Lands of Dust (The Dying World Book 1) Read online

  Urien had suddenly remembered the teachings of the late, lamented Grand Magus Ontoro with regards to surviving in the desert. The long dead Magus had given a lecture to his class about the more dangerous creatures living out in the wastes. One particular animal hunted at night and used tentacle-like appendages to find its prey in the sand. This creature was quite huge, and the largest specimens known had eaten men whole. It was best to avoid creatures such as those, the Grand Magus had said. The only way to defend against it was to run.

  Realizing his fate, Urien managed to let out one bloodcurdling scream before he was swallowed up by the shifting sands.

  Chapter 2

  It was close to high noon when Nyx finally sensed the sand dargon’s presence. She had just recently celebrated her sixteenth cycle, and her mindsense had been growing steadily by the day. Elder Zedne had been right, the moment her loincloth had tasted its first blooding, her powers of prescience increased in both scope and intensity. At first, her newly acquired senses had been a terrifying experience, an endless stream of conversations among voices that manifested inside her mind. For the next few weeks, she lay in her hut, clutching her head and screaming, begging for the sounds to stop. Elder Zedne and her brother spent those painful days by her side, gently coaxing her to develop the thought blocks to ensure her mind would not be overwhelmed by the sheer barrage of stimulation and emotions all around her. Even then, Nyx had heard stories of Strigas going mad and unleashing their powers amongst their own family, in a crazed fury that ultimately ended in death. In her case, it was only through the timely intervention of the protector that she was finally able to silence the incessant voices and waves of feelings that nearly consumed her. From that day forward, Nyx idolized the one woman who ventured into her mind and told her that everything would be alright.

  Nyx stood up on the crest of the dune as she wrapped her leather cloak tightly around her thin body. She could sense the dargon sleeping beneath the sea of dust, not far from her observation point. Now that they had found their prey, the hunt would begin. Nyx reached for the mirrored crystal in her pouch and took it out. She held it to the general direction of her older brother, who had been sitting near the edge of another knoll several hundred yards away. By tilting the crystal at an angle, she used the sun’s reflection as a shiny beacon to attract him. Within a few minutes, her brother had noticed and began to use his own crystal to alert the next man in the relay, until the alert made its way to the base camp.

  The hunting party had been deployed in a V-shaped formation, with Nyx at the extreme edge of the left wing, while the village protector, who was also a Striga, at the opposite end from her. The bottom of the V was their base camp, where they would retire for the night after spending all day at the hunt. If either of them had detected the hidden sand dargon, they would pass on the message using their mirrored glass along the line until everyone was alerted, then the entire group would converge on her position. Nyx grinned with satisfaction. This was only the second hunt that she was a part of, but already she would have the honor of being the one who found the beast they had been hunting for these past few days. It was the first time she had used her powers to find prey by using her mental feelers to probe the ground around her, and she was extremely proud of herself. Not bad for an orphan girl who grew up amongst the elders of the tribe.

  Her brother Jinn was the first to arrive as he ran up the dune to where she had been sitting. He had been the closest relay to her, so it was only natural he reached her before the others did. Like his sister, Jinn had bronzed skin and black, curly hair, a natural adaptation to the people of the wastes. Jinn carried a slightly curved bone spear with a flint head attached to its point. He sat down beside her, cradling his weapon. “Well done, Sister! Are you sure it is the beast we’re looking for this time?”

  She gave him a playful slap in the arm. “Yes, it is. It is a sand dargon alright. Our protector taught me how to sense it.”

  Jinn pulled out a waterskin from beneath his leather cloak and took a sip. “I hope you’re right this time. Two days ago, your Vis told you it was the sand dargon, but what jumped out behind the dunes instead was a dust beetle.”

  Nyx slapped her brother in the arm a second time. “Silence! This time it is the real thing, I promise. If it is not, then may Duun take my life and spill my essence to the wastes.”

  Jinn shook his head while stowing the waterskin beneath his cloak. “Do not mock the gods, sister.”

  “I am not making fun of the gods, I am confident that it is truly the beast that we have been hunting for all this time. We shall feast back in the village within two days,” she said assuredly.

  Jinn got up to one knee as he noticed Krag, the group’s lead hunter making his way towards them. “I hope you are right, sister. This is my sixth hunt and the last two did not turn out so well.”

  Nyx looked at her older brother. “Oh? But I thought the last hunt was a success, the party brought back two octapedes, each one was over two feet long. That was a great feast we had.”

  “We had to range far and wide- and for almost a whole moon- just to get those two and we were lucky,” Jinn said softly. “The larger octapede was a mother to its last youngling. I have this terrible feeling that our patron god Duun no longer favors us and there are no more beasts left to hunt.”

  “Silence, Jinn,” Nyx said. “Do not say such bad things.”

  Krag had moved up to their position. His brown, leathery skin had been toughened after spending so much time in the wastes, and he consumed the smallest amount of water as compared to the others. While Nyx idolized the tribal protector, Jinn idolized Krag, for he was widely considered to be their best hunter.

