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A man alone in the Arabian desert lies beneath a w

Please freely distribute this file, but understand that it is the property
of the author and owner, James G. Stolich. Passing this document off
under another name is a violation of U.S. Federal and State Laws and is
strictly prohibited.

The text in this document may not be modified or sold in any form. Doing
so is a direct violation of Federal and State laws and can be prosecuted
in all 48 states.

I hope you enjoy this text and pass it on to your friends and colleagues.
Any comments/criticisms are welcome. The author can be reached in the
following ways:

CompuServe: 72440,3076
Internet: 72440.3076@compuserve.com
El Observador BBS: 408-372-9054

Thank you,

James G. Stolich









JOURNEY TO BADANAH

By

James G. Stolich
Copyright (C) 1994 by James G. Stolich
HOLDS U.S. COPYRIGHT TXu 599 285




The desert's hot sun beat down upon the sand-enveloped tent.
Inside, a man lay still, staring at an empty water skin. His
throat was parched and all his limbs ached. Pushing the leather
flap aside, he gazed out onto the ever rolling hills of sand.
He watched the thick dry waves of heat, moving in all
directions. In his mind he cried out for help, yet he had no
voice. Gently, he lay his head back down and closed his eyes.

It had been like this for almost two days now. He had drained
the last few drops from his water skin many hours ago and no
longer knew how much he could endure. Perhaps, he thought,
death would overtake him quickly and silently, while sleeping.
All he did now was to close his eyes and wait.

As he lay quietly, he drifted in and out of an uneasy slumber,
plagued by distorted thoughts and images. He half-awoke to the
sounds of camels braying. Doubting his own senses, he shut his
eyes tightly and tried to block out the intruding thoughts. The
noises grew louder, forcing him into a state of consciousness.
Peering out from under his flap, he scanned the desert.
Squinting both eyes, he saw to his disbelief, a small caravan in
the far distance moving towards him, disappearing occasionally
behind a small mound of sand. He attempted to crawl out of the
tent but the pain in his chest and legs was too great. He
tugged and pulled with his hands, but only succeeded in bringing
more sand inside the tent. He felt himself cry out repeatedly,
then blackness.


"Not so much water!" barked Alebeji. "Give it to him slowly.
He will be sick if you give him so much."

"Look, he is opening his eyes!"

"What is your name, stranger?" growled Alebeji.

"My name. . . is . .Jacob," he rasped, choking on and
sputtering the water.

The man came closer. "My name is Alebeji. Where did you come
from? How did you get here?"

Still dizzy, Jacob struggled to a sitting position in order to
survey his surroundings. There were three men in a circle
around him, the closest and smallest holding a water skin. All
were dressed in similar rust-colored robes and turbans and
carried long curved daggers at their sides. Behind the men
stood three camels, their legs bound tightly together with rope.

"I come from the city, Ryadh, where I work as a carpenter,"
replied Jacob hoarsely. "I was traveling to Badanah when a sand
storm set in. While I was making shelter, my camel broke free
and ran off with all my belongings."

"You have nothing now and have come alone all this way?"

"Yes."

"Then you are at our mercy!" he shrieked, pacing sporadically
through and around his men, who stood rigidly at attention.
"Very well, we are to travel to the other side of the great
desert. You will accompany us . . .for now."

Jacob looked up uncertainly into the glimmering coal black eyes
of his liberator. Alebeji continued to stare intently at him
and then gradually formed his tight lips into a smile, and then
broke into a bellowing laugh. Turning, he walked over to his
men, all the while laughing uncontrollably.

Jacob watched silently as the three men made camp. The
smallest one, who had given him the water, gathered up the
weather-beaten tent that had served as a shelter to Jacob for
the past three days, and placed it inside the large leather sack
on his camel's left rump. Jacob tried to see his face, but it
was hidden behind a dark red cloth. The other man was busily
removing small bits of wood from a bag on his camel to make a
fire for nightfall. He was heavily bearded and quite a bit
larger than Alebeji. Neither of the men had yet spoken a word
to Jacob or to each other.

Meanwhile, Alebeji stood propped against his camel, drinking
his fill of water. Jacob unknowingly began to stare at the
water skin from which he was drinking. Looking up, Alebeji
turned his head until his eyes came to rest upon Jacob.
Motioning to the smaller of the men, he grunted, "Give him some
water, Rejek, but only a little."

