Chapter 4 Part 3

Darkness was everywhere weighing heavily on her chest. Calista knew that she was about to die when the sand covered her head. The snake-thing had dove into the sand almost on top of her. The thing missed its death strike, but its passage into the desert depths had drawn her down under the sand with it.

The mass of the sand had squeezed the breath out of her almost immediately, and even as she completed the thought that she was dying her consciousness slowly slipped from her.

From the very edge of the blackness of unconsciousness, she felt the sand move beneath her. Surely it was the monster returning to finish dinner. It was only proper perhaps that her last thoughts were a silent prayer for her lost love, Sam.

Suddenly, however, she was free of the sand and falling through open air. With a ferocity known only to those on the verge of asphyxiation, she inhaled life sustaining air. Totally disoriented, she was slammed in the back by a rough wall and sent tumbling along a sandy floor until she lay still on cold stone.

There in the darkness, she lay listening to the hissing of flowing sand. A deeper sound was that of the snakes movement. The thing was moving away. After a few moments, the only sound left was that of the sand.

Calista lay still in the darkness hardly daring to breathe. Time passed and she grew bolder with each minute. Sam was depending on her and the others. What if she was all that was left? Somehow she had to survive to get out. Sitting up, she rubbed at some sore spots where there were undoubtedly bruises.

A sound to her right drew her attention and she faintly made out the silhouetted outline of a giant structure nearby. A light brightened and from around the edge of the structure she saw the unmistakable head of a torch being carried by a familiar yellow-eyed halfelf.

"Avery?"

"Hello," The ranger greeted her back. "That was a close one wasn't it?"

"What happened?" she asked.

"We got sucked under the sand," Avery explained. "Then the worm burrowed into this chamber and we fell through the roof." He used the torch light to show her the giant mound of sand that she had thought was a structure in the darkness. "The sand is still pouring into this cave from that hole in the roof. It won't stop until the mound gets high enough to plug it up."

"Are we alone?" the girl asked looking around.

"I’m not sure," Avery replied as he walked past her. "Come on and let's find out."

They found Armegon laying face down on the stone floor. An ugly bruise on his left temple gave them some cause for concern and Calista held her breath as Avery checked the mage over. Finally the ranger leaned the mage up against a pile of sand. "He's going to be fine," he assured the anxious girl. "He should come to in a few minutes, he just got beaned good."

"Beaned?"

Avery patted the girl's shoulder. "Hit on the head," he explained. "You stay here with him. I’m going to look around."

Calista did as she was asked. Avery left her in the darkness with Armegon. She could see the torch wandering off in the distance. Armegon's breathing was the only thing besides herself and the soft hiss of sand she could detect.

In the distance the torch disappeared around the curve of the sand mountain. Several long minutes later it reappeared on the far side. Avery returned.

"I don't see any sign of the others," he said.

"Do you think they are buried under all that?" Calista asked indicating the sand mountain.

"No," Armegon said sitting up. He rubbed his head carefully. "Did you see a rather tall white rabbit with a pocket watch pass this way?"

Avery laughed. "No but there was a smiling cat sitting on a rock over there," he said gesturing to his left. Calista looked closely, but could not see any sign of the creatures recently mentioned.

"I saw Ruk, Ganatar and Ultrecht get thrown clear of the area when the monster came up. They’re probably still up there and worried about us," Armegon explained. "For that matter, where are we?"

"I’d venture to guess that we’re in a cavern beneath the desert. That giant worm seems to have burrowed through the bedrock into these catacombs," Avery informed him. "It looks like these tunnels are its natural habitat."

"Are we in any immediate danger?" Armegon asked.

"From the worm? Not that I am aware of." Avery and Calista gave Armegon a hand in getting to his feet. "I think the critter is long gone."

"Which way?"

"I can’t be sure, but it looks like there has been fresh passage in that direction," Avery answered pointing back behind him.

"Then which way do we go?" Calista asked.
Avery glanced at Armegon. The mage frowned. "Give us the straight deal," he said.

Avery cleared his throat. "I’m just not sure," he said. "We got turned around pretty good during that fall. My sense of direction was upset. I'm afraid the best I can do is make some guesses."

"Then guess away," Armegon urged irritably. "Right now we aren't getting anywhere."

Avery stared off into the darkness. "Let's follow the worm," he suggested. "There’s no logical reason that we’ve seen for the creature to have changed its direction after burrowing, and it was originally headed in the same direction as we were."

"I hope you are sure of that," Armegon said reluctantly. "Otherwise we are going to have a lot of trouble getting out of here."

"We'll get out," Avery assured them. "Even if we have to capture that worm and get him to dig a hole for us to escape, we'll get out." They retrieved their scattered belongings and Avery led them around the sand mound to a place where the sand was scattered down a side tunnel. "The worm went this way."

"How are we going to mark the path?" Armegon asked.
"There are probably other sand mountains like this," Calista hypothesized. "Every time that snake or worm or whatever it is went up or down he probably left a mountain of sand."

"Cal's right," Armegon agreed.

"Well we could leave a sand trail or something," Avery suggested.

"That means we’ll have to carry a lot of sand," Armegon disagreed. "Sand is heavy."

"I think that we can do it by just marking turns," Avery continued. "And if there are as many sink holes as we suspect, then we’ll encounter plenty of sand. That means we won’t have to carry much sand."

"All right," Armegon conceded. "After you," he gestured for Avery to take the lead.
The ranger filled a small sack with sand and then took a handful from the mound and dropped it on the floor. Then he knelt and drew an arrow pointing in the direction which they were to take. "If we pass this way again we’ll know it by this," he explained.

The trio set out with a single torch carried aloft by Calista as she followed the ranger. Armegon carried a sack of sand across his shoulder and brought up the rear. The path they traveled upon was a winding tunnel roughly circular. They passed two side passages, both on the same side, before they arrived at a second sand pile nearly half an hour later.

"He returned to the surface here," Avery announced. "And that ends our visible trail."

"How now brown cow?" Armegon asked.

Calista did not even look for the animal this time. She was certain there were no cattle about.

Avery dropped some sand on the floor and drew a reversed arrow to show from which direction they had come. Then he led them around the sand pile. Again he made his directional mark. "We go this way," he announced.

"Any reason why?" Armegon asked.

"Because it’s better than standing around," Avery answered, "and because this is the general direction the worm was headed."

Again they took off into the darkness. This time, however, they realized they were in a natural cavern instead of a bore hole. Avery, trusting to his ranger's sense of direction maintained a direction consistent to the direction the worm had taken.

"Armegon?" Calista asked to pass the time.

"Yes?"

"There are a lot of times I don't understand what you’re talking about. You and Avery and Ultrecht, I mean."

"Such as?"

"While ago you were talking about a brown cow. There aren't any cows down here."

Avery snickered.

"It’s just an expression, dear," the mage said readjusting the sand bag.

"How about the white rabbit and the smiling cat?"

Avery laughed. "You might as well tell her the story," he said. "It'll pass the time."

Armegon sighed. "That referred to an experience we had when an associate of ours named Archibald brought in a cursed mirror that turned out to be a doorway to a pocket plane. "Apparently his daughter, a pretty young girl named Alice had gotten lost inside and we had to go and get her." Armegon shook his head with the memory. "That place was weird."

"It was a wonder we ever returned," Avery added.

"It was that dangerous?" Calista asked.

"Oh, no," Armegon assured her. "It wasn’t really dangerous, just abstract. I mean the place was crazy."

"I see," Calista said. "So you were talking about a previous experience."

"Right," Armegon assured her. "We often comment about things we’ve experienced."

"Ruk and I noticed," Calista said. She frowned. "Could you try to use references to things that we can understand?" she asked. "I mean it’s hard sometimes to follow what you're discussing when we haven't shared the same experiences."

"We’ll try," Avery said over his shoulder.

Two hours later they emerged from the tunnel in a large gallery. Avery marked their emergence point with sand, and walked out into the open darkness. After a few moments they came upon a sand pile which was conveniently near a small trickling spring. They paused long enough to replenish their sand supply and get some water.

"Well that complicates things somewhat," Avery muttered as he studied the spring winding off into the darkness.

"How's that?" Armegon asked.

"The spring goes in a different direction than the direction we have been following."

"How’s that bad?" Calista asked.

"Which way do we go?" Armegon asked.

"Well, I recommend we follow the same path," Avery suggested. "If it proves false, we can always follow the stream."

