The Hero's Tale

Chapter Four: Traitor

The river had passed through the high desert, and was now far more Lush and green, and I watched the sun turn orange as it neared the horizon line, showing though the massive ferns and high palm trees. My heart was saddened, as I realized that this was what I would have seen from the barge that was meant for my honeymoon cruise down this beautiful River. I was supposed to be seeing this beautiful, lush landscape with my husband. . .though Windjammer was still there the fact our wedding was interrupted by an invasion wore at me. it hurt my heart whenever I had time to think about it.

"How long before we hit the Beduin's lands?" Sonambula asked.

"We're in their lands, have been for about an hour." Windgammer explained, manning the rudder of our raft. "See those big green reeds in the river? Those are their crops, they come up and down this river harvesting them, their camp is always moving."

"How do you know where they're going to be camped?" I asked

"In this month, they're near the canyon." Windjammer said, we'll be there soon."

Nebula peeked up over the side of our raft, "Jammer, sompony is watching us," She said, "I just saw him move behind that fern,"

Windjammer smiled at my tiny friend, "It's okay, Nebs." He said, "That's Conor, he's one of the scouts. His job is to watch the river, if we where somepony he didn't recognize, he'd have turned us around already."

"How do they do that?" Shade asked with a raised eyebrow.

"Couple of warning shots with a Beduin rifle," Windjammer said with a laugh, "They don't like uninvited guests near their sugar reeds."

"You sure you trust these guys, Windjammer?" Sonambula said, "We got a pretty important VIP with us you know,"

"I've known the Beduin on this river since I was a colt," Windjammer explained, "Mahjoub, their Marquis, is my godfather. I'd trust them with my life."

Night Glade lifted a reed from the river, inspecting it. "This is the cash crop these guys live off of?" He said, "It looks like a weed,"

Windjammer winced "When it matures that reed will produce 200 bits worth of raw Sugar."

Glade's eyes widened, and he stuffed the reed back into the river silt, "Whoops," He said with a blush.

"Don't worry," Windjammer said, with a laugh. "That's not one percent of the crop. They also sell dates, saffron, and river gems like turquoise."

"So these beduins are pretty loaded?" Silver asked.

"One of the richest tribes in Saddle Arabia," Windjammer said, matter of factly. "They don't have to deal with taxes or tariffs, and never deal with the Tajir."

"Why do they live in tents out in the middle of nowhere?" Silver asked, "I mean they could afford big houses right?"

"If they pooled their money, They could buy half of Baharra," Windjammer said with a smirk as if he just realized it himself. "But they don't like a building they can't pick up and move. The simple life is they way they like it."

"Can't argue with that," Silver said,

The first sign of the Beduin we saw where a group of children in desert robes running alongside our boat, giggling and laughing and greeting the newcomers in a language that wasn't Equestrian or Arabic. I was surprised to see they weren't ponies either, but single-humped camels! I heard so much about the Beduin from Windjammer, some of his best friends in the country where Beduin but not once did he mention they where Camels! After the children, who where apparently excited at seeing Windjammer, we saw a number of Beduin ankle deep in the river, panning for gems and chopping down several sugar reeds, which where twice the height of the ones we saw further down.