The sun rose over the soft sands, and everyone came to their feet. Dezzlin and Miranda were the first to wake. Dezzlin was positive Miranda had traveled before as she was set to go before the others had even opened their eyes. They both were checking the horses as the others rose.
Their departure still went smoothly despite everyone’s different morning routines. Even if the others weren’t desert folk, they were still hunters. They knew to sleep light and always be ready at a moment’s notice. All in all, they were ready at about the same time. Mekov and Sakien had the longest morning rituals, but Dezzlin and Miranda had to check their horses for them anyway.
They started out much faster than they did the day before. While still uncomfortable, both Sakien and Mekov had now had a day’s worth of riding. Dezzlin, Miranda, and Diake took the lead with the other horses attached to them. Even if it was a bit rougher, they all secretly agreed it was best not to give the northerners extra work.
“What’s with them?” shouted Miranda to Dezzlin. Dezzlin followed her gaze to Sakien and Mekov.
“Never ridden horses before,” he shouted back.
“How?” she inquired.
“Never even seen one until three months ago!” Miranda raised her eyes in surprise. Like Dezzlin, she’d grown up most of her life with horses. She couldn’t imagine a world without them. Trade must be extremely slow in the north she concluded or it must be done all by ship.
They stopped a few hours in for everyone to stretch, eat, and drink. Miranda chuckled quietly at the complaints from the northern boys. They were sore in ways they’d thought impossible. They weren’t used to bumping up and down all day. They were in for some hard lessons she decided as they all came back into the saddle.
She was still surprised to see them at all. Miranda had traveled just as much as Dezzlin and neither of them had ever met a northerner before this. Diake had seen some before but his homelands were where they came to trade. She knew their trade was very popular and the items made by the northern tribes were worth a great deal, but few ever left their tribes. Miranda wasn’t sure if it was because traveling the icy waters was so perilous or if they were naturally loners. She shrugged as they rode on. She’d find out their stories in time.
It was just after midday when they came upon the wrecked caravan. Dezzlin came over the ridge first and didn’t even get time to call for a halt. His horses screeched to a stop at the sight and smell of the dead. He reeled them around, and the rest of the group stopped behind him.
“What happened here?” breathed Diake.
“Sand hermits,” said Dezzlin. He pointed to their massive corpses littering the ground. “They must’ve ambushed the caravan.”
“Kira,” said Sakien. He urged his horse forward, but Dezzlin got in his way. “Move,” growled Sakien.
“No,” said Dezzlin. “We don’t know if it’s safe.”
“I’m not safe,” snarled Sakien.
“Get off your horse,” demanded Dezzlin. Sakien didn’t need any more encouragement. He hopped off his horse and headed into the destruction with his axe at the ready.
“Thank the gods,” said Mekov as he slid off his horse. “Wait up!” He ran after Sakien with his shield and lance.
“You two,” commanded Dezzlin to Diake and Miranda. “Hold the horses here where it’s safe. If we need you, ride in Diake.”
“I’ll be there,” said Diake as he hopped off his horse. He took the extra reins and did what he could to keep the horses together. He tied reins together and anchored them with weak posts. They’d hold as long as nothing spooked the horses.
“Why do you get to keep a horse?” asked Sakien as Dezzlin rode up next to him.
“I was trained to fight on horseback. Were you?”
“I’ll take my own two feet any day,” said Mekov.
Sakien wanted to shout out Kira’s name, but he knew it was useless. Everybody here was dead. Dezzlin rode past him to check out the scene. He kept one hand on the reins and one hand played with the sword on his side.
“This was recent,” Dezzlin said loud enough for his friends to hear. “I wouldn’t put it more than a day ago judging by the bodies.”
It certainly smelled recent. They were all trained hunters and accustomed to death, but this was horrible. Under the hot sun, the corpses were already beginning to bloat and tear. The smell of rot was terrible, and the sand hermits just made it worse. Inside their shells, their dead flesh cooked as if it were in an oven. The air was pungent with death and rotten seafood.
“Did anyone get away?” asked Sakien. Dezzlin rode to the end of the destruction and admired the sand. There were tracks from wheels, horses, and people. There were no larger tracks following them. He looked to see how far back the sand hermit corpses were compared to the fleeing tracks.
“Someone did.” Dezzlin put a hand over his eyes to block out the sun. He trotted back to the others.
“There’s something else just up ahead. I’m going to ride over.”
“Do it,” said Sakien. As Dezzlin’s horse sprinted away, Sakien turned to Mekov who was looking at the mutilated corpses and the sand hermits. “What do you think?”
