Beyond Doubt: Whispers of the Unseen - Chapter 73
Welcome to my seemingly endless journey.
A trip that will take you to places I might have visited many moons ago.
It´s a tale that came back to me when I meditated on one of my past lives. A life I told you about in my unbelievable true story.
As promised in that story I will now share this story with you.
Chapter 73
But this was before Martuk's disturbing ending. Martuk spoke at the campfire that night, about his grandfather who had also survived several generations just like his grandfather's grandfather.
He told how the old healers in the old country sometimes disappeared for days without saying where they were going.
Their job was to discover new herbs and their possible powers. This gave their line a place in the community, they had something mystical, not that it was necessary for their position. But it gave the tribe more confidence in the power of the healers.
If we believed that they went on trips, disappeared for days and sometimes moons, and then suddenly returned, then that was proof that they were protected.
Then Martuk recalled what he remembered from the stories his grandfather had told him about the most mystical place of all.
An area where nature seemed to be insensitive to the cold parts of the year. An area where nature seemed to have more power than anywhere else.
An area uninhabited by people and for good reasons. This place produced the most powerful plants and herbs known to the healers. But it also produced insects that were larger and more dangerous than anywhere else in the world.
The ants were big enough to bite off a toe, Martuk said. The poison of their red brothers did not cause an itching sensation but rather numbed a large part of the body. Every known creature here possessed the multiple powers of its brethren in the rest of the world.
Fleas were able to suck people dry, flies laid eggs under the skin of those who fell asleep or were stunned by bites from others.
These memories woke me up.
I wonder if Reiko knew this, if he had any idea what hell he was possibly leading us into.
I dig my heels into the horse's flanks. Harder than necessary, but driven by fear, I am not aware of the force with which I work the poor animal. When I arrive next to Reiko, I ask him if he is known in this area.
“This is the only place where the Sikh troops are not and may not dare to follow us. They call this mountain range the death of emerald. Many before me led their troops through these mountains, very few of them returned. I know some of the dangers of these mountains, point one, we must not stand still and certainly not get rid of our animals."
"We can't rest until we get to the other side. The ground here is apparently deadly. The one who returned said that they had never dismounted and had never stopped. That their comrades who did do so, even if it was to relieve themselves, too often did not return or were left paralyzed."
"This is the only place where we can remain out of the hands of the Sikh for the time being. I hope they're smart enough not to follow us. Although I doubt the latter. If I know my troups new leader, he would rather kill his troops than give up. So let's hope that leadership has made him smarter, that he feels responsible for those who follow him.'”
Responsibility for those who follow him?? How about those that follow you, I think while I feel anger rising, something that I am not used to. This man leads us into a green hell without us knowing about it and dares to talk about accountability.
“Then what do you do?” I bark.
Reiko is silent for a moment,
"If I had told you where we were going, would you have followed me?"
"How much time would it have taken us to discover that we could not go forward or backward and that this was the only option left in the end?"
"No, I didn't tell you, not out of fear of a difference of opinion, but out of the certainty that this is the right thing. Believe me, I have been very conscious of our chances of escape over the past few nights. Believe me, I am the only one knowledgeable in this area. That your options, no matter how good they may seem to you, would all ultimately be taken off the table by me."
"I am confident that we can cross this area. I realize that it is dangerous, but all other roads are also dangerous. Then I choose the danger that does not directly target us but stands up for its own survival. Better that than those bloodthirsty idiots who protect the Sikh empire and gain fame and prestige from killing their enemies."
"We would be outlaws, at the mercy of our fighting qualities. Although I believe that Retsj and you can hold their own and that Cabilah and the boy can also fend off an enemy, we can't do anything against an army."
I was rightly reprimanded, although I still didn't like the choice. Reiko's story was plausible.
I told him what stories I knew about this legendary area. Reiko's eyes widened. “Your tribe lived in this region all those years ago? But you come from a completely different side. By the Gods, are you sure? “
