The Lioness of Shadi

2 - Upon the Desert's Threshold

The three travelers rose just as the sun's light peeked into the rock formation, falling gold across the red stone. Their hiding place was barely more than a gully, a hint of the mountains to the north from whence the River Esharra was born. Ilati felt calmer than the day before, some of the pain eased by Eigou's medicine. She had cleansed the blood from her skin in a moonlit bath, but the sorrow was a shroud she could not shed.

"Nothing lives in the desert." Ilati broke apart a piece of flatbread as she spoke, voice soft and hesitant. Hunger gripped her stomach with tight claws. The destruction of Shadi had taken some days, and she had not eaten for any of them. "That is what makes it a desert."

Menes frowned in agreement. "Nothing more than serpents and scorpions. Besides, without a great store of food or water, how long can we expect to survive out there?"

"I have not lived this long through folly." Eigou extinguished their magical campfire with a snap of his fingers. "We do not seek a serpent or scorpion, but rest assured that power dwells in the desert beyond sight of Kullah's green."

Ilati looked to Menes, whose misgivings seemed untouched by that pronouncement from Eigou. She felt the same doubts gnawing at her—the task the old man seemed set on was not one to be attempted by the wise. "Who are we to argue with a sorcerer?" she said reluctantly. "He must know the answer to many mysteries, even enough to enter the desert."

Menes grunted at that. "It is the return I think of, not the entrance. The sands have consumed the hopes and bones of many who sought to cross them." The warrior sighed and ran his hand over his shaved head. "Are you certain of this, Eigou?"

The sorcerer nodded. "If we are cautious, and Ilati brave, we will both reach what we seek and yet return."

"Then let it be so." Menes rose to his feet and packed away their bedrolls. He donned the leopard skin that he had slept on the night before, wrapping it around his body and letting the beast's head cover his own. Such a hide no doubt served well as armor. "What do we seek, old man?"

Eigou stood up and stretched his back. "All will become clear in time."

For her part, Ilati tried to give Menes a comforting smile as she considered Eigou's words. "He certainly speaks in mysteries."

"That he does," the warrior muttered. "Let's go, then. What are we to do for the mule, Eigou? He must drink as surely as us."

"There is an oasis a short way into the desert, just before the great dunes begin. We will camp there and leave the mule to his water and grazing until we are ready to depart." Eigou wrapped gnarled fingers around a twisted wooden staff. "This is a desolate place. No other traveler will come across our camp."

The summer sun was brutal even in the morning. Heat distorted the very air around them into shimmers as they trekked away from Kullah's green, painting mirages ahead in imitation of water. A wind picked up, sharp and abrasive across their skin. Fortunately, their leather sandals kept their feet from burning to cinders against the sand.
Eigou led them onward, never wavering from his eastern path.

None of them were truly strangers to the desert. Shadi was close and granted moisture only because of the sacred river. Magan was said to be desert, if rocky more than sandy, so Menes was untroubled. Ilati had not spent much time out in the sands, but she knew how searing the very air could become. She let the veil fall lower on her face and thanked Eigou silently for the cloth across her dark hair as it shielded her from some of the sun's rays. The light stung her eyes without more than the smudged remains of the eyeliner her people used to combat it.

In her mind, she weighed the stories of the Desert of Kings. People whispered that powerful spirits dwelt in the desert beyond the reach of men. Some called them demons, howlers of the night winds whose evil eyes brought with them all misfortune suffered by the living. Ilati had never seen a demon, but she knew in every portion of her body that they were real. Only a fool would think otherwise.