Chapter forty-three

The Effaron Desert, travelling north-east

 

It turned out that Al-Ham had been right about the sand storms. They spent their time skirting their way around the swirling, chaotic winds. He seemed to have an uncanny ability to find the path that ran just away from a storm or, as he had managed on at least two occasions, right through the middle of two adjacent ones. This made Fred look a little more favourably on him, but didn’t in any way lessen their need for haste. Still, they were on their way now, so Fred was much happier.

Al-Ham had said that the best way to get clear of the storms would be to go north as quickly as possible, but this would mean cutting across the storms’ path. So, instead he adopted a mixed strategy – going north when they could but tracking east if necessary. That way he had avoided any problems for the last three days.

Fred had tried to avoid talking to either of his companions, as they were so clearly ‘together’ and because he really didn’t much like Al-Ham. However, he couldn’t really avoid talking to Potentilla and Al-Ham had suddenly become very much more garrulous – he seemed to have accepted that Fred really was a scholar rather than a servant. On one long boring stretch on their second day out Al-Ham had manoeuvred his camel alongside him and then engaged him in conversation.

‘You are from Eth, yes, scholar?’ he said, as an opening gambit.

Fred did nothing more than nod.

‘I would like to go to Eth one day’

Fred grunted.

‘Oh?’  

‘Yes. I would like to see a really big city’ Al-Ham said, staring into space. Fred imagined him conjuring up an image of a large metropolis.

‘Not much to it’ said Fred, ‘nothing to get worked up about’

Potentilla smiled and called over.

‘Darling – wouldn’t you rather go to Visnea?’

Al-Ham gave Fred a conspiratorial look.

‘I would be too daunted to visit the Imperial capital, my lady’ he said

Fred sighed. Then he realised that there was something that he wanted to ask the Algharian.

 ‘So, you don’t have any wives?’ he asked bluntly.

Al-Ham smiled again, but this time Fred was surprised to see that his expression was completely straight.

‘Wives – no – no wives.  Anyway, it is not permitted to have more than one wife. We have adopted Imperial ways, we only marry one woman.’

‘Oh really? Yes, that’s the same in Eth…’ said Fred

Al-Ham smiled again.

‘It is always hard to find the right one when only one is allowed!’ said Al-Ham with a very deep laugh. Somehow or other Al-Ham had managed to guide his camel so he was able to slap Fred manfully on the back as he spoke. Fred tottered but just about managed to stay on his mount. He glared at Al-Ham, but the Algharian seemed miles away.

‘So, do you have anyone in mind?’asked Fred.

Al-Ham’s voice quietened considerably so that Potentilla couldn’t hope to hear his words over the noise of the wind.

‘Until a few days ago I would have said no’ he said, barely concealing a sigh, ‘but now suddenly I have my hopes and desires all focused on one person. But such things are often thwarted – particularly if the ripest fig is hanging the furthest out of reach’

‘Really?’ said Fred, wide eyed. Al-Ham nodded at him gravely.

‘Of course, I cannot even hope to cleave to one so far above my station’

Al-Ham stared at Potentilla, as she rode on purposefully. Fred had to admit that she was a very fine camel-rider – and who knows, maybe that was one of the main things Al-Ham was looking for.  Fred was genuinely taken aback, however. Al-Ham didn’t seem to have worked out that there was nothing the slightest bit aristocratic about Potentilla.  But what was worrying him as much was the possibility that he’d got it wrong – that this man was actually head-over-heels in love with his irritating elven companion. In some ways this seemed worse than the idea that he was trying to trick her, although for different reasons. If Potentilla got hurt then he knew she’d get over it quickly, but Al-Ham? Who knew?

They travelled onwards, Al-Ham riding close to Fred and still smiling.

Fred couldn’t think of anything else to say, except ‘you’ve only known her for twenty minutes’, but he decided that wouldn’t really be helpful. He kept his mouth shut. 

 

***

As the journey continued it seemed to Fred that they never made any progress at all, but this didn’t seem to dampen either Potentilla’s or Al-Ham’s spirits. They pressed on, their camels as close each other as they could be persuaded to trot. Fred increasingly lagged behind, happy to be excluded. It was all he could do, in any case, to keep up with them.

