Dalil

Part Five of the Late Bronze Age Stories

After their adventures in the land of the one river, the kin set out to return to their families. Along the Great Green Sea, they shelter in a valley from a sudden storm and come upon a fever ridden traveler, who under Dalils care survives and regains her heath. A band of rough men arrive intent on capturing her, for reasons that are mysterious. She needs protection but finds it hard to trust the people whom she has fallen among. They protect her time and time again from those who would seize her. She gradually comes to trust Dalil and to see that she must tell him and all their companions why she is being hunted. The girl tells them of her past and her name. Knowing her story and why she is in danger, the kin devise strategies to insure her safety. If she wishes to remain with them, they vow to protect her. Dalil discovers that she is the true partner in his craft of story telling and that she, like he, can change her appearance and speech into that of another. On the journey to Ugarit and then on to where the kin reside on the ancient trade route, they develop their story telling gifts. The rest of the kin look at them with wonder, and then appreciation. Petros and Kaliq, the protectors, plot how their emerging gifts can be of use to the kin.