When they reached the top of the staircase, they heard shouting.
Adjaash led Heror and Brocus back to the dome, and when they emerged from the corridor, they saw Yuryu and Khaliu arguing near the center of the room. The horses were stirred and on-edge.
“Hey!” Adjaash shouted. “Stop it!”
The Midans didn’t hear her, and so they kept fighting. Adjaash shouted again, and when this command failed, she stormed up and shoved them apart. One of the horses let out a nervous, agitated neigh.
“When I say stop it, you stop,” Adjaash growled. “Now tell me what’s going on.”
“They’re here,” Yuryu said, his teeth chattering, bones shaking. “They’re here… they’re here, they’re here, they’re here…”
“What’s here?” Adjaash demanded.
“… and they’re here all because this idiot couldn’t hold it in!” Yuryu rambled, pointing at Khaliu.
Khaliu started to retort, and Yuryu went to fight him again, but Adjaash blocked him off.
“You need to calm down,” Adjaash ordered, nose curled in anger. “Both of you.”
It was then that Adjaash looked toward the dome’s pillared entrance. She saw Nariyu with the torch supplies still over his shoulder, silently and solemnly looking out into the desert. She went to join him, and Heror followed, throwing his torches aside.
They reached the dome’s edge and looked out over the sands. It was evening, and from the hidden western horizon, a wave of red and orange gushed out over the deep blue sky above. At first glance, nothing appeared different about the courtyard – but as Heror looked up, he saw that the sand had been stirred. Where the air had once been clear, thin clouds of dust rushed along in the desert gusts.
Heror turned to Adjaash, and was about to say something when the ground shook again. Like an earthquake, the tremor rose and fell, and as Heror looked out into the sands, not far past the ruined courtyard, he saw a swell in the dunes appear and then disappear. Along the edge of the moving swell, a worn marble pillar teetered and fell over, as the low rumble faded and gave way to warning wails of wind.
Her mouth agape, Adjaash turned to a grim, stoic Nariyu, who only met her glance briefly before arming his bow and arrow. Adjaash snapped back into focus after a moment of shock, and turned to give an order when she saw a hysterical Yuryu mounting his horse, muttering in Midan: “We’re surrounded, we’re surrounded, we’re surrounded…”
“Yuryu, no!” Adjaash lashed, starting toward him. “Do not go anywhere!”
But Yuryu did not listen. In a rush, he snapped the reins, and his horse cried out and surged ahead. Adjaash only had a second to jump out of the way to avoid being trampled, and when she looked back, Yuryu’s horse was bounding down the marble steps, hooves clopping on stone.
“Yuryu!” Adjaash yelled. “We have to stay together!”
Adjaash rose to her feet and sprinted after Yuryu, while Heror followed. On horseback, Yuryu reached the bottom of the staircase and kept riding. Heror and Adjaash descended the steps, in pursuit on foot. But as soon as they reached the courtyard grounds, they saw that Yuryu’s horse had suddenly halted, no more than twenty feet out.
All at once, the wind seemed to slow, and a deathly silence fell on the courtyard. Under the shadow of the temple, in the light of sunset, Yuryu kicked and cursed loudly at his horse to start moving, yanking and jerking the reins in a panic. But the horse would not move. It stomped and grunted and bowed its head, sensing danger. Yuryu kept cursing and kicking until one kick was too fierce, and the horse reared up on its hind legs. Yuryu lurched and dangled with one foot inside the stirrup, then fell hard to the sand and stone below. The horse screeched and bucked backward, then turned and dashed away to the south, disappearing in the dust with echoing cries.
Yuryu winced and propped himself up off the ground, and Adjaash started to run out to grab him – when an oscillating tremor flared up, and the desert exploded to the north. All their eyes whipped to the sound.
The ground rumbled. A rush of wind sped past. Stones cracked and fell, and a cloud of sand crowned outward. And northward, above the dust and the shadow, shining brilliantly in the amber light of the setting sun… something floated in the air.
It might have been an angel of death. To Heror’s eye, it looked almost like a manta ray – an animal he’d seen before off the coast of Ardys. But this was different. It was a golden-brown color, with darker brown streaks running across its shoulders and fins. It was graceful – almost ethereal – with a broad head and magnificent wings that stretched thirty feet wide, which it used to gently coast and sway in the sky, in a mesmerizing stasis.
