I made a new save point as soon as the Chunga Oasis came into sight on the horizon, but then I galloped Goliath to the front of the line to check it out for myself before any of my people arrived.
The large white stallion seemed eager to break away from the density of the pack, and he huffed as he stretched his neck into the run.
The sand kicked up in torrents behind us, and I glanced back at the deep hoofprints Goliath left in our wake. The wind burned my face, so I pulled a tendril of the turban down to shield my mouth and nose. The desert people had learned their methods through generations of dwelling in the rugged terrain, and I trusted their judgment in fashion.
“Heya!” I called to Goliath to urge him on even faster.
The trees in the distance blurred and wavered in my vision, and if I didn’t know it was real, I would think it was nothing more than a mirage. Still, I raced toward the image, and soon the trees focused within my sight. A path was carved into the mud between the trees, and it was like stepping into a different dimension.
Cool air wafted across my face, and I pulled down my mask to inhale greedily. I could taste the moisture in the air, and the sound of running water trickled in the distance. Goliath sniffed at the vegetation eagerly, so I paused to let him eat a rare treat. The stallion munched leaves and vines like I’d been starving him, but he’d been given a steady diet of grains since we left Sorreyal.
“That’s enough,” I chuckled as I clicked my heels against the horse’s flanks to redirect him down the path. “You’ll get gas if you keep eating that fast.”
Goliath huffed and jerked his head, but he obviously didn’t comment.
Then I instinctively glanced skyward to search for the little dragon. I spotted a distant reflection like sunlight off a mirror, and I knew Nameless was still flying overhead.
Soon, the path opened up into a wider road, and I heard the sounds of people up ahead. I emerged from the woods into a clearing around a massive waterfall, and I pulled Goliath to a halt so I could take it all in. Tents occupied every available inch of the clearing, but they had a similar building style as the structures in Mahini’s empty village. People in colorful robes walked between the
many bonfires and the water, but a bustle of activity was happening everywhere I looked.
Women washed clothes and dishes at the water’s edge, warriors sharpened weapons, and mages maintained the fires.
Judging from the amount of thick, gray smoke being emitted by the flames, the tribespeople were using green wood for their fires, and they were likely having difficulty keeping them lit.
“Kimaku tribe!” I called out in Mahini’s language.
Several people froze as my presence among them was finally noted, and then all hell broke loose. People ran in every direction, but it seemed like half of them ushered children indoors while the rest moved to surround me.
I gripped one of my panabas tightly in my right fist while I held Goliath’s reins in the left, and I swiveled the warhorse around in a circle as I stared at the warriors forming a circle around us.
I only needed the answer to one question.
“Mahini’s madre’um!” I called. “Ayn ealaa Mahini’s madre’um?”
I continued to ask them where Mahini’s mother was, but I kept a watch on the tents in my peripheral vision. Sure enough, after a
few loud repetitions, a veiled face popped out from one of the dwellings to stare at me in open curiosity.
“Mahini’s madre’um?” I pointed my panabas toward the woman.
The woman slowly emerged from the building and came forward, but she kept her chin lifted at a proud angle. The strength of her build was familiar to me, and even with the shapeless robes she wore, the resemblance to Mahini was uncanny. She had the same frozen blue eyes that stabbed into me like daggers. The hostility in her gaze merely reminded me of the first time I’d met the warrior woman I’d eventually made my wife, and I already felt the same kind of affection for her mother.
It was confirmed.
Mahini’s mother was alive and living in the Chunga Oasis.
That was all I needed to know.
“Mahini ealaa mordo,” Mahini’s mother spat, and her eyes cut into me like she was mentally ripping me to shreds.
I would convince her that her daughter was alive, but now that I knew she was here, I could reset and give my wife the good news.
We would handle whatever happened next together, but I wasn’t
about to start a fight with my wife’s tribe, so I reset with a wave of my will.
Chime.
The Chunga Oasis sat on the distant horizon once more, but I headed to the carriage where the women were riding instead of dashing across the desert. Mahini would be relieved to find out her mother was okay, and I was eager to give her the news.
