“Wouldn’t it be better to travel in the night when it’s cool?” Kan asked her.

“No, it wouldn’t,” she answered in a peremptory tone and kept walking.

Kangassk was too tired to demand an explanation. Instead, he focused on trying his best to keep up with Vlada. Staying awake in daytime was another struggle that kept him busy. Nocturnal habits die hard.

He woke up from his monotonous half-slumber when a hard stone had suddenly replaced the dragging, soft sand under his feet. Kan found himself standing on the ancient road made of grey, time worn cobblestones obviously enchanted to keep the sand away. The edge of the Mountain Ring separating Kuldagan desert from the outer world seemed so close now! The monstrous dunes, Kuldagan’s last ramparts, ended there, fading into a flat rocky surface beside the mountains. Not that it changed much for Kan and his guide, of course, they still had a long way to go, but the view was uplifting.

A shady spot under the lofty black obelisk at the end of the road looked like a good place to rest after all the hours of walking under the merciless sun, so rest they did.

What is the easiest way to make people happy? Just take their basic comforts away for a while, then give them back.

Oh, how pleasant it felt to enter a shade again, to lie down on the ground, to stretch their tired legs, and quench their thirst! Especially the thirst! The best thing? There was no need to ration water: they were just a few days of journey away from Border, so they could drink all they wanted!

Exhausted, but genuinely happy, Kangassk fell asleep in the obelisk’s shade. He dreamed the airy, breezy dreams full of pure emotions, sparkling and gentle like a spray of fountain water back at home.

It was already evening, burning red and orange at the horizon, when Vlada woke him up. They were no longer alone. A caravan was approaching them by the ancient road, breaking the desert silence with lively human chatter.

“I travelled with them all the way from Torgor,” Vlada explained, “until we parted on the crossroads. They went to Aldaren-turin to trade there. Meanwhile, I made a detour to buy a gun in Aren-castell. I’m glad we’ve caught up with them. They will give us a ride.”

Kangassk nodded. Soon, after Vlada’s brief conversation with the merchant, he found himself travelling in the greatest comfort possible: on the back of a dunewalker. These huge beasts of burden, both obedient and quiet, have been traversing deserts since the beginning of days, heat and dust storms notwithstanding. Riding one felt like being gently rocked in a giant cradle. Kangassk found it quite pleasant, especially considering the fact that he shared a saddle with a beautiful girl. He even took the liberty of holding onto her waist pretending he’d fall otherwise.

“If it weren’t for the caravan, we’d be in for a rough journey,” explained Vlada. “The road is not safe. There can be bandits.”

Kangassk nodded knowingly. He had heard his share of merchants’ tales, most of which involved raids and bloodshed.

“You may stop clutching on to me, by the way,” Vlada mentioned casually. “Dunewalkers are not wild bulls, you won’t fall.”

“What if I get drowsy and fall asleep?” asked Kan. He didn’t like the idea of keeping his hands off the girl.

“Don’t.” Vlada refused to get the joke. “Stay awake and keep looking around. Tell me if you see anything suspicious. Lives may depend on it.”

It was getting dark. Kangassk, a typical city dweller used to associate nights with noisy crowds and brightly lit streets, faced the real darkness of a wild Kuldagan night for the first time. The darkness was terrifying, blinding, impenetrable. Evil. It swallowed the caravan whole, weak torchlights that people were carrying were barely visible against its cold black velvet, under a gorgeous milky way of stars burning above. Every noise, even the most harmless one, now made Kan’s heart race.

“We’ll have to stay in the saddle tonight,” Vlada whispered to him. “It’s not safe to camp here.”

“In the saddle…” Kan sighed, unhappy with the news. “Damn, my ass is already all numb and tingling…”

Vlada burst out laughing. It was such a brief moment of joy – for she had covered her mouth with her hand almost instantly – that it barely disturbed the silence of the night, yet it was enough to kill Kangassk’s anxiety altogether. He could no longer be serious about the horrors he used to imagine behind every dune. He caught himself smiling like a foolish child and thinking of how nice it would be to hear Vlada’s laughter again. This was the last thought the young man remembered before he saw the world suddenly swing above him and go dark…

There was no proper waking up. Kan’s consciousness was returning to him gradually, bit by bit: first the pain, then everything else. He touched his head and felt something warm and sticky in his hair. Blood? As he opened his eyes and raised himself upon an elbow to look around be found himself in the middle of the battlefield, most of which was hidden from his eyes in the darkness, but the sounds – cries of pain and clashing of steel – said it all.

Nobody seemed to notice Kan yet, considering him being just another corpse. Vlada almost tripped over him on her way to her next opponent. Then, still half stunned from his injury, Kan spent several immensely long moments watching his “damsel in distress” fight alone against a group of five swordsmen, her new katana in her right hand and a satellite sword in her left. She was methodical, keeping her opponents huddled together so they would constantly get in each other’s way, giving them no chance to use the advantage in numbers they had. Slowly, it sank in: the pretty girl Kangassk wanted so badly to protect was a much better fighter than he was.