4.Kassir spent a year on the road, travelling from settlement to settlement. He was mostly alone, although at times he met with other servants of the Gods. The year passed so quickly, he barely noticed it go by. It was only during the Rainy Day that he realised it was his birthday – it often rained on his birthday – and that he was now seventeen. If he had been back home, he would have started a trade by then – probably as a herder, like Rashed. Perhaps he would have taken a wife.
He tried not to think much about the life he had lost. After all, it was not as if he really hated the one he was leading now. He did his job diligently. He was even starting to like it. Not all the settlements he visited had ties to the World Without. Many of them were loyal to the Desert Gods, despite their harsh life. Kassir tried to help them in any way he could. He hunted for them during his stay, found strayed beasts, and protected them from wild animals. He always tried to leave the settlements in a better condition than before. The people were grateful and sent him with a pack of provisions to keep him going on his future journeys.
Now that the year was out, and the Festival of the Sun was again drawing near it was time for him to head back for the Temple of the Sun Gods. Not all Light-tenders visited the temple every year. But, since this was his first year on the job, he supposed the priests would like to see him. Surely Adar wanted to tell him personally whether he had done well or not.
He took the dangerous paths that would lead him to the very centre of the desert and the Temple of the Sun Gods. He still remembered that road and dreaded facing it alone. But one year in the desert had given him a keen understanding of the wilderness and its creatures. Often, he felt he knew their mind, better than he did his fellow human beings’. He had no doubt he could find a way to reach his destination unharmed.
He was at the Temple on the second day of the Festival of the Sun. The tribute caravan was not there yet. Neither was Rhea. Bushir was gone, too. He had died earlier in the year. Adar was still there, though, and he showed himself quite glad to see Kassir again. He called the young Light-tender to his chambers the evening of his arrival and greeted him warmly.
“I am pleased with you, Kassir. You have shown yourself extremely diligent – even more so than many of your older peers. You do the Gods proud, my young friend.”
Kassir flushed with pleasure.
“I told you before I left, I would do my best.”
Adar’s face lost his kind demeanour. There was a hint of steel in his eyes.
“You did exceed our expectations. But you also did things that are beyond your requirements.”
Kassir did not need to be a mind reader to realise Adar’s displeasure. He could not tell what he had done to earn it. He wracked his brains but could think of nothing. He had obeyed the orders to the letter. He had spared no one – offered no favours. Anything he saw and heard that was suspicious, he would report.
“Yes, you did everything we asked you to,” Adar agreed. “There is no way I can deny that. But I am talking about your… shall we say, extracurricular activities. Your hunting, your search for lost beasts, all the things you do to help the villagers. This is not really done, Kassir. These are menial tasks. Not worthy of a servant of the Gods. It is beneath those like us.”
Kassir took an involuntary step back. For all Adar’s ability to read minds, he would never understand what had prompted the Light-tender to help. Adar would never see how wrong he was. Adar had spent his entire life inside the protected walls of the Temple. They always had food from the tributes. They were safe from the elements and no creature would dare to enter the gigantic construction. Adar would never know any of the hardships the inhabitants of the desert – the people under his rule – faced day in day out. Kassir knew, though. Not enough time had passed for him to forget his village – and Red-stones was one of the wealthier settlements. There were plenty of others that were faring much worse.
“I have it in my power to help,” he pointed out reasonably. “I have it in me to make things easier. Why shouldn’t I do it? It makes the people trust me.”
Adar shook his head, not bothering to hide his irritation.
“It is not about what you can do. It is about what you have to do. And helping the villagers like that is not part of your duties. I thought we cleared this the night I explained your job to you. I told you your gifts would be used for greater things than simply taking care of the people’s physical comforts.”
Kassir was surprised Adar could not understand. If the people had it easier, they would have fewer reasons to turn to the World Without. They would have fewer reasons to turn their backs on the Sun Gods and Rain Goddesses if help came for them from time to time.
“This is where you are wrong,” Adar told him bluntly. “Faith should not work that way. You do not worship the Gods when they make things easier for you. You worship them because they are the Gods and if you do so despite your hardships, then you show yourself quite admirable.”
Kassir lowered his eyes. Maybe Adar was right, but he had a hard time seeing things that way – not when it was ingrained in him to serve the people of the desert.
“What should be ingrained in you is serving the Gods of the desert,” Adar said harshly. “You leave the people in the hands of the Gods. They know how to take care of their charges.”
“Are you saying I should stop, Resplendent One?” Kassir asked coolly.
“I want you to remember that, as a servant of the Gods, there are some things that are beneath you,” Adar insisted stubbornly. “You must think about what you represent, Kassir, before you damage your reputation in any way.”
Kassir nodded curtly and left Adar’s lavish chambers. The stay at the Temple of the Sun Gods would bring him no pleasure this time. For the first time since he knew Adar, Kassir was beginning to feel disappointed in him.
He left the Temple of the Sun Gods after a few days. He resolved not to return the next year, not unless the priests summoned him. He also decided not to stop his work to help the settlements. After all, Adar had not explicitly told him not to. He would have to be more careful and work in secret. If he kept his good deeds hidden, maybe they would not reach the Sun Priests.
