The Book of Minab

By Betty T. Kyler

After a strong-willed young woman ?nds herself the sole survivor of a plane crash, she is forced to become the newest resident of a lost ancient civilization.

Three weeks shy of her seventeenth birthday, Breena Keets embarks on a two-week expedition to the North Pole. As she, her father and several others board the tiny plane, no one has any idea that a storm lurks in the distance. On the ?nal leg of their journey to the land of the midnight sun, tragedy strikes and the plane crashes. Breena is the sole survivor. Worse yet, she has no idea where she is.

After Breena awakens, she soon learns she is in Moatsha, a strange land where there are, unfamiliar maps, strictly enforced laws, and no modern conveniences. Now Breena is not only lost, but deathly afraid she will never be found. Unwittingly catapulted into an ancient civilization where power, lust, violence, and love rule, Breena struggles to learn the ways of the people, and is forced into marrying a ?erce warrior. As the strange world envelops Breena, she ?ghts to survive within its suppressive society.

Caught between the only world she has ever known and a foreign land, Breena is about to discover that fate will not only determine her destiny, but also the future of those she loves.

• Language: English
• Publisher: iUniverse
• Release date: May 26, 2011
• ISBN: 9781462016853

Betty T. Kyler

BETTY KYLER is a certi?ed hypnotherapist who enjoys small game hunting. Active in her church and married for nearly forty years, Betty is mother to six children and grand-mother to twenty. She and her husband live on a farm in southern Alberta, Canada. This is her ?rst book.

Book preview

Chapter One

Dr. Keets checked over the equipment and the other supplies as they were loaded onto the plane. It was to be a two-week expedition to the North Pole. They would land in northern Canada. From there, they would head ‘true north’ to the pole. Breena Keets had begged her father for months to allow her to go. She had worked hard during the last few semesters of school and with her private tutoring and extra studies she would be entering university this fall to major in social psychology. Her father was proud of her. She was only three weeks shy of her seventeenth birthday but she had matured beyond her years. She had every part of her life planned out. She would major in psychology and minor in geology. Her minor would be easy sailing. Her father and brother were both geologists and sociologist. Dr. Keets was a professor at the university Breena would be attending. Breena lived geology every day of her life. She knew about societies in deepest, darkest Africa that others never even heard of. Her knowledge of the history of various civilizations was better than that of her own genealogy. She had studied earthquakes and had been to the mountains of Turkey and India. She had even been to Kilimanjaro. Breena loved the different characteristics in the human race. They were as varied as fish in the sea.

Breena’s family consisted of her father, Alexander Keets, her mother Karen, who was full-time homemaker, Jonathan, who was her older brother and her father’s colleague, and herself. Although Breena’s IQ was higher than most people her age, she enjoyed the same activities others did in school. She was a track star and could play the piano very well. To look at her you would think she was just another dizzy teenage cheerleader. She had blond hair like everyone else in her family but she inherited her distinct pale blue eyes solely from her father. Her frame was deceiving. It looked delicate but Breena was strong for her size and had endurance that wouldn’t quit.

Breena, did you pack extra underwear? Her mother was always worried she’d forget something.

Breena mouthed that she took the underwear she ordered from the sexy catalogue her brother used when he bought things for his wife. Her father laughed. She had a wonderful relationship with her father. They talked for hours about everything, like friends instead of daughter and father. She didn’t get along well with her mother though. She was a stay at home mom, at Dr. Keets request, but Breena thought she was way too passive and missed out on the real thrills of life. Breena thought it was exciting to barter in the streets of Hong Kong and to debate women’s issues with men from Asia. To her, her mother was dutiful and unrealistic. Breena’s plan was that after she had earned her master’s degree in social psychology and had gone into research, she would then marry. Maybe by the time she was thirty, she would take a year off and have a child. Until then, she would take men for what they were - good associates, information sources, and great surfing buddies.

Alex, I really don’t feel good about Breena going this time. Maybe you should reconsider. You know she hates the cold.

