16

The Desert

Saber had lain on the hot sand for only a few moments, and already it was beginning to burn his skin. He tried getting up, but he had never been unable to use his arms before, and only ended up flopping around a bit.

The boy was trying hard to stem the tears, but it was harder than getting up. He had been scared many times in his travels, but never this scared.

Using his legs, the boy was finally able to sit up, sitting back on the leather of his loincloth to get away from the hot sand. He closed his eyes tightly to the morning sun as he thought as hard as he could. He forced himself to calm down, and think. It took a long time to calm his frightened, confused mind. His direction-sense told him that the desert extended for many miles in most directions, but sensed a difference to the southeast.

But his hands... Looking around, the boy found many things that would work. One in particular, a strange looking plant with sharp spines on it. Shakily, he crawled to it and sat with his back to the plant, and moved to try to sever his bonds, but yelped as he felt a sharp pain back there! Scuttling clumsily away, he saw the plant move, and as he squinted, he saw two tiny eyes glaring at him. It was an animal! it had struck him with itself!

Now knowing to stay away form those "plants", he looked around again, trying not to stagger in the heat. He found a sharp stone that did the trick. Saber bit his lip as the stiff muscles and joints of his arm sent loud reminders to his brain that one should not keep them in the same position so long. The skin of his wrists was red, bleeding a little, raw. The fur had been worn off, and he wondered if it would grow back.

He lightly grasped them, his eyes closed again. He had been so long in blackness, that the bright sunlight was actually painful to the point where he would cry out if he opened his eyes too long. Squinting them open every few seconds to look at the ground he was walking on, Saber began to walk.

When the morning sun was a late afternoon sun, Saber collapsed to the ground. He had fallen more than once as he walked those miserable, weary hours, his hunger and thirst constant motivators for him to keep going, but this time, he was not sure if he could get up again. It was hotter than before, and he was covered in sweat, his breath coming in rapid pants. He had lost his headband, and his hair fell into his eyes every few seconds, as it was longer than it had been a month ago.

Now it hung to touch the ground as he got to his hands and knees, sitting back on his calves. He started crying as he tried to get up, and could not, and could feel the ground burning his skin. His first thought was to give up, but thinking of his home and his family banished that thought right away.

The terrain had been changing slowly as he walked. The ground was still rocky and hard, but scruffy plants were showing up here and there, as well as tall, dry trees with tiny, tiny leaves. Saber squinted up to crawl slowly over to the shade beneath a little stand of three of those trees, where the air was not much cooler, but the ground no longer burned his skin. Exhausted, Saber lay down east of the tree, where he knew the shade would stay until the sun set. he could travel no more without rest; he would travel at night. At night, the sun would not force him to walk with his eyes closed, and it would not beat relentlessly on his uncovered body and head. It was making him dizzy.

He had not meant to fall asleep. But when he awoke to find a slight breeze cooling the sweat on his neck, he was glad he had. His mouth was dry enough to be painful, and the need for water was unbearable but now it was cooler. The air was still arid and hot, but without the sun making everything like an oven, the heat was tolerable.

Although it hurt every sore muscle in his body, and made his tired brain rebel, Saber stood again. He did not want to move, but if he stayed here, he'd die, and he knew that. It scared him very much. He did not want to die like this.

And so he walked.

------

Was it? It was!!! Wait...no...no, it was only his strained mind playing a cruel trick on him again. He had been hearing water on and off for almost two hours now, and he never reached it. It would have to be a huge body of water for him to hear it this far off. Now that he thought about it, it sounded like the constant noise that could always be heard past the cliff borders of his town. His mind must just be thinking of all the times he had sat there and listened to the mysterious, pleasing sound.

Maybe I'm in the other side of the cliff boarders! his mind thought at one point. No one knew what was beyond them. But then he looked ahead into the darkness that was slowly fading again into morning, and saw no cliffs. So much for that hope. But still it was there again when the wind blew. And it was getting somewhat cooler. Maybe.