5.Months passed. Kassir was now eighteen. He was well-known among the servants of the Desert Gods. People talked about him, praising his keen eyesight and sharp ears. He was finally on his way to achieving the fame he had always longed for. He did not have much time to ponder on his success, though, as he was always on the road, going from settlement to settlement, a diligent servant of the Gods.
A strange new mood descended upon him after his visit to the Temple of the Sun Gods. He wanted to prove to both the priests and the Gods that, even though he had not asked for any gifts, he could still do the work entrusted to him – perhaps much better than others, maybe even better than Adar. He continued to help those that needed him, being careful to do so covertly. No one could realise it was him, so the spies of the Sun Priests would have nothing displeasing to report. He still could not understand why he was not allowed to help out, especially when he felt it was his mission to do right by the people of the desert.
After his first return visit, he did not go back to the Temple of the Sun Gods. The journey alone was tiring enough to put him off. He was also starting to feel wary of the world of the priests and did not want to become involved in their machinations. The Sun Priests had ways of reaching him. From time to time, Kassir ran into other servants of the Gods, and they brought him messages from Adar. None of them had brought him any summons or reproaches for his absence.
The year was drawing to a close, and it had not rained at all so far. It was bad for the desert. It was worse for the Sun Priests. They had to send the youngest of them to be sacrificed at the altar of the Rain Goddesses. It was a tradition as old as time, and it was, people claimed, undeniably the right thing to do. But the very thought of it made Kassir uncomfortable.
Around that time, he decided to go to the oasis with the village that had the three objects from the World Without. He had not been there since the first time. It was rare for Light-tenders to visit the same place twice, especially at such short intervals. But he was sure no one there knew he was working for the Gods. He remembered the village master. He was knowledgeable of the World Without. Perhaps he would be willing to share more of his knowledge with Kassir.
The journey was pleasant enough, despite the persistent drought. Kassir wondered if a young priest had already been sacrificed to the Rain Goddesses. Were the Goddesses pleased? Would they finally allow some rain to fall over the parched desert? He did not want to think what would happen if the Rain Goddesses were unwilling to accept the sacrifice. Would they demand more?
As soon as he entered the blessedly cool oasis, Kassir could sense that something was amiss. The first settlement he reached was a small herder village. The people there had a certain tightness in their faces he had not spotted before. He spent a day there and helped a family deliver a calf. Afterwards, he casually asked about the northernmost settlement – his destination. Immediately, the faces of the people grew grave
“They are not here anymore,” a woman said.
Kassir frowned, remembering the village master saying they were all better off in the World Without. But he did not believe he would have led his people out of the desert. The priests would never have allowed it, had they got wind of it.
“What do you mean, they are not there? What happened to them? Did they leave? Where are they now?”
The woman pointed to the sky.
“Ask the Gods. They are the ones that took our neighbours away.”
Kassir raised his eyebrows. He could not understand the dark hints. He wanted to ask more questions, but the woman’s husband put a hand on his shoulder to stop him.
“Let us speak no more of this. It is bad luck to talk too much of those the Gods see fit to take away.”
They would say no more. Kassir did not press them, seeing how uncomfortable they were. He left the next day and made straight for the northernmost settlement. He wanted to find out what the woman meant when she said it was not there anymore.
It was still there. At least, the buildings were. They were bleak and tumbled down, felled by some earthquake. But there were no earthquakes in the desert. Of the inhabitants, there was no trace. He searched for them everywhere. He entered every house and walked through every room. There was no one anywhere. The silence was so complete that even Kassir, Light-tender though he was, could not hear anything.
Next, he went to the temple. Out of all the buildings, this was the only one that was outwardly intact. He made for the secret chamber. The door was ajar. Inside, there was no sign of the three treasures hidden there. They too were gone.
There was no point lingering there. He walked out into the empty streets. He tried in vain to find a trace – a clue that could tell him what happened to the people. There was nothing. He could not even tell if they had left the place willingly or if some misfortune had befallen them. The tumbled-down aspect of the village spoke of a catastrophe, and Kassir suspected the villagers were no longer among the living.
Adar would say serve them right. He would say the Gods had punished them. They must have known of their transgressions - the Gods saw everything – and delivered their well-deserved justice. Perhaps the irreverent village was to blame for the absence of rain that year. Yet Kassir could not see the point in punishing an entire desert for the misdeeds of one village, just as he could not see the justice in destroying an entire village for the decisions of its master. But he was not the judge of the Gods. He was only a Light-tender.
The deserted streets with their eternal silence frightened him. He did not know what he was feeling in the face of such implacable destruction. No one, as far as he knew, had been left alive. He shivered, his mind taking him to Red-stones, and Rashed and Malna. He had not thought of the life left behind in a long time. But now, standing amidst the ruins, they were foremost in his mind. He wished he could see them – if only to know they were safe.
When night was falling, he was on the road again, not wanting to sleep in the dead settlement. He could not stand the thought of ghosts visiting the ruins and gazing mournfully at him. He told himself not to think much of what had happened. If it was truly the decision of the Desert Gods, they must have had their reasons. As their servant, Kassir was honour-bound to abide by their actions. But he did not think he could respect anything that could lead to the annihilation of an entire settlement.
Copyright Simina Lungu 2022
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