But don’t worry though! There shall be more chapters, and more little snippets of dictionnary and rumours and all that. All in good time. I can thell you this much: The next chapter will be about Trishia, and in this chapter she’ll get closer to the edge of the desert, but something will be keeping her from getting all the way… Exciting? I think so! I just need to muster up the energy to squeeze the words out and it’ll all be there.

Thanks for being patient! <3

He gave the mirror a thorough inspection, but found nothing out of the ordinary. It was as solid as ever and the only thing he could see that wasn’t normally there was his own tired face. He checked behind it just to make sure there wasn’t a hidden door there, but there wasn’t. He hadn’t expected there to be one either, but he wanted to be on the safe side. He traced the frame and poked and prodded the glass to the point where he was afraid he might break it, but there really wasn’t anything strange about the mirror. Whatever illusion or magic had enabled the intruder, Uriel, to come through it wasn’t there anymore. The name echoed slightly familiar in his mind, but he couldn’t place it. He was sure he’d heard it before, but then again, he used to be sure of a lot of things.

Without thinking, he made his way to the liquor cabinet, mysteries were best accompanied by a drink after all, only to find it was empty. He blinked. Still empty. He slammed it shut with a bang and went to the kitchen. There was plenty of food in there, but nothing to drink apart from a bottle of milk and some fruit juice. The most potent liquid he could find was a small glass bottle of vinegar, but he wasn’t that desperate. And it was several days until his weekly delivery of supplies arrived from the local village. He sighed and cursed as he stomped up the stairs like an angry teenager to find something decent to wear. He was leaving the house for the first time in weeks and he was at least going to try not to look like a drifter. Even though the little village a few miles down the road was very modest and nobody there had ever really cared about his fame, and maybe just therefore, he didn’t want them thinking him a complete wreck, even though he was just that by most people’s standards. So when he went there he made sure he looked presentable, taking care not to offend anyone.

His first stop was the little shop in the middle of town. He left it carrying a brown bag containing two bottles of whiskey and some apples. He didn’t really want the apples, but he’d added them anyway, feeling that they made the whiskey more acceptable, even though he knew fine well that they just made it look even worse. The little man in the shop had praised both the drink and the fruit though, proudly announcing they were both made from local produce, and that the apples did in fact come straight from his own back yard. Markus had smiled and nodded his way through the conversation and promised to try the apples as soon as he got home.

Except he wasn’t going home just yet. It was a hot, clear day and he longed for a cold drink. And where better to get one, served straight from the tap, than in the local bar. Like everything else in the village it was small and neat and there were a few rooms to rent on the first floor, mostly used by people passing through on their way to somewhere else. Markus had stayed for a few nights in one of those rooms a few years ago, before he’d made all the arrangements to move into his own house to the north of the village, and the matron still seemed to think of him as the boy he’d been back then. Because even though he’d accomplished a lot for his age by anyone’s standards, he’d still been a boy. Whenever he came there for a drink or a meal she doted on him like he was her own grandson, filling his plate to the brim and once or twice making sure he slept in a bed when he’d gotten himself too drunk to make his way home. Today however, she was nowhere to be seen. And when Markus came to think about it, neither was he lanky husband who usually operated the bar. Instead a young girl of maybe 16 was occupying the space behind the bar. The height and robustness of the structure made her look tiny. Apart from her, the only other staff he could see was a waiter that he only remembered seeing before in the evenings when the place was busier.

He went straight to the back of the room and sat down at a small table, placing the bag from the shop between his feet as he did so. The only other people in the place had already been served, so the waiter came to take his order as soon as he’d made himself comfortable.

“What will it be today, sir?” the waiter asked while producing a little notebook and a pen from his back pocket.

“Just a cold drink please, a beer.”

“And would you like anything to eat, sir?” Markus’ stomach rumbled and the waiter must have heard this. “We just got a delivery of sand ray this morning. A rare delicacy, and our chef cooks it so well. Perhaps you would like to try it?” He smiled. Markus wished his stomach would be quiet, but then again, he was hungry.

