The Stalkers of U’Ad

 

 

I. Waylaid!

    I stood at bay, the still-warm carcass of my slain dromedary at my back, surrounded by a half-dozen dwarfish Qllgir hill men; they brandished long, wickedly-curved knives and their eyes were hidden behind lenses of darkly stained glass. I tore the keffiyeh from my head and spat at them.

    “Dogs! Come forth and have done with it!”

    In my right fist I gripped the haft of my lance, broken in twain when my mount was felled with a Qllgir arrow, and in my left a heavy dirk. I was under no illusion as to my chances against six of the fiends, but I was determined to sell my life dearly. The Qllgirs began closing the circle. It was then Seanai, their leader, stepped through them to gloat. Her words oozed venomously through teeth stained blue by the Ghahaq root.

    “Now you learn the price of defying me, toad!” 

    Seanai was no Qllgir. She was a barbarian from the south, crawled up from some frigid hell beyond dread Ibak to plague the arid trade routes of Khemino-Ta. She towered over the squat Qllgirs. Steely sinews coiled under her bronze flesh, and rudely cropped black hair stood out from her uncovered head like a spiked crown. Her grey eyes burned with a lust to cleave my skull with the bronze war-axe carried casually across her shoulders. 

To my shame, I was acquainted with her.

    “Treacherous bitch!” I bellowed. “You agreed I could cross Qllgir territory unmolested!”

    “That was before I discovered your theft, and betrayal!”

    Before I could offer protest, she made some utterance in the guttural tongue of the Qllgirs and they were upon me. The first I struck with my makeshift club, which shattered on the man's burnoosed skull and crumpled him to the sands. I narrowly avoided the slash of the second tribesman’s blade and plunged my dirk into his guts. But as he died he grappled my arm and I was undone. I was struck a savage blow to my head that left me sprawled atop the carcass of my dromedary. I resigned myself to death as the cowled visages of the Qllgirs descended over me.

    A black shadow reared up behind them, bat-like; there was a flash of steel and a wail of pain. The Qllgirs scattered. I struggled upright and fought to clear my addled senses so I might discern what transpired. 

    Three Qllgirs remained and now circled he who had descended like a shadow of death among them. He was a rangy youth, with shoulder length red-gold hair that writhed in elegant disarray about a youthful, aristocratic face. His tunic, breeks and tall boots were black, and an ebon cape completed his garb. A long slender sword, stained with Qllgir blood, was held lightly in his steady right hand. One of the hill men lay dying at his feet. 

    The Qllgirs lunged as one, and the youth sprang into frenzied action. Sinuously he parried and dodged their cuts and slashes, his slim blade weaving a web of steel around him. One by one the desert wolves fell, skewered through throat, breast, and eye socket. In exultation I cried out, and the effort made me swoon. The youth wiped his blade on the burnoose of one of his foes, and then came to my side. 

    “Lay still, friend.” said he. His voice was deep and resonant, speaking the tongue of Khemino-Ta with a slight, peculiar accent. He grasped my head and seemed to examine it.

    “You are fortunate. Your skull is unbroken. The blow was still enough to jostle your brains. You should be fine. I will fetch my things from my pack and sew you up. Rest here.”

    Here I felt a warm wetness crawl down my neck, no doubt I bled from a split scalp.

    “Are you a chirurgen?” I asked.

    “My father was. He shared much of his trade with me.”

    “Did he also share with you the art of man-slaying? Your blade work is extraordinary.”

    He smiled grimly.

    “My parents thought it prudent to teach me to defend myself.”

    “Wise folk.” 

    The youth wandered from my vision and I lay back. Closing my eyes and seeking to ease my distempered senses. Presently he returned leading a black dromedary. An enormous black slouch hat was now perched on his head. Taking articles from a saddle bag he once more knelt by my side and commenced work on my wounded head. I felt little pain, but the silence in which he worked became distracting. At last I ventured to speak.

    “I am Haffbieff of Kairoo, a cartographer by trade.”

