The Instruments of The Dassin

"There weren’t always dragons in the valley."

Azil said to Uray as he adjusted his tagulmust (1), almost blending into the blue darkness of the cold desert night. The evening embraced them both as it used to cradle their ancestors before them.

The gentle twinkling light, coming from the fire they had lit earlier, made their indigo robes and gowns made of bazin (2) glisten, which resembled the midnight sky above them filled with burning stars. They were one and the same with the night.

Azil poked the logs with one of his swords, which had two pointy ends, from time to time to keep the fire burning still. Uray watched the thin silver sword carefully, it resembled the softest silk, the same type that the women of her people wore during celebrations. The writing engraved on her father's weapon lightened up, reflecting the fire. She loathed the sight of her two barren weapons, and she wished that one day she would get sacred inscriptions on her swords too.

"We learned from the ancestors that the dragons fear the valley so we hid here.." He eventually continued, before wondering "... but I don't understand why things suddenly changed in the last few years"

Uray stared at him in silence recalling her father’s orders to their muster of Dassin (3) to travel east with their camel's towards the hollow mountain nomads to warn them about the attacks. The rest of them stayed in case of another attack at fennec's end, where she grew up and her tribe stayed there for years.

Uray and her father, on the other hand, had to venture deeper into the valleys and the desert on their two camels. Her father claimed that he wanted to investigate, but she suspected that there was more to it. Uray sensed fear in her father’s eyes and she had never seen him this way, not even during that one night.

He proceeded to say, hiding his voice crack "It was our job to protect."

"Was it their job to wait for the dragons to attack them too?" Uray remarked sarcastically and sighed at how long the Dassin waited to take action.

"Patience child!" His big brown eyes almost turned charcoal black as he glared at her.

Her lips tightened and she quickly lowered her gaze to watch the fire crackle and dance.

Uray never liked the way her father handled things, she didn’t like the way the Dassin handled anything and she knew her father Azil didn’t like the way she talked about the ancestors, she blamed their practises for what had happened in the last few years. It's considered a disgrace to hunt dragons if they do not pose a threat to the people. The ancestors solely served to protect.

If it was up to her she would trace the dragons one by one and kill every last one of them with her silver swords.

"We need to change our ways, father." Her eyes were tracking the ceaseless movement of the fire as she spoke in a determined tone.

"Uray, how many times have I warned you about speaking this nonsense…"

"Is it nonsense?"

As she felt the cold breeze travel between the folds of her layered bazin, she buried her body deeper into her clothing: :

"Maybe the old ways are the reason why there are more dragons attacking our people."

"Uray you've never handled a dragon like a true Dassin before, so what makes you think you can kill one, let alone hunt it…you still got a lot to learn kid." He sighed solemnly.

She responded by slightly raising her voice "I've been alive twenty summers… I've seen a dragon… At least what was left of it."

She remembered that one night as she whispered the last few words. A year ago, the wet and dark decapitated head of the dragon slid in front of her, entering their family's ehan (4). The troops of Dassin claimed to have slayed it earlier that morning, but it still slid and wiggled that night towards Uray and her family, leaving a trail of black slick oily blood that dripped from the open wound. Body parts hung from the dragon's head, and it dragged itself with some of them. A dozen arms and legs attempted to replicate how a human would walk and move. Human faces and heads blinked and stared at her. Even the intestines of the people it killed during that massacre were attached to the head and it tried to blend every possible part of her people with itself. The mouths of their corpses were now open forever in the same position as they once had surly screamed when they were alive.

Before continuing the memory of that horrific event, she snapped back to her father's words "Do you know why that happened daughter ?"

"It's because that kid didn't correctly finish murdering the dragon."

He said in an earnest tone "…Undead dragons are far more dangerous…"

Uray cut him off, completing the sentence that he always recited "... Than when they are alive… I am sure I can handle the job just fine." She played with the sand in frustration as she said those words and she felt the heat rise to her cheeks.

He said with his voice drowning in grief "Uray I know you wanna take your vengeance on the dragons for killing our family, but you must understand the duty of executing a dragon is sacred and greater than all of our personal deeds. It's about the protection of what's left of our people, we ought to not be reckle-…"

Their camels grunted at something in the darkness and Azil lost his words to their frightened sounds.

He raised his head towards the sky, drew the lower part of his tagulmust to his nose hiding half of his face, and stood up hastily disturbing the sand around him. The air that came from the sudden movement of his indigo robe nearly put out the fire.

His fist tightened around the sword, and he smoothly pulled the other one from the black sheath attached to his waist. The two swords in his hand moved so fast in circular motions as he prepared himself for what was to come, reminding Uray of the mischievous movements of a sand storm. Both of the weapons stood in her father's hands suddenly , strong , sharp and stunning.