“Ok, fine. An ale and the sand ray please.” The waiter nodded, noted down the order on his little, yellowed notepad and turned around to leave. Marcus called after him:

“Can I have the drink right away please.” The waiter gestured at the girl behind the bar and she started filling a glass that she then brought over to Markus. She looked young and innocent to Markus even though she couldn’t have been more than seven or eight years younger than himself. Her eyes were blue and not tainted by the bitterness he’d become so familliar with in his own green ones. They were like deep pools of sky and he wished he could go back to a time when he’d seen only innocence looking back at him through the mirror. He must have stared at her, probably for too long, because she gave him a frightened look and hurried away as soon as she’d served him his drink. It was nice and cold and just the right shade of gold. It felt like liquid crystal running down his throat compared to what his hangover combined with the heat had tasted like earlier. He sighed loudly and wiped his mouth with the sleeve of his shirt.

Someone walked in the door. It was a young man, about the same age as the girl behind the bar, and judging by the shining smile on her face when she spotted him, she had been waiting for his arrival. Markus watched as they approached each other with hurried joy and met in an embrace that only really suited teenagers in love. Had he been like that once, he wondered and felt a pang in his chest as memories he’d avoided for years began to surface. He had been like that once and he detested it. He detested the fact that it could never be again, and he whimpered in his sleep when he dreamed about those moments long lost, and he regretted the fact that he hadn’t cherished them enough then to make them last forever. It all came back. Because the young man with his cape and gun and sword was so much like he himself had once been and the young girl was so much like someone he’d once known, waiting just as patiently for her hero to come back as these painful memories had been waiting to overcome him once again, just as patiently as Sarah had been waiting for him that time… He downed the rest of the beer in one go, hoping the cold liquid would cleanse him, release him from the pain. However, it was not enough. The whiskey bottles standing between his feet were so very tempting, but he would get thrown out if he opened them here. And he was too hungry to leave before eating that sand ray he’d been promised. It crossed his mind how strange it was that a small, remote tavern such as this one had gotten hold of sand ray at a price they could afford, and it also crossed his mind that they may be trying to trick him, thinking that a drunkard such as him wouldn’t know the difference anyway. And he didn’t know if he would. He’d only tasted the rare meat on a few occasions and that was quite some time ago now.

The young couple were still exchanging affectionate words, hugs and kisses when someone called from the kitchen that the sand ray was ready. Reluctantly the girl let go of the boy and went to get the plate. Markus caught his gaze They were just as innocent as the girl’s albeit a little less shy. He as well looked away from Markus’ stare, pretending to notice something interesting on the bar disk. Markus was quite sure there was nothing there. The sadness overcame him again. That boy was so much like he had been, young and full of adventure. It had only been a coincidence, Markus was sure of this, that he’d been lead down the path he’d wandered when he was the same age and what was to say this boy wouldn’t end up in a similar mess. He looked the same and from all Markus could tell, he was the same. He was him, then. A wave of endless frustration engulfed him because he knew better than anyone that the boy would call him a fool for begging him to settle down and marry the girl as soon as he could – he would have. He probably would have taken his sword to anyone to prove he could… could what? To prove that he was just as foolhardy as he now knew he’d been? He wondered what his life would have looked like if he’d just settled down in Hethan and stayed with Sarah. Would he have been happy then? Or at least happier than he was now. But he remembered feeling so restless then, like he had to move, find something, do something, stay awake. He felt it still sometimes, at times when he wasn’t drunk or sick, he felt it in his sleep, he felt it in the voice that spoke to him at night. The voice he was quite sure he’d met the day before.

The barmaid came back into the room carrying a large plate of food towards his table. It smelled wonderful and when it was put down in front of him he found it looked wonderful as well.

“Thank you,” he said. The girl smiled and started to walk away. “Excuse me miss,” Marcus called after her. She stopped and came back.

“Yes?” She looked entirely unimpressed. Her boy was aiting impatiently by the bar.