As Yuryu saw the ghostly creature, he began to shake uncontrollably, and he collapsed onto the ground again, curling into a ball. Her eyes panicked, Adjaash looked at Yuryu, then again at the creature in the sky. In a silent, frozen, eerily peaceful moment, the floating creature tilted its wings back ever so slightly. Adjaash started to run out again, to try and bring Yuryu back – when, from its benevolent perch in the air, the creature suddenly snapped its wings forward in an instant violent motion.
Heror saw the danger. He grabbed Adjaash and pulled her back just as a supersonic shockwave came from the north and overran the courtyard. From the snap of the ray’s wings, wind and air flooded into the temple grounds at impossible speeds – so fast that a deafening sonic boom came a millisecond later. All at once, a tsunami of sand engulfed the grounds. All the statues and pillars and marble slabs crumbled and disintegrated and were washed away, and Yuryu disappeared in an avalanche of dust and shattered stone.
For a fleeting moment, Heror went deaf from the noise, and a sharp, painful ringing filled his ears. The shockwave had knocked him off his feet, and he lay on his left side at the bottom of the marble steps, covered in dust and powdered rock. He lifted his forehead off the bottom stair, blood trickling from a fresh cut. In a daze, he looked back at the courtyard. It was gone – lost in a billowing cloud of sand.
Now he turned his eyes back ahead. On the bottom stairs beside him, he saw Adjaash – also covered in dust – pushing herself up to her feet with a muffled grunt. The ringing started to fade, and Heror’s hearing came back. As it crescendoed, he heard Adjaash barking orders to the others at the temple entrance, hair strewn over her face.
“Whatever the fuck it is, shoot it!!” she shouted at the top of her lungs. “Brocus, stay back with the horses!”
Heror winced and tried to rise to his feet, feeling pain in his joints. Adjaash held out her hand, as the orange light of sunset peeked through the haze behind her.
“Come on, Heror,” she said hastily, new fear in her voice. “C’mon.”
Heror took her hand and she pulled him to his feet. Side by side, they dashed up the marble steps, back toward the temple entrance. Near the top of the stairs, Nariyu and Khaliu stood with bows at the ready, loosing arrows aimlessly into the sand clouds below. Heror and Adjaash only made it halfway when another thunderous boom came from the north, shaking the ground. There was a rush of air, and in a flash, the creature swooped in front of them, over the top of the staircase. It passed in front of Khaliu, and when it disappeared in the dust to the south, Khaliu was gone.
At that moment, Adjaash glanced to her right and saw a second creature flying toward them at high speed, wings unfurled. In a heat, she yelled – “duck!!” – and she dropped to her stomach on the low-sloping stairs, wrenching Heror down with her by his shoulder. As Heror dropped, he felt something spiny graze his back, and the creature vanished left.
“Go!” Adjaash hurried, as soon as the creature was gone.
She planted and kept running up the steps, and Heror went to do the same – when his back foot slipped off a dent in the marble. He lost his footing and fell back onto his stomach, and he started to roll down the stairs.
“No– Heror!!”
Heror tumbled and tumbled, before landing hard on his side, back on the sand grounds below. Scraped and bruised, he winced and coiled at the pain – but only for a moment before adrenaline forced him to his feet.
In a rush, Heror unsheathed Kerit and readied his stance. His tunic, tucked pants, and boots were all tattered and torn and dirty, and dirt and blood caked his face and hair. As his eyes rose again, it was as if he was in a sandstorm. All around him, brown dust billowed like firesmoke; if there was clear sky above, he could not see it. The ground was loose and powdered, and a new silence set in – until he heard the all-too-familiar tremor to his left.
Heror whisked that way, and he saw a shadow streaking toward him in the sand cloud. He pulled his sword up in defense and lowered his stance, and the creature scraped by him. He felt something tug at his arm above the elbow as it passed, but he rolled his shoulder forcefully and its grip released.
It was only a second or two later when he heard a creature approach again. He saw the shadow to his right this time, and as the creature whizzed just overhead, he raised his sword in an arm-bar form. A claw of some kind scraped off the metal, letting off a hollow ring.
There was the low roll of something swimming through the sands beneath him, and Heror readied his sword once more, eyes intense. He tried to track the movement through the vibrations, but as soon as he heard and felt it, it disappeared, and he was left blind in the brown fog again.
