Shaddad visited me again after my mother died, and when I asked him about the 'other way' he mentioned before, he said, "I am going to leave home soon. Find a decent workplace. Abbu and Ammi are fine, with all my other siblings to look after them. And they want me to have some experience and pull my own weight for a while, get a feel of the world. You should come with me. We will work together."
I teamed up with my friend, and we went in search of work. One day, we came upon a band of bandits, sleeping among the sandy dunes of the desert. Shaddad and I were cautious to pass without waking them, but suddenly, a foreign tribe began closing in on them, hungry for land and water. We called for the bandits to wake. They did, but were caught by surprise, heavily outnumbered, with no way to run. Shaddad and I only glanced at each other once, and plunged together into the midst of the battle, fighting for the bandits. The bandits were able to hold off, and soon they had their horses untethered and were running for their lives. The leader of the group, Nazm, pulled me onto his black horse, and signaled for another bandit to pull Shaddad onto his horse.
We had saved the bandits' lives by arousing them, and for that they were grateful. Nazm had punished the sleeping sentry gravely for neglecting his duty. He then invited us to join his band, and we both agreed. When he asked our names, I told him, "Sayf, my name is Sayf." He smiled and nodded, accepting it. Everyone knew of course, that my mother hadn't named me 'sword,' but no one objected. Similarly, Shaddad changed his name to 'Shajar,' literally meaning a tree.
Our band lived by the honor code of bandits, and Nazm was proud of that. We only killed the able bodied men who were dangerous to us, threatening us. We were told to always protect the women and children, even if they weren't our own. We could not steal from the poor, only the rich, and we took as much was needed, distributing the rest to those in need. I began to feel happy again and satisfied with my life. Nazm, Shaddad, and I were the best of friends, we trusted each other with our lives.
One day, our band woke up to find Nazm, our beloved leader, and Shajar gone. They had disappeared without a trace. We searched for them thoroughly, but the band decided that a new leader be put into place temporarily, until Nazm came back. No one was more surprised than I when the people voted for me. I realized that my experience of spending so much time with Nazm and Shaddad was one reason all the men were looking up to me. Other, bolder candidates wanted a fencing challenge, but I refused, claiming that one does not fight his own people.
We still had our weekly raids of treasure, always retreating into the secret oasis that was our hideout, but we were having to go further into the country of Kinda in order to pick good findings. The king of Kinda was going mad, we had heard. When my scout had reported this bit of news to me, I replied with a grim smile, and said simply, "Good then." It was no coincidence that our raids in those times were planned near the very heart of King Walid's palace.
My band grew stronger, larger in number, and fiercer, bolder. We were not afraid to go out raiding in the daytime anymore, we were a powerful force that sent chills down the spine of King Walid. I knew that, deep down. And I immensely enjoyed it. Later, I had many different scouts reporting the same thing, the king was dead, his kingdom fallen. Kinda was no more.
It took time for me to digest that fact. The jealous king had gotten exactly what he had deserved. But somewhere inside me, I felt disappointed. I came to realize what my regret was: I had not killed the king with my own hands. Ammi would have been disappointed in me, for thinking like this. But I knew, that if I ever had the chance to confront Walid, I would have made him pay to my family, for killing them off, even though Ammi had forgiven him long ago.