Wind in the Hands (21 page)

“Thank you! You know herbs really well. Can I go now? I have so much energy.”

He approached the side of the cave, looked at the sky, silently moved his lips, listened to something and pronounced: “We will go together. If you want to be with him, you’ll have to go the way of death. Are you ready?”

“I don’t see any sense in my life without him,” and she told how she had met the Stranger.

The old man listened to her attentively, nodded and lay down on the sheepskin. The Bird looked at the lights of the clay lamp for a long time. She felt so cozy and protected inside the cave that the tears of tenderness welled in her eyes. With all that, she was a little afraid of the Hermit, the very look of which resembled the ancient prophets from the works of great painters. From time to time he threw a glance at her and shook his head with disapproval.

It seemed to the girl that his sharp eyes reflecting the little sparks of fire reached the deepest parts of her heart. She smiled guiltily looking by steal at the old man.

“May I ask you a question?” the girl started. The old man nodded propitiously. “Why hasn’t he taken me with him? And has given them the diamond?”

“He could not do other than he did. The Stranger has embarked on the course of war, and to survive he needs the armor of purity. Heaven welcomes mercy and kindness. But probably you will also help him in need,” the Hermit was silent for a little while. “He had three stones: a carbuncle, a sapphire and a diamond. I found them in a hiding place in one of the caves and made him promise he would not give the stones to the governors and would use them only to save lives. He gave away the carbuncle when he needed to buy out his companion captured by the rebels. The sapphire was for his ex-wife to take care of herself and the children. And the diamond, his last stone, was for you. But when the misfortune came they betrayed him: according to the testament of the saved friend, the Stranger was accused of the concealment of ancient manuscripts, and his wife showed the secret places where he had hidden the scriptures. The precious stones were wasted on the wrong people. Stand up, woman, it’s time to go.”

Chapter 32. The eastern direction

The Soldier slept nervously and keenly. He saw the Prophet in his dream.

“Your friend needs your help. We need to meet. I am sitting at your entrance. Get up.” The Soldier woke up, opened his eyes as he heard the loud and distinct voice. He went into the bathroom, washed his face with cold water. “That is insane”, he thought, totally waking up and looking into the entryway. He became weak in his knees: there was the Seer sitting on the steps. He put the finger to his lips and whispered, “Let’s go. We can’t talk here.”

The Soldier gathered everything quickly. While leaving the entrance, the Seer nodded to the van parked nearby:

“There are agents. Sleeping soundly,” and the Seer threw the keys to his companion. “Take the wheel. I don’t like driving.”

Starting the car and taking off slowly, the Soldier shook his head few times, as if throwing off the stupor.

When the oppressive silence reached its peaks, the Seer decided to give the explanations:

“I am not against the Stranger. Remember this. He asked me to help you. For I know, what you have in mind, but you are wrong. The agents showed you wrong direction. We are going to the Silencers’ desert now and we will find the Stranger there. Do you believe it?”

The Soldier gave a nod. The most important is to find him and then act according to the circumstances.

“Tell me, what has happened to you.”

The Soldier took a breath and started from the very beginning. The Prophet was listening very attentively without interrupting, but he asked to tell about the conflict with the criminals in all the details. He tried to see the last events in the eyes of the Soldier.

“What’s this fire?” suddenly, the Seer interrupted his narration.

“What fire?” the Soldier looked both sides in surprise.

“You saw the flame, lots of black smoke. You didn’t tell about it,” the Seer seemed to be looking at an unseen screen.

“Yes. That’s right. There was a fire, it was some factory burning, I think. How is it connected?”

“I don’t know yet. Did the Stranger look at the fire?”

“I think he did.”

“Did he strike the criminals with the words?”

“Yes. It’s not hypnosis, was it?” the Soldier didn’t want to believe the agents.

“No, it wasn’t the hypnosis. It was something different. Let’s say for now it was some miracle,” the Seer named as a miracle the phenomenon that modern science couldn’t find explanation to so far due to the lack of scientific experience and knowledge. “No, not hypnosis. It was something else.”

“Then what was it?”

