A haze sat upon the endless desert dunes as the group trudged on through. As the day progressed and the sun reached its height in the sky, it began to leer down at them like a guard in a watchtower, baking them in severe heat. Jaqri’s once steady pace began to slow down. As big as he was, carrying the two people through these conditions was beginning to wear him down. He’d never admit it of course, being who he was, but it was noticed by Lun.

The rocky mesas towered in the background like gargoyles protecting the edges of a cemetery. Carrion birds began to swirl around the group, cawing at them as if encouraging them to just give up now and die now so that they can pick them clean.

Abel began to stagger and fell to his knees. Lun reached down but Abel smacked his hand out of the way. Blood had soaked his dressing completely. His skin was beginning to be ashen grey, and his breathing was even labored than before.

“I’m fine. Just give me a minute to rest.” Abel snapped.

“You’re not fine, we need to get that wound re-dressed and cleaned. It’s probably infected and saints know what kind of poison they used on you.” Lun responded.

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Jaqri nodded. “Yes friend. Please, do not dissuade help.”

Abel shook his head. “I’m serious, just give me a minute. Go ahead. I’ll catch up.”

Lun gave him a scowl before getting up and walking past him through the sands. He was only going to walk a few feet, and even then extremely slowly so he could give Abel the impression that he was letting him rest under his own power before he continued on.

Abel’s legs buckled as he attempted to get up. Using his one hand, he pushed upon his metal leg, searing his hand on the hot metal. Staggering around dizzily, his vision began to blur more and the world spun around violently. Beginning to lose his balance, he tipped over to his right side, falling to the ground. Lun saw this play out in motion but was unable to get to him, but instead watched as he plummeted through the desert floor, disappearing into it.

Sheridan cried out. “Quicksand! Get him!”

Lun ran over to where Abel had fallen, looking down at the ground. He had expected that he would see the man struggling to climb out of a quicksand pit, or just a plain face planted in a ditch. However, what there was instead, was a deep, black pit in the ground. Sand poured from the sides down, making no noise to give an assumption to how deep it went. The sides of the pit were jagged pallid stone that was previously covered by the piles of sand. Pieces of the stone were broken away, revealing that it had been weakened by the immense weight of the sand. Abel seemingly just stepped on the right place at the right time, or the wrong place.

Jaqri shouted. “What happened?” He began to slowly stride over to them.

“He fell down into some sort of structure that was hidden beneath the sand.” Lun shouted. “Abel! Are you alive down there? Answer me!”