Breena groaned. Her mother was going to ruin everything. Breena had spent too many hours changing her father’s mind so she could go. He wanted her to take the extra studies needed to get a head start on the fall’s university semester. Her mother wanted her to visit her grandparents in Montana. The last thing Breena wanted was to be on some remote farm feeding cows and chickens.

She’ll be fine, Karen. Breena is a hardy little trooper. She’s been to Kilimanjaro. This will be a picnic. We’re spending most of the time in the airplane.

Breena’s mom hugged and kissed everyone, then cried as they stepped into the plane. Breena gave her a casual wave and turned her attentions to her father who was sitting beside her.

Thank you so much for not giving into Mom’s worries. I thought maybe next year we could go to China. Breena liked to watch the ground as the plane took off.

Why China?

I was doing some research and found out there is a small culture in north-east China where the women are great matriarchs. I could do a thesis on them.

Dr. Keets nodded. He’d do just about anything to make his daughter happy.

They landed in Edmonton, Alberta, refueled and headed on to the Queen Elizabeth Islands. Once they landed at a refueling station there, they readied themselves for the final leg of their journey. It was summer and they were truly heading for the land of the midnight sun. It would stay light all twenty-four hours of the day for six months, and then the opposite would be true, because of the angle of the earth towards the sun. Breena wondered what it would be like if they lived in a land that had sun, or darkness, for six months of the year, like that. Her goal in life was to search the world for some place with a completely different culture, one that books could be written about and modern society could not touch. Her father told her one did not exist anymore and even if it did, she could never survive in it. One word, he would joke, against the abilities of women compared to men and they would have a war on their hands. He would tell Breena she was a man’s dream of a woman’s-libber. She was for equality yet there was nothing she loved more than men. Breena would giggle and agree. After all, she would say, what would the world be without men?

Dr. Keets’ expedition to the pole wasn’t a new thing or even a big deal. It had all been mapped out before, but Dr. Keets’ childhood hero was Robert E. Peary, who was the first man to reach the North Pole in 1909. Dr. Keets had won a bet with Max Jared, who owned an Arctic supply company. He won the privilege of flying to the pole.

As they approached the position where their compasses would go haywire, because of the magnetic forces, they switched to the use of their altimeter to help them fly at a correct altitude and then they headed for true north.

Max Jared kept moving back and forth from the cockpit to his seat beside Dr. Keets. He seemed agitated and worried. A terrible storm had just suddenly appeared. It was the likes of one, Jared had never seen before. All the instruments on the control panel were going crazy and the turbulence was tossing the little plane about as if it was on a trampoline. Max Jared finally took his seat and told everyone to buckle up their seat belts. They were going to attempt an emergency landing. The storm was getting worse and they had no idea where they were. Breena was now sitting beside her brother, and he held her hand tight.

Don’t worry little sister. It’ll be all right. Jonathan told her but Breena was unusually calm.

I know Jon. I’m not worried. We can handle anything together. Breena looked out the window and saw nothing but white.

The storm continued and the little plane was bouncing around so much Breena began to feel nauseated. She closed her eyes. Jonathan suddenly yelled for Breena to look out the window and when she opened her eyes, she saw bits of green through the thick clouds.

What’s that? Why is it green? She asked but before anyone could answer, she heard a loud crash and the plane began to spin. Untied Items were thrown in every direction. Breena was hit in the head by a small camera bag. She heard her father cry out her name and she felt she was on the worst roller-costar ride of her life. Suddenly everything stopped and her mind went blank, or her mind went blank and everything stopped.

As Breena opened her eyes, she could see daylight through the gaping holes in the fuselage. There was no sense of panic within her nor was there any form of sadness at the sight that surrounded her, as if she was observing through someone else’s eyes. In the seat beside her was her brother. He looked to be asleep but the whiteness of his skin and the almost dried blood on his shirt and in his hair, told her otherwise. In the other seats in front of her were the bodies of her father and Max Jared. They too, were abnormally still. Breena unfastened her seat belt and moved towards them. Mr. Jared’s eyes were open, in a stare that was empty. He too, had blood on his forehead that had dripped down to his shirt. Her father was sitting in the seat closest to the window, or where the window had once been. It, along with her father’s arm, was now gone. Breena couldn’t see anyone in the pilot’s seat even through the wide hole in the door that once separated the passengers from the pilot. Slowly, Breena moved along towards the exit door that was at the front near the cockpit. The door was still intact but there were two large cavities on either side of it. Still, Breena moved the latch that opened the door of the airplane. It seemed to be stuck and took an effort on her part just to open it enough to squeeze through and escape the fuselage.

