Lunja, the Atlas witch

Chapter 2 : Into the deep mountains

In the deep Atlas mountains, between the foggy sky and the blessed rocks of the foothill of the highest mountain, Toubkal, there she lived in her peaceful cave, Lunja, alluring black eyes, full of compassion and confidence, flawless captivating face, long black braided hair, a graceful posture, the imbattable beauty of the atlas women...

She was sitting next to the fire, contemplating its shades and warming up, when the old wise man Ayyach came in dragging his monkey. It was carrying a wounded man, Lunja stood up to help her father, and they both put him gently on a bed made of hay and some old sheets...then she went to bring the hot water and napkins...Ayyach was exhausted so he sat next to the man trying to catch his breath, Lunja came back quickly, she puts the napkin on his wound "We need to stop the bleeding... What happened ?" she asked her father, "There was a storm last night, he was the only survivor among the others...i buried his friends before i brought him here...akh my back is killing me..." he answered.

She looks at him, then changes the napkin with another, "he is bleeding heavily, he will not survive...", Ayyach does not answer her, he gets up and tends to leave, and before he says "You know what you have to do..."

He leaves after that, she looks at him then looks at the man, he moves his fingers trying to grab her hand, he tries to open his eyes but then he just faints...she stands up, steps back, she keeps staring at him, slowly she steps towards him, bends to reach his wound, she puts her hand on it, she closes her eyes and then a huge light appears and covers all the place for a couple of minutes, then all the lights of the cave dimed.

She left him after taking care of his other minor wounds. Whipping her hands, she joined her father who was waiting outside, he looked at her "Did he survive ?" , "Yes he did..." she answers...

Ayyach nods his head to her "Hope he'll make it, otherwise I'll have to take him all the way down again...", she smiles and shakes her head, then she asks "did you see his fancy clothes ?" Ayyach nodded his head, she went on, " Then you need to be alert, his people will come looking for him, or worse, the ones who want him dead..." Ayyach looks at her, " what do you mean ?" he asks with fear in his words, she answers " his wounds are not because of the storm, he was attacked with a dagger", her words made him regretful, he wants to help the injured man, though he doesn't want to put both their lifes in danger.

They both come back to the cave, Ayyach lays down while Lunja ignites the fire, she then puts the cooking pot on to prepare the soup...

After a moment, the soup was ready, she served it in two bowls, they both had the soup, and then her father poured some in his bowl and gave it to the man who was fighting for his life, half conscious, he could not recognize him, so he kept mumbling and Ayyach kept giving him spoons of the soup without answering.

They both spent the night checking on the man's condition, while at the same time, Lunja stitched the Jellaba of the man that she cleaned later that day...

The next morning, the man woke up, he was dizzy, so he sat down for a moment, then he tried to stand up and cautiously explore the place, he met Ayyach on his way, "Oh great, you woke up...feeling any good ?" The man asks furiously "Who are you? And where is this place?", "calm down, my name is Ayyach, and I am the one who saved you, don't you remember the storm ?" The man shakes his head, " No I don't...what about my cousins ?" Ayyach couldn't answer him at first, but then he shakes his head sadly, " They didn't make it..."

The man sits down, shocked, he starts mumbling, Ayyach could not understand him, he calls his daughter, who just came back from the woods, puts the wood on the ground and approaches them, "What happened, father ?" she asks, "I don't know, he was standing here. As soon as he heard that his cousins were dead, he fell on the ground and started mumbling..." she gives a look to the face of the man then says, "Alright, let's help him get to his bed...".