Chapter 2

Misdirection

Part- 1

Miles of desert stretched around Tamina. Her face was red due to the unbearable heat. She was so worried that it might wake Arham from his sleep, so she frequently covered him properly with the cloths he was wrapped in. She don’t know where she was or how many hours had passed since she had left her home. The intensity of heat gradually decreased and from that, she knew it was going to be sunset soon. She stopped for a while and turned around to see if she was being chased by anyone and was relieved to find no one behind her in the horizon. Only the calm desert with its dunes greated her.

The sand had started to cool down and the heat had decreased conveniently. Tamina’s body ached from head to toe and Arham had momentarily woke up from his sleep. She knew it was time for her to feed him. She was hungry too, but her priority was her son, so she sat down on the sand and started to feed Arham. While feeding her son, Tamina looked around her, only to find herself engulfed by a sea of sand. She was all alone, no one was there for her, only her God. She felt like he was watching over her, but seeing her in agony had not melted his heart. He was not even pitying her. Was it such a sin to love someone who believes in a different God and to carry his child? Does the God too have prejudices? Tamina sat on the sand and thoughts like these occupied her mind. A ray of sunset hit her eyes and it woke her up from her rebellious thoughts. She looked around to see the yellow sand bathed in the golden hues of the sunset. The sky was amber, just like her eyes and the desert was golden. It was a beautiful sight for her eyes, but her mind was too burdened to enjoy it at its fullest. Tamina never knew that the sunset in a desert could be this mesmerizing.

Cool breeze had started to blow and she knew it would be freezing cold soon. Tamina was alone and scared, first because she was worried about the extreme cold during the night would make her son sick and second, that Owais would find her. She had grown up hearing the stories about people who had gone mad after staying a night in the Bukhara desert. The Belgarathians believed in ghosts and other apparitions that roamed in the desert which drove the travellers who crosses the desert insane. Tamina had told these beliefs to Arham's father and he just laughed at her.

‘ You know what’s more scarier than ghosts? Trust me, it’s human. Ghost don’t rapes, kill or murder, do they? Humans are the worst species on earth Tami. They want to conquer everything and want to dominate others. If the earth gets destroyed, it would be because of them.’ The familiar voice echoed in her head and it calmed her for some reason. She earned for the owner of that voice, but he had abandoned her too. Her eyes filled up just thinking about Arham’s father, but she didn’t let it spill.

Tamina took her time to adore her son. He was sleeping in her arms without knowing the atrocities happening around him. She came closer to his ears and whispered to him. ‘ Arham, I promise, I will stay strong for you, my son. I have a reason to live now and that’s you. Whatever happens, remember this, mother loves you, more than anything in this world and I want you to know that'. Hearing her soft voice, Arham curled closer to her chest. She might seem insane, talking to a one day old baby, asking to remember her promise, but right now, she only had him. When Arham fell asleep after a while, Tamina lied down on the sand with Arham on her chest. The soft sand balmed her aching body and laying there, she thought of the old stories about the Bukhara desert.

Bukhara desert held a lot of significance in the life of the people of Belgarath. It was said that Bukhara was once a fertile land filled with lot of spring and wells. Decades back the petroleum industries came here and set up their huge pipes and machineries to dig out the oil and as a result, the Springs and wells got contaminated with oil and natural gas. When they had dig up all the Petroleum Resources, they left here but the Springs had dried up and the wells were polluted with poisonous gas and oil. People who lived here had to move to other villages as the water resources got depleted and Bukhara was abandoned decades ago. Subsequently Bukhara became a complete desert, now being home for only lizards and rattlesnake.

The cold had start to prick needles into her skin and she held Arham more tightly. When it had started to get cold, she had earlier wrapped her head scarf around Arham and her neck and head was now exposed to the cold. They only had each other and they have to find a way to live. Tamina knew this so, she wrapped Arham in all the cloths she could find, except his face and using sand as a blanket, covered him in it. Tamina only had a long robe, loose pants and a long overcoat with her. She laid close to Arham but because of exhaustion, they both fell asleep.

The sound of horses neighing woke Tamina from her sleep. She was startled and suddenly looked around to see the source of the noise. At the horizon behind her, she could see faint lights of lanterns and moving figures. The noise got clearer and the lights became more brighter by each second and from that she knew, they were coming towards her.

‘Owais'. As soon as the words left Tamina's mouth, before she could even think more, her hands grabbed Arham from the sand and her feet moved in the opposite direction. The noise of Owais and his men became more clearer and Tamina’s heart shuddered in her chest. She ran with all her might even though she was knee deep in the sand cursing herself for falling asleep for a while. Shoving the sand with her legs and hands, Tamina made her way through the dark. The voices were now audible to her.

'Search everywhere. There is no place for her to hide in this desert so, we can find her easily'. Owais spoke in his loud voice. Tamina’s heart pumped in her chest. He was right, there was no place for her to hide in this desert. Her only relief was that her footprints won’t be followed because in a desert, the wind washes away the footprints. It was the darkness of the night that hid her from them. She had to move faster before they could reach her. Tamina was tired, but her willpower and determination to live was much stronger than her exhaustion. She ran holding Arham and gradually, the depth of the sand decreased until her knees and feet were visible. She no longer sunk into the sand and from that she knew that she had reached the infamous 'battle ground of Restum'.

The sky has started to show orange-red streaks and it will be morning soon. Tamina could no longer hide from Owais when the sun rises, so she hurried her steps. Tamina walked amidst the ruins of the battle through the battleground of Restum. Bombshells, concrete slabs, rusted barrels, boulders, abandoned military tanks etc greeted her along the way. She felt like she was standing amidst a vast junkyard in the middle of the desert. The battleground of Restum was the very place where the military and the terrorists ambushed each other. It was on the border of Bukhara desert and beyond it was unmarked territories which belonged to the terrorist groups. The military had power only up to the Battleground of Restum . This place was named after the victory of the military against the first terrorist attack, nine years ago. The government deployed a special unit named ‘the Restum unit’ to fight the terrorists. It was a fierce battle and both sides suffered big losses as it lasted for four days. The terrorists couldn’t withstand the foreign forces and at last, they retreated and the military won the battle. Battleground of Restum was the last marked territory on the map of the government.