Grasa found him still kneeling beside Urz's body. He had carried his friend's corpse out of the camp before the conflagration could turn them both to ash. Even now, it burned brightly behind him. The Naru woman sucked in a sharp breath at the sight of them, but joined Nicos in kneeling. She bowed her head for several long moments, then breathed out and stood up.

"Come, Nicos," she murmured, pulling him by the arm. "We must leave this place. The fire; the entire desert knows something happened here. The trackers will return to investigate. They must."

Nicos sluggishly rose to his feet. His eyes did not leave Urz. "He wanted to retreat. He said it was too dangerous to fight. I should have listened to him."

"Nicos, we must go!" Grasa repeated, tugging at him insistently. "What's done is done. Grief comes after safety. Urz understood this."

Nicos turned to her. His eyes were red and dry. The tears had come and gone; he was no stranger to loss. It was guilt, now, that weighed upon him. His orders had directly led to his friend's death. His own weakness had cemented it. That was no easy burden, even for a veteran commander, to say nothing of a green boy. Nicos was at a loss.

"What about his body?" he asked. "What would he want done?"

"Take him," Grasa said. "We'll return him to his father."

Nicos flinched at the reminder of the Naru elder's relationship to Urz. The son had saved Nicos' life, but the father had saved his mind. He owed them both, more than he could ever repay. He'd returned their kindness with grief.

"Nicos!" Grasa repeated, urgently.

He shook off his sorrow, resolving to wallow in it later. The boy scooped up his friend's body, uncaring about the blood staining his clothes.

"Where are the others?" he asked.

"They keep watch," she replied, pointing to somewhere in the distance. "Enemies approach. We must go."

They left, skating across the dunes. The fire raged behind them, casting an orange glow across the horizon. Grasa was right, the entire desert could see that fire. Even beneath Selene's gaze, the fire burned brightly. The remainder of the slavers could not possibly miss it. Despite all that had happened, the thought still made Nicos smile. It was a grim, ugly thing.

They'd achieved their goal, him and Urz. The caravan was gone, the supplies were ruined. Cardin was dead. The slavers would splinter without a strong figure to unite them. Perhaps infighting would claim them, or perhaps they would return to Bastion. Perhaps some would continue their pursuit of the Naru. The tribe could handle what few made that mistake.

Without a steady source of food, thirty men wouldn't last a week in the desert. Hunting was only an option for the desert tribes, who could scour miles of territory by reading the sand. Even if the slavers pursued the Naru, the tribe would simply flee. There was no longer any threat of the caravan moving on to the other tribes. They would starve long before they could become a threat to those distant peoples.

Nicos had succeeded in saving the Naru. Never had victory tasted so bitter.

He and Grasa linked up with the last two hunters, before setting off to reconnect with the bulk of the tribe. All three of the Naru had agreed to travel through the night. They knew the safe paths through the desert, and exhaustion would not be an issue once they had returned. There would be other hunters there, to pick up the slack. Informing the elders about what had happened here was the priority.

The tribe might already know. The greatest hunter among the Naru was an older man named Solvir. His claim to the position was the ability to read the desert for nearly a hundred miles in every direction. More, if he narrowed his focus. But even the Naru's spectacular technique lacked the precision needed to parse every detail. They might not know Urz had fallen.

A case of literary theft: this tale is not rightfully on Amazon; if you see it, report the violation.

Nicos' gut churned at the thought of telling Durz about his son's death. Some weak, cowardly part of him wished that the man knew already, that Solvir or some other hunter had seen it, and told him. That Nicos would be spared that duty. He hated himself for the thought.

Nicos and the three Naru moved throughout the entire night, taking breaks every so often to read the slaver's activities. All four groups had returned, to find the camp almost entirely in ashes. They had almost immediately set about to killing each other over the scraps that remained. Eventually, things had settled down, and the slavers had set about licking their wounds. None had so much as stepped in the direction of the Naru again, thus far.

