FanFiction:The Art of the Hunt/Season 2/Chapter 7 - Ride For Desert Canyon

T he desert stretched out in hopelessly long dunes in front of the hunters, sprawling across an endless sea of sand like a blanket strewn across a hot bed. The sun bore down on them, and every glaring ray seemed to pierce their hearts. Yuki had told them that to the northwest lay their quarry, in a deep vale between two long dunes. These early hills were the last of an outstretched arm of the distant mountains to the west, and if one were to travel along them to those spires, they would find the ragged forests of many long years past.

But those forests were nowhere near the hunters, and even if they were, the bounties of a forest's harvest will not prove useful for a clan traveling across the desert plains, such as they were. Now, the last leg of their journey into the Gathib Region and the outskirts of the Sandy Plains was before them, and the sweat that permeated their brows was very real. How they longed for more water! None was to be found in this place, nor within ten miles of them, save for the oasis from which they had departed the day before.

Taka and Brutus walked in front, with Yuki and Jeren near at hand, covering the front flanks. In the rear walked Gamor and Calli, while Reia and Noami guarded the rear flanks. Katrina and Ali watched the sides. With their cart and aptonoth, the journey was not too difficult for them, and they found the path relatively easy to stay upon. The sun acted as their compass, and guided them diligently across lands which would trouble groups of unequipped travelers. They did not stop, for though the sun was a cruel mistress, their water supply was great and filled with the vigour of youth they found the strength to valiantly troop onwards for many miles.

Few words were spoken. The lands were quiet, unnervingly quiet, and to break the silence with so much as a whisper was akin to the like of blowing a great horn-blast. What words were said conveyed no secrets, and when an occasional loudly spoken word was heard, it seemed to die instantaneously in the empty lands, devoid even of living echo. But the desert could not stretch on till the ends of the earth.

It was after midday when they crossed the last dune, now rocky and staunch in its pedestal. The valley stretched before them: on their side and the other were a large dune each, composed primarily of rock and garnished with white sand, pure even for the dust of the Gathib region. The valley that stretched before them seemed at once close and connected, but analysis showed them that their eyes deceived them with hopefulness, and indeed the valley was a mile wide in its widest place. Towards the west end, dark eaves of stone gave way to a huge cave beneath the earth, from which no fume or sign ushered. But the hunters knew what dwelt beyond that permanent shadow.