"Lead on then," Armegon said. They had little choice. Avery was really their only hope of survival as things were.

They continued onward, Avery lead the way showing no trace of the doubt and insecurity he was feeling. Never before had he been in such a state of uncertainty. The world they were in had no magnetic field that he could get direction from, there were no stars, sun, trail or anything else for him to follow.

The only indication that there was any chance of their finding a way out was that the flow of the water behind them had indicated slope. His instincts were in conflict with his training. Part of him wanted to follow the upward slope and the other part urged him to maintain the path they were on.

Eventually they would starve, or find an egress by means of elimination of choices. They could conceivably use their marking procedure to map out the entire underground until they located an exit.

The thought did occur to him that it might be possible that there was no exit at all. Avery pushed that thought to the back of his mind, but his thoughts came back to haunt him when their path ended in a solid rock wall with no signs of passage.

"Well I guess the decision has been made for us," Armegon observed. "The stream it is."

They returned to the spring and marked the dead end as such then marked the new direction of travel. The stream swirled and deepened as tributaries joined it at irregular intervals. Armegon and Avery agreed that they must be near the water table for such behavior to exist. Calista questioned their discussion and was treated to an abbreviated, but informed course in hydrology. "Ultrecht would be able to explain it better," Armegon told her. "Ask him to sometime. Knowledge is always useful."

After two hours of following the stream, they decided to take a break. Tired and hungry they broke out rations and rested. While resting Calista formed another question.

"Avery?"

"Yes?"

"If we are underground, and water flows downhill, why are we following the stream? All it’s going to do is take us deeper."

Armegon sat up straight and listened for the ranger's reply.

Avery stretched his legs and then lay flat on his back. "Which way would you have preferred we go?"

"I don't know," Calista admitted. "But I would not think we would go deeper."
"Well we aren't going this way because it goes downward," the ranger told her. "We are going this way because it is a marked direction. We want to follow the easy paths before we try to map out these caverns."

"I still don't understand that," the young woman complained.

Avery patted her shoulder. "Go to sleep," he advised. "We may have to do a lot of walking before we get out of here."

Armegon listened a little longer before he drifted off to sleep. When he again woke, Avery was moving about in the darkness.

"How long did we sleep?" Armegon asked.

"How should I know?" was the reply. "There’s absolutely no way to keep time here." We may have slept one hour or fifteen. How do you feel?"

"A little stiff if the truth be told," Armegon replied with a stretch and a yawn.

"That is a good indicator of a long sleep," Avery replied. "Do you feel refreshed, or lazy?"

"What do you mean?"

"The body usually rejuvenates itself in about eight hours," Avery explained. "If you sleep more than ten, you tend to wake up feeling lazy."

"In that case I’d say that we slept a long time, because I wouldn’t mind taking the day off," Armegon considered his own words. "Assuming that it is day, that is."

"Annoying isn't it," Avery agreed.

"What's annoying?" Calista asked with a creaky voice.

"Not knowing whether it’s night or day," Armegon replied.

"I'll say," the young woman agreed. "So what do we do now?"

"Continue onward," Avery recommended.

"How about some light?" Calista asked.

Avery and Armegon, being half elves could see heat in the darkness and had extinguished the torches to preserve their life. However, solid rock did not normally radiate heat so even though they could see each other, they could not see their environment. So, in response to Calista's request, Armegon lighted a torch.

With light to guide them, they continued their exploration of the catacombs. Avery led them for another hour when they happened upon something unusual. A side passage was carved into the solid stone beneath an engraved archway.

"Now that looks promising," Armegon observed. "I don't recognize the language nor the alphabet, but at least it’s some sign of intelligence. Maybe that tunnel leads to a way out."

"I hope so," Avery said as he marked the new direction on the floor. "Let's find out."
They began walking up the tunnel in a better mood. At least they now had a reasonable hope of getting out of the underworld, as Calista had dubbed it.

There was more good news. Avery announced after about ten minutes that he believed the passage was leading upward. That information lifted Calista's spirits drastically until they came across a broken skeleton.

"Now that’s not what I wanted to see," Avery muttered as they passed the derelict.

"Keep going," Armegon advised. "If we stop for too long we might join him."

After another two hours, Calista requested a rest stop. Avery agreed and Armegon began to prepare another torch. The one he was using was almost burned out.

The mage wrapped the new torch and set it to flame. "That’s strange," he said as he held the newly lighted torch up. The flames flickered wildly. Avery stood and sniffed the air. Then he spun and gazed back down the passage they had come from. His eerie yellow eyes seemed to be boring through the darkness.

Suddenly Avery yanked Calista to her feet. "Run," he whispered to his companions as he grabbed Armegon's torch and bolted on ahead.

Calista was not privy to half the knowledge of her compatriots, but she knew enough to follow Avery's order without question. She race as fast as her feet would carry her after the ranger with Armegon hot on her own heels.

A scraping sound behind her caused her to glance backward involuntarily and she could make out the dim flicker of the old torch in the distance where Armegon had dropped it. Suddenly into the dim light glided the massive form of one of the giant burrowing snakes. Panic and fear overcame the fatigue in her legs and Calista pushed her self faster.

Avery sprinted along effortlessly even though he carried the heaviest pack of the trio. He was thankful for Armegon's warning when the torch had started wavering. The snake was so large that it's motion through the tunnel had caused air currents to flow in front of it as it moved. That was the only warning they would have gotten before it would have been too late. Fortunately Armegon had noticed it.

They ran for what had to be twenty more minutes before the scraping died down. Apparently the snakes could not sustain long endurance chases. He pulled up to a rapid walk.

"Is it still back there?" Calista panted.

"I don't see its heat," Armegon reported with relief.

"That was close," Avery added.

"Can we stop and rest?" Calista asked.

"I think we’d better keep going," Avery advised. "I want to put as much distance between us and that thing as we can."

"For that I’ll keep walking," Calista agreed.

They walked on for another two hours before Avery decided to stop. "We have a problem," Avery announced. "We’re running low on torches. If we stop and rest, we may not have any torches left when it comes time to leave again. On the other hand, the torches are our best method for telling when one of those worms is approaching."

"Isn't there anything else we can use?" Calista asked.

"It did make a scratching sound as it crawled," Armegon recalled. "Maybe if we rest in a state of readiness, we can run as soon as we hear the noise."

"I don't think we have much choice," Avery agreed. After that forced march at such a quick pace they were fairly tired. "We do need the rest."

Armegon sat down but did not take his pack off. Calista did likewise. Avery took their last torch and prepped it to light. "If I hear anything, I’ll light this torch and wake you up. Be ready to run immediately." With that, he snuffed out the waning light of the torch.

Avery leaned back against the cold stone wall. He strained his ears for any sound that something was approaching.

Alone in the darkness, Avery's imagination began to play tricks on his hearing. Every sound possible to hear, he was hearing. But the one sound he was listening for never came.

Armegon woke first. Avery estimated that they had rested for three hours as he lighted a torch.

Armegon woke Calista, who leaped to her feet and looked about wildly. "Nice reflexes," the mage commended. "Calm down girl," he told her. "We’re just getting ready to leave and the worm’s not here."

Calista yawned. "Well it wasn't much of a rest, but at least it was one."

Avery shouldered his own pack and resumed the journey without a word. Calista and Armegon followed.

They walked another hour before Avery stopped and knelt to the floor. "Got something?" Armegon asked.

"Maybe," Avery answered. "Cut stone. This floor was not worn by erosion but was cut instead. That’s a good sign." They walked on and the hoped for signs of civilization began to appear.

"Steps," Avery noted as they stood at the foot of a narrow set of stairs cut in the stone.

"We needed a ranger to tell us that?" Calista asked mockingly.

Avery swung around slowly and fixed her with a critical eye. He studied her for a moment then glared at Armegon. "You’re a bad influence on this girl," he said.

The mage frowned and shook a finger at Calista. "Now you behave, young lady," he said with a wink followed by a smile. Then when Avery began climbing the steps, Armegon leaned closer. "That’s one point for you," he whispered. "Good job. But you had better keep your guard up from now on because you’re now playing the great game of cut downs, and Avery’s had years of practice."

The steps were long, and Avery led the way carefully. He was unsure of the structure's stability. They climbed steadily upward for the better part of ten minutes before arriving at a landing with a heavy wooden door at the far end. The door was closed and only a large metal ring adorned its surface.

