Defenders of Destiny Book One: Conflux

Chapter 20: Six Way Split

Elmar led the way down the dark hall, his glowing staff lighting the way. It went on for a long distance and after a time he began to wonder if it ever ended. He glanced back but it was so dark he could only make out the first two people behind him: Casandra and Ivory. The others were completely hidden from view, as if they weren't even there. He looked ahead and finally saw light. It was faint at first but every step he took made it brighter and before long he began to feel great heat. He pushed through the light and exited the hall to step foot on sand. Wind was blowing powerfully, making grains of sand pelt against his exposed skin like miniscule needles. He sunk his chin into his mantle and turned around to see how his friends were dealing with the storm.

There was only Casandra and Ivory standing there and there was no sign of the hall behind them. All that he saw were sandy dunes and the violent wind.

"Where is everyone?" he asked in alarm, his purple eyes wide. "Where did they go?"

Casandra and Ivory glanced around, struggling to keep their eyes open through the biting wind as their hair whipped about, flying in their face. After a minute or two of failing miserably to see anything Casandra gestured to a rocky outcropping about a hundred feet to the side. "We need to get to shelter. We won't survive out in this storm if we remain any longer." She guided Ivory and Elmar to the pile of brown boulders and managed to find a way within it, squeezing herself through narrow cracks. Elmar followed and Ivory, making her armour vanish to allow her to fit, was close behind. They found themselves inside a very tiny cave where all three of them were huddled against the walls with their knees up against their chests and hardly any room between them. The wind roared outside but it was cool and calm within.

"We'll be safe here until it passes," Casandra said to them.

Elmar, deep in thought, only nodded.

Ivory, meanwhile, watched a centipede crawl up her side and work its way down her arm, its hundred legs tapping against her skin lightly. She wanted to scream and throw it away but there was nowhere to throw it. She settled for closing her eyes and letting it crawl on in search of prey. As if to spite her, it paused and lightly brushed its antennae over the tiny hairs on her arm. Don't bite me, she mentally urged it. It remained on her arm for many minutes and Ivory looked up at Casandra, who sat across from her, with wide eyes.

"It could be sleeping," Casandra whispered, eyeing the centipede with concern. She had never been a fan of insects, even though she understood their role in nature. She preferred to appreciate them from a distance.

Ivory inhaled sharply. "I don't want it on me..."

Elmar, distracted by the whispering, glanced at the centipede and place a hand in front of it. As if he had called its name, it immediately crawled on his hand and up his arm and nestled itself beside his neck. "It's just trying to survive this storm like we are," he told the two women. "No need to panic about it."

"I wasn't panicking..." Ivory grumbled. "I just hate things with so many legs..."

Elmar closed his eyes and tried to keep himself calm, despite the fact that six of his friends were missing in a vicious sandstorm. He was no use to anyone dead so he would wait the storm out and then go search for them. It was a simple plan but the only one he could choose. If only Graham was with him, he thought, as he may be able to calm the storm and let the rest of their group rejoin.

****

Boog stepped foot in front of a circular pool of clear water, surrounded by bushes and palm trees, and miles of sand dunes. To either side of him stood Celestia and Graham. He glanced around and saw no one else. "What the hell? Where did everybody go?!"