But then the ground started to shake, heavier than before – and on either side of Heror, creatures emerged from the deep. By instinct, he dropped to the ground and rolled, barely evading the first attack. The second looped overhead, and as it rushed through the air, it blew back the sand cloud, letting in the blue sky and light again.
Heror rose to his knee and loaded his sword, then whirled around and swung with ruthless force, and he met the second creature just before it reached him. He felt the tug of a successful slice and the spatter of hot liquid, and the creature passed narrowly overhead before crashing into the sand nearby, the wind following close behind.
Now he heard a stomach-curdling noise – a loud, sneering, bug-like whine from the creature as it writhed in pain, just fifteen feet from where he stood. Before he could approach it, the creature dragged itself into the haze again and disappeared, and as Heror looked down at his feet, he saw what he had cut off: Two brown, spiny, clawed walking legs that the creature had extended from its torso.
Heror had only a second to regain his composure. In the thinning dust cloud, he saw an upswell of sand making its way toward him, as one of the creatures tunneled at high speed. He backtracked and tried to return to the marble steps, but as the sands rocked and swept, he lost his footing and fell onto his back.
The quake intensified, and just as Heror sat up, he watched as one of the ray-like creatures emerged from the sand at his feet, digging itself out with its dorsal fins. As it surfaced, it rose and loomed over him, spreading its wings, and he saw its features in their full, awful glory. A membrane on its wide head and face peeled back to reveal sharp teeth, fangs, and clacking mandibles speckled with fresh blood, and as it ascended from the ground, six spiny clawed legs unfolded from pouches beneath the skin of its front torso, stamping violently in the dust.
Heror grimaced at the sight of the monster, and in a panic, he tried to slide back from the beast. But as he went to move, one of the beast’s claws stamped his pant leg – just missing his calf – and trapped him there. Heror grappled his sword and thrust it forward to defend himself. The creature leaned in and let out a low, rattling hiss, fangs bared. Heror felt the heat of the beast’s breath on his face, and it started to lean closer, ever closer – when a speeding arrow tore through its jaw.
The creature cried out in pain and retracted its claw leg, and Heror rushed to his feet. He glanced back and saw Adjaash standing at the bottom of the marble staircase, another arrow already nocked.
“Nariyu, cover us!” she shouted, tilting her head as she aimed again.
She let loose another arrow, but the creature leapt off the ground using its legs, and dodged just above the arrow’s tip. And then, in a smooth motion, the creature tucked its legs back inside its torso flap and dove into the loose sands, disappearing beneath the surface.
The dust clouds were starting to lift. The sky was red. Heror watched the ground with wide eyes, then whipped his head back around on a swivel. Chest heaving, his eyes met Adjaash’s for a moment – and then he saw the second creature emerging not far behind her, sand grains pouring off its wings. As it surfaced again, its legs unfurled, and it rose to a fast, towering crawl.
Heror only had time to let out a quick warning shout before the beast itself hissed loudly, limping feverishly on four legs. Adjaash whirled around and let loose another arrow. In her haste, however, she missed her mark, and she could idle no longer. Just as the creature lunged onto the stairs, Adjaash dove off the bottom step, rolling in the sand and settling on one knee. Then she quickly slung her bow over her shoulders, ripped two twin daggers from underneath her poncho, and turned back toward the beast, holding the daggers at the ready as her nose twitched in a snarl.
The creature climbed down from the stairs and widened its wings, standing tall on its hind legs. With its two front legs, it lashed out and stabbed at Adjaash with its claw tips. They matched back and forth, trading swings – Adjaash ducking and sidestepping sharp, vicious jabs with unflinching focus.
Heror kept his eyes on Adjaash, but he could still feel the second creature lurking. His eyes lashed back and forth, until he saw the beast rising from the sand, in an attempt to flank her. Now Heror sprinted ahead and cut the creature off. And just twenty feet behind Adjaash, he began his own duel.
The second creature’s jaw was wounded, but all of its limbs were intact. It stood on its hind legs as it stabbed and serrated with its four front claws. Heror adjusted his stance and defended with his blade. The metal whined and chirped as claws grazed it from different angles, but Heror kept his grip strong and his base stronger – blocking vertical, lateral, and angular strikes. The creature tried to surprise him with simultaneous jabs high and low, but Heror stepped to the right and dragged his sword upward, brushing away the attacks. After this parry, he sent a powerful swing forward, and cut a deep gash in one of the creature’s front legs.
