The Parched sea

The Harper took the waterskin back to his mount and hung it on the saddle, then drew his dagger and crept up behind the prisoner. Lander tried to move as quietly as possible, but he saw the Zhentarim flinch. The doomed man had sensed his presence. Nevertheless, the fat man continued to stare into the desert night.

Lander killed the Zhentarim merchant as quickly and painlessly as he could, plunging the straight blade of his dagger into the man's heart from behind. Afterward he kneeled beside the body until the desert night began to chill him.

At last, the Harper cleaned his dagger on the dead prisoner's robe, scoured the blood off his aba with a handful of sandy earth, then took his jellaba off his camel and put it on. When he felt ready to join Sa'ar, Lander urged his camel to its feet and led it to the campfire where the sheikh and his elder warriors had gathered.

As the Harper approached, Sa'ar turned with a broad smile. Lander saw that Kadumi stood in the middle of the sheikh's entourage.

'Kadumi killed three men!' the sheikh announced.

'Good for him,' Lander replied, forcing a smile. 'Let us hope he lives to kill many more.'

'My warriors counted just over five hundred dead,' Sa'ar reported proudly. 'We lost only fifteen.'

'That means nearly a thousand Zhentarim escaped,' Lander said, turning his thoughts to the task at hand. 'We'll have to be careful that they don't rally and return unexpectedly.'

Sa'ar frowned. 'Do all your people look only at the bad side, Lander?'

'Five hundred dead is five hundred dead,' he said without emotion. 'We'll have to kill many more before we chase the Zhentarim from the desert. Now, how are we going to get your allies out of the canyon? There are fifteen hundred asabis and a powerful wizard in that canyon.' He pointed at a narrow crack leading to the Well of the Chasm.

Sa'ar turned his attention to the canyon. 'If we could wait until morning, our task would be simple.'

'That, we cannot do,' said a gray-haired warrior with rotten teeth. 'I sent my sons to scout along the rim of the canyon. From what they report, our allies are meeting the asabis in the canyon as we expected. My sons think the Raz'hadi will not last more than a few hours.'

'And in the morning light, the surviving Zhentarim will see our true number,' added another warrior. 'If they returned, we would not survive long.'

Everyone nodded and muttered their agreement.

'Then we must attack tonight,' Sa'ar responded. 'Gather your sons.'

'Wait,' Lander interrupted. 'The canyon is too narrow for everyone to fight in at once, is it not?'

The old man with rotten teeth nodded. 'That is so, berrani.'

'Then we lose nothing by leaving half of our warriors behind to defend our rear in case the Zhentarim return,' the Harper said. 'It will do the Raz'hadi no good if we allow ourselves to be trapped in the canyon with them.'

The old man nodded. 'This is a good plan.'

'Perhaps we can send some of them up to the canyon rim to fire arrows down at the asabis,' suggested another warrior.

Sa'ar paused and considered this plan, but it was Lander who said, 'The canyon is very deep, and it will be very dark. How will your warriors tell their friends from the Zhentarim?'

'Amarats,' responded Kadumi, smiling. 'When we blow our horns, the Raz'hadi will certainly respond. The warriors on the rim can fire between the horns.'

'And my horn will be the signal to stop,' Sa'ar said, grinning at the boy. 'It is a good thing you are so young, my friend. When you are old enough, my warriors will want to make you sheikh.'

There was no mockery to the laughter that followed.

Sa'ar issued the necessary orders to his elder warriors, and they scattered to make their preparations. Realizing that Ruha's magic might prove as useful in the battle to come as it already had tonight, Lander mounted his camel and returned to where he had left her. The widow was still staring at the dust cloud.

'How long can you keep that dust cloud going?' he asked. When Ruha did not respond, the Harper waved his hand at her face. 'The battle's over. You can let it down.'

Ruha looked away from the dark curtain, and the breeze died immediately. 'To answer your question, the dust wall lasts as long as I can concentrate on it,' she said, rubbing her temples. 'Which would not have been much longer.'

'You're not feeling weak, are you?' Lander asked.

The widow shook her head. 'My head aches, that's all.'

'Thanks to Mielikki,' the Harper sighed. 'Mount up and come with me.'

Ruha obeyed, asking, 'Where are we going?'

'Into the canyon,' Lander replied. 'We may have need of more magic.'

The widow was so shocked that she nearly fell from her camel's back as it returned to its feet. 'What if somebody sees me?'

'We'll try to avoid that,' the Harper replied, urging his camel back to the camp. 'But there's too much at stake to let that worry us'

'That's easy for you to say. I'm the one they'll banish!'

Lander stopped his camel and twisted in his saddle to face the widow. 'There are fifteen hundred asabis in that canyon. A wizard, as well. Sa'ar is about to attack with a tenth that number and not even the faintest idea of what magic can do to him. Whether they know it or not, you're probably all that stands between the Mahwa and annihilation. Ruha, there is only one thing you can do.'

Without waiting to see if the widow would follow, Lander started riding. When he reached the fire, he found a hundred and fifty of the Mahwa's best warriors mounted and awaiting their sheikh.

As Lander and Ruha approached, Sa'ar turned to them. 'This time, I have no need of your advice, berrani. I know asabis better than you.'

'True,' Lander said. 'There is also a wizard or two in the canyon, and I know magic better than you.'

'I cannot argue,' the sheikh replied. He looked beyond Lander. 'Will you take Ruha into the canyon?'

The Harper looked over his shoulder and saw the widow stopping her camel just behind him. She spoke before Lander could respond to Sa'ar's question. 'My thoughts have not changed, Sheikh. I will be safest in Lander's company.'

'No!' Kadumi cried. He was mounted on one of his white camels and sat in the company of the sheikh's warriors. 'It is too dangerous!'

Ruha turned her gaze on the youth. 'This will not be the first time my jambiya has tasted the invaders' blood,' she said, her voice stern and steady. 'Or have you forgotten who was the rescuer when the Zhentarim ambushed us outside of Rahalat?'

The boy quickly looked away. Lander could not tell whether he was embarrassed at recalling the mistake that had almost gotten him killed or upset at the memory of Ruha's magic. In either case, the widow's tactic worked well. Without turning his gaze back to Ruha's face, Kadumi nodded to Sa'ar. 'If it pleases you, Sheikh, allow my brother's wife to ride with the berrani. As she claims, she will not cause us any trouble.'

Sa'ar raised an eyebrow, then nodded to Lander. 'See that she stays out of the way.' The sheikh went to his camel. As he mounted, he pointed at Kadumi. 'Why don't you lead the way, fearless one?'

'Isn't he a little young?' Lander objected.

The sheikh frowned at the Harper. 'Did you not hear me earlier? This boy killed three men tonight'

Kadumi paused to cast a self-righteous glance at the Harper, then turned to lead the way toward the canyon. Lander and Ruha waited for the end of the column with the sheikh before they fell into line. A few minutes later, the line switched to single file and rode into a narrow, dark ravine. The Harper rode behind the sheikh, and behind Lander came only Ruha.

Three feet to either side of the riders, the canyon walls rose high into the starry sky. On the ledges and shelves of the cliffs, heaps of yellow sand reflected the pale light of the crescent moon, making the rock itself seem all the more dark and foreboding. The floor of the canyon, too, was covered with a thick layer of sand.

Lander felt the footing grow softer beneath his mount's feet, and the camel began to lunge as if going downhill. Ahead, the dark silhouettes of the war party were descending down the narrow chute two abreast, the shoulders of their mounts almost brushing the rock walls. Already, Kadumi had disappeared around a dark