    “Well met, Haffbieff. I am Anbiko. I ply no trade unless aimless wandering is a trade.”

    “I am glad your wanderings brought you here this day, Anbiko. My race was run. But what of the venomous harpy that led those reavers?”

    “I know not. A rider fled as I came upon you.”

    “Odd. Seanai is not one to shy away from violence.”

    “I am pleased she did.”

    I rose, unsteadily. Anbiko offered his arm but I declined it.

    “I must stand alone, friend Anbiko, the desert will not countenance a man who cannot walk unaided, and this is not the first time my old brainpan was rattled. Let us take stock of our situation.”

Anbiko shrugged and adjusted his outlandish hat.

    “I fear our situation is grim, Haffbieff. My water skin is nigh on empty, I rode up on your group hoping you might have water for which I might barter, only to find you in battle.”

    I looked about. The water skin that hung from my saddle had burst beneath the carcass of my poor dromedary, its contents sucked up by the thirsty sands of the Surah-al-Khemi. The dromedaries of the Qllgirs had either run off or been led away by Seanai.

    “By the Lightning Fortress of Xoscullian!” I cursed. “We are in quite the pickle, young Anbiko! The journey I was making would have been a near thing with a full skin, now we have not enough to even return to Khemino-Ta.”

    Panic began to spread its dread pinions over my soul. Yet when Anbiko spoke his tone was languid and untroubled.

    “Aye. This is a tight spot. But fretting over it will avail us nothing, friend Haffbieff.”

    I was stung by the lad’s stoicism. And I could find no fault in his logic. Thus calmed, a plan took shape in my mind.

    “You speak wisely, lad. We may escape the talons of death yet. Help me lift my poor dead dromedary, so I might retrieve my pack. I have in it a map I would show you.”

    In short order we had wrested my pack from under the slain beast and I withdrew a battered parchment. (It was not, in truth, parchment, but some resilient, translucent material that I have yet to identify.) Upon it was delineated a map of the Surah-al-Khemi. Not unusual save for where most maps showed blank nothingness, mine showed a walled city, and detailed a route by which one could reach it from the traditional trade routes. I pointed to the spot on the map.

    “Behold. This map was moldering with age when the Ancients plied the heavens in their Sky-Chariots. To be brief, I believe this shows the path to the legendary oasis-city of U'Ad! Have you heard of U'Ad, Anbiko?”

    The lad nodded.

“I have read of it. It was swallowed by the sands for angering the gods or some such.”

“Indeed. I think it still exists, hidden by the shifting sands. We may be as close as day's ride from it. It was said to be an oasis, so we might find water. We do not have the water to make it back to Khemino-Ta, nor to Oaniblius, the fortress at Cuar, or any other settlement. If we are doomed anyway, we might as well take our chances with this map.”

    “How come you to have the map?”

    “That slattern Seanai pilfered it from a caravan bound for the library at Kairoo. Learning this, I… insinuated myself into her trust, and liberated it at the first opportunity!”

    “Ah! That explains her hostility!” said Anbiko, rather too flatly.

`    “It is regrettable, but I had little choice. A priceless artifact of this magnitude cannot be left in the hands of a ravening barbarian.”

    The lad nodded and fixed me with an earnest, calm gaze.

    “Very well, Haffbieff, you and your map shall be our guide to salvation. I trust you have no objection to sharing a dromedary?”

“None.”

“Then let us be off.”

I hastily gathered my meagre belongings, and clambered up on the ebon dromedaries' back, behind Anbiko. Consulting my map, I gestured in what I believed to be the right direction. 

“That way. Keep the setting sun to our left.”

Anbiko goaded the beast into action, and we set off to lost U'Ad.

 

II. U’Ad.

We traveled the rest of the day and into the night, welcoming the darkness as respite from the scorching sun. I gave thanks to Xoscullian as I bundled myself tighter in my burnoose against the chill. The moon swelled bright and full, and the fire-snakes writhed across its face with unusual radiance. In the jaundiced glow I spotted the twin crags jutting up from the sands like the horns of some colossal beast. These were said to mark the gateway to ancient U’Ad.

