Fair Semblances: An Allegorical Fantasy (Chapter 9)

Among all those peoples who live near the borders of the great Desert of Salt, certain tales are frequently to be met with, coming usually from the garrulous old men who consider themselves formerly to have been intrepid adventurers, of a phenomenon so terrifying and destructive that very few who have encountered it have ever lived to tell the tale. This phenomenon, called Euraclydon in the Common Tongue, is a whirling tempest of such immense power and ferocity that it is supposed to be able to strip the flesh off of a hitherto living camel in a matter of just a few seconds. At least, that is what I heard in good faith from a very ancient man living several miles to the east of Waverly, who once saw Euraclydon swallow up a caravan of camels from afar, and exploring the scene a couple days later found only polished bones, looking as if they had lain there for centuries. And then, at another time, I heard it most solemnly averred by a different old adventurer, that he had seen Euraclydon pick up a boulder the size of a camel, and toss it a couple dozen or so yards, as if it had been as insubstantial as a corn husk. But whatever the truth may be, it is impossible not to believe that Euraclydon is at least a very terrifying and potentially deadly windstorm, capable of sandblasting quite to death any traveler unfortunate to be caught by it; and in fact, it is one of the chief reasons that very few persons are ever brave enough to venture even half a day’s journey into the desert’s borders.

Up until this time, our sojourners had been so fortunate as to avoid any acquaintance with Euraclydon; but within half a day of their capture that would all change, and without the merest hint of a warning the venerable old tempest would overwhelm them with an even more brutal and pitiless savagery than that ancient tale-teller of Waverly could describe, with all his recklessly exaggerated phrases, accompanied by histrionics and facial contortions more exaggerated yet. This is how it happened.

For about five or six hours, the three friends were plodding along behind Shema’s camel, inwardly deploring their bad luck, when something caught Gilead’s attention: the two copiacorns, which the chieftain of the caravan was leading behind his camel, both began straying quite sharply to the left, with a great deal more energy than they had displayed in several days, and so persistently that the camel-rider, becoming vexed, finally cursed at them and swung the end of his reins in their faces, to drive them back behind his camel. Gilead, observing this, turned around, and was about to whisper something to Mishael and Ariel.

He never got out a word.

It is difficult to describe the events of the next few minutes in anything like a proper order. Everything was suddenly so chaotic and topsy-turvy that it is impossible to know for sure which event preceded which, and what took seconds and seemed like minutes, or took minutes and seemed like seconds. But allowing for a little error, the facts of the case are like this:

Instead of saying whatever had been on his mind, Gilead dropped his jaw in disbelief, while across his eyes there flashed a look of astonishment and even terror. Seeing his consternation, Mishael and Ariel immediately turned to look behind them, hoping to determine what could be the source of Gilead’s uncharacteristic panic; but they didn’t have the time to get even a glimpse of what had so alarmed him, for at about the same time, Shema’s camel, also realizing that something was very dreadfully wrong, took off like a bolt, and sent all three prisoners tumbling head over heels, and then careening over the hot, uneven sands and stones, violently dragged behind the panicked camel by their chains.

Then, as if this brutal jolt weren’t enough, they felt a suddener and far more savage blow from behind, which Mishael would later describe, with his penchant for apt analogies, as “something of what a croquet ball must feel, when the mallet sends it careering down the green;” by which I must suppose he intended to convey the impression that the wind did not feel so much like mere wind as a solid, substantial mallet, and that they were not just blown, but rather pummeled ahead with an eminently corporal stroke.

This potent blast immediately divested the camel of its rider, of course, who I am afraid was never seen again; but more than just that, it quite positively picked it up off the ground and flung it ahead through the swirling air, before dropping it again just a few feet later, not, however, on the ground, but rather where the ground should have been, had there not been right at that spot one of those narrow chasms that the travelers had been avoiding for so long.

The chasm was not a deep one at all, and narrowed toward the bottom in the shape of a V; and the camel, being thrust down so indecorously into such a crevice, must immediately have broken its neck, and who knows what bones besides – for giving just one or two pitiful snorts, it grew still, never to move again. The three friends, who had of course been dragged right along behind by their chains this whole time, ended up on top of the camel, still alive, but in such a state of shock that they could not get their bearings at all for some time. Finally, Mishael (who was on the top of the pile) came to his senses, and managed to squirm around to where he could look up; but even then, fate had another disagreeable surprise in store for the beleaguered wayfarers, for no sooner had he looked up, than he saw what he thought at first was another camel, but discovered later was actually a boulder, hurtling down quite on top of them from somewhere in the sky. He let out an abrupt scream of terror, almost a squeal, which was grotesquely and unnaturally cut off short. Then, everything went black.

* * * * * * * *

When the companions revived some time later, it was very still, almost utterly dark, and they were bruised, stiff, and exceedingly sore, but miraculously seemed to be free of any serious injuries. After twisting and scrambling around quite ineffectually for awhile, they finally managed to get the end of their chain untied from the camel’s saddle, and to clamber up to a more or less upright position. They could not quite, however, stand completely straight up before their heads came into contact with a very unyielding ceiling, which they discovered by touch was made of solid stone.

