The River

Chapter 13

It took them a long time before they saw some light far ahead in the tunnel. It was the most beautiful thing they have ever seen in their lives. They ran toward the light and finally got out of the tunnel. They came out of the tunnel underneath a big rocky mountain. There was a vast field in front of them. The field looked like it had more plants than what was in the fields around their village.

It was in the afternoon and the sun was setting already. They found a big rock and laid underneath it. The hunger wouldn’t let them sleep, so they ate some of their best meals, smoked meat, and then slept without being able to say a word.

Logan opened his eyes, it was almost dark, he thought the sun was not up yet and could sleep a little more before the sunrise, then something shocked him. There was a human figure standing a little farther. He opened his eyes completely and sat up.

Laura woke up by Logan’s movements and felt danger as she saw Logan and sat up beside him. There was a dark figure a little farther down, at first they thought it's a man, but it was a little shorter than a human.

Logan grabbed his dagger as he saw the figure approaching. Then they saw a chubby and old goblin is getting closer with his hands up in a sign of peace. He was a little bit taller than Laura, with white long hair on his head and a dark brown, almost black skin.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” said the goblin with a smile and a weird accent, “Or get hurt, I’m coming in peace.” Logan lowered his dagger and the goblin continued, “I saw you two sleeping here this morning, and then again at noon and you were exactly in the same position, I was worried maybe you are dead, so wanted to check on you,” “Morning?” asked Logan in shock, “It’s not morning yet,” “Oh dear,” answered the goblin with kindness “It is almost sunset,” “You mean,” interrupted Laura “We’ve been asleep for a day?” “I don’t know,” said the goblin “When did you go to sleep, but you were here this morning.”

Laura and Logan looked at each other for a moment, “Come,” said the goblin, “You look tired still and you have wounds all over your body, my house is near, I can give you a place to recover if you want to,” Logan looked at the goblin with doubt, “I’m not dangerous,” continued the goblin “I live alone and I will be happy to have some company if you like to. I don’t want anything from you.”

“Thanks,” said Laura and stood up and said to Logan, “I think it’s better to go with this old man,” Logan thought to himself the manners of this old goblin does not seem to be malevolent, so he stood up and grabbed his bag and said to the goblin, “Lead the way Mr.” “Ubara,” said the goblin, “My name is Ubara Tutu, but call me Ubara” and then he started leading Laura and Logan toward the field.

They walked for some time and despite what was visible from where they were before, the field was not as flat as it seemed. There were lots of small hills here and there.

Logan did not tell anything about the river to Ubara, but he could see it and to his surprise, they were walking very close to the river’s path.

Between some of the hills, there was a small door that was the entrance of Ubara’s house. The house was located very close to the river, Logan could hear the sound of the water streaming from where he was standing.

Inside the house was big. It looked like the house was as big as the hill on top of it. There were carved pillars inside the house to prevent the ceiling from falling down. Several lamps and candles were on the walls. Only some of them were lit, but it was enough to make the house light up.

There were no windows and no light from outside could come in. but it was not dark and scary like inside the tunnel, actually, the dim light inside made it feel cozy and homey.

Ubara’s house was more like an abandoned castle than a normal house. There were lots of rooms and a big hall. “Suit yourself,” said Ubara, “Choose whichever room you like and stay in it.” “Thanks,” said Logan “Do you really live alone?” “Yes,” answered Ubara with a smile, “But it was not always like this, I had lots of servants, but it's a long story, maybe later,” then Laura and Logan wondered inside the big house.

There was a room with a fancy door and they figured it should be Ubara’s room. There were five other rooms after that in a corridor, all of them had beds. But they were all short for Logan. Finally, they decided to stay in the biggest room with the biggest bed. It was still short for Logan but they could manage to sleep beside each other without a problem. Only Logan's legs would be out of bed and he had no problem with that.

After some moments Ubara knocked on the door and brought them a hot drink. It was a drink from some plants they have never tasted before, But soon they fell asleep again.

The next morning they woke up to the smell of cooked meat and joined Ubara for breakfast. After the breakfast, Ubara checked Logan and Laura’s wounds and bandaged them. Then Ubara left the house and did not come back till noon. He had brought some cactus and some kind of big cockroaches with him. “What are they?” asked Laura pointing at the cockroaches, “They are our lunch,” answered Ubara with a smile.

Laura remembered the mushrooms they found in the tunnel and went to their bags. There were only a few of them left. Laura brought them out and asked Logan, “When Did we eat these?” “I don’t know, maybe they fell out of our bags when we were running in the tunnel” answered Logan, Laura shook his head in agreement but with a little doubt. “What are they?” asked Ubara curiously, “They are,” answered Laura, “A very delicious plant I found on the way, I thought maybe we could eat them for lunch today.” “Thank you,” said Ubara, “You can eat if you want, But I don’t eat new food.” Laura looked at him with wonder, “What do you mean?” asked she, “I mean,” answered Ubara “I don’t eat things that I have never eaten before,” “But,” said Logan with questioned face “There must have been a time when you would try new food, or else you should have been drinking your mother’s milk yet,” “Yes,” said Ubara while laughing, “I would eat whatever my mother told me to eat until I came of age and left the house, I tested a new plant I found in the mountains and it made me sick really hard; after that, I never test new food,” “But,” said Laura “But,” she changed her mind and said something else, “Ok, so we will eat them with our lunch,” “And,” added Logan “ You are welcome to eat it if you changed your mind,” Ubara shook his hand in appreciation.

