More than the stifling heat or the punishing wind, it was the silence of the desert that weighed on Dalthan the most. As a child of Wavecrest, he’d spent his entire life in a bustling metropolitan area that never truly slept. At all hours of the night, and especially during the day, the sounds of people living their lives had been an ever present companion for the [Rogue]. Even in the brief period that he’d been on his first quest, the forest he’d found himself in had been alive with the musical warble of songbirds and the steady buzz of irrepressible insects.

Here, it was starkly different. At first, the motley crew of evildoers had chatted amiably as they trudged through the sand. But with each dune they summited, the conversation had grown weak and weary until their time beneath the angry red sun suffocated the conversation before it could rise past their parched lips. In the vacuum left by the absence of voices, only the rustling of feet trudging through white sand and the occasional gust of wind fought against the oppressive silence that made the landscape feel like a sprawling tomb.

The muted environment wore on him, making him almost thankful when he heard Zaplixel’s high, nasally voice.

Almost thankful. He would still gut the prick the first chance he got.

“Are you sure your pet is leading us the right way?” The old wizard was struggling more than any of the rest of their party. He’d drawn his hood up to protect his bald head from the sun’s steady abuse, but he could do nothing to ease his passage through the sand. Over the past half hour, the [Swindler] had gone from struggling to keep up to forcing the group to slow down to accommodate him.

“Vex is not a pet,” Dalthan grumbled, his normally smooth voice transformed into a dry rasp by the heat. Unprompted, Sylvia offered a waterskin that she had filled with through some sort of druidic hocus pocus.

As Dal took a long drink, he found himself, for the first time, thankful for the magical bullshit that seemed to surround him these days.

“Vex,” the thief continued, “how close do you think we are to the people you smell?”

The massive murder frog had, by far, the easiest time of anyone in the party. Where the others had to trudge through the sand, the blue slaad could simply ride in Dalthan’s shadow. At first, the party had been amused by the sight of the abomination siding across the ground while it was waist-deep inside the pool of darkness beside the thief. As time passed, those amused looks had been replaced by a kind of frustrated envy from most and an outright scowl from Keysha.

“Close,” Vex croaked. The slaad’s nostrils flared as it took two deep breaths. “I smell humans, pack beasts, and…” The barrel-chested creature took another deep breath, seeming to dissect the air like a sommelier sampling a fine wine. “...insects.”

“Bugs?!” Zap threw his hands into the air and rounded on Dalthan. The myriad of jewelry the wizard wore flashed in the sunlight with each exaggerated wave of his arms. “I don’t need some extra-dimensional bloodhound to tell me that there are bugs everywhere!”

“I think we can agree on that, considering I’m staring at a cockroach right now.” Dalthan bit back, his emerald eyes flashing in agitation as he fingered the hilt of his dagger. “We’re staying the course. If you want to stay here, we’ll send someone back for you.”

The old wizard drew back, narrowing his pale blue eyes as if Dal had just offered to cut off his own arm. “I’m sure you all wouldn’t just abandon me out here,” Zaplixel said.

The [Rogue]’s smile was a predatory thing, filled with teeth and barely constrained malice. “Of course not, Zap. Why, I’d come back for you myself.”

Keysha scoffed, “Let’s just go. We’re wasting time.” The huntress then looked up at the sky, using her hand to shade her eyes from the red sun’s wrath. “I think. Has anyone noticed the sun moving?”

“It hasn’t,” Sylvia said as she took her waterskin back from the thief before he could accidentally pocket it. “We haven’t been here that long, but the sun is in the same place it was when we arrived. I don’t know if the days here are naturally long or if this is all some sort of magical effect, but I wouldn’t expect to see a sunset anytime soon.”

Keysha turned toward the two men. “There you have it,” the archer said. “Perky tits over there seems to think that we’re in for more of the same for the foreseeable future. Standing around arguing isn’t going to change anything.”

“Modest tits is right,” the nymph said demurely, drawing a choked laugh from the [Rogue]. “Not only do we need to get out of the elements, but I don’t think I need to remind you that the clock is ticking on this assignment. Any time we waste now could be time that we sorely need later.”

“Alright,” Dalthan said as he diplomatically ignored the venomous glare Keysha sent toward Sylvia and the nymph’s tooth-rottingly sweet smile in reply. “Let’s get moving.”