"Any bets that it is unlocked?" Armegon asked.

"The way our luck has been holding out," Calista insinuated, "that would be a foolish bet."

Armegon frowned and glanced sidelong at Avery. "You're right. She is getting a little sharp tongued, but she didn't learn it from me."

"I can hardly wait to hear her tear into Ultrecht," Avery added.

"Would you two stop yapping and open the door," Calista scolded. "Our last torch is down to its last few flickers."

"Yes ma'am," Avery replied.
Armegon and Avery turned their attention to the door. "I think we should pull on the ring," Armegon suggested.

"Be my guest," Avery relinquish his place to the mage.
"Oh no you don't," Armegon put up both hands. "This is your job, not mine."

Avery frowned. "Blindly trying doors that may be trapped is not my job at all," he corrected. "That honor belonged to Norwind and Keeneye. Now it’s Ruk's."

"And now it’s yours," Armegon pointed out.

"You’re both wimps," Calista said as she reached out and grasped the ring and gave it a good pull.

The two halfelves were flabbergasted and both held their breaths. But the door swung open with nothing more than a ageless creak. Avery and Armegon glanced at each other momentarily then their gaze shifted to Calista.

"You are both paranoid," she nagged. "You overlooked the obvious. Considering how we got down here, do you really think this door was meant to keep people from escaping? No," she continued. "This door is obviously to separate these caverns from that hallway," she gestured through the door where a well carved corridor beckoned. "Apparently the caverns are a storage area. Who locks a closet?"

With that, the young woman stormed past the mute halfelves in a huff. She had had enough of their boyish games. Sam was in trouble, and these imbeciles were too scared to open a closet or pantry door.

"Now see here," Armegon snapped at the young woman's passing form. "I agree we may be acting overly cautious, but that’s no reason to get rude."

Avery's reply was even simpler. "Yeah."

"Then get your collective half-breed butts motivated," Calista snapped back. "Time is wasting."

Avery and Armegon followed obediently. "Okay miss leader," Avery said with a smirk, "you may take the point." He passed her the torch.

Calista took the torch and headed cautiously up the hall. Avery was about to follow, when Armegon caught his elbow. "Do you know what you're doing?"

"Don't worry," Avery advised. "I'll keep an eye on her. Besides this’ll do her some good." Avery grinned then turned and followed Calista.

Calista was still fuming, but at least they were moving again. She also felt a pang of pride as her comrades felt confident enough in her to allow her to lead the way; either that or they were just letting her take the lead so that she could make a mistake.

The hall was not very long, and there was an old door about midway along the left wall. The door was ajar, and displayed an small room that was mostly empty with the exception of a scattering of old mining tools. A few picks and shovels lay broken randomly about the chamber.

Calista ordered, though it sounded more like a polite suggestion, Avery to retrieve the broken handles to use for spare torches. While the halfelf complied, Calista continued scouting out the hall. She felt more than a little smug about her cleverness in replenishing their torch supply. She glanced over her shoulder briefly to see Avery and Armegon following about three steps behind her.

At the end of the hall was an archway that led into an intersection. Which way now, she wondered to herself. Taking a newly lighted torch she held it out before her. The torch flickered lazily but surely showing a light, barely detectable breeze. "This way," she murmured, and turned to walked into the breeze.

"Why?" Avery asked.

Calista was about to make a smart reply to his question when it hit her that he was asking her to justify her choice. It was a legitimate question, she decided. With her in the lead, they were trusting her to choose the right path. They were placing their safety in her hands. "Because this is the direction the breeze is coming from," she answered with a poorly disguised bit of false bravado.

"Why walk into the breeze? Why not follow it," the ranger asked.

"Because it’s fresh air?" She was still not sure of herself, but this time she was not trying to hide it.

"What does that mean?" Armegon asked.

“That means the air is coming from outside," Avery explained. "If the air was originating from inside it would smell musty of stale."

Calista smiled. She had correctly passed Avery's little test.

"What other reason, Cal?" Avery was still after another answer.

Calista was clueless. She finally admitted her ignorance. "I don't know."

Avery smiled and put a hand on her shoulder. Instead of chastising her, he would help her draw a new conclusion. "How long have we been in this world?"

"A long time," she answered. None of them really knew how much time had elapsed.

"And every time we entered a structure, with the exception of the first one, what’s happened?"

"We were attacked."

Avery agreed. "Right. So what should we expect?"

"To be attacked?"

"Not necessarily to be attacked," Avery corrected, "but that there are others in this structure along with us is very possible."

"So?"

"If we walk with the breeze to our backs, the breeze will carry our scents ahead of us and announce our coming to any who are interested," Avery explained. "If we walk into the breeze, it is we who gain the warning."

"The wind’ll still carry our scent behind us," Calista pointed out.

"It will," Avery agreed, "but anyone wanting to attack us will have to come and get us, not sit and wait for us to walk into a trap."

Calista understood. She offered the torch to Avery so that he may resume the lead. The halfelf nodded in refusal. "No," he said. "You’re doing just fine. Keep going."

Calista was pleased in the ranger's confidence in her. She enthusiastically turned and
pressed onward.

"Are you sure she can do this so soon?" Armegon asked quietly.

"No problem," Avery confided. "She’s not going to get into any trouble unless she blatantly trips a trap and I’m watching for that."

"What if we get attacked? She’s the prime target."

"The only thing ahead of us with its scent on the wind is a sweaty minotaan," Avery admitted. "I caught wind of Ultrecht and Ruk the moment we got to the intersection. That’s why I suspect that we’re in the Tower."

"Well I bet their path was easier than ours was," Armegon muttered.
Avery chuckled and followed Calista.

Armegon grimaced. Well at least they had an idea of where they were. He wondered why Avery had not mentioned the unicorn.

Calista had stopped near another archway. Avery pulled up next to her. "What is it?" he asked.

The young woman pointed to the dusty floor. A wavering black line seemed to float back and forth across the accumulated dust. "What’s that?" she asked.

Avery slowly reached out his hand. The air currents had the torch flickering lazily, and the result was a similar motion in the shadow of the half elf's hand. To their surprise, the shadowy hand was mocked by the mysterious black line in the dust. "It's a shadow," the ranger deduced.

Avery took out a long dagger and slowly extended the blade flatly across the surface of the dust. When the blade crossed the shadowy line, the different color of the dagger exposed a tripwire only a few inches above its blade.

"The wire is the same color as the dust and floor," Avery observed. "That makes it almost invisible." He patted Calista on the back. "You have sharp eyes to catch that," he commended.

"What do we do now?" she asked.

"You decide," Avery told her. "You’re in the lead."

"I’m asking for advice," Calista replied coolly. "Give me at least enough credit to know when I need help."

Avery laughed. "Well said, Cal. Okay look at how the wire’s attached."

Calista peered at the wall where the string disappeared into a small hole. The other end did likewise. "I can't tell," she complained. "It just goes into these holes and that’s all."

"So is the trap tripped by pulling on the wire or by breaking the wire?" Armegon asked as he joined the conference.

"I don't know," Calista repeated.

"Then we can’t decide how to disarm the trap," Avery pointed out. "So we bypass it."

"Just don't step on the wire right?" Calista asked.

Avery flipped his dagger around and caught the blade. with the handle, he tapped on the floor under his feet. The resulting sound was a high pitched knock like that of metal on stone. Then he did likewise on the floor near the wire shadow. This time a hollow thunking heralded the striking of metal on metal. Avery grunted and nodded to himself. "Trap door," he announced. "I wouldn't advise stepping on it at all. Some traps like this have two triggers. It might trigger when stepped on as well."

Calista took her own knife out and tossed it underhanded a few feet ahead. The object sounded announcing a stone floor in that spot. "We jump," Calista suggested. "It’s not very far."

Armegon drew his saber. Waving it in the air over the trap door, he checked for any other wires. "It’d be very disappointing if you tripped another wire trap when you were leaping safety from this trap. " he cautioned the girl. "It’s true that we can’t detect every trap that we pass, but when we find one, taking a little extra caution isn’t being paranoid."

When they found no other tripwires, nor any evidence of any other traps, Calista passed her pack to Avery. "Since this is my plan," she announced, "it’s my duty to test its safety."
The ranger just nodded.

"Be careful," urged Armegon.