  The slight breeze whipped at Krag’s shoulder length, thick black hair as he looked around. He surveyed what looked like a patch of loose sand towards the trough of a far dune. “Yes, that looks like the nesting place of a sand dargon, alright. You have done well, Nyx,” he said.

  Nyx grinned. “Thank you, chief hunter. This is a great honor for me.”

  Krag placed a hand above his eyes to shield them from the glare. “Seems like a big one too. I do not think we have hunted one this large for the last ten cycles. A major find indeed, you have the luck of the gods, girl.”

  Jinn squinted his own eyes as he imitated Krag. “How can you tell the size of the beast, chief hunter?”

  Krag pointed at the edges of the patch. “When a dust beast burrows beneath the ground, you just have to notice how large the field is. A good rule of thumb is to divide the length of the outward edges of the loose sand by a third. Since I believe the size of that patch is between seventy-five to eighty feet, then the beast is probably a twenty-five or twenty-six footer in length.”

  Nyx was shocked. “A twenty-five footer? By the gods, I don’t ever remember anyone in the village hunting a beast so large ever before.”

  “I remember hunting a very powerful dust beast long before you were born,” Krag said. “Elder Pir was still young enough to hunt back then. It must have been close to thirty cycles ago. We stalked and killed the largest dargon ever known to the tribe. The beast was close to fifty feet long, and we lost two hunters that day.” He looked at Jinn. “I was around your age, boy. Just barely eighteen cycles and it was only my second hunt.”

  Jinn grinned. “That must have been fun.”

  Krag nodded. “It was, but it was also hard, dangerous work. A sand dargon is not to be trifled with. It is not an octapede, or even a poisoned norpion. Dargons hunt those other beasts and consume them, just like we would eat our algae soup. You both must stay well away from the sand nest. Leave the killing to my hunters and the protector.”

  Jinn stood up. Even at his full upright position, he was still two shades shorter than the chief hunter. “But Krag, this is already my sixth hunt. Let me be part of your hunting group. Please.”

  Krag smiled and shook his head. “Too dangerous, Jinn. For a sand dargon this size, I will not allow anyone who has less than twelve hunts be
neath their loincloth to be part of it. This beast is very dangerous, and I fear that some of us might not even return to the camp by tonight. Perhaps when you have more experience, yes?”

  Jinn sighed. “But you yourself said a dargon this size comes but once in thirty cycles! We may not ever have this chance of finding such a magnificent beast ever again. Please let me become part of your group, I promise to obey every command and be careful. I beg of you.”

  Krag looked away as a half dozen more hunters began to converge on them. The young man was right. For a beast this size, they needed at least twelve hunters to make sure that it would not get loose when they confronted it. All he had left on his team were six experienced men. Jinn was still considered to be an apprentice, but there was no one else. With Jinn and the protector by his side, there would be nine of them.

  While Krag stared at the other hunters readying their weapons, he started pointing towards the crest of the dune. “Donblis, Voot, and Geb, I want you three near the crest of that knoll. Hyr, Burd, and Nothgem, down over at the base of the loose patch, across from Nyx’s direction. Go!” he said to them before looking into Jinn’s eyes. “Very well, you will be part of this hunt. Stay here until we are all in position. Once the protector arrives, you will accompany her and stay close to her at all times. You must obey any command that I, or any hunter tells you. Is that clear?”

  Jinn was now grinning from ear to ear. Finally! He would be part of this great hunt. “Thank you, chief hunter! I am most honored.”

  The six other men were already moving to take their positions as Krag hefted his bone spear and drew it from its fur scabbard. Like Jinn’s, the shaft of his weapon was made from a curved rib bone of a long dead beast, a creature that died out thousands of cycles ago. Unlike Jinn’s weapon however, his spearhead was made of steel- it was Krag’s most prized possession and he took great care of it in between hunts. “Alright,” he said. “You two stay here for now. Nyx, once the protector arrives, follow her instructions to the letter. Remember what I told you, Jinn.”

  Jinn nodded as the chief hunter left and began to make his way towards his team. The young man gripped his spear tightly while he knelt back down. He was already nervous and giddy with excitement. “May Duun guide my spear,” he whispered.

  Nyx giggled. “You better not mess this up, Jinn. Krag is a kind master, but he is fair and will not hesitate to criticize and punish when it comes to those that do not do well.”

  “Silence,” Jinn said. He knew he was inexperienced, but if he followed their lead, then everything would go smoothly. “You heard what he said. All I have to do is to stay by the protector and all will be well.”

  Nyx patted him on the back. “I am sure this rite of passage will be easier for you than what I went through. Nothing could be worse.”

  Jinn turned and looked back at his younger sister. “Was the pain truly unbearable for you when the Vis manifested itself? You were in our hut for weeks, just staying in bed. I could see that you were in complete agony. The one time I tried to feed you, your bulging eyes stared back at me like you were in some great widdendream.”

  “It wasn’t so much the pain, but rather the talking voices inside my head,” Nyx said wistfully. “It was as if the mouths of the entire tribe were all right by my ear and they were shouting and screaming in unison, and I could not silence them. Every word, every thought, every flash of anger, every singe of pain, every tear-I could feel them all at the same time. I could not rest, could not sleep. The cacophony of feelings, of cries, it all came screaming at me and I could not shut it off. Once, I had wondered what those in a fit of madness would be thinking about in their minds. When the Vis appeared, that was when I knew what lunacy actually meant, having experienced it firsthand.”