After lunch, Laura and Logan felt a little dizzy, but it went away very fast. They were sitting in the main hall that Ubara started, “So,” asked Ubara “Tell me, what are you guys doing here? What has happened to you?” and then they told him everything they could remember of their journey.

“I’m glad you could survive all of that,” said Ubara after some time looking at the wall, “I’ve heard about a witch living in the mountains, my father used to talk about her, but I always thought it’s just a myth.” Then he stood up and started to make a hot beverage, “But,” asked Ubara “You didn’t tell me why you started your journey?” Logan looked at Laura for a moment and then told Ubara about the river.

After Logan's story of the river finished, Ubara came back to them with three wooden glasses of hot beverages and sat on a chair in front of him. He took a sip and then started talking, “I understand why you didn’t want to tell me about the river, but don’t hesitate on your decision if you are sure enough of your vision and came to this journey and risked the life of yourself and this lovely lady,” Ubara pointed at Laura and smiled at her and then continued “So don’t be ashamed of it. Even if I think you are crazy, it’s enough that you don’t think that. So stop doubting yourself and do whatever you think is the right thing to do, finish what you started,” “I appreciate your opinion,” said Logan “It is very wise of you to think this way.”

“You are not the first person whom I said it to,” said Ubara looking at Logan “I remember to say the exact same words to my only son, Utnapishtim,” Ubara’s eyes brightened as they filled with tears, “I’m sorry,” said Laura “for his loss,” “He might be alive,” said Ubara focusing on his guests again “He left many years ago, but I never heard of his death, maybe, after all, he did what he wanted to do,” “What,” asked Laura curiously, and she regretted her question immediately, “Oh, that’s ok, “said Ubara understanding Laura’s reaction to her own question “I don’t mind talking about him, in fact, I actually enjoy bringing the memory of the great Utnapishtim alive again.”

Ubara finished his drink and leaned comfortably on his throne-like chair “He was my firstborn,” said Ubara “And my only son, heir to my lands and wealth, but even when he was a little child, he was different from others, he imagined talking to creatures from other worlds, to gods as he would put it, I did not take it seriously, it was a child's play after all, but as he grew up, his imaginations didn't change. When he was a teenager, he started to learn reading and writing, and then he got into ancient books. I loved him and supported him even if he wanted to read books. We collected a big library, you can see the library with some of its books left at the end of that corridor yet,” Ubara pointed at another corridor that Logan and Laura had not visited yet “After a while, he started talking about oceans and rivers,” Logan’s eyes widened, Ubara noticed it and added, “I don’t know if we have any books about rivers or no, I’m not a very good reader, but as I said some of the books are there, you can check them if you can read,” “I will,” said Logan with joy “I’m sure useful things can be found there,” Ubara nodded to him and continued, “The actual problem happened when he started talking about some vessels that could ride on the water, apparently in ancient times there were big floating villages on the water, they called them ships, Utnapishtim fascinated with this myths and started to make a ship out of clay. At first, people thought he was making a big house, though it was so big that we tried to stop him, it could attract our enemies, we didn’t want anybody to know we live under these hills, so people of the village destroyed Utnapishtim’s ship, but it was already too late. A group of savages that live east of here saw the ruins of the ship and attacked us to gather our food and water resources. They almost took everything, we could not live here anymore, they would attack and steal our food constantly, so almost all of the village left except for the family of the chief.”

“I was a king, my forefathers have been kings in these lands, but never in my life, my father told me that he was the king over people, we have always been the king of these lands, so I refused to go. They chose another king and left. My wife and daughters stayed with me for a while but the horror of the attack of those savages, couldn’t let them sleep at night, so I made them leave me.”

“So I was left here with my only son Utnapishtim, who was banished from the village, we lived together for a while, the savages attacked once more and saw that only two of us left, so they did not bother to attack and steal two man’s food storage. What happened to Utnapishtim’s clay ship, and then our village, made him get depressed, he always said that the gods betrayed him, he started reading books all over again and then he went crazy and started to burn them. I saved him from burning himself.”

“One day we started talking after a long time, and he told me what was on his mind, his illusion God has told him to go on a journey and find the key to immortal life, apparently he has found something about the immortal life in books too, he wanted to do it, but at the same time, his guilt for what happened before and me ending up alone here wouldn’t let him go. So it was on that very same day that I told my son the same words I told you earlier and it was almost the last time I spoke with anybody.”

“He left the next day early in the morning without saying goodbye, at first I was mad at him, but I can see now that he did the good thing, I could not bear the memory of that last goodbye, and probably he could not leave me while I was looking at him go, so he left without saying anything and after that, I have never heard of him or anybody from my tribe even my wife and two little daughters for years.”

Ubara kindly looked at Laura and said “You remind me of my younger daughter,” then he looked at Logan “And you remind me of my son.”

Laura smiled back at Ubara and said: “What would you do if you could live that moment again, would you say the same words to your son again?” Ubara considered the question for some time and finally said, “I would probably say the same thing, but I would also add something to it,” “What?” asked Laura, “I would say,” said Ubara “Consider immortality for a moment, even if you find the key to immortal life, do you want to use that? Do you really like to lose everybody around you, everyone, you love, everyone you care about? Because if you become immortal, and your loved ones don’t, you will someday lose them, do you like to continue living in that world?”

Ubara hesitated for some time and continued, “I don’t know if there is a hell as the ancient religions say, but I think I have lived in hell in these years,” he looked at Laura and Logan and continued, “Hell is nothing but being alone, don’t lose each other under any circumstances.”

They all stayed silent for some time, finally, Logan stood up and walked toward the library, Laura followed him and Ubara went out of the house.