I opened the carriage door and hopped in without bothering to make it stop, and the girls all looked up at me with smiles on their faces. I kissed Zenda first since she was sitting closest to the door, but then I leaned over to peck Mahini and Eva before I slid into the empty seat.
“I have good news,” I said, and I flashed them all a mischievous smile. “Try to guess what it is.”
“You’ve talked to Nameless,” Zenda guessed.
“No, no, you defeated a new monster,” Eva said.
“We’ve arrived at the oasis?” Mahini’s voice showed her doubt.
I waited until the tension in the air was about to burst, and I flashed them all a wicked grin.
“We’ve arrived at the oasis,” I said, and Mahini pumped her fist in victory, but I held up my hand to stall her celebration. “And your mom is definitely there.”
Mahini’s eyes turned as wide as saucers, and she launched herself across the distance between us into my arms. She squeezed me tightly, and then she pulled back to pepper wet kisses all over my face.
“I take it you are pleased with my news?” I laughed as I returned the pressure around her, but I was careful not to squeeze her belly too hard.
“It’s fantastic!” Mahini leaned back and paused her kisses. “I was so worried that she wouldn’t even be there when we arrived! I probably would have been giving off very unhappy energy. Now, I’m just thrilled!”
“Awesome.” My grin widened. “Let’s put on our best desert garb and go meet the ‘Rents.”
The women all tilted their heads to the side in an identical expression of curiosity, and I burst out laughing.
“The parents,” I explained between fits of laughter.
All three of them sighed before they began to chuckle, but then we set about getting ready to meet the Kimaku tribe at the oasis. We wanted to put our best feet forward, and then Mahini’s mother would agree to return to Bastianville with us.
The Kotar Desert was no place for my family members. Not when the entire realm was in the midst of a war. It would be much safer for the entire family to return with us, but I would settle for Mahini’s mother.
We were ready well before the caravan arrived at the edge of the trees, but I waited to follow in our place directly behind the Trahana tribe. I didn’t want to offend anyone, but I had a save point ready to go just in case. I would make a new one once Mahini and her mom were happily discussing the baby, but until then, anything could happen.
The caravan slowed way down when the head of the Trahana tribe greeted the Kimaku tribe in the grove, but then the rest of us began to filter out around the waterfall in a circle. We entered the trees as far as the width of the carriages would allow, and then the soldiers and warriors began to unload.
I took that as our cue to join the chief of the Trahana tribe at the water’s edge, so my women and I left the carriage with our
shoulders squared and heads held high. At the forefront of the dense crowd stood the two chiefs in colorful burgundy and magenta robes, but I noticed Mahini’s mother had joined the other village elders for the discussion. There was someone with the obvious stance of an experienced warrior, but judging from the lines around his eyes, he was far past his prime. He could be a head warrior, or in charge of defenses, but he carried himself with an air of importance that was hard to ignore.
We were greeted with shocked silence by the locals of the realm, but then Mahini stepped forward and looked her mother squarely in the eyes.
“Greetings, mother,” Mahini said in her native tongue, but then she let a slew of words out faster than I could translate.
A beat of tense silence passed, and I held my breath as I expected tears were on the horizon.
But then Mahini’s mother spat into the dirt as she shot her long thought dead daughter a hostile look. The warriors around us tensed, and I noticed more than one hand nearing a weapon. The respect Mahini’s mother held among her tribe was palpable, so our acceptance by them hinged upon her reaction.
“My daughter is dead,” the older woman said in her own language, and her voice was angry. “Get back, ghost! Away with you!”
“Hey, there,” I said, and I stepped in between the two in an effort to dissipate the hostility in the air. “Mahini alive.”
I didn’t know elaborate or advanced words in their tongue, but I knew enough to communicate as long as they were speaking at a normal pace. I would soon know all the tribes’ dialects inside and out, and I was eager to get the language barriers out of the way. The God of Time should be able to talk to whoever he wants, and be able to understand anything said to him.