“Probably, it was the discharge of directed energy,” said the Seer slowly.

He had no doubts any more that this fire has somehow helped the strength to come out.

“The Stranger needs inspiration, or impulse to open himself for this energy,” the Seer made this conclusion. “But it’s hard to understand this occurrence that doesn’t have any analogy, at least in my practice.” Anyway, he came close to the solution of the origin of this mysterious power that the Stranger calls as the Wind.

They reached the Silencers’ desert by the morning, passing the block stations. The Seer impressed the soldiers and the officers with the thought that it a high military rank passing by and they let the van go without any problem. Only at the last block station, one captain was very insisting asking to provide escort for them, arguing that they can’t approach the closed zone with the battles going on to liquidate the terrorists. The Seer had to “show” armored troop carrier that was waiting for them in a few dozens of meters. Pointing to the huge stone, he sent the captain the contours of a battle ship, hardly knowing himself how it should look like. The captain looked at the rock for a long time in total amazement and even tried to come closer to see the new miracle of engineering. The Seer could hardly calm down the zealous soldier. The officer softened, saluted and wished a good trip.

The Seer left the van, stretching the numb muscles, breathed the dry air of the desert tiredly, he hadn’t worked that hard for a long time. He looked into the horizon, reached his hand in eastern direction,

“The Stranger is there. Something is going on. There is haze over the city. It’s a trouble. It’s a huge trouble for the City.”

“It’s dangerous. It’s very dangerous,” the Soldier forced a smile.

“Maybe let’s go back?” offered the Seer and gave him a keenly look.

“No. I am ok. I am not afraid; I just feel that there is danger ahead.”

“Get some rest. I will drive.”

In an hour and a half of driving slowly, the Seer stopped the car.

“The van can’t go further, and I can’t. I will be waiting for you here. Persuade the Stranger to come back. I will find a way to send you to the City. You will cross the hills and go to the highest mountain, you will see him there.”

“Tell me, will we survive?” the Soldier saw only death ahead, but after finding out about a backup, calmed down a little.

The Seer looked wearily at him.

“A wrong question has the wrong answer. Go there and persuade him to come back. If you can’t persuade, come back alone. Do you understand me? Do you understand it well enough?” he asked with some pressure in his voice.

The Soldier nodded and hastened to the hills. His body treacherously trembled, but he walked further, biting on his lips. The danger sensor beeped nonstop, the increasing fear bound his feet, weakened his hands and shadowed his mind. The Soldier gathered his strength in his fist. He started to run, he wanted to shout loudly but mostly he had a desire to hind, dig into the sand, hide himself in a crack, narrow his eyes.

Only not to be walking forward: to meet his death.

Chapter 33. The tunnel of death

The rumor that there is a stranger has spread around quickly, the warriors of the desert and the followers of the other war religious orders drew up to the tunnel. The Stranger was sitting on a stone. There were about a few dozens of people, lying around him, calmly but with the weapons in their hands. The Stranger spoke quietly and smoothly, not like other preachers who are skilled to transfer from angrily shouts to a whisper, from curses to tears.

“Brothers, the time of horror and fear comes, the time of troubles and diseases. The time when people lose their heavily protection and become the booty of the Alien people, who know no mercy or compassion, the people that you can’t stand against. We will rush to appeal to the Heaven, but it won’t listen to us, for we refused His Voice at a certain point. We killed innocent, shed blood as if it was mere water, indulged in lust and nasty things. We chose our god: Money; but this god has no power when the trouble comes. The real God, the Lord of life, we refused him, killed his servants and chased him away. The Prince, who brought us all a hope, was killed and his testament was trampled. And now the time of the court and justice comes and this is the time of sorrow. But God is merciful. We will repent, while we are alive and, probably, He will have mercy on us, He will give us protection and will accept us in His dwelling place.”

The warriors silently listened to him. Some of them nodded as if agreeing with him.

“I see you know what you are talking about,” the elder of the community turned to him, “and there is a power in you. But are you ready to pass our trial? Can you pass through the death tunnel?”

