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Previous Challenge Entry (Level 1 – Beginner)
Topic: Hot and Cold (04/09/09)
We moved on through the chill of the desert night and for a short while we were thankful to have escaped the blazing heat of the day. But the desert is known for oppressively hot, cloudless days and the extreme cool of the night that could make your bones rattle so we were soon stooped in a self-hug, shivering and breathing noisily through chattering teeth. I became conscious that it was not the time after midnight and in the dark hours of the early morning to be traipsing after blazing swords through a windy desert. This was a time for thick blankets and comfortable beds. Finally I called for a halt and suggested that we get a couple of hours sleep before sunrise. Since we had Windennia there seemed little need to follow the wind. Huddled together we fell asleep against the warm underbelly of the dragon whose bulk sheltered us from the worst of the chilling desert breeze.

How wrong I was! We awoke the next morning to find the biscuit pieces I had fed on daily after the gurgling spring all around us.

“What’s this stuff?” murmured Daniel sleepily while trying to force his eyes to focus.

“It’s the bread from heaven I was telling you about,” I replied. “It has a herbal taste, and is quite filling. But don’t try to horde it, just eat until you’re full.”

I remembered that first day when I had stuffed my bag full of the bread, thinking it would keep me for a while. As I tramped after the sword a stink had risen from the bag which grew stronger every minute till I could no longer bear the stench and fell, gagging to the desert sand. I opened my bag and literally puked. I was reminded of my teenage years when I had come across that dead crow and seeing all those worms crawling through the rotting carcass. The stink of death was so gross I ran stumbling away with my fingers pinched over my nose.

However I could not abandon my bag which contained all my necessities and though I had run some distance from the smell, steeled myself and emptied the wretched contents into the desert sand, rested back on my knees and looked helplessly at the empty desert, wondering how I could clean the rot off my bag, change of clothes and other condiments. It was a while before I noticed the gentle gurgle of the spring and lumbered over the sand dunes to find the rock from which the water spilled.

I had little doubt that it was the same rock I had awakened near and became anxious that I had been wondering around in circles. Dropping my smelly things I had walked in rings around the spring trying, fruitlessly to get my bearings. The desert can deceive you into imagining landmarks so real that you can go running after them only to wear yourself out in your vain search for reality. I had experienced this before, and it would have cost me my life if Daniel and Duffle hadn’t found me. I returned to the spring helpless and began to wash my things. It took me a week of daily washing to remove the stink satisfactorily and it was only when I came upon Mohammed’s camp that I realized that the rock spring had appeared to have followed me. What became of it when I reached the oasis I do not know?

When I saw the bread upon the ground I was pleased to realize that the rock spring would not be far away. It was satisfying to know it was there in the extreme heat of the desert day.

Contented we set off after the sword into the morning. There was little conversation, which grew even less as we approached midday. The breeze died, and the sword fell to the ground. We stared at each other questioningly. What now? Daniel called for the sword to guide us but it did not respond and we became aware of and irritated by the heat, which so sharply contrasted the cold nights.

“Listen for water,” I instructed remembering the spring.

We soon discovered it and were glad of its cooling and thirst-quenching fluid. We flopped to the sand contentedly and I soon drifted off to sleep.
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Member Comments
Member
Date
Joanne Sher 
04/19/09
Some very good descriptions. I could feel both the heat and the cold.

I wish there had been space to share more - felt like I didn't quite get who this person was or what he was doing.

Hope you'll expand on this. VERY nicely done.