Elinor. The Deserted Valley. Book 1

Jumanna was on the brink of turning back. However, after delving into the maps, she realized it would be easier to reach Muo, a city in the southeast of the Valley, than return to Kay-Samiluf or to try to return to the Ayno-Suf path.

Their salvation lay in the north!

Salvation in the north…hmm… The book of Azir Amunjadee. Only the first volume survived. In it, the text speaks about the Ito Empire. The Ito Empire! The north! It’s probably silly to think in this way… it’s just a coincidence. But, again, my foreboding! It tells me this is no accident. It’s as though an unknown powerful force is leading me in the right direction.

The sun had passed the zenith and the children fit under the tiny shadow of the handmade awning. They kept close together as there wasn’t much room. A couple of girls cried quietly, desperately wanting to return to their mothers. The older girl tried in vain to cheer them up. Moualdar also babbled something parent-related to himself, but it seemed more out of habit than from fear. Jumanna noticed that the other students seemed to be glaring avidly into her eyes and waiting for her decisions. Loyalty, devotion, and readiness followed wherever she commanded – that was what she read in those eyes. Only at that moment did Jumanna understand what exactly she had done for her students.

“In the evening, we are setting off to Muo!” she announced, now no longer just the caretaker, but also the head of the caravan, the astronomer, and the commander of the warriors.

The warriors, as such, were absent, really. It was only Calif and the restless Makacash, but what were such warriors against the scorpio-anglers and sand dragons? And what is a caravan in the desert without camels?

A doomed caravan.

But Jumanna pulled herself together and immediately drove away the black thoughts.

6

They slept until evening. As soon as the sun set, they filled the flasks with water and set off towards the northeast, in the direction of the rays of the Star of the Marawie in the constellation of the Lion.

Jumanna was strict: the procession would walk only at night! Firstly, it was easier for her to navigate the stars, secondly, a longer distance could be covered. Crossing the desert with children during the day could end very badly. And, thirdly, it would be easier to distinguish scorpio-anglers at night! With the onset of twilight, the scorpio-anglers got out of the sand, and the light the monsters lit on their sting was visible from afar. On the other hand, at night it was easier to fall into the underground cave of a sand dragon.

Jumanna led the procession. Behind her trotted the deft boys, encouraged by Makacash. Calif walked in the middle, holding his new sword on his shoulder, ready for battle. Lamis and the other girls closed the procession. They constantly lagged behind. As a result, Calif had to take the baby Munu-Aiya on his shoulders and with that, the group went a little faster.

At night, the desert filled with sounds. Insects came out of their hidden holes and filled the boundless space with their buzzing. Astramed, with an intelligent look on his face, distinguished each sound and identified each insect: a cicada, a rattler, a desert mosquito, a blowfly, a sand eater.

The caretaker moved progressively at a controlled pace, but at a certain moment she was overcome with turmoil. She felt pressure on her shoulders, pressure that grew stronger and stronger with every step. This inner voice that had tanged yesterday about their impending doom now got louder. It was as though the inner voice was dampening the other voice, the one commanding to fight until the end and move towards their goal. At some point, the voice of doom filled her whole consciousness, and she was ready to surrender, powerlessly collapse into the sand and accept fate. But when she turned to look back, in the flickering starlight she caught a glimpse of the faces of twenty-three people. For each of them, even for Calif, this passage was even harder than for her. For them, she, who was ahead, remained the only hope.

“If you give up, you will ruin them and ruin yourself!” a more confident voice now sounded in her head, opposing the voice of despair. It reminded Jumanna of her father’s voice.

The dawn’s rays highlighted the outline of a new stone ridge. Fortune favored the travelers!

They collected the morning dew, put up their makeshift cover, ate, drank water, and went to bed before the sun began to scorch the Great Desert. Jumanna looked at the students as everyone fell asleep. Then she sat on a rock, clasped her hands on her knees, leaned her head against them and sobbed violently.

The last time she had cried was when she turned eighteen years old.

7

That night there was another march. It was becoming harder. The moisture from the dew was negligible and the flasks were empty. The water had to be saved.

The girls began to be more erratic; the boys mumbled under their breath. The pupils perked up when Jumanna reprimanded them angrily.

