Keshav and Dalbir rode their horses in the arid desert, Badaal and Babloo. Badaal, the white horse looked handsome and muscular; it was the most pleasing horse in Rajasthan Keshav borrowed from the king of the state. Babloo was a black-coloured, robust horse with a white freckle around his neck. The king lent them the horses to find a proper trade route across the Thar Desert in the central western part of India. They trotted across the orange dunes; the sun was high in altitude. Mirages were forming in the distance as the sun glistened on the ground.
Keshav was eager to locate the route and rode in the front, and Dalbir followed. But, after the second famine, feeding everyone for another year or even six months was impossible. So the king called Keshav into his chamber and told him about an Oasis.
“The oasis is a mere legend, Keshav,” said Dalbir riding his horse beside him.
“If we fail this hot sea of death will kill us our carcasses will fed vultures.”
“The king had his informants” Keshav pulled out some coffee beans and showed them to Dalbir.
Baba Budan brought coffee beans to India from Saudi Arabia and now grows and sells them. Saudi Arabia had severe restrictions on bringing items back from their country. So he smuggled seven coffee beans from Arabia in his beard and came to Chandragiri hills of Karnataka. Budan planted them there and sold them for profit. He couldn’t have done it without crossing the Thar Desert. While he was okay with sharing his story and coffee beans, he was very secretive about his route. King assumed he used the Thar oasis, and Budan wanted to keep the location for him, but if Keshav and Dalbir could find it, they could solve all the problems of private traders and bring the state to its initial glory.
“Do we have any Intel?” inquired Dalbir.
“Well, we have a map and this poem written behind the map,” said Keshav.
“The feathered beasts glide over the Oasis fair,
The god of the tongue will guide you without a care,
The Scorpion stings with its blue stone sharp; beware!
“The feathery creatures must be the birds; the god of the tongue is Mercury. So we had to follow Mercury and locate the birds,” said Dalbir.
“What are a scorpion and the blue stone? Did the king say anything else?” asked Dalbir.
“He gave me this crossbow and necklace,” Keshav held up a glass dewdrop pendant, which was cloudy white and seemed asleep. They both started to ride their horses and covered a great distance on their first day. After hours of riding the horses started to slow down and neighed making the explorers halt. But could not find any place with shade or protection. Keshav heard a tune and thought he was dreaming until Dalbir said
“Do you hear that music?”
“Oh yes, sounds like a flute. Where is it coming from?” Keshav directed his horse from the source of the song.
They ended up near a settlement that looked like a small village. They entered the bounds of the town through the colonies with houses built of mud with faded colours. Suddenly a half-naked brown man holding a long wooden flute with white coloured paint marks all over his body and feathers attached to his head mimicking a hat yelled at them. They were stunned. Keshav almost drew his crossbow, but Dalbir stopped and stepped down from his horse.
Dalbir said with his hands in the air, “I don’t want to hurt you. The man looked confused. Dalbir continued, “I am in search of the Oasis.”
The village man saw the cloudy pendant around Keshav’s neck and widened his eyes relaxing his composure. He invited them to the communal area and they walked with the man towards the centre of the village and saw a massive tree with people gathered around it. They were seated down and praying. He guided them to the edge of the communal area and went ahead to speak with the village elder. They saw the village man talk to a person with the same clothes, but he seemed fresher and had golden-coloured robes.
After the village elder approached Dalbir, he answered, “We are in search of the Oasis directly ordered by the king of Rajasthan. Can we please have refuge in the village till tomorrow morning?”
The village elder stared at Keshav’s necklace.
The elder said, “Only on one condition, you have set for this journey, although you have no idea the horrors that lie ahead of you that are far more dangerous than the storms and draughts.”
Dalbir asked, “What’s the condition?”
“Not far from here a scorpion lives in the valley of death and hoards our crops and consumes our water, we want nothing but to be free of him,” said the village elder.
“We are in a hurry and need to follow our king’s command,” said Dalbir.
The village elder explained that the king sent them with that pendant to fetch him the location of the Oasis and kill the creature. The pendant this man wears has magical powers. It can kill the Scorpion with it. Legends say that the Scorpion only answers to mystical powers. This opulent crystal on Keshav’s neck is nothing but a magical stone. It powers up around these unknown creatures and commands them,”
They looked at each other and did not know how to respond.
“We can only provide you refuge if you promise to slay the monster,” said the village elder.
