The royal feud

1000 years ago ALONG THE SAHARA DESERT. The sun cast its yellow rays on the reddish yellow sand creating orange hues on the mound of dunes. The sand floats in response to the harsh wind movements, coating any disturbance in its way. Two Arab travelers-Hisham and Ismail-with their families appear on the eastern part of the desert. They trudge through the sloppy squishy sand, their foots leaving stamps of footprints, their voices lingering in the stagnant air. Their camels adorned in the red crinkled remaining of their women yards. The grown men gallantly walked in front of the fully covered women who had only their eyes devoid of the black chiffon material they wore. The children oblivious to the long endless journey ahead of them happily graced the camels hump with their little body. Their journey wasn't that with a precise destination, it was that of which they prayed to God to lead them unto a gracious land. They trudged through the desert for days, the sun lowered paving way for the appearance of the bright moon lighted nights, the contrasted days and nights counted into weeks. A misunderstanding sprang up between the two families amidst the journey which remained etched and locked deep in their hearts. A small bitter stir, cleared all the previous happy moments they had. The bitterness became engraved in them. None of them creased their face in an attempt to smile. No one could. The desert known for burying everything beneath its miniscule grains wasn't able to bury the surge of hate and sadness that radiated from them. They continued with the journey together with a heavy heart till they got in front of a small flowing river. Ismail and his family crossed to the other end of the river while Hisham and his family remained. Before their final separation, they swore and promised never to have anything to do with each other again. The Ismail family settled on one side of the river, while the Hisham family settled on the other side. Over the years, the two families grew sporadically when other settlers joined them. They both grew from a small clan into a large kingdom. The small misunderstanding that started on the journey also grew into something larger-a feud. The Ismail family grew into Wahda Kingdom. Their land-very fertile. They specialized more on agriculture. The inhabitants were mostly farmers-who grow different types of crops-and fishermen. The inhabitants loved themselves, the unity among them is their unique feature. They can do anything to save their kingdom, even if it means putting their lives on the line. The Hisham family grew into Dhahab kingdom. The kingdom was also known as 'the home of gold.' The inhabitants are mostly miners, with a few of them going into farming. Riches flows generously in the Dhahab kingdom. The inhabitants can also do anything to save their kingdom, even if it also means putting their lives on the line. The two kingdoms waged war between themselves numerous times-in which either of them won on different occasions. The last war fought between them, the Dhahab kingdom, emerged the winner. The Dhahab soldiers had their swords painted with the Wahda soldier's blood. The lucky ones who didn't lose their lives amongst the Wahda soldier's, returned back to their kingdom with their heads lowered in shame. A year passed, two years, 3 years passed and the Wahda kingdom still stayed silent, they didn't retaliate neither did they request for another war. Should their silence be taken as a mere silence, have they finally accepted defeat or is there something looming behind the pretence of silence. The golden rule in both kingdom remains that no one from any of the kingdom-Wahda and Dhahab-should trespass the other, or else the trespasser will be killed. Will the golden rule fade with time or will it remain forever? ****