks like now either, since you have not seen her in … four years, is it?”
“Yes, but I do know what she looks like as she is now,” he said. “I had not seen her since the stormy night when Fayedi took me from my home, but I had visited her night after night for a year. You see, after two years of captivity, I finally found a way to reunite with my love -- in dreams.” He continued ---
11/20
My father was merchant who sold in dream candy. I had learned as a boy how to create sweet tables that can steer the direction of dreams, to help you, in your sleep, go places you yearn, for, see people you miss, feel emotions you thirst for, even passions you had never tasted before. Fayedi’s laboratory was a treasure chest of unlimited ingredients and elements, in which I found novel elixirs and extracts that were a thousand times more potent than anything I had found in my father’s shop. Using the tricks I had been learning from Fayedi, digging frantically in the sea of books in his warehouse of a library, I experimented with the dream potion on myself and finally found a formula that allowed me to meet up with my love thousands of miles away.”
Meeting up with the real her as she was at the same moment or the girl in your mind?” I was skeptical. I had seen people buy dream candy before. As far as I knew they gave you all shapes and flavors of dreams as you wish, but none of that was real.
I entered her dreams as she slept, and we began sharing the same dream world. I was ecstatic to see her. She had grown taller and more beautiful. Her slender frame had become curvy and her movement more delicate. At first, she was unable to see me or feel my presence, and I could only watch her in her dreams from afar. To my happiness, myself appeared not infrequently in her sleep.
I continued to tinker with the formula, and six months later I was able to materialize into her dream.
When she saw me, there was not a trace of shock on her face. It took me a while to understood that she assumed that I was just a figment of her own dream as usual. So I walked up to her and said, ‘It is I, Ahbood … the real Ahbood, not the man in your mind, who you think of, but …’ I struggled to explain. ‘I have found a way to merge our dreams. I have entered your mind, but I’m separate from your mind.’
She looked at me first with confusion, then with disbelief. ‘Ahbood?’
’Yes, it is I.’ I replied, and took up her hand tentatively, afraid of scaring her.
I could see that she wanted to believe me, but was hesitant. She thought for a moment and a twinkle came into her eyes. It was a look I had seen many times before
My father was merchant who sold in dream candy. I had learned as a boy how to create sweet tables that can steer the direction of dreams, to help you, in your sleep, go places you yearn, for, see people you miss, feel emotions you thirst for, even passions you had never tasted before. Fayedi’s laboratory was a treasure chest of unlimited ingredients and elements, in which I found novel elixirs and extracts that were a thousand times more potent than anything I had found in my father’s shop. Using the tricks I had been learning from Fayedi, digging frantically in the sea of books in his warehouse of a library, I experimented with the dream potion on myself and finally found a formula that allowed me to meet up with my love thousands of miles away.”
Meeting up with the real her as she was at the same moment or the girl in your mind?” I was skeptical. I had seen people buy dream candy before. As far as I knew they gave you all shapes and flavors of dreams as you wish, but none of that was real.
I entered her dreams as she slept, and we began sharing the same dream world. I was ecstatic to see her. She had grown taller and more beautiful. Her slender frame had become curvy and her movement more delicate. At first, she was unable to see me or feel my presence, and I could only watch her in her dreams from afar. To my happiness, myself appeared not infrequently in her sleep.
I continued to tinker with the formula, and six months later I was able to materialize into her dream.
When she saw me, there was not a trace of shock on her face. It took me a while to understood that she assumed that I was just a figment of her own dream as usual. So I walked up to her and said, ‘It is I, Ahbood … the real Ahbood, not the man in your mind, who you think of, but …’ I struggled to explain. ‘I have found a way to merge our dreams. I have entered your mind, but I’m separate from your mind.’
She looked at me first with confusion, then with disbelief. ‘Ahbood?’
’Yes, it is I.’ I replied, and took up her hand tentatively, afraid of scaring her.
I could see that she wanted to believe me, but was hesitant. She thought for a moment and a twinkle came into her eyes. It was a look I had seen many times before
11/26
Throughout my apprenticeship with Fayedi, I had never been taught to fly. Fayedi was certainly not interested in teaching me how to escape, but I did find the complex and difficult flying spells after some digging in his library and began learning them in secret whenever Fayedi was away. Yet I could not overcome the fear that dragged me back down to earth like a giant stone. Every time I was able to rise slightly above the height of two or three persons or half the height of a Hulanic tree, a sense of dread and nausea would rise from the pit of my stomach and flow throughout my body and into my fingertips and toes. I would become so dizzy that I lost all sense of direction and fall back onto the ground, bruised and defeated. I continued for several months, hoping to overcome my fears, but the more I failed, the more I became frightened of heights and of flying.