After poking around in the narrow confines of their prison for a bit, Gilead noticed a hint of daylight in one of the corners of their stone ceiling, and after digging at it with his bare hands, soon had a fairly large entrance opened up, capacious enough for the three travelers to worm their way up through it, and into the vast Desert of Salt. After some remembering and deliberating, it became clear enough to them what had happened: they had been overtaken by Euraclydon, which had hurled them and their camel into a small crevice, and rolled a great boulder along the surface of the desert, until it had fallen part of the way down into the crevice, and become firmly lodged there. Then, the whirlwind had filled the rest of the crevice up with loose debris, saving only that small cavity beneath the boulder, where the companions had ended up. This had doubtless saved them from an otherwise certain death.

There was no sign of their former captors, or the camels, copiacorns, water bottles, or anything else that savored of human presence, whether recent or in the distant past. In fact, to all appearances, this place might never have seen the breath of any living creature. The rest of the caravan had obviously been carried some unknown distance to some unknown location, were very likely buried by the swirling debris, and had almost certainly had all their water bottles and other provisions destroyed. It would be just as fruitless, no doubt, to find their remains as it would be difficult to discover them. And yet, they had to find something with which to sustain life very soon: they were in an unforgiving wilderness with absolutely no provisions, no knowledge of their precise whereabouts, and no idea where to look for help.

Realizing all of this, the three friends were looking around upon their bleak situation in a bewildered attitude of despair, when suddenly, an expression of joyful hope and unexpected remembrance lit up Gilead’s face, and he cried out in delight, “Of course! the copiacorns!”. Mishael and Ariel turned and looked at him skeptically.

“Don’t you remember?”, he continued excitedly; “just before Euraclydon struck, the copiacorns began veering off energetically to the left; what could have caused them both to wander astray so persistently, unless they had smelled water, somewhere…” and here he paused, looking around for landmarks, to try to orient himself to the course of the direction of yesterday’s journey; “ah, yes, somewhere over there,” he concluded triumphantly, throwing his arm in what must have been, very generally, a southern direction. “That’s where we ought to go first, and see if we can’t discover what interested them so much.”

Neither Mishael nor Ariel had any better plan, of course, and as they were still chained together, they were quite bound to follow along. But this time, fortune was with them: for they had not gotten more than a hundred feet along their new pathway, when Ariel nearly tripped over some hard little object half-buried in the sand, and looked down to discover the only trace they would ever find of their former detainers. It was the key ring that had hung on the leader’s belt, and upon which was the key to unlock their exasperating chains.

It was some hours later, and the forlorn little party was exhausted, half delirious, and beginning to lose all hope of finding any water before they perished of thirst, when another little inconvenience came along to disturb our unfortunate hero Mishael, whose reasoning faculties were by then so sluggish that he paid it no heed for quite a few minutes. The inconvenience of which we speak was simply a bee, which buzzed around him, almost flew into his ear at first, and then down his collar, before finally leaving him alone, flying off to a little outcropping, such as dotted the desert from one end to the other, and disappearing somewhere into its high, jagged walls. Mishael watched irritably until it disappeared, and then, in a fit of pique, inwardly dared it to fly back, deriving some pleasure from the fantasy of squashing its little body beneath his foot. Then, realizing how foolish his petty little thoughts of vengeance were, he heaved a deep, discontented sigh, and continued to follow Gilead.

After what must have been at least five, if not ten more minutes, Mishael suddenly let out an inarticulate cry of sudden realization. Gilead and Ariel stopped and looked at him quizzically.

What Mishael had realized, when he let out his little cry, was that this bee was the first living creature, besides the riders and their camels, that they had seen since they entered the desert; and furthermore, that bees, too, need water to survive, and flowering plants as well, which also require water.

“A bee, there was a bee on me just a minute ago!”, Mishael stammered excitedly to the others; “And I saw where it went – there must be water somewhere near!”

“Where did you see it exactly?”, Gilead questioned him, almost breathless with renewed hope. “You must remember precisely, our fate hangs upon it.”

Mishael scrutinized the horizon for a few minutes, and finally replied with absolute confidence, “It flew into a crack somewhere on the wall of that rocky outcropping over there,” he said, pointing to the place they had passed a few minutes ago.

“You’re quite certain?”, Gilead quizzed him again.

“Yes, I am,” Mishael responded, with just as much confidence as before.

“Very well. Then that’s where we shall go,” Gilead decided; and immediately turning back, the three friends made their way to the great, imposing stand of rocks, just like so many other rocky interferences to their journey of the forty-some previous days, and began to scout around.

They never would have found it casually; and in fact, they almost didn’t find it at all: but after almost entirely circumambulating the massive outcropping, with its high, rocky walls, they detected a narrow rift, just about where Mishael saw the bee disappear, that seemed to end after just a couple of feet; but on an impulse, Mishael thrust his body sideways through the tight aperture to see if it did in fact end where it looked as if it ended, and found to his surprise that on the contrary it soon widened out.

“Over this way!”, he cried out to the other two; “I’ve found something.”

The three companions made their way through the winding fissure they had discovered, and when at last it ended, and they broke through to the other side of the high cliff, they all gasped in amazement. There, before them, was a veritable paradise, a walled-in garden as verdant and luxurious as any they had ever seen, and seeming to them to be ten times lusher than it actually was, due to their many weeks of tramping through the desolate wasteland, without encountering the slightest hint of life or greenery. At first they couldn’t believe their eyes, but after rubbing them in disbelief and looking out again, each time the luxuriant paradise appeared before them as green and inviting as before. Finally convinced, and with little, hesitant steps of trembling joy, the three thirsty wanderers stepped down into the oasis before them.

“It is the Springs of Elim,” Gilead murmured. “We have found them after all”.

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