“We’re in the desert! In the desert, do you understand? If you barely drag your feet, you face death! You can cry, but it won’t help! Walk on! Walk as quickly as possible – this is our only salvation!”

It was dawn, but this time there was no rocky shelter. A rag canopy had to be established right on the sand. Sleep was torturous! Everyone was thirsty, but their water supply was decreasing further and further.

When the evening twilight came, the students who had nervously tossed about in the afternoon finally fell asleep together. Even Calif succumbed to it. His strength, bravery, and height helped Jumanna forget that he was only sixteen.

She left the canopy and climbed to the high barchans to contemplate the endless expanse, and as she had done eighteen years ago, plunged into the black abyss. Feeling alone in the universe as the bright Star of Marawie infused hope inside of her, Jumanna took hold of the chain with the pearl and golden key.

“Father,” she whispered. “Where are you now? I feel that that place is somewhere far away… not with Itoshins, not with Vedichs, but there, among the distant stars. Help me! Help me, oh stars! Give me and my students the strength we need. Help us, Star of the Marawie, the brightest star of the south! Help me, the ancient hero of the legends! Help, Sand Lion! Once you brought our people out of the Valley, and now help us return there! I, your descendant, Jumanna Inaiya Khaniya Amatt, I beg you of this!”

And it seemed that the star winked at her, for a moment flashing many times brighter.

A trick of the senses, or not?

She had gotten too carried away and was daydreaming, as a fatigue like none before manifested itself in her body.

Jumanna did not remember how she returned to the students and fell asleep.

She woke up with the first rays of dawn, these rays outlining a new stone ridge in the distance. It was a bit off their route, but it was necessary to get to the ridge by evening to fill the flasks with dew.

8

They made it. And there they waited, in a drowse, for the evening. That night they made quite a big transition, and by morning came upon a giant boulder, which served well as a shelter. At twilight, droplets of water appeared on it.

We are lucky! But we can’t always be so fortunate… or can we? Maybe my prayers have been heard? In any case, thank you, my starry patrons!

9

About seven days passed. Jumanna couldn’t say for sure. She had lost count because she wasn’t thinking about that. Rather, she dwelled on how to survive and how to save the lives of the students. The map of the starry sky changed and she knew they had definitely walked north. But it was difficult to say how far.

One night they once again slept on the sand. In the morning, they noticed new lifesaving stones, or something similar to them, on the horizon. At first, Jumanna decided to go to them in the afternoon, but her mind resisted. Her inner voice, which she had learned to trust without hesitation, said that it was necessary to advance right this second!

The start was cheerful and the goal was clear. But after about an hour the enthusiasm faded. The daytime sun incandesced the air and the sand, but cooled the travelers’ enthusiasm.

Jumanna, with jaws set hard, continued to hurry her students. Sometimes with cheers, sometimes with gentle persuasions, and sometimes resorting to scolding similar to what rude caravanners used towards their most stupid camels. Jumanna herself was surprised that she knew so many curses. She never imagined she would ever use them, especially addressing children.

The most important thing is that they don’t use them in Konolwar’s school and don’t tell anyone who taught them. Or whatever. Is it really all that important? No! The primary goal now is to get to Konolwar! The most important thing now is to stay alive!

The new ridge was already close, but it did look really strange. A confident voice inside grew quiet, and the bad premonition returned. Jumanna took a step forward, but her foot immediately fell knee-deep into the sand. The young woman felt herself start to sink underground. She squealed from the suddenness. It was clear that it was a burrow of a sand dragon!

The ridge, as it turns out, had covered this burrow.

How could I have been so mistaken! What kind of delusion dragged me forward?

Several hands caught her from behind and managed to keep hold of her. Calif arrived almost immediately and pulled the caretaker out of the deadly funnel.

Jumanna looked around. Two hundred steps away was a high barchan, ahead – a treacherous ridge. The sand finally fell into a black abyss and the huge predatory face of a dragon appeared from the sandy depths.

“Take the children away!” she managed to shout to Lamis as she pointed to the barchan.

