On the way to the Caliph

Then I left Tambulis. I rode the first day and most of the first night through the plains until I reached the oasis of Rashid. The oasis is named after the eldest son of Caliph Hassasuth who reigned over two hundred years ago. The oasis should not be confused with the places of pleasure that the wanderer finds in the desert and that give him relief on his journey. Originally the region near Rashid was a part of the desert, but through the glorious intervention of Allah, who shall be praised a thousand times, the desert became a fertile plain and only patches of sand remained, but the oasis kept its name. Rashid still resembles a caravanserai. It consists of a large building made of brick to defend it, giving it a castle like appearance. The central part is a fountain that has existed since time immemorial. The oasis has stables and all facilities that are required to support up to fifty men and women for a long time. Over the years the oasis has expanded and today many houses exist outside the main building.

The oasis is also the first settlement in the caliphate of Tekheran. This caliphate stretches from Rashid to the foot of the mountains where the realm of the Assassin begins of which we will speak later. It is the biggest and most glorious of our realms and the caliph is probably the only person who can unite the realms and lead it to bring the right believe to the rest of the world.

I was happy to reach Rashid since I did not want to continue my journey to Tekheran alone. Although the land is as safe as any land can be, I longed for the company of others. Therefore when I entered Rashid I asked if a caravan was heading to Tekheran. I found a caravan of twenty camels that were led by a person called Ibrahim and who transported metal to Tekheran. I asked him if he would accept me as a companion. He agreed and we stayed in Rashid for another day until the supplies were completed. Unfortunately the oasis had no mosque and I was forced to pray under the sky.

We left Rashid and the journey was quick. Left and right of us the fertile land stretched to the horizon and we could see groups of wild horses eating grass. The few patches of desert between are just a remembrance of a time long gone. We only met few other caravans and most of them were travelling westward. We were worried when we heard that they all have seen the remains of a caravan about five days ahead of us. Since the journey to Tekheran from Rashid takes about two weeks and we did not knew if the caravan was the victim of an attack or if they fell prey to a natural disaster we were worried.

From that time on we have positioned guards every night and I felt it to be a shame that we had to be careful in this land blessed by Allah. The following days were uneventful. Then we entered an exceptionally large patch of desert that was able to survive. In the afternoon of this day we saw the remains of the caravan, the other merchants have talked about. For what we saw, we could see that the caravan must have consisted of around thirty camels. Only some bones were still visible in the sand. There was no trace of the people that lead the caravan. Strangely however was that the cargo of the caravan was still strewn over the ground. Just because the caravan transported spices from the east to the west and these spices were emptied over the ground explains why it was not taken by someone. It was not possible for us to find an explanation for the end of the caravan.

We left the place and did not want to camp near such a dread place. When he have erected our tents and positioned the guards however something happened. Our guard Mustapha woke us up during the last hours of the night. He told us that he could see the sand around us move, although the night was calm. The camels were nervous at this point and when I awoke I immediately heard their groans. When we left the tents the night was quiet and we could see the stars above. We stared onto the sand, but could see nothing. After we laughed about Mustapha and his stupidity, we wanted to go back into the tent. Then we saw a quick movement just below the sand. I immediately remembered the old tales of the sand people that I have always regarded as fairy tales. Probably these tales are based on a truth. Suddenly a figure emerged from the sand and attacked the camel next to it. We drew our weapons and attacked it, but before one of us could reach it, another creature appeared and soon afterwards we were surrounded by six of the monsters. We could not make out their appearance in the night, but at first glimpse they were humanoid and resembled the race which the people in the west call dwarves. Two of our camels were wounded and one of these creatures has bitten off one of Mustaphas' fingers. We were able to kill two of them and wound at least three, before the surviving creatures disappeared in the desert. We waiting for the morning before we examined the body of the monster. It was not more than one metre and a half high and very slim. Its arms were exceptionally long in comparison to the body. It had a round head with big ears and a big mouth. The mouth was lined with numerous small and sharp teeth. We did not know were this creature really came from and decided to cut off the head to show it to the caliph. Unfortunately when the sun was burning down from the sky, the skull began to decompose and we only had sand left in our bag.

Note: The tale of the sand people is a famous and old tale and mostly regarded as nothing but a story to scare children. However we were able to find old texts which speak of these people and a number of records - like the one here - that tell of similar events. The old text we could use are Elven text that were written long before Marienburg gained its independence, even before the Empire was forged by Sigmar. These texts that speak of the empire of Nehekhara in the Southlands that have constructed the pyramids. This empire seems to have used an unique tribe to construct the interior of the pyramids. The texts tell of small people with an ugly appearance. They all seem to have come from the east of Nehekhara where their tribes were conquered by the rulers of Nehekhara centuries before. The texts say that they were born out of the sand and lived in vast underground cities, much like the dread skaven do. They were given the name sand people or sometime the "people that dwell in the sand". After the fall of Nehekhara only little references exist. The main reason for this is that the tribes, who lived in this area in those days left only very few traces. After the first Arabian rulers established themselves a number of records exist that tell of sudden attacks in the desert. The descriptions resemble that of above: Humanoid creature, a little smaller than humans with exceptionally long arms, round heads with big ears and a big mouth, that is lined with numerous sharp teeth. As far as we know they never seem to use any weapons, nor do the use armour. When more parts of the desert were cultivated - a miracle which we still cannot fully explain - the attacks seems to have ceased. Only few were recorded afterwards and all of them occurred in the patches of desert that have remained. Although we do not know were these people really come from and if they pose a serious threat to the kingdoms of Araby, we can conclude that they are not children's stories, but based on fact rather than fiction.

After this event we felt worried about what has happened. We decided to petition the caliph and ask his advisors about these creatures. When we came closer to Tekheran we again felt safe. More and more villages lined our route. Then we could see the marble walls of Tekheran before us. The mighty gate was guarded by the caliph's troops, the so called crimson guards, for they all wear leather armour that is colour in red. We could see their scimitars gleam in the afternoon sun and hurried to reach the city before nightfall, so that we could sleep in a bed again.

To be continued...