Calista took a couple of steps back and then made a running leap forward. She came down planting her foot precisely where the dagger had bounced. But the dust was very thick and made her footing slip. She fell as her feet skidded out from under and ahead of her. She fell on her back but on solid stone.

The jarring of the hit of the floor rattled her teeth and was followed a split second later by a pang of burning fire in her left leg. She sat up and was shocked to see the floor before her covered with long thin spikes. It appeared as if the dusty plain had erupted with a forest of tiny trees. One of those lethal trees had grown right through her left calf.

A thump to her right snapped her shocked mind back to the present as Avery landed and carefully walked into the forest of sharp spikes. He knelt next to her injury and cursed. "These things are barbed," he told Armegon.

Avery twisted Calista's foot in several different directions causing her enough pain that she had to work hard at not screaming bloody murder. "The good news is that the tendon’s intact. She’ll be able to walk again, but not until it heals on its own or we can get this Tower activated so that we can use magic.”

Armegon tossed Avery the packs and then he too leaped across the trap door. "That was a nasty trap," Armegon observed.

"Admire it later," Avery snapped worriedly. "Right now lift her leg a little. We have to break this spike. We can't back it out so we’ll have to run it on through."

Armegon complied and Avery, using his dagger like a chisel, broke the spike from its mount in the floor. When it was free, he cradled Calista's injured leg in his arms. Armegon rummaged through his pack and took out a pipe and some dried weed. He stuffed the weed into the bowl and lit the weed with his torch. "Here," he said. "Smoke this.”

Calista did as she was told. Having never smoked before, though, she coughed quite a bit before she was able to inhale very deeply. Slowly the pain subsided and she felt warm and mellow. In fact she giggled a bit after about half the weed was gone.

Armegon watched the weed Tyson had discovered take its effect on the girl. When half of the weed had been smoked, he moved between Calista's head and her foot obscuring her view of Avery. He watched Calista giggle as a smoke ring formed around her nose.

Behind him he heard Avery shift his weight in preparation for what had to be done. When Armegon was certain that the weed was in full effect on the patient, Armegon whispered over his shoulder directing Avery to proceed.

Avery nodded and grasped the bottom of the spike and in a hard surge, pushed it on through. Calista yelped as the sharp pain broke through the fog in her brain like a bolt of lightning.

"Got it," Avery announced as he tapped Armegon on the shoulder. The mage, was busy holding the girl down.

Avery then took a small vial from his own pack and rubbed some of its contents on the wound. Calista cringed as the alcohol bit at the exposed flesh. Then Avery applied a salve to stop the bleeding. After about ten minutes, Avery was finished and Calista was sitting upright with the help of the ranger.

"Very efficient," Armegon noted examining the trap. "The pressure plate here is to impale anyone following and the trap door is to get the leader. We’re lucky we were coming from the wrong direction."

They gathered their things and left with Avery carrying all three packs, and Armegon was carrying the young woman. They left the trap behind and Calista giggled mercilessly asking if they had anything to eat.

Avery and Armegon, both burdened with extra weight, moved on for another ten minutes. The hallway was bare, but made several turns and finally began a steep incline. They ascended the ramp and after another several minutes emerged at the top on a plateau that branched into three other passages where Armegon called a halt.

Calista's squirming and playfulness was making carrying the youth difficult and he requested they break long enough for the euphoric drug to wear off. Avery agreed, and took the time to examine the bindings on the young woman's leg for signs of bleeding.
After half an hour, Calista's mood changed radically. The pain was reimposing itself on her and her happiness disappeared. Calista complained that the pain was awful and she would rather be carried. Armegon proclaimed that he would be more than happy to let her lean on him as they walked, but he was not going to carry her another step.

Avery made the young woman stand on her feet and he read the pain in her eyes when she placed her weight on the injured leg. "You’re just going to have to deal with it for now," Avery told her. "When we find Ruk you can try to con him into carrying you."

Avery nodded to Armegon then continued. "In case you’ve forgotten, we are both paranoid and wimps. You said so yourself."

Armegon snickered, but Calista did not think the timing of the halfelf’s revenge was very appropriate. She granted that her hasty words at that door had been fiery and opened her for a reprisal, but she never imagined that her companions would treat her so. With a determination that belied more iron that she really possessed, she met their challenge.

"Fine," she said through clinched teeth. "I'll walk."

Armegon shook his head in wonder and grinned. He took one of the three packs. Avery shouldered the other two. They were after all just teasing the girl. True, she should exercise the leg or it would stiffen, but if she was in too much pain, they would not forsake her.

Avery checked his direction in the three tunnels and chose one. Calista, leaning heavily on Armegon's shoulder followed at a much slower pace leaving Armegon hoping there was no reason for them to run in the near future.

Chapter 4 Part 2

Ruk was the first to hear it. Whether his minotaan physiology had superior hearing, or his excellent stamina simply was not as tired as the others', was debatable, but the low hissing sound rising from the sand was anything but natural.

Ruk immediately jumped to his feet. As a second thought, he kicked the foot of the sleeping ranger. Though only two hours had passed since daybreak, Avery was instantly awake and standing beside the warrior.

No words were necessary. The ranger heard it too. "Wake the others," he urged Ruk. "I'll climb the dune and see what there is to see."

Avery leaped onto the side of a dune with the least amount of slope. Slowly so as to not cause too many avalanches of sand, he ascended the mound. Upon reaching the summit, Avery cautiously peered over the crest.

The view was spectacular, dunes like overlapping waves on sea spread out in all directions. Ahead, however a structure rose above the sand in the distance. Like a small mountain with straight sloping sides, the building was a shadow on the horizon.

The hissing sound grew louder and after a moment's search, Avery located the source. A small dune was moving rapidly in their direction. Intrigued, Avery reared up for a better view.

As the dune approached a gully, the crest broke revealing a creature resembling large snake, about one hundred meters long. The thing was a deep burgandy in color with magenta blotches on its hide and possessed a round many toothed maw devoid of jaws.

The worm or snake had a long body about twenty to thirty meters in diameter that tapered to a long tail with what appeared to be a stinger like that of a scorpion on the end. And it was burrowing through the dunes directly towards them.

Avery spared no caution as he sprinted down the slope. "Trouble," he announced as he ran down the dune. "Grab what you can and follow me."

"What is it?" Ruk asked.

"A snake," Avery said grabbing his pack and stuffing the blanket under the shoulder strap.

Ruk loosed his battle-ax. "You want me to behead the critter?"

"A big snake," Avery added. "A very, very big snake." He sprinted around the corner of the nearest dune. The others were hot on his heels. "There’s a structure on the horizon," he explained. "I make the distance about ten kilometers."

They were rounding a dune when the ground beneath them trembled slightly. Avery froze as did the others. The purple behemoth burrowed out from the side of the dune and across their path. The it dove straight down into the sand.

"A very, very, very big snake," Ruk agreed.

They watched it disappear into the sand. "Wow," Calista muttered. "I have never seen anything like that before in my life."

"Shh," Avery hissed, then whispered, "be silent."

"What is it?" Armegon whispered.

"The thing is lying beneath us," Avery whispered back.

Almost as soon as it was said, it was no longer true. The ground beneath them erupted upwards scattering them in all directions. Avery and Armegon fell to one side with Calista while Ruk, Ganatar, and Ultrecht were thrown over the crest of a dune. The trio tumbled down the backside and came to a rest in the gully between two dunes.

Quickly they regained their feet and circumvented the barrier of sand to rejoin their companions. But the sight that greeted them was unexpected. The sand was empty. There were footprints and a piece of cloth that Ruk identified as one of Calista's sleeves, but no other sign of the missing trio was visible.

"Where was that structure?" Ultrecht asked.

"Surely you are not going to give up on them," Ganatar asked shocked.

"There’s no need," Ultrecht replied. "There’s no one who can survive in unknown territory better than Avery, and that sword of his is the only operating magic in the area. If that thing got them we certainly won't stand a chance against it."

"You don't know that it got them," Ruk objected.

"Your right," Ultrecht agreed as he began climbing a dune. "Even if it didn't they aren't likely to stick around for long. We know where they were heading and they know we know. I’ve worked with Armegon and Avery for a long time. They’ll make for that structure and wait for us there. If we don't show up, they’ll assume we’ve perished, so let's get going."

Ruk glanced at Ganatar who shook his head tossing his mane. The unicorn suggested that climbing the dunes would wear them out further than they already were, so they should not climb the dunes, instead he and Ruk followed the contour around the side.

