Blooming in the Desert

Of Sand and Men

Sand.

Nothing but sand as far as eyes can see. Sure, there are dunes and some hills, but in the end they are still made of sand. Beneath the clear skies, scorched by burning heat from the sun, are the red-hot sand of Rhas Vargas and nothing else for who-knows-how-many kilometres away.

It was at the time that this realization popped into his head that Omiro Jaller finally admitted he probably took a wrong turn at the last oasis.

The young merchant halts his steps and turns toward the camel-horse Rutu, his constant companion. From the saddle pocket Omiro takes a parchment – a cheaply made papyrus map he bought a few weeks ago when he first take on this delivery request. Back then, he thought he only needed the map to find his way from his hometown Nayim to a remote farm, two-oasis-and-a-half far in the south to take the 'precious cargo', as per the instructions of his requester. Then he would return to his usual route during his bi-weekly trips to Abunro, the capital city and trade hub of the eponymous region, to deliver the cargo to the 'important client'.

Such vague directions and secretive nature of the delivery would usually ring alarms of dirty business in Jaller's head – he had his experiences with such things - but the ringing was immediately silenced when the requester put forward a loaded coin bag. 50 gold khirs as the upfront payment was simply too tempting for his greed, and he gladly accepted the delivery when promised a total of 350 gold khirs as the reward. At the time Jaller didn't know that he and Rutu would be hauling a chest full of dirt, four-oasis-and-a-half far, only to help a rich eccentric fuel his obsession with gardening. Nor did he know that the eccentric would also pay him in three cannonball cabbages, which the man estimated to be worth the remaining 300 gold khirs. Sure, each cabbage was as big as his torso in diameter, but they're no coins. And selling such mutant vegetable proved to be no easy task, seeing that one cabbage ends up as Jaller and Rutu's dinner last night. The other two are still strapped to Rutu's back, baked in the harsh sun of Rhas Vargas.

In the end, the frustration brought by the cabbages clouded Jaller's mind, and when two travelers he met at the last oasis joked about the 'balls' on his camel-horse, Jaller immediately led Rutu and his cabbages away without checking directions to the next oasis. Now he is somewhere between Nayim and Abunro, with the emphasis on 'somewhere' and without direction to either city.

After flipping and rotating the cheap map a few times, Jaller comes to a conclusion that it doesn't help his situation at all. With a sigh, he slips the map back to Rutu's saddle pocket and turns his head up toward the sun. The blinding light shielded by his right hand, Jaller tries to determine the cardinal directions from the sun's position. Which is not exactly helpful, seeing it is only a little past noon and the sun is still above his head. Nontheless, Jaller decided on a direction and tugged Rutu's rein to follow him. Gotta get somewhere, anywhere, before the sun is down, after all. The desert during the night is not a pleasant place.

And so the young merchant and his camel-horse walked kind-of aimlessly before a rumbling sound was heard from beneath the sand.

With a surprised "Hm?" Jaller once again stops his steps, and Rutu follows shortly. And just as they stopped moving, the rumbling turns into tremors, and the sound of something collapsing reach Jaller's ears.

At that moment, before Jaller can react, the sand he was standing on crumbles, and the young merchant falls into the newly-opened crevasse together with his camel-horse.

=====

"Urrrgh..."

As Jaller slowly comes to consciousness, his vision was still blurry. It seems he has fallen on his back, as he can see the blasted hole where he fell through when he opens his eyes. Groggily, using his hands as support, the young merchant rouse up and blinks a few times to adjust his vision. It seems the sand has somehow managed to cushion his fall, as he assess that there is no pain of broken bones from his body. Looking around, it seems that he has fallen into one of the various underground caverns beneath the desert, which are known open up during earthquakes. As he stands up, Jaller sees his camel-horse Rutu standing silent a short distance from the sand pile where he was laying on a few moments ago. The animal seems to be completely unharmed, and a snort from its nose makes Jaller feels as if it is mocking him for passing out.