“There!’ I exclaimed. “Betwixt those rocks!

Anbiko nudged our mount toward the cliffs, and presently we passed through them and beheld our objective.

The cliffs gradually decreased in height, forming a sort of narrow valley in which lay the scattered ruins of U’Ad. I must admit to some level of disappointment. There stood no mighty, towering edifices, only tumbled piles of masonry, fallen columns, and crumbling, nondescript statuary. I might have given in to despair had Anbiko not called out.

“Behold! There is movement yonder.”

   I followed the lad’s gaze and saw what caught his eye, a tangled mass of broken, wooden poles festooned with shredded fabrics that flapped in the breeze like pennants. When we rode into the area we found other objects strewn about the ground; Jars and pots of food and drink, bundles of clothing and a wooden chest, open and spilling coins out upon the sand.

“A camp.” Anbiko observed.

“Aye.” I replied, sliding off the dromedaries back. “Look for a well or spring. There would be no camp here without nearby water!”

So great was my thirst I threw aside caution, nor troubled myself overmuch with what had befallen the denizens of the ruined camp, or their origin.

It was not long until we found the well, a hole as big around as a man’s circled arms, ringed with bits of mismatched masonry. A roped bucket lay beside it, clearly far newer than its environs. I hastily lowered the bucket into the shaft, after a seeming eternity I brought up the full bucket. The water was cool and quenching, albeit slightly bitter. Once we slaked our thirst we filled our water skins and brought up a bucket for the dromedary. Presently, we surveyed the area.

Interspersed among the stone ruins we found more evidence of a recent encampment, all mangled and scattered as though having been rifled through by bandits, yet many valuables were strewn about along with the mundane objects; coins, jewelry, valuable fabrics and merchandise. 

“This looks as if a trader’s caravan camped here.” stated Anbiko. I was not so sure.

“Nay, this site is too far off the beaten path for that, and behold!”

I snatched up an object from the sand that had just caught my eye. A brass amulet depicting a repellent amalgam of toad and woman, bloated in a blasphemous mockery of fecundity.

“Gullahm-Khullghosh, fertility goddess of the Qllgirs. They sacrifice a captive to her each new moon. This is the camp of Seanai’s band of wastrels. No doubt the bitch deciphered the map herself and brought them here. This hidden oasis makes a perfect headquarters for brigandry”

“Not so perfect it seems.”

Anbiko thrust his sword into some object in the sand and brought it up so it was illuminated in the moonglow. It was a man’s arm, raggedly severed below the elbow. Gaudy rings festooned the bloated fingers, and the spidery tattoos exalted by the Qllgirs writhed upon the forearm.

“Xoscullian!” I exclaimed. “Who could have come among the fierce Qllgirs and wreaked such havoc?”

“Other Qllgirs?”

“Bah! Any rival brigands would have made off with the loot, or seized this camp for themselves.”

The lad smiled and shrugged.

“Perhaps they did and we frightened them off as we approached?”

“Don’t be fatuous!”

“My apologies. See here Haffbieff; we are near the end of our rope. Let us rest here, gathering what supplies we can from what’s left of the Qllgirs cache. Tomorrow we can-”

Anbiko’s statement was interrupted by the furious, panicked braying of the dromedary. We rushed to where we had left it to arrive on a scene of preposterous horror. The dromedary trashed and stomped amid a gyre of sand that engulfed its lower half. Amid the swirling sands I caught hints of scaly, whip like objects, great curved talons, and spiky teeth. Soon blood glistened blackly in the moonglow.

Anbiko was running to aid the poor beast when a burst of sand erupted under his feet. I reeled as the coarse stuff was thrown in my face. Through my blurred vision it seemed the lad struggled with something sinuous that coiled about his waist. I drew my dagger and lunged forward, yet when I reached the spot he was gone. Only his large black hat remained, resting atop the disrupted sand.

