The dry, silent winds blew, carrying away the grains of sand and changing the dunes. Amidst it stood a man, his son, and a skeleton on the wide stretch of Dosk. The silence, heat, fear of more venkars, and a talking skeleton gazing at them took a toll on the boy. He stood up, looked at the skeleton and then at his father.
"Father, we must leave at once. We have just a day left, and we have already collected enough, perhaps more."
"We definitely can, if the lord of this barren graveyard permits us to," said the man with a worried look on his face, probably afraid of what action this skeleton would take in response to his son's sudden impudence.
The man looked at his son, then they both looked at the skeleton. The skeleton paused and then laughed loudly, "I just woke up, don't know after when. The next thing I know, I am surrounded by giant worms and now I am being addressed as the lord of this desert. Not a bad start. Let's go then," the skeleton said as he headed towards one of the salkaras and climbed onto the cart attached behind them.
The man and his son looked at each other in disbelief. The very thing they were trying to run from was now a burden on their backs, and they stood there in dismay.
The skeleton said, "I think you mentioned something about being late."
That was true; it was well past midday now, and they had to hurry or they wouldn't make it back to Kenl in time. Although they were hesitant to carry a fire-throwing skeleton along with them, they had no choice.
"Are you coming along?" the boy asked.
"I don't see any good staying in this desert either, not to mention the huge worms from earlier," the skeleton replied.
They were in a state of dread. They were unsure of the consequences of refusing the skeleton and also of the consequences of taking him along. The man, though scared, could not risk it.
"Will you promise us no harm?" the man asked.
"I promise."
"Can you assure?"
The skeleton spoke with a cold tone, "I could have burned you along with those worms a long time ago, yet you stand untouched demanding assurance. I guess that is enough assurance."
"But at most, we can take you just before the outer walls of the city. Beyond that, it would just get us in more trouble. We already have enough."
"Thank you. I am off to some sleep then," the skeleton said as he shifted and arranged some scrap on the cart, making enough room for him to straighten his back. He covered his face with a black cloth to shield against the Assal. The man and the son climbed onto the backs of the salkaras, the boy riding the one with the skeleton at the back and soon enough they left for Kenl.
The boy and the men were silent for most of the time, except for the little noises they gave to the beasts, keeping the communication up to signs only. Under this silence, soon enough the skeleton drifted off to sleep or at least he was pretending to.
("Rashin, can you believe eleven thousand years passed? I feel like that all happened just yesterday.")
("For you, it might have been, but for me, I know what these years were, with your soul sealed, I had no control over this body, and I existed within this dead body of yours. Unable to do anything but observe, slowly as this body of yours rotted, then dumped, then dumped, then dumped until we reached this heap of waste! All this while when you slept I stayed and suffered. What are we anyways now, all your powers are gone, and mine too, thanks to Ashilan's intervention, I was able to save this fire of mine. What are you even going to do now?")
("What is it we've always done, Rashin?" A faint, weary smile followed. "Tell me... what have we ever really done?")
("Drifted, aimlessly.")
("Wandered, without any purpose.")
("Well then let's see some dreams, or perhaps some memories.")
***
The moon was high enough in the sky now, it was a beautiful night, with all the stars and a big bright moon, showering its radiance over the sand. It was cold, the air was cold too. The skeleton slowly woke up, stretched a bit, and sat with his back, taking the support of the cart's side and looking up at the sky, at all those stars. Days are harsh, but nights in these deserts are lovely, the cool dunes stretching across, all silent, except the winds, it was a peaceful experience.
"So both of you are still awake."
"Can't sleep, sir." the man replied.
"I am surprised you didn't toss me off the cart, while I was asleep."
"We rather assumed you were dead again, even so, we would never do that, even poor people have dignity and character."
"How long still?"
"Tomorrow afternoon."
"May I ask something?"
"Go ahead," said the man.
"Judging by those worms, you two were in a dangerous place, why the risk."
"It was not a risk but a necessity." said the boy.
"Necessities such as these are often a man's last resolve. Tell me the night is long, and if it was not for me, both of you would have been their meal, I think I deserve to know this at least."
The boy looked at his father dryly and shook his head. The man broke the silence with a sigh,
"You can say we are rather a ragman, we collect scrap over these barren lands and then sell it over in the capital. But over time, the disposal sites have been monopolized by man and claimed as their own inherited land! Often the ships scatter around stuff, but it's too little and too scarce, hardly enough for survival, and so men like us are forced to either find sites as these in the Dosk, but it's rather too risky as you saw now, and the other way is to then work for these landlords. And that we did, through a reference we got to work under the biggest landlord of Kenl, Halsa. The conditions were to pay a tariff, of the total share we collected each month. And let me tell you, sir, we did, we did pay our tariffs."
