This continues the epic I wrote between 1991 and 1996.
He sat on the knoll to meditate
to concentrate on the location
His body surged with mystical energy
his physical form melded with the earth
so the body could not be distinguished from the ground
In this Lamaraz could move to any location
in an eye bat which touches the surface Mother
He moved his essence to the desert the Sea of Dust
called so by the visitors of the water rich world
but was also named Brakenia
by the tribe with its name the desert men
Lamaraz was near the northern border mountains
the Immobile Great Dunes
which separated the desert from the sea
`South' he spoke to himself
`South is the land of the Desert Orchid
that blooms in the desert night
and the petals are colored
as an artist fills the sky
or the sunset reflected off the purple sea
South is where I must go'
And so spoke Lamaraz and south he went
South to the kingdom of the Dark Folk of the Desert
South he went into the burning desert
Sweating his precious water into the
ever thirsty sand and south he went
to see his clothes of organic life
burn into cinders before his eyes
This is when Lamaraz stopped
and this same Lamaraz sat
as the burning sphere of flame
descended below the western mountains
like a lower jaw slowly sinking
its teeth into a green ripe apple
These same mountains were crossed
over a century ago from the west
by Asu the king
searching for more land to conquer
only to see his men conquered by
sand and husband sun
Lamaraz slowly crept into a trance
to quench his burning thirst
for that all too precious element
water
He also took control of his body
to make it cool so sweating was needless
But the sun was lost behind the mountains
and the desert cooled
and creatures of the night slipped out of their burrows
and Lamaraz became cold
having been robbed of his precious heat
that but one hour ago he hated bitterly
and the desert cooled
and creatures of the night slipped out of their burrows
and men walked the dunes
They came from their caves
to be predator to the creatures
On their journey they encountered this solitary man-boy
a very unusual thing for these tribal people
They assumed that his tribe had died entire
and he the lone survivor
Naturally since he was without tribe
they attacked the man-boy
threatened his life with death
but their leader halted them
and spoke in a strange language
with a rumbling voice that echoed through the valley
soothing the earth as the thunder rolls the sky
`This is not one of the Desert
This man-child is too water-heavy
and yet wears no clothes
The Water-Borne cannot walk this deep
into the Desert and survive without their clothes
I say we question him
then discover if he is worthy to take Yama's gift as his own'
Thus the chieftain recited with his voice so raspy
and the tribe descended upon Lamaraz without noise
and bound him without disturbing his trance
and went into their piles without disturbing the sand
Inside these caverns below the artic sands
were spheres with mixtures of different sands
that made an eerie green glow by no fire
that penetrated the moonlessstarlessdarkness
to reveal forms rushing into a chamber
The six shadow forms carried
a man-mass on their shoulders
as one would carry a carpet
Upon entering this portion of the caverns
the shadows set the mass onto a mist-like chair
and made shine the glowing globe upon his eye
which roused the mass from slumber sweet
and proceeded to ask him questions
in their native desert tongue
Again and again they lashed him
with their harsh mouths and vicious tongues
But Lamaraz looked at the shadow men dumbly
as a rodent listens to the compromises of a woman
or as a rock flinches to the overzealous storm
who proclaims its power by displaying the might of its ruler
A MAN came out of the shadows
and the questions ceased
as all eyes followed the mad-like dance the new one strode
There was only Lamaraz chained to the chair
and the man wearing a necklace and grim age
who looked on at Lamaraz
studying his features and movements
In an odd dialect of the common language
the man spoke hoarsely yet gently yet deeply to him
with eyes to match the peace of the throat
`From what clan do you come
You do not have the dark thick skin of the Desert's People
Nor the dark false-skin your people wear
when intruding upon our domain
Instead you are naked
water-rich and smell of demon-wind
and have been in Deep Desert for at least one day
and are alive How
Answer our questions Baka
and we may grant you a quick and painless death
which is far more pleasant than the merciless
Shimir'Leh goddess of the sand and all its perils
can grant you'
After this was said
Lamaraz stared at the leader
and he did with bent lip respond
`I do not belong to any clan
I am free to wander the isles
I do not have the dark thick Hide
that resembles the sand and your gods
I wear no clothing
because it was scorched off my flesh in the Glory
I have survived the desert day nude as do you
for I have my magic to summon the precious Ahto elixir
to quench the fires in my voice
and to cool my earthen flesh
imagine the power I conceal in this water-rich flesh
I only wish to obtain flowers in bloom
the orchids of the desert men
the Brakenia'
Such words did Ulangar speak
thoroughly shocking the man of the dunes
the Genimaitor
who thought How could one man
summon the powers of Frezina
the goddess of life and water and the moon
This one Genimaitor realized that
he could do nothing to this stranger
but allow Shimir'Leh to do
what the Fates told her she would do
as was written so long ago
in the Scrolls of the Law of Kulsus
It was she to decide not himself
So the one of the Nine was released
to do as the goddess of the desert willed
And he wandered for uncountable days
in the scorching heat of light
And he wandered for uncountable nights
in the freezing chill of darkness
He did gain the dark skin of the desert people
that he would show for the rest of his days
and his heart hardened as did his flesh
until both had the strength of steel
tempered by the oil of the sand
and he continued to wander
until he came to the Watch
the edge of the plateau of the desert
and the edge where life and death
met at the gigantic cliff
It was here on the verge of death and starvation
that flowers bloomed
They blanketed the cliff edge in orange
and Lamaraz went about to reap children
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