“Do you by any chance know how all this sand ray-meat ended up here in the Marigold?” He cocked his head in the direction of his plate. “It’s quite unusual to see this far north, and certainly in a small place like this.” He tried not to sound to suspicious even though he feared he’d already failed miserably to make any sort of positive impression on the girl.

“It came with the merchant that usually brings our meats and some of the vegetables and spices we can’t get from around here. He comes about once a month, I think.” She fidgeted with her apron. “I only ever work here on weekends or when my auntie and uncle are away, so I’m not too sure. You’d be better off asking Ivan, he handles everything like that when they’re away.” Markus told her that he would and thanked her for her help. She hurried off and he cut a slice of the lean, grilled meat on his plate. As far as he could tell it wasn’t seasoned at all, but it didn’t need it. It was perfect and it was just like he remembered it – juicy and full and incredibly tasty. Before long his plate was empty and he was just about to ask the girl for another drink when the man called Ivan appeared, seemingly out of nowhere, beside his table.

“Everything to your satisfaction, sir?” Markus looked down at his clean plate and then at his empty glass and decided that everything was indeed very satisfactory. Although it was still very warm, so another beer couldn’t hurt. He asked from one and received shortly thereafter. When Ivan came back with the glass once again full, he invited him to sit down and proceeded to ask about the sand ray meat. Ivan seemed to be almost as curious as Markus was, eagerly telling him about how the merchant had arrived with almost a whole cartload of sand ray meat only a couple of days ago. He had been very secretive about where he’d gotten it and he had been quick to leave as soon as he’d done the business he’d came to do in the little town. It was almost as if he was scared. Ivan had watched him leave and could swear it looked like he was running from something. He claimed the merchant had been working his horses far too hard, not caring if a few pieces of fruit fell off the cart in the process. Markus asked if he had any idea where the merchant would be heading next.

“As far as I know he travels south to north and then back again along the eastern edge of the desert, although I believe he goes to Central City every so often to pick up fabrics and spices from far away places.” Central City was the largest city on the continent, and certainly the oldest. “It’s nothing we can afford here, so I don’t know too much about it. Which is why I was surprised when he offered me sand ray. He usually knows better than to offer us things he knows are too expensive for us. I could hardly believe him when he told me the price he was selling it for. If you ask me, there’s something not quite right about how he got his hands on it, or he wouldn’t be so eager to be rid of it. There’s certainly nothing wrong with it!” Markus nodded. There certainly wasn’t. So what was going on? He didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he found it difficult to resist a good mystery even now. After all these years of trying to forget he felt himself wanting to get involved again, start digging, find out what was going on.

However, after three more beers and quite a lengthy conversation about the general ongoings in the little village with Ivan he knew far more about his neighbours than he ever wanted to know and he felt it was time to go home and investigate the contents of the two bottles standing in the bag between his feet. He had to find out if they indeed were as good as the little man in the little shop had claimed them to be.

Leopold was once a cartographer and in his youth he travelled far and wide, updating maps and writing travel guides which he sold as he went. He never made much money from these, but they are what brought him to Verna where he met Valenja.

She, Valenja, is a very robust, but kind hearted woman with both feet on the ground. She inherited the Marigold Inn from her mother, as she did from hers, and it is with pride, care and quite remarkable success she runs the small establishment. Before she met Leopold she’d never been further away from Verna than a small round woman would get on foot.

I can’t say i’m not nervous about this. I rarely show the things I write to people, and I certainly dont go around showing them to strangers, but here I am, putting it all out there, so be nice!

I started this thing way back in 2004, I was only 19 back then, so I was somewhat suprised when I re-read the stories that started all this and found I still liked them. In fact, I liked them so much I decided to make an attempt at finishing what I had started with them, which is what you see here on this site.

Please feel free to have a look around and don’t be afraid to comment or send me an email if you have any feedback or questions.

Enjoy!

He drew in a deep breath and didn’t mind all the dust that followed the air into his lungs. At least it didn’t reek of sulphur and smoke. He listened to the birds and watched the dawn as it turned into what almost could be called day, but as the sun began to set again only a few hours later he started walking towards the north. There the sun never set; there they would have the most trouble catching him. He is a devil on the run and one day he will make it back to heaven. His name is Lucifel and once upon a time he ruled in hell.