The skeleton said, "Where lay the problem then?"
The man looked at the skeleton with wide eyes of agony. "It lies in man's bitter greed."
"Father", the boy's tone was consolidating and calm.
"One day while collecting the scrap my wife found a locket. It was a beautiful one. The pendant was of a royal gold-like element that we had never seen before. It had strange, very sharp, and thin inscribing of some dark purple stone. The bail and clasp were of shining silver, while the chain was black, perfect ivory black, and the hinge was of some green emerald. But that was not all, when we opened the hinge, the three of us stood there in awe, we were enchanted by the beauty of it, inside was a stone, I don't know if I should call it a stone, it was floating in air inside the cavity of the pendant, it was a sphere of golden flowing energy and there were blue rings revolving around it. "
The man had certainly more to say but the skeleton rasped suddenly ,"Where is the locket
now?''
The man and the boy suddenly got shocked but they gathered themselves again, and the boy asked,"Do you know something of the locket."
The skeleton spoke in soft calm tone,"It's mine."
The old man being old and so called of wordly wisdom grew a suspicion at this,"My lord, we just told you of a necklace and now it's yours, how could you assure us."
The skeleton looked at the man with a fierce look and spoke with a hint of rage in his voice,"Oye, old man! Don't you think you are getting too ahead of yourself, and you still haven't answered, where is the locket?
A cold bead of sweat trickled down his temple as he forced down the lump in his throat,"We don't know sir, the locket, my wife hid it before she was captured by the men of Halsa."
The skeleton looked down,"Where is she kept."
"Mother is at the underground dungeon below Halsa's mansion."
"Why was she captured though."
The man said in a worried tone,"We too don't know of that sir, but it seems Halsa somehow got to know about this locket and he demanded this locket from us, but my wife refused him, Halsa promised us enormous amount of money and status, I was eager to let go off the locket but my wife she wouldn't. We discussed it over and over but she was just not ready to let of of the locket, in the end she hid it somewhere, not even letting us know, and then Halsa's men captured us. At last Halsa said,"I will give you one month from now, find me that locket or arrange me 1,000,000 kgs of scrap, or else your wife...". From then we have been searching for the locket and arranging scrap alongside, we worked hard too hard sir, and finally this load we are carrying now is the last one and will add up to the total and my wife will be released."
The skeleton had a serious and thoughtful look now, he looked up at the man and the boy, "Take me along with you to this Halsa."
The men and the boy got really worried look on their faces, finally the boy spoke,"I don't think we can take you along inside the city, and then to Halsa's mansion."
"Why can't you?"
"I hope you haven't realized it by now, but you are a living skeleton, and that too a fire breathing one, if the people of the city or Halsa's men saw you, me and father will be in trouble for sure."
The skeleton looked at above at the night sky, it seems as if he was counting the stars then after a while he spoke,"What kind of man is this Halsa?"
The man gave a hateful response,"He is a greedy and corrupt old swine, he is curse to the city, all he has done is suck the wealth out if the poor. He was also once destitute, but over time he grew in wealth and status and monopolized the major scrape sites."
"A man who rose from nothing to the lord of a capital, he really seems a cunning and manipulative fellow."
"No sir, it's not through his brain he has able to win this all..."
The boy and the man hesitated and finally the boy spoke,"It is said that he too can burn things down just like you, and it is through his fear that he is able to rule over this city of Kenl."
The skeleton amused at this.
("Rashin, an element controller.")
(" No wonder he was able to sense Arselia's soul ember when these people opened the locket.")
("Can you sense it too Rashin?")
("With out current level, we can't do nothing!")
("We have no way but to go the hard way then")
The skeleton then said,"Going with the description of this man Halsa, do you really believe he will release your wife once you offer him the promised price?"
The man said with a puzzled expression,"What do you mean?"
"What I mean is, going by the price, a million kgs of scrap is too much for a month, and it is not to wrong to assume that once he realizes that this is the profit he is gaining by keeping your wife captive, he would certainly ask more. What if instead of releasing your wife he asks for more and more? Greed knows no bounds and certainly in men like these, believe me, take it as dead man's advice."
Both of them were taken aback by the words of the skeleton. It was not wrong, they had no assurance Halsa might not do it, and going by it he might very well do it. They were a bit worried now, the man slightly panicked too.
Finally the man spoke,"What can we even do except this then?"
The skeleton said with a slight smile,"There is one thing you can still do, and trust me it will work out to well."
The boy asked,"And what could that be?"
The skeleton had a very sinister aura around him, and with a malicious grin he demanded, "Take me to this Halsa!".