One day, I actually made some progress and flew above the top of the Hulanic trees. I could feel a breeze of fresh air that had never penetrated through the forest in the pit of my prison. The sensation was so incredible that I almost forgot where I was. Carelessly I looked down and saw the branches beneath me. Suddenly the fear struck again and I was paralyzed and crashed into the massively entangled branches and leaves. I was lying wedged between two branches and contemplating on how to climb down to the ground and hide the bleeding scratches on my face, when a sonorous voice said softly in my ear: “Why, you sure failed this magic.”
“Who are you?” I asked. “Are you mocking my desperation?”
“No, no, no.” The voice laughed softly. It sounded old, almost ancient, with a kindness. “I have seen you practice and failing the flying spell for months now. Why have the … master not corrected any mistakes for you?”
It took me a moment to realize that it was the Hulanic tree on which I was lying. I had never heard a whisper from any of the trees and always assumed that they were mute and indifferent to any communication with me.
“I’m learning to fly in secret. If the master knew about it he would surely terminate me.” I said. Something in my voice seemed to affect the tree. His tone changed:
“Oh, I see. So you are like us.”
“Us?”
“We are all his prisoners. He captured us, body and soul, from a remote island of Mereptisan at the extreme east corner of the world and forced us to serve him and guard his castle. We have all been gravely mistreated by him. Our families have been terrorized and our relatives enslaved. We saw him calling you his son, his pupil, teaching you his magic; so we assumed that you were his disciple and the heir to all of his assets and skills.”
My heart swelled up with joy with the realization that I was not alone any more. “I’m his slave and prisoner, although I guess I am his pupil as well, even though it was against my will.” I told the tree everything about my kidnapping three years ago and my attempts to escape. A murmur rumbled through the forest as the trees listened to me and whispered sympathy.
Suddenly, the tree under me shook lightly. “The master is coming back, I’m told. He is half an hour from here. I will return you to the castle now, because you will have no time to escape. But don’t despair. Prepare! Prepare! The next time he goes away will be your chance for freedom. We will help you run as far from here as you can.”
My heart was drumming so hard that I hardly heard all his words. He lowered me gently to the ground. Master Fayedi suspected nothing. A month later, Fayedi went out again. A narrow path appeared as the trees and vine separated. I walked all night from dusk till dawn, until I was finally cleared of the cursed forest.
The night before I escaped, I told Aikhula that we were to meet at the Temple of Dajo in our home town Hamjasi. She would wait for me from the first day of the moon shower to the Gerusa Festival. Unfortunately, I lost a key ingredient, the neon bird’s saliva, when I was stumbling in the forest during the night of escape. I could no longer make the dream formula and therefore lost all touch with her. It took me another month to get back to Hamjasi.
I ran to the temple three days after the end of the Gerusa Festival amidst all the rainbow pedals and milky star flakes left from the celebration. She was gone. With a disappointed but still elated heart, I went home. To my surprise, my father himself instead of a servant opened the front door. He looked old and frail. His muddied eyes stared at me with no recognition.
“Who are you?” He asked.
A coldness gripped my heart. “It’s me, Ahbood! Your son! I’ve escaped from the evil wizard and come home!”
He frowned. Rage and humiliation, not remembrance and love, surged on his face. “Who are you?! Why are you here tormenting good people? Our son Ahbood died long ago.” My father took out a rifle and pointed at me and screamed, “Go away you despicable imposter! Get away from me.” As I swallowed my tears and turned away, I caught a glimpse of my mother sitting under a tree deep in the yard. She turned away from me before I could call out to her. Only then did I completely believed what Aikhula had told me in the dreams.
[End: Cluster 2.]
Throughout my apprenticeship with Fayedi, I had never been taught to fly. Fayedi was certainly not interested in teaching me how to escape, but I did find the complex and difficult flying spells after some digging in his library and began learning them in secret whenever Fayedi was away. Yet I could not overcome the fear that dragged me back down to earth like a giant stone. Every time I was able to rise slightly above the height of two or three persons or half the height of a Hulanic tree, a sense of dread and nausea would rise from the pit of my stomach and flow throughout my body and into my fingertips and toes. I would become so dizzy that I lost all sense of direction and fall back onto the ground, bruised and defeated. I continued for several months, hoping to overcome my fears, but the more I failed, the more I became frightened of heights and of flying.