The creature recoiled and reared up – unleashing a ribbed, guttural roar – before widening and flapping its wings. With the flap of its wings, the creature leapt back and sent a wave of wind toward Heror. In the sudden gale, he slid backward and tumbled, but adrenaline brought him back up in a flash. He advanced on the creature again, but before he could reach it, the creature stood upright and flapped its wings straight down, launching into the air.
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Heror craned his head and neck to follow the creature as it rocketed into the sky. And just as it climbed, it started to loop down again. In its ray form, it soared overtop the dome against the red canvas of the sky – dodging Nariyu’s arrows with subtle leans – and then it curved back and screamed toward the Aelyum, where Heror stood exposed. At first, Heror thought to stand his ground, but the creature was coming in too fast for him to withstand the impact. Like a phantom, it swooped down over the sands and sped his way – too high to jump over, too low to duck.
He couldn’t sidestep; his only thought was to turn and run. As he did, however, the creature slammed into his back and roped its legs under his arms, lifting him up off the ground. Then it curved with brutal quickness, dumping Heror into the sand with pummeling force. Heror rolled and rolled until he stopped on his stomach. He grunted and looked up, and saw his discarded sword on the ground not far ahead.
The wind was rushing; he could hear the creature coming back already. Pulse racing, he dove forward and grabbed his weapon. And in the same motion, he whirled around just in time to block the creature from sinking its fangs into his neck. The creature’s claw legs planted into the ground all around him, while its jaw clamped down on the width of his blade.
With whitened knuckles, Heror kept hold of the sword, trapped with his back against the sand. As the creature pressed down more and more – grunting and growling – Heror was forced to bring his left hand under the blade. The sharp edges dug into his hand, and Heror watched as the creature’s small, black, beady eyes went to the blood that was drawn. Its mandibles clacked. It hissed, spewing saliva.
Heror’s face twisted in disgust, and in a bout of anger, he sent a heavy kick into the creature’s abdomen, near the base of its bottom legs. He did this again, and again – until the third kick hit a nerve, and the creature howled and convulsed, loosening its grip on the sword. As it drifted back, Heror ripped a sideways backhand slash with a fierce yell, cutting off one of the creature’s forelegs.
There was another howl of pain. The creature extended its wings, drifting into the air on the backs of the breeze, until it dove and retreated into the sand again, twenty feet to Heror’s right. Face plastered with blood and grime and sweat and spit, Heror rose to his feet, huffing and heaving. And then he saw Adjaash in a stalemate, back near the steps. He started to run to her.
Adjaash was fast and nimble, but the creature’s claw legs extended and retracted with brutal quickness and efficiency, and the range of its attacks made it difficult for her to get close. The girl kept her stance tight, tucking her elbows as she blocked each jab with the flats of her blades, but there was no time to go on the attack. When the creature tried to sweep her legs, she jumped and reset her feet. When it lashed out at her head, she ducked and dodged.
The creature attempted to sweep her ankles, and Adjaash stomped down on its leg, pinning it in the dust. Then she stabbed at the leg in an attempt to sever it – but before her dagger could reach its mark, one of the creature’s other legs snapped out and struck her in the face. The blunt force sent her flying to the left, and she let out a cry as she tumbled to the ground.
Eyes wide, Heror quickened his pace in a panic. But just as he did so, he saw a figure sprinting down the marble steps. It was the old Midan Nariyu. Once Nariyu reached the third step to the bottom, he leapt out with a battle cry – a wide-billed machete in his grip. Just as the creature turned its head, Nariyu stabbed his machete into the beast’s back. With one hand, he clung to the top of the monster’s wing. With the other, he stabbed relentlessly – over and over – as the creature let out a terrible wail.
The creature veered away now, trying to shake Nariyu off, and Adjaash rose to her knee with a wince. Heror reached her and helped her to her feet. He leaned over and met her eyes, silently asking if she was alright. Adjaash nodded, then stowed her daggers and equipped her bow. As she nocked an arrow, Heror searched for the second creature. When he did not see it, his gaze shifted, and he went after Nariyu.
