IRON HAN, Book 1: The Rise Of Power

Chapter 25 - Sandworms

Durualp had only caught one sandworm since taking mission. He tried to sense the worms hiding under the sand and paid close attention to the movements of the sand, but he could not find another sandworm. When the thought finally settled in his mind that he was looking in the wrong place, the first sharings came to his mind.

Since they were three people, they divided the sand area into three. Eiderd on the left, Tauriel in the middle and Durualp on the right. No one could enter another's territory. When Eiderd completed the task in six days, Tauriel took his territory. In return, he gave half of his territory to Durualp. Durualp, who thoroughly investigated the newly acquired sand region, became more and more pessimistic as the days went by. Tauriel caught the last sandworm as of yesterday and completed her mission. Now that Durualp had the entire sand region, he wanted to know where Tauriel had caught the sandworm. He corrected himself, gathered his thoughts and went to Tauriel with all his courage...

...

Durualp, who came to the informal education building after lunch, entered the classroom and waited for Instructor Sarp to arrive. As he stared at the small sand dunes outside the window, he tried to see the place Tauriel had described to him yesterday. There was a high probability of finding sandworms there. He would feel better if he caught one more sandworm. After a while, when the lesson started, Instructor Sarp came to his class. When he looked around and displeasure was reflected on his face, he turned to Durualp and asked calmly,

- Where is the other useless one?

- I don't know. But I saw him walking towards the formal education building after lunch.

- Formal building? This girl is up to something again... (He said angrily. He thought for a while and then turned to Durualp and added). Just wait a little, I'll be back...

After instructor Sarp left the classroom, it occurred to Durualp that Demir would also catch sandworms. (Anyway, dear, I will give him the places I searched before. Let him search in a while. By the time he realizes there is no worm there, I will have caught mine) a sly smile was reflected on his face as he thought.

Time passed and finally Instructor Sarp and Demir came to the class. When instructor Sarp let him go for duty, Durualp ran out of the classroom and disappeared into the sand. After a while, he arrived at the place Tauriel described. And he started to examine the surroundings without rushing...

...

Mother worm was very nervous today. Small-footed creatures have been wandering around here for the last 10 days. There were no problems for the first few days, but in the following days the children started not coming to the nest. They grew up and could now take care of themselves. But yesterday, very close to the nest, he heard one of his children shouting for mother. She immediately pulled herself together, warned her little babies in the nest and crawled as fast as a snake to where the sound came from, but everything was over until the mother worm came. There was nothing left except a slight hole in the sand.

He looked around a lot, waited a long time, but his efforts were in vain. He bowed his head, no matter how much his heart hurt, he had to go now. Since the babies in the nest were small, she could not leave them alone for a long time. After walking away for a while, She turned and looked back again with one last hope, but there was no sign of her child. This child, like the others, disappeared without a trace.

When she came to the nest, she gathered her little babies together. They were born this year and were very young. They could not live without their mother's care. They needed maternal care for at least a year. The mother worm formed a circle around her babies, completely enclosing them, and kept watch against dangers while her babies slept comfortably in this circle...