“I’m not sure where the big guys came from; probably underground like most of these desert bastards seem to.” Mekov played with a corpse’s wounds with his lance. “Those claws they have don’t appear to be too strong. Everyone here seems to have died only if that big beak underneath the shell gets them. They probably just pull people close and chomp them.”
“Wonderful,” said Sakien as he walked among the bodies. His fears of Kira being among the corpses were dropping. Most of the men here looked like bodyguards of some kind. There wasn’t a single wagon or cart destroyed, just lots of horses and people.
On the hill Diake, watched attentively atop his horse. If anything was about to break out, he was ready to ride in. Miranda was paying more attention to the horses, but she’d brought up her crossbow and loaded it.
“Dezzlin must’ve seen something else,” said Diake.
“Is it safe for them to split up?” asked Miranda.
“Dezzlin is on a horse so I’m not worried about him. Mekov and Sakien can hold their own.”
“If you say so,” said Miranda. “Sand hermits are dangerous.”
“So I can see. Are they always in big bunches like this?”
“Sometimes. If there are any more, they’re probably sleeping right now. It’s too hot for them so they sleep under the ground where it’s nice and cool.” Diake nodded and kept his eyes on his friends.
Dezzlin made it to the next attack site and looked around confused. This didn’t make any sense at all. There were three trampled carts and only a few bodies. The carts looked like something really heavy had walked on them, and they’d fallen apart under the stress. His mind instantly thought riktor, but that wasn’t right. The attack pattern was all wrong.
Something colorful moved in the wind next to one of the carts and caught Dezzlin’s eye. He led his horse over and saw a bright feather twitching in the splintered wood of a cart. He pulled it loose and frowned. “Paco?”
Sanpacos were strong but not strong enough to attack even a weakened caravan. Sure, they were dangerous one on one, but a few men on horseback with spears should have no problem driving one away. Dezzlin looked at the few bodies and looked back to the attack of the sand hermits. The men with the sand hermits were all dressed like warriors, but all the bodies here were dressed like traders.
What bad luck, he thought. The sanpaco must’ve been trailing the caravan and attacked them when they were fleeing. While there were almost no guards the bird had just made itself at home among the civilians. He turned his horse back to the others and rode off. None of this was the fault of any man. This was fate rearing its ugly head against the caravan. They were in trouble no matter how they had played it.
“WOAH!” screamed Mekov suddenly. He’d been poking around with his lance and had struck something hard in the sand. The sand shook and the tip of a large shell had popped out.
Seconds later the sand began to pull downwards as the massive sand hermit pulled itself out. Mekov scooted back as fast as he could, but the pulling sand barely gave him any ground. Two eyes emerged from the shell and admired the sole meal in front of it. Moments later its two claws emerged to take it.
Diake kicked his horse into action and raced down the hill. Sakien came running in from the other side, but it would still be at least half a minute before either reached Mekov. In a fight against a dangerous monster, thirty seconds was a very long time in Mekov’s experience.
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He stepped back and stabbed at the sand hermit. Mekov withdrew his strike, stepped back again, struck, and methodically repeated the process. He needed more distance on the long reaching creature and needed time to buy himself a chance to attack. The creature’s long arms could almost encircle him, but it was just as wary as him as he was of it. The long lance wasn’t far from its delicate flesh.
Mekov gave a few more warning jabs, but the sand hermit had had enough of testing the water. It broke in with its claws from both sides and tried to grab the small human. Mekov leapt to the right and kept his lance high for the incoming claw and kept his shield up for the other.
His aim was true, and his lance stabbed the middle of the sand hermits clawed hand. Its hard shell cracked and the sand hermit recoiled its arm in horror. Its other arm smashed into Mekov’s shield and brought him into the sand. It scuttled forward quickly to put Mekov under its beak and end this.
Being smashed to the floor was something Mekov was all too familiar with. He’d learned long ago just because you had a large shield didn’t make you immovable. The true masters of a shield knew how to roll with it and come up with a counterattack at the same time. He came up on one knee and stabbed.
His point flew straight into one of the sand hermit’s eyes. The stock popped and the creature shrieked loudly. It stumbled backward angrily before its right arm swung in. Mekov grunted as it crashed into his back and rolled him directly under the sand hermit. The last thing he saw was a hideous beak coming towards him.
The sand hermit could puncture light armor and flesh like it was paper with its powerful beak. Mekov’s shield however was made of riktor, one of the toughest creatures in the desert. The beak skidded over the hard carapace time and time again. Mekov screamed every time he saw the creature come down and moved his shield accordingly. Every time he was hit with the weight of the creature it drove the air out of him, but he never stopped moving. The moment his shield wasn’t covering him was the moment he fell.
