I was woken by Larina tickling my ears. "Moonrise, time to go."

I made a noise and stretched. A huge crescent moon had half-risen at the foot of the mountains.

My saddle bags were heavier than ever. And next came the waterskins, two of them strung together, dangling from either side. And more and more waterskins until I protested. Their intended load for me was heavier than the combined weight of Count Radel and Freya. I could barely move a few steps, no way! Another eight pairs of waterskins had to go before I could walk at normal human speed.

The same exercise was repeated with Larina, with similar results. Well, she took a lot more waterskins than I did, but she struggled too. In the end, even the grumpy humans had to carry four skins each. Lazy clerics, I silently thought.

Then we were ready to go. Brother Tsuwangli said the camels saw me as a predator. So I tailed everyone, as far out of the sight of the camels as possible. And still motivating them to go a little faster. And as before, being last meant constant attention to the ground to avoid camel and horse droppings.

There was a path that mostly followed the river. But as we got further away from the mountains, the land flattened out and the river became a swamp. So our path went further and further away from the river until the wetland fell behind us. As the water disappeared, so did the height of the vegetation. Soon the bushes were less than waist high and shrank with every step. Best of all, also the insects vanished.

As the sun rose, the land took on colour. It was mostly shades of red, from the mountains behind us to the dusty ground and a few huge monoliths in the distance. The low bushes were also red and dusty.

So this was the desert. But it did not look like the desert I had imagined, it looked a bit like the pictures of Monument Valley. Or was this actually in the desert? I was not sure.

I had imagined a desert with less growth on the ground. And more sand. There was no loose sand here, just red dust. And it was quite fresh this early in the morning, which was good considering my heavy load. Despite the cold morning, I was sweating under its weight. Steam rose from my flanks.

* * *

With the sun, the land heated up quickly. Past the wetlands, the shrubs became harder and thornier. My paws were wider than a horse's hooves, bigger even than a camel's toes. But they lacked the hard hoof of a horse or the very thick padding of a camel over most of their palm. When I inevitably stepped on a thorn, more than once it pierced my palm and I had to stop to remove it. No matter how careful I was, it hurt and my paws became increasingly bloody.

As the sun rose higher, we stopped on the north side of the first large monolith. Tsuwangli, our guide through the desert, announced. "We will rest here today and continue at moonrise.

There were even a few trees growing in the shade close to the monolith. Not proper trees for a squirrel but at least as tall as my head, crooked poor trees. But they were sturdy enough to span some canvas for shade later in the day. Previous travellers had cleared most of the area under the trees of any growth. Relieved, I unloaded and, like everyone else, drank first from the dirtiest and most damaged waterskin. This terrible tasting water would have to sustain me for the coming days. The taste was enough to ensure that I saved as much as possible.

No longer thirsty, I lay on my back and searched my bloody paw palms for smaller thorns. The blood had clotted with the red dust and almost formed a protective layer. Just tearing at it hurt a lot. I dripped some water on it and removed the solid mass, moaning softly. Blood trickled from the many exposed punctures. When Larina saw me, she came over and helped me with my hind paws so I didn't have to bend over that much. I groaned again.

"The countess cannot continue like that!" Larina said, pointing at my paws.

Now everyone came to look at my big, bloody paws.

"I can doing," I said. "Maybe sand soon?"

Tsuwangli shook his head. "There is no sand on the next leg. No, countess, we must do something."

"But I not riding a horse. And too much carrying."

Even Larina chuckled. "You won't ride a horse, and no horse will ride you. But I have an idea."

She took three already emptied waterskins and an empty grain bag. After all the thorns had been picked out of my paws and the bleeding had stopped, she put them over my paws. "Shoes for the countess," she announced proudly.

When I tied the leather strings at the top, it was like high leather boots. I never thought I would lace shoes again. Then I tried to walk. My paws were confined inside the leather bags, so much so that I had to walk mostly on my toes. Now, unloaded, that was no problem. I would see how it worked tomorrow, first my paws needed to heal and the dry desert air was best for that. So I removed the former water skins which now started their new life as paw shoes for the countess.

Having taken care of this, it was time for sleep. Following Brother Tsuwangli's lead, we each put a mask over our mouth and nose to reduce the loss of water through breathing.

Larina and the horses were chewing grain, perhaps there would be a second, larger grain bag for my paws tonight. I took some vegetables from the palace and guessed which would go off first and ate them. Their taste was a nice reminder of that soft carpet bed.

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Sleeping proved difficult. I was not that tired. The dull pain, the bright sun and the hot breeze did not help either. But above all, I longed for the count to cuddle. I hoped that my message, which I had asked to be relayed to him on my departure, had reached him. Until we left Krenburg, I had not missed the luxury of instant communication. What I would give now for a picture or a word from him! Of course, there were magebirds in Krenburg who could carry messages to many places in a single day: They used transport magic to make them appear high in the air above their destination. And they had carrier pigeons too. But somehow there was no such thing as a magic mirror communicator. With these thoughts, I finally dozed off in the hot midday desert air.

* * *

"Moonrise," someone called, and I was awake.