The clean air was dizzying, it was something he hadn’t experienced in thousands of years. It was almost intoxicatingly fresh, or maybe that was a result of the unnecessarily deep breaths he took. It was hard  to be moderate with something he’d be depraved of so long. He’d forgotten what it felt like and now that he was reminded, the sweetness of unpolluted air seemed like ambrosia to his weary lungs. Eventually the desert dust made him cough and he was forced to slow down, stop and then start over again with calm collected breaths. The cool, dry air made his skin prickle and even though he wasn’t really affected by the cold, he was aware of its biting edges every time the unpredictable gusts of wind were thrown against him. It was very different to the place he’d come from, and yet it wasn’t. The landscape was much the same; barren and rocky, depraved of life. But even so, this was a different world, he could leave this place, should he choose to, and go to another that was brimming with life and movement. It had taken him a million years to escape the prison from which he came. A million years of agonisingly slow and almost unnoticeable progress. He’d been the master of his dungeon, and yet he’d been the only real prisoner there.

Lucifel contemplated sitting down, staying where he was for a while, but decided against it. He wanted to rest in a bed, or at least some place soft. So he started walking. He only had a vague idea of where on the desert continent he was, but he knew that the gate was somewhere close. It seemed logical to go there, it was probably the last place they would look and he knew Uriel would not betray his whereabouts. He would also be able to find  shelter in the temple, and maybe even some food left there by worshippers, even though he didn’t need to eat to survive. He still enjoyed it though. He pulled his torn cloak tighter around his body and wished he’d thought to find a pair of boots before he left. But there hadn’t been time.

The sun was setting much faster now compared to the last time he’d seen it and he wasn’t quite sure in which direction he was walking. Soon it was dark and stars were appearing rapidly, one after another, making navigation somewhat easier. The constellations looked much the same as he remembered and by studying the sky he could deduct that he was indeed walking north, towards the coast. Had he gone past the temple without noticing it?It was possible, although he didn’t think he had. He decided he needed to find a place where he would get a better view of the landscape, just a little hill would do seeing as the landscape was very flat. Maybe even a tree would suffice, He didn’t think he was far from the gate.

Looking around, he realised that finding anything but rocks and shrubs in the dull landscape would prove more difficult in the dark of night than he could be bothered with, so with a little pile of dirt as a pillow, and his cloak for shelter he lay down and fell asleep almost instantly. It was a deep and peaceful sleep, maybe the first one he’d had in  a thousand years.

He woke up to the sound of voices, hushed careful voices, a man’s and a woman’s.

“Do you think he’s dead?” said the woman.

“He’s not moving, but I don’t know, he looks like he’s sleeping.. maybe.” The man sounded worried.

“Well, go look! If he’s alive we have to help him!” She sounded like a woman that didn’t take no for an answer.

“Are you mad?! He could be a criminal for all you know! We’re not in Verna anymore! ” And he sounded like a man who was used to giving in, like he knew he’d eventually go check whether the man lying on the ground, seemingly not living, was indeed dead.

“Don’t be silly, dear. He’s probably just a pilgrim like us, maybe he’s lost. Now go look!” It wasn’t difficult to imagine her leaning slightly forward as she said that, hands resting on hips.

Lucifel decided he’d heard enough to know these people weren’t of the bad kind, the kind he knew would eventually come after him. He opened his eyes, slowly to get used to the light, and sat up. The couple was too busy arguing over his potentially dead body to notice it had now started moving, so he cleared his throat and hoped he wouldn’t startle them too much. This, of course, didn’t work. The woman, who was small and very round, maybe in her fifties, jumped several feet in the air and hid behind her male companion. He was older than her, but much thinner and almost a head and a half taller. On his upper lip rested a most impressive moustache and in his hand he held a walking stick that he had now raised like a sword in front of him. His hand was trembling slightly and he looked like he was about to loose his balance. Most likely since the little woman was clutching the fabric of his coat so hard her chubby knuckles turned white. They were an odd couple, but somehow they seemed to suit each other very well.

