Cities made of Sand
St Margaret’s Co-Educational English Secondary And Primary School: Secondary Section
Secondary, Biraj Paudyal, Fiction: Group 3
T
hey looked ahead and saw cities made of sand, a barren wasteland filled with sand in
every metaphorical corner. Tiny spurs of yellow grass struggled to grow as the hooves
marched on at a steady pace over it. There was only one smell known, the pungent
aroma of a camel that hadn’t been washed since birth. The sun was dipping into the
azure sky, ready to leave and make way for the long night ahead.
There was a trail long and narrow, a trail no different to that of an ant colony, moving along
the vast plain. They were surely no colony of ants but a tribe, a tribe of men, women and children
along with an assortment of wild animals, caged or ridden. A tribe of 5000 Mongols with their
herd of animals marched.
Large men with copper-toned skin, long hair braided with the bones of desert creatures rode
their horses and led the herd of people. Their faces were hard and stern to match eyes as cold and
dark as onyx with a look so threatening that even the torturous desert envied. Bows slung, spears
in hand and sickles tucked beneath their waist, they rode with pride.
The women trailed behind them on camels carrying their children and infants. They bore
tunics fashioned from horse hide from head to toe and wore nothing else. Their rusty, brown-red
hair flowed freely and reflected against the gleaming sun. Camels tied to camels tied oxen tied to
goats followed the trail. Some camels carried cages filled with desert eagles and equally another
cage overflowing with Jerboas moving fiercely, trying to free themselves before it was time to
feed the eagles.
The crimson sun finally sank down behind the mountains of sand and a cold breeze followed.
The men at the front stopped and sounded their horns shaped from ox horn, alerting the ones
behind that they would make camp for the night. Men tied and fed the animals while women lit
fires and tended to their children before the glow of the sun left them and the dark night arrived.
They all settled down and lit fires in the many sections of their long trail that from afar
looked like a long line of fire across the empty wilderness. Groups of people gathered to the fire
closest to them and sat. They ate in silence, wondering when they would find the Wall. It didn’t
matter how long they took, this was the way of life. Many generations were born, lived and died
in the same desert, never seeing anything but the sky and sand. It wasn’t a life they had chosen
but a life they had been born into.
The tribe was a totalitarian group led by a man named Mongke Temur. Temur was believed
to be a descendant of the great emperor, Genghis Khan. He led the tribe, the last remnant of
the great Mongol empire that fell centuries before him. Temur trusted no one but his circle of
men whom he sat down with every night to plan for the next day. He had been given the task of
conquering the entire world, as his father and his father’s father and the ones before him.
It was no simple task, but a task envisioned by the man known as the Conqueror, Genghis
Khan. The Mongol Emperor was driven ruthlessly by his great pride and power to conquer
everything he saw. He led his army many times across the desert, conquering tribes, lands, even
herds of animals if the he demanded. It was only during his time of death that the Emperor
accepted that he could not conquer every inch of the world. He told his four sons shortly before