III. The Trap.

Hysterically, I dug with my hands in the loose sand in which Anbiko had been engulfed. Each handful I clawed out was replaced by two that flowed in like water. At last I relented. The lad was gone, hauled under the sands by some unholy thing dwelling below. My hopes, which had been raised by our discovery of the well, were dashed. And my forebodings of doom returned redoubled.

 An idea occurred to me; the lad was pulled down into the earth. Perhaps there were still sewers or other underground features of U’Ad still intact. I resolved to expend all effort to aid Anbiko, for had he not saved my life? Furiously I began scouring the ruins for some means of subterranean egress.

I searched furiously, flitting recklessly from one part of the ruins to another. My lack of caution was quickly punished, for as I sprinted along what was once a paved side street, the ground suddenly dropped out from under me and I fell. My arms, lashing about mechanically, found the edge of the newly opened pit, and by the grace of Xoscullian I managed to halt my fall. Painfully I dragged myself up and out of the pit. This latest catastrophe was the final blow to my nerves, and I lay whimpering like a whipped dog.

My misery was interrupted by a muffled, unintelligible cry from somewhere below. I rose, and looked about. Where heartbeats ago a pit yawned, there was now solid ground again. The cries emanated from the patch of ground where the pit should lay. It seemed to me that Anbiko must be the one who called out from below, if I could open the pit again, I might aid him.

Crawling out on my hands and knees, I gingerly felt for some evidence of the pit which nearly sent me to my weird. Pressing down I was amazed when a portion of the rocky ground pitched downward. A circular area about the size of a dining table was hinged in some ingenious manner so that treading on it would send the unwary careening down the pit. I peered into the gap. Down below two eyes eerily reflected the moonglow, and a voice called out.

“Hail! Throw down a rope, cur!”

My soul recoiled at the sound of that voice. It was not Anbiko.

“Seanai!” I choked. But then grim amusement crept into my demeanor. I allowed myself a snort of laughter.

“You seem to be at a disadvantage, thou shrewish hellcat!”

“Eh? Is that you Haffbieff? Stop chortling and throw down a rope, swine!”

Her voice was not faint, but not overly near either. I estimated she was some twenty feet below.

“And have you cut my throat at the first opportunity? I think not. Why don’t you just climb out? Are the savages of Ibak not hill men of great renown?”

“Fool! Cretin! No sons of men live in Ibak! And you count yourself a scholar! The walls of this pit are chalky, and crumble beneath my weight.”

“Perhaps you should rot there. Aye, the bottom of a pit is a good place for a she-devil of your ilk!”

“I did not reach the bottom! The ledge I stand on even now crumbles with the slightest move. It is by the will of Nyo-Dha alone that I stopped my fall here! Fetch the rope from the well!”

I did as she bid, also gathering a few broken tent poles. These I used to prop open the trapdoor. Presently I stood at the edge holding the rope. Seanai howled at me.

“Lower the rope, dog!”

“Have you considered dropping down the rest of the way?” I suggested cheerfully. ”It may not be much deeper.”

“No! I dropped my axe as I struggled to hold my place here. It fell for many heartbeats ere it struck bottom! The rope!”

I toyed with the rope a bit longer before speaking again.

“Swear to me, in the name of Jhullah-Jhulku, you will act as my ally in all things until we are quit of this place and back in Khemino-Ta or another civilized outpost.”

“Bastard! What do you know of Jhulla Jhulku? Such an oath…”

“Is inviolate to one of your tribe! Break the oath and your soul is forfeit! Swear the oath now, or I leave you to languish.”

There was silence for a few heartbeats, and then came the subdued begrudged response.

“I swear by Jhulla Jhulku to act as your ally until we return to the city. Now throw down the rope.”

I was satisfied. Her reluctance to swear the oath made me feel she would keep it, once made. I fed the rope down until I felt Seanai grasp it, and braced it as she climbed up. Presently she clambered over the edge, looking like a spectre in a covering of chalky dust. Standing, she glared at me with unvarnished hate.