She pulled Khallan’s blade out from her belt and thrust it forward. She did everything the way Khasim instructed her to before leaving, in case the caravan was attacked by a dragon. But Jumanna couldn’t have ever imagined that she would actually have to encounter it like this, face to face. The dragon was already hovering over her. It was enormous! One and a half times the size of its relatives.

An outcast!

In a way, this could be considered luck. Dragon-outcasts always lived alone, outside the pack. However, they were the most cunning, the strongest, the most insidious representatives of the dragon family.

Suddenly, Calif and Makacash appeared on either side of Jumanna, and took up a similar fighting stance, swords forward.

Jumanna turned around. The others, even the girls, stood behind, with Lamis spreading her hands, if only to say, “What could I do?”

“What?” Jumanna literally yelled at them. “To face a dragon without weapons? To the barchan, immediately!” This had an effect. They obeyed, turning and running away immediately.

“And you,” Jumanna quickly glanced at Calif and Makacash. “Move closer to me! Bring your swords to my saber! As a triangle! And aim for the dragon’s throat!”

But the outcast was even more cunning than Jumanna had imagined. Instead of attacking them with his jaws, his tail swept the feet of the trinity, scattering Jumanna, Calif, and Makacash in different directions.

Jumanna fell on her back, and the dragon rose above her, opened its jaws and plunged down sharply. The only thing that Jumanna thought at that instance was, “Forgive me, Father! Forgive me, beloved brother! Forgive me, my dear Mother!”

As the dragon nose-dived at Jumanna, something powerful and heavy struck, pushing it away, allowing her time to jump to her feet. She couldn’t believe her eyes! Next to the dragon stood an enormous lion, baring its teeth. It appeared out of nowhere and knocked down the winged creature in one leap!

“Sandy Lion,” whispered Jumanna.

The dragon rose from the ground and tried to fly up. But Jumanna, driven by instinct (she wasn’t the sister of Khasim Amatt, a skillful dragon hunter, for nothing) rushed towards the monster and slashed its throat with the saber. She couldn’t have thought the dragon’s head would fly off so easily. The body collapsed to the ground, having never fully risen into the air, conjuring a great pillar of dust around it.

The lion looked Jumanna in the eye. She had never met an animal with such a piercing stare! No, there could be no coincidence. That night she had appealed to the constellation of the Lion, the ancient hero and the star of the same name… and the Marawie Sand Lion himself had come to her aid!

It was he who ordered me to advance immediately this morning!

And how after this could one refuse to believe that the Chekatta could speak to the dead, and that Vedichs turned into animals?

The lion let out a growl, not an angry one but rather a calling one, and rushed off to the north, making several mighty jumps. After a while he stopped and turned back to look at Jumanna.

“He’s calling me to go with him,” she said out loud and turned to the barchan. “Hey you! C’mon! Follow me!” Jumanna lifted her saber again as if she was leading her pupils to battle.

Calif and Makacash had already caught up to her.

Jumanna just ran. She ran after the lion until he disappeared on the horizon. With her last ounce of strength, she screamed, turning to the children behind her, screaming only one word, “Faster!” She shrieked until dryness finally scorched her throat into silence.

The lion disappeared, but she kept running after him. The lion left no marks on the sand, but Jumanna knew exactly where he had run to. Sometimes she wondered if she made it all up. But then who, if not the lion, had saved her from the dragon?

Due to dehydration, perspiration no longer dripped down her face; her feet were petrified, but continued to mechanically measure the footsteps; her swollen tongue had stopped obeying. Jumanna didn’t turn around; she just knew the students must be following. Lagging behind, but following. They had to believe in her! After all, she believed!

She began to climb up the hill. Scattering sand entangled her legs. But Jumanna didn’t give up. She climbed.

What kind of power led her? It was impossible to understand. Perhaps it was The Power, the nature of which could not be explained.

As the sun was rolling towards sunset, another night in the open sand meant death! But Jumanna didn’t think about it. She climbed to the top of the hill, and there the beautiful green valley unraveled before her gaze! It was not an oasis! Not a mirage. The desert just ended abruptly. The blue river, beginning to glisten with reddish shades, separating life from death. Death in the guise of golden sand lost its power where the river bank began.

