LITMIR.BIZ

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was no longer able to hide her condition beneath the flowing desert robes; and a treacherous maid betrayed her to her father. I learned later that he had already seen her growing popularity with the desert people as a threat to his power, fearing she would win with kindness the loyalty he had failed to win with ruthlessness and cruelty. Yet he dared not inflame his people by appearing unkind to the girl they loved. When he discovered her union with this seemingly destitute nomad, he determined to use it as an excuse to purge himself of the girl forever.

      At the same time, however, he was wary of the strange man she had met. Once he became aware of the affair, he sent agents to distant places to learn all they could of the sorcerer and from whence he had sprung. At last, after two months of searching, the agents returned and told the chief how the man who had stolen the girl’s heart was a sorcerer, one from a long dynasty of ancient mystics. They also warned the chief that the sorcerer was a powerful man who could control the wind and conjure up fire and all kinds of evil to confuse and terrify the tribespeople. The chief knew then that he had to exercise extreme caution, or he risked losing his position as ruler to the girl and her strange lover.

      The agents advised the chief that it would be best to seize the sorcerer during the night as he slept with the girl in his tent by the well. They had discovered that if the sorcerer were overpowered quickly and had his eyes covered, he would be unable to use his awesome powers. Now at last the chief had a way of dealing with his unwanted daughter. He would convince his people that the girl was a witch who had betrayed them, that she consorted with evil, and the child she bore would bring suffering and peril to the desert tribes. And so he sent his agents out into the streets of the oasis and into the deep desert to spread stories of the girl’s evil union with a sorcerer from a distant land, warning that a foreign army would invade and pillage their oasis if the girl and the sorcerer were not destroyed. Once the word had spread, the chief decreed that the only hope the people had of escaping this dark invasion was for the girl, the sorcerer, and the child to be burned in a huge fire inside the grounds of his palace.

      In hindsight, I wish we had learned more of these evil plans earlier. But we had very little contact outside the small group we had come to know near the well, and my friend and his new love were totally engrossed in one another.

      To my shame, I always slept deeply in the desert heat; and so on the night when the chief put his diabolial plan into action, I was completely unaware of the evil that was about to transpire. It was in the dead of night when I finally awoke, too late to do anything but watch as the sorcerer was dragged away. His eyes were covered by a dark cloth to prevent him from using his powers, and his hands were bound firmly behind his back. He and the now very pregnant girl were thrown into the stone jail that stood behind the great castle: there they would remain until the child was born.

      Only then did the people tell me what the ruler had decreed. Exactly one week after the child was born, it, along with its father and mother, would be thrown into the fire during a celebration put on especially for the occasion by the desert chief.

      As I watched these events unfold around me, I cursed myself for my helplessness. While I excused my behaviour by rationalising that I knew little of the language, I had already been reluctant to leave Brengazi before his objectives were achieved. Now that his troubles had multipled, I knew I had to help him in any way I could.

      I began planning at once. I knew the couple would be safe until the birth of the child, because the desert chief believed that the child needed to be born before it could be destroyed along with its parents. First I used all the gold in my possession and the few precious stones left in my care by the sorcerer to put together a caravan of camels and supplies to aid their escape. Despite my problems with the local language, I eventually managed to recruit from the kindly desert folk a hundred willing supporters who were outraged by the plight of their princess. At last my spies told me the child had been born, that it was a boy, and that the date of the execution had been set for one week later, on a night when there would be no moon.

      On the night set for the execution I rallied my followers and mingled with the huge crowd until we could get close to the prisoners, who were being held near the towering fire. Even today I can still feel the waves of heat from that blaze and see the great flames leaping towards the dark sky and casting ghostly shadows about the palm trees; and I see anew the terrible bloodlust that had seized the crowd as they chanted and roared and pressed near the great fire.

      When we felt the time was right, we attacked, quickly striking down the guards and freeing first the sorcerer. He blinked wildly in the firelight when his eyes were uncovered, the brightness momentarily blinding him, but then he then raised his arms as he stared into the eyes of the soldiers who surged forward to recapture their charges. They yelled and fell back in fear; seeing a violent desert storm sweep through the oasis and hundreds of wriggling snakes falling from the date palms. We seized the opportunity to surge forward again and seize the child.

      Alas, we were too late to save the princess, who had been thrown into the fire by one of the guards before my men could reach her. She died quickly and silently in the flames as the sorcerer called out her name in hopeless despair. In the confusion that now filled the castle grounds, we gathered up the heartbroken sorcerer and the child and fled into the night. As planned, we quickly assembled behind some palm trees before breaking up into six small caravans and sneaking off into the desert in as many different directions.

      After we had fled the oasis, a kindly woman who was part of our caravan and who had recently lost her own baby agreed to act as a wetnurse for the infant during the several weeks we expected to spend in the desert. My heart went out to Brengazi who mourned the loss of the woman he had loved, but at least he knew the child was safe for now and that his destiny was being realised. He often wondered what had become of the other groups who had fled the oasis, but I urged him to drive the thought from his mind. We both knew without saying that anyone caught by the soldiers of the evil chief would have been slaughtered without mercy.

      * * *

      At last we reached the dock, and I felt a sudden surge of fear pass through me because I knew we were still in great danger. The desert chief would not hesitate to use all of his resources to track us down in order to save face with his people. I knew I would not rest easy until we were on one of the ships and well clear of this harsh and unruly land, so I quickly set about negotiating with some traders to sell the camel caravan, dispersing the animals amongst the traders to hide any evidence of our presence from our enemy.

      Brengazi had taken my advice. He would flee this dark land and come with me to the new world where he could put his powers to good use. After rewarding our supporters, I used the balance of the proceeds to buy passage on one of the tall ships for the sorcerer, the child, and myself. I also bought passage for the wetnurse, who was willing to come along to ensure the child’s survival so long as she could rejoin her people later. The tribesmen who had helped us escape swore that they would one day return to the desert, drive the evil chief from power, and avenge the loss of their princess; but I will never know if they were successful in their quest.

      At dawn the next day the tall ships set sail for the new land with all four of us on board. Immediately my spirits rose as we watched the barren hills of that desert land recede into the distance. The wish of the sorcerer’s dead father had been realised in his son’s union with the white princess, and in the child who would one day grow up with the combined powers of the sorcerer and the girl. For the first time since we had met, Brengazi became very excited at the prospect of finally being able to use his powers for good purposes in new lands, and he was already making plans to travel widely as his son grew and developed his own powers. As we travelled, he asked me to record the things I had seen so far so there would be a permanent record of our adventures together; and he also begged me to care for his son if he should come to some unfortunate end himself. He wanted to be sure there would be someone available to nurture the child and tell him of his beginnings and his destiny to perform good deeds. To this I agreed.

      The journey to the new world would take several months, and the tall ships frequently had to brave bad weather and high seas, as well as the constant risk of meeting hostile vessels. Three months into the journey my greatest fear was realised, when we were suddenly set upon by a huge band of pirates in three longboats. Attacking from the rear, they quickly

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