Chapter Four
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Somewhere North of the Central Plains of Dorne.
Balak Sand is a chief of almost two hundred families. In almost fifty-three years old, he has been leading his people for almost twenty years ever since he inherited the mantle of Chief from his father. It has not been easy, fighting against the trials of Shai-Hulud. The desert is a harsh and unmerciful tester. The tribe has lost much, and gains much during his long tenure as a Chief. Yet for all his long years and wisdom of the great deserts and the troubles that come with it, he has never faces a problem as new and as dangerous as this.
"SANDWORM!" the shout echoes from one of the scouts making Balak blow the trumpet of warning at the center of the camp.
Already he can feel it, the sands beneath his feet shifting like a tide of the seashore. Around the camp, everyone is running at different directions with pre-different groups already assigned beforehand as everyone tries to make themselves less of a target. Sandworms attack the fattest and the most grouped target they could pin. Scratch that, in fact it can swallow the entire camp of two hundred families with one gulp if it desires so. That is how big the Sandworms are. With them running in all directions, this would opt the Sandworm to not be able to swallow them and erase them all from existence in one gulp.
Except for the unlucky ones.
"Release the cattle!" barks Balak from the camel he is sitting to the guards he has stationed at the livestock for such a time as this. The two needs no more urging as they cut the rope of the pen making the terrified cattle run for their lives. Of course seeing that they are cattle, they run as a group also away from the shifting sands on their feet, easily outrunning the people of his tribe.
Balak just watches as the cattle makes enough dust as they run for a distance. They however suddenly low in terror as without warning they are stuck on the ground. He stares as the ground shifts around the cattle before a giant maw like twirling blades appear from the ground surrounding all cattle and swallowing them whole like a giant whale from the sand. Their cries are immediately silenced and Balak simply stares as the cattle disappear with the Sandworm that manages to eat it.
"It is over," Balak simply says out loud even as his terrified people slowly return to camp with the dunes created by the Sandworm now heading off away with its belly full of cattle.
Five years, it has been five years since the new testings of Shai-Hulud appear over the deserts. Nobody really knows where they come from, but the Sandworms are just one day here, roamers and the baddest of all animals of the desert. They are voracious eaters, able to eat anything and anyone from wandering tribes of La'Os to the poor random desert lion that also calls the dunes its home.
The La'Os tribes of course as are their way are forced to adjust to this new threat to preserve their ways. It has not been easy. The giant things are indestructible with their thick hides so deep that even a spear would be unable to penetrate it. Of course it's not as if a spearman would be given the chance to pierce it all the way through. The Sandworms are continuously moving like fishes in the desert and they are massive in size, some even bigger than the tribes. The arrows and spears that the La'Os fight them off with at first are nothing more than pinpricks to it.
Thus instead of fighting the Sandworms off which is futile, the La'Os instead focuses on making sure that they sacrifice cattle, sheep or goats to them instead as a diversion to prevent them targeting specifically the human portion of the tribes.
There is only just one problem.
"We cannot sustain this Chief," the voice of the Elder of his tribe sounds off making Balak tiredly sigh. The Elder in a way is right. While sacrificing animals is the best way to head off a Sandworm attack on a tribe, it is costly and depletes the herds quite fast. Or even worse, sometimes the Sandworm does not take the bait if there's too few and head off to aim at the running humans instead. Nine times out of ten, the humans tend to get eaten.
"What choice do we have Chief? It's either this, or sacrifice our brothers and sisters. Shai Hulud tests us by sending us the Sandworms to discipline us. What can we do but endure it?" says Balak in weary acceptance. Despite their best efforts, they have lost a great deal amount of the members of his tribe to the jaws of the Sandworms.
The Elder is silent for a moment before answering. "There is another way,"
At this, Balak grimaces. "I thought that this is an option we swore to never discuss Elder,"
"We did, but the threat to our people is real and if it takes sacrificing our way of life for us to be able to preserve the tribe, then we do so. We are La'Os Chieftain, not Dornishman. We are not set in our ways but flexible to the challenges that Shai Hulud lay down before us," answers the older man sagely.
Balak resists the urge to massage his forehead. It is not that he doesn't want it. It's just the fact that to accept it means saying farewell to everything that made the La'Os who they are for hundreds of years and accept the new order.
With the emergence of the Sandworms, a new rumor also start cropping up near the Eye of the Snake as the La'Os calls the place, a mountain range surrounding a large inner rocky desert where very few grows. It doesn't usually come into the radar of the La' Os due to it lacking any Oasis or even palm trees and dates. It all changes long ago.
Not only the emergence of the Sandworms marks the change to the life at the Central Desert Plains of Dorne, but there is another else.
The Lhisan-Al-Gaib, the Voice from the Outer World, an emissary of Mother Rhoyne, a prophet is said to have emerged and with her, six wells of water, that turned the poor and dusty place that is the Eye of the Snake into a watery paradise. According to the rumors from tribe to tribe when they trade with one another. She arrives from heaven, a judgement of Mother Rhoyne slaying the disbelievers of a tribe and leading the survivors to the Eye. With a wave of her hands, waters come forth from nothing bringing a promise of ending to the wandering life of the La'Os.
