Chapter Two: Lucky Sands

   Jairo snapped awake and regained his balance. Going without rest for a full day, and now plodding into the impending night, he had started to doze while walking. It wasn't the most relaxing thing to do, but the repetition lulled him into nodding off. The moon shone on their backs, but not brightly enough to put any shadows on the ground. Jairo adjusted his pack yet again, hoping to provide some relief to his shoulder.

   Apparently Jairo wasn't the only one feeling the stress. Kort fell over completely, and came back up sputtering sand and trying to retain what dignity he had. Everyone else snapped up their heads at the sudden noises, partially grateful for the distraction to stay conscious. Hyle, at the head of their little train, turned his head and looked at the moon. Jairo glanced too, and the full moon was a tad past halfway up.

   "Do you guys wanna have breakfast now?" Hyle asked everyone, and they all just sat down where they were, Korf snoring within ten seconds. Jairo adjusted his sword so he wouldn't cut or stab himself while eating, and pulled some cooked meat out of his pack. He bit into the meat and chewed slowly, savoring the smoked flavor before swallowing each bite. After he was done Jairo tossed the bone to Hyle, who had taken to carving bones with a stone knife he had with him. 

   Jairo started shooting little jets of flame in the air, watching the flames' shapes twist and move before going out. Then he started heating the sand, feeling the slightly gooey texture it had. Flaming the sand more made it even gooier. Jairo then changed position and concentrated, putting his hands around an imaginary ball and heated the air. He made it as hot as he possibly could, then slammed it into the sand. A combination of sizzling and crackling sounds happened, and some smoke rose up. He waved his hand to clear it away, and something glimmered in the sand. Jairo scooped up a shape close to a sphere. It was somewhat clear and reflective like water, but felt like a solid. He rolled it around in his hand and watched it twinkle in the moonlight.

   "Hey, what's that?" Asa peered at Jairo's hand curiously. "What did you do now, with that weird fire trick of yours?"

   He showed Asa the thing. "What do you think it is, Asa?"

   Asa shrugged and leaned closer. Dae had also finished by now, and he made a little pile of sand. "Do it again, Jairo."

   Jairo nodded, and made a ball of intense heat again. He fired it at the pile of sand and the same crackling, sizzling sound happened with the smoke. Jairo picked up another translucent shape, albeit a bit more elongated than the last one.

   "Could these serve any practical purpose?" Asa asked. He looked to Hyle, their leader, but he seemed more interested in his carving.

   "Hmm, I don't want one," Dae said, and he moved back to watch Hyle.

   Asa tried to pick up one, but quickly pulled back his fingers from its hot surface. Jairo then attempted his second trick for that night. He held his hands over them and felt for that thermal vision again. He blinked and it snapped in, the two objects bright with heat. Jairo then slowly absorbed the heat from them into his hands, and he safely expelled it behind him. He did this a few times before they were cool enough to hold. He blinked again and the vision left him.

   Jairo picked one up and threw it to Asa, who promptly dodged out of the way, fearing he might get scorched again. It hit Korf in the side, who was still eating, and Asa finally picked it up after seeing Korf's lack of reaction. Jairo slipped the other into his pack.

   Hyle tossed his finished bone in the air and caught it again. "Time to go," he said, they all rose to their feet. Jairo stood up and stretched, then they set off again.

   Monotony ruled, their small party swerving around dune after dune, using the moon to help them go straight. They stopped for a long lunch when the moon was high and it was confusing as to which way was west. By the time their nocturnal supper rolled around exhaustion showed on everyone's face. A couple hours later, the moon had set and signs of sunrise were showing. They picked a relatively large spot in between dunes and set up their little sleeping shelters, which significantly reduced the weight in their packs.

   Jairo could get all his upper body inside without stretching the canvas so far as to let sunlight through, and he covered his legs and feet with his pack as best he could. Korf, Kort and Dae were legendary snorers, but everyone still got to sleep. By the time the sun hit the horizon, they were all dead to the world.

-----V-----

   Jairo woke up about midday, at first not quite sure why. Then he had the urge to go, and he slid out of his shelter sleepily. The sun hit him brightly, and he had to squint his eyes to see. He stretched and then went behind a dune to do his business, digging out a hole and trying to make himself as comfortable as possible. After he was done he dumped more sand on top of it.