Nariyu’s fingers on his left hand dug into the beast’s skin. With the blade in his right, he unleashed a torrent of fearsome stabs, screaming. Dull golden ichor trickled out of a dozen open wounds on the creature’s torso. All the while, its bug-like whine pierced the open air again, as it flapped violently, trying to free itself from the Midan’s grasp.
Under the hail of Nariyu’s strikes, this creature was agitated. It tried to pry over its wide shoulders with its claws, but it could not reach Nariyu. In a last-ditch move, it jumped off the ground with its legs, rose almost twenty feet, then flipped upside down and flapped its wounded wings. The air blast was weaker now, but it was enough to throw Nariyu into the ground at high speed. Nariyu slammed into the sand on his back, a cloud of dust rising on impact.
The wind rushed from Nariyu’s lungs, but after a wheeze, he forced himself up. However, in the stirred sands, he could no longer see, and Heror could no longer see him. Nariyu rose to his feet and curled his nose, readying his machete again.
“Stop hiding!!” he bellowed. “Ti-aytuk!!”
At that moment, a blast of air cleared the clouds again, and the demon returned, stomping its legs into the sand as it loomed over Nariyu. It was about to attack when it saw Heror closing in, following Nariyu’s voice. The creature unfurled its wings and flapped, all at once sending Heror off his feet and tossing him back into the sand.
As Heror rolled in the dust, Adjaash sent a hail of arrows in the beast’s direction – but it swatted all of them as if they were twigs. Then it turned back to Nariyu. It lashed out with its front legs, and there was the scrape of metal against claw, as Nariyu rushed to block.
Now they clashed with matching swings – Nariyu shedding the strikes of the beast’s tendrils and countering with lightning-quick slashes. But with its razor sharp claws, the beast absorbed each attack, and after a moment more of stalemate, the creature reared up onto one leg, freeing another gnashing claw to join the fight. Nariyu strengthened his stance and deflected two stabs from the front legs, but in a whirl, the creature lashed out and lodged a claw into Nariyu’s ankle.
Nariyu shouted in pain, and just as the creature made entry, it ripped backward and pulled Nariyu to the ground. Then it dragged Nariyu left to right, before whipping him around and swinging him into the air, back toward the temple grounds. As he flew, his bow and his bag fell off his shoulders, into the sands.
Nariyu hit the ground hard and came to a stop in the dust. He tried to climb to his feet, but his shredded ankle collapsed beneath his weight. He rolled onto his back and his eyes darted about, in search of his weapon. To his right, he saw Heror running toward him, still far off. Behind him, he heard Adjaash shouting. But that was all he saw or heard before the creature suddenly appeared again. From the skies, it came down like a meteor, and it forcefully stabbed into each of Nariyu’s shoulders with its front claws. Nariyu groaned and gritted his teeth, and then he glared up at the beast as it loomed over him, growling and chattering.
“Do it,” Nariyu hissed, clasping the claw legs that punctured his shoulders. “Take me to my grave, Zhai Ghi. You’ll join me soon enough.”
The creature let out a strange, menacing sound that almost resembled a laugh, as ichor seeped from its wounds. And then it floated ever so slightly off the ground, before wrenching its claws from the Midan’s skin. Nariyu grunted in pain and clenched his eyes shut. When he opened them, the creature was hovering above him, all four of its legs retracted. As quickly as it rose above the ground, it stomped all four of its legs into the sand at once – with so much force that a shockwave spread from impact. The shockwave blocked another of Adjaash’s arrows, and from the force, the ground liquified beneath Nariyu, becoming as quicksand. Nariyu started to sink – bones shattered, limbs numb – and the creature descended on him, bowing its wings and head and pulling him below the tide.
“No!!” Adjaash yelled – but it was too late. Nariyu was gone.
Adjaash looked on in helpless horror, and Heror stopped running. Defeated, he leaned over as he tried to catch his breath.
The winds slowed again under the red sky – but it wasn’t over. The creatures were wounded, but Heror could still feel them moving deep under the sands. They were gaining back their strength. They would be back soon.
After a moment of silence, another quick tremor swelled and faded, bringing Adjaash back to her senses. Her mind raced – desperate for ideas – and her gaze went back to the sands where Nariyu had been taken under. Her eyes fell on the pack Nariyu had dropped – the pack that held the torch supplies, about fifty feet from where she stood.
