"A woman!" Exclaimed a grey thick bearded grownup, nearly old man with grey hair as well, who showed up from the thick woods.
It was very early in the morning before sun rise when this strange man carrying a jerrican in his hand was walking towards the river, perhaps to fetch some water, when his eyes landed on Ishtar's body from a distance.
"Damn, it's crazy how these river waters take people's lives more often!" He mentally said to himself and kept on walking carefree.
It seemed normal t him.
He approached the river water and pulled his pants up to position himself in a favourite angle to collect water in his jerrican. Before he dipped the jerrican in the river, he posed for a while and keenly looked at the female's body in a black dress held stuck on the log in the middle of high pressure running water.
The grownup man, after a little while, finally redirected his mind, ignoring the situation and focusing his attention back to collecting water in the jerrican.
Whistling calmly, he filled his 19 litre jerrican with water, stood up and continued his way back to wherever he was coming from, in the middle of the thick woods which surrounded the river on each side.
However, not so long the man returned, but this time without a big rope and a strong string which had two strong hooks tied to it.
"I'll be so heartless if I don't burry this lady's body," he said to himself, "at least one good deed in a year is enough to forgive my sins."
He began on the rescue plan.
He tied up the strong rope firmly on a big tree, walked some few metres away from the tree, mentally calculated the distance and risk so he can end up with a well done job, to rescue the body without himself being washed away by the heavy running waters.
He then ties the other rope end tightly around his waist.
Carefully, he began to climb the big log which was bending quater way into the river, where he stretched his arm and approached Ishtar's body. With two strong hooks on a string tied around his waist too, he hooked the dress on the body.
As he released the body off the sharp point tree branch were it was stuck, "goddammit!" He blurted nervously when the water nearly whisked the body away, out of his hand and he quickly grabbed it back in hand, so tightly.
With all his strength, slowly he started sliding backwards, pulling the body with one of his hands and with support of hooks on a string tied around his waist. Cautiously he toiling until he finally rescued it up to the riverbank.
After a risky job well done, he fell and laid on his back panting heavily.
"That's an epic bravery!" He exclaimed in delight, laughing at himself.
In the midst of laughter, as he turned his eyes to look at the body he was for saving, to his shock its head was wounded badly. He suddenly stopped laughing and sat upright.
"Thankfully a water rock hit you to death and saved you from drowning," still in his head speaking, "taking in gallons of water is not a good death for a beautiful lady like you."
He touched her hair where Ishtar was laying, down on the ground.
After sometime, he found a suitable place in the middle of the woods where he began to dig a grave in which he can burry the body. Next to the body on the side, he had placed his small liquor tin on which he kept sipping on, rounds as he dug, to quench his thirsty.
The grave hole was now ready, wide enough to accommodate Ishtar's body. But before he could pull the body in the hole, he recited a simple prayer to ask heavens to forgive the sins of the deceased.
"..... at least reduce on her punishment," he concluded the prayer.
.....
It was time now.
He picked his small liquor stainless steel tin up and took a few sips. He then turned his eyes on the young lady's body laying down.
"As it is for drinkers, it is a taboo not share a drink," he said and went ahead to open Ishtar's mouth.
He poured some little drink in it.
As soon as the alcohol landed in the mouth, the body which was marked dead began to react suddenly. Its reaction was marked by abnormal electric discharges in the brain and involuntary movements.
"Holy shit!" He blurted in shock.
The disorder startled hell out of him and sent him scurrying for cover, jumping in the very grave hole he had just dug to burry her.
In a short while, the involuntarily movements stopped. She sluggishly opened her eyes to look. Forcefully, Ishtar pushed herself to sit up from her back, holding on to her forehead which seemed to be so hurting and dizzy.
In the grave hole, the grey bearded man, her hero on the other hand, peeped. Slowly the man began to bring his head out of the hole, keeping a strong eye on her.
"How possible could she be alive?!" Mentally he wondered in question.
Ishtar tries harder to lift her face, moving her eyes around and all she can see is herself surrounded by tall big trees in the middle of nowhere.
Abruptly, as she looked around the place, her eyes landed on a grownup thick bearded man who was moving in a sneaky way, coming out of a nearby hole.
Like she's suffering from a faint spell, Ishtar fell back down, and slept unconscious again.
Faster he hurried to get where she was laying and placed two fingers on her neck side. He could feel the blood pulse through her vein.
"Damn, What a lucky individual you're!" He blurted nervously in the mind. "I nearly buried you alive!"
The grey bearded man pocketed his liquor tin really quick. Ishtar was not too heavy to carry when he tried to lift her up so, he placed her on his shoulders like luggage. On fast steps, he rushed through the woods upto an ornate wooden door in the middle of the woods, that was designed to act like a camouflage.
On the outside it was just a small size hill with grass and young trees on and around it when observed. But inside when he entered, it was a vast expanse of a space, going down some few metres from the ground outside.
Gold collections, expensive art collections, a variety of army equipments including guns in different types hanged on the walls, combats, a number of binoculars, swords of different forms and sizes well arranged on a wall, and ten big black bags piled in one of the corners.
Besides looking wealthy, the grey bearded grownup man's home was not different from that of an arms dealer on the inside.
"You're now mine!" He said immediately after taking Ishtar off his shoulders and laying her down on his bed.
"Welcome home."
However, Ishtar was still unconscious at the time.