One day, I actually made some progress and flew above the top of the Hulanic trees. I could feel a breeze of fresh air that had never penetrated through the forest in the pit of my prison. The sensation was so incredible that I almost forgot where I was. Carelessly I looked down and saw the branches beneath me. Suddenly the fear struck again and I was paralyzed and crashed into the massively entangled branches and leaves. I was lying wedged between two branches and contemplating on how to climb down to the ground and hide the bleeding scratches on my face, when a sonorous voice said softly in my ear: “Why, you sure failed this magic.”
“Who are you?” I asked. “Are you mocking my desperation?”
“No, no, no.” The voice laughed softly. It sounded old, almost ancient, with a kindness. “I have seen you practice and failing the flying spell for months now. Why have the … master not corrected any mistakes for you?”
It took me a moment to realize that it was the Hulanic tree on which I was lying. I had never heard a whisper from any of the trees and always assumed that they were mute and indifferent to any communication with me.
“I’m learning to fly in secret. If the master knew about it he would surely terminate me.” I said. Something in my voice seemed to affect the tree. His tone changed:
“Oh, I see. So you are like us.”
“Us?”
“We are all his prisoners. He captured us, body and soul, from a remote island of Mereptisan at the extreme east corner of the world and forced us to serve him and guard his castle. We have all been gravely mistreated by him. Our families have been terrorized and our relatives enslaved. We saw him calling you his son, his pupil, teaching you his magic; so we assumed that you were his disciple and the heir to all of his assets and skills.”
My heart swelled up with joy with the realization that I was not alone any more. “I’m his slave and prisoner, although I guess I am his pupil as well, even though it was against my will.” I told the tree everything about my kidnapping three years ago and my attempts to escape. A murmur rumbled through the forest as the trees listened to me and whispered sympathy.
Suddenly, the tree under me shook lightly. “The master is coming back, I’m told. He is half an hour from here. I will return you to the castle now, because you will have no time to escape. But don’t despair. Prepare! Prepare! The next time he goes away will be your chance for freedom. We will help you run as far from here as you can.”
My heart was drumming so hard that I hardly heard all his words. He lowered me gently to the ground. Master Fayedi suspected nothing. A month later, Fayedi went out again. A narrow path appeared as the trees and vine separated. I walked all night from dusk till dawn, until I was finally cleared of the cursed forest.
The night before I escaped, I told Aikhula that we were to meet at the Temple of Dajo in our home town Hamjasi. She would wait for me from the first day of the moon shower to the Gerusa Festival. Unfortunately, I lost a key ingredient, the neon bird’s saliva, when I was stumbling in the forest during the night of escape. I could no longer make the dream formula and therefore lost all touch with her. It took me another month to get back to Hamjasi.
I ran to the temple three days after the end of the Gerusa Festival amidst all the rainbow pedals and milky star flakes left from the celebration. She was gone. With a disappointed but still elated heart, I went home. To my surprise, my father himself instead of a servant opened the front door. He looked old and frail. His muddied eyes stared at me with no recognition.
“Who are you?” He asked.
A coldness gripped my heart. “It’s me, Ahbood! Your son! I’ve escaped from the evil wizard and come home!”
He frowned. Rage and humiliation, not remembrance and love, surged on his face. “Who are you?! Why are you here tormenting good people? Our son Ahbood died long ago.” My father took out a rifle and pointed at me and screamed, “Go away you despicable imposter! Get away from me.” As I swallowed my tears and turned away, I caught a glimpse of my mother sitting under a tree deep in the yard. She turned away from me before I could call out to her. Only then did I completely believed what Aikhula had told me in the dreams.
[End: Cluster 2.]
11/29
Ahbood stopped and wiped off tears from his face. “That is my story. Now I have no one but Aikhula in this world. I don’t know if I’ll get to see her again…”
Marioonu, now radiant with life, said: “That is possible. Lie down at my foot.”