“Sorry, I really didn’t mean to startle you.” Lucifel said and ran a hand through his dusty hair, smiling a little. “I was only sleeping, but I must confess that I am a bit lost. I’m on my way to the temple of Uriel.” The man and woman continued staring at him, not saying anything. Lucifel’s smile widened. “Maybe you could give me some directions?”

The look on the woman’s face went from terrified to curious. She didn’t leave her spot behind the man, but she loosened her grip on his coat and peeked out from behind him with a little more determination in her eyes. The man relaxed slightly and lowered the cane to the ground. Lucifel continued smiling and crossed his legs in front of himself and laid the tattered cloak over his shoulders.

“I managed to get lost last night and decided to make camp here for the night rather than getting even more lost in the dark. I was going to find a hill or a tree today so I could get a better view and maybe figure out where the temple is.” The man shook his head and sighed.

“You would have had no luck with that, lad. This forsaken place is as flat as it can be. The only way to navigate is by landmarks and compass, and even then you can’t be sure you’re on the right course. Do you have a compass? Every traveller should have a compass.” Lucifel confirmed that he didn’t and the man looked worried. “I’m surprised you even got this far.” The woman nodded knowingly when he said this.

“These are treacherous lands,” she said. “If you don’t know what you’re looking for you could end up walking in circles for days and days. Starve to death.” She gave Lucifel a worried look, as if she’d just noticed he didn’t have any supplies with him. He’d have to make up a story about why that was. It wouldn’t really do to tell them that he’d only just arrived on Earth, that he’d spent the last month in a tunnel originating in hell. Even though it wasn’t as simple as that, it was essentially what he’d done.

“Don’t you have any luggage, boy? How were you planning on surviving? No compass and no supplies,  that’s just foolish if you ask me!” He hadn’t asked, but she shook her head and tutted as if she was reprimanding a naughty child. “But where are my manners? Let me introduce myself. I am Valenja, and this is my husband, Leopold. We’ve travelled here from Verna, to the north west.” Who she was now standing in front of.

“I’m no better,” Lucifel said. “My name is Lu..” He realised that they would most likely recognise his real name. “Lucas. Pleased to meet you.” They both greeted him and then proceeded to ask if he was hungry. He said he was not as he had eaten just before he went to sleep, the last of his supplies. Valenja gave him a worried look and asked him how he planned to survive the journey back, he would need food and water for that. Leopold then proceeded to tell him how long the journey was, that there was indeed no sources of water and hardly anything but bugs to eat on the way to the coast and that surely, he must have thought of that. Once they were finished, which took a fair bit of time, he told them not to worry.

“I’m meeting someone at the temple that will provide me with food and water for the journey back.” He looked down at his feet. “And perhaps a new pair of boots,” he said and wiggled his toes. This was not entirely untrue. He was hoping to meet with Uriel at the temple even though it would be an unannounced meeting. He didn’t even know if the angel would be there, but the gate was probably the most likely location. He needed to speak to someone that knew more about what was going on in the human realm. He needed to know where to start.

The three of them started walking. Leopold was leading the way with long strides, Valenja was following closely after, her short legs moving at a speed that looked almost comical. Lucifel came last, deep in thought. His mind had been so utterly focused on escaping for so long that he’d not given much thought to what he would do once he succeeded. For a long time the prospect of success had seemed so unlikely that he almost abandoned the whole idea altogether. But it had always returned to him and now… Now he was free! He took a deep breath and relished his freedom, but once again the dry dust in the air made him cough. Valenja turned around and asked if he was alright. Consumed by a fit of coughs he could only nod to reassure her, but it seemed enough. Coming from ahead, he heard Leopold recite one or another piece of information about why the type of dust found in this particular desert was more prone  to make you cough. Lucifel didn’t listen. He’d stopped coughing and was now able to walk upright and on the horizon he saw a building and a garden surrounded by trees and bushes and there were birds circling above in the sky. It was the temple. It seemed radiant, or at least brighter than everything else, like she sun shone down on it with more energy than anywhere else.