Uray followed by pulling up her own veil on her face, picked up her own sword and asked "Do you think it's a …dragon ?" Azil walked away from her slowly and carefully, his eyes fixed on the sky.

A noise came from above and it sounded like thousands of hawks chirping in unison, and the camels began running in all directions while grunting in panic.

They both knew… it was coming.

Uray could see the stars hide behind a giant shadow above her, the wind blew strong and the fire went out completely leaving them with only a faint light from the tiny celestial bodies. The sound of flapping wings overwhelmed her while the sand around them swirled. Azil started hitting his swords together clanging and leading the dragon towards himself. He caught a glimpse of its face, as he always remembered the Mesmer dragons (5), they had human faces as pale as the moon emerging from their long black feathered necks, eyes so big and wide that looked like a dark cave, and feathers that gleamed through the night.

"Do not look into its eyes," Azil warned Uray.

The creature stood still and steady on its hind legs, in front of the father-daughter dyad.It summoned him to a duel by raising its two front lion-like legs and spreading its sharp claws, as if it knew who they were.

The dragon broadened its black lofty wings while fluttering them and the horrifying sound came out of its human mouth again making the floor tremble beneath them. Uray threw her swords to protect her ears from the sharp pain that pierced her ear-drums and Azil moved closer to the beast for he was used to the sound.

Azil charged towards the beast and jumped, almost floating through the wind. He initiated an ancient dance of a dassin in which he opened his arms mid-air and mimicked the dragon's wings. Azil mid-movement felt a sharp pain on his right side as he spun uncontrollably, hitting the sand; the beast had slapped his body with one of its wings.

"Father!" Uray screamed at the sight of his corpse plummeting to the ground.

Subsequently, she watched the dragon walk on its four legs towards her with curiosity. She saw the creature’s wings rising and felt a gust of heavy wind coming from its back; the wings momentarily started flapping. Uray felt the sand dance around her while the ground shook. After what seemed like an eternity, the dragon kept looking at her with its dark eyes, she could feel its breath tickling her face and she got lost in its petrifying beauty. She realised she had made a mistake by looking into its eyes, each of them was bigger than her head. Uray was falling deeper and deeper into the dragon's orbs, mesmerised by the beast, and reliving that terrorizing night again in her mind, it left her empty. She wanted to look away but she was trapped in its hollow pits. She was aware that the dragon was ancient, older than her, older than her father and older than their ancestors.

As it opened its mouth widely, she heard her father's two swords clanging together again, waking her up from a distance, and he yelled something, but Uray couldn't make out what her patriarch said, she was too frightened to understand anything he said and she reminded herself to breathe.

A rhythmic sound was heard coming from the distant dunes and hills by the two dassin.

*DON! BONK DON! BONK!*

Uray recognised the sound; it was a bandir (6), but not like any other bandir she had heard before; this one was loud, and deep, and gut wrenching.

Whatever it was or whoever it was, it was consistent. Uray noticed that the sound was approaching the three beings and it caught the attention of the dragon in enchantment.

In the shadows, a very tall man held the bandir gracefully, he looked like he was born out of the darkness with his pitch black skin that almost turned dark blue, he was darker than her and her father, for a matter of fact anyone she had ever seen before. He was dressed in a white layered silky robe that wrapped and folded around him, and he held the bandir in his right hand while drumming the instrument with the other. She couldn't distinguish emotions or features on his face, Uray thought for a moment that he might have been faceless.

She quickly looked at her father, seeing the fear in his eyes "This can't be…" Azil said while his voice blended with the bandir sound.

The strange man continued drumming *DON! BONK! DON! BONK*

The dragon moved and slithered towards the man so quickly and bent its neck in front of him; Uray reasoned that it was either out of fear of the sound or of the drummer himself.

At once, the man began walking back into the darkness and the ugly beast walked right behind him, following the rhythm and the noise faded away into the corners of the valley, where the desert's mountains and hills stood eminently still.

END OF CHAPTER 1

(1) Tagulmust is a word from the Tamasheq language that refers to an indigo and blue dyed cotton garment. It has similar properties as a veil and a turban, it is worn by Tuareg people.

(2) Bazin is a North African term for a polished shiny hand dyed cotton that is commonly worn in North Africa.

(3) Dassin is a fictitious word that means protector or defender.

(4) Ehan is a word in the Tamasheq language that refers to a tent used by nomads in North Africa.

(5) Mesmer dragons are vicious hypnotic dragons that use hypnotic induction to lure their prey.

(6) Bandir is a type of traditional wooden-framed drum popular in North Africa.