   When he went around the dune again he saw someone else was up, looking through Hyle's pack. Jairo looked closer and saw five sleeping bodies. He couldn't make out a face at this distance. He crouched down and drew his sword, already feeling the adrenaline go. Jairo gripped and regripped his sword, not quite knowing what to do.      Then the thief moved to another pack, putting his back directly to where he was. Jairo ran up as swiftly and silently as possible, but he/she heard him and spun around with a knife in their hand. Jairo swung his sword, and the thief dodged, and Jairo barely deflected a dagger thrust with a brass knuckle. He swung again heavily, got deflected, but he kept turning and reverse kicked them in the face, sending them to the ground. Jairo walked over to the motionless, masked figure, wondering if he was better than he thought and had knocked he/she out. Then they lunged up suddenly, Jairo reacting almost without thought, ducking and stabbing the heart.

   Both of them stared at the spot where the metal met the flesh, before the mask looked up at him. It looked at him for a second before slumping back, dagger falling from the gloved hand. Jairo felt like he was about to collapse himself, but he was kind of frozen in place, hand held around that murderous sword. No, HE had murdered whoever this was. He hadn't meant it, but Jairo felt this terrible feeling in his throat, like he was about to throw up.

    Asa, Dae, and Hyle had wriggled out of their shelters by now, woken by the commotion. They all stood dumbfounded while the two brothers still struggled to get out of their shelters. Asa walked over and pulled out the sword, wiped it off on the stranger's clothes, and handed it back to Jairo. He pulled off the mask, to reveal a face with a bit of facial hair staring up at them.

   "His name was Alon," Asa said, "We were friends from training." He stood up and stepped back a bit, taking in all of Alon's attire.

   Dae walked up and looked at Alon's face for a moment before closing his eyes. "We were all incredibly lucky to not have been robbed or murdered in our sleep," he intoned in his deep voice. He rearranged the body to look a little more dignified, and pulled off a satchel. Looking in at the contents for a moment, he then gave the satchel to Korf, who had finally gotten out of his shelter. "Find out what belongs to who," he said.

   Dae then stood up and looked up at the sun. Hyle had his hands on his hips.

   "We're going to need to assign watches," he said. "Someone has to be awake at all times to make sure something like this doesn't happen again."

   The next few minutes were spent tiredly debating whens and whos for watches, and people getting their stuff back along with Alon's supplies. Jairo got second watch, which meant he wouldn't have to until tomorrow morning.

   Jairo's shoulder bandages were getting tight, so he tried to loosen it up, however, within a couple minutes, they were tight again. Annoyed by the cramps they were giving him, he took the bandages off and put them in his pack. Then he got back into his sleeping position, readjusted his sword, and went to sleep.

-----V-----

   That night was as uneventful as the last one, though with less falling Korts as they got used to the shift. However people were starting to watch their food and water levels, and tension started to rise. Jairo worked off his nervousness by practicing his swordsmanship, Hyle also grew interested in the gooey sand Jairo was capable of making, for some obscure reason. Dae meditated stoically, and the other three mostly talked about anything under the sun (or moon) that came to mind.

   Jairo got woken up for his watch feeling tired, and the legendary snorers hadn't helped. He sat and looked out over the desert, bored out of his mind, and feeling like he was slowly baking in the sun. Soon he slipped away with the others, lulled to sleep by the hypnotic rhythm of the wind sighing and the sand blowing.

   "Jairo!" he jerked awake to Dae shouting. The first other thing he noticed was a loud hissing, and he opened his eyes to see a gigantic snake in front of him. It leaped, and time seemed to slow, and Jairo saw the fangs extended, the primal fury of survival in its eyes, and he just felt so, helpless. His life would end so soon with so much to do, and there was not a thing he could do about it. Even if the snake didn't mortally wound him, he would get an infection, or be too crippled to continue.

   He just sat there, staring death in the face, when Dae's stone knife pierced the snake's skull and sent it sideways. Jairo was stunned.

   "How?" he managed.

   "My grandfather was a snake tamer," Dae said. "He helped us train our bodies to be alert to the hiss of a snake, even while asleep, and that thing was hissing a while before it decided to kill you."

   "Go get some sleep," Dae said. "It was about my watch anyway."

   There was at least another good half hour, but Jairo didn't object, just went back to his shelter, still dazed by his close brush with death.

   Then he whacked himself in the head with his palm. He HATED that feeling of helplessness. He HATED having this feeling of dependence. He hit himself again. He vowed to himself that he would NEVER put himself in that situation again. Jairo hit himself a few more times with both hands.

   Starting tonight, he would train.

Author's Note

Hyle's group employs a method sometimes used by travelers of the desert: resting during the day and traveling at night staves off the heat better and helps conserve water better from sweating.
When "morning" or "night" is mentioned, I will be keeping with the actual sun's cycle, not flip flopped like they have in their traveling routine.