“Why test the power of somebody else and endanger each other?” the Stranger tried to persuade them. “Are you searching for a sign? You are searching for a sign because your hearts are silent, your eyes are blind and that’s why you turn to the ancient books and look through somebody’s eyes.”

“The ancient books are the revelation and teaching to the future generations. Isn’t it so?” objected the elder.

“The ancient books are the experience of the ancient’s and it’s very useful for us, I don’t deny this. But can a man become full just by reading cookery recipes? The revelations are directions but not the final destination. Learn God, be sincere and kind and then He will be opened to you, He will protect and lead you by your hand. You don’t understand the prophecy about the ‘entrance’ and ‘exit’ correctly.

You expose the dreamers who think that they are prophets to a death danger. It is not right. The Prince would never have something like that in his mind.”

“So we will check if God leads you by your hand or you are just pulling the wool over our eyes. If you survive, we’ll believe you. You die, and we will pray for you. It’s doesn’t matter if we understand the prophecy correctly or not. The tunnel like life is full of traps: you can’t remove them but you can avoid them. You speak very well. It’s impressive but can you do more than just speak? We don’t trust the words. I repeat: if sent by the Prince, you’ll escape unhurt, but if you are a mere dreamer, then the tunnel will become your grave. A man, who sincerely thinks he is a prophet, but who isn’t a real one, is a false prophet and he has to die. ”

“Has anyone ever tried to go through the tunnel?” asked the Stranger. He understood that it’s impossible to persuade people that trust only in their signs and codes.

“After we have explained that this place is mined nobody even tried. You said that you are sent by the Prince. Don’t refuse your words. You saw our faces, you know the place, you can’t just leave,” the elder looked at his weapon with some meaning.

The Stranger felt his throat squeezed, he felt fear: there is no way back.

“I can’t show my fear to this people. They are like predators: as soon as they feel the blood, nothing can stop them. As soon as they feel the fear, they will get into a fight. The only law of theirs is the strength. I need the Wind so much but my fear doesn’t let it come. I do need the Power!” he prayed and tried to remember: “The sword of truth is in my hands.” A slight hope showed up, he listened: no, wrong code. Suddenly the Stranger remembered the desert and the three travelers… and felt the Wind blowing. “The Alien people! I have to hold it. I will not be afraid and I will be protected.”

The Wind grew stronger. “It’s time!” decided the Stranger.

“Warriors of the desert!” he exclaimed. “You have overtaken the authority that you weren’t given, and you will be responsible for that. I am not afraid of you, His Power is with me. Your weapons have no strength; your hands will not be able to hold them. I will pass through the tunnel and after that you will bury your weapons deep inside the send and will go to the Hermit, the man of peace and kindness, for your weapons have no use in the upcoming war and it will only lead to destruction. You will want to buy off but the money will become like sand in the desert. You think that your faith will save you and that God will not leave you? But you are not protecting the faith. It can’t be protected by mines and tortures. You say that you are the only ones who have the truth? Is it in the desert? But is the truth just saline land and thorns, rocks and sands? Isn’t it everywhere, and mostly in our souls? You say that fasting and washing away cleanse our souls. But can famine and water cleanse the heart? Fashionable models exhaust themselves by hunger, prostitutes soak in bathtubs and Jacuzzi but this doesn’t make them righteous. You say that you have seen miracles in this desert? May be, I won’t argue. But what is a miracle? A rare phenomenon? You had the honor to be in a special zone, and you, leaning on your weapon are telling about your anointment? A man, who has lived his whole life in a grotto, who is used to cold stones, darkness and who comes out to the light and sees the sun…will he be surprised by its qualities. But this is only in the beginning because later on he will get adjusted to this just like you got adjusted to the desert and its miracles…”

When seeing the Stranger surrounded by warriors, the Soldier took a few seconds to slap himself on his chest, shoulders and belt: it was a mere reflex in front of armed people, but he didn’t even have a knife with him. He fell flat on the ground and looked into the sky.

May be there is still some hope, and the miracle will happen again and they will come out of this alive. He raised himself and slowly came down the hill and as soon as he stepped on an open area, the warriors have taken aim at him.