Once outside and on the grass, Breena knelt down and examined her own injuries. She had a few bruises and scratches, nothing else. It seemed unfair to her that she would survive and everyone else that remained in the metal body of the plane was silent. Except the pilot, she thought, for he must have exited far before the plane had found its permanent resting spot. Breena stood on wobbly legs to return to the fuselage but everything turned dark once more and she fell to the ground.

This time, when Breena woke, she found herself lying on a cot, inside a room with large brick walls. There was a table, two wooden chairs; and a couple of old trunks in the opposite corner. The window had thick curtains that were pulled apart barely covering the wooden shutters that were half opened. There was no glass in the windows and a warm breeze made the curtains flutter. Breena looked around and she tried to sit up but a stabbing pain in her head forced her back onto the pillow again. The door was tall and made of thick wood. There was a latch instead of a door handle and Breena wondered if she was dreaming all this. Again the darkness came.

Someone was lifting her head and putting a cup of water to her lips. Breena took a sip and blinked a few times to clear her sight. There was a woman beside her. The woman was in her mid-thirties with dark brown hair and tanned colored skin. She was dressed in pale colors and Breena tried to recognize the style but it was foreign to her sense of fashion. The woman had on a long shapeless yellow dress with a robe or long thin flowing jacket over top. She wore no hat but a long colorful scarf hung on her shoulders and down her back as if it had fallen from her head.

Thank you. Breena said, but the woman gave no reply. The plane crashed. Did you see my brother and father? They were with me. Are they hurt?

Again, there was no reply. The woman stood and left the room quickly. Breena slowly sat up and rested on her elbow. Another woman came into the room, similar in dress but with colors of green and white, with a long blue scarf covering her head. She was younger, maybe a little younger than Breena. She had dark brown hair and soft brown eyes. She sat at the bottom of the cot. English? Her accent was unfamiliar.

Breena nodded. My father was in the plane. Is he all right?

The woman looked as if she was struggling for words. Men all dead.

Breena covered her face with her hands and collapsed back down onto the cot. She had not remembered anything about the crash until then. She cried for a long time and the woman patted her back and said the word ‘sadness’ over and over again. It took days for Breena to compose herself enough to carry on a conversation.

Finally, some days later, when one of the women brought her food, she had stopped mourning. The sadness was still there but Breena knew she would have to survive on her own. It was time to work at getting back home. Breena pushed thoughts of her father to the back of her mind. With a forced smile, she looked up at the woman.

Where am I? It was cold. We were in the Arctic and became lost in a storm and now it’s summer. Where is this place?

Moatsha. This, city of Moatsha. You from land of cold? The woman said in broken English.

No, we were on an expedition to the Arctic. I’m from the United States.

The woman nodded. Like the others.

There are others? Can I talk to them?

The woman shook her head. They all dead, now. They appear in field after a storm, like you, over the years.

Where is Moatsha? Is that in Russia or on the northern tip of Canada?

Moatsha is much east of Chelm.

Breena rubbed her forehead. This was not helping. How could she get back to the States with directions like that? Where is that in comparison to the United States?

I do not know where United States is.

This was crazy. How do you know English then?

Other man, who comes on machine like yours, teaches it to my family.

Did he die too?

Yes. He was in the legion that protected this city before Arbmoat captured it. We are servants of Arbmoat’s house now.

Maybe if I saw a map of this land then I could tell how far from civilization I am, or better yet, do you have a telephone book?

I do not understand the word, telephone.