By the time that Nicos' group made it back to the Naru, the Twins were peeking over the horizon. The tribe had reconstituted itself, all four groups coming back into one, just as planned. The next oasis was only a few days away, and there was no shortage of supplies. They had camped for the night, and the tribe was waking up. Sentries met them on the outskirts.

"The elders are waiting," one said, staring at the body in Nicos' arms with a grim expression. They had wrapped Urz with bandages and cloth, medical supplies that Grasa had carried. It did nothing to disguise to blood on Nicos.

Another sentry gently took the body, while the first gestured them forward.

"Come."

His party was brought to another pavilion, and sat before the same group of old men and women. Their expressions were solemn, but not condemning. Nicos bowed to them, low and deep.

"We have returned," he said simply. He lacked the words for anything more.

"So you have." Durz's eyes stared down at the boy's bloodstained form without judgement. "We have monitored your progress as best we could. Our hunters have told us what has occurred."

Nicos closed his eyes, as the old man stood.

"You have saved us, Nicos of Farathun." His words were sharp, pointed, and undeniable. Nicos' eyes snapped open as Durz continued. "The Naru are eternally in your debt."

"I didn't— I couldn't—" he tried to stammer out a denial, but another elder interrupted.

"You will always be welcome among the people of the desert. We will tell our sister tribes what you did for us. They will know you, and they will shelter you." The old elder bowed, as deep as her aged body would allow her. "The desert is forever your ally, young man."

"I don't deserve such gratitude." The words slipped out emotionlessly from his lips.

Durz spoke, "This is the decision of the Naru, and you will respect it."

The boy winced, then bowed respectfully. "Thank you."

The Naru were a simple people, and not one for fanfare. The decision had been made, and announced, and so it was done. The council ended, losing their authoritative air and talking among themselves. Grasa and the surviving hunters were called forward, presumably to be given their own accolades.

Durz stepped away from his fellow elders, approaching the boy. "Come, Nicos. We must speak."

He put his hand on Nicos' shoulder, and the boy had to force himself not to flinch. Durz led him away, to an empty hut that had not yet been taken down. There, the old man met his eyes, and Nicos saw the exhaustion in him. The sadness, and the grief. The Naru elder seemed to deflate in front of him, losing all sense of composure and dignity.

The change was so sudden that it startled Nicos into speaking. "I'm sorry."

"Your apology is unnecessary, Nicos. I am proud of my son's actions. His sacrifice was in accordance to his beliefs." The admission did not seem to ease the old man's grief in the slightest. His voice was weary. "He would have been happy to know you survived."

"He saved my life. Twice." Nicos said. He frowned, and added, "As did you. I repaid that debt by getting him killed."

"What my son did, he did not do to incur a debt. He acted as he saw fit, as did I." Durz replied, tired but stern. "The desert is a deadly place. Death is certain, it is only a matter of time. I am... comforted by the fact that, in his last moments, my son was able to save the life of a friend. Of our entire tribe. He will be remembered, as will you, for as long as the Naru exist."

Nicos shook his head. "That does not absolve my actions. I have wronged you. It is your right to demand compensation."

"Then answer, for me, a question: Why is my son dead?"

The question struck Nicos harder than any weapon. He bowed his head, and replied, "Because I was arrogant. Because I allowed my victories to rule me. I assumed that I could handle any threat, and he died because of my weakness."

"You overstepped," Durz pointed out mercilessly. "You thought yourself greater than you are, and you were unprepared when you were proven wrong."

Nicos nodded painfully. "Yes."

"Will you learn from this mistake?" Durz demanded.

"Yes," he repeated.

"Will you ever underestimate an enemy again?" the old man asked.

"No."

Durz sighed. "That is all I ask of you."

Nicos tried to protest, but the elder held up a hand.

"Any debt between us, was dissolved the moment you returned with your warning. We have been paid in full. Our actions have been returned in kind, as we were taught, as it has ever been."

The old man, tired and grieving, but still strong in spirit, clapped both hands on Nicos' shoulders. His gaze bore into the boy, and he spoke every word with clear belief.

"As you were, so were we. As we did, so did you. You did what you thought was right, Nicos of Farathun, and the Naru thank you for it. As do I."