Eternal Love (MewGulf AU)

🌻Chapter 13

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Gulf struggled to shake off these cowardly thoughts, his head swinging back and forth on top of the horse.

That was when he saw it. In the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a faint, sandy cloud rising from the desert. A jeep was coming towards him from up ahead.

Gulf shouted and urged the horse towards it. The jeep stopped. As he climbed off the horse and ran up beside the jeep, the window lowered. A middle-aged man wearing a green checked keffiyeh sat in the driver's seat.

"Thank you," he croaked.

"What happened?" the driver asked.

The man in the passenger seat had a magnificent beard that trailed down to his chest. It was hard to tell his age, but many deep wrinkles cut across his forehead.

These two men were clearly not tourists.

"I came out to sightsee, but I got lost," Gulf lied.

"Alone? Without any supplies?" The two stared at him in amazement.

"Yes," he answered. "I underestimated the desert. I guess I just thought there would be lots of other tourists around."

The bearded man whispered something to the driver. They had a thick accent and he couldn't understand what they said.

But the bearded man said exactly what Gulf had hoped he would, "We'll take you to the city. Get in."

"Do you have any water?" he inquired before getting inside the vehicle.

His throat was so dry it was getting hard to remain standing, and his mouth tasted gritty.

"Oh, I'm sorry. We weren't thinking."

The bearded man handed him a plastic bottle of water. Gulf took it with shaking hands and gulped it down eagerly. Cool water had never tasted so delicious sliding down his throat.

"Hop in," the driver said.

"Right," Gulf replied. But he suddenly realized that he hadn't thoughg about what would happen to the horse. He couldn't just abandon it in the middle of the desert.

"That's a nice horse," the bearded man said. "Duraid, you ride the horse back."

"Duraid?" Gulf echoed.

The man named Duraid got out of the driver's sear. Gulf was nearly delirious with gratitude that they were willing to take the horse back to town.

The name Duraid means someone who has missing teeth, or no teeth at all, but this man was only missing one of his front teeth.

"Thank you so much." Gulf gave the horse to Duraid. He was relieved that he could still smile.

The bearded man moved to the driver's seat and Gulf took the passenger's side. He knew this could be dangerous. He wasn't sure if he could completely trust these men, but he decided that it was much more dangerous to be wandering around in the desert. It was a necessary risk.

The bearded man was named Kadim.

The jeep slowly began moving, Duraid following close behind them. The horse showed no signs of fatigue, despite having run so far already.

"You saved my life. I was afraid that if I didn't find my way back to town, my tour group would have all kinds of problem," Gulf said, hinting that there were people who would notice if something happened to him.

Kadim nodded. "Where are you from?"

The jeep shook with terrifying fervor.

"Thailand," Gulf replied affably, his back held rigid in an effort to keep from falling over.

"Thailand!" Kadim exclaimed. "You're far from home."

Judging by his mild manner and speaking style, Kadim was about as old as Gulf's parents. His hoarse voice suited the image of a desert dweller.

"Yes," Gulf said dryly.

"It must be a nice country," Kadim remarked. "I met another Thai fellow along time ago, and he was nice, too."

The man looked unfriendly, but he liked foreigners. You couldn't tell their conversation lively, but the tone never turned unpleasant.

"Where did you learn Arabic?" Kadim asked. "You speak it well."

Gulf was at a loss on how to answer this question. He had learned Arabic from Mew. It was Mew's native language, so at one time, Gulf haf studied with great interest.

"I taught myself," he lied.

"That's amazing," Kadim narrowed his eyes and stroked his bearded chin. His reaction told Gulf that he had not answered modestly. Boasting was an impure act and so, even if praised, one should always reply meekly.

Through the clouds of sand, Gulf glimpsed a village. It was not Madina. He cast a curious glance at the driver.

"You don't mind if we make a little side trip, do you? We have some pressing business here," Kadim said, keeping his eyes straight ahead.

Gulf couldn't protest. He was the one who had suddenly interrupted Kadim and Duraid's trip. "It's fine, as long as I get back to the hotel while there's still light out."

Kadim nooded with a smile and drove the jeep into the village.

He threaded through a labyrinth of alleyways, surrounded on all sides by stone buildings. The houses were severe, defended by wooden doors, and few people were in the streets. On the porch of one house, a circle of men sat around a water pipe, smoking. They raised their hands to the jeep as it passed and Kadim returned their greeting.

The smell of food mixed with the stink of sewage saturated the air inside the jeep through its open window.

After they had left the houses behind, the view opened up. Dozens of tents were set up in a square, in what appeared to be a market. This place was teeming with men, women, and children.

Gulf was truly taken aback. Madina was a country made rich by oil production. It was famous for the capital city, it's streets lined with luxury hotels and its hospitable desert, traversable in a mere two hours. It was one of the leading tourist destinations in the world. He knew only the glossy images of the country. But this time, he was seeing a totally different side of Madina. It was almost as if he'd wandered into another country.

The jeep passed once more into an alley.

Gulf suddenly realized that he could no longer see Duraid behind them. He started to worry about Mew's horse.

"Um," he was just about to ask Kadim about it when the jeep stopped.

They were outside the biggest building he'd seen so far.

This must be the only district with apartment buildings. The rows of tiny windows told him that it was a three story building. There were metal bars on all windows, and the light of lamps spilled out from inside. Gulf thought it looked extremely shady.

Getting out of the driver's seat, Kadim kindly came around to open the passenger door. Gulf got out of the jeep, still staring up at the building.

"I'll wait here," he said. "I'd hate to interfere your work."

To be honest, he didn't want to go inside such a suspicious looking building but of course he couldn't say that. If he did something to upset Kadim, and by some small chance the man refused to take him further, he wouldn't be able to get to Madina.

Kadim laid his hands in Gulf's back. "You won't interfere. Come with me. We'll have some Arabian coffee."

Gulf felt a chill run down his spine, but he couldn't refuse.

"Well, just one cup," he replied, walking helplessly toward the entrance.

Had he been wrong to get in the car?

TBC