“Heror!!” she shouted from across the sand flat.
Heror looked at her, and then his eyes followed hers to the pack. And they had the same idea.
Heror was closer, and so he sprinted across the sands until he came to the leather pack. There was another tremor, but he didn’t let it faze him. He grabbed the pack’s leather strap, and in the same motion, he planted his foot and turned toward Adjaash, dashing toward her. In seconds, he met her at the base of the marble steps, and he knelt down to the ground, opening the pack in haste.
“They’re attracted to blood,” Heror told her quickly.
Even in shock, Adjaash could not restrain her sarcasm: “You think so?”
Hands caked with scarlet sweat, Heror rummaged through the pack until he found what he was looking for: The flint and steel, and the clay jar of whale oil. He set the items down on the sand, and then he opened the clay jar. Adjaash knelt down beside him and pulled her quiver of arrows off her shoulder. She clustered the arrows together in her hand, then dipped the arrow blades into the whale oil. Once they were soaked, she pulled the arrows out and set them on the bottom marble step.
“Give me your dagger,” Heror said quickly.
“What, why?”
“Just do it.”
Adjaash reached beneath her poncho and pulled out a dagger for Heror to take. Once Heror took it in his right hand, he held out his left hand and brought the blade’s tip to the cut on his palm.
“Wh– what are you doing??” Adjaash exclaimed, eyes widening.
“I’m going to take the jar and draw them out,” Heror explained. “Once they’re close, I’ll toss the jar into the air, and you’ll shoot it.”
“What if they–”
“Adjaash, it’s the only way. Someone has to be bait.”
Adjaash wanted to protest, but she knew she couldn’t. The ground shook again. Heror brought the dagger to his palm and started to tug, but he felt a sting and hesitated. He gritted his teeth and was about to try again, when Adjaash stopped him.
“Let me do it,” she rushed. “It’ll be quick.”
With haste, Heror gave the dagger back to Adjaash and held his left hand out. He closed his eyes, and Adjaash grabbed his left wrist. Then, in a swift motion, she cut a deep gash across the length of Heror’s palm.
Heror felt a sharp, stinging pain. He winced. The ground shook again. When he opened his eyes, his hand was bleeding heavily. He took a second to compose himself, then nodded. Then he grabbed the jar of whale oil with his right hand and tucked it against his stomach. The ground shook again. He rose to his feet, turned back toward the open sands, and gave one last glance to Adjaash.
“Shoot straight,” he told her before running out into the desert, as the light of the sunset started to die in the west.
Heror’s feet trudged in the sand as he ran, and he rubbed the blood from his left hand on his arms and neck. As Adjaash watched him run off, she grabbed the flint and steel and stepped up onto the stairs to get more elevation.
Heror’s eyes darted back and forth, and when he reached about fifty feet out, he heard the tremors again. To his left, he saw an upswell in the sand. He started to run faster, tugging the jar along while blood dripped from his palm. The ground shook, and the sands churned, and twin tremors – left and right – gained in ferocity. Heror’s head whisked around. Both creatures were closing in.
On the stairs, Adjaash saw this, and her focus went to the arrows. She scraped the flint and steel together, and sparks flew – but none of them caught. She scraped again, and again – quicker, quicker – until at last, sparks fell on the oiled arrow tips, and they caught ablaze. She let out a breathless “yes”, then grabbed a flaming arrow and nocked it – feeling the fletchings tickling between her fingers and the heat dancing against her skin. She set the arrow at the anchor point, then took a long, deep breath – heart pounding.
Heror sped up to a sprint, whale oil sloshing and splashing inside the jar. He left the shade of the temple, and the red glow of the sun peeked over the dunes in the distance. They were closer now – nearly overtaking him – and they started to re-emerge from the sands.
To his left, the five-legged creature climbed out of the depths with monstrous quickness, hissing and snarling at its prey as it erased the gap between them with scampering legs. To his right, the four-legged creature ascended from the Aelyum with grace, flapping its wings as it hovered above the ground and extended its claws.
“Toss it,” Adjaash urged in a whisper, arrow loaded. “Toss it.”
They grew closer, closer – twenty feet, fifteen feet, ten – and then, just outside the reach of their thrashing pincers, Heror came to a sudden halt, skidding and kicking up dust. Adjaash inhaled, frozen in focus. Heror heaved the whale oil jar above, just as the creatures started to converge. Adjaash centered her aim in an instinctive jolt, and then she let the arrow fly.
