November 13, 2006

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  If you missed Chapter I go to Friday’s post to read before reading Chapter II.

  
  

  Pillars of Time

  
  

  Chapter II

  
  

  ©Brian Lydell 
  
  
     A strong breeze stirred up the sands, blowing it into the traveler’s eyes. He lifted an arm to shield his face, muttering under his breath about the sandstorms of late. His companion, a young girl looking about teenaged, grasped the veil covering her eyes tighter. She was walking a short distance behind him out of respect for their village tradition. A woman must never supersede the position of a man was the principle that the Bedouin village had imbedded into her heart and mind since childhood. Even from a few feet away, the persistent rain of sand nearly hid the traveler from her sight. She quickened her pace. If she were separated from her master, she would surely die; if not from the desert, than by thieves or another Bedouin tribe. The sandstorm died down a bit and let her see her master now standing still, looking out left and right as if to check for a sign of direction.
     “Sand makes it hard to see where the sun is. Can’t tell where north is, I can’t. fetch me water from the skins, Dharkah.” The traveler unveiled his white garment covering his head, revealing a leathery face hardened by years in the desert climate and almost as tanned as the earth itself. His arms were gaunt, nimbly moving around like sticks as he clutched the goat wool skin and lifted it above his head. Sweet precious water descended like a waterfall into his mouth as he greedily consumed. Dharkah merely looked on. It was not her place to object. She wore all black as custom dictated, the only part of her showing through were the sunken eyes, behind a black veil, used to looking down. There was a deep quality in them that made her master uneasy to look into them, which was often why he ordered her to cover them with a veil in public. In this case, it was simply necessary to keep the sand out. The old man hurriedly covered his face again before the sand found its way into the deep recesses of his eyes. Tapping his stick audibly on a rock, he motioned them onwards.
    
     From above, a faint thing passed them by, unseen by the old traveler. In the thick whipping sand, it appeared to Dharkah like something or someone moving around them, a shadow seen only by its shape.
     “Well, what is it?” the old man stopped when he realized she was not following him.
     She tried to sound convincing, “Bandits? Animals? It did not make a sound.”
     With a brush of the hand, the traveler shook it off, “You hear things. Too much. I do not like thinking about it. We will forget about it.” He spoke flatly.
     “But, it could be danger, master. Surely we should take caution.”
     “If we could not see it then it could not see us. We will forget about it.” he dramatically waved his hand in a conclusive gesture.
     Dharka let her eyes sink to the ground as she was accustomed to. She fell silent but peered about both ways when she thought she saw it again. The traveler took no notice or pretended not to. He continued hobbling on his stick and grunting with each step as loudly as before.
  
     “Come back, Thesda.” The deep authoritative voice of Raven commanded. Within seconds the leopard angel reappeared.
     “Well,” said Amriel, “What is it you found out?”
     “Two travelers, a man and a woman. Bedouins. In this sandstorm, they did not witness our descent.”
     “Good.: Raven said, “We still have our secrecy.”
     Amriel looked at him confused, “What is the reason for this? Why must we not be seen?”
     “His Will must be followed. This is what I am hearing. For now, we work unseen, not letting the right hand know what the left hand is doing. We are forbidden to call upon our highest power unless in the direst need. We also do not have permission for the mission to challenge a fallen angel. Unless you would like to become one after we report back.”
     “This has never happened before.” Amriel said.
     “Not likely to happen again either. We must work towards our goals with utmost secrecy. This will be easier than it sounds. The older traveler did not sense us. The younger one, having more intuitive sense, felt us but did not know who we were. Good tidings.”
  
     The angels landed quietly on the side of a sand dune. Amriel’s white robe fluttered in the wind, changing its colors at a hypnotic rate.
     Thesda broke the silence, “It will not bode well for us if we are seen then. What if we are?”
     Raven spoke for the first time with uncertainty, “I do not know, young one. You must let them know at least to Fear Not and then retreat before they say anything. It will be worse still if any of us talks further to them.”
     Thesda pondered over his words as they set to work. Amriel began to sing in a subdued whisper as he clasped both hands to his forehead. His voice rose and fell with the howling wind, which began to noticeably quicken and swirl in huge gusts around them. In a few minutes, it had formed an invisible barrier against the outside world, and Thesda began to tremble.
     “When I asked if I could journey with you, I did not know I traveled with two of the Unrent!”
     “No! Do not call us that!” snapped Amriel. “In this realm, we are simply able to contact the Lord of Heaven freely, as are its inhabitants.” He returned to singing, but Thesda continued to keep his eye on him warily.
     Raven, meanwhile, was now flapping his wings in suspended flight above the earth, pounding the steep hill of sand into submission with massive gusts of wind. A hollowed-out cave began to form, burgeoning with every muscular thrust of Raven’s wings. When it was finished, a rough-hewn clearing delved deep inside. He turned his head backward to regard the now doublestruck Thesda.
     “Possibly the most physically tedious world yet,” Raven said, “The landscape isn’t quite so…malleable as I thought.”
     Thesda gawked incredulously, peering  cautiously into the shadowy tunnel. Amriel finished his whispering melody with an anxious clenching of his fists, then slowly opened them, pushing his hands outward and letting them rest a moment over the land. Opening his eyes halfway, he looked at them both as if from a great distance.
     “It is purged, for a time, but the wards will not last forever.” Then he wordlessly disappeared into the enclave, accompanied quickly by Raven. Thesda remained behind.
     “There they go. My first expedition and I’m already outclassed baggage.” He spoke again in a low whisper, “I never remember being able to think this way. Something about this world is different, like Amriel was saying. Something is different.” he repeated that phrase to himself in a hushed whisper as he plunged into the darkness of the cave.
    
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  Tomorrow’ Pic:  What I found in my drive way!

  
  

   

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