The War Is Over

Kai

“Another omen!  The boy began to dig into the dune.”    * The sand was warm and soft.  The hole was getting deeper and deeper, but the boy could still find nothing. He looked into the stars in hope to find another omen. He glanced back down at the hole he dug and beside the hole, a scarab beetle was running toward the northernmost pyramid.  Santiago left his hole and followed the beetle.  This beetle was his only chance to find his treasure.  The beetle crept through a small crack between two blocks of sandstone at the base of the pyramid. Disappointment rushed through Santiago’s body.   The treasure still eluded him.  Santiago  looked up at the top of the pyramid amazed at the height.  While gazing at this monument his heart was trying to tell him something.  He was feeling an urge to climb to the crest.

So he did.  Santiago was leaping up the sandstone blocks. The blocks got bigger as he got higher.  He started to pull himself up.  Santiago was too excited to worry about falling.  He looked back toward his hole. Tribesmen were searching it to see if Santiago was hiding anything.  The rough sandpaper like stones scraped his knees, but Santiago didn't care. He could see the top.  He was only 10 feet away from finishing the tiring quest.  He started to climb faster. He was at the top and started looking in all directions smiling, praying he could see the treasure from this high up.  He saw nothing besides the busy markets and the sand below. The smile slowly faded as he couldn't find anything. He started to cry.  He got to his scraped knees and wept.  The tears on his cheek turned into yells.  The anger was coming in.  Santiago was yelling and throwing rocks at nothing .  The tribesmen, still searching his hole looked up at him confused.

“What do I do?” Santiago cried.  The wind brushed his face.  
“Don’t give up.” The wind whistled.
“Alchemist?” The boy questioned.  It started to rain and the wind stopped.
“Alchemist, wait! I need your help.” Cried the boy.  The rain moved the sand below and covered his hole.   The tribesman gave up on finding anything and ran towards shelter.  Beside that hole Santiago could see that something was being uncovered.  Santiago jumped down block to block trying not to lose sight of where he saw the object.  He was down in less than a minute.  

Santiago fell onto his knees beside the hole and wiped off the remaining wet sand on top of what appeared to be a chest.  The chest was made out of oak wood with brass medallions on each side.  He opened the chest slowly.  Inside were two smaller chests plated with gold. Between the two chest was a note from the merchant and the alchemist. The letter wrote, “Give each tribe half of the gold and tell them to end the war.”  Santiago put the note aside and opened one of the smaller chests. Spanish gold coins filled the entire chest.  Enough coins so all the people of the oasis wouldn’t have to work anymore.  You could see so much happiness from his smile. Santiago had finally reached his personal legend. After all he’d been through, he finally did it. Then everything went black.

Santiago woke up the next morning laying on the sand with his hand still holding the letter.  Three tribesmen were hovering over him blocking Santiago’s view of the sun.  The boy leaned forward with his hand on his forehead covering his eyes from the blaring sun. The tribesmen were talking in a language that Santiago couldn’t understand.  Santiago interrupted them and gave one of the tribal members one of the gold plated chests.  He told them to tell his commander to end the war at once.  The tribesmen became silent.  Santiago knew that they understood him.  The three tribesmen let the boy free and then they all walked back to their horses and rode off in different directions.

It was a three day trip for Santiago to get back to the oasis.  People crowded the border of the oasis wondering who the man on the horse approaching the oasis was.  Many of the tribesmen there were hugging their wife and kids.  Santiago knew the war was over and got off his horse.  The people remembered Santiago and told him about the news.  Santiago said nothing and walked past the crowd and there, right in front of him was Fatima.  They made eye contact and simultaneously they smiled and ran towards each other.

“You came back.”  Fatima said happily.
“Of course I did Fatima.” Santiago said softly.
“Where’s the alchemist?” Fatima asked.
“He’s helping another man just like how he helped me.” He said.
Santiago handed Fatima the coins and told her to give them to the leader of the oasis.  At that moment Fatima realized that Santiago was the hero that ended the war.  

The people of the oasis had no reason to be sad anymore.  Their husbands and fathers were back and their economy was put back into place.  Fatima and Santiago went back to her tent and that night Santiago walked back to where he had first met the alchemist.

“Thank you.” Said the boy.  The wind brushed his cheeks.