For them, there could be nothing better than what was right now. Together in the one place where Allia felt relaxed and open, with nothing but welcoming desert before them, and all the time in the world to spend with one another.
Allia set a murderous pace, but Tarrin felt she did so not to punish him, but to get her legs back. Two years of comparatively sedate inactivity had marked his sister, reduced some of her endurance, and he could tell that she meant to get it all back as quickly as possible. They moved across the windswept fields of stony rubble at a fair speed, up and down the rugged hills that surrounded the ancient Dwarven city. The heat of the day cooled into a somewhat pleasant afternoon, and as the sun crept closer and closer to the horizon, the winds began to pick up with greater and greater force. They blew in from behind them, rasing up a low cloud of sand and dust that dimmed the light of the sun and made the Skybands almost invisible.
They decided to camp for the night near a wide, broken rock spire, one that Tarrin remembered passing some months ago. He'd passed it in midmorning then, however. It was a quiet campsite, because Allia was a little tired from her running, and Sarraya was a little put out with him for brushing her off as he did. Tarrin didn't mind the silence, however, because it was a silence filled with the companionship of his sister, and that made him perfectly content. As they'd done the first time, Tarrin and Sarraya Conjured everything they would need for a campsite, including the food and water served at the fire, and the tents were left behind the next morning, still standing, waiting to be Conjured to the new campsite that night.
The pace the next day was just as hard as the first, as was the day after that. Those two days were nondescript, seeing no Selani and no major predators. They did pass a wild flock of sukk grazing in an isolated patch of tough desert scrub, which supplied them with a midmorning meal the first day, and they came across the stripped skeleton of a kusuk. Tarrin hadn't seen one of those on his first trip across the desert, but Allia had no trouble identifying the remains because of the large, heavy plates of what looked like bone that surrounded the skeleton. Kusuk meant "shielded," and the animal, a low, squat thing with short legs and overlapping ridges of heavy plating on its body, supposedly looked like a twelve-span high walking suit of living armor. Tarrin envisioned it as looking like a wide-headed armadillo. The thing had a huge bony club-like growth on the end of its tail, a very powerful and formidable weapon used to fight off predators like inu and kajat. Whatever had killed this one had had to literally tear off vast sections of bony plates to get to the flesh beneath.
The kusuk was strangely out of place. They were in a section of desert with very little vegetation. What was it doing way out here?
That would be a mystery forever unsolved, as they moved on, and the skeleton behind slowly faded from Tarrin's memory and care.
After stopping to rest in the midday heat, Tarrin took the opportunity to let Jenna know that he'd made it and was on his way. He did it through the Heart, going there and using her star to find his way back to her, then Whispering in her ear, so to speak, to deliver his message. It was a trick he'd learned from the expanded knowledge he'd gained from the Weave, one of the little things he'd forgotten to teach Jenna. The Goddess said to teach her spells, and that's what he did. But there were other aspects of Sorcery besides spellweaving, and he'd learned a few nifty tricks from the Weave when he'd been turned. He would have taught her if he'd had more time, but he'd been pretty pressed that day and night, between teaching Jenna and getting instruction from Triana. Tarrin Whispered in Jenna's ear that they were safely in the desert, Sapphire had already left, and they were basicly just taking things easy for now. He told her how safe he felt now that he was in the desert, and that he missed her. He asked her to let him know when Keritanima and the others got to Ungardt, and also to let him know after she went to go see Grandfather and ask him for his help.
He considered trying to Whisper to Keritanima, but he had the feeling that she was mad at him for not saying goodbye. If she wasn't, she would have projected out to see him by now-no, she couldn't do that. He forgot, she was on a ship, and as long as the ship was moving, she couldn't join with the Weave. So he took the time to find Keritanima and Whisper to her as well, repeating what he told Jenna, and also asking her to come see him as soon as they docked somewhere.
That done, he opened his eyes and reflected a little on what he'd said to them. He did feel safe here. In the desert, with the Selani and their fierce goddess protecting him, he truly felt safe. He knew that nobody would dare come in after him, if they even knew he was here at all. He hadn't realized before how calm that made him, how calm and relaxed and quite happy. It had been so long since he'd felt safe anywhere, so long since he'd truly let his guard down, but he could do it here. It a very liberating experience. He felt safe and secure, and he had good friends along in Sarraya and Allia, people to talk to, and people he would enjoy talking to. All in all, despite the pangs he felt at being separated from his children and Jesmind, not being there to take part in the progression of Kimmie's pregnancy, he was probably more happy at this time than he'd been in a very long time, even the time he spent in domestic bliss with Jesmind.
Strange. Since coming to the desert, thoughts of his mission had been very far away from him. It was almost like a vacation, him not having to worry about the Firestaff and who may try to take it from him every waking moment. He knew he was here on serious business, but it just didn't feel serious. It really did feel like a holiday, a vacation, an escape from the intensely nerve-wracking experience that was his daily life.
It wasn't freedom, but it was the closest thing he'd felt to freedom since the morning Dolanna and Faalken led him away from Aldreth, the day all this insanity began. And he wasn't about to squander the opportunity to enjoy his sense of freedom.