Breena made a gesture that looked like she was talking on the phone but the woman shrugged her shoulders. Breena looked around. There were no pug-ins for electricity nor were there any phone jacks. Wherever this place was, they were certainly behind the times. The woman brought Breena a map and it showed a landscape that she had never seen before. Being the daughter of Alexander Keets, their house was full of maps, and geography books. She had traveled the world and knew of places and people only seen in magazines. She was a bright intelligent young woman, about to enter university way ahead of her peers, but she had never seen a map like this one. There were no visible landmarks that she could recognize. This map resembled the ancient maps of a time before they discovered the earth was round. There was only one large body of land that encompassed their world. The north and south poles were shaded in with no names or markers and the language was nothing she could distinguish as being a derivative of another language. It had vague similarities to Greek or Hebrew in sound but not in writing. After hours of trying to talk to the woman, Breena began to realize this was not just a situation of her being temporally lost but one of her never being found.

In a week, she would be seventeen and her mother had a wonderful party planned for her. Marty Wellington was going to be there. He was her Dad’s brightest first-year student at the university. He had expressed a desire to meet her and she thought he was extremely good looking. Now there would be no party and she may never see her mother again. Breena started to cry at the memory of her father.

Later, the woman brought Breena something to eat. It was some kind of cheese and bread and meat. It tasted like the moose meat her father brought home from his hunting trips. There was a vegetable that looked like a very large radish but tasted more like carrots. The woman encouraged Breena to eat. She smiled and announced, I am Jaymin. It means ‘given to help.’ What are you called?

Breena smiled. I’m called Breena. It doesn’t mean anything. My mother got it from a romance novel and it went well with my family name. She’s a writer, in spare time, but she’s never published anything. I want to thank you for rescuing me. I imagine if I was left out at the crash site, I might have died.

My father would like to see you. He said another stray dog would not be trouble and he will see you are skinny and do not eat much, but you must be careful and do not break the laws. The others did not keep the laws and they are all dead now.

Were they killed because they did not keep the laws?

Maybe they were but not by us. Many opportunities were given to them to live the laws and to understand them. Sometimes the law punishes them.

Well, I will try and keep all the laws. It can’t be that hard.

It is not hard at all. Do all females have hair of sunshine where you come from?

Breena had not realized how different she looked compared to the young woman beside her. No. Some have red hair and some have different shades of brown and then there are some who have black hair.

Most of the Adders have black hair. Most of my peoples’ hair is of my color.

Who are the Adders?

They lived in this city before Arbmoat conquered it. We were servants of the Adders before. They are a mighty people who have legions upon legions.

Well, they can’t be that great if they lost a whole city.

Jaymin put her finger to her mouth as if to silence Breena. They were defeated because of their leader’s wickedness. One day they will come up into the city again and it will be Kalat once more.

Over the next few days, Breena was brought before Jaymin’s father. He was a large man and Breena soon found out that most of the males were large in stature. There were very few under six feet tall and all looked as if they had spent most of their youth in the gym, body building. He looked at Breena and laughed, then told his daughter that Breena was too skinny to use much food and her skin was pale and sickly and that it was obvious that she was a pampered child. Jaymin’s father cautioned her that she would have to labor like the others if she were to stay in their care. Jaymin was instructed to counsel Breena about the laws of coming of age in their land and that she should prepare herself for that.

Breena soon learned the history of the people of the city of Moatsha. At first, it was called the city of Kalat and the people of Adder lived there. It was a huge city and boasted of its fine markets and fine arts. The walls of the city still housed many beautiful paintings on the sides of buildings. The rulers of the city were not industrious and lived off the labor of the people but they had a mighty army with many great captains of their legions. The rulers wanted more land and sent the legions off to conquer other cities. While the legions were gone, Arbmoat came, and drove the rulers from the city. Using the captives, they built up huge walls to surround the city to defend it against the legions when they returned. Arbmoat was very knowledgeable and sent small armies out to defeat parts of the legions as they separated to obtain supplies. With the rulers killed, some of the legions separated and defeated, then the city became Moatsha and never again was called Kalat.

