Tears in the desert
31
JUL/20
Paulu looked down at the body lying crumpled on the ground with a look of horror, tears streaming down her face as the weight of the loss pulled her to her knees. Kobra Kai, the young and brash and utterly fearless monk, lay there, unnaturally still; his dark eyes staring vacantly up at the moonlit sky, gazing sightlessly into the eternal beyond. She closed his staring eyes and cradled his head in her lap and she cried – and not just for Kai, she realized as the tears streamed down her face; for once the gates were opened, she was finally able to release the flood of tears that she had been holding back for all those who had fallen before him.
There had been so many losses of late, and there simply hadn’t been time to properly mourn for them: brave Ayassa who died trying to buy time for her children to escape the mighty land shark that had hounded them for days; little Akima with the bright green eyes and heart shaped birthmark on her cheek; the twins, Jamas and Erelm, always the practical jokers; Inrig, the kindly scout and hunter who had saved her life a half dozen times with his prowess with the bow; Silani, her husband and father to their children…the enormity of his loss she had still not fully absorbed, as each morning she turned to look for him as soon as she awoke; his absence providing the cold reminder that she would never see him again in this life; and sweet Selise…no, Selise was not lost. Gone, yes; but Paulu knew deep in her heart that her beloved daughter was not dead. Something had snatched her and Agis up in the night, leaving no track or trace, but she yet lived. She just had to.
She hadn’t even had time to process the disappearance of her daughter. They had searched everywhere for Agis and Selise, but they were both just gone. Was Oni correct in his distrust of Agis? Was the aged tribal leader behind the disappearance of his sister? None of it made sense. Selise had left her bags behind, and her tracks melded with Agis’ and they had disappeared into nothingness – in much the same way that the Stranger had appeared to them, Paulu had realized. Perhaps He was behind all of this somehow, she thought, shooting Mar’iya a dark look to where he crouched upon the boulder over her head, staring up at the night sky; always apart and above. Paulu shook murderous thoughts from her head. No, she would see her daughter again – of that, she was sure. And then they would get to the bottom of what had happened and find out who needed to pay.
She looked down at the face cradled in her arms, and she reflected back on Kai’s life. A faint smile cracked through her mask of sorrow as she remembered back to when she and Silani stood watching and laughing as baby Kai, barely able to walk on two feet, attempted to mirror Oni as he practiced his katas; his chubby legs giving out beneath him as he emulated a high kick, and falling on his butt in the sand. But he never cried. With a look of pure determination on his cherubic face, he would always get back up and try again. And he had really come into his own in the past weeks. There had been so many trials and tribulations: the Thri-Kreen hunters; spider swarms; creepy sand creatures; the giant purple worm. As they faced each of these battles, Kai’s prowess and competence grew with leaps and bounds; and with them, his self-confidence blossomed as well.
When the Dust Diggers had burst out of the ground in the center of their camp, Kobra was all confidence and swagger as he waded into their midst. It was a joy to watch him fight; he moved with the grace of a dancer and the lethality of the serpent that bore his name. After each creature he dispatched, Paulu noticed that Kai always shot a glance up at Oni to make sure that his mentor had witnessed it as well, flashing him a rakish smile. He was looking up at Oni when the last Dust Digger burst forth from the ground beneath him. Kai looked startled, but regained his composure quickly; beckoning to the creature with his upraised palm. “Come at me,” the gesture said, and the creature complied. The ground beneath Kai shifted and surged as the creature bowled forward, and Kai lost his balance for an instant as his footing failed him. In that briefest of moments, the creature attacked…the sound of the bite still echoed in Paulu’s ears. The young monk collapsed without a word, taking with him all the hope and promise that he had carried with him.
It took them several hours to dig out the grave and place the young monk in the ground. It seemed so surreal to see such a calm and placid expression on a face that was normally so vibrant and joyous. That serene countenance just added to the unnaturalness of the whole event. Rain gave a moving eulogy and poured precious water over the crude cairn they had constructed over his body, but Paulu was lost in thought and staring down at her ruined hand. For all of their successes, each defeat set them back so much further. They could survive five battles without a loss, and then lose a single life in the next, and they were that much weaker for it. They were waging a war of attrition, and without security and stability the harsh desert would eventually whittle them down to nothingness.
Paulu sighed dejectedly at the thought, and wiped the dried tears from her cheeks – she could cry no more today. As the water splashed down over the burial stones, Paulu led the tribe in an ancient prayer for the dead:
From dust we come, and to dust we shall flow.
As blood and water rain upon sand
May ten eyes not notice you, whence you go
As you depart this hurtful land
A life well-lived, this we do know,
Entreat you take Death’s waiting hand
Let Him shepherd you past verdant shore;
Where the waters of life flow free.
And may The Lady miss you, and Five Heads snore,
And let Jonna to secret you to the Giving Tree,
To wait out the eternal and suffer no more,
And beckon your Loves in time join thee.