Sakien came in with his axe raised high. With only one eye and a fierce anger at Mekov, it was blind to everything else. It didn’t even try to move as Sakien approached. Sakien dropped his axe as hard as he could onto one of the sand hermit’s legs and cracked it like a toothpick.
The sand hermit screeched again and moved away from Mekov. Its eye spun around to find the new threat as Sakien came in again. This time he swung higher and brought his axe straight into the shell. The sand hermit’s shell was impervious to simpler weapons, but not to such a powerful weapon as his axe. Sakien’s weapon was made to smash through hard armor and the shell caved dangerously.
Terrified, the sand hermit threw both its clawed hands at Sakien. Sakien rolled to the side to avoid the groping claws just as Diake came in. As he brought his sword in with not just both hands, but the momentum of the horse underneath him as well, the leg burst apart. Taken by surprise again, the sand hermit slumped down to the side, leaving its weak underneath exposed.
Scared and angry, Mekov picked up his lance and drove it straight into the sand hermit. He drove it in so far he was almost in reach of the dangerous beak. But the beak just opened and closed slowly as the creature died.
“Behind you!” shouted Miranda as she came riding down the hill. She slowed her horse, raised her crossbow, and squeezed the trigger. The bolt flew over their heads and towards a second sand hermit sneaking up on them. Miranda’s bolt struck the twisted shell and slid aside harmlessly. In a quick trained motion, Miranda braced the front of the crossbow with her foot and pulled the cord back with both hands. She slid in another bolt and fired. This one pierced the hard shell, but only enough to irritate the sand hermit. It advanced fearlessly towards the three hunters.
The sand hermit paused as it heard the sound of a horse thundering closer. Its eyes twisted underneath it to see what all the commotion was. Dezzlin came riding in as fast as he could. He had both hands on his sword and steered his horse with his legs. The sand hermit tried to turn to face him, but Dezzlin swept past it before it could react.
Dezzlin took out the first leg with a sweep of his sword. He let the momentum of the swing carry the blade back over in a full circle and took the second and third leg in the same way. The sand hermit wailed as it hit the ground. Deprived of half of its legs, it tried to scoot itself away from the hunters. Angry and annoyed, the four hunters moved after the sand hermit likes wolves.
“It’s official,” said Mekov shakily after they’d finished off the second sand hermit. His nerves were still shot from being underneath the first sand hermit and he couldn’t stop his shaking. “I hate the desert.”
“I agree,” said Sakien. Dezzlin saw the gouges on Mekov’s shield and smiled. It was scratched up, but still in good shape. He tapped his own riktor armor.
“How’s the shield treating you, Mekov?” he asked cheerfully. Mekov brought his shield close and put his head on it.
“If I had to choose between selling it or you at the market, I would choose you.” They all laughed. They knew how he felt. Each one of them had many instances in their life where their weapons or armor had saved their lives from certain death.
“What was up ahead?” Diake asked Dezzlin.
“Another attack. Few bodies, few carts. No Kira.”
“We need to catch that caravan,” said Sakien. “They should be easier to catch now.”
“On the contrary,” said Miranda as she came closer, “they’ll be going faster. They have less to carry, but more importantly, their guard is weakened. The faster they get to a city the better, and they know it.”
“Then we need to ride,” said Sakien.
“Pity we can’t take some of these guys,” said Mekov as he looked at the sand hermits. “I think their shells would be worth some armor or weapons.”
“They would,” said Dezzlin. “Diake, Miranda, go bring the horses down here. The three of us are going to take some legs. We’ll strap them to the horses and work on them later.”
“Do we have time for this?” asked Sakien.
“We can spare a minute,” said Dezzlin coolly. “This attack was actually fortunate for us.”
“How?” asked Diake. Dezzlin smiled and pointed at the guards and their packs.
“Extra food and water. We don’t need to slow down anymore.”
The news brightened Sakien right up, and they all went to work. Most of the guards carried containers of water and snacks. Any extra supplies they received would be for the better. Dezzlin, Mekov, and Sakien pried the best legs off the sand hermits and tied them to the horses. It took a little longer thanks to the horses being spooked by the whole area, but their destructive masters assured them they had killed the threats and would protect them. They needed the horses and the horses needed them.
*
“You two are getting better at riding,” said Dezzlin as they settled down for the night. The stars had been bright enough that they’d carried on further than the day before. They were making much better time now as they all became accustomed to their mounts.
