After a long time, a drop of water seeped out of the dark, damp roof of the cavern, and then dripped down, and a water bladder sewn from the skin of a leg of lamb caught it.

Wind and sand blew from outside the narrow cave mouth and blew all night.

Yao Ping patiently took the water droplets in the cave for a night, but even so, the water was only half of the water bladder. When the sky was slightly bright, he retreated out of the nameless cavern, and did not enter the long dust that had been swept up by the wind.

The wind carried sand and dust tirelessly across the lonely land of the wasteland. Yao straightened his robe, and then rewound the gray-brown wind towel around his neck to cover his mouth and nose to prevent the wind and sand from invading. Now he looked at his whole body, and all that was left was his black hair, covered in dust, fluttering in the wind.

It had been two days since he had been separated from the caravan. Although the trade route was not very long, and he had walked it a few times before, the wasteland was vast and uninhabited, and getting lost in it would mean death to anyone.

He walked for a while, and only then did he pause his tired footsteps until a fine grain of sand flew into his eyelids. He kneaded the grains of sand, then took a deep breath before slowly looking up at the surroundings. There was only bare mountain gravel, sand and dust, and he let out a long sigh of despair.

In the rolling yellow dust, there was no figure in sight, no sign in sight, and loneliness and fear were like a continuous stone ridge in the wilderness, enveloping him. His gait faltered a little from depression. But he still insisted on walking towards the east where the sun was rising. Looking at the newborn sun, he only felt that every step he took was towards death.

When the wind and sand were a little quiet, Yao Ping lowered his head silently, and he listened attentively. Only the wind was howling, the sand and gravel rolling, and there was not a hint of camel bells.

It wasn't until he heard the wind that he opened his eyes and looked around again, but suddenly noticed a person walking in the distance behind him.

It's a woman, a woman dressed in red. She appeared from behind the rocky ridge in the distance and was walking towards Yao Ping.

When she approached step by step, Yao Ping saw that she was well dressed, the texture of the red skirt robe was soft and smooth, and there were two strings of stars and moon silver ornaments hanging on both sides of the armpits. She wore a fine scimitar at her waist, three star-shaped turquoise ornaments on the hilt and four in the scabbard. On her right forearm, she wears a number of fine silver bracelets, while her left hand is somewhat incongruously tied with a thick leather elbow pad. The red scarf on her head was tightly wrapped, and only a pair of breathtaking light brown eyes were exposed to the wind and sand.

When the two were less than five steps apart, the woman in red stopped, staring at the man in front of her with wary eyes, and her hand unconsciously pressed on the scimitar with the rich scabbard at her waist.

Yao Ping saw that her movements were full of vigilance against him, so he quickly pulled down the cloth towel that covered the wind and sand, and asked in his Caldo dialect with an obvious oriental accent: "Is it the sassy of Caldo?" ”。

In the past few years of traveling with the caravan, Yao Ping has dealt with many Cardors, and he has long seen from her clothes and distinctive scimitars that she is a Caldorian. And the title of Sasa, of course, he also knows very well that it is the name of the Khaldo people for those unmarried girls. He had thought that speaking Caldo would make the woman in front of him let his guard down. But it wasn't as he thought. The woman in red did not respond to his greeting, still looking at him vigilantly, and she seemed to want to draw the scimitar in her hand more than just now.

Seeing this, Yao Ping began to feel a little confused and uneasy in his heart. He remembered the group that had attacked the caravan at night two days earlier. He quickly took his eyes off the woman in red and searched around. Luckily, there was no one else, and she was alone.

If it was really a robber, it wouldn't be a woman wearing silver jewelry and holding a treasure knife, Yao Ping thought so, and only then did he settle down a little. He forced a smile and opened his hands to show her that he was not carrying a weapon, and then continued to say in his Kaldo dialect with an oriental accent: "Sasa, I am a merchant, a merchant from Iro. Don't be afraid. ”

The woman in red suddenly stretched out a hand and pointed it at his waist.

Yao Ping was stunned and looked at his waist along the finger of her hand, there was nothing else, an old sheepskin water bladder, which contained the water he had received for the night yesterday.

Yao Ping understood what she meant. Of course, he also understood the meaning of water to him at the moment, but he still did not hesitate to untie the water bladder and handed it to her.

From the look in her eyes that looked at her after taking the water bladder, Yao Ping felt a hint of surprise from her.

She reached out to remove the veil in order to drink water, and the moment the veil was removed, Yao Ping saw her beautiful face. Yao Ping's heart trembled suddenly, before he saw the woman in front of him, he had never imagined that a woman would be so beautiful even in his dreams.