Many many thousand years in the past, when the order of things had been different, he’d come through the gate quite frequently to talk to Uriel. They would stroll through the gardens, or sit down in the hidden chambers that were Uriel’s private quarters. Back in those days the traffic through the gate had been more frequent and such passages often needed to be discussed. But that had all ceased now. Lucifel sighed.

“We’re nearly there now,” Leopold said with apparent cheer in his voice. And sure enough, within an hour they were so close they could hear the birds singing and smell the flowers in the garden. It was a sweet and almost intoxicating smell and Lucifel had to remind himself several times not to send himself into another fit of choughs. Strangely though, when they entered the garden, the air seemed to become less dusty, everything seemed more colourful and vibrant and it was simply wonderful to lay eyes on something beautiful again.

They seemed to be the only ones visiting the temple at the time. Apart from the twitter of birds and the hum of insects, it was completely silent. The sun was indeed stronger here, Lucifel could feel it warming his back. they walked on till they reached the temple gates where Valenja and Leopold announced that they were going to go pray at the altar inside. Lucius told them he would join them later. He sat down on the white marble steps and felt a great tiredness overcome him. He yawned and leaned against a pillar and it was not long before he was asleep.  It was good to be back.

Thanks!

And that’s exactly what she did one evening. She packed everything she needed, dressed in warm animal skins to protect herself from the cold night air and began walking towards the western edge of the desert. For years she had wanted to see it again. She had seen it once when she was little and she’d never forgotten the green of the trees or the sound of birds. It was a long way to go and she knew it was dangerous to travel alone; a sandworm or sandray could easily kill her. But she was a fast runner and pretty good with the spear. She could take care of herself. And maybe, once she got to the edge, she would find someplace to belong.

She hadn’t brought a tent when she left the camp site early one morning about three nights ago. It would have been too heavy to carry and she didn’t think she’d miss having one much. She liked sleeping under the stars, even though it sometimes got a bit cold at night. She had actually been very sparse when she packed; she hadn’t wanted anyone to notice that she was about to leave, although she doubted they had noticed she was gone yet. Her being an orphan pretty much her whole life she had been forced to take care of herself most of the time and that had resulted in the fact that the tribe didn’t take much notice of her except for when they needed her to do something.

As she lay under the stars on the still warm sand, thinking about what she’d left behind her decision seemed more right than it ever had. If she’d had parents, she thought, she would have missed them, but since she didn’t the only thing she longed for that she probably wouldn’t be able to get anywhere except with the tribe was some really juicy meat. She had neither the skills or the opportunity to catch anything much larger than a rabbit to eat, and such animals were few and far in between. They were usually eaten by sand worms long before she could get to them. She had caught one on her first day away and it had felt like a great triumph; like a confirmation of the fact that she was able to face the world alone. Now she regretted that she hadn’t saved some of it for later; now that her main source of food was roots and bugs, both of which were quite unsavoury.

Her mouth started to water as she thought up one course after another, each one more delicious than the one before. At several occasions she even thought she could hear rabbits dashing past just out of reach. For a second or two she was so sure they were close enough to catch that she reached for her spear and got up, but it was too dark even in the light of her fire and the almost full moon to see anything but vague shapes and forms. She lay down again and tried to sleep instead of thinking of food. It would serve her no purpose to dwell on things she knew she wouldn’t be able to get for a long time yet, except for getting her hungry that is, and she didn’t want that.

Eventually her eyelids grew heavy, her body relaxed and she felt sleep coming over her like a thick blanket, slowly but effectively blocking out all the impressions from the surrounding landscape. It was a dreamless sleep that engulfed her and she didn’t know for how long she had slept when she woke with a start. It was still dark, but she was wide awake and in less than five seconds she had grabbed her spear and was on her feet. She was sure some creature had been nearby; it was like the air still moved a bit where it had been. She sniffed and searched for footprints, but she didn’t see or smell anything that she could identify as unusual. She thought the whole event strange and a bit confusing, almost eerie.

