“Ashar is coming this afternoon. I thought I would show you one of the caves before he arrives,” he suggested.
“Caves? That sounds exciting.”
“I promise this one is unlike anything you have ever seen before.”
Eighteen
Junayd bundled her into the back seat of one of the Hummers. Issa drove while Ziya rode shotgun. The other two guards remained at the house. An hour later, Midnight stared in wonder at the structure built into the walls of the massive cavern.
She thought they would explore the caves closest to the house, but Junayd said he wanted to show her a different one that required they drive to it. On the drive, she discovered there were dozens of canyons in this area. The canyons were created by the uplift of the nearby mountain plateau and the ancient river that now ran under the valley. This area of the Jawahir desert was different from the western section because it experienced periodic waves of cooler, moist air from the coastline several hundred kilometers away.
They returned to the main road and traveled another ten kilometers before turning onto a long dirt road. She was surprised to see a sign post with the description written in several different languages—including English. It was then she realized they were going to a National Park.
“Many of the caves in this area are still being used by the local tribes. Ha?irCaverns is the largest. The tribal leaders avoid it. They say it is haunted by the ghosts of their ancestors. You will see why when we enter. This is a sacred place to our people and one we proudly share with the world,” he said.
Issa parked the SUV at the end of the long, dirt parking lot. There were a few cars and a tour bus already there. Nearby, shaded picnic tables were set up for people to get out of the intense sun. A small building, powered by a large solar array, offered information, gifts, and refreshments.
“I have a great love for the history and culture of our country. My goal is to expand our National Park system much like the United States. I believe it is important to set aside areas of natural and cultural interests for future generations and to incorporate as much renewable energy into the process as possible so that the areas remain pristine,” he explained.
“Not to mention, it's good for people’s health if they are out hiking, exploring, and not polluting.”
“Exactly!”
“I have to admit the air of your canyon home is a lot healthier than it is under one of the most traveled on bridges in the world,” she ruefully confessed.
“I hope to convince you to make the change,” he said.
She gripped his hand and followed him along the rock-lined path. A glance over her shoulder showed her that Issa walked a respectable distance behind them to give them privacy while Ziya stayed with the vehicle. She knew it was for security reasons, but she couldn’t imagine that anyone would know they were there.
Instinctively, she scanned the area for threats. A family of four walked by them, the kids skipping ahead while the husband and wife walked at a slower pace. Tourists in a variety of colorful clothing dotted the path. Some were taking pictures, a couple were breathing heavily and looking longingly at the tour bus, others lingered at the entrance to a large cave.
“For thousands of years, thebadawimoved through the desert. It is thought those that lived here were the first?a?ir, the first settlers. There was water where they could grow grains and support a growing number of people,” he said.
She looked around the area. It looked—desolate. There were a few plants, but mostly sand. Her hat protected her from the intense heat, yet she could still feel it through her cotton trousers and the thin, long sleeves of her white blouse. She had already thanked Junayd for the cooler clothing, but she was even more grateful now. Nothing she had would have been appropriate for this climate.
Her clothes were all suited for New York weather, and they were all black to blend in with the night. The clothes he had shown her were made of either a super soft cotton or linen that could breathe in the desert heat. Even the scarf he provided was more of a thin veil, so light and transparent that she might as well not be wearing it at all.
Beyond the canyon, she could see an endless sea of sand. It almost looked like an ocean. The path in front of them dipped down and wound around another path until they reached the bottom where the cave entrance was located.
She paused there, standing to one side in the shade as a group of tourists came out. Tall statues of palm trees guarded the entrance. The old wooden doors set into the mouth of the cave were sturdy and intricately carved, allowing the original inhabitants to seal the cave against severe sandstorms and hostile nomads. Junayd handed her a bottle of water. One middle-aged man of about forty looked up at the parking lot and groaned.
“This is worse than going to the beach with all the kids, Gloria. Next time, I get to pick our vacation spot,” he grumbled.
“I am not ending up at your mother’s again. I want to see the world. If you want to live in the recliner with your mom, you do that next time. I'll be somewhere exciting where I don’t have to listen to you whine about having to walk a hundred yards,” Gloria snapped.
Behind the couple came a younger couple with twin boys. The boys and their dad were laughing and talking about how cool it would be to play paintball in the ruins while their mother tried to explain why that was a very bad idea. Junayd chuckled.
“My brothers and I wanted to play paintball here, too,” he confessed.
“I can see why,” she said.
She stared in wonder at the structures carved out of the sandstone walls. Multi-level rooms, some with round turrets, along with ancient staircases and terraces with short balustrades cut into the stone came together to form a masterpiece. It was like a modern-day Mesa Verde. There was a deep depression in the ground that at one time might have been filled with water. A long, narrow trench ran through one of the walls.
"For many generations, this was a paradise. The last known use of this cave was in the mid-1770s. An earthquake changed the flow of the underground river. The tribe had grown large by then, and a drought dried up the remaining water.”
It made sense that it would have been some natural catastrophe that made the inhabitants abandon this place. This was a very defensible position. Everything and everyone would have to enter and exit through that one entrance. The high walls would make it virtually impossible to climb. There wasn’t an over-abundance of wood, so making ladders wouldn’t have been an option. The high, narrow windows would give the inhabitants a defensive advantage over their enemies.
They walked up the steps to one of the terraces. From this height, she could see that the now crumbling wall had once encircled a great body of water. The entire thing was a masterpiece of engineering for its time.