Ultrecht stood and gazed out at the dark structure in the distance. He pointed as he notified his fellows. "That way," he said. "If we climb a dune every now and then, we shouldn’t get too turned about." He slid down the back side. "It’s a large building, that’s for sure. Possibly it's the Tower we are looking for."

The trio wove their way through the dunes stopping occasionally for Ultrecht or Ruk to climb a dune and get their bearings. Truly enough, they were drawing nearer. By midday they were near enough to make out the shape. "A pyramid?" Ultrecht asked as Ruk rejoined Ganatar and himself at the foot of a tall dune.

"That is what it appears to be," Ruk assured him. "It’s very tall, though." He admitted that they were still to far to determine the number of faces the structure possessed, but the slope was too regular and no flaws could be detected for it to be a natural structure.
When night approached, Ultrecht and Ruk together climbed the nearest dune to judge their distance and progress.

"That’s odd," Ruk said as the saw the distant spire pointing skyward.

"What is it?"
The minotaan grunted. "We haven't gotten any closer than the last time I saw it."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes."
Ultrecht peered long at the horizon. "Let's get down," he said. "We need to rest."
Ganatar was anxious for news when the duet returned. Ruk passed on the grave news.

"Do you think we made a wrong turn?" the unicorn asked.

"No," Ruk insisted, but he also added that he could not be certain.

"I really think that we’re following a mirage," Ultrecht added. This world may be flat. If it really is an artificial world, the land may not be curved. If that’s true then a very large object at a great distance would seem closer than it really is."

"The other Towers did not seem that way," Ganatar remembered.

"We were dealing with an illusion in that situation," Ultrecht pointed out. The ice wall may actually have been much closer than we saw it as."

"Wouldn't Avery have told us?"

Ultrecht nodded. "True sight also has a drawback on occasion," he said. "Avery might have told us if he knew we were seeing the distance to the wall as something other than what it was. I think, however that my first impression is the correct one. I think the world is flat."

"I know many scholars who would mark you as insane for that last statement," Ruk remarked.

"Were they my contemporaries," Ultrecht sneered, "they would have made the same conclusion."

They finished the last of their water as dark fell. "This is going to get very uncomfortable," Ruk said as he drained his bottle. "I recommend we talk as little as possible. I once was on a ship for three days without fresh water. We lost a third of the crew. Talking was one of the problems. Every time you open your mouth water escapes your body. Avoid strenuous activity. Rapid breathing is worse than talking. Just keep a steady pace when we walk and try to avoid rough terrain. And lastly, at night sleep as much as possible. When you sleep your body slows down and conserves water."

Ultrecht and Ganatar agreed that Ruk's plan was good and when the next morning arrived, they set out across the desert again.

As planned very little was said. Ruk and Ultrecht took turns climbing the dunes to check their course, and spoke briefly to collaborate their plan. As darkness approached, Ruk mounted the dunes once more. He was certain this time that their destination was closer, yet still out of reach.

The next day came rudely. They were already beginning to feel the effects of dehydration setting in when they resumed the trek. Their legs moved noticeably slower and falls due to fatigue became more frequent. Thirsty, hungry and tired, they drove themselves onward in silence. Only the sound of the sand under their feet fell on their ears.

It was about an hour before dark when Ultrecht's turn to climb the dune came. From the top of the dune, he decided that if they hurried, they would make it before dark. The first thing he noted was that the structure was not a pyramid, as he had earlier though. Instead it was a massive cone shaped building.

Not that it was terribly important to finish the trek that day, but there near the base of the structure, was an outcropping of greenery suggesting an oasis. Water was one thing they needed badly. Already their lips were drying and they spoke very little. Ultrecht himself had gotten dizzy from dehydration several times that day already. They had long ago consumed the last of their water.

Returning to the others, he shared his view and opinion with them. They all agreed to try to quit the open desert before night. The promise of water was a strong incentive.

That last hour was very difficult. Ganatar fell twice to his knees and had to be helped up. If not for the unshakable stamina of the minotaan, they might have all perished within a few steps of relief, but Ruk emerged from the desert carrying Ultrecht and over half of the remaining baggage. Ganatar staggered slowly behind him.

The promised oasis glistened with flowing water. Nestled among a grove of palm trees, a fountain bubbled from an outcropping of sandstone and flowed down onto sand saturated by the wetness. The minotaan gently set his burdens down on the wet sand so that the cool wetness would draw some of the heat from his comrade.

Cautiously he tasted the beckoning liquid. Ruk offered a silent prayer of thanks that it was fresh water. He then drank a few sips. Being a sailor, he knew the dangers of drinking too much while dehydrated.

Encouraged, he retrieved Ultrecht and wiped his face and lips with water as well. For a human who was close to death from dehydration, Ultrecht showed considerable strength as he tried to put his mouth to the flood of life giving water. Fortunately, Ruk was stronger. "Later," he promised. "Just a little for now." Ganatar, too staggered forward and Ruk repeated his advice. The unicorn complied.

As darkness settled about them, Ruk filled the water bottles and huddled his charges together. In the fading light he slowly let them drink in larger and larger amounts over the next two hours. "No fire tonight," he muttered. "I have neither the strength nor the desire to move again until morning."

When morning arrived, the trio felt much better, but they were still weak. Ruk forced himself and the other two to drink all the water that they could hold. "Keep drinking until you have to relieve yourself often," he urged. "That’s how you will know your body has had enough water."

They spent the morning drinking water. By midday, they did not care if they never saw another drop, but they were much better off. They all were mobile again, if not weakly so. Another good sign manifested near dark, hunger returned. Ultrecht broke out some dried bread. He soaked it in water and munched slowly at first then greedily while Ganatar nibbled on fallen dates from a nearby tree.

Another night in the darkness, and when the second morning at the oasis arrived, they were strong enough to resume their mission, which Ultrecht pointed out was finding a way inside the tall conical structure.

A reconnaissance of the Tower revealed that it was featureless all along the base with no apparent entrances anywhere. What might be an opening near the top could be seen, but that was far too high to climb. The area about the Tower was that of a slow moving sea of sand. The Tower stood like a tide break with the sand of the desert waves breaking about it creating a calm shadow in its wake. It was in this area where the oasis had formed.

"I see no doors," Ganatar observed. "It is going to be very difficult to get inside without one."

"There has to be some way in," Ruk insisted. "It wouldn’t make sense for the thing to be here at all unless there was a way in."

"That may be it," Ultrecht added. "So far each time we’ve entered a Tower, there’s been some barrier or task that we had to complete first."

"I would think the desert was this Tower's task like the ice was the last one's," Ganatar offered.

Ultrecht agreed. "I’m sure it was," he said. "The first time there was the lake. Then inside the volcano was a trap. Once we got inside the Tower there were some things we had to fight and get around."

"The second Tower had a barrier of ice," Ruk recalled. "The trap was undoubtedly the spider web. The spiders sure didn’t go out of their way to help us."

"Then we can consider the desert as the first barrier," Ganatar deduced. "Then the trap or puzzle would be to gain entrance?"

"That would be my guess," Ultrecht agreed. "Then we’ll have to deal with whatever is inside. A dollar will get you ten that it won't be friendly."

Ganatar snorted then swung his head next to Ruk. "What is a 'dollar?'"

Ruk patted the unicorn's neck. "Don't worry about it," he said. "Ultrecht and the elves talk like that all the time. Calista insists that it’s some private joke from their distant pasts. It hasn’t got anything to do with us. He’s right, though. Whatever’s inside, it’s not going to be very hospitable."

"So how do we get inside?" Ultrecht asked more to himself than anyone else.

"Knock?" Both Ruk and Ultrecht frowned. Ganatar personally thought his joke was funny.

They returned to the oasis and sat by the fountain of water. Food was not running dangerously low yet, but that would not last. Water, the most precious commodity in the desert was in abundance at the moment.

The day wore on, and Ultrecht gazed out at the dunes bordering the oasis. Armegon, Calista and Avery were out there somewhere. It was an unsettling thought, but Ultrecht could not help being worried. Though they had not dwelt on the possible perishment of their comrades, the possibility was real. Ultrecht simply could not accept the idea that Avery would get so lost in the desert that they would fail to make it to the Tower where Ruk, Ganatar and himself had succeeded.