Yao Ping looked at her and felt that she was a heavenly maiden. After being stunned for a while, Yao Ping said a little hesitantly: "Sasa, my name is Yao Ping, and I am a businessman from Yiluo. Our caravan was plundered, and I was separated from the caravan on the run. ”

She held up the water bladder and drank as he finished. After squinting at him again, he still didn't speak.

Despite this, Yao Ping sensed from her relaxed posture that she was no longer as wary of herself as she had just been, or that the slightest hostility she had towards herself had disappeared.

She drank enough water and handed the water bladder back to Yao Ping. When Yao Ping took the water bladder, she felt that the water had not been drunk, and she left him half of it.

He looked up at her, and was about to speak, but saw her look at the sky, and then quickly wrapped up his veil, ready to go around himself and go on.

Yao Ping saw that she was leaving, and hurriedly said, "Hey! Sasa, how do you walk alone in the desert? ”

She hesitated, stopped, turned and said, "Thank you for the water, Ilo. If you get lost, I allow you to follow me, I'm on my way to the Oasis of Seva. ”

When Yao Ping heard this, he was overjoyed, but then asked: "But, Sasa, how can you know the way to Seva when you are alone in the desert?" ”

She reached out her right hand and pointed to the leather arm guard of her left arm, then to the sky. Yao Ping looked up as she pointed, and there was an eagle falcon soaring in the sky where the earth could not be swept up by the dust.

The Seva Oasis at dusk is more like a lonely boat on the sea, anchored in the sunset where the sky and the sea meet.

After walking for a whole day, it wasn't until he saw Seva from a distance that Yao Ping really believed in her falcon, the falcon that could lead the way. Along the way, Yao Ping learned her name, and her name was Asana. It was also known that she came from the greater tribe of Caldo, Sinwa, further west.

Yao Ping felt that she should be a nobleman of the Xinwa tribe. Because he saw that she could afford to raise a falcon and carry a gorgeous scimitar. Even the way he speaks is not like ordinary people.

When two of Cardo's camel cavalry approached them from a distance, Yao Ping was a little worried, worried about whether they were hostile to him. But he soon saw that the two horsemen had suddenly drunk their camels, dismounted their mounts, and came on foot.

One of the camel cavalrymen in front glanced at Yao Ping, and then said respectfully to Asana, "Sala." It was great to see you arrive safely. Everybody's worried about you. ”

Yao Ping was somewhat surprised when he heard the soldiers call Asana Sala. Although he had guessed that Asana's identity might be unusual, he didn't expect that she would be the princess of the Kaldoshenwa tribe.

Asana: "Have all the people arrived?" ”

Soldier: "Most of them have arrived. ”

Asana: "Mostly? How many more haven't arrived? ”

Soldier: "Shariq hasn't counted exactly how many families have arrived, but rest assured, many are still arriving." ”

Asana was talking to the soldiers as she mounted one of the camels they had ridden.

As the soldier picked up the camel for her, a clear eagle chirped in the sky. She propped up her left arm, and a tawny eagle with golden feathers fell, talons grasping the piece of leather on Asana's left arm.

Yao Ping followed Asana to Seva, and he watched her caress the falcon and whisper a few words in its ear, then put a blindfold on it.

At the heart of the Oasis of Seva are two lakes connected to the north and south, and there are several springs below the north lake, which supply Seva with a constant supply of water. Most of the Cardoñas in Seva built their tents on the shores of Lake Norte, where there are springs. South Lake is sparsely populated, with a few herders scattered around. But right now, the southern lake of Seva is bustling with many Cardons from the Sinwa tribe.

After entering Seva, Asana dismounted from her camel, she turned and waved goodbye to Yao Ping, and then soon walked into the crowd accompanied by cavalry.

Yao Ping was a little reluctant to look at the back of Asana leaving, and after a while, he came back to his senses to find out if there was a Yiluo caravan here.

As he walked through the oasis, the black-clad Kardons crowded the area around the South Lake. He saw that the Caldomen seemed to have gone through a long and arduous journey. The elderly among them were even more exhausted, and only a few children were still tirelessly playing together. When Yao Ping passed by them, the children looked at the alien man with amazement.

He searched around and found nothing. Even after asking a few Khaldos, they all said that they had not seen any caravans of Ilo. Yao Ping drank some water by the lake hungrily, and the sky soon darkened, and he could only hope that a new day would come soon.