“My daughter is dead,” Mahini’s mother insisted again, but at least she didn’t spit this time.
I turned and walked around Mahini as I gestured to different parts of her, and I poked her a few times for good measure. The older woman scoffed before she turned away to head back toward the tents, and Mahini burst into deep, racking sobs. I wrapped my arms around my wife’s shoulders, but I let out a sigh as I reset to my save point.
Time to spam respawns until I hacked the solution.
Chime.
The oasis sat on the horizon once more, but I hesitated to share the news with my women. Mahini’s mother would continue to shun her daughter unless I figured out a way to solve the situation, but she’d seen Mahini standing before her, and yet she still hadn’t believed the truth. The desert goddess had done too good of a job faking her own death, and now her mother wouldn’t even accept her existence.
Grief was a funny thing. It played with the mind.
I approached the oasis on my own, and I charmed my way to Mahini’s mother. She was a suspicious conversationalist, but after our initial introductions, she opened up a little more. Her name was Aranini, and her mother, my wife’s grandmother, had also been a midwife. It was almost a family tradition, but Mahini had broken the pattern.
Chime.
Chime.
Chime.
I charmed my way into Aranini’s ear once more, but I progressed much faster this time. I learned everything I could about
the woman who’d brought my beloved into this world, but the information I gained didn’t do me much good. The woman would be a tough sell because of her religious views, and in her heart, her daughter was dead.
Chime.
It was time to start experimenting.
With all the time in the world, I could spend as long as I needed brainstorming new ways to handle the situation. It wasn’t going to be easy to convince Aranini that Mahini was still alive. It would mean accepting that her daughter had lied to her and ran away from home, but I didn’t think the midwife was capable of that.
Maybe I could trick her in some way?
I could make it appear as though I brought Mahini back from the dead.
With a plan in mind, I began my preparations, and I included my women in my efforts. Mahini was a little disappointed to learn her mother would not immediately accept her, but she seemed eager enough to prove she was alive once and for all. Then Eva gathered textiles to use to cover Mahini until the grand reveal, and Zenda wrote me some nonsense words to use as a ritual.
Riondale helped me empty a small wagon that would travel easily between the trees surrounding the oasis, and Mahini laid down flat inside. We covered her up with the fabric, and I climbed onto the driver’s bench. Eva and Zenda hurriedly clambered into the wagon, and Mahini took a deep breath before she covered her face completely.
A few moments later, we arrived at the campsite by the water’s edge, and I signaled for the horses to stop just short of the closest structure. Aranini and the chief were waiting for us with a line of warriors, so I couldn’t have gotten the horses any closer if I wanted to. I stood on the wagon’s floor and lifted my arms in a peaceful gesture, but then I cleared my throat and spoke loud enough for the entire tribe to hear.
“Hear me, Kimaku tribe!” I shouted in their language, and I spun in a circle to check my perimeter. There were eyes blinking back at me from beneath the shadows of the trees, and it looked like I was completely surrounded. “I am Bash, the God of Time! I have come here to perform miracles!”
Hushed gasps shot through the frozen warriors, and multiple eyes flicked toward their chief to gauge his reaction. The weathered-
faced man stood tall and square as he stared at me, but the frown never left his face.
“How does a stranger come to know our tongue?” a veiled warrior suddenly asked and broke the tense silence.
“I’m a god.” I shrugged, but I never lowered my hands. I didn’t want them to think I was reaching for a weapon, since I would definitely be riddled with arrows if I did. “I know all things.”
“You say you are here to perform miracles,” the chief allowed in a cautious tone. “What are you intending to do?”
“I am going to unwind the fabric of time,” I said to the best of my ability, but a part of me couldn’t help worrying if my translations were accurate. “I will bring back that which was lost and make it new again.”
Oohs and ahhs sounded from the warriors, but the chief silenced them with a wave of his hand, and tension filled the air. The weathered man stared at me for a long silent moment, but then he inclined his head ever so slightly.
“Explain.” The chief gestured in a demanding fashion.
