The village council hall rose above Saïd, sitting imposingly upon the only hill in the village. Here was where the policy of the village was debated among the village by its prominent members, a place that Saïd had always thought of as off-limits because of his somewhat low position in the informal hierarchy of the village. Now, however, he was drawing closer to this building, and almost felt the urge to run away or hide. A nervous sweat broke out on his brow, almost immediately followed by a wry laugh from ahead of him.
“Saïd, my student, you must learn to think of this as simply another field that you must work,” advised the Medicine Man with a quick glance backwards at Saïd.
“Yes, Hakim. I shall do my best, but I suspect that it will take time.” A lot of time indeed, thought Saïd.
“Indeed.” Hakim stopped as they reached the doorflap of the hall. “Now, Saïd, I must remind you that what you hear in this hall during these secret meetings can never be discussed outside without the Chief’s express permission.”
“Yes, Hakim. I shall tell no one.”
“Good.” With that, Hakim pulled open the flap and stepped inside. Saïd nervously followed, stepping cautiously into the shaded interior. What he saw was rather less impressive than what he had expected. A fire sat in the middle of the hall, burning brightly and illuminating the rows of benches surrounding it. A smaller, separate bench for the Chief slashed a bench in the front row, opposite the doorflap, in two. It was currently occupied by the Chief, who was listening intently to an olive-skinned man in worn clothes standing in the central open circle speak.
“…and when my team crested the dune, we saw a camp.”
The Chief interrupted the speaker than, asking, “Was it one of the trader tribes that travels the desert?”
“That was my first thought as well, however I had a bad feeling about it, so we hid behind the dune and surveyed the camp for a while. What we saw was, frankly, disturbing. While the camp seemed unguarded at first, we quickly saw a large man with a strange club walking around the perimeter. He was not one of us or one of the traders, as his skin was strangely pale, obviously not blessed by the touch of fire as our people were at Creation. A few minutes later, we saw a flash in the distance and a large group of similar men appeared from behind another nearby dune. However, they were not alone. In front of them, they pushed a group of women and children that were clearly traders, wearing their customary travel clothing and blessed with the same darker skin as our people. The traders looked ragged, their clothing ripped in several cases and many of their faces bruised.”
Tambien Tadili stood, which Hakim had told me previously was how the councilmen asked the Chief for the right to speak. The speaker fell silent as the Chief inclined his head and Tambien took a step forward. “There were no men in this ensemble?”
As Tambien returned to his seat, the speaker nodded. “Absolutely none. We later found bodies among the ruins of a Trader camp nearby. All men.” The mood in the hall obviously turned sour, as muted mutters filled the hall.
The Chief nodded at another man who stood to speak. “My fellow councilmen, this only proves our worst fears. The barbarians that the desert have protected our people from for so long obviously exist in far greater numbers at the edges of our desert shield than we had ever thought they did before, and with each passing year they range further into it. I fear that it is only a matter of time before we must defend ourselves.” Nods of agreement circled the room as another man stepped forwards.
“Indeed! It is for this reason that I cannot comprehend why we sent our warriors outwards? Do we not need them here to protect the village more than ever?” Shouts greeted this statement, equally of a supporting and disparaging nature.
The Chief stood up at the outbreak of this cacophony, slamming his staff onto the sounding stone to quiet the room. “Follow the procedure or this meeting will be ended!” A reluctant quiet descended across the hall. The chief sat down, nodding to a tall man in the third row of benches.
“I would remind my fellow councilman that we sent the warriors outwards to explore the edges of the desert and determine the exact level of danger that we are under. While the barbarians are getting closer, they have not yet been sighted within even a week’s walking distance of Murak’s Oasis! We will be perfectly safe as we search for these barbarians!”
The first man stood up again, responding to the second after a nod from the Chief. “Very well. I still maintain that we should tell the populous about the Barbarian threat in order to prepare ourselves, just in case!”
Then the Chief stood, ignoring the many who had risen to speak. With conviction, he declared, “Councilmen, I ask you to remember why we banned news of the Barbarians in the first place. We must protect our people from the constant fear of attack. It would be best that Barbarians remained only children’s stories for as long as possible, to spare our people endless terror. Besides, as the previous speaker pointed out, we are under no immediate threat. We would cause only pointless panic.”
Saïd stood, stunned. He had thought this all some sort of joke, perhaps a prank played on the new members of the Council as an initiation ritual. The Chief had spoken with such conviction, however, that Saïd realized that it was no such thing. Barbarians are… real played over and over again in his head.
Hakim glanced at Saïd with sympathy. “So, now you know.”