“Thanks,” said Mekov as he cracked open another sand hermit leg. The only downside to taking the legs was they’d given the group an awful smell. Now that they were stopped for the night, they were all going through them, removing the insides, eating what they could, and keeping the tough outer shells.
“How long until we reach the city?” asked Sakien.
“Given our current pace and provided we don’t have any more distractions,” said Miranda, “I’d say another day and half.”
“How long until the caravan reaches the city?” asked Diake.
“They’ve probably got a day on us still,” said Dezzlin. “They’ll probably reach town by tomorrow night.”
“Damn,” whispered Sakien.
“We should be okay,” said Miranda. “It will take them the morning to pass off their shipments to other sellers, and I doubt she’ll sell in a few hours.”
“I agree,” said Dezzlin. “Most slave traders take as much time as they can to buy. The longer you wait the more the price will drop. Keeping slaves is expensive for traders, so the longer they keep them the more they cost. Plus, your average trader doesn’t trust new stock. New ones sometimes come in sick or weak only to die a day later so Kira should have a few days. We’ll make it.”
“Thank you,” said Sakien. “Thank you for coming with us.”
“No problem,” said Diake. “It’s another adventure.”
“What if she isn’t there?” asked Miranda. “How far will you go to get her?”
“She will be,” said Dezzlin quickly. He didn’t want dark or dangerous thoughts to enter the northerner’s minds.
“To the ends of the world,” said Sakien. “If you all must go a different direction once we hit the city, I will understand. I must follow my charge.”
“You know I’ll be coming with you,” said Mekov somewhat irritated.
“We’ll see once we enter the city,” said Diake. “Depends where you’re going.”
“Agreed,” said Miranda. “I wanted to get away, but I don’t have a real destination yet. We’ll see where the sun takes us.”
“What do you think we can make from this?” asked Mekov as he held up the crab shell. “I’m thinking maybe some bracers for arms or legs.”
“Not a bad idea,” said Sakien as he placed one over his arm.
“I don’t need them,” said Dezzlin with a shrug. “It’s good but not as good as my armor. You could probably just place it over your armor, its thinner and more flexible than mine.”
“Can I ask you about your armor and your choices for it?” asked Miranda. “I’ve always been curious and never been able to talk to a hunter.”
“Ask away,” said Diake.
“Dezzlin’s is the most durable right? Riktor plating is the strongest?”
“Out of our armor types, probably,” said Mekov as he patted his shield.
“So why don’t you all wear it then?”
“Depends on what you use it for,” said Sakien. “His armor is tougher than mine, but I bet you he’d sink like the rock he is in water.”
“Nowhere to swim around here,” said Dezzlin. “I probably would drown though.”
“In our lands, even if the water is freezing, there’s always a chance you’ll go in it,” said Sakien. “Every man or woman must be ready to swim or fight for their life under the water. Our armor is also designed to insulate us from the cold so we can last in the ice.”
“Whereas mine is designed to take the heat,” said Diake. “Dragon leather is tough stuff, but its main strength is its nearly fireproof.”
“Really?” asked Mekov surprised.
“Well, I’m not saying I can just stand and let a dragon roast me, but I’ll last a good bit longer. More than once I’ve been caught by the fire as I leap for cover, and the only reason I’m still breathing is this stuff.”
“My armor is sturdier for most things,” said Dezzlin, “but it’s too rigid sometimes. It’s hard for me to roll or move quickly. I can take a beating in it, but I can’t usually get away. If you ever see us fight on foot you’ll see those three roll and jump whereas I just walk towards my target.”
“Makes sense,” said Miranda. “So a lot of it is preference? Is that why you two don’t wear helmets?” Mekov and Sakien shrugged.
“I don’t like helmets,” said Mekov. “Usually if something is getting past my shield I’m dead anyway.”
“Helmets limit your vision,” said Sakien. “I’d rather have my sight.”
“You wear whatever you think will keep you alive,” said Diake with a smile. He picked up one of the sand hermit shells and placed it against his leg. “I bet you if we made armor out of this I could wear it under my leather.”
“We probably have enough for the three of us,” said Mekov.
“I hope the smell won’t bring anything to us,” said Miranda as she wrinkled her nose. “I can’t wait until we’re rid of it.”
“Fortunately most of the bigger creatures aren’t carrion eaters,” said Dezzlin. “And most of the little guys like scavs won’t bother such a big group unless they’re starving. As long as we keep watch we should be okay.”
“If you say so,” said Miranda as she leaned next to Diake and closed her eyes. The smell was terrible, but she was tired. It had been a long time since she was used to hard rides. The desert nights were also cold, even with the fire, and this big oaf was always warm. It was a fact she greatly admired about him.