“I will kill you for this!”

“You already set your dogs on me earlier, before this incident. Did you not expect me to die then? Why do you so desire my death? Because I stole the map from you? Bah! Did you not steal it to begin with? It was not yours anyway!”

She stepped forward, teeth bared, her hand twitched toward the long Qllgir knife at her hip.

“I trusted you, and you stole from me and skulked away as I slept. I'm no whore of the jhuggis to be treated thus. “

She seemed genuinely hurt by my earlier behavior. Being weary and traumatized by my recent ordeal, I answered her without disassembly.

“I was wrong to treat you as I did. But I felt you cared little for that map, while I needed it greatly.”

“You had but to ask for it and it would have been yours. Hell, I’d have brought you out here with my Qllgirs, by Nyo-Dha!”

“I did not guess that might be an option. I thought you held me in low esteem.”

She grinned and shrugged awkwardly.

“I know not how to conduct my affairs as cleverly as you city-folk, as evidenced by this fiasco. I do not wish to kill you now, Haffbieff, but provoke me no further.”

I sighed, relieved that at least one menace seemed to be abated.

“We are in grave danger Seanai. Anbiko, the lad who aided me against your reavers, has been taken by something under the sands. A fate which no doubt befell your Qllgirs.”

Nodding, she gestured back toward the well.

“When I returned here I found the camp in the state you see it now. Something writhed under my feet, and I struck at it with my axe, but it was swift. I sought the rocks, where the thing would have to come out of the sand, but I fell into that hidden trap.”

She shook the dust from her hair, and tried to wipe it from her face, to little avail.

“I like not your Anbiko’s chances, nor those of my minions, but it would behoove us to at least make the effort. There are some cave mouths in the rocks yonder. They may lead underground.”

“Then let us investigate.”

We returned to the area by the well and Seanai rummaged through the remains of the camp. I scanned the sands obsessively, convinced that any moment they would erupt into hideous life. From among the ruined tents Seanai scrounged materials to cobble together two torches, which she lit with flint and steel. As we crept across those damnable sands to the opposite wall of the valley, I felt my heart would explode from my chest and my guts would consume my loins.

At last we confronted the cliff face, and Seanai indicated two black, ragged holes in the stone. She gestured toward them before planting her fists on her hips.

“Here they are. These cave mouths, like the well, were blocked with rubble. I had my Qllgirs clear them out as I thought the caves would make for good shelter or storage. I will take the left, Haffbieff, you go left.”

To my shame, the thought of entering that cave alone unmanned me.

“Twould be best if we stayed together, our two blades would be more formidable than one.”

The barbarian shrugged and entered the left tunnel and I followed.

IV. Larder.

We found ourselves in a meandering passageway. By the anemic light of our makeshift torches I could see the tunnel was not natural. It was cleverly crafted by the arrangement of many stone blocks.  We followed the tunnel for some time, and I felt we were descending at a subtle grade. At length we emerged from the tunnel, and beheld a staggering sight. The passage had opened into some larger space. Too vast to be revealed by our meagre torchlight. What we could see were grand walls, covered in elaborate frescoes. Sublimely crafted archways of marble and granite framed cleverly crafted doorways of bronze and copper. Here were statues of mighty warriors and beautiful women, exquisitely carved and painted in lifelike hues.    There were wells and cisterns of silver-chased limestone, into which water tinkled musically.

Here then was my lost city, that grand legend that had haunted my daydreams. Here then was majestic U’Ad.

I went to one of the cisterns and plunged my hand in. I nearly cried out at the chill of the water. I brought it cautiously to my lips and tasted it. It was fresh and delicious.

“Seanai! Here is water! Water aplenty. Behold these wonders! As new as the day they were reared! By Xosculian, I half expect the citizenry to turn out to welcome us.”

“Cease that bellowing, fool and come here.”

Seanai was peering into an open archway thrusting her torch through the opening. Her face was set in a grim mask. I joined her and followed her gaze. The delight I had recently felt was banished and replaced with primordial horror.

