Chapter 11 Overcoming The Lure Of Starvation

Day ???......

After realizing that the dust storm was no longer preventing my escape from the dry hole, I thought of many ways to climb out of the deep hole with my horse. There was no way I was leaving Tagon down there to rot. Albeit, a lot of flies were already swarming his bony carcass which told me that he was closing in on death. I wasn’t going to give up on him, we were going to escape that drab hole together.

“I remember there being a lasso tucked away in a bag on Tagon’s saddle, probably I could use that to climb out of here.” I quickly retrieved the lasso from the bag. After confirming its length, I commenced tossing it above, hoping it would latch onto to something sturdy that I could use to climb out. I expelled so much energy on tossing the lasso above but to no avail. Every time I threw it above, the only thing the lasso would grab hold of was dislocated rocks and broken branches.

I started feeling desperate again. “Was there really no way to escape from this hole?” As I thought about this, my ears picked up some strange vibrations far away. I listened attentively until I began discerning several footsteps. People were passing by outside.

Coming by this reality of hope, I used the last bit of my dusty voice to garner the attention of the mysterious travellers. “Help! Help! I’m stuck down here! Help! Help!” after a couple of shouts my voiced ran out really quickly due to the lack of moisture in my body and processed air.

While waiting to see if the travellers had heard my shout, I enhanced my auditory acuity and listened to the vibrations above. [Thud! Thud! Thud!] “The vibrations seem to be getting further away rather than closer. Was my voice not loud enough to attract them?”

Driven to the brink of desperation, I did something heinous to extend my life expectancy. Before the passing travellers escaped my range of perception I dove towards my steed's juicy rump with my starving teeth exposed. This was the only method I could think of at the time.

“Please forgive me, Tagon.” Without much procrastination to my thirst, I sunk my dry teeth into the fleshiest part of my steed and moist my throat by drinking large portions of his blood. [Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!] Feeling a little bit of moisture within my throat again, I rushed back underneath the orifice while sucking in a lungs capacity of air. After holding my breath for 3 seconds, I let out my loudest war cry.

“WAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!” [Rumble! Rumble!] While I was screaming atop my lungs, I felt the environment around me shook violently. I thought to myself: “This will surely attract those travellers’ attention.” And it did.

Shortly after I subsided my vehement war cry, I heard gradually increasing chatter above accompanied by many footsteps dashing closer to the ground orifice.

“That deafening shout came from over here. I think somebody is in danger.”

“Are you so certain that wasn’t the roar of a wild beast? Why risk our necks to find out?”

“What I heard was definitely a warrior’s shout. Maybe he got stranded by the brutal dust storm that occurred weeks ago.”

“That’s a bit exaggerated, no person can maintain their survival for so long without food and water.”

“I guess we will just have to see for ourselves, won’t we?” [Chep! Chep! Chep!] The many footsteps drew closer until eventually, I identified 3 humanoid silhouettes standing over the orifice above me.

“My word! There really is a person alive down there and with a dead horse! Look at all those flies! My gosh!

“Had we not come by this route, we would have never stumbled over this deep pit.”

“Hurry and pass him a rope so he can climb out of there.”

“Wait, before that, I think we should give him some water first. He doesn’t look in the best of condition to be climbing.”

“Alright, I’ll toss him a gourd of water.”

[Gulp! Gulp! Gulp!] I drank the gourd of water which the travellers tossed down to me until my stomach was satisfied. Water had never tasted so fulfilling in my moment of malnourishment. I saved a handful for Tagon to drink as well, by putting my palms together towards his mouth. He mustered the strength to whip out his tongue and took a few sips. Albeit, this was not nearly enough to quench his insatiable thirst.

“Tagon’s condition is getting worse. If he doesn’t get some sustenance in his body soon then I fear I might lose him forever.” Pondering this possibility, I turned my head back to the ground orifice. The men above had already tossed down a sturdy rope. Before climbing up I wrapped the lasso I had in my grasp around Tagon’s bony framework, in such a skilful knot that I could use to pull him out of the hole after I climbed out.

“Pull me up!” The travellers above offered their assistance to lift me out of the hole. Right after getting out, I asked them if they could help me save my horse. Many of them refused.

“Are you bloody mad? You want us to strain ourselves dragging out some horse’s corpse? It’s bad enough we wasted minimal of our strength lifting you out of there, now you want us, travellers, to risk damaging our spines for a dead mount?”

“He’s not dead yet. I’m confident that he’ll be able to live if he gets some food in his belly.”