She could have sworn something had been less than a meter from her face just before she woke up, but now there was no trace of it. Her logic told her to dismiss the incident and move on, but she couldn’t shake the feeling that whatever it was that had been there was still around. She had a feeling that if she just looked hard and long enough into the night she would catch a glimpse of it.

She thought about going back to sleep again, but she found when she sat down on her improvised bed that she had become restless and weary from her sudden awakening. So she packed her things, threw the bag over her left shoulder and started walking towards the north east. She used the stars to navigate at first and when dawn came she used the sun to aid her in finding the right direction. She had learned both methods of navigation early in her life, as all tribe members have to do in case they get lost and need  to find their way back to the group.

All the while she couldn’t get rid of the feeling that something was following her. At first she suspected it to be of human nature, but when a couple of hours had gone by she ruled that out. If it was of human size she would have discovered it by now. She was certain that nothing that big could hide in the flat desert landscape for so long, no matter how good a tracker they were. No, it felt like her follower was much too close for that. Whatever it was, it had to be smaller than a man.

It was nearing midday and Trishia was getting hungrier by the minute. He stomach rumbled almost constantly and she noticed that it was getting harder and harder to think clearly. He water bottle, which she had filled in an almost dried up waterhole earlier in the morning, was almost empty. She had been looking for signs of something edible for about an hour now, but so far she had detected none. It was dangerous to travel in the desert and she knew that if she didn’t find something to eat or at least drink soon, she would probably die of dehydration before long.

These were things that she hadn’t had to worry about when she was travelling with the tribe. They were always able to carry large quantities of food and water with them. They had a great advantage in the camels that they kept since the animals were perfectly adapted to the desert and could carry quite a heavy load without getting tired too fast. She regretted not stealing a camel of her own when she left, but that would have put her in a situation where the tribe would definitely notice she was gone. They would probably have missed the camel more than her and they would probably be more than willing to hunt her down to get it back. So she had decided against taking one with her; a smart choice at the time, but a poor one in a long term perspective.

When she finally saw some signs of growth in the dried up landscape she almost thought it was an illusion, but as she got closer she became quite sure that it was real. About a hundred meters ahead of her grew several tall, cactus-like plants and she could see a few birds circling in the air above them. Now, birds was a rare occurrence in this part of the desert, so she was quite surprised to see them there. They usually only appeared where some creature, not too small, had been killed and for all Trishia knew, this part of the desert didn’t house any predators large enough to kill anything that would be of interest to the vultures. It could be the doing of humans, but she highly doubted it.

As she got closer she could identify the huge cadaver of a sand ray lying not even fifty meters in front of her. At first she didn’t believe her eyes, but she was now certain that it couldn’t be anything else. But what could have killed something so large and dangerous as a sand ray? And more importantly; was it still around and should she be afraid of it? Apart for the birds in the sky, there were several more of them sitting on the dead animal, eating and occasionally screeching and clawing at each other. The vultures usually didn’t start eating until the original predator had left the pray, so Trshia concluded that it was safe to take a closer look at what had happened. She would just have to be careful not to anger the ugly birds, they could be quite fierce when agitated, especially if there was food involved.

If she hadn’t been surprised enough already, she certainly was so now. The sight that met her eyes as she got closer to the dead sand ray was not a pretty one. The way in which it had been killed was gory and grotesque enough to make even the hardest warrior queasy; it certainly made Trishia want to turn away and run, or at least lean over throw up. The creature’s intestines had been ripped out of its body and they lay spread out on the ground, almost as if arranged in a pattern of some sort. Its eyes had been torn out of their sockets and were hanging from their nerves, occasionally dripping a little blood down on the ground.

Even so, Trishia was determined to get closer. This was a perfect opportunity to get something to eat. Sand rays were a rare delicacy in the desert, mainly because they were fast and so very hard to catch. It made Trishia wonder once again what had done this to the animal. Whatever it was, it hadn’t been done for food, she noticed when she went up to it to check if there was anything edible left for her to take. The vultures had eaten some, but otherwise it was intact and she could easily remove some quite nice pieces of meat.