 Slowly the desert became a little less barren and a touch of green enlivened the dunes. Eventually, on the morning of the fourth day, they came to another oasis where they could refill their water skins and pick some fruit. Potentilla and Al-Ham insisted on bathing nude together. At the first sight of this Fred headed to the far side of the oasis and found a large palm tree to hide under. He could still hear them from where he was though, unfortunately. Eventually they stopped splashing and giggling and Fred was able to creep back and wash rapidly in the shallows of the oasis pool. 

‘Where were you?’ laughed Potentilla, innocently. Fred said nothing

‘The water was fantastic – you really should have had a dip’

Fred grunted, shook his head, and picked up his pack. He then stood and waited while the other two loaded up their camels and finally mounted.  They lumbered off again into the heat and dust.

‘How much longer?’ asked Fred to no-one in particular as they started off.

‘Out of the desert? About a day’ said Al-Ham, ‘I expect to see the east-west road by the end of tomorrow’

‘That’s good’ said Fred, ‘I wonder how Kath is?’ His question hung in the air.

While they had been so far away and so distracted by events, Fred and Potentilla hadn’t given Kath much thought. But now Fred, at least, had to face the fact that she was probably dead, and when they got to their destination there would be nothing to greet them but the ruins of the city.  Then what would they do? He had no idea.

‘I’m sure that we’ll find her’ said Potentilla brightly, ‘Al’s a great tracker – you’ve seen that for yourself – he’ll find her’

Fred thought that that was very unlikely, but he said no more.

 

‘You’ve only known him for a few days’ said Fred, as they travelled on. Al-Ham had gone ahead to scout their route.

‘Where did that come from, Fred?’ asked Potentilla

‘I’m just saying’ he murmured

‘We’re just having a fling. He’s just a big, sexy, romantic tease’

‘You think so?’

‘Oh, you are silly Fred! You are so gloomy and judgmental about everything. Is that what all middle aged men are like in Eth?’

She laughed as they rode. His face was grim.

‘I think he’s got a serious crush on you, which is the last thing we need’

‘Well, so what if he has? He’ll snap out of it’

Fred fixed his gaze on her.

‘He thinks you’re his elven princess and that you’ll be willing to marry him. Did you know that?’

Potentilla stuck her tongue out at him

‘Stop it Fred! You’ll ruin everything. Of course he doesn’t think that’

‘Tell him you’re not a sodding princess’ demanded Fred.

‘He’s knows I’m not’ said Potentilla, undeterred, ‘he’s no fool’

Fred laughed hollowly.

‘Anyway – if you don’t tell him I will. Tell him tonight or I’ll tell him tomorrow morning at breakfast’

 Potentilla made an odd non-committal movement with her head, which could have been a nod and could have been a shake, and then rode off rapidly before Fred could say anything more.

 

The day wore on and Al-Ham started to look for a place to sleep. This was preferably a few scattered shrubs or a hollow, but these seemed rare in this part of the desert. As time passed, he became more anxious, because a sand storm was pushing them south and further away from the possible encampment areas that he knew.

They travelled on for at least an hour longer than they would normally, with the whirling sand storm on their northern flank. Al-Ham was considering striking even further south to make absolutely sure that they were safe when Potentilla stopped her camel and looked surprised.

‘What was that?’ she said

‘I hear nothing, my lady’ said Al-Ham, ‘what is it?’

‘Just a second’ said Potentilla, as she delved into her bag. She pulled out Kath’s rod, which they could now see was making a strange high pitch sound and vibrating slightly. Potentilla leapt off her camel and placed it on the ground, where it twitched on the sand and made an imprint, a little like the trail left by a rattlesnake.

‘What the gods is it doing?’ asked Fred, climbing down from his camel to look at the rod.

‘I’ve no idea’ said Potentilla, grinning, ‘interesting isn’t it!’

‘That’s not the word I would use’ said Fred, ‘shove it in your pocket or something’

Potentilla picked it up again and held it up to look at it.  As they examined it closely they could see that a pulse of faintly blue light kept striking the rod, making it vibrate, and then bounced off it and flew off into the distance, far more slowly than a normal light pulse. They all watched it for a few pulses. Fred counted the time between vibrations, twelve seconds… ten seconds… nine seconds. Fred’s heart missed a beat.

‘Something’s coming after the bloody rod’ he shouted, scrambling to get on his camel.