Rejek obediently took the water bag hanging from his camel's
saddle, and squatted down beside Jacob. Gently, he let the
water flow from the pouch into Jacob's mouth, taking care not to
give him too much at once. Jacob nodded his head in
gratification.

"Thank you. Your name is Rejek?"

"Yes," replied the man in a hushed voice and then scurried off
to his camel.

The fiery sun sank downward, sending an orange glow across the
endless dunes. Alebeji and his men began to cook a bit of meat
over the fire. Jacob joined them.

Alebeji passed Jacob a small piece of meat, which he greedily
devoured.

"How many days are we from Badanah," inquired Jacob meekly, his
head bent downward into the fire.

"We are not going to Badanah," grumbled Alebeji. "We are going
to Sakakah, which is a four day journey from here."

"But Badanah is closer!" exclaimed Jacob in disbelief. "And I
have seen what food you have. There is not enough for four."

Alebeji turned and gave Jacob a hard fierce stare.

"There is enough food for the three of us. You are merely a
guest and if you protest again, I will kill you right here!"

The men continued to eat in silence. The only sound was the
occasional nicker of a camel. The sky grew black and a chill
set in. The three men lay down in front of the fire to sleep.
Jacob, too, lay down, grateful for the coming night's rest, but
apprehensive of his new found companions.


The sun rose swiftly, filling the land with a brazen heat.
Jacob awoke to the sounds of whips cracking, men cursing, and
camels stomping the ground. As his eyes began to clear, he
received a hard blow to his side.

"Get up, get up!" shouted Alebeji, giving him another kick to
the stomach.

Jacob stumbled to his feet and backed away. Tightening his
robe with a swift tug, he looked at Alebeji out of the corner of
his eyes. A burning contempt filled him. The other two men
untied the camels and secured the bags.

"Mount up!"

Each man removed a short stick from his saddle pack and struck
his camel on the front left rump. The camels, recognizing the
command, knelt to the ground on their knees and waited
patiently. Alebeji was the first one to climb onto his camel.
The moment he was on, the beast rose instinctively. Rejek and
the other man mounted their steeds in turn.

Sitting proud and tall in his saddle, Alebeji turned to Jacob
and stated coolly, "You will walk behind us, . . . brother,"
breaking into a fiendish sneer at the last word.

"He may ride with me," a hoarse voice whispered.

Alebeji turned and stared at Rejek in surprise. There was a
pause. "As you wish, Rejek."

Rejek motioned for Jacob to climb onto the back of his camel.
Scrambling aboard, Jacob planted himself on top of a saddle bag
and waited quietly.

"Move out!" cried Alebeji, striking his camel with his stick.

The three camels began a slow walk, Alebeji leading the way.
Jacob felt very uneasy. He could feel the penetrating stare of
the bearded man from the camel directly behind him. He tried to
concentrate on Rejek. The red cloth was still wrapped tightly
around the Arab's face. He sat perfectly upright in his seat,
almost unaffected by the rhythmic sway of the camel's jog.
After a while, he reached for the water skin on his saddle and
drank a little. Without turning around he handed the bag to
Jacob, who held the skin to his lips. The water felt cool as it
slid down his dry throat.

As the day progressed, the sky took on a greyish tinge and a
fierce wind swept across the dunes, blowing bits of sand into
Jacob's eyes.

"Halt and dismount!" hollered Alebeji to his men, waving his
stick in the air.

The camels came to a stop and Jacob slipped off the back.

"Make shelter!" Alebeji shouted, straining to make his voice
heard over the increasing torrent of wind. "There is not much
time!"

Jacob slipped off the back of Rejek's camel and waited while
the three men secured the animals. Instinctively, each camel
knelt to the ground, patiently awaiting the coming and the
eventual passing of the sand storm.

"Secure the shelter!" Alebeji ordered.

Rejek and the bearded man unfolded a tent from one of the
saddle packs. With great deftness Rejek secured the tent's
three corners deep into the sand. The bearded man fell to his
knees and began to dig furiously with his hands, throwing clumps
of sand outside the tent. Jacob and Rejek rushed in and began
digging beside him. Together, they soon finished making the fox
hole.

"Stay here," hissed Rejek, crawling out of the tent. The
bearded man followed.

Alone inside the shelter, Jacob listened to the high-strung
brays of the camels and the maledictions of the men. The wind
had begun to blow even more fiercely, causing the flimsy walls
of the tent to whip back and forth. He fell back from a
squatting position and sat as far down in the hole as possible.
The clamor of the men was now just a faint muffled sound.