Ahbood looked at her puzzled. She explained, “Many caravamels, some with passengers, pass through here on their way across the desert. Both the caravamels and the passengers feed me with their stories, and I might have picked up someone’s memory that had your Aikhula in it. You see, I never forget anything. All the stories I soak up from others, I drain them back into the soil around me, and the billions of fibers of my roots can retrieve any piece in a matter of a split second. If you can show me what your lover looks like, I might be able to find her trace.” She gave a slight nod with the blossom, motioning him to come closer and lie down. Ahbood followed her instruction. Marioonu lowered a gigantic leaf onto his forehead. She lifted it immediately, “I see.”
“Anything?” Ahbood leaned toward her eagerly.
“Nothing directly...” Her leaves trembled as she searched through memory, “but maybe …”
“What?” Ahbood fought to hide his disappointment. “Tell me.”
“A few months ago, a caravamel who was returning from Monbissa mentioned a theft, someone broke into the treasure cave of Lord Sadhipooh and stole the Morphing Cape. The suspect was reportedly a young woman
Ahbood stopped and wiped off tears from his face. “That is my story. Now I have no one but Aikhula in this world. I don’t know if I’ll get to see her again…”
Marioonu, now radiant with life, said: “That is possible. Lie down at my foot.”
Ahbood looked at her puzzled. She explained, “Many caravamels, some with passengers, pass through here on their way across the desert. Both the caravamels and the passengers feed me with their stories, and I might have picked up someone’s memory that had your Aikhula in it. You see, I never forget anything. All the stories I soak up from others, I drain them back into the soil around me, and the billions of fibers of my roots can retrieve any piece in a matter of a split second. If you can show me what your lover looks like, I might be able to find her trace.” She gave a slight nod with the blossom, motioning him to come closer and lie down. Ahbood followed her instruction. Marioonu lowered a gigantic leaf onto his forehead. She lifted it immediately, “I see.”
“Anything?” Ahbood leaned toward her eagerly.
“Nothing directly...” Her leaves trembled as she searched through memory, “but maybe …”
“What?” Ahbood fought to hide his disappointment. “Tell me.”
“A few months ago, a caravamel who was returning from Monbissa mentioned a theft, someone broke into the treasure cave of Lord Sadhipooh and stole the Morphing Cape. The suspect was reportedly a young woman
January 16, 2007
Ahbood bowed, “You have already given me the best gift I dare to hope for, Madam. You have given me clues to find Aikhula. That is more than enough.”
She smiled. “Don’t worry. You’ve helped me as much as I’m helping you. You are a good kid and I want to help you. Go to the cave a hundred and thirty-two steps to my right, walk another sixteen steps inside, then dig. The dirt is loose, and below you will find a chest. Take it with you. You will find three tools that may find useful later on.” She lowered her flower and touched him then me as good-bye. Ahbood went to the cave as she instructed. Marioonu lowered herself, now bathed in a fresh blue hue, and kissed my eye at the tip of my head.
“Farewell, my sister.” She said to me. “I will see you again soon.”
I thanked her and wished her well. Before I turned and left, she added, “Be careful out there. The desert has been stirring with weird noise lately.”
Once inside the passenger chamber, Ahbood showed me the gift Marioonu gave him: It was a small bag of seeds. The pouch was a silvery gray and made of a silky, paper-thin fabric that seemed both delicate and durable. He held the bag in his palm and untied the long string around its opening
Ahbood bowed, “You have already given me the best gift I dare to hope for, Madam. You have given me clues to find Aikhula. That is more than enough.”
She smiled. “Don’t worry. You’ve helped me as much as I’m helping you. You are a good kid and I want to help you. Go to the cave a hundred and thirty-two steps to my right, walk another sixteen steps inside, then dig. The dirt is loose, and below you will find a chest. Take it with you. You will find three tools that may find useful later on.” She lowered her flower and touched him then me as good-bye. Ahbood went to the cave as she instructed. Marioonu lowered herself, now bathed in a fresh blue hue, and kissed my eye at the tip of my head.
“Farewell, my sister.” She said to me. “I will see you again soon.”
I thanked her and wished her well. Before I turned and left, she added, “Be careful out there. The desert has been stirring with weird noise lately.”
Once inside the passenger chamber, Ahbood showed me the gift Marioonu gave him: It was a small bag of seeds. The pouch was a silvery gray and made of a silky, paper-thin fabric that seemed both delicate and durable. He held the bag in his palm and untied the long string around its opening
-
helenClaire
- Posts: 3159
- Joined: 2003-11-22 20:12