The La'Os after all doesn't have wells. Wells are a precious resource in Dorne, better than diamond or gold. Usually when there is a well, one can build a town or a city around it. Extremely rare it is, to find two wells supporting one city in Dorne. Sunspear currently is the only one hosting such rarity. To have six however? That is a miracle.
Word has already spread far and wide to the wandering La'Os tribes, an open invitation to anyone willing to travel to the Eye. With it comes the promise of a new life, a new path for the La'Os tribes that are wandering in the deserts. It is time for them to leave their old ways and embrace the Path of the Waters as the Voice of the Outer World calls it. The Time of the Sandworms has come to roam the desert and humans have no place in it. The Lhisan-Al-Gaib promises safety, water and prosperity, a Green Paradise as she calls it in this emerging new landscape.
Many tribes have already accepted her call of unity, from the Dromedary tribes well renowned for their long endurance without water to the deadly Deathstalker Scorpions, the most deadly of all the La'Os tribes. All have answered the call, abandoning their ways and authorities as they head off to be one of the new order of things at the Eye.
That is what makes Balak have all these second thoughts of his.
The new path means the destruction of the old one and that is why he as a Chief doesn't heed the call, of this Lhisan-Al-Gaib. Even despite the temptations of Mother Rhoyne beckoning, he chooses not to. Yet it seems that fate is turning against him. The Desert Sandworms are taking a great toll on the remaining tribes that still choose their wandering ways. Even his, has been reduced to a mere half of what they were before. Once they drove almost two hundred cattle before them, now they have less than thirty and are dying daily, serving as a bait for the hungry maws of the Sandworms.
He grimaces as he stares in silent decision to the opening of his tent where he can see the ragged looks of his tribesmen gathering their fallen tents and items that have been scattered with the appearance of the sandworm.
It seems that change is going to be inevitable no matter how stubborn he is.
…
The Eye
A figure in sandy white cloak stands over the highest point of the tallest mountain of the mountains of Jebus, as she has aptly named it. It stands higher than the tallest peaks of the mountain ranges that form the Eye as the La'Os calls it. It is also her place of solitude and the only one place where she can rest and be herself without being anyone else seeing the façade that she has built throughout the past three years. No one can reach it for jagged edges and slippery slopes adorn its pathways. Only those who have the hack cheat of flight have the ability to access it and be able to divine its great secrets.
Ari, for it is Ari takes off the hood of the cloak she is wearing before approaching the figure hugging what seems to be a giant tablet of a stone stamped at the middle of the peak with great warding runes glowing on it. Immediately the giant figure disentangles itself from the tablet, massive wings opening at each side before gliding with a gentleness that belied its ancient and massive bulk. A massive serpentine head showing ragged with age with piercing yellow eyes full of wisdom stares down at her.
"You have visited me again….youngling," the rumbling voice of the other being calling this peak home rumbles making almost the very stones vibrate.
"Yes, I have Paarthurnax, I need some time alone and I could use the peace and quiet before I get back to my duties," answers Ari sitting on the desert sand at the very top of the peak overlooking everything around her.
The massive dragon, for a dragon it is, coloured a mottled pale yellowish gold rumbles at her side before lying its massive head at the edge also, one massive eye eyeing her before also staring at the view.
"Then you have chosen the wrong companion youngling for I am the most talkative of my kind," it rumbles in amusement making Ari snort as he pats the lower snout of the Dovah.
It has been three years, three years since she brought here the tribes of the La'Os to a new home and a new path as they call it. They are barely two hundred before when they first came here, now they are almost pushing five hundred thousand in number. That can be allotted to the wisdom of Ari, rather on the wisdom of the Dovah at her side.
Paarthurnax is the name of the Dovah or the dragon whom she is talking to right now. He is a dragon, that is for sure, however he is one who has the desire to pursue the scholarly arts. Dragons are proud creatures, proud of who they are and contrary to popular belief, are not wild and unthinking. Each dragon has its own mind and characteristics governed by two things given to them by nature to keep them in check, their laziness and their pride. Being magical creatures, they have the option to learn any language. Rather because of their pride on thinking that they are bowing to the whims of lower beings, they do not care to learn it. They are also very lazy with most dragons falling down to the customary patterns of hunting and sleeping. That is maybe why they haven't conquered the world. It is a bother that they not care for.
Paarthurnax is different. He calls himself a Dovah, a learned dragon who bothers to learn the things of those that walk in two legs. He is one of the few that is. The times that a Dovah can be found are a million to one in dragons. He challenges his nature and actually swallows his pride though he is still under the spell of laziness. He has been one of the few taken to this world in Ari's Vivarium and in charge of the dragons that call this mountain ranges, home.
He is the oldest and wisest of them all and has been Ari's confidant and adviser in the past three years when she first released him. This Throat of the World is his home. It is also the place where the Ancient Runes powering the Neptune's Blessing Spell can be found which draws in water to the six wells down below.
