Chapter 4

Kianna sat up just as Tokiu landed on top of her along with her stuff, burying them in blankets and her pack of food. With her memory hazy, Tokiu hugged her tightly, his emotions swimming too quickly for her to understand. Slowly, she dug herself out of the pile and stood up, having to sit right back down again from dizziness.

“It’s been ten days! I thought you were going to die, your fever was high and didn’t break, you wouldn’t eat and you kept screaming in your sleep. I thought for sure they were going to find us.” Kianna dug out the water canteen, taking a long pull from it. Her mouth felt dry and her lips were cracked while the rest of her muscles were sore, but she felt fine otherwise. The burns she had were healed, though newly.

“I’m okay, I just don’t remember much.” What she did recall was some destiny and a little girl, but she wouldn’t worry Tokiu with those details just yet. Looking around though, they weren’t in the tree anymore, let alone the forest.

Sand surrounded them on all sides where they had slid down one pile of it, but it all looked the same in every direction. Tokiu flew to the top of the pile they had slid down, staring out over the darkness with a sinking heart. No lights in any direction and clear skies above, with no idea where they were.

“How did we end up here? I was tending to you and then I was falling and here we are.” Kianna shook her head, the memories refusing to come forward. Though she remembered being sent somewhere by someone, she couldn’t remember why or who. Taking a breath, she stood this time, keeping her balance as her head swam. But she managed to fight off the nausea this time, grabbing her pack and swinging it over a shoulder. Tokiu glided down from the top of the sand to her, sitting on the pack as Miaku started to rise to the left of them.

“I guess we’ll pick a direction and hope for the best.” Though Kianna could walk, she couldn’t fly. Try as she might, the exhaustion was too much. Tokiu offered to help, but she declined, telling him to save his strength for when they really needed it.

She hoped for the best as she put Miaku on her right and started walking, hoping she was going South and towards some kind of civilization. Even though her kind wasn’t well tolerated above ground, they weren’t well known either.

Cresting the first dune, Kianna’s heart sank as the landscape went on without end. Sand glowing red ahead of her made her sensitive eyes water, but she pushed on. The heat that burrowed beneath the surface shifted as she walked towards it, disturbing the creatures hidden from the night cold. But they were small, blending in with the warmth that was quickly cooling as she shivered. No trees cut the landscape, nor did the wind cease as it tried to tear off her hood.

Tokiu huddled into the warmth of her back as he tried to escape the slicing cold blowing into their faces, carrying the scent of Desh and old blood. He didn’t like the scent even more than she did, but they had little choice. With her arms held tight across her chest and her body bent against the wind, she trudged on through the heavy sand.

Though she could smell the Desh, she couldn’t see them through the blinding heat patterns dancing under the sand. Another dune crested, stumbling down the other side as she collapsed to her knees. Panting for breath, Kianna closed her weary eyes and leaned against her pack, careful not to crush Tokiu.

“There’s just no end I can see. I smell them, but I can’t see them with all this heat.” Digging her hand into the sand beside her, it felt warm after the first few inches. Though it warmed her frozen fingers, she couldn’t dig herself a burrow out of it and they had no tent.

Tokiu hopped down off her shoulders, though she protested he began to shift. Glaring at her, he towered over her in moments, flexing his five fingers. His tail was bigger now, still lined with quills as he brushed his hair back from his face. His ears twitched atop his head while he stretched out sore unused muscles, flexing those large leathery wings. Amber eyes dimly glowed at her in the silence between them, his dark fur blending in with the night around them, though he retained some Desh qualities.

Crouching down, he launched himself into the air and stretched his wings, having been merely for decoration up until now. Tokiu dove and practiced some aerial acrobatics, but nothing Kianna hadn’t seen before. She was worried about the arm he cradled to his chest, being tender to it while the rest of him was pushed to the limit. He looked scary, like a Desh-Cat, but the quills would give it away to anyone below ground he wasn’t. They tended to speak common, while he communicated mainly through telepathy.

Through the ground he went, disappearing beneath the sand without disturbing it, making Kianna roll her eyes. They were known for travelling through solid objects to find hollow hiding places between, but she couldn’t follow him there and he wouldn’t abandon her. With urgency she felt through her empathic abilities, he came back and grabbed her without stopping.

Into the night air they rose above the sand while he carried her in his arms, their pack thrown over a shoulder while he beat his wings. Higher and higher they rose until he levelled out, scanning the sand beneath them. When she prompted, he didn’t speak or make any movement besides flicking his ears.

“What’s wrong?” She prompted again telepathically, his heart racing against her chest while she held on around his neck. It wasn’t like him to act rashly without calculating the situation first, but it took only a few moments to see why.

