When silence speaks, you know that something older than you has awakened.
The desert had always been silent,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgwLHyxsvje
but the silence of that night was different heavy, suffocating, as if it carried a secret that did not wish to be spoken, only felt.
After long days of travel, and after surviving the maw of the shifting sands, Aram’s group reached an ancient well set within a depression surrounded by dark, jagged hills a place Orgus knew well, known among the people of the desert as the Valley of Echoes.
A place sought only in necessity,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBMjZeQ4BOX
for sounds there do not die…7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVJJZdBo5AC
they return.
They needed water, and a short rest to steady their breath. Yet fatigue alone was not what weighed on their hearts there was that subtle, persistent sense that something followed them, watching from a distance not measured in footsteps.
As night fell, tents were raised near the well, and a small fire was lit shy, restrained, as though hiding itself from the desert cold.
The moon hung half-formed and pale, suspended in the sky like a tired eye. The wind, unnaturally, was still.
Then the sounds began.
Not a single cry, but strange waves of sound7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡrEQH1PBVYp
rising from the depths of the desert,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJksNEgZCCj
striking the walls of the surrounding mountains,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3GKTKl2Fyl
then returning to them doubled,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNxY4eaPdbS
as though the earth itself were breathing…7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCKMi6zIFS7
as though silence were testing them with a voice that refused easy understanding.
Nibalion slowly tightened his grip on his bow and said in a low voice,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡXnrV8s1d4m
“This is the sound of an animal… but not one I know.”
Rayhan stepped closer, scattered a little sand between his fingers, listened to the way it fell, then said,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHmBBIEkTno
“No… this is the sound of men.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTl73icuOvg
But not ordinary men.”
The men exchanged glances.
Tafar spoke with unease he could not hide,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ85IpV5yCNR
“It could be the Sand Men… or that mysterious man.”
But Orgus said nothing.
He sat by the fire, closed his eyes, and listened as though to an old memory one he both knew and feared.
Then came the sign.
The horses suddenly grew restless. They whinnied sharply, struck the ground with their hooves, stepping back in panic, as if something unseen were drawing near.
Samer clenched the hilt of his sword.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJigFdtvi4f
“This is no ordinary enemy… horses don’t fear like this.”
Before anyone could move
A long cry rose from the heart of the desert.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPcpCu6Q9L3
A cry unlike human voice,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ2TVUs2dXZS
unlike animal,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡltT4lLEvgq
unlike wind.
It carried meaning.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwzGHUVGJOI
It carried a summons.
But no one understood it.
Except one man.
Orgus opened his eyes slowly and said in a hushed voice, as though uttering a forbidden name:7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoLnQ4xaCES
“I know this sound…7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMTLJEP7i4r
It is calling.”
Aram stepped closer.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡaJZY4B7LJl
“Who?”
Orgus answered,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpFFvb85r8H
“Oshan…7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡRfyOI1ocFW
The man of wind and water.”
No one understood, yet the silence that followed the name spoke louder than explanation.
With a strange calm, Orgus said,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlcfSgCKUVb
“I ask your permission, Aram…7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡD4N1EbKjvb
Someone is coming to us now7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ4rDVmrhpnO
and he cannot be stopped.”
Bodies stiffened.
Who would dare approach their camp this night?7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡzLvIHeQfnC
And who could make horses tremble before appearing?
Suddenly
The fire went out for a heartbeat, then flared back to life,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ3z5gzUQ7Lb
as if a wind had passed through it without stirring anything else.
A man appeared at the edge of the light.
He was tall, slender, moving as if his joints swam through air rather than touched the ground.
His eyes
Eyes entirely blue, without pupil or iris.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuapItxBI0T
Eyes that did not see…7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgO3Oj1l5b5
or saw what humans were never meant to see.
Yet stranger still was what accompanied him.
Three hyenas.
Calm.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡHvrm7BSQaN
Tame in a way that inspired dread.
They circled him as guards… or offspring.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmpoh5Iu3di
Their eyes never left the men.
The man stopped near the well and slowly raised his hand.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡb4rdCXPBnN
With the motion came the scent of wet clay7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA6o82N4aGr
the scent of coming rain,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡmDkB2i8ME5
though the sky was clear.
Aram spoke, his voice taut:7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡpgsHxyBbSi
“Who are you?”
But the largest hyena released a low sound7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ8QnWnaQZoP
not a true growl,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡA0A2tEPUE5
but an attempt at speech.
Orgus said with a certainty unlike anything they had known from him:7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwGkLHqI1DT
“He is Oshan.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡqfdr1SMyKQ
He knows me… and I know him.”
Oshan sat by the fire.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡuNX7zKCAG1
The three hyenas arranged themselves around him in circles,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡlpzn8tSsYG
as if forming a throne of living protection.
Oshan extended his hand toward Aram.
He was asking to take his hand.
Aram hesitated7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡu4bQ7eMIaP
yet something in the man’s eyes compelled him to yield.
The moment their hands touched
Visions poured in.
Aram saw his wife the day she told him she was with child.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgJPqdUn4Nq
He saw the blood of his tribe soaking into the sand.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡe7YdetVqhF
He saw the mysterious man standing atop mountain peaks.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡoOMir4NWf3
He saw a long road ending at a vast door beneath the earth.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡJb8lEJZT03
He saw blood that would be spilled
Not his own,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡsjQ2W1XJwp
but the blood of one of his men.
Aram tore his hand away.
His heart thundered in his chest.
Oshan spoke in a voice like wind moving through caves:7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF1iUqCOeyw
“You are surrounded by an ending and a beginning.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVbKVBlFtUf
What you lost will not return7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡyeBpA5AQMN
until you reach the place you were created for.”
Tafar stepped forward hesitantly.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡNfDiI1iugU
“Read me as well.”
He offered his hand.
Oshan held it only for a brief moment7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡbuqA9ZWONx
then released it abruptly.
Tafar staggered back two steps.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡPLFpghOnG3
His face was pale.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡCVXMn9W61q
His hand trembled.
Siham asked in fear,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡj1FljozHLu
“What did you see?”
He did not answer.
But Aram understood.
Oshan had seen Tafar’s death7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡg6upFJSYqF
drawing near.
The strange man sat among them, ate from their provisions without fear,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡKCXyVQhV35
as though he had been one of them for years.
Before he left, he placed two things before Aram:
• Four dark stone rods, like charcoal, yet glowing with a faint inner light.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOBBiXLcawF
• A long glass prism, shimmering with colors that appeared only when touched by wind.
Oshan said,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡMZC41eUbBa
“Without these… you will not return.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡF9LHydduTE
And I… will be waiting for you.”
He released a soft whistle.
The three hyenas stepped forward,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡgOQpcBK1C0
and together they walked into the darkness,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡOSYZRq2nAP
until his voice faded,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡFbf982LGWT
then even his footprints vanished7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡcDJy178frT
as if the earth itself had never been touched.
The men remained in long silence,7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡ1qbJpxxMtd
each weighing what he had seen and heard.
But the quietest among them was Tafar
Because he alone now knew7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡv8a4RwcDqb
that his journey7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡTNyvrJlVuY
would end7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡBI1qvp0jdO
before the caravan ever reached Saba.
The complete version of ARAM – HEIR OF SABA is now available on Amazon.7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡT6uqLrcfqV
If you want to support the story, check it out there.
7Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡwwjxoc304O
and then Add to home screen.