Chapter 3

Before they had gone very far down the southern trail, a very dire event occurred. The sky was blackened with the shadow of whirring wings and pale yellow bodies. The day grew dark, and in that darkness a rain of jumping flying forms with claws and ravenous mandibles covered everything, and even attempted to eat the ropes holding the loads to the camels. John called a halt, and had the three silk tents set up, and all gear hastily unloaded within, and women and children.

The men removed their clothing, but for their clouts as the locust's jaws couldn't bite flesh except for the webs of fingers, scrotums and earlobes. The men covered the tender ears of the animals with scarves, and tried not to choke on the swarming mass of insects. John noted that the locusts were coming from the west, directly east. There would be no food in either direction for days. The swarm took a full day to pass to the east, and left nothing fit to eat behind.

If it had happened two weeks earlier, it would have been no problem to turn onto the northern trail, Two weeks later they would have had absolutely no chance of survival, and their bleached bones would have been found the next year, when enough forage returned to provide browse for travelers. They had a slim chance however, because the parting of the northern route and the southern route was not great here, but a sandy desert lay between.

These locusts occurred only every few dozen years, it takes a good rain and greening of the desert, followed by a relentless drought. Then, as resources dwindle, the happy green grasshoppers turn into road warriors, and don their yellow and brown armor, taking to the skies in search of booty. Another mass hysteria and migration courtesy of Nature. John focused on the problem at hand. If they were lucky, they could make it across the desert to the northern route, and it would have water and forage. If they came out too far from a wadi, or turned the wrong way once they reached the northern route, they could all perish of thirst.

John had experience before of traveling north to look for water in a barren environment. This time the lives of the entire caravan depended on him as well. As soon as the locusts had thinned down enough to permit glimpses of the stars, John got everyone moving. It was perhaps three days or more like three nights, across the sandy waste that separated the southern route from the northern route at this point. That was good, as it only meant enduring two hot days in the burning sand.

John instituted strict water rationing, no water for anyone but the animals, nursing and pregnant women, and children under five. After the second day, 36 hours away, he would reevaluate the situation, and give the remaining water out on an as needed basis to the worst cases. He needed everyone to walk who could, and he removed the wheels from the palanquin as they would be useless in the sand, and had the guards in teams of six carry the infants and children under four inside,

Talus and several other children under four insisted that they were nomads, and didn't need to be carried. John just shrugged, there would be time enough to carry them if they needed it later. He did make certain all their backpacks were empty though, and had colored scarves tied around all of their herder's robes so they wouldn't get passed unseen if they collapsed.

He had Tuk lead the little nomads out ahead, telling him to find them shade before sunrise, even if it was the north side of the dune under sand. He was going to take the rear, and he told all the drovers to pace the animals, keeping them to a steady pace which wouldn't tire them. Zithrusa set the walking pace for the people, a steady pace that was a little bit slower than the animals.

John didn't think all the horses would make it, he couldn't afford to water them, so they would either make it or not. He removed all of their saddles and bridles, leaving the four saddles in the palanquin and packing the bridles in the loads carried by the camels. The camels wouldn't be a problem, they could go without water for four days. Perhaps John could get the horses through after all, it depended on the condition everyone was in 36 hours from now, at the beginning of the third night.

The first night was easy, they had been resting all day in the shade of the locusts. The little nomads set out at a good pace, and Tuk let them burn off excess energy. They soon settled down to a fairly rapid pace, one they could maintain all night long. At midnight, he stopped them, and had them eat travel rations of dates and boiled garbanzos in sheep fat- a tasty if unappetizing in appearance snack, the fat sticking the garbanzos into clumps in the chill night air. A sprinkle of salt, and it was the perfect meal for a little nomad.

They shared a waterskin between them, two swallows each, and then with renewed energy they set out again, following the stars north. Just before dawn, Tuk saw a lone butte ahead, and he challenged the little nomads to race the sun to its shade. His challenge stirred their flagging energy, and they trotted off toward the promised goal. Tuk came last, watching his charges carefully to make certain they all arrived safely.

They arrived just after the sun came free of the horizon, and collapsed into the shade as the day started to heat. One night done, two more to go, and uncertainty as to what happened then. Tuk started to set up their camp in the shade, but then he noticed the horizon to the west getting indistinct, as if there was no longer a difference between where the earth ended and where the sky began. He saw lighter colored streaks catch the sun, and he knew what he was seeing.

He quickly got his little nomads on their feet, and took them not to the shade, but to the lee of the butte- for the next little while, sun wasn't their adversary as much as wind would be! It was a sandstorm! He set up the lily tent he had packed along with them, and tied it down well, in a shortened form of only three feet high, burying the skirts in sand and rocks, He chivvied his charges inside, then crawled in after them, tucking the opening in after himself and laying on it.

He used his sheathed sword as a tent pole, and had them all lay with their heads close, and told a enchanting story in slow measured tones, about an ice princess who fell asleep for a long, long time. It was a story John had told him, and he projected all the calm and assurance he could into it, and combined with the long night of exertion it sent them all into a deep restful sleep.

The sandstorm caught the drovers a few miles short of the butte and the children, and when it was noticed, they turned around and backtracked to get near the caravan's walking people, who had fallen behind about half a mile. When John noticed this, he urged everyone to run, and hoped the drovers would get the timing right.