I arched an eyebrow, but I waited until I felt every pair of eyes focus in on me before I continued. The suspenseful feeling in the air
continued to build, and I waited as long as I was physically able to.
“Well.” I cleared my throat. “I know of the death of one of your kin. Mahini.”
“No!” Aranini gasped, and the glare on her face showed her displeasure at my words. The midwife spat into the dirt, and she mumbled a prayer under her breath.
“It’s true!” I insisted in the tribe’s language. “I will bring your daughter back from the dead.”
The chief and the midwife whispered together lower than I could hear, but I waited patiently for them to argue against my claims. I would be able to show them an alive and well Mahini in a matter of seconds if they would just let me do my trick, but I wanted them to agree to the ritual first.
At long last, the chief turned to me and grunted. Aranini stood slightly behind the chief and peered over his shoulder at me, but her eyes were still narrowed in suspicion.
“Perform your magic,” the chief commanded. “Do as you say, and many hearts will be healed.”
“Good.” I grinned, but then I gestured to the women sitting below me.
They scurried down from the wagon, and the two beauties lowered either side of the vehicle’s walls. The body covered in fabric was laid out, but I made sure there would be no chance of wind blowing the fabric aside before I was ready for the big reveal.
I cleared my throat, spread my hands wide, and began the pretend ritual.
“Listen to me, Great Spirits of the Beyond!” I said in a voice loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. “Answer the call of the God of Time!”
I paused for dramatic effect, and then I closed my eyes.
“Send your power into me!” I commanded the sky. “Allow me to undo the strings of time!”
There were a few confused and astonished whispers among the warriors who surrounded us, but for the most part, everyone merely stared in rapt fascination. Then the grove fell silent except for the sound of running water and my voice, and I lifted my words up into the air.
“Release Mahini ealaa Kimaku tribe from the bounds of death!”
I shouted. “Bring her back into this vessel!”
I gestured at the covered-up body and shot my hands toward the fabric, but I couldn’t resist adding a little jazz to my fingers.
Mahini suddenly gasped and pretended to come alive. Then the desert goddess sat up, and she blinked around in mock-confusion as the sheet fell from her face. Her acting skills were perfect, and I resisted the urge to applaud her performance.
“W-W-What just happened?” Mahini looked up at me with adoration in her ice-blue eyes. “Did you save me?”
“I did,” I replied in my most godly voice, and I reached out a hand to help her up. “Welcome back to the land of the living, Mahini ealaa Kimaku.”
Aranini crept forward cautiously as I helped Mahini to her feet, but then she circled the desert goddess and scrutinized her shrewdly. The daughter was poked and prodded by the mother until at last, the midwife huffed in approval.
“This is real magic,” the midwife muttered as she stepped back and gazed at Mahini from a distance.
“Mama, it’s me,” Mahini insisted in a soft voice. “I’m… I’m alive!”
I could hear the fear echoing in my wife’s words, so I squeezed her hand warmly. This was going to work, I could feel it.
My wife’s mother stared at the two of us with her lips pursed and her eyes narrowed. I couldn’t tell what she was thinking, and I worried that even this trick had failed to persuade her.
Then Aranini suddenly broke out in tears, and she rushed forward to sweep her daughter into her arms.
I let out a deep exhale of relief as the two women embraced, but I gave them plenty of time to hug before I said anything else.
Once they broke apart and smiled at each other through tear-rimmed eyes, I cleared my throat again.
“The God of Time has performed a miracle for your tribe,” I said. “What will you do to repay me?”
“A feast!” the chief declared, and he clapped his hands together to pull the attention back to him. “We will honor this miracle with lots of good food. A ritual like this requires an equal amount of sacrifice, so we must have a Hunt.”
The way he said ‘hunt’ had me thinking it was something special and important, so I quickly opened my mouth to volunteer, but the chief held up his palms to stall me.
“One member from each tribe will send a Hunter,” the chief explained. “Since you are of no tribe yet, you must go on the Hunt.”
“Perfect.” I grinned. “Consider me in. We’ll find a perfect sacrifice to repay the gods for Mahini’s life.”