“Sorry warrior but we can’t spare so much food. We could offer you one of our fresh mounts if you want.”

“No, thanks.” I refused the travellers’ offer to abandon my steed to rot away in the hole. If they weren’t going help me lift him out then I will do it myself. I borrowed their rope and attached it to the end of the lasso that was wrapped around Tagon's body.

“Is he bloody insane? He plans on lifting out that dried up horse?”

“Even if by some miracle he managed to lift it out, there is no guarantee that the horse will survive the climb.”

“Starvation must have driven him to the brink of madness.”

“Should we stop him? If he attempts to pull out that mount with his injured constitution, he will no doubt be seeking excruciating death.”

“A warrior’s determination isn’t one to be trifled with. Let him do what he wants, he’s grown enough to decide his own fate.”

“Tsk, I’ve wasted my gourd of water on this suicidal maniac.”

The travellers stuck around to watch my failed attempt of rescuing my horse from the dark hole. However, I decided to disappoint their expectations of failure even if it cost me all of my warrior’s strength. With the indomitable will still don on my back, I started rousing my beastly nature as I tied my arms with the rope.

[Rip! Rip!] The repulsive sound of my veins popping all over echoed throughout the desert. When the travellers heard it, their faces became paralyzed. I was calling on all my latent strength bottled up inside my body. [Rip! Rip!] My skinny arms muscles surpassed their capacity as I began pulling on the rope.

“Hah! Hah! Hah!” My strength became amplified with every building interval of tugging on the rope. Eventually, I perceived Tagon lifting from the ground. I continued pulling on the rope with all my might. “Hah! Hah! Hah!” Such unparalleled strength was being exuded by me. The intense strain caused parts of my injured body to start leaking massive amounts of blood tainted with dust. Though it was excruciating, I didn’t let the pain hinder my pulling impetus.

“HAAAAH!” I took a sudden leap in strength and pulled out my horse from the dark hole in one go. [Whoosh!] His bony corpse flew high up beyond my expectation. I had to jump and catch him before he hit the ground with a crashing force that would cause further damage to his bony framework. Blood gushed out of my mouth as I settled Tagon on the sandy surface, as a result, I collapse shortly after.

“Huh? The warrior is down! I knew he would die if he attempted pulling out that horse.”

“But who knew that he would have succeeded?”

“He’s not dead yet, nor is his horse. Let’s offer our aid to the injured warrior.”

“What for, he’s on the brink of death. How will helping this man benefits us? I vote for us to leave. Let him fend for himself. We’ve already done so much by pulling him out of that ditch.”

“I agree, let us be on our way. We need to get to Conan Pass by sundown.”

“Alright, then. I'll only leave another gourd of water for that man to quench his thirst.”

With my only perceptive centre barely maintaining visibility, I noticed the appearance of a bearded man coming towards me while holding a gourd in his hands. He rested it into my dominant arm then re-joined his companions.

“Wait!” I called out to the bearded man with what little bit of strength I had left. “The storm… how long since it passed?” I waited for his reply but by then my hearing had given out. Only the man’s moving lips were barely perceptible to me. Still, I couldn’t make out a word he was saying.

I wanted to know if my tribe’s Warrior Ceremony had already concluded. I reckoned it had. Going by how much meat Tagon and I have lost, I’d say many weeks have flown by. If it weren’t for my indomitable will, I would have given into the Lure of Starvation a long time ago.

I tried not to pass out as I watched the blurry images of the travellers leaving on their ships of the desert. I drank some more water to regain some strength, biding my time underneath the blistering sun rays to enhance my healing capabilities. While rejuvenating, I reminisced on a tale that the elders of my tribe used to tell.

“Long ago, one of the Aigoo tribe’s most renowned explorers set out on an aimless journey across the desert plains of Bethlia. No one knew what he was searching for nor what he was hoping to achieve. After tireless travel across the dusty plains, the explorer came across an elusive mount. One that he described as the sailor of high dunes. This mount could store the channels of liquid it drank into the meaty hump on its back. By doing so, it could last months among the dusty plains without ever tasting another drop of water. The explorer furthered his observation of this rare creature. Its shape was as durable as a steed’s. However, it lacked the capacity for high velocity which presented another long-lasting advantage of endurance. The explorer discovered that this water hoarding mount could travel over long distances without ever stopping to catch its breath. Thus explaining the derivative appellation as the sailor of the desert. The valiant explorer named this beast after one of the ancient warlords whose legend had conquered many desert tribes under the Lure of Mischief. Edgar V. Camel.”

[End of elder’s tale]