The only two possibilities that Ultrecht could not eliminate was that they were killed in the monster's attack, or they had already arrived and entered the Tower. The last option was even more unlikely, because it had not taken them long to reach the oasis themselves. Surely Avery, Armegon and the girl would have waited for them.

Ultrecht had to face the very real possibility that they were dead or trapped or lost in the desert. Either way, if Armegon and Avery could not handle the situation, there was very little that Ruk, Ganatar or he could do.

Ultrecht turned his attention back to the task at hand. Somehow they needed to get inside. He kicked at the thin layer of dust and sand that covered the rocky ground. The structure obviously blocked a great deal of sand drift. It probably was much deeper than normal on the other side of the Tower.

Ultrecht froze so as not to spoil his train of thought. A large pebble that had weathered the recent storm showed a miniature version of what he had just considered. On the windward side of the pebble sand was stacked up almost burying it. The leeward side was almost bare of any sand at all. That was it!

Ultrecht leaped to his feet and rushed Ruk who was drinking from the fount. "Put a cork in it," he said excitedly. "We have work to do and the day’s half over already."

Ganatar and Ruk followed the fanatical mage back around the Tower climbing the dunes as they went. Ultrecht reached the pinnacle of one built up against the conic structure and started digging in the sand. "The door is here," he shouted excitedly. "The wind simply has covered it up with sand."

Ruk looked to the left and then to the right. The Tower was very wide. Without a working crew of dozens of men and carts to carry the sand away, it would take weeks, maybe months to excavate the site until they reached the Tower's base. Even then there was no guarantee that a door would be found.

Ruk was almost ready to write Ultrecht off as having a mental breakdown, but damned if his claim didn't make sense. If a door was there, it would have been covered by sand.

The rest of the day was spent moving sand. When the light began to gray out again, they returned to the oasis to spend the evening. The next morning held a disappointing surprise. All of the sand that had been moved the day before had cascaded back into the shallow pit they had excavated.

"I can see that this will be a very trying task," Ganatar observed. He felt more than a little guilty about not doing any of the work, but his lack of manipulative limbs necessitated it.

"So it does," Ruk agreed. "If we can't keep the sand from falling back down into the pit, it may be a lost cause."

"I’m sure that we’ll come up with something," Ultrecht replied and rolled up his sleeves. Again the two bipeds began to shovel sand away from the side of the Tower.

Ganatar, again very embarrassed that all he could do was stand and watch wandered back to the oasis. The unicorn pondered for a couple of hours about how to go about keeping the sand out of the pit. The pit would stand as it was down to a certain depth, beyond that, the sides would avalanche.

Near midday, the unicorn took the water sack in his mouth and carried it back to the excavation site. He may not be able to dig, but he could give some assistance. The pit was fairly deep. Ultrecht stood a few feet from it's rim moving sand away from the pit edge.

Ruk was in the pit tossing sand out by the hands full. The pit was fairly deep.

Ganatar approached Ultrecht and offered the sack. The mage, working harder than he had done so in many years, gratefully accepted the gift. "Thank you."

"How goes the work," the unicorn asked.

"Hot," Ruk replied.

"I have brought some water," Ganatar explained. "If Ultrecht does not drain the sack in one swallow, you will get some." Ultrecht smiled as he wiped the moisture from his mouth.

"That hit the spot," he sighed.

At that moment a loud hiss was heard and both unicorn and human turned about to see a dust cloud hovering above the pit. As the haze cleared, they were shocked by the sight of two ebony forearms and hands emerging from the sand where the pit had caved in. The hands were reaching desperately for a hold on anything.

Dropping the water sack, Ultrecht and Ganatar ran to the rescue. Ganatar planted a strong leg next to the grasping hand and Ultrecht guided the minotaan's hand to the hand hold. The second hand immediately joined the first and Ganatar felt the pressure as Ruk struggled to pull himself upwards.

At the same time, Ultrecht urgently dug sand as fast as he could from the pit where Ruk's head must have been. The tall warrior would not survive for long without air. He quickly located one of the minotaan's horns at the expense of goring his hand on it. Ignoring the pain, he concentrated on that guide to the warrior's head.

Ruk was not giving up without a fight. With Ganatar's sure-footed anchor to pull from, Ruk inched himself upwards until exhaustion and lack of air drained the strength from his limbs.

Those inches proved to be precious, however, as Ultrecht cleared the long nose and mouth just in time to keep Ruk from losing consciousness. When the mage saw that Ruk was breathing he stopped digging.

"Don't speak," he warned. "The movement might trigger another avalanche. Just breathe. When you’re ready to keep working pull on Ganatar's leg."

Several long moments followed before the Minotaan resumed his struggle. With Ultrecht and Ganatar to help him, he soon had his shoulders free of the sand. They stopped to rest.

"This isn’t going to work," Ruk observed. "As soon as we get deep enough the sand falls in, and what’s worse is that I think we were on to something. There was an irregularity in the smooth wall emerging just before the sand fell."

"There has to be a way of getting the sand to pack together just a little more," Ultrecht insisted.

"There is," Ganatar announced triumphantly. Ruk and Ultrecht turned and were both struck by the same realization. Where Ultrecht had dropped the water sack, the contents had spilled out on the sand. There in the wet sand was a hoof print. The print was well defined and deep. The wet sand held its shape.

"Good show!" Ultrecht yelped. He experimentally pressed his fist into the wet sand. The shape held well.

"That may work after all," Ruk said. "And yet in this heat and dry air, I wonder how long the sand will remain wet? If it dries too quickly, we might find ourselves within reach of the entrance when the wall gives way."

"Then we must keep the water in the sand." Ganatar took the water sack in his mouth.

"You can carry a lot of water with each trip," Ultrecht agreed, "but you can’t effectively direct it's flow nor can you dig. Without careful distribution of the water, it may cause a cave-in as easily as if it were not there at all."

"Then let’s soak the ground over night," Ruk suggested. "That way in the morning the water will already be in place."

"There is no light at night," Ganatar complained.

"We can scout out the trip during the day," Ultrecht suggested. "We can set markers along the way, and then we can follow the markers in the darkness. All we have to do is dump water on the sand."

"You mean we set out markers between the sand and the oasis and go back and forth all night carrying water to pour on the sand?" The concept was not too difficult for Ganatar to believe, but there was a flaw. "By the next morning, won't you be too tired to dig?"

"Not really," Ultrecht assured him. "Ruk and I can fill and pour. That’s not a strenuous task. The hard part will be carrying the water overland and up the sand hill."

Ruk draped a midnight colored arm across the unicorn's neck. "Guess who gets to do the hard part?"

Ganatar snorted. "My island is beginning to look better by the minute," he remarked with a chuckle. Human and minotaan joined in on the laughter.

Together the trio returned to the oasis and managed to locate a collection of stones and dead wood from the oasis foliage. They used those to string ropes and poles the distance from the oasis top the wall of the Tower. Then from the base of the dune to the place where the water was to be administered.

The plan was to follow the rope to the Tower and then the Tower wall to the dune. Once they reached the dune, the second rope would lead them to the target area.

With their plan secure and thought out, they relaxed the day away putting together water containers and eating the fruits of the palm trees. They had a long night ahead of them.
Ultrecht had dozed off and snoozed heavily for a while when Ruk woke him. In the total darkness, the Minotaan could not be seen. "What is it?" the human asked.
"The night’s half gone," the minotaan explained. "Ganatar and I have been dumping water all the while you slept."

Peering about in the void, Ultrecht could see not sign of his companions. "Where is Ganatar?"

"Over here," the unicorn replied from nearby. "I am next to the fountain."
Ultrecht followed the voice. "It’s amazing you found me in this darkness," he muttered.

"Not really," Ruk yawned in the darkness. "Your snoring told us exactly where you were at all times. In fact we hardly needed any other help to get back here."

Ultrecht responded by sticking his tongue out at the warrior. Ruk would not see it of course, but it made Ultrecht feel better.

He bumped into Ganatar as he stumbled through the night. Ganatar informed him that he already had a full load of water, and he directed Ultrecht to the guide line. Together they followed the rope. Ultrecht quickly learned to take high steps to keep sand from dragging at his feet. When they reached the Tower wall, Ultrecht almost smacked his face against the stone.

"It is about three hundred human paces to the excavation," Ganatar informed him.
Ultrecht felt the smooth edge of the Tower wall. Using that as a guide, he followed its gentle curve a terrible distance. He was almost certain that they had completely circled the base when his hand unexpectedly bumped against the heap of stones and sand that they had piled against the Tower base to mark the beginning of the second guide rope.