  Jinn clasped his younger sister by her elbow. “I am gladdened that you made it through. I have heard so many tales of young Strigas who ended up killing themselves, but not before they destroyed the minds of those around them. It takes a strong will to survive that and I’m very happy that you did.”

  Nyx smiled. “Oh, I had plenty of help. Elder Zedne was able to calm me enough so that I could sleep every once in awhile. But the one who got me through the most was our protector, she was actually able to venture into my mind and instruct me as to how to place the thought barriers that would block off any senses. Once the protective wards were in place, she spent many days in teaching me on how to project my mindsense.”

  Jinn was intrigued. “When you said the protector went into your mind, how did that work exactly?”

  Nyx closed her eyes and remembered what had happened as if it was yesterday. “It was like a dream. I had imagined myself by the dunes at the outskirts of the village, but instead of vermillion colored sand, it was white powder. Then I heard footsteps behind me and there she was, our protector just seemed to walk up to me slowly and she had a smile on her face. She told me that everything would be okay and soon enough, all the other voices that were shouting all around me were suddenly silenced. A great sense of calm washed over me while I finally relaxed my exhausted senses. Then she sat down beside me, and began to teach me thought chants to say over and over within my mind. That was when I was finally able to banish the daemons plaguing me from the moment the Vis came about.”

  “So it was all like a dream, you could picture yourself as if it was a vision?”

  “Yes,” Nyx said. “It was all so vivid. You remember when the elders staged a play for the entire tribe? When they all wore masks and pretended to be someone else in some other land? It was very much like that play, only it was real. The land around me seemed true as I could touch and feel the sand. When the protector held my arms I could sense her warm, soothing touch.”

  Jinn looked off into the distance. “Our protector must be a very power Striga if she is able to create visions like that. I remember when Elder Zedne came to heal me when that kiir worm tore my leg open. As she stitched my wound with sinew string, I could sense her thoughts as she made me fight through the pain, but in the end, she just dulled the agony, she didn’t stop it.”

  “Elder Zedne is quite old now,” Nyx said. “She is well past seventy cycles, I believe. Her power has been waning for a long time already. Our protector is much younger than that, probably just half her age.”

  “Yes, but I have heard stories about our protector, that she can kill other men with a mere thought. Elder Zedne was never able to do that in her entire lifetime.”

  “I have heard of those stories too,” Nyx said. “Though I am not sure if I can believe them. Perhaps they are just tales, made up by the elders in order not to sow discord whenever the protector demands that we behave.”

  “Well, I would never willingly go against her,” Jinn said as he turned around to look around. The other hunters waited patiently near the edges of the loose sand patch. “We have been lingering for some time now, I wonder when she will come?”

  The protector was sitting inside the small tent at the edge of the base camp. Among her people, she had the authority to maintain order and peace, and was therefore highly respected. She was hurriedly going through a leather sack, trying to find the one piece she needed before joining the hunters at the other edge of the perimeter. As her hand clasped around its sharp edges, she triumphantly retrieved the steel spearhead from the bag and placed the shaft of her black spear across her lap. Taking a fist-sized rock, she pounded at the pin that held the flint spear tip until it was loose enough for her to pull out. Using her fingers, she plucked the pin out and the flint tip slid off from the wooden shaft. Then she placed the metal spearhead onto the empty edge and locked it in place with the pin.

  Miri silently cursed at herself for being so unprepared this day. By the time the sun had come up, she was exhausted and unable to concentrate on the little tasks that needed to be done, from making sure that everyone’s weapons were prepared, to keeping an accurate count on their water supply. Strange visions had kept her awake all night, and she had neglected to change her spea
r tip until the signal came when Nyx had found the dargon at the far end of the hunting zone. She could now sense, using her Vis, that everyone was waiting for her to show up so she needed to move quickly. After placing a bone knife in a small scabbard that was strapped to her boot, Miri got up and hurried out of the tent, her spear in hand.

  The wind had picked up and it ran through her long, reddish hair as she sprinted towards where the hunters were. Unlike most of the tribe, Miri’s skin had a slightly paler, amber tinge and her fiery hair made her initially stand out as a stranger to their ways. But her powers as a Striga were formidable, and once she had mastered her Vis, she was soon elevated to protector of the entire village. Her exceptional power with the mindsense was only equaled by her formidable fighting abilities. No one dared to cross her when she placed the gauntlet down and imposed her authority.

  By the time she had arrived to where the youths were stationed at, she could sense the impatience of the others around her. Nyx and Jinn were the youngest members of this expedition, and she was not setting a good example for them. The goddess Karma would be very displeased with her unpreparedness. Now that she was with them, she needed to muster all the Vis within herself, for this particular beast was the largest they had encountered, and therefore the most dangerous. The moment she stood by them on the top of the dune, Nyx and Jinn bowed their heads slightly to her as a sign of respect.