When she had taken what she needed she took a few steps back to once again try to figure out what had happened. The sand ray was gigantic and she knew that it would take at least a dozen grown men to take one of ordinary size down, but this one was so big that she figured at least sixteen would be needed. No, it couldn’t be the doings of humans. And besides, no person in their right mind living in the desert would kill a creature that would feed a whole tribe for weeks and then leave it without taking any meat from it. She took a few more steps back and noticed the perfect symmetry in which the intestines were spread out. It could not be a coincidence, but it seemed so illogical. No human had done this, but no animal had the intelligence to achieve something like it. It was weird and eerie and it had started to scare her more than just a little bit.

She began walking back to the cactuses when she felt that presence from before following her again. She looked around very carefully not to scare it away, but she couldn’t see anything. She was keeping watch with all her senses as she started to tap one of the cactuses for water. What if it was the thing that was following her that had killed the sand ray? It was a scary thought, but she shrugged it off almost immediately. She was probably just imagining.

As her flask filled up she gathered material for a fire. She figured that now that she had meat and water she might as well set up camp for the night. She needed to think about what she’d seen and try to figure out what exactly it meant. This would be as good a place to do that as any, even if she was being watched.

She filled a second water skin as she carved the meat into smaller, quite thin pieces that she then hung to dry in the sun on a rack made of sticks and twigs. The meat would last longer when dried, and it would also be lighter and easier to carry. She went back to the dead sand ray and cut a juicy piece of meat from its back. That would be her dinner for the evening. She almost thought she was going to pass out with hunger while she waited for the meat to cook, but the vultures wouldn’t let her. Even though there was a huge dead sand ray lying on the ground only a few meters away, they were determined to try to steal the meat she’d hung up to dry.

Finally the sun started setting and the vultures retreated. Soon they were only dots on the horizon and Trishia sat down with a heavy sigh. Finally some peace to eat and then rest. Her tanned limbs were tired and her eyes were heavy, but the smell of the ready cooked meat was more than enough to keep her awake. She’d only had sand ray once before in her life, and her memory didn’t do the rich meat justice by far. Her mouth exploded with flavours when she bit into it and she let out a little noise of pleasure. It occurred to her that this was probably the first time she’d used her voice since she left the others, but the thought disappeared as quickly as it had risen when she took another bite of the sand ray.

When she felt like she couldn’t eat even one more bite, she lay back and just breathed, staring at the darkening sky. Stars had begun to appear and the air was cooling off a little. There was still a little of the cooked meat left, but she decided to eat it the next time she got hungry. There really was no point in eating any more of it now. So she just lay there and thought about everything and nothing, about what to do next. Se decided that it was probably best to focus on getting to the edge of the desert before anything else. Yes, once she had survived that she could think about what to do next. So far she’d only ever seen it from a distance, buildings and trees, real trees, not the twiggy little things that grew in the desert. She sighed and closed her eyes.

Then she heard it. There was definitely something there, something that wasn’t the fire or vultures or the wind. And it was sniffing. There hadn’t been any footsteps, or at least none she had heard. The creature must be quite small, and quite smart as well, to have been able to avoid being eaten. Slowly she sat up and opened her eyes. The sniffing stopped. She was completely still, not even breathing. She thought maybe the smell of the food would lure the creature closer, so she would get a look at it. The sniffing started again, closer this time, but she still couldn’t see the source. What was it? Where was it hiding? The cactus where she’d gotten her water, she decided. She stared intensely towards it, trying to make out if there was anything different about its shape in the dark. And then something moved! It had a tail and it couldn’t be taller than the height of her knee, but where did it go? It was gone again.

Trishia was more curious than scared now, so she decided to try to lure the creature closer, maybe even catch it. She took a piece of the meat she had left and threw it in the direction she thought the creature was hiding, just close enough to the fire to be able to see it on the ground.

And then she waited.

She nodded off for only a second, or what felt like a second, but when she opened her eyes again the meat was gone. Damn it! She tried again with another piece. Determined not to fall asleep this time, she waited, but of course she did, she was so tired and when she woke up again it was morning and time to move on again.