After the explorers agreed the villagers gave them a futon and wheat bread to eat. The well water had drained, so they offered them a boiling jar of underground water; though it appeared undrinkable, they had a bit of it and slept on the cold winter night beside the campfire. They woke up at dawn the following morning and left the village on their horses.
Keshav exclaimed, “This is crazy; we should just leave.”
“And not keep our promise? That is not virtuous,” quibbled Dalbir.
They took the little detour up north along the Valley of Death during the day. They spotted a massive circular rock resembling a 360-degree arch. It was perpendicular to the ground and looked like a portal. Behind which was a forty feet wide valley. They decided to camp for the night. They fed their horses and set up camp. Keshav and Dalbir sat beside the campfire ate food and drank water out of their canteen. Dalbir and Keshav were kept guard during the night. Both of them started to doze off as the night passed. Keshav heard a muted sound; he saw nothing but the circular rock. He did not think much of it.
Then, saw a line of scorpion-like creatures moving straight. Keshav instantly got a bad feeling and picked up a flaming wooden torch. He tried waking up Dalbir but seemed to be in a deep sleep. So, he inquired without him and picked up his crossbow.
His face was half-lit in orange due to the torch. He started following the little scorpions and reached the end of the valley. He saw nothing but darkness. Suddenly, the ground shook like an earthquake, and an enormous creature filled the valley. It had red eyes and almost looked like a giant scorpion. The Scorpion crawled out of the valley and ran towards Keshav. Keshav tripped and fell just as the monster was about to hit him; Keshav closed his eyes and covered his face. There was silence, and he waited momentarily before opening his eyes.
The giant was looking fazed. He was bewildered, and he felt something around his neck. The white coloured necklace was now radiating in blue colour. The Scorpion was hooked and did not move. Keshav stood up and took out the chain. The Scorpion fixed his gaze on the pendant, and his eyes would follow wherever it went.
Keshav was amazed and confused about how to proceed. He swung it like a pendulum, and the Scorpion followed. Just as he was about to think something, a voice roared behind him and threw a fire torch at the Scorpion. It was Dalbir. The Scorpion got restless, forgot the magic that held his gaze and started moving in an erratic pattern. It dug a hole underneath and crawled across. The Scorpion appeared behind Dalbir, slashed his back, and Dalbir fell to the ground.
Keshav shot the Scorpion with an arrow from his crossbow. The Scorpion left Dalbir and went for Keshav. As he approached Keshav, he loaded the pendant on the arrow and aimed at the Scorpion. The Scorpion opened his jaw, Keshav fired, and the arrow flew through its jaw to its stomach. The creature fell to the ground motionless. Keshav ran towards Dalbir, injured by the Scorpion. Keshav mended his wounds as much as possible and gave him some medicines for pain relief.
When he saw Dalbir could not move further, he put him on his horse and sent it toward the village. He managed to wrap the scorpion head in a bundle and attach it to Dalbir’s horse before sending him. Then, he mounted his horse and rode across the dunes to find the Oasis.
It was a new dawn, and he saw Mercury lining with the northeast; he sped his horse in that direction. On the horizon, he saw the Oasis and got extremely happy, but when he reached the area, it seemed to vanish from that point. He kept chasing the Oasis and speeding his horse, but the Oasis kept on teleporting further away each time. Soon his horse could not carry on more and stopped. He realised that he had stretched Badal to his limits. He split some food and water with Badal and left him there. He wrapped his head with the scarf and kept on walking.
On his way, he saw an older man sitting on a rock, resembling the village elder too much. The old man said, “You thought this would be an easy task, but you have reached your limit.”
“I wanted this for the wrong reasons; I dragged my friend into this. I am not a great man.”, cried Keshav.
The older man did not answer and vanished. Keshav realised the exhaustion had gotten into him and that he needed to carry forward for the sake of the villagers and himself. Just as some motivation surged his body to move forward, a sandstorm hit him. He started to dig a hole and hide behind it until it passed. The storm was challenging and disoriented in his vision. When the storm quieted down, he got up exhausted. Keshav was strolling through the desert and fighting the menacing wind. The sand went all over his clothes due to the sandstorms. He was feeling weak and tripped as he walked. The dunes were only visible because of the moonlight, and the torch faded. Slowly darkness was creeping in. No, it was his eyes that were closing, realised Keshav. He fell to his knees, lost and defeated. All darkness surrounded his vision, and everything was black.
Keshav woke up in a fancy-looking room with fresh white and blue tiles. He seemed to have regained some strength and sat up in a bed. The room looked like a doctor’s clinic; only he had never seen this clean room.
A poster before him read, “Welcome to the Oasis city.”