SANCTUARY

5- SANCTUARY

They sailed for three days, until they reached the place where they should disembark.

The place had changed, where there used to be a simple boarding pier, now there was a fishing village and a large port. Travelers could see several sailing canoes at some distance from the coast, manned by fishermen who ventured out to sea. The three boats could not approach the pier at the same time; Murey explained to them that one boat at a time should do it, due to the narrow channel that allowed its draught, much higher than the fishing canoes. When the third ship finally landed its crew, Hor approached some fishermen who had just landed from a canoe.

-What's that?

-It's fishing net - the man seemed to understand the visitor's surprise, and Hor assumed that this question must be a frequent one.

Mostaggeda intervened: -The nets I know are different.

The cacique's object of curiosity was a kind of narrow-mouthed tube, which widened over the rest of his body.

The fisherman, patiently, explained, with some pride: -The fish enter through this narrow opening, and cannot leave because of the arrangement of these wands.

-It's a trap- understood Hor.

-And with this trap I have already caught dozens of fish in a single night.

Let me guess- approached Mumny- your Patesi has taught you how to build it.

The group began the march inland, following a trail clearly marked in the landscape.

The column of about a hundred people now had the help of a group of villagers, who carried some of the luggage, to the fright of the visitors, on the back of several wild donkeys.

After an eight-hour march they reached the vicinity of the great salt lake, Mostaggeda observed that its size had been significantly reduced, the area should be a third smaller than it used to be, and a freshwater current now joined the two largest lakes in the territory, in an extension of more than 60 kilometers, according to a young native.

Apparently, the region to the north had become a fertile territory and nature had been reborn, creating a landscape that contrasted deeply with the region to the south of the salt lake, which continued to be desert and inhospitable.

Mostaggeda knew it well, because he had been born there.

Mumny was walking beside her, sweating profusely, and shook his irritated head.

-I wonder why this guy chose this desert meadow to build his village, when a short distance to the north there is a territory with abundant water and vegetation.

The black warrior drank a long drink from Mostaggeda's skin.

-Maybe when he reached the territory, the salt lake still covered most of that place; I can tell you that the aforementioned river did not exist at the time I lived here.

Once again it became evident the organization of the Patesi, when reaching the edge of the lake, they found a float of canoes waiting.

-I remember that in the old days we had to walk about two or three hours to reach a point where we could cross the lake.

Half an hour later, the travelers disembarked on the opposite shore, where about thirty people awaited them with plenty of drink and fruit. After a brief pause, the column continued its march, leaving the lake at its back to describe a great curve contouring two high stony hills and finally heading in a straight line towards a great plain at the bottom of which numerous constructions could be seen.

Reaching the crest of a gentle hill, in front of the surprised gaze of the visitors a multitude of people working feverishly on a huge circular construction was revealed, Hor calculated that inside it would fit more than thirty huts of his village. Instinctively the group stopped, overwhelmed by the immensity of it all. To the left Mostaggeda saw a strange grove of fig trees, a tree that everyone knew well, but that grew there strangely organized, forming several straight lines, free of weeds and other plants, with its leaves of an intense and healthy green, in contrast to the surrounding land. At a short distance other trees grew, also in orderly lines and regular spaces, and they were all of similar size, as if they had been born at the same time.