"Here!" Larina tossed me another empty grain bag. I shook out the dust and laced it to my other forepaw. Next came the old waterskins for my hind paws. Then I slowly rose. My paws still hurt, and some of the wounds would reopen. But I could walk. Now it was time to load the luggage, the saddlebag and then the still filled waterskins. I had only emptied one pair, so there was not much relief. Walking on my toes for my hind paws strained my muscles, but it was better than bleeding and more cuts and stabs.

In the dim light of the starry sky and the waning crescent moon, I had to rely on the improvised paw shoes. I could see the faint path, but not individual twigs and thorns. At first, I walked as carefully as I could, but I soon became more confident as not a single thorn went through the leather of the paw shoes.

However, not much later, I got a cramp from walking on my toes and had to stop and run after the others. But that was a small price to pay compared to yesterday’s bloody paws. And we were walking at human speed, so even with my heavy load I caught up with them in no time.

Before long, the first stars began to fade. It was surprisingly cold, even colder than yesterday. When I took off my mask for a bite, I could see my breath.

At dawn, I found another good thing about the paw shoes: They also protected my ankles and lower legs from the thorns of the bushes at the side of the path. At the morning break, Larina showed me her slightly bloody fetlocks, just above her hooves. I offered her my chest band, which I was unlikely to ever wear again. But she refused and wrapped leather strings around her fetlocks. Tough leather was the better choice anyway.

The deeper we penetrated the desert, the fewer monoliths there were. Today's destination was one of the last, a rock only twice as high as I could reach. There were no trees, our canvas shade was held up by two poles and some string.

I finished drinking two waterskins, unloaded my luggage, spread out the blanket and finally massaged my toes. The wounds on my palms had stopped bleeding, there were only two spots of fresh blood. Touching them still hurt and reminded me that I should be happy just to have sore toes from walking on them with the heavy load.

There was more discomfort to distract me: The red dust had penetrated deep into my fur and was itching. I had a brush for that, and Larina shared a similar fate. So we brushed our flanks. Walking those few steps without my luggage and without my paw shoes felt like flying.

Afterwards, I was so tired that I slept through the light and heat of the day.

* * *

This time, Brother Tsuwangli woke me. "Countess?"

I mumbled something, and then I was awake. "No moon?"

"Yes," the brother whispered, "how good is your night vision? Can you see the path?"

I stood up. With so many stars, the path was clearly visible. "Yes, I seeing path."

"Then I will wake the others. You will lead."

When everyone was awake, Brother Tsuwangli explained that we had to cover a longer distance today and that the moon would rise too late. So we put on our packs in the dark and I led the way. I kept checking to see if I was going too fast until I found the right pace.

The starry night was the most impressive distraction. I had never seen so many stars before. With no major vegetation and no rocks or mountains, the stars stretched from horizon to horizon. I think I saw the milky way, so at least I was in a similar universe, I reckoned. The stars were useless to me for navigation, but the path was faint but clearly visible.

During a short break, Brother Tsuwangli tried to explain our guiding constellations. It was called 'ship'. To be honest, its brightest stars formed a pentagon. My usually vivid imagination failed to associate this with a ship. But I was proud to be able to recognized at least this constellation among the many stars.

Just as the faintest stars were fading, a thin crescent moon rose. It hung askew on the horizon. In the moon's light, the others could see the path well enough, and I was relieved of my guiding duties. Happily, I returned to my place at the end. Larina also went to the back, weary from constantly looking back to see if she was following me too fast.

Before long, the sun was rising. While the flat horizon had been breathtaking with stars, the daylight landscape was dull. Just a desolate, slightly undulating, red, dusty desert with low shrubs. Little dust devils rose up, tiny dusty whirlwinds that even tinted the sky orange. The dusty haze made the sun burn a little less harshly.

I yawned several times as I followed Larina's swaying tail on automatic.

I had dozed off while following Larina and woke up when I bumped into her bottom. "Sorry," I mumbled and looked around. It was afternoon, and the dust devils had settled. It was blazing hot.

Brother Johens was sitting on the ground, clearly spent. My toes ached, but I remained silent. After a short rest, Brother Johens was lifted on a camel after the remaining water skins had been redistributed. And then we went on through another low depression. On the other side, the sand desert started.

Here we finally rested.

The sun was already low, so a shade was put up on the side, like a windbreaker.

My toes cracked as I massaged them. Tomorrow I would try walking in the sand without the paw shoes.

Brother Rene went around and added vinegary wine to the waterskins to kill the germs. It could not spoil the taste anymore. To tell the truth, I was severely constipated from not drinking enough water and not eating enough. So I forced three waterskins down my raspy throat and ate only root vegetables. Even chewing was an effort. Just after swallowing the last bit, I fell asleep.

The sleep was too short. But Brother Tsuwangli was adamant. And so we set off again into the night, with heavy legs on the humans and the mystic beasts as well.

Now, in the middle of the night, the sand was a little wet and cold, but still, walking on sand was exhausting. But it meant an end to the vegetation, no longer cramming the paws in the paw shoes.

We avoided climbing the dunes which sone rose in this part of the desert. So our path was a zigzag. Once again I walked in front of Brother Tsuwangli. With my slightly better night vision. I had to guess on which side of a dune we could pass or if we still had to climb it. When morning came, we put up the shade on lee of a dune and rested. Today we would sleep all day. Everyone was relieved.