Beyond the archway was a large room, no doubt some sort of store room, but where it once might have held grain or wine or oil, it was now stacked thickly with carrion. Here were the carcasses and bones of dromedaries, wild dogs, desert cats, and even those of the fierce Kkrag lizards and venomous sand adders. Aye, and there was man-flesh here as well. For the mangled, bloated bodies of some score of Qllgirs lay here, closest to the entrance as though they were late arrivals. The stench of blood and decay, overlooked by me before, now became unbearable. 

Seanai had moved into a sort of crouch, and was quickly looking this way and that. Her eyes flashed wildly in the torchlight.

“There's your welcome, scholar! We’d best be quit of this place. We are no match for that which can slay so many Qllgirs.”

 

“But Anbiko?”

“Dead no doubt. You may search through that charnel house if you like, but I will not aid you.”

“We should at least take water.”

“We will take water from the well above. We will make for Qllgir territory. There we can raise a force big enough to fight whoever did this and avenge Anbiko, and my men.”

This did not sound unreasonable. I was about to voice my consent when the next horror occurred.

From amid the mass of carrion there slithered an animal. I could not and cannot classify it. Its body was long and sinuous like a snake, yet it crawled along on four squat legs much like a crocodile. Its long whip like tail ended in a mass of bony spikes, and its back was covered in a mass of knobby projections, at the end of a long neck was a blocky skull, with tiny eyes and great maw filled with long jagged teeth. For all its length it was probably no more massive than a large man.

Seanai crept toward the creature, waving her Qllgir knife.

“On second thought, perhaps we will draw a little blood ere we leave.”

The thing coiled alarmingly, seeming ready to strike with its jaws or its spiky tail. Seanai closed in.

“Have a care, Seanai! I…”

My warning died on my lips as another of the things spilled out of the pile of rotting flesh, followed by another, and another. I heard them sculpting behind me. I turned brandishing my dirk and torch. We were surrounded.

I do not recall when the battle was joined. I found myself flailing against a whirlwind of slashing spikes battering limbs and sharp, wicked teeth. Again and again I stabbed at them, and smashed them with my burning torch. They died easily. But there were many. So many. Even as I felled them, time and time again tooth claws and horns pierced my flesh. I called out to Xoscullian for succor, but in his wisdom he sent none.

I caught glimpses of Seanai here and there in the flashing torchlight. She lashed about with her wickedly curved knife, butchering the things as they came upon her in waves. Her splendid body drenched in blood, whether hers or that of the things I could not tell. She shrieked a sort of chant, some blasphemous death-song of her people.

Suddenly she was pulled to her knees. Still her blade rose and fell among the mass of death. She glared at me.

“Flee, Haffbieff! Flee!”

To my shame, I did flee, turning tail and sprinting out of the charnel house toward the tunnel. I could see it. It seemed the moonglow was spilling down it. Suddenly my legs were taken from under me and I was dragged across the stony ground. My torch was torn from my hands and I was cast into darkness. The scaly hides of the creatures chafed my flesh as they overwhelmed me. Again and again I stabbed and hacked at them. I was deafened by their screeching and rattling. 

For a few heartbeats I was able to beat them back. Exhausted, I stood unsteadily on trembling legs. I looked about me. With the torches extinguished I perceived the whole underground space was steeped in eerie phosphorescence. All around me I beheld great spires and minarets, columns and massive cyclopean walls. U’Ad was revealed to me in all its splendor. I gave thanks to Xoscullian for allowing me to have this gift.

In the dark, the stalkers chattered and hissed.

 

V. Death Struggle.

 

In the surreal glow of U’Ad I did battle with the scaly horde. I fought mechanically. My spirit was resigned to death, but the primordial part of my brain still compelled my body to fight for survival. I know not how long I fought there in that hellish glow, it seemed forever, and there was no end to my foes. At some point I became aware that Anbiko fought by my side.

 

He was disheveled; his fine black clothing tattered and covered in blood. His slim sword flashed in the phosphorescence as he stabbed and slashed at the stalkers with the graceful precision of a born duelist.