The crew resumed their trek across the sands, following in the wake of the [Stone Golem] that was plowing through the sea of white sand like a galley carving through a placid ocean. Dal couldn’t help but marvel at the golem’s dogged determination. Where the rest of the party was clearly flagging, Shale continued to march up the endless dunes at the same pace he’d cleared the first one.

So, when the golem came to an abrupt stop twenty minutes later at the crest of a dune, Dalthan immediately waved for his companions to do the same.

“Let me go up there and see what’s on the other side,” the [Rogue] said, his emerald eyes flickering from his party members to where Shale stood like a gray boulder atop the white sand.

The other three evildoers exchanged looks. Keysha was the first to speak, rolling her eyes as she turned toward Shale. “I’m not depending on your eyes for shit, city boy. If I’m ever on the lookout for a fucking whore house or a drunk noble to steal from, I’ll check with you. Till then, I’m doing my own reconnaissance.”

The [Sharpshooter] turned and marched purposefully up the dune with a smirking Zaplixel in tow. Dalthan shot Sylvia a look, silently asking for support. The nymph simply shrugged her slender shoulders and turned to follow the other two.

Lips pressed into a thin line of disapproval; Dal was left with no choice except to fall in line.

“You should assert more dominance,” Vex gurgled from his perch in the thief’s shadow. “If the stringy looking female won’t recognize your power, then she is simply food.”

Dalthan shook his head, trying not to be distracted by the way Syliva’s hips swayed despite the segmented armor she wore. “No one is eating anyone, Vex.” Dal tore his eyes away from the nymph to hold the slaad’s gaze. “Not yet.”

Stolen novel; please report.

Further discussion about the potential meal plan would have to wait since he soon found himself huddled together with the rest of his team. With a mixture of relief and trepidation, the group stood in silence while they surveyed the land ahead.

From atop the last dune, the party could see the way the sand reluctantly gave way to a plain of cracked earth. At this distance, Dal couldn’t tell if the ground was hardened dirt or weathered stone, but it was a welcome reprise from the sand they’d been struggling their way through up till now. The flat land was riddled with cracks and chasms, some looked tiny and inconsequential while others looked wide enough to swallow their entire group.

The thief doubted they would need to contend with the natural pitfalls for he could see what could only be a road less than half a mile from where they stood. Paved with some sort of blue stone, the path wove its way around some of the larger chasms as it cut an azure path across the barren landscape.

In the distance, at the end of the path, Dalthan could see what he could only assume was a town. At this range, the thief could make out very little of the settlement aside from the unnatural shapes that must be man-made buildings. Mixed in among the boxy shapes were more rounded structures that reminded the thief of a beehive he’d once seen strolling through Wavecrest’s Arboretum.

“Is that our Fortress of Scorched Stone?” Dalthan asked no one in particular while he continued to scan the wasteland for signs of life.

“It doesn’t look like any fortress that I’ve ever seen. I don’t see any walls or guard towers.” Keysha was nibbling on her lip, gray eyes focused on the horizon. “I’m not sure we can get there unless we follow the road. Some of those chasms look big from here, which means they’re even bigger up close.”

“Even if we could work our way around the fissures, I don’t think we’d want to.” Sylvia shook her head, as she waved toward the flat land that stretched out before them. “There’s no cover to speak of between here and that town. We’d stand out like a tulip in a rose garden. I think our best bet is to take the road and act like we belong.”

Dalthan gleefully rubbed his palms together. “I think we can manage that. Just let me do the talking.”

Zaplixel groaned as he pressed his face into his hands. “By Ancev’s polished skull,” the [Swindler]’s curse was muffled by the press of his palms against his mouth. “Are we really depending on the fucking [Rogue] to handle anything that comes up?”

The rogue in question rounded on the wizard, his green eyes flashing with righteous wrath. “I handled everything fine last time. If you two hadn’t decided to try to murder the fucking marks, we could have left that forest hours before we did.”

“And,” Dalthan paused, deliberately waiting for Zaplixel to look him in the eye before he continued, “some of us would still have all our fingers.”

Before the wizard could reply, Shale brushed past the group and began to wade through the sand on the other side of the dune. The golem, it seemed, had heard enough discussion. The entire crew watched the living boulder blaze a trail through the sand toward the road in the distance.

The gathering of evil doers watched in silence for several heartbeats before Keysha and Zaplixel struck off after their team member.

Dalthan lingered around a moment longer, taking one last scan of their surroundings. He almost missed the way Sylvia drifted casually to his side.