And so, when they got up to continue on, he started running with a renewed sense of peace with himself and with his situation. He was going to enjoy the two months in the desert, if only because for the first time in years, he truly felt like the crushing weight of the burden of his responsibility had been lifted from his shoulders.
When they made camp that night, Allia ghosted off and then returned moments later carrying an umuni by the neck. It was a big one, its tail dragging the ground, and to Tarrin's surprise, it was still alive. Allia hadn't killed it, she had caught it.
"How about this for dinner?" she asked him lightly, holding up the struggling lizard.
"Allia, are you crazy?" Sarraya challenged. "That thing's going to bite you the minute you let it go!"
"I'm immune to umuni venom," she told the Faerie calmly. That wasn't a big surprise. The years and years in the desert, surrounded by an absolute onslaught of venemous creatures, had bred a very strong resistance to poison into the Selani, and some were completely immune to some kinds of venom. Allia was one of them. "For that matter, I'm quite lucky. I seem to be immune to most venoms of the more common animals."
"What, did you go sticking your hands in burrows when you were a baby?" Sarraya teased.
"I was born with it," she shrugged. "Some Selani are blessed by the Holy Mother in that way. Others instill it into their children with time and careful work. Smart parents introduce the poison in very small amounts to their children when they're young, so they can build up a resistance to it. Well, deshida?"
"Let's see," Tarrin mused. "Eat a tough, tasteless lizard, or Conjure anything I want. Decisions, decisions."
Allia looked at him, then laughed heartily. "I get the message," she winked. "I'll go let this go."
"Just make sure it doesn't wander back this way!" Sarraya called. "That thing was looking at me like I was the next item on its menu!"
The next day they moved into flatter land, stopped a few hours to wait out a small, savage little squall of a sandstorm, and then moved on through grazing land of thick, tough desert scrub and the occasional needle-lined cactus. The thicker vegetation meant there were grazers wandering the plains, sukk and chisu, as wel
l as the insectoid draka. Tarrin saw his first live kusuk around midafternoon, a trio of them surrounding a youngling, and they also saw their first major predator. A young kajat had killed a chisu and was feeding on it, oblivious to the passing of the two figures and the tiny winged one that rode on the top of the taller one's head. Close to sunset, as Allia began to tire, they passed within a longspan of a small pack of inu. The sharp-eyed predators would usually have gave them a great deal of notice as they passed, the leader of the pack debating if expending the energy to try to run down a swift Selani was worth the effort, but they were already engaged in a hunt, stalking a small flock of sukk that had wandered away from the large numbers of them to the west.
As those days passed, Tarrin watched his sister. She grew more and more expressive, seemed happier and happier, even if she was so tired by the time that they set camp that she had trouble moving. She complained about that lightly when she got up the next morning, teasing him that it was his fault that she was so woefully out of shape. But Selani were amazingly resilient beings, and over those few days, Allia's endurance and stamina had grown by half, and every night when they stopped to camp, she was significantly less tired. The harshness of the desert environment had bred them to be able to build strength quickly. That was why their children could go from riding to running with the tribe and not falling behind in just a matter of weeks.
Sarraya noticed that on the fourth day, as Allia moved off to relieve herself. "Is it me, or is she almost doubling her endurance every day?"
"That's not unusual, Sarraya," Tarrin said absently as he swatted a large venemous wasp with his tail, which was trying to land on his shoulder. The stunned little insect buzzed off irregularly, staggering through the air as it tried to recover its senses after the strong tail smacked it halfway across the campsite. "Selani are very resilient."
"That's not natural."
"I think Fara'Nae tampers with them a little bit," Tarrin chuckled. "That, or five thousand years in the desert has bred some very handy abilities into them."
When they were camped or resting or waiting out the midday heat, they would talk. Allia would tell him stories of the desert and her tribe, what it was like being the daughter of a clan-chief, and she would often describe animals and plants to them. Allia was alot more experienced than Denai had been, and she knew things about the desert that Denai hadn't. It made hearing about animals they already knew just as interesting, because Allia could tell them much more about them. Sarraya also had a turn, but she concentrated on expanding the very hasty lessons that she and Triana had given him. Every day during the noon break and after they made camp, she and him would practice Druidic spells, or he would sit and listen to her as she explained things to him in greater detail. Sarraya was actually a pretty good teacher when it came to Druidic magic, at least if one overlooked her endless badgering and the childish delight she took in berating him when he made a mistake, and Tarrin learned a great deal from her.
Tarrin noticed that Allia seemed to be missing Allyn, but she also wouldn't let that show. He knew her well enough to know that it was bothering her, but he wouldn't say anything about it. She was very happy to be home, even if it wasn't with her intended, and he was going to let her enjoy that happiness rather than try to console her for the missing company of a loved one.