And only now, understanding that she had won, Jumanna gleefully turned around. Makacash had already crawled up to her. Much further, Moualdar, Astramed and a few more boys began to climb the hill. Slightly lower than them, the other brisk boys could be seen. Lamis followed, holding the hands of the two girls, while the lazy Mulaf and others followed. And quite a bit further in the distance waddled Calif with small Munu and her herdmate, Inaya, in his arms.

“Faster! Faster!” cried Jumanna, no longer strictly, but joyfully. “We made it!”

Even from afar Calif accurately grasped the change in her mood and quickened his pace.

Everyone literally rolled head over heels down the slope, dipped their heads into the river and drank like animals.

In the last rays of the sunset, they crossed the river and fell into the canopy of green trees, rare, but with thick buxom crowns.

Jumanna leaned her elbows on the tree trunk. Lamis sat down beside her.

“Thank you,” she said in a weak voice. “You’ve saved us all! You brought us to the Valley!”

“It’s all thanks to the lion,” Jumanna sighed.

“What lion?” Lamis asked in an amazed tone, but immediately drifted off.

10

Jumanna opened her eyes and looked at the sun. Noon had long since been and gone. Yesterday she used up too much of her strength. When she got up, she realized that the students had long since woken. The caretaker had no time to wipe her eyes when twenty-two students, led by Calif, approached her, each one dropping to one knee. Lamis joined in.

“Thank you, our caretaker and teacher, Jumanna Inaiya Khaniya Amatt!” the eldest boy began. “Yesterday we were too tired and couldn’t tell you this! Forgive us! We must thank you endlessly! You saved us many times! And now you have brought us to the Valley.”

“Thank you!”

Sincerely and fervently, the phrase “Thank you” was repeated by the childish voices.

Jumanna only smiled in return.

She bathed her face in the water, and then realized that it was worth swimming. Stepping aside, she got undressed, and with obvious pleasure entered the cool waters of the river. After spending almost half an hour there, she went back to the camp and began to collect fruit from the trees. The juicy peaches and oranges became a wonderful breakfast.

Jumanna announced that they would spend the day in the fruit grove to restore their strength.

In his ear, Calif was instructed to take all the boys to the river and properly wash them. Lamis was already going to the other side to bathe the girls. Jumanna halted her friend.

“Did you really not see the lion?” she asked, looking into Lamis’s eyes.

“What lion? Please explain!” She was obviously surprised.

“Who killed the dragon?”

“You!” Lamis said, even more surprised.

“And no one helped me?”

“Calif and Makacash,” The tone of her younger friend filled with bewilderment. “But the dragon quickly scattered them in different directions. And you rushed straight at him and blew his head, and then rushed forward and led us, running like an antelope! I was afraid we would collapse, but you… you instilled confidence in us! And we reached the Valley! Do you not remember?

“I remember,” said Jumanna, “It just seemed to me that I saw a lion… do not pay attention to me! It’s the emotions.”

“Thanks again!” Lamis enveloped Jumanna in her arms.

11

The day was calm. Evening came, then the night. Jumanna did not want to sleep. She sat and thought. There were so many questions…

Was the lion a phantom? Or not?

And how did we come to the Valley in just a few treks? We should have walked for at least fifteen days. Did the astronomer Al-Dassay lead the caravan so far to the northeast? Or was it that after the caravan’s death I lost count?

She decided she didn’t want to think on it further, instead allowing joyous emotions to overwhelm her. After all, the students had survived the ruthless desert! She, Jumanna Amatt, had succeeded in leading them to the borders of the Valley!

Everyone would’ve been proud of me! Father… Brother. I must write to him! He will be bug-eyed with surprise! And my mother will be proud… but my mother shouldn’t know about our adventures!

And then Jumanna felt a hunch.

The diary!

Of course, it was necessary to add new records to it. In the desert, there had been no time for it, and now it was worth making a few notes while their recent experiences were still ripe. But the impulse quickly dried up. Jumanna remembered she had no ink.

She dug into her hiking bag to make sure of this, and along with the diary, she took out the “Journey to Sky.”