They all looked up in the direction of the outward pulse. There was something looming up in front of them in the sky, drifting in from the east. It looked, at first glance, like a very large grey-blue children’s kite, in the rough shape of a bird, which had been torn away from its owner’s hands and blown across the sky by the violent winds.  However, as they stared at it the shape began to look less and less like a kite and more and more like a strangely shapeless living bird, the size of a sea eagle, flapping its wings agonisingly slowly. It appeared to have a grey translucent skin under which glowed the most intense blue they had ever seen.

‘What is that, my lady?’ asked Al-Ham, shielding his eyes.

‘I have no idea’ said Potentilla breathlessly, ‘but let’s try to outrun it’

Potentilla and Al-Ham were up on their mounts before Fred could regain his balance. They set off at breakneck speed with Fred struggling behind them. The strange bird with its slow wings began to gain on them. It was now about a hundred yards away.

‘Change of plan…’ yelled Potentilla ’Let’s try to stand our ground – it’s only a bird!’

Fred looked closely at it. That was no bird. He’d never seen a bird whose wings changed shape as it flew. And no bird could flap its wings so slowly and still stay aloft.  He ignored Potentilla, and galloped on as best he could, too terrified to stop.

Potentilla jumped down from her camel and notched an arrow in her bow. She took careful aim and fired. The arrow struck the creature on its breast and bounced off. Potentilla looked deeply perplexed, paused very briefly, and then fired another shot straight into the head of the creature. Again, the shot simply bounced off.  She was about to try again when Al-Ham rode up alongside her and gestured wildly to her to re-mount.

‘You know – I don’t think that’s a proper bird’ she exclaimed.

‘It must be some sort of Tlaxacan monster!’ Al-Ham shouted, ‘If it catches us it will surely destroy us. We must get away!’ 

Potentilla took one more look at the rapidly approaching creature. She could see now that a swirling blue vapour was beginning to pour out of its mouth. She really didn’t want to feel that breath on her. It was now travelling so fast that she knew there was no chance of outpacing it. Moving at double speed she jumped as rapidly as she could back onto her camel. Potentilla followed Al-Ham as fast as she could as he sped north, towards the sand storm, with Fred, who was now some way to their left, turning slowly to follow them.

 ‘Where are you going?’ shouted Fred, ‘that’s the wrong way!’

‘No!’ yelled Al-Ham, ‘We cannot escape it. I have an idea’

They sped on to the edge of the storm. Al-Ham turned to Potentilla as the creature dived towards her.

‘Get the rod!’ bellowed Al-Ham, ‘quickly!’

Potentilla reached inside her bag as rapidly as she could and pulled out the rod.  She paused for a moment, uncertain of what to do next.

‘Give it to me!’ Al-Ham commanded. She opened her mouth to question him, but he was already alongside her and had snatched the rod out of her hands. He surged forward and then waited expectantly at the edge of the swirling sand. Potentilla was horrified.  She galloped straight towards him with her short sword drawn.

‘Al – no!’ she shouted

The mercurial bird-creature fell on the rod with its mouth roaring. Al-Ham stuck out his left hand and grasped its neck just before it could cover the rod with its blue cloud breathe. There was a brief struggle. The creature flexed its head to bear down on the rod but it was too late.  Al-Ham had plunged into the whirlwind of sand. At exactly the same time he threw the rod high into the air towards Potentilla. It twisted and pulsed as she struggled to catch it but then it was in safely in her hands.

‘Go, my lady!’ screamed Al-Ham wildly, ‘go!’

Potentilla watched helpless as the sand engulfed Al-Ham and the half-bird, which still had Al-Ham’s hand gripped around its neck. As the sand buried them, the bird-creature’s skin began to rupture and a blue fluid came cascading out, like monstrous blood.  As the fluid hit the air, sparks of blue formed on Al-Ham’s clothes, and he screamed. Then they both disappeared in a maelstrom of blue and yellow. A second later there was a vast explosion, which ripped through the storm and carried Potentilla and Fred, their camels half-flying, half-running, far away. 

‘Al!’ Potentilla sobbed, ‘you stupid man!’

The storm shifted again and they had to gallop on just to avoid it. By the time it had abated they had no way of finding their way back to Al-Ham and both of them knew that to return would be pointless folly.

Fred stared at Potentilla, whose face was a picture of misery.

‘What now?’ asked Potentilla, tears streaking her cheeks.

‘I don’t know’ said Fred, so they just rode on and on until the night engulfed them.