Running his hand down the debris, Ultrecht located the rope and with Ganatar following on the end of a third two-meter length of rope made his way up the dune. This last stage of the trip was the shortest one. Even so, the slope made the climb more difficult than the walk from the oasis to the dune. Still, When the sound of the sand beneath his feet changed, Ultrecht realized that the first trip was complete. He reached the end of the rope which was anchored to a meter long piece of deadwood sticking up from the sand anchoring the guide line.

"Now take the water sacks and empty them," Ganatar advised. "Ruk and I would spread the water out over an area as far from the stick as the two of us could reach."

Ultrecht did as he was directed and then the mage and unicorn returned to the oasis via the guide line. Ruk was breathing heavily which combined almost musically with the soft trickle of water from the fountain. The filling of the bags took several long minutes.

Ultrecht and Ruk had scavenged and thrown together every container they could find. He guessed that they were moving fifty liters or so with every trip.

At first Ultrecht tried to keep count of the trips they made, but soon lost interest. Using his heartbeat as a timer, he guessed that they were making about five trips every hour.

Ganatar disagreed slightly, but the rough estimate was accurate enough to predict from. Ganatar insisted that he and Ruk were making seven trips per hour. Ultrecht decided that at an average of six trips per hour they would have moved an awful lot of water by morning.

When morning arrived, and the graying light revealed the extent of their night's work, Ultrecht felt fairly certain that their plan would work. The water had surely penetrated the sand to an appreciable depth and the moist sand would pack and hold its shape more readily.

Finally he and Ganatar woke Ruk. The minotaan took his shield and began the excavation almost immediately. Ultrecht took a short nap and was awakened by Ganatar about two hours into the day. The unicorn then settled down for a nap of his own while Ultrecht went to join Ruk.

The results of their work was dramatic. The damp sand allowed them to dig more steeply. As a result, their pit descended rapidly. By midday the unmistakable frame of a window or doorway had emerged from beneath them.

Enthusiastically they accelerated their work until the opening was wide enough to allow Ultrecht to crawl through. The mage entered the crawl space and reported that it too was filled with sand, but a wooden door was present.

"If we open the door," Ruk suggested. The sand will flow inward and clear a lot of this away for us."

"It might also cave this pit in and trap us in there," Ultrecht pointed out.

Ganatar, who had arrived just minutes before the opening appeared suggested that should the pit cave in and the interior of the door was large enough, the sand would pour in until the top of the dune was at the same level as that of the door.

"Actually that is probably the best thing for us to do," Ruk agreed. "Let us open or break the door inward and let the vacant inside of the Tower catch the inflow of sand. When the flow stops we can easily make our way in."

Ultrecht studied the proposal for a moment and while there were flaws in it, it still was the best option they had, so he agreed. Ganatar, with Ultrecht's help anchored a rope about himself and the other end was tied to Ruk. The idea was for Ruk to break the door open and Ganatar would pull him out of the pit as it caved in.

Ruk, with the rope secured about his waist, lay on his stomach and pressed his massive hands on the wooden door. The thing was iron bound and would be impossible to break without a ram of some kind. Fortunately, however the door opened inward and Ruk was certain that the lock was pickable. He sent Ultrecht back to the oasis to retrieve his thieves tools from his pack.

The mage left immediately and soon returned with the tools and dragging both packs as well. "We would have had to go back and get them anyhow," he explained as he tossed the pouch of tools to the minotaan.

Ruk, tools in hand, focused his attention on the lock. It was not a complex device. A simple tumbler set was its design. All he had to do was trip the tumblers. Within minutes the task was complete.

"I’m about to open the door," he warned as he gripped the handle. "Get ready."
With a wrench, Ruk turned the handle. "Go!" he yelled.

Almost instantly he felt the rope tug him back sharply. Ganatar leaned into his task with such force, that he almost jerked the warrior out of the pit. Ruk would normally have chagrined from the abusive treatment, but the vision of a jagged blade slicing up through the sand that would have cut him in half had he still been laying at the door gave him cause to keep silent. The door had been trapped. Only blind luck and the fact that they were trying to avoid him getting caught in a cave-in had saved his life. The minotaan, with the rope to help him, climbed out of the collapsing pit.

The sand around the pit sank as the walls collapsed and the sand poured in through the doorway. Ruk reflected with some satisfaction that if there were any other traps just inside the door, the sand would trip them as well.

Several long moments went by and finally the sand slowed to a stop. The pit had widened drastically and the walls were no longer very steep. In fact the area around the door looked very much like a valley between two huge dunes. With hardly any effort at all, the trio approached the half buried door.

Kneeling, Ultrecht peered inside. "It’s pretty dark in there," he reported. "We'll need some torches."

"That shouldn’t be too difficult," Ruk said. "We have plenty of blankets to make torches with."

"There is one other question," Ganatar pointed out.

"Yes?"

"What about the others?"

"Avery, Armegon and Calista did not make it here," Ultrecht said. His voice cracked as he spoke. The apparent loss of close friends extracted a heavy toll. "We can not assume that they survived. We must continue on as best we can in spite of how we feel about it. Too much is depending on our getting you and ourselves out of this prison."

"Is it possible that they wandered out of the desert and moved on ahead?" Ruk asked.

"I doubt it," Ultrecht said. "They know this Tower has to be activated. There’s no reason for them to move on until it is." Ultrecht smiled. "Don't worry," he encouraged. "Once this Tower has magic in it I can use a spell to find out what happened to them."

They returned to the oasis and set about making torches. They also refreshed their provisions with water from the fountain and some dates. Ganatar suggested waiting until morning to start, but Ruk and Ultrecht disagreed. In spite of how they felt, they wanted to get inside the Tower before some event covered the doorway again.

With a dozen torches at their disposal, the trio returned to the Tower entrance. "It is far too small for me to squeeze through," Ganatar observed. "Does that mean I have to stay behind again?"

"I’m afraid so," Ultrecht replied with regret. "It seems the builders of these Towers didn’t take the comfort of quadrupeds into account."

"Besides," Ruk joked, "who else will stay out here to tell the others where we are?"
Ganatar agreed. There really was no other option, but he was beginning to resent being left behind.

Ultrecht and Ruk descended the slope and crouched at the entrance of the Tower. Ultrecht lighted the first torch and passed it to Ruk who crept cautiously into the gloom.

Chapter 4 Part 1

SEAS OF SAND

The desert, when they finally saw it, was a vision of relief. The cold was really beginning to wear the party of six down. Only Avery, being protected from the illusion, was unaffected.

For ten hours they had marched non-stop. Avery insisted and Ruk agreed that to stop would be fatal. They absolutely had to keep moving. Working their bodies generated heat that the layers of clothes could trap and insulate them with. Still, in spite of that, the numbing cold was damping their minds and fatiguing their bones as each hour passed.

When the first glimpse of the golden line on the horizon that indicated a change in the climate appeared it was all they could do to keep from sprinting for the promise of warmth. Avery restrained them with an adamant voice pointing out that if they exerted all their energy in a final sprint, they would most likely collapse in the ice far short of their goal. He urged a steady pace that would stretch their strength into the last few kilometers.

When they finally came to the uncanny line separating the desert from the ice, Avery could no longer hold the half frozen bodies back. He himself was immune to the illusion, but the others were not. They broke for the sand and upon crossing the line they collapsed in exhausted heaps.

The day would not last much longer so Avery decided that they would find no better place to camp in either climate. He reluctantly gave orders to set up camp. For several long moments they were ignored as make-shift parkas were shed and the warmth of the desert was praised. Within half an hour the first signs of sweat began to appear.

"What a cruel landscape," Ultrecht muttered. "From a deep freeze to hard boiled. I don't suppose you’re going to tell us that this desert is also an illusion," he asked Avery.

"No, the desert’s real enough," Avery assured him. "The heat isn’t real though. It’s the same temperature here as it’s been since we got here."

"Wonderful," Armegon added. "Well I guess we can do without this," he tossed his doffed parka onto the ground.

"Let's not throw them away," Avery said. "We may yet need them."

"Well we can go ahead and pack them away, I think. We won't need them for a while."

Ruk joined them. "If the heat’s an illusion, do we use the same method to get through it as well?"

"Let us see just how hot it gets before coming up with a plan," Armegon suggested. "Right now let’s just get through the night."

