Chapter ten

Chief Rahai was soundly asleep, cuddled with his second wife when the loud sound of someone knocking on the door awoke them both.

" Mnn " Annoyed at being disturbed during his private time, all he did was simply place his head underneath the blanket. The cold weather allowed him to appreciate the warmth of the bedding and he soon felt himself drifting off to sleep.

At the ripe age of forty, Chief Rahai had served the village of Samra for a full fifteen years. Surely he deserved half an hour of sleep, the village could handle whatever situation that they had.

Knock, knock ! Sadly the knocking continued persistently, resulting in his second wife kicking him out of bed with the warning " Don't dare let the kids wake up. "

Left with no other choice he dressed up and headed out to receive the insensitive guests. Inwardly he swore to spend more time with his first wife's house.

She definitely appreciated him more.

When Chief Rahai opened the door he found a middle aged man standing anxiously before him. Due to the string of beads that was wrapped around his right arm and the sword that hung by his waist, the Chief recognized him as one of the special warriors assigned to guard the entrance of the village.

" Chief ! " On seeing the Chief, the guard immediately saluted him.

" Yes, you should be ahh... Yomel, right ? " In most desert tribes warriors usually had their own hierarchy, thus guards like him should be reporting to the head of warriors. Only those who served him directly reported back to him " What was so important that you had to come see me so early in the morning "

" Yes ! i found some strangers outside the village. " The slight curiosity that Chief Rahai had was instantly dispersed, This guard Yomel really had to report to him for such a matter.

" Why did you report something like that to me " He needed to have a talk with head of warriors, that guy seemed to be slacking off nowadays.

" No, uh, they came out of the..devils abode " Yomel felt his mouth stiffen as he tried to explain to the chief. The village had three main entrances and as the guard assigned to the one nearest to the devils abode, the head guard had told him that the cave was the property of the Chief.

No one was to be allowed near it, even children were told scary stories to keep away

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This morning he had been awoken by an alarming cry which led him to the devils abode. There he was shocked to find one of the village children lying unconscious at the entrance of the cave. But what was more shocking was that he found two more people laying inside the cave. Yomel's first thought was to inform the chief.

" What !? " The two words had captured Chief Rahai's attention, Devils Abode. It had been a piece of land passed down for generations in the Chieftain family. It was rumored to be in their possession since the founding of the village. There was some kind of secret about it that was passed on to the new chief by the former one orally. His own father had promised to tell him on his inauguration.

Alas his father had unfortunately died in a hunting accident before his inauguration, breaking the chain of the secret's inheritance.

" Ah, you should have said so from the beginning," Chief Rahai quickly questioned Yomel " What happened exactly ? "

" Y-yes sir " Without leaving out anything (besides the part where he slept on duty) Yomel told the Chief the entire incident.

Hearing his story Chief Rahai felt that perhaps the arrival of the strangers from the devils abode could reveal what the secret was about. The flames of curiosity within him burned strongly.

" Quick, lead the way " Relieved that his course of action did not land him into trouble, Yomel led the Chief to his own house which was near the entrance and he had carried the strangers to.

When they reached the said location, they faced a modest size house built out of mud walls like most desert residences and was consisted of two rooms. One large for sleeping that could easily accommodate for two people, and a second smaller room used to store food.

" Say, you aren't married are you " The Chief asked before he could enter the house. In the desert it was a custom that no one was allowed to enter the house without permission if the residents were married. It was the reason why Yomel had to wait outside when he had wanted to report to the Chief.

" No, not yet " Yomel replied, embarrassed. He was still saving up money for his marriage.

" Oh, lucky you then. " Chief Rahai put his hand on his shoulder and gave him a envious look. ' Its always after marriage that you realize the difficulties'.

Without delaying it any further, Chief Rahai expectantly entered the house. Inside the room were two bedding's spread on the floor on top of which the two figures could be seen. He went near their faces and examined them.

The first one was a child around ten years of age, his looks were average yet strangely his entire body was swollen with unnatural black streaks on his skin. His condition definitely required treatment quickly.

When he turned to the second one, the scarlet colored hair gave him a shock.

Yomel felt Chief Rahai's gaze fixate on the one with red hair. It was a young man with slightly lighter skin and gentle features that when combined with his red hair would definitely make him stand out.

" The Jaha..? " Chief Rahai murmured underneath his breath. Samra village was a little bit better than your average village therefore as the Chief, he had contacts that resided in the Desert capital. He had once heard of the young master of the Jaha tribe that was spoiled by his father and had odd interests in folklore and tales of magic.

His acquaintance had told him that out of all the children of the Jaha tribe, he was the only one with unnaturally red hair. His name was, uh, Ain, no it was Arin. Arin Jaha.