R.B.R. BARRETO
...It is said to be a place where the four winds gather when they stop blowing.
The small caravan, now made up of three camels, two horses and two men, continued its journey breaking through the desert towards an east that seemed increasingly distant. They walked for two days in a row, under a scorching sun, stopping only for small meals and a few hours of sleep. At the end of the second day, the desert turned new colors as if foreshadowing something different. The sun was almost setting and the stuffy air increased the feeling of drowsiness and tiredness. Kadir covered the ground with his little rug and went to pray. Randú imitated him , putting his face to the ground and trying to repeat and memorize the words spoken by the young sheikh. Upon concluding his prayers, Kadir stood up, looked at the horizon, took a long sigh and exclaimed:
– May Allah allow us to find an oasis soon. The water is running out, we need a shower and I need to rest on cooler ground.
He turned to his companion, who at this point had also stood up and was wiping the excess sand off his knees and face.
– Where is your prayer rug?
– I must have lost it, sir. – He stammered a little confused, and then added – But, I learned from Mr. Balam that there is no better prayer rug than the earth itself...
- Hmm!!! – exclaimed Kadir thoughtfully – this suits him. Although he didn't tell me anything of that nature.
– He may not have said it – continued the young man – but you must have observed that this was how he prayed.
The young prince stood in awe – the young man was he right. Then he spoke out loud:
– Shall we stop here today? – The air is heavy. I feel very tired and sore. You must be exhausted too, and besides, we need to spare the animals. I don't know much about the desert, but I think there's a big storm coming...
Sometimes in the desert, time passes so slowly that everything seems to happen inside an hourglass, and the solitary traveler feels like a grain of sand dragged in an endless whirlpool. The horizon is all the same and only the sun's rays and stars give any direction on the paths. Every desert creature knows how to recognize the signs of when night comes, where the wind blows from and which way the dunes move. They know it by smell, noise and even silence. The desert is a place of great silence and many stories and legends.
One of these legends speaks of the existence of the cave of the winds. It is said to be a place where the four winds gather when they stop blowing. This cave is guarded by an old woman who has lost count of her days on earth. Old, so old that her hair extends past her feet and drags like a dirty veil over the gray floor of the cave. Her role is to watch over the rest of the winds and wake them up for the mission of blowing around the world. One day, at the beginning of time, the lady awakened the east wind and summoned it in all its wrath. He gathered his forces and set out over the desert forming a huge monsoon. When the east wind blows, day turns to night, the sands move so quickly that they bury cities and caravans. In the story that is told in the desert, when the east wind broke loose for the first time, it attacked the region of the Sabeans and buried the entire country of Sheba, with its riches, wisdom and mysteries. Not a single record of this evolved civilization was ever found again. The country's inhabitants and their fantastic treasures, as well as their queen Belkss, who enchanted King Solomon, have become legends.
The strength of the winds has always terrorized the desert and taught it hard lessons. The people of the sand know that when the monsoons blow, it is only possible to survive with the unity of the entire tribe and their animals. Men, horses and camels form a chain of strength to face the wind and continue their lives after the storm. Still, stories of lost caravans and completely buried cities and tribes continue to be told.
That's why Kadir was so apprehensive when he noticed the air getting heavier and the animals moving in fear. There wasn't a single breeze blowing and there wasn't a single sound. This caused a very strange feeling. It seemed as if the monsoon wind had been released once more and he was silently preparing his army of jhins for the final attack. Aisha had a bad feeling and quickly began to collect some belongings and the tiny tent.
Always before a big storm there is a pause in the sky, a great silence. Then you hear the noise coming like millions of wolves howling at the same time. Kadir and Aisha felt the silence and then the strange noise caught their attention. They turned to the left side where the sun was setting and saw something gigantic and frightening moving in the distance. Neither of them had experience in a situation like that, but, as children of the desert, they had already heard about what terrified travelers most – sandstorms. The animals were restless and, if the rope that held them together hadn't been tied so well by old Abdul, they would have already stampeded.
Remembering his grandfather, Kadir also remembered his warnings:
– Let's put these animals lying on the ground – he shouted to Randú.
– Sir – recommended the young pilmgrim – let's move away from the dunes. It can be more dangerous.
Kadir was inexperienced, but he realized that there was reason in the Randu's warnings. They had to make great efforts to move the animals away from where they were and force them to lie down on the ground. He remembered the camel fat that his grandfather had given him. He rubbed a small amount into his eyes and also offered it to Randú, who did the same. There was no time for any other measures. The storm reached them with incredible ferocity. They settled down next to the animals trying to protect the belongings they had managed to gather, but they were unable to save the cabin. They covered themselves with their tunics and snuggled next to the camels. Terrified, the animals remained quiet. The roar of the wind was thunderous and frightening. The sand hit them through the fabric with which they covered themselves.
– We are going to be buried – thought Kadir – may Allah protect us!
He noticed that his companion remained curled up beside him without even making a movement. The poor guy must have been terrified. The desert was trying to kill him for the second time.
The moment he feels covered by the sand, the first feeling is one of enormous terror. But both men and animals know that there is nothing they can do in this case. The best way is to protect yourself, pray that you don't run out of air and stay as quiet as possible. Kadir gave his soul to Allah several times, in just a few minutes, lamenting the miserable death that was looming. Would Paradise also be open to reckless souls who go in search of adventure without due care? He was sure that the jhins who guarded the Gates of Paradise would look deep into his soul and see that he had died without any act of bravery, without any burst of holiness and without any knowledge that would guarantee him entry into any of the seven heavens.
He did a brief examination of conscience and concluded that the only good thing he had done in life was to help the poor boy who now accompanied him on the threshold of death. He searched his memory insistently and didn't really see anything else of use. Perhaps, just a gesture of support that he dedicated tor a little gypsy girl injured in a fall, which he remembered very vaguely, and the small services he had provided to Balam. These, however, would count for very little because they were driven by the interest in being close to the master and learningwith him. As incredible as it may seem at this moment, the thing that most comforted his soul was not the proximity of Paradise but the certainty of the love that his grandfather had for him. The memory of old Abdul gave him a little more strength to bear the suffocating weight of the sand. He felt tears on his face as he remembered the old sheikh's distant wave that now seemed like a blessing. A mixture of memories and a sense of loss tormented his soul more than the sand on his body.
Being buried in the sand, whether for a second or a lifetime, feels like death. The enormous weight sends deep pain through the body and it is impossible to breathe. Kadir began to feel that consciousness was failing him as the lights of hope began to dim. Life seems to fade away when darkness takes over the soul. His soul was already withdrawing into unfathomable regions when, suddenly, he felt himself being pulled from the sand as if in a forceps delivery, by two arms that looked like iron hooks. Before it fainted for good, Kadir still had time to catch a glimpse, in a confused and feverish way, of the two deep, black eyes that stared at him from inside the blue turban of the desert Tuareg. He was in the hands of the Jhins, he thought. And now? Where would they take him?