“How do you come to know our tongue so well?” The chief shook his head in awe. “A foreigner speaking our words is still hard to believe.”
“Lots of practice,” I said as I waved a dismissive hand. “I still have much to learn, but I’m a quick study. I’m looking forward to learning all of the tribes’ languages.”
“That is impossible,” the chief gasped. “Even for the God of Time.”
“You don’t know the first thing about me,” I said, and I let a small warning tone creep into my voice to let him know I wasn’t someone he could mess with.
“I-I-I meant no insult,” the chief said in a hurried voice. “How many people travel with you? Is there space for them all?”
“We will spread out into the trees,” I said. “We came with the Trahana tribe and the many others with them. More are coming, Chief Wombutu says.”
“There is a first time for everything,” the chief replied, and his eyes flicked to Mahini. “Will she eat?”
“Who, Mahini?” I laughed. “She’s fully alive. She’ll eat just like you and me, Chief…?”
“Chief Takini,” the man grunted. “Most already know me.”
“I’ll know you by name next time,” I promised.
“Next time?” Takini narrowed his eyes.
“Oh, yeah,” I chuckled, but then I switched into the common tongue of Sorreyal, so the chief could no longer understand me.
“This could go even better, so I’m going to try again. I have to get one hundred percent completion, you know.”
Then I reset back to my save point with a wave of my will.
Chime.
I had a few ideas for ways I wanted to change things, but the main one was that my entrance needed to be more majestic and magical. I wanted to wow the entire village of tribespeople, and to do that, I needed to draw out the crowd. So, I needed Mahini’s reveal to be more spectacular, and the acceptance of the situation by her mother could be sped up a little.
Plus, the God of Time should already know the chief’s name.
I wasn’t lying when I told the chief I wanted one hundred percent completion, and that meant every side quest had to be done perfectly.
This time, however, things went much smoother from the very beginning.
Once I laid out all my plans to the women, we exited the carriage and began our preparations. We allowed the Trahana tribe to take the lead into the Chunga Oasis this time, and then we proceeded to emerge from the tree line with musicians playing all around us.
The music alone seemed to draw people out of the woods, and soon, a large crowd gathered around my wagon. Most of the tribespeople were trained to fight, so they weren’t worried about their own protection against a few foreigners, but Zenda tried to make herself smaller beneath their scrutiny.
“They won’t hurt you,” I murmured to the beautiful historian.
“Nothing can happen while I’m around.”
“Thank you, Bash,” the Zaborian breathed, and she straightened her shoulders before she put on a brave face. “Let’s do this.”
I proceeded to announce my intentions, but this time I got a much better reaction from the audience. Herd mentality took in, and once a few people gasped, everyone else had to join in as well.
Soon, I had a horde of tribespeople hanging on my every word as I recounted my other miracles and exploits.
Then I got to the good stuff. I announced that I would bring Mahini back from the dead, and I saw Aranini push her way to the front of the crowd at my words. The chief stayed beside her, and he placed a comforting hand on her arm as they waited for me to continue. This time, there was no room for argument as the crowd demanded proof of my magical abilities, so I went forward with the pretend ritual once more.
The Trahana tribe gathered around behind the Kimaku tribe, but I was only speaking in my wife’s tribe’s language, so the newcomers weren’t likely to understand all of my words.
The lack of a common tongue was very frustrating.
“Listen to me, Great Spirits of the Beyond!” I said in a voice loud enough for everyone nearby to hear. “Answer the call of the God of Time!”
I paused for dramatic effect, and then I closed my eyes, but this time, the tension in the air reached an unbearable peak.
“Send your power into me!” I commanded the sky yet again.
“Allow me to undo the strings of time!”
There were a few confused and astonished whispers among the warriors who surrounded us, but for the most part, everyone merely stared in rapt fascination. Then the grove fell silent except for the sound of running water and my voice, and I lifted my words up into the air.
“Release Mahini ealaa Kimaku tribe from the bounds of death!”
I shouted. “Bring her back into this vessel!”