Volume One – The Ito Empire…

Once again, her memory filled with images – Father, the Universe, a starry sky, the Lion constellation and the ghost of a lion in the desert, the Star of the Marawie, the scorpio-angler, the dragon, the experienced astronomer who had lost his way, as well as those strange voices, forebodings, visions and dreams and… this book.

All the incredible events that had taken place in the last few days in no way looked like a series of accidents. On the contrary, they were more like parts of one chain.

Strange, very strange…” Be afraid of your desires,” the wise say. I wanted my journey to be Great, and the stars, as if they had heard me, had reshaped themselves, plotting my route.

Jumanna took the book and opened it. In the bright light, all the symbols and sentences were perfectly readable. And now, it seemed a sort of magic arose from the moonlit glow of the ink-filled pages! Again, Jumanna felt something. Yes, yes, something related to that special energy. Nothing like this had happened before.

Maybe this is really due to emotions?

Jumanna began to slowly turn over the pages, briefly re-reading the paragraphs that she knew almost by heart:

THE TRAVEL TO THE SKIES

Volume One – The Ito Empire

Sixth edition. A summary of the Grand Book

Author: Azir Amunjadee

Azir Amunjadee, also known as Azir the Wanderer, is a member of the Old Pages Clan and descendant of Demar Amunjadee, creator of the famous Adventure Book. Azir is the author of a number of works in which he describes in detail the history of the northern people. He is the only stranger who managed to see the closed lands of the Ulutau and visit the mysterious Tau schools. The manuscripts of Azir help to form a notion of the amazing northern philosophy. They have been translated into various languages and are part of a series of books describing all the people of Elinor.

The Ito Empire – General Information

In the north, is the Dead Land. Here everything is shrouded in a dense veil of fog. Not a single ray of sun penetrates it. From the fog emerge demons, the most dreadful creatures, and only one nation can resist them – the Itoshins. The main settlements of these amazing people are located on a plateau called the Life Border Plateau. It is a ridge of stony hills, covered with eternal mist and fog. Nothing grows here, except for dry thorns of different forms, and only yauls can eat them – these animals truly have iron stomachs. The cities of the Itoshins are united into an empire ruled by the immortal emperor Tosho and his eternally young daughter Tsvetsho. All the people of Elinor are surprised at how the Itoshins can live in such inhuman conditions. I, Azir Aniluir Anevandi Anademar Amunjadee, travelled from the city of Eavette up the Huma River until Kawa, then continued further along the misty hills to Moon Lake, saw the emperor Tosho and the portraits of his beautiful daughter, and fought with the demons of the Dead Lands. I’m the only Djunit who walked the Path of Horror to the Celestial Plateau and survived. I have traveled this way so that you, my dear reader, can learn more about the amazing northern people and love them, as I do.

The Ruler of the City of Eavette

Dear curious reader, before telling you about the northern people, I would like to share a story about how their formation began.

To tell you the truth, it’s difficult to reliably explain what happened during the Great Exodus of the people from the Valley of the Ancestors, as it was so long ago. I studied myths and legends of local residents, wrote down old songs, and visited ancient libraries. Based on this knowledge, I can roughly restore the events of those old years.

The Itoshinian ancestors lived in the heart of Elinor – the Valley of the Ancestors – in the city of Eavette and its suburbs. When the lands in the Valley became scarce, tribes from other cities began to wander in search of better lands, and as you, of course, know, wise reader, this was how the Great Exodus began. Yes, it was also then that our great people emerged, when Marawie the Sand Lion, our father and leader, led experienced farmers to the south, into an endless desert.

About the formation of our people, you, my deeply versed reader, of course, know. However, about the formation of other nations, you, most likely, do not.

The inhabitants of the city of Eavette occupied the fertile northern part of the Valley, and did not intend to leave it.

But one day Tosho, the ruler of the city of Eavette, had a traveler for a visitor, a traveler who had returned from the wild northern lands. Unfortunately, dear reader, I could not find out the name of this traveler. This is a great pity, as only thanks to this man was the terrible north uncovered. It was he who sold to the ruler Tosho ancient tomes, which he had found in the northern ruins. According to legends, these were the books of the Second Epoch. But no one will ever find out what was in them, since these tomes were later destroyed by Tosho himself.