"Right," Avery agreed. "I'll fetch some wood."

Under Ruk's direction the others dug some shallow pits and lined them with the discarded parkas. He explained that if the desert, or at lest what they perceived of it, was far too flat for his comfort. A fire and they themselves would be visible for many kilometers.

Avery returned soon with enough wood to last the night. He told them that the actual landscape of the ice was sparse scrub brush, but there was enough dead wood to make it easily collectable.

They spent the night under the desert sky devoid of any light save what sparks the fire tossed upwards. The night was long, and quiet conversation filled the early parts of the void until only the watch remained awake.

When morning arrived, the graying light found Armegon tending the fire with the last of the wood. They had a quick breakfast. They stewed some dried leaves Avery had been carrying and drank the tea gratefully. The liquid warmed their growling bellies--the food was beginning to run low--making the coming day a little more bright.

After full light, they packed their things and started out across the sand. Armegon presently began singing a song about a man crossing a desert with an unnamed horse. Presently Armegon started making a scratching motion at his chest and when candidly questioned, Ultrecht explained that the halfelf was playing some kind of instrument called an air guitar. Calista thought it a silly action.

By midday, they had encroached upon a series of rolling dunes and Calista, who had listened enchanted by the poetry of the song, noted that the dunes actually did resemble waves frozen in mid flow. She could see what the singer had meant.

The dunes grew steeper the deeper as they went. At one point, they began circumventing and weaving between the dunes instead of scaling them. Avery led them to and fro to a point where most of them were totally clueless as to which direction they were moving in.
Ganatar mentioned his concern about their getting lost to Armegon at one point, who reassured the unicorn that Avery had a natural sense of direction and was not likely to get lost.

As the day passed, they were pleasantly surprised that the temperature did not rise to any unbearable degree. The air was uncomfortable but survivable. It was late afternoon when Avery called a stop. He looked worried and alarmed. Then he directed Ruk to climb a nearby dune and have a look around.

"What is it?" Armegon asked as the waited out the minotaan's ascent.

"Wind," Avery replied. "I expected it to show up, wind is what causes dunes like these, but there’s something wrong."

A few moments later Ruk came sliding back down the slipface of the dune pushing a small avalanche of sand before him. "Sandstorm," he warned. "There’s a black cloud coming from that direction," he pointed ahead of them. "It looks violent."

Avery acted instantly. He directed them to unpack those parkas again and all the blankets. He directed them to the side of a dune facing the coming storm. When Ganatar suggested that the leigh of the other dune would shelter them more effectively, Avery pointed out that it would also bury them under slip sand more effectively as well.

They huddled up against the sloping surface and donned the parkas; they would protect against windblown sand. Then they tied themselves together with rope and covered with blankets. The waiting had begun. Avery urged them to lay flat facing away from the wind. That way they could breathe more easily.

The storm started as a low moan from behind. The wind blowing across the tops of the dunes whipped sand and the loose ends of the blankets upwards. Avery reminded the others to keep down. He recommended that they crawl forward as sand collected behind them.

"The wind makes the dunes move forward like waves on an ocean, but much slower. As the dune behind us encroaches, sand will cover your feet. When that happens, crawl forward until you are out of the sand." He was having to shout to be heard above the rising wind which now sounded like pounding surf. Ironically he recalled the song Armegon had been singing earlier. That was when the darkness fell over them.

Calista had taken a position between Ruk and Armegon. No more than an arm's reach in either direction, their closeness was comforting, for the hour or so that followed was very lonely and scary. Even with friends so close, the storm isolated her from the world outside of her blanket.

The buffeting wind drove the blanket against her back at times and threatened to rip it from her grasp at others. When she raised her head, or any other part of her body, the whipping sand blasted with such ferocity that the sting was tremendous in spite of the protective cloth. Her feet were numbed by the constant pelting and her ears grew deaf against the constant howl of the wind.

It was not until a jerk on the rope was felt that she realized her legs were buried under sand. Remembering Avery's direction, she crawled forward slowly pulling herself from the leading edge of the ever moving dune.

Three more times did the dune encroach on them, and three more times did they crawl forward. Throughout the night the storm raged on and food and drink became luxuries obtained at great expense. Her water bottle was within reach, but to drink, meant raising up to the point where once again the wind slapped her head about painfully. Precious gulps of water spilled in the whipping currents.

Food was even harder to obtain as it was still in her pack, the pack she was presently using to shield her feet from the blasting sand. She decided after two painful attempts to open the pack that hunger was less painful as that biting wind.

The only other thing that posed a problem was fighting off sleep. She knew that should she fall asleep with her legs numbed by the wind, that she would not feel the sand cover her and would soon die. She resisted sleep as long as she could.

A jerk on the rope woke her again. She was covered with sand from her chest back. In panic she crawled forward again. This time it was a serious problem. As she moved to get out from under the sand, the leading side of the dune cascaded further and covered her head. In blind terror, she struggled to free herself and found extra help as the ropes on either side of her dragged her out from under the sand. When she emerged, the flap of her blanket lifted and for a moment she thought she saw gray light. The next day was coming.

As dawn arrived, the wind decreased notably. Within an hour the air had stilled enough for her to remove the blanket and stand on her aching legs. The wind still was strong, but the sand had fallen out of it and left the storm as nothing more than a pleasant breeze.

"Good morning," Armegon greeted her as she squinted at the landscape. It was completely different than when they had taken cover.

"That’s the first serious display of weather we have seen since arriving here," Avery noted. "I would’ve thought that in an ecosystem like this, storms would not occur very often if at all."

"Apparently they do," Ultrecht pointed out.

"What next?" Ruk asked.

Avery looked around. "That way," he pointed. How he knew which direction to go was anyone's guess.

"Must we?" Ganatar yawned, a comical action when done by a unicorn. "I’m very tired."
Armegon nodded. "I agree. After that episode we could all do with some rest. I suggest we crash for a few hours."

Avery frowned then concurred. "Okay," he said. "But let’s not wait too much and don’t eat very much. As things stand right now, we have a limited supply of water. Eating will only make you thirsty."

They settled down and took a much needed rest. Calista found sleep easy to achieve in spite of the light and heat. When she woke a few hours later, though, she was drenched in sweat. She was also thirsty.

Avery was standing atop a dune gazing off in one direction. He had removed his tunic and wore his trousers and boots only. Calista considered changing her attire similarly. It certainly would be cooler. Calista took her hunting knife and began making the necessary alterations.

"Don't throw the scraps away," Armegon advised as he joined her. Calista looked at the sleeve she had cut. From shoulder to fingers her arms were bare. "The sleeves can be reattached, and there may come a time when you’ll want to do so."

"I’m very thirsty," Calista remarked. "I’ve drained my bottle."

"We’ll share," Armegon assured her. "But we’re all gong to be thirsty for a while. Avery probably will only want us to drink at night. Try not to get too hot. Sweat is lost water."

"Let's move out," Avery announced as he descended. "We need to find water within two days. Our rations won't last much longer as it is."

"I fear that your rations will last longer if you go on without me," Ganatar offered.

"Forget it," Armegon returned. "You’re one of us now and we don’t abandon our own."

"But I consume a lot more water than most of you do."

"Then you can carry more of the load to make up the difference," Ultrecht agreed as he threw the blankets across the unicorn's back. "Now let's get going."

Avery led them onward for the rest of the day. When night came, Avery commanded them to drink half of their remaining rations of water. "We’ll travel in the dark and sleep through the heat. That’ll help us conserve water."

"How’re you going to your way in dark? There’re no stars or moons to go by?" Ruk asked.

"We’ll use dead reckoning," Avery explained. "It’s risky, but it’s better than dehydrating in this desert." He picked up his own pack and tied one end of the rope that just a few hours earlier had saved Calista's life around his waist. "The rope will keep us together when the light goes," he explained.

The night was an extended series of stumbles and jerks. Sand tugged at weary legs and snagged dragging feet throwing tired hikers to the ground. The rope jerked this way and that as their guide changed directions again and again totally confounding them as to where they were going. For all many of them knew, they were moving in circles.

When at last the sky lightened, Avery stopped and bade them to burrow under the sand. According to his instructions, they dug small furrows and lined them with blankets. Then they lay in the depressions. This kept them out of sight while they snoozed the day by. And though still uncomfortably hot, it was nonetheless tolerable and everyone tried to remain quiet and still and to get some sleep.