Trip in a desert

[Elvinos2003]

Day four

Nina woke up after a terrible dream. In the dream she had, her vision turned red. Only one impulsion directed her body. Anger. A murder willing against those she met. Whatever the faction they belonged to. The dream ended when she saw her own hands covered of her dear friend’s blood, Traudel Habermeyer. When the Corsair opened her eyes, daylight was there. It was probably around 7am. She put her clothes on and went outside of the tent. Her clothes were still humid. She stayed still for an hour. The heat was drying the clothes slowly making them more comfortable with the time. Then, a sound of spaceship reactor caught her attention. She looked at the sky to see where the sound was coming from but saw nothing.
After a while, the ship was in sight. It was a Titan and it was coming toward her position. Nina was obviously wondering who the hell was the pilot. ’’Did they find me?? No.. It’s not The Brotherhood.’’ The closer the ship was getting, the more details were becoming visible. The ship seemed dusty and a symbol on a wing was totally unknown to her.

The Titan finally landed near her Gladiator. From the position she was, near her tent, Nina was observing the ship and then, the unknown person who just got out of it. The clothes of the person were different from what she used to see where she was living. The simple description she believed to be was sand clothes when people travel in the desert. The person was looking at the Gladiator belonging to Nina. Then, he looked at his ship and back to the Gladiator. He was probably intrigued. After spending a moment observing the Gladiator, the person was looking around searching to whom the Gladiator belonged to and he saw a woman observing from 100 meters away. It was Nina. The person began to walk toward her. Nina was calmed but was seriously wondering who the hell was the unknown person. After a while, both were facing each other. The crimson eyes of Nina was severely staring at the person. His face was covered to protect against the sand during sandstorms. ’’Salam Alaikum, stranger.’’ His voice was neutral and it was that kind of voice that was not boring. On the contrary, the sound of it was encouraging to answer. Nina replied to the man as respectful as he did. ’’Hola, stranger.’’ The man removed his cover on his face. An attractive face he had. By his face, Nina noticed he was black man. He then started to ask questions to the woman. ’’By the look of yours, you are a corsair. Why are you so far away from civilization? It is curious because we don’t see a lot of lonely Corsairs in this part of the desert.’’ Nina sighed but not against the stranger. It was mostly because she was tired of multiple things going on in her mind. ’’Well, you see, I decided to stay far away from everything. Trying to survive on my own and figure out some… things. It’s a long story.’’ The man chuckled a bit. ’’I see. Whatever brought you here belongs to you. However, I’d suggest you to follow me. So far, you've been lucky because around these parts, you’d prefer to run away due to the creatures living around.’’ For a second, Nina froze. She now thought about the scorpion she killed. She closed her eyes and opened them to focus on now. ’’Alright… Just let me pack my things and I'll come. ’’ The crimson haired Corsair started packing up her things. She was doing it as fast as she could. Meanwhile, after observing the woman from head to feet while she was not facing him, the man looked away for a moment. With everything packed up, Nina looked at the man. ‘’I’m ready.’’ The man did a sign as a ‘follow me’. He entered in his ship and Nina did the same but in her own ship. By radio, the man said basically two words. Follow me. The ships’ engines turned on and they began to fly in the sky.

It took some hours before they arrived in the middle of nowhere. The ships finally landed on the sand of the desert. Nina let her things inside her Gladiator. They meet again outside. The man greeted Nina once more, but this time formally. ’’I am Youssef Amdouni. We will need to walk a moment from now on.’’ Nina nodded to Youssef and she said her name. ’’And I am Nina Rodriguez.’’ He simply nodded and they both started walking. Hours of walk finished to be paid as we say. Youssef and Nina finally joined a group of nomads. They were wearing the same clothing as Youssef. They were soon noticed. The group walked toward their direction and of course, Nina was the only black sheep of the group. Everyone was curious and skeptical about her. Youssef made the presentation to the group and an elder of the group approached her. He was mostly examining her. In his head, he noted her physic. ’’Introduce yourself Nina Rodriguez.’’ Of course, she complied to the old man’s request. ’’I am Nina Rodriguez. I am a Corsair who decided to be far from civilization. I am a member of The Brotherhood. I know it is surprising to see someone like me here in the desert but some events happened and I needed some space.’’ There was some whispering here and there after she said that. Then, the elder spoke again. ’’Alright then. We are about to settle our camp and you will talk more. We don’t trust newcomers on the first day.’’ ’’Naturally.’’ Replied Nina respectfully.

It was now night and the camp was settled. Nina was in the tent of the elder and he was not alone. The old man was accompanied by two other elders and four soldiers by the look of them. Nina was in the middle of the tent facing three old men sitting on the ground. The same elder of earlier ordered Nina to speak about herself but in details. ’’I am Nina Rodriguez. A simple member of The Brotherhood. I used to be a centurion in their ranks but I got punished and lost the title. Thoroughly angered, I decided to live for a month in the desert and today, it is my fourth day. I wanted to figure things out far from the civilization.’’ She took a short break before continuing. ’’Since my childhood, I had to fight to survive. Nowadays, it is different of course but I can afford what I need to live.’’ The three men seemed to have a little chat after she had finished to talk. At the end of their talks, they nodded at the same time. ’’Interesting. So you are a member of The Brotherhood. I see we have not anyone here. We can let you stay as long as you respect our rules. The next times you come in the desert, it will be preferable to advice first. You are young and it was your first time being in a desert. You will be escorted where you will sleep for tonight. On this, you can go.’’ One of the soldiers escorted Nina to another tent and in there, it was just women. The soldier let Nina enter first and he followed. He said one sentence. ‘’She is allowed to stay as long as she respects our rules. You are in charge of her.’’ On those words, he bowed and left. One of the women took Nina’s hand leading her where she will sleep. It was a sleeping bag on the ground made of furs in the middle of two other sleeping bags. It was already late and Nina did not waste time going in, closing her eyes and eventually sleep.

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