I gestured at the covered-up body again, and I still couldn’t resist adding a little jazz to my fingers.
Mahini suddenly gasped and pretended to come alive once more. This time, Aranini immediately burst into tears and fell to her knees, but the words she sobbed sounded like gratitude more than anything else. The chief comforted the mother as I helped the daughter to her feet, and then the crowd went nuts. Everyone roared their approval, and the applause and stomps were deafening.
I took Mahini by one hand, and I had her twirl around to show the audience how alive she was. The desert goddess spun in a circle beneath my fingers, and she did a little bow to another round of applause.
Then Mahini crossed the distance to where her mother knelt in the mud, and my wife lowered herself to the ground to wrap her arms around her mom.
“Mama,” Mahini said. “I’m alive!”
Chief Takini and Chief Wombutu both approached me from opposite directions, and both of their faces looked eagerly curious to speak with me. I held up my hands to stall them, and I jerked my chin toward the two women. The leaders of the tribes picked up on my meaning, and they paused their approach a few paces away.
A few moments later, Mahini and Aranini rose to their feet, but they didn’t let go of each other. Tears streamed down both of their faces, but there were smiles in their eyes.
“There will be a feast to honor this miracle,” Chief Takini announced in a loud voice, but then he repeated the words in a different tongue, and I had to assume he was saying the same thing to the Trahana tribe, but I didn’t know for sure.
I had to learn all the different dialects before the end of the day.
“In order to have a feast, we must first Hunt,” I said in a godly voice. “As chief of my own tribe, I will represent my people on the Hunt.”
“Very well,” Chief Takini said, but then he switched into the other dialect to speak with Chief Wombutu. I picked up on some of the words, but not everything. It seemed like it was mostly a formality necessary when two chiefs meet.
Then the two men bowed deeply to each other, and they swiveled on their heels to march in opposite directions. I resisted the urge to laugh at their haughty airs, but it was probably intimidating to be around a god. I turned my focus to the mother and daughter whispering sweet nothings to each other, and I gestured around at the grove.
“We should set up camp,” I said. “Before we leave on the Hunt.”
“Be careful, husband,” Mahini said in the common tongue of Sorreyal.
Mahini’s mother looked at her sideways with an air of suspicion. “When did you learn the foreigners’ tongue?”
“The night the men came to our village,” Mahini lied smoothly.
Aranini didn’t question her daughter any further, and she led us into the tent village along the water’s edge as she muttered something about tea. I followed along behind the two women, but I scanned over the campsite as we went. There were lots of cooking fires and bonfires, and I could easily pick out the chief’s dwelling from the others based on how lavishly it was decorated.
Fresh hides were everywhere, and containers of water were being rolled into holding stakes. People were hard at work everywhere I looked, and it seemed like the oasis was steadily being picked clean of all its resources.
I wondered briefly what it would look like after the gathering of the tribes was over.
Aranini led us inside a squat dwelling that smelled of herbs and soap, and the older woman gestured to the colorful cushions spread over a rug across the floor. Mahini took my hand and led me toward the seating area, but it was only a couple of moments later when her mother had a tray full of tea supplies placed in front of us.
The shrewd woman’s gaze flicked to Mahini’s hand joined with mine, and her ice-blue eyes narrowed once more. Even though she
was convinced her daughter was alive, it seemed the midwife still had some suspicions about our story.
We sat and sipped our tea in silence for a while, but Aranini’s eyes never left her daughter’s face. Then the two slipped into a calm conversation about everything that had happened with the tribe since Mahini’s “death.” It soon became obvious that my wife wasn’t going to explain about the baby just yet, so I decided to go get ready for the Hunt instead.
“I’ll be back,” I said, and I planted a sweet kiss on my wife’s cheek before I bowed my head to her mother. “Aranini, thank you for the tea.”
“Yes, yes, anything, Great One,” the midwife gushed, and she reached out to squeeze both my hands warmly. “Thank you for bringing my daughter back to me.”
“It was really the least I could do,” I said.
