Chapter 7

"Well as long as it is magic, it can't be that different." Remarked Skr'a, absently tapping her three forelegs in a complicated rhythm.

She had felt the need for exercise for a long time now, locked in as she had been all too long. But understanding the humans' fright, even if finding it slightly immature, she had decided on giving it a rest for the moment being.

"You are so right." answered Sztra sagely, twining himself up in a more comfortable position, his head slowly waving from side to side. "Silly isn't it, exchanging names like that. But it's a mundane thing, I suppose?"

They both nodded sagely at that, giving each other a long meaningful look.

The young man died somewhere in the morning, leaving Mari to wake up with a corpse, his head still resting in her lap. She silently cried herself through her preparations to leaving. She had found a large strange bottle, soft but transparent, that she had filled with water. And she didn't want to spend any more time than she needed in that crypt, as she thought of the cave now. Starting to walk again, she followed what looked to be a road. It was black and of some strange substance, unlike anything she ever had seen before.

'At least it leads out of the valley' she thought as she walked. She wanted to get away from it as quickly as she could, there were too many deaths there. She was sure on one thing, though, wherever this was, it wasn't her home. That night she slept in the open, digging a shallow pit with her hands to try to retain as much heat as she could. The nights were very cold, as cold as the days were hot, and as the morning came she trudged on.

Somehow she lost track of that strange road, whether it was due to her tiredness or through the sand's constant movement she couldn't say, but the road was gone now, as well as all signs of vegetation. As she looked back from the hill she was standing on down into the valley, she saw no signs of life and in front of her she saw hills stretching to the horizon, with what looked like a mountain range behind them. Hills of golden brown waited for her in a burning furnace of liquid gold. She helplessly wondered what to do, she couldn't believe that her Lady would have abandoned her like this, but what if this was another realm?

As she walked, she realized that the hills were made of sand, she had never seen so much sand in her life. It was very hard to walk on, and she kept slipping as she plodded on, up and down the crests. 'It's like an ocean' she thought, 'an ocean of sand'. As the darkness came she continued walking, her water almost finished, starting to question her decision to continue. She had seen what looked as mountains as she left the valley, but she had lost sight of them after coming out in the desert.

'Maybe I should turn back' but when thinking of it she found herself vaguely disgusted with the thought of going back to that valley of death, and somehow her legs refused to turn around. She soon realized that she found it easier to walk in the night, the exertion kept her warmer than when trying to sleep, but she also knew that she probably wouldn't be able to take that many days more. 'Three days without water, they say, but in this heat?' She was already feeling the effects of her dehydration, a wooziness and light-headedness combined with a growing headache threatening to engulf her at any moment, growing with each faltering step.

As she came up on a dune she thought of taking a rest. 'The night sky is beautiful' she thought a little later, suddenly realizing that she was lying down without any memory of how she had gotten there. But as she tried to get up she found herself so tired. "A little rest can't hurt.' She thought, as she glided in and out of consciousness. 'Just a little rest.'

As they rode on, they soon found themselves out of the pass and going down again. As Avery looked down, he thought he saw some kind of fort down there. Like some dark splash framed in a bigger mottled brown and white mosaic, stretching all the way up to that inversed bowl of blue emptiness covering it all.

"Do you see it, D'am?" he asked

"Is that the border then?"

"I believe it is, yes. And Lakhar should be just some few days marches away."

After having killed those hellhounds and losing their friends, Avery felt a strange sort of calm. As he somehow had taken a small step to avenge Mari, not that it was true perhaps, but it felt so, and that feeling he shared with the dwarves, too. As they put up their camp for their last night at the mountain, he found that it was easier to fall asleep, too.

The next day found them slowly making their way to the foot of the pass. The road was still a narrow one, adjoined on both sides by sharp craggy rock walls, and as they finally came out into the valley the fort was there, immense, larger than they expected, and with a silent brooding expectancy to it. As they came close they found its gates closed.

"Hallo. Anyone here?" called Avery. "We're on a mission to your Lord, coming from Agor."

After a while, a smaller port opened and an Avian came out to parley with them. He seemed quite suspicious, and Avery found him relaxing first when they told him of their skirmish the day before.

"Good. Those are a pest." He said turning. "Wait here." as he disappeared through the port again, they looked at each other, wondering over the lack of hospitality shown. After a while the gates slowly started to move with a creaking sound, just enough to enable them to ride inside in a single line. As they came in, they found a company of mixed character awaiting them, bows and swords ready, with the Avian they had talked to standing before them, obviously in command.