Aspects of Sand (Camp NaNo)

Chapter 6, Scene 2

Something cries out in the night. I'm just glad it woke me before the dream.

Tongues of flame linger around the campfire. Both Menir and Ramir are asleep, though it looks like the priest was trying to stay up to keep watch. I stand, even though I don't know where the noise came from.

Then I hear it again. A sand-eagle, maybe. Or maybe a rodent. It doesn't sound quite like anything I heard around Odun.

I creep out to see it. If I can't help it, then it will at least offer food. My stomach aches at the thought.

The sound's far enough from the oasis that I pass the last of the tall grass that grows there before I come to its source.

I wonder if I should wake the others. If it's food, I'll share with them. If not, I don't think they need to know.

So I press on. The sands pile up in waves, but I can still see the oasis if I look back over my shoulder.

I suppose they could see me from where they were, if they woke up.

The noise is coming from a pit.

It's hard to tell what it is, but as I get closer I can hear whimpering between the occasional cries.

"Hello?"

It goes quiet.

"I'm not going to hurt you."

Of course, it's not something that knows what I'm saying. If I had to guess, it's a fox.

As I peer over the edge of the pit I can see that I'm right. The poor creature must have fallen and wound up on a ledge.

It's too far for me to reach my arm down to grab it.

"I'll help you, little one."

It's still quiet. Its eyes reflect the light of night back at me, and it sends a shiver down my spine.

But it's a creature in need. I lower myself down from the edge of the pit, aiming my feet for the shelf it's on. It's large enough that I don't need to worry about stepping on the fox.

I'm not tall enough to reach it from where I'm sitting.

"Here I come."

The fox shifts away from me as I descend. After a split second, the earth meets me. It's at an angle I didn't expect, and I pitch forward.

I hear myself crying out, but it's distant. I look out to the darkness, but the pit's too wide for me to reach across and I'm falling too quickly to climb back up the way I came.

Then air rushes past me. The whistling drowns out all other sounds.

It's not weightlessness, but it feels like it for a moment.