The Red Sands

by GnollReader

Chapter 6: Husam

Rainbow Dash had seen many weather phenomena, even with her young age. Of course she had, she had been on weather duty often enough. She had seen snow storms, thunder storms, whirl storms and even hail storms... but a sand storm? No, she decided after a quick check of her memories. That was something she had not known about... and the experience of getting to be in one definitely was not something she cared to repeat anytime soon.

Husam had told them it was coming before she could see it... she wasn't sure how he did it, but she could feel it in the air as well. A tiny shift in the pressure, the slightest change of pace in the wind... But when she finally did see it, Dash couldn't believe her eyes.

It was a wall... a swirling wall of sand that reached hundreds of feet into the air as it spread over the desert and towards them... and it hissed. How it was possible she did not know, but even from far away she could hear the red storm hiss as it reached out towards them.

Even more worryingly, Husam was heading straight towards it. She gave Hoca a worried look, but to her surprise he seemed absolutely calm.

When the storm had almost reached them, the scenery changed. Slowly, she could start to make out rocks which constantly grew larger until they were surrounded by a maze of cliffs and even as the sand started to block out the sky and the sun, they continued on further into the maze.

The sand in the air was terrible, it tore at her lungs and eyes, making breathing an incredibly hard task. She was slowly starting to understand why they veiled their faces.

At the front, Husam made a stop and turned to the right... leading them into an opening in one of the cliffs impossible to make out in the storm of sand. She wondered if he had been here before... Once inside, she realized it was a cave.

---

The storm was still lasting, even after what felt like hours the sand was still hissing and racing over the cliffs outside. Rainbow Dash let out a tired cough and shook her mane to rid herself of the sand that had collected in it. The air inside the cave was dry and heated... but it was certainly better than being outside right now.

She observed her travel companions in silence. Hoca was indulged in another idle chat with Bahir and as always, the subject was women. It seemed that Bahir always had a little story to share.

Traveling with them and listening to their conversation she had been able to learn quite a lot... of course, Hoca's tireless nature helped. By now, she could actually understand most of what Hoca said, she even chuckled from time to time when she understood one of his countless little jokes.

Rainbow Dash let her gaze travel further... and onto Husam. Like always, he was seated away from them, staring out the opening of the cave with seemingly never-resting eyes... and sharpening his scimitar while he continued to observe the storm in silence. She swallowed down a lump in her throat as she remembered the scene from a couple of days ago... How he and Bahir had seemingly without any hesitation killed members of their own race. She wondered what could have warranted such a terrifying act of violence.

"Does he scare you?"

Rainbow Dash's head whirled around and she found herself staring at Bahir. He had pulled down his veil... and there was a strangely somber expression on his otherwise joyous face.

"What?" she asked, unsure if she had understood him correctly.

"Husam..." he repeated with a sigh and sat down next to her, "Does he scare you?"

"I..." Rainbow Dash tried to search her thoughts, "I don't know..."

"So he does..." Bahir chuckled softly as she saw her ashamed look, "You don't have to apologize about it. He gets that reaction a lot."

"Hoca... when we were traveling he called Husam... the sword of belief?" she frowned as she mouthed the words in their language, "What does it mean?"

"سيف الدين... The sword of the faith..." Bahir corrected her with a small smile, "You really are getting better with our language, I'm impressed." he chuckled, "I should teach you some swear words just to be sure..."

"سيف الدين" Rainbow Dash repeated the word to make sure she wouldn't forget it, "What does it mean?"

Bahir frowned, "It is a title. He is one of the five leaders of the sand blades." he saw Rainbow Dash frown, "The sand blades..."

"Bahir..." Husam suddenly spoke up from the cave entrance without turning, "من يا ترى سيكشف أسرار المحيط؟"

Bahir looked up and at his brother with a small frown, "Really?" Husam did not respond, "Huh..."

Rainbow Dash tried to translate Husam's words, when spoken fluent the sentences became a long, single word to an untrained ear, "The sea... Who shall ever... the mysteries of the..." she frowned.

"Who shall ever unravel the mysteries of the sea?" Hoca commented with a sad face.

"What is that supposed to mean?" she titled her head in confusion.

"It is a phrase and an old fable of our people." Bahir replied before sighing, "What my brother means to say, is that I would do best not to speak of things that should not be known by strangers."

Rainbow Dash made a shocked expression. Had Husam just threatened his own sibling?

"Don't make such a surprised face..." Bahir laughed softly before turning serious, "You have to understand that those that carry duties also carry an obligation to carry secrets as well." he shook his head with a chuckle, "But returning to my question..." he continued in a whisper so that his brother wouldn't hear him, "Does he scare you?"

"A bit..." Rainbow Dash managed to mumble in reply.

"Was it the event with the Dusam a few days ago?"

"Is that what they are called?" Bahir nodded to her question, "Why did you... I mean, was it really necessary?"

"Well..." Bahir made a playful expression, "Necessary is a long word..."

"Bahir, don't scare the poor thing!" Hoca warned him.

"Oh, come now, Hoca. I'm sure she'd like to hear what..."

"Rainbow Dash." Husam surprised them by raising his voice again, "Can you walk?"

It took her a moment to catch herself from her surprise, "Yeah... a bit."

Husam put the scimitar across his lap and made a motion with his hand to a spot next to him, "Please, come over here. I need to talk with you."

Unwillingly, Rainbow Dash felt her eyes travel over the sharp blade in his lap... and nervously swallowed down another lump. Next to her, both Bahir and Hoca had grown deadly silent and were watching Husam's back with something she couldn't help but interpret as worry.

"Please..." Husam repeated his words, "Sit with me. We need to discuss something."

Even as Rainbow Dash carefully got up and hobbled over to where he was sitting, she couldn't help but notice how dry her mouth had suddenly gotten. The smiling Husam that had held her in his arms back in the city of blue towers suddenly seemed far away and distant.

She wasn't sure if she was going to enjoy this conversation... Unknown to her, Husam already knew that she wouldn't.

Comments

[Lord Destrustor]

Damn, dude, you're on a roll!

[Fugly Duckling]

3390058 i can't help but stare at your incredibly classy avatar every time i see one of your comments

[Lord Destrustor]

3393137
Thanks, I guess.
I've actually seen at least three other users with the exact same one, the only one I can remember off the top of my head is some dude called Ex-Nihilos or something like that. Unless it's been changed since last time I've seen it.

I wish I actually had something to say about the story instead of cluttering the comments with this.

[Fugly Duckling]

3393165 oh pish posh, it adds more class to the comments

[Pro Wrestling Pony]

Gnollreader is such a good fucking writer.

[Aunoraux]

Still can't wait for new chapters.
Come back soon, Gnoll!