"It's been a long time hasn't it?" Ari asks looking down below where the La'Os are slowly building a city, a city that she has specifically designed.
"Indeed, I remember the first day that you released me from your Vivarium young one. You barely have a few people back then. Now here you are, a leader of your own people. The Lhisan-Al-Gaib, mortals, so pathetic and easy to fool," rumbles the Dovah.
"A necessary evil I am afraid for what I am about to face. Darkness would soon creep in this world and I cannot fight this terror alone," answers Ari.
"I am not one for criticizing you young mistress of Death, but I can foresee that there would be challenges, great challenges that would come for you in the centuries. Challenges that would need the touch of wisdom where wit is more necessary than that of claw and flesh,"
"That is why you are here dearest Paarthurnax. I need that big brain of yours for problems like that which would come," answers Ari making the large dragon chuckle that sends the stones shaking.
Ari focuses her eyes again on the surroundings around her. Inside the Eye, is the slowly building city of the La'Os or as they are calling themselves now, the Fedaykins. It has taken a while to gather the stubborn La'Os tribes to migrate here in the Eye.
Ari at first originally planned to simply send emissaries on each tribe to invite them here. Paarthurnax however quickly shut her down. Why bother forcing them to join when they could come here on their own volition?
Thus the Sandworms.
The Sandworms are one of the few dangerous creatures that Ari has trapped in her Vivarium. Back at old earth, they are found on the Sahara desert, very territorial and dangerous. Desert accidents tend to happen because of them. Wizards harvested them back then for a lot of things. She had opted to release a dime a dozen infants outside the Eye. Six months later and they reach their full maturity, each the size of a skyscraper skimming through the Sands of Dorne like angry sharks.
Sandworms however despite their immense size and power have hiccups that nature put into them. First of all is their tendency to create territories. Sandworms don't stray too far from the place where they are first released. Thus they establish a perimeter and territories only not far from where they first tasted sand. Secondly, they don't do so well on rocky ground. Sandworms for their immense sizes are not able to travel on heavy rock. That is why the mountains surrounding the Eye keep the people inside it safe. It is also a buffer to the perimeter set by the Sandworms territories.
The Sandworms of course target the wandering La'Os tribes and scaring the tradition out of them enough that they come to the Eye for refuge and new opportunity. Of course the journey is not easy. They have to pass the massive territories of many sandworms and each one requires either a diversion or a tribute in their case. When they arrive here at the Eye via the Gates of the Path, the only place where the mountains are open enough that anyone can enter with great number, they are just happy enough that they manage to survive the ordeal. Everyone so far is more than willing to exchange their authority and leadership to Ari without much hassle. Before she knows it, she has an extremely large number of people under her command.
This of course only prompts Ari to put two of her greatest initiatives into play. First is the Blessing of Hygeia and Neptune's Blessing to deal with the upcoming problem of food. The former is to enable the land to be fertile for farming and the latter is to make sure that the water supplies of the six wells never run dry. Both need to be powered by ancient runes in powerful places and that is why Ari initiated her second initiative.
The second initiative is the introduction of dragons to the mountain ranges. Ari has some of the fiercest, most stubborn headed in her Vivarium and she released them. Twelve wild dragons and four Dovah named Durnehviir the Keeper of Souls, Paarthurnax, the Wise, Ovahdiig, the Red Warrior and fiercest of them all, Alduin, the World Eater. They all dwell in these mountain ranges, their magical residue powering the runes of the Blessing of Hygeia and Neptune. Dragons are lazy creatures and these mountain ranges are the only mountains big enough and high enough to be called home. There are also the annual sacrifices to them via sheep and goat. This prompts them not to leave the area to more desirable places. A perimeter of scales and claws guarding the Eye.
Now the result is a growing city within the Eye with kilometers wide of farmlands surrounding it and even a large artificial lake which the locals promptly call the Waters of the Mother. A Green Paradise indeed though the touch of the desert can still be seen.
"That reminds me young one, Alduin is demanding again to be able to fly again outside the range. I promised him that he can talk to you before I give him an answer," Paarthurnax rumbles out making Ari sigh as she massages her head.
"Why can't the most monstrous of the Dovah be as lazy as the others?" she thinks tiredly. The black dragon is perhaps the only one who has the innate desire to get out of this mountain range causing a lot of headache to everyone.
"Want a ride young one?"
"I would appreciate it Paarthurnarx,"
….
Author's Note:
Hello so new update, thanks for reading this chapter. Next up would be another fast forward and the introduction of our city and our first visitors in the city. Also we will tackle some of the problems and rituals of the new home of Ari.
Hope you like the Skyrim cameos. I really love Skyrim and I am a big fan of the old game. Dovahkiin!
Once more please review for your reviews are the song to this writer's heart.
PS: Hmm I just watched House of the Dragon Season 2 Episode 6. I am literally growing hearts by Rhaenyra's and Mysaria's kiss. I am disappointed it got cut short. Maybe I should write a lemon one shot at it. What do you think readers?