An hour later, as dawn had officially appeared with the peeking of the sun over the horizon, he was sure. He heard it now, even when the wind was still, and now he could smell it too! He could smell the fresher air, like the stream banks of his valley's waterways, like the air before a rain! Although the boy was really in no condition to run, he did. He ran eagerly towards the sound, that grew ever louder. As he'd been given water in the morning, and released the next morning, now he had been without for two days. He wanted to get there more than he had ever wanted anything in his life.

But as he rounded a large outcropping, falling and scraping his knees further, he stopped and stared. Even in his desperation, he stared.

Before him, the view having before been blocked by the tall rocks, stretched and endless expanse of water. A plain of water, like the farmers' fields, or like the sky itself! It was blue, like the sky, and he could see it in all directions, it being so big he could not see the end of it, even as he squinted.

After the initial shock, Saber's thirst returned full force, and he stumbled onto the sand, that had become more and more soft. It felt good to his blistered feet, after two days of walking on rough, abrasive desert ground. He plunged into the surf and drank.

Even as he drank, he noticed the stinging on his scraped and bloodied feet first. Water shouldn't sting them that much! And then he registered that what he was drinking was not right! He recoiled, kneeling straight up in the shallow water of the sea, and stared once more, dizzied. Salt! There was salt in this water! There wasn't supposed to be salt in normal water, people put salt in water! Had the demon-beings put it there? No, even they could not possibly salt this much water, could they?

He did know that he could not drink this water. It would not quench his thirst, and it would make it worse. He could wet his parched tongue and mouth with it though, and he did. Even just kneeling in the surf and letting the spray cool his overheated body revived him a bit. There were clouds in the sky, making the light bearable as well, and for a moment, he only knelt there. This must be the great sea! Nenda often told him of great seas and oceans, expanses of water that went for miles and miles. It was one of the things he had hoped to find when he left that early summer day.

Now it was midsummer; two months into his journey and he was there. What had old Nenda said about the seas? His eyes widened, and he shut them quickly. He remembered! You could find drinkable water from seas. Now he remembered Nenda telling him, seas and oceans had salt in them...although he did not know how. But streams ran into seas! he just had to go along the waterline until he found one!

It was several hours before he found it. The brief energy boost of the cool water had worn off, and now he was damp and waterlogged, but soon he heard the water in both ears now, not just the one turned to the great sea. Again he ran, and laughed deliriously when he saw it. It was a large stream, running down from what looked like a rocky region almost too far away to see, but the important thing was it should have no salt! He fell to his knees once more, and the water of the two-foot deep stream did not burn his injuries. Dipping his head into the water, Saber drank.

The boy drank greedily, and drank much in a short time. He only stopped when he felt a churning in his stomach, and he vomited on the mix of beach sand and grass that banked the stream, vomited water. But then he dipped his head in and drank again. This time he kept it down.

After he had taken his fill, Saber climbed up onto the grass/sand and lay down. Just lay. The water had quelled his hunger for now, and as he rested for a good hour, he could feel a spurt of energy; enough to look around a bit. Stumbling a little, Saber explored the beach, wondering at the things upon it, which a land dweller would have no idea about: sand dollars, shells, seaweed, driftwood... His foot did find out that the shells were sharp, however.

After this small exploration, he returned to the stream and looked around there. He saw a few bushes and trees he recognized, and almost fell down in gratitude as he saw a tree that bore fruit, and fruit he knew to be safe!

With the last of his strength, he climbed the great tree and greedily grabbed some of the fruit, eating it as fast as he had drunk before. He threw up once more, but after that, he kept it down.

After eating all he could without getting very sick, he shakily climbed down. He lay in the grass underneath, ignoring the beach sand that was slowly being choked out here by the vegetation, and curled up. As the sun began to set once more, Saber closed his eyes and was able to sleep without pain, hunger, or thirst for the first time in a long, long week.

Part 17: Kasana-Kai

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