“How did you all end up with a [Stone Golem] as the leader of your party?” The nymph’s voice was tinged with amusement.

Dalthan blinked and turned toward her. “What do you mean? I’m obviously the leader of this crew.” The thief sounded scandalized as if she’d accused him of donating to charity or paying taxes.

The beautiful nymph gave the thief a flat look and then pointedly moved her gaze to where the other two were already following along in Shale’s wake. “Uh-huh. Looks like we’re all following someone but that someone is not you.”

A tinkle of laughter sang through the desert as the [Druid] struck off toward the road.

“Are you not the leader, Human Dalthan?” Vex’s voice drew his attention. When he looked back at the slaad, he didn’t much care for the assessing gaze in its solid black eyes. It was as if his demotion in Vex’s eyes had suddenly put him on the menu along with Keysha and Zaplixel.

“Of course, I’m the leader,” Dalthan tried not to be unnerved by the sight of Vex licking its lips as he laughed off the accusation. “If I weren’t, would you be living in my shadow?”

The look of confusion that crossed Vex’s amphibian features was a perfect cue for Dalthan to hastily make his way down the side of the dune to join the rest of his party.

As it turned out, Dalthan got the chance to prove his position at the apex of his party sooner than he’d bargained for. Long before they reached the road, the crew could see a long caravan of wagons trundling down the path toward the distant town. The group huddled together for another quick strategy meeting, but their time was cut short when a detachment from the convoy veered off the road and turned toward them. As they quickly grew closer, Dalthan could tell that there were four figures, all of them riding on the backs of some strange cross between a lizard and a bird. The mounts stood barely taller than a person and seemed to use a long, thick tail to balance their aggressive posture as they rushed across the flat, rocky terrain. Brightly colored feathers fanned out from their short, stubby arms, reminding Dal bizarrely of a very festive chicken.

But these creatures were no chickens. They were fast. Incredibly nimble and strong enough to carry armed riders.

Dalthan urged Vex to disappear into his shadow and only come out in the case of a dire threat. The rest of his team arranged themselves in preparation for a skirmish. Shale and Keysha stood to either side of him with Sylvia and Zaplixel taking a defensive position several paces behind the fighters.

Dal hoped that it wouldn’t come to a battle. Who knew how many more riders were part of the caravan in the distance? But, as the last quest had taught him, things didn’t always go the way he hoped they would. It was better to be prepared for violence than be caught by it unaware.

Maybe this time Zap wouldn’t toss a fireball in his direction.

As the riders began to slow as they grew near, they proved to be as unusual as their mounts. A human, his skin a deep, sun bronze color, rode at the head of the formation. He wore a loose garment that was woven of some thin material that fluttered in the wind. Dal could see no signs of armor, but the man held a short spear in one hand, hinting that he was prepared for battle.

The three figures that rode with him were far more intriguing. The three of them looked like identical insects that had somehow grown to be man-sized. Covered in black chitin like an oversized ant, the three alien creatures had four arms and two legs. Their large, compound eyes stared impassively at the crew, a display made more menacing for the set of jagged mandibles that all three possessed. Dal saw no sign of weaponry, but he wasn’t sure that the three armored creatures needed any besides their natural gifts.

“Greetings,” the human said as he reigned in the strange lizard he rode on. The lizard, Dalthan noted with mild horror, had a maw full of curved teeth and a set of dangerous-looking claws at the end of its stubby arms. “What brings you to the outskirts of Sweet Water?”

Dal offered the man a smile that would have put a suspicious paladin at ease. “I’m glad to finally see the town! My colleague back there,” the [Rogue] waved idly toward Zaplixel, “claimed to know a shortcut. Unfortunately, all he managed to do is get us lost!”

The man guffawed in good-natured mirth. “Lucky you aren’t just another set of bleached bones lost in the Searing Sands.”

“Lucky,” Dalthan agreed with a chuckle of his own. “We’re planning to stop in Sweet Water before we continue our journey to the Quartz Valley.” Dal had no idea where the Quartz Valley was, but he figured that if you were passing through this gods-forsaken desert, you’d have to pass through the distant town to get anywhere else.

The man nodded and leaned over his lizard’s neck. “I see. I’m Kleko and one of the leaders of that caravan. We’ll spend two days resupplying in Sweet Water before we venture into the Quartz Valley as well.”

“Is that so?” Dalthan lifted a hand to his chin, thoughtfully considering Kleko’s words before he asked.

“Would your caravan be interested in hiring any more guards?”