The ground began to shake beneath them, a deep rumbling sound as something shot up at them. Tokiu evaded, having to backpedal to escape yet another one while more shot up from the sand at them. Giant mouths with razor sharp teeth; they looked like the sand but weren’t warm. It was the only way Kianna could see them in the darkness as Tokiu flew around them and out over the desert.

Behind them, she watched as they bumped into each other, tearing chunks of flesh from the one they bumped. It was a brutal slaughter as they fought, unaware that their prey had flown off. Tokiu didn’t breathe or even speak as he concentrated, continuing to put distance between them and those creatures. He was nervous and tense above her, watching the sands below and those things beneath it.

“I should have thought there’d be things like this on the surface.” He grumbled to her, though she only reached up and patted his cheek in response. When he glanced down at her, she smiled and shook her head.

“We’re not hardened warriors; we don’t expect everything and everyone to attack us.” Tokiu nodded as he looked to Miaku, still on their left. They were flying towards the city, one they could smell from here still as the wind pushed against Tokiu. But he muscled on, though she could feel him straining with effort through the wind and cold.

As the cries of the creatures behind them faded, she glanced back over his shoulder to see if they had been followed. Their home had dangers, but they had been raised there while here they had no idea. She was hesitant to even let Tokiu land again, biting her lip to hide her fear. She was older and of a race that hadn’t shown fear in a millennia, at least not on the surface. But as he tired shortly before dawn, she knew they had to land.

Nothing of note had shown up on the horizon though he had flown through the night, not even the city they could clearly smell on the wind. Or perhaps they were both hallucinating, having frozen to death in the woods rather than here.

Tokiu gently put her down as he landed, digging a blanket out of their pack and setting up a makeshift tent. He used her clothes to bolster the blanket, trying to keep out all the sun as the sky lightened above them. Curled in the shallow darkness of their makeshift shelter, Tokiu reverted to his Korra form, hiding in her lap.

“We’ll be okay, I promise.” Kianna petted him as he tensed, his head shooting up while his ears flicked. He turned his head towards the noise, diving out into the sunlight from their tent.

“Move!” He roared into her skull, making her flinch as she followed him, backing away from their shelter and trying to shield him from the light.

Where their shelter had been moments before, four black lizards now rested, having skidded to a stop with their harnesses all tangled now. As Cinaku rose higher, Kianna hissed under her breath in pain, shoving Tokiu into the safety of her shirt while she sat uncertain. The harnesses were attached to what looked like sleds, six of them in total tied together.

As the lizards struggled to free themselves, people appeared from the sleds, looking banged up but nothing worse for wear. Though obviously concerned, they hadn’t realized they were there yet. Kianna tried to rise to her feet, but one of them noticed her and glared at her. Red eyes locked her in place as her mouth went dry with fear, numbing her entire body.

“Sstay Dessh.” Came the hissing voice from the darkness of that hood, pulled back to show a woman more lizard than Desh. Scales covered her body, upright with a black tail that twitched with annoyance.

“Don’t.” But Kianna’s anger got the best of her, ignoring Tokiu as she stood with clenched fists. The lizard woman who had disregarded her earlier turned to face her, but her eyes widened as Kianna’s own eyes glowed crimson. She stalked towards the lizard woman, coming to a stop in front of her. Kianna only came up to her chest, but that didn’t stop the Ciasti one bit.

“I’m not a Desh.” She spat out, returning that glare while the lizard woman grinned at her bravery. At least that’s what Kianna thought, seeing that mouth full of razor sharp teeth and others like her gathering around to see. But no one made a step towards her, giving her a bit of crazy courage.

“You’re a half breed, like the resst of uss.” Kianna kept her mouth shut as Tokiu begged while two of her kind came forward holding what looked like food and water. Her stomach betrayed her by growling, much to her embarrassment. But she didn’t budge as she held the woman’s gaze still.

“I am what I am, but what about your caravan that destroyed my camp?” Her gaze turned to the blankets and clothes shredded by the claws of the giant lizards with an exhale, leaving Kianna to continue to stare at her.

“Where are you headed?” Her gaze turned back towards Kianna, measuring her now as the sun rose higher. Though uncomfortable, the Ciasti didn’t back down.

“There’s a city on the wind, I want to go there.” This caused those around them to start whispering and murmuring in another language, though Kianna slowly began to understand it. She kept a blank face while the lizard woman even paled some, but she did a better job of hiding it.

“We’ll take you to our next trading posst, but that’ss the clossesst we get.” Kianna nodded, relaxing her posture while the lizard woman put out her hand.

“Kyrissara of the Ahssha Dessh Clan, leader of thiss caravan.” Taking her hand, they shook briefly as her features started to change. She became more Desh-like, her hair taking on a red tinge while tanned skin covered most of her body. Only around her hands, collarbone and eyes were black scales, though she still kept her tail.