The Unearthing (Book I of the Tebel Chronicles)

Chapter 5

For the next week of traveling with the nomads across the Furnian Desert, Cyan tried to process what had happened. The only thing she could conclude was that somehow, when she had fallen off the bridge, she had landed in this desert. Furnia? Tebel? The words went around and around in her head.

The people here spoke a language she hadn't heard before. She doubted now that it was even Arabic. If this was another world, for some reason a form of English was understood by at least two people she had met. This confused her greatly. The thought that she had inherited insanity from her mother had crossed her mind several times since seeing the multiple moons. The memory of listening as a ten year old to her mother's doctors as they tried to explain how "sometimes a person's mind just can't cope with the trauma of losing a loved one" left her with a bad taste in her mouth. With the memories, old anger swelled. What about her own trauma? The untimely death of her stepfather had shaken her just as much as it had her mother. Her very first memory was of her father leaving her at the orphanage after her mother had been admitted the first time. Young and pretty, she was quickly put in a good foster care home. She had been there for three years when her mother, healthy again, had come to fetch her. It was difficult leaving the family she called her own and going to live with her mother and new stepfather, the psychiatrist who had discharged her mother. She had kindly allowed Cyan to visit her foster family often and didn't change her name from the one the orphanage had given her after her father had abandoned her there. Slowly things seemed to fall into place for Cyan and her family. That is, until Dr. Slater decided to relocate his family to New York to escape the scandal of his love affair with a patient. Cyan still remembered the day they came to fetch her from school to tell her that her stepfather had suffered a major embolism and died. It seemed that he had been the only link between Cyan's mother and sanity. Even the simplest things seemed to overwhelm her and eventually she had to be recommitted to an asylum, babbling about Cyan's father and how dangerous he was. Cyan remembered with a sinking feeling how her mother had had to be restrained in front of her, screaming about "not being free of her bond". Cyan had thought that she could never feel more helpless than she had as she watched her mother being taken away from her. Now she wasn't so sure. She didn't even know where she would go if she could escape, and she didn't know what fate awaited her when she was finally sold. Cyan pushed all memories of her parents as far from her mind as she could. It helped that the nomad group had arrived at the new campsite. If she was crazy, she could only wait to wake up from it. Maybe she would be with her mother in the asylum. But, no, something told her that this was more than her mind playing tricks. Something felt far too real and tangible.

The campsite was close to a massive oasis and the activity quickly distracted her as natural curiosity overcame fear. Large trees surrounded a small lake. The Mursite group went close to the water's edge and started setting up camp. All around were the tents and flags of other tribes who had arrived earlier. The woman who led her had a lot of work setting up camp for so many people. She tied Cyan to a nearby tree, allowing her to examine her new surroundings easily. Groups of women wearing similar robes to her were fetching water and Cyan watched them as they talked animatedly together. Some were washing clothes in the lake while their small children ran around naked, splashing each other. New arrivals were putting up tents, while others were hanging what looked like weeks' worth of traveling clothes on ropes fixed between trees. There was so much activity that Cyan struggled to take in all that was happening.

But there was one scene that caught her attention fully. A little further down from the washing women, some men were practicing sword fighting. Her stepfather had been an Olympic fencer for England prior to specializing and from her memories of watching him she could appreciate how good these men were. Cyan was captivated by the curved blades flashing in the sunlight. The speed and skill of the swordplay kept her mesmerized for the many hours she had to wait for the Mursite woman. She smiled as she saw some young women watching the men, remembering her keeper telling her that the Meet was a place for young unwed people to find partners. Cyan was amused that the men seemed far more interested in their sport than the poor girls swooning in the sun. When her keeper finally returned, Cyan was surprised to be led away from the new campsite of the Mursites.