The glowing arrow ripped through the air with the speed of a falcon, its light casting over the ocean of dunes. Heror dove to the right and turned his back as the creatures crashed together – whale oil spilling over them. And then Adjaash’s flaming arrow struck the clay jar, perfectly in its center.
The tip of the arrowhead knifed and cracked through the clay, and the flames met and ignited the oil inside – and all at once, a massive fireball exploded over the desert landscape. Heror felt a barrage of blistering heat singe his back, and he rolled to the right, as the wind rushed once more.
The explosion engulfed the creatures in a coffin of flame. Shards of hardened clay acted as shrapnel, and all at once, there was a chorus of sneering whines and screeches. The fiery inferno climbed the sky for a moment longer before it died out, and the creatures fell to the sand, tattered and charred. One of the creatures, still burning on its shoulder, tugged itself away with its one remaining leg and retreated back under the sand, while the other writhed in the dust with twisted limbs, mortally wounded.
Heror still felt the heat of the fire on his back, and so he rolled in the sand until he was sure it was extinguished. Then he rose to his feet. When he turned, he saw the wounded creature in the sand, not far from where he stood.
With a heavy breath, he stepped toward the sneering beast and unsheathed his sword. Once he stood over it, he stabbed down, then wrenched sideways and cut off the beast’s head. Its movement slowed and then stopped. Ichor spilled onto the ground.
At that moment, silence fell over the desert. Heror panted and heaved and slowed his breath – covered in sand and blood – and then he sheathed his sword and turned. From where he stood, he could see the red glint of the sun as it sunk below the horizon, between the dunes. Up above, the sky was darkening. The stars were out.
As he limped back to the steps, the adrenaline wore off, and pain stretched all across Heror’s body – from his head to his back to his legs. The open wound on his hand pulsed with pain, his palm coated with blood.
When Heror reached the stairs, Adjaash was making her way back down the steps, leather pack in hand. Heror collapsed at the bottom step and fell to his knees, and Adjaash rushed to meet him. A safe distance behind her, Brocus followed and observed the two.
“Just sit for a moment, just sit,” Adjaash told Heror. “Here…”
She set down her pack and knelt down beside Heror, then pulled out a blanket that had been rolled inside. She tore a strip from the blanket and wrapped the strip around the open wound on Heror’s hand, tying a knot to tighten the bandage.
“What about your head?” Heror asked, looking at the bruise over Adjaash’s right eye.
“You got it worse than I did,” she reasoned, trying to force a smile.
After a moment, Adjaash smelled something burnt, and as she leaned over Heror, she saw his back.
“Oh no…”
“What?” Heror questioned.
“It’s… fine,” Adjaash managed. “We’ll be able to treat it better at the camp.”
“One got away,” Heror mumbled.
“I know,” Adjaash said. “But I don’t think it’ll mess with us for a while.”
“We should leave now,” Heror suggested. “Just to be safe.”
Adjaash looked at Heror, then nodded. She pulled out a case of silk from her pack, and wrapped a thin silk bandage around Heror’s forehead, to cover a cut from the rocks. Brocus lingered in the silence, farther up the stairs.
“The others?” Brocus asked after a moment.
The silence went on. Once Adjaash was finished, she closed her pack and helped Heror to his feet, and the three went up the steps and returned to the dome. They calmed their horses, ate food, drank water, and then they mounted and walked back down the steps. Adjaash held the reins of Khaliu’s horse as they walked, while Heror held Kauta’s.
It was night when they journeyed back out into the sands. It was quiet. At the base of the steps, they paused for a moment. Adjaash’s eyes traced upward in the sky, sifting through the stars.
“The Peak of the Obelisk is the north star…” she whispered to herself, turning. “… which means southeast is this way…”
And so they started their trek back to camp in the cool night air. Not long after they left the steps, they came across the dead creature lying in the sand – its flayed, headless remains strewn across the ground.
“Muscvall makes your acquaintance,” Brocus announced as they walked by the creature’s corpse.
Adjaash and Heror paid no mind to the scholar, their tired eyes in a daze as the group ventured back into the desert – the light of the stars and the crescent moon shining against the waves beyond.