Jaymin told Breena of the other stranger with sun colored hair that was found in the field as Breena was. He was brought to the city when it was still Kalat and a mighty captain befriended him. Jaymin’s mother and father were servants to the captain’s neighbor. This mighty Captain had a beautiful wife who spent hours talking to the stranger and learned his language. It became popular to learn the English of the stranger. Because of the laws of the women, servants had to be with them at all times for it was unlawful that any man should touch even the hand of another man’s wife. Over time the stranger became too friendly with the wife of the captain, but instead of having the stranger put to death, the captain sent him into the army, a legion not his own. The captain loved his wife still and so the overseers did not have her put to death for her iniquity. The captain left the city and lived with his army. His wife was captured when the city became Moatsha and she was taken to another city to become a slave of the king. She died a short time later and it was said that the captain did not grieve.

Breena was taught the ways of the women and it was difficult for her as she saw no equality in their system. Girls became women at the age of sixteen. There was usually a party held with only women present. After the age of eight, females were raised separate from their brothers. Little girls were never touched by their fathers. Not even a hug was permitted. After the age of womanhood, the girls were given long scarves of blue that informed the men of the city that these women were now eligible to marry. When a man saw a female he desired to seek after to become his wife, he could talk to her as long as a servant or family member was present. If she were found acceptable, he would offer her marriage in the form of gifts to both her, and her mother. If the mother accepted the gifts, the daughter was married in a simple ceremony and was sent to live in the home of the new husband. Most new husbands were around thirty, with houses of their own. Their careers were already established and the new wife was placed in a furnished home where she would raise a family. The rich had servants and the poor had none. The servants were usually employed as a family. The servants’ social life worked in a similar system but on a smaller scale. Women who did not marry before the age of twenty were considered seconds. They were offered for marriage to men whose wives had died or as second wives to those whose wives could not have children. The second wife was sometimes sought out by the first wife and could not marry the man until the first wife permitted it and the overseer gave his approval. In that case, the second wife was treated with similar respect as the first but had a home of her own on a second level of the house. All women worked together to cook, clean and supply the food for the household. It was considered dishonorable for a man to not have a family as all birthrights worked through the family unit.

Breena could not comprehend the role of women in this society. She was used to spending more time around males than her female friends. Breena could bow-hunt as well as her brother. Even with her high academic scores, she spent a great deal of her time involved in sports. Skinny as she looked around the women of this race, she was sure her endurance for running and the like would far surpass them.

Breena was given clothes similar to Jaymin’s, only Jaymin felt because of her hair color; she should have dresses in the shades of soft pastel hues. Of course, because of her age, she was given a long blue scarf that she had to cover her hair with whenever she went out in public. Breena had a terrible time trying to learn the language. Hard as she tried, she could not remember many of the words. Often she pretended she was deaf and mute in public; but conversations were intense with Jaymin and Jaymin was becoming very good at English. Jaymin’s younger sister was named Boobie and Breena found herself constantly chuckling at her name. Finally, she told Jaymin what it meant in English and soon they were both laughing at their private joke.

Months went by and Breena became good at helping in the kitchen with Jaymin. They would go outside the city to harvest their gardens and plant the new crops. The seasons were odd as there was no fall or winter and Breena still had a difficult time sleeping at night. The sun did not rise or set as she was used to. In fact, it did not seem to set at all, but the nighttime was the time of the rain. The clouds would come quickly and they would darken the skies.

At the house, Breena was constantly being scolded by Jaymin for wearing her scarf around her waist as a belt or tied in her hair as a headband. She was reminded that the laws governing women were just as strict as those governing men. Both were punishable. In the market place, Breena found that she could take advantage of the women’s law in bargaining by standing a bit too close or reaching out and grabbing the items rather than waiting to have them placed before her. Merchants would not dicker but would take their first and lower offer rather than chance touching them, even by accident.

At night Breena would study the map and have Jaymin read to her what was on the maps so she would learn of their geography. Jaymin knew their history very well. The society had a strange sense of industrial progress. Their plumbing and irrigation knowledge were far superior to that of what Breena knew. Each housing unit had separate bathrooms