The Oracles of Tomesh [ON HOLD]

11 | Pirates of the Desert

mermeyeh (mer-me-ye) adjective

a devastating event that causes one to lose the ability to think

***

They were cascading down the rough, hot sand wave. Laku, of course, was the loudest. His head bobbed up and down as the waves came stronger and more frequent. Nascha held on to the horses, searching for Tia and found the woman using Kalesch's wrapped body as a board to keep herself afloat.

She saw it too, the ship. It was magnificent in sunlight, its giant sails stretched as the strong wind impelled it forward. Toward them. Yet there was no time to marvel because they were drowning without water. And if they could not swim out of the way, they'd die.

Nascha was buried from the waist down. Tia was still on top of Kalesch's body. But Laku could barely stretch his neck long enough with each passing wave. Even the horses were doing better than him. "Don't move too much!" she shouted, frustrated and afraid. For someone who boasted about his dancing skills days ago, he could not harmonize with the waves.

"I'm trying!" he shouted back. At least his eyes were closed against the harsh sand wind.

He won't make it, Nascha thought. But this was not where he was supposed to die. But it looks like he's dying. Her heart stopped when his head went under and never emerged, and she shouted, "Kalesch!"

"Get to shore!" Tia shouted.

"What shore!" she shouted back angrily. How could the woman use Kalesch's body like a boat?

"You know what I mean!"

Nascha's mind reeled. She had to let go of the horses and swim away from the path of the approaching ship. Making up her mind, she let go of the horses and scrambled over the abrasive waves to search for Laku. Tia was doing well with Kalesch's body and Nascha thought that if they ever survived this, she would not let the woman near her rayeshka again—both body and soul. And speaking of the soul, it was drowning somewhere.

She had to save Laku. But where was he? "Laku!" she shouted as another wave sent her on top. Before it rolled down, she bent to her hips, balancing herself, surfing the waves. "Laku!"

There was nothing but three horses neighing toward safety; nothing but Tia surfing away over the waves atop a wrapped body.

There's nothing until...

One of the tents knocked her over, and she tumbled, rolling on moving sand. And then she was drowning. She was now one of the millions of sands rolling up and down, up and down. Which way was up? Which way was down? She could not tell.

The worst part was emerging, only to be buried again. If she ever emerged, Nascha was not sure if she could survive the injuries. Her body felt like being lashed and squeezed everywhere. Unlike water, this mass of sand was solid. Loose, but solid. Each tumble tugged at her limbs, each roll twisting her in all places, each rise and fall felt like the desert wanted to eat her, grasping every part of her it could.

But then something wrapped around her. Something more solid. Something more desperate.

Something not sand.

"Get up!" she heard him say. "Nascha, get up!"

Then a pull. A painful one. And she was on the surface again, coughing out sand, choking on it. "Focus!"

She realized Laku was holding her up from behind. "Brace!" he shouted just before the wave rolled down. "Wait... wait," he said, then, "Run!"

They ran as far as they could before another wave took them high.