 

Then Seanai was with me as well. Hacking at the things with her Qllgir knife and battering them with punches and kicks, all the while uttering barbaric blasphemies.

 

Laughter came unbidden to my lips. For it seemed I had died and been cast into a hellish afterlife of eternal battle. Yet I felt satisfaction that I would fight alongside these worthy, if not noble companions.

 

But slowly the endless waves of creatures slowed, their attacks weakened. We were allowed enough respite to stagger foot by foot toward the tunnel that led to the surface. Though we were still harried, by the time we reached the tunnel mouth we were able to turn and flee. Only occasionally having to pause to repel our reptilian foes. At last we found ourselves back out in the open. The sun was rising redly over the crags. It’s fiery display foreshadowing the inferno to come.

 

We assembled near the well, scanning the surrounding sands for any signs of the stalkers. We are all ill-used by the teeth, claws and spikes of the stalkers, and bled from myriad wounds. I grasped Anbiko by the shoulders.

 

“Anbiko my friend!”

 

I noticed a look of concern on his face as he looked upon me, then I felt a mild sense of vertigo. Then I knew not but oblivion.

 

*****

 

When I came to my senses I lay among foul smelling linens as waves of irregular vibration spread beneath me. It was hot, yet I was shielded from the light. My throat burned.

 

“Water.” I croaked. “Give me water.”

 

“He’s awake at last.” came the barbarously exotic voice of Seanai. She was answered by Anbikos subtle, well-modulated tones.

 

“Let us pause then. I will check his stitches while you give him some of the broth.”

 

A coverlet was thrown aside and the bright sunlight caused me to recoil. My whole body was wracked with pain. Seanai and Anbiko stood over me, the former grinning sardonically and the latter impassive.

 

Their clothing was shredded and augmented with pieces torn from the Qllgir tents. The same material bound their many wounds. Anbiko had recovered his broad hat and regarded me from its shade. Seanai seized my face and forced my mouth open. A foul, greasy liquid was poured down my throat. She chuckled at my grimaces.

 

“It’s foul is it not, Haffbieff? A soup brewed from the carcasses of those damned lizards we fought. It tastes of offal but it’s nourishing.”

 

Anbiko was prodding at my right leg, his manner grave. Choking on the foul broth, I sought illumination.

 

“What has happened?”

 

Anbiko adjusted the dressing on my leg and replied.

 

“We escaped U’Ad, but you were gravely wounded. The artery in your leg was opened. I am amazed you did not perish. I was able to repair the artery and stop you bleeding. But you were weakened severely. You have lain insensate for some time”

 

“Indeed!” added Seanai, “I suggested we finish you cleanly, but Anbiko would not have it. We’ve been dragging you across the desert in this makeshift litter for days. Time you got up and pulled your weight!”

 

“Not just yet.” said Anbiko. “The work I did was makeshift. I would not have him move until I can finish my work in a more civilized locale.”

 

Though I was weak and miserable, curiosity gnawed at me.

 

“How did you survive? I assumed you died when they pulled you under.”

 

“Nothing overly noteworthy. One of the things dragged me through some filthy tunnel into that glowing city. I managed to fight my way free and fled into the streets. I became lost in that weird place until I heard you and Seanai doing battle. I followed the din and joined you.”

 

“And you, Seanai? I saw you overwhelmed.”

 

“I was. I think when Anbiko came to your aid some of the scaly bastards left me to join their fellows against you, freeing me.”

 

“Where are we now? Where are we going?”

 

Seanai grinned at me and scrubbed my forehead and face with a damp rag. By her standards the act was a tender one.

 

“We are on the road back to Khemino-Ta. We may just make it if our water holds. We have food aplenty, as we butchered several of the lizard-things. And we can always eat you, Haffbieff, should you expire on the way.”

 

I laughed hoarsely, wincing with pain as I tried to grin through my cracked lips. I would not have wagered that Seanai jested.

 

The End.