The fifth day on their journey to the Cloud Spire turned out to be quite a bit more exciting than the others. Not long after setting out that morning, they came over a blind ridge and stumbled directly into a rearing kajat. It was a huge one, nearly twenty five spans high, and with a massive, gaping mouth filled with browned and pitted teeth. The wily predator had carefully and wisely selected that spot, knowing that the ridge hid it from anything coming over, and the winds would keep its scent away from its prey until it was too late. Tarrin wasn't really that surprised, since he kept his eyes open and expected trouble at all times, so he reacted smoothly and calmly to its attack. It lunged at them, jaws snapping, and Selani and Were-cat split to either side of it, not even breaking stride as those jaws cracked shut in the air that separated them. The kajat seemed momentarily confused by this, unsure of which direction to turn, then decided on turning towards Tarrin. He picked up into a sprint and angled in along the side of its body; he'd had some experience at this, and he knew that kajats didn't turn very quickly. By staying close to it, he would stay out reach of its teeth and its tail, both formidable weapons.
But the creature roared in pain and turned in the other direction quickly. Tarrin saw Allia right beside its other leg, and she'd stuck it with her sword to get its attention. Then, to his surprise, she ran right under it and between those huge, pumping legs, legs that shook the ground when they set onto the sandy soil, darting aside quickly as one of those tree-trunk sized legs shifted towards her as the monstrous beast made its turn. She angled up and came right by him, motioning with her hand for him to follow, and he did so quickly. The turning animal's tail passed harmlessly over them, and it bellowed in frustration when it made its turn and saw its meal already running away. Tarrin felt the earth shake as the massive predator gave chase, actually catching up with them for a moment or two but it could not keep up with them. It trailed further and further behind, then finally gave up and slowed to a walk.
Allia was laughing in delight as they slowed to a walk, seeing the kajat well behind them and already turning to return to its ambush site. "That was exhilerating," she said in a bubbly manner, sheathing her shortsword after cleaning it.
"That was a pretty dangerous stunt, Allia," Sarraya accused.
"It's an old trick for getting away from them," she told the Faerie lightly. " Kajat are fast runners, but their size makes them ungainly when trying to maneuver. The closer you stay to its flanks, the safer you are. You get away from one by making it commit to turning in one direction, then running away in the other by going underneath it. By the time it turns around again and starts chasing you, you have enough of a lead to escape."
"I've used similar tactics on them, Sarraya," Tarrin reminded her. "Remember?"
"I remember," the Faerie laughed. "I'm sure the kajat does too."
"That one certainly picked a good spot," Tarrin said in appreciation. "I never smelled a whiff of it until it was trying to bite my head off."
"He is mature and wise, deshida. That's why he's so big. That one has alot of experience, so he knows where the best ambush sites lay." She looked around. "I'm a bit hungry. We should stop for a meal."
"There's a fairly big one back there a ways," Sarraya grinned, pointing back at the kajat.
"That would be wasteful," Allia said condescendingly. "Besides, we don't kill kajats. They prey on the inu, and that keeps their numbers in check. Inu are more dangerous to us than the kajats are."
"The inu are the second most dangerous thing out here," Tarrin agreed calmly.
"What's the most dangerous?" Sarraya asked.
"Them," Tarrin said, pointing at Allia.
Sarraya laughed, and Allia gave Tarrin a bright smile.
That turned out to be the only adventure that was in store for them that day. They camped before sunset and built a large fire, as they were moving into regions of the desert where Sandmen prowled, and Sarraya Conjured for them quite a feast. All four moons would rise early that night, and the White Moon and Red Moon both were all but full, which cast bright light down over the desert. The white and red light mingled with the sand and rock and scrub, casting strange shadows over the plain and giving the scrub an eerie blackish color.
"Strange night," Sarraya mused, looking out past the firelight. "Not often that Domammon and Vala are full and in the sky at the same time."
"Things are probably going to be a bit strange up there until Gods' Day," he told her, then explained what was going to happen.
"A conjunction, eh?" Sarraya said, looking up. "Now that you mention it, the moons have been tightening up in their tracks, and the Twin Moons have been hiding behind each other more than usual.
; "Well, there are the missing ones," Allia noted, pointing to the northeast, where the Twin Moons were just starting to rise. They were in their waning phase, and Duva was partially hidden behind Kava.
"Domammon and Vala are going to wane and wax one more time before the conjunction," Tarrin noted. "The Twin moons are going to wax, wane, then wax again."
They both nodded in agreement. They both were familiar with the lunar cycles. Domammon and Vala had lunar cycles that were fairly close to one another; Vala's lunar cycle renewed itself every twenty days, two days shorter than Domammon's twenty-two. They matched phases about every fifteen months, as their cycles converged to give them the exact same phase on that one night. The Twin Moons' lunar cycle was only fourteen days long, for not only were they always very close to one another, their phases were also always exactly the same. Right now they were about half full and in the waxing phase of their cycle. They would come full, go new, then come full again in about two months. And their full phase would correspond with the full phases of Domammon and Vala. That did happen about every two years, called the Lantern Night for the amount of light the four full moons and the Skybands cast onto the land, but only once in about every thousand did the four moons line up in a conjunction.
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