Then I dipped my head and left the structure, but I paused outside the doorway to scan the area for the chiefs. I spotted the two men sitting outside the most lavish dwelling, so I quickly crossed the distance to them and greeted them with a wave of my hand.
“Who else is going on the Hunt?” I asked.
“Both of us are,” Chief Takini explained. “We will represent our tribes. The other leaders will join as well.”
“I like the idea of a leaders only Hunt,” I said. “What are we hunting?”
“The best catch we can find,” Chief Wombutu laughed. “What else?”
“When are we leaving?” I pressed. “I need to grab my gear.”
“As soon as the other tribal leaders arrive,” Chief Takini said, and he jerked his chin toward the line of people unloading carriages and camels. “It may be twilight.”
I nodded and turned toward our campsite, but I ran into Riondale along the way.
“I’ve secured a perimeter, sir,” the general reported. “And I have watchers at every hundred paces.”
“Very good, Ri-Guy,” I said, but I found myself using a lilting accent common among the desert people. It made me think of the possibility of a common tongue everyone could understand, and an air of determination filled my chest.
Eva and Zenda were waiting for me at the campsite, and Nameless was inside our dwelling on his travel roost. Already the
tent-like structure felt like home, but I had a passing craving for the two women who’d remained in Bastianville.
There would be time to give Elissa and Caelia attention later, but first I needed to get my obsidian bow and some arrows. My dragon scale armor was enchanted with muffling spells, so I pulled on my full set of gear before I strapped my bow to my back. I also added my panabas just in case, since I felt naked without their weight on my hips. Then I added a dagger for good measure because the smaller blade would make it easier to field dress the game.
Once I was all ready to go, I gave each woman a goodbye kiss, and then I whistled for the tiny dragon. The bulldog-sized lizard-like creature squawked before he flew a few paces to my shoulders, but the weight of him was heavy on my back. It wouldn’t be long before he was too big for me to carry, but as it was, he was able to get a good view of everything going on around him, so he seemed content to cling to my back like a baby monkey.
By the time I returned to Chief Takini’s dwelling, three other warriors stood at the ready with weapons strapped across their backs. I saw some short spears as well as bows, so I was satisfied that everyone was fully armed. If the tribespeople fought with
anything close to Mahini’s skill, then I had nothing to worry about on this Hunt.
I was concerned about the age and size of the two chiefs, but I assumed their presences were more ceremonial than practical. They didn’t look like they could catch a turtle, but appearances could be deceiving, so I reserved my judgement until after I saw them in action.
“Let the Hunt begin!” Chief Takini brandished his spear in the air as he shouted up at the sky. Birds sang as they left their roosts, and the warriors added their voices to the song.
We were trotting through the trees a moment later, but I tried to maintain a position near the front of the pack. Before the campsite of the tribes was completely out of sight, however, I made a new save point so I could reset and show everyone how awesome I was.
A few jackrabbits hopped out of their cover ahead, and one of the warriors behind me took out a furry beast with a sling and a rock.
The veiled warrior kneeled beside the stunned rabbit, and he swiftly jerked the creature’s neck until the bones snapped. Then the animal was strung by the heels at the warrior’s waist, and the hunt continued.
We soon emerged from the cover of the trees into the glaring hot sunlight of the desert, and I already missed the moist smell of the water in the oasis behind us. I wasn’t about to show any signs of weakness in front of the tribal leaders, though, so I took a deep breath and lifted my chin to a proud angle.
I scanned over the empty landscape, but then a rumbling vibrated the ground beneath my feet. I didn’t know the word for sandworm in the language of any of the tribes, but judging from the looks on their faces, they already knew what was coming.
I stood shoulder to shoulder with the two chiefs, and the rest of the warriors fanned out behind us as we waited for the monstrous creature to break out of the depths of sand. My heart pounded in my ears, but I’d managed to kill several of the beasts before, so it was more excitement than fear.
“Be careful,” Chief Takini warned. “They have thick skin.”
“Don’t worry,” I said. “I know what to do.”
The God of Time was needed to kick some major ass, so that’s what I was going to do.