After what seemed like a very long time to Jacob, the flap
enclosing the tent opened, revealing Alebeji and the bearded
man, both covered with sand. Jacob helped them crawl inside on
their knees where they lay still, sprawled on their bellies. He
wondered what had happened to Rejek, but dared not say a word.
He continued to sit quietly and listen to the howling of the
wind and the "pitted" sound the sand made as it was driven
against the hides of the tent.


Jacob was jerked awake by the faint groans of the two men who
lay in front of him. He could no longer hear the wind.
Silently, he stood up in a hunched position and, pushing aside
the pile of sand that had accumulated at the tent's entrance,
slipped outside. Blinking his eyes against the light of day, he
stumbled over what appeared to be a body. Kneeling down, he
began to dig through the sand until he completely uncovered the
corpse. Placing one hand underneath the stomach and, grabbing
the other arm, he turned the body over. Sand was embedded
inside the torn sockets of the eyes. A red cloth covered the
mouth.

"Rejek," Jacob muttered. Though he knew little of the man, he
was the only one who had shown any kindness toward him.

Rejek's clothes were ripped in shreds and deep lesions covered
all exposed skin, as though he had been stabbed repeatedly.
Jacob felt desperate, panicky. Suddenly, it occurred to him
that the camels were gone. Scanning the area around him, he saw
no trace of the animals. Furiously, he began digging into
suspicious-looking mounds of sand. He discovered several packs
of clothes and a small pouch containing a knife, but no food
save a single water skin. Holding the skin above him, he tipped
it to the side and watched as sand poured out.

"Stop!" cried a voice behind him.

Spinning around, Jacob saw Alebeji and the bearded man as they
hobbled out of the tent.

"We save your life and at the first opportunity you rob us!"
screamed Alebeji. He drew the dagger from his belt and charged
toward Jacob, who stood frozen in place. A second before he
reached Jacob, his quavering legs gave out and he fell to the
ground, clutching the blade in his hand.

"You will die!" he shrieked. Jacob watched in awe as Alebeji
attempted to crawl toward him, violently stabbing the knife into
the sand at each failure.

The bearded man who had been watching everything from the
tent's entrance, now collapsed to his knees. Jacob stood
dumbfounded, in shock over what had just transpired. In a
moment, his head cleared and he realized that Alebeji was no
longer moving. Leaning over him, Jacob removed the knife from
Alebeji's tightly clenched fist by prying each finger open.
Carefully, he placed the naked blade inside the sash of his own
robe.

A deep groan came from the front of the tent.

"Help . . .me."

Jacob moved over to the bearded man and helped him lie down on
his back. Both his eyes were swollen and filled with sand.
Jacob left him to search the saddle packs, which were scattered
around the immediate area, buried beneath the sand. After some
time, he found a small half-empty flask of whiskey. Ripping a
bit of cloth from his robe, he began to treat the open wounds of
the bearded man, who never uttered a word.

The sun rose higher in the sky, and Jacob began to feel dizzy
and weak. Crawling over to the packs, he looked for anything he
might have missed. Nothing. He was about to turn away when he
spied the small pouch he had found earlier. Examining it
closer, he discovered the knife was gone. He grabbed for his
dagger but it was too late. He felt a sharp burning sensation
in his lower back. At first the pain was great, but then a
strange warmth filled his insides. He fell forward onto the
sand and shut his eyes.


The morning air was cool with a hint of smoke. Jacob opened
his eyes to a pool of blood. He was deadly cold, his lower back
stiff with pain. Moving his eyes about, he watched as a black
plume of smoke rose up into the bleak sky, and dissipated. With
difficulty he turned his head to the other side. There, beside
Alebeji, sat the bearded man. In one hand he held a knife
drenched in blood, and in the other a piece of meat. Bringing
it to his mouth, he began to tear it apart with his teeth.

He turned and watched Jacob, a wild and feral look in his eyes.
His beard was painted in red streaks and his teeth carried a
charred film. And as a solitary strand of smoke rose from the
open carcass beside him, carrying the odor of burnt flesh, Jacob
saw his impending fate staring back at him.

END

COPYRIGHT (C) 1994 JAMES G. STOLICH
HOLDS U.S. COPYRIGHT TXu 599 285
 
To the best of our knowledge, the text on this page may be freely reproduced and distributed.
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