She forced herself forward again. Praise the Celestial Actuary that there was no wind. The night was very cold, however. Above her the black skies were filled with twinkling stars. She thought for a moment how very beautiful it all was, and then she heard Og instruct her to sit down carefully on the branch. Lara did, and immediately she felt him pick her up. She was set down in the pack on his back, and she smiled to discover he had lined it with furs, and there was a fur robe to keep her warm. Her pack had been set there, too. Lara undid the strap of the wineskin, and laid it aside. Her quarters were not commodious, but there was enough room to be comfortable.
“Are you settled?” he whispered to her.
“It’s lovely!” she told him.
“Then we are off!” he said. “Remain quiet, Lara, particularly if we are stopped.”
But they were not stopped. Og moved quickly and quietly from the vicinity of Durga’s hall and its village into the deep Forest. He carried a small lantern with him to light his way, carefully avoiding the villages of other Forest Lords and the Winterfest fires that blazed in some of the more remote locations. Finally the full moon arose, and he put out the lantern, hanging it on the wide leather belt he wore around his tunic. His stride was great, and halfway between the darkness and the dawn he exited the deep woods, finally reaching the scrubland of the border. He had kept off the main track, and now the ground beneath him became more sandy. Around him, great dunes began to arise.
Deep within the pack, Lara lay sleeping. She was warm, and felt safe for the first time in months. The rhythm of the giant’s steps lulled her, and although she had meant to stay awake she couldn’t. When she finally did awaken she reached instinctively for the crystal about her neck.
“Og,” Lara called. “Are we free of the Forest yet? It seems the air is growing warmer. I have thrown off the furs.”
“We are already in the Desert, Lara, and it is almost dawn. I am seeking a place for us to shelter, for the day will be hot. I believe there is an oasis up ahead. Remain safe within my pack for a bit longer,” he advised.
She took his advice because as long as she remained his passenger, he was able to travel faster. She had never seen a Desert, and did not know what to expect, but it was certainly getting hotter with each step he took. She had never before felt such heat, but after the damp winter’s chill of the Forest she could not complain.
“Ah, there is the oasis up ahead. There will be shade and water for us,” Og said. “Or so at least my memory recalls.”
“Are there people there?” Lara asked him.
“I don’t know,” he answered her. He took several more steps, and then they were there. “I am going to lift you out now, Lara,” he told her. “I shall set my pouch down so you may exit.” Carefully he undid the buckles that had secured the pouch to his big body, and then he gently set it upon the ground.
Lara stepped forth, blinking in the startling daylight. She looked up. The sky above was a clear bright blue. There wasn’t a cloud to be seen. The sun shone down upon them hot and fierce. The trees around them were tall with rough-barked trunks, and leafy green fronds; they were nothing like the trees she had seen before in either the Forest or the City. There was also a small pool with a waterfall, which she thought amazing in the midst of all this barrenness. Looking further, she espied a stone well at the oasis’s center. And then turning, Lara gazed beyond the border of strange trees. An endless sea of sand stretched before her. There wasn’t a living soul to be seen anywhere but for her, and Og.
Chapter 8
“IT IS BOTH BEAUTIFUL and frightening,” Lara said softly. Above her, a hawk soared.
Og nodded slowly. “I have the knowledge of what the Desert is from my collective memory,” he noted, “but like you I have never before seen it. It has great majesty, but I sense it can be dangerous. I think because of the sun and the heat we would do well to rest here during the day, and not travel until the night. Perhaps we should remain here until we can learn what phase the Desert moon is in, for it will not be full as the Forest moon is now. We have food, and if the well is not dry, we have water, too.” He walked over to the stone edifice, and lowered the bucket.
Lara heard a splash as the bucket reached water and watched as Og tasted the liquid in the returned bucket. “Is it sweet?” she asked him.
“Aye, we are fortunate,” he told her.
“Why is it no one lives here?” Lara wondered aloud.
The giant shrugged. “The Desert folk wander part of the year, and the other part of the year they live at the foot of their princes’ castles. We must find a settlement in the next few days before we run out of food. I doubt there are many oases such as these. We will not be as fortunate when we leave here.”
“Perhaps we’ll find a village, Og. Or we could walk across the Desert into another realm,” Lara suggested brightly.
“Beyond the Desert is the Outlands,” he told her. “It is the most dangerous place on Hetar with no form of government, or laws. The people there have loyalty only to themselves, or perhaps their clans or tribes. You have said yourself that it is very uncivilized. I don’t want to go there, nor should you.”
“What if we have no choice?” Lara asked him.
“Pray the Celestial Actuary that we do,” the giant told her.
“Search your memories, Og. If there are giants in other provinces of Hetar, perhaps there are giant clans in the Outlands as well.”
“Aye, there are giants there, too, but I will not speak of them,” he replied. “Are you hungry, Lara? You have not eaten since last night.”
“Are we far enough into this Desert not to be caught?” she asked him.
“We are many leagues from the hall of the Head Forester,” he reassured her. “Even if they rode out at sunrise today, they could not catch us for several days, and we are well into this kingdom.”
“We have no papers,” she said. “What if we meet a caravan?”
“We are a giant and his mistress traveling through the Desert,” Og said. “And there is no caravan. This oasis is off the main track. Now I shall set up my pack as a tent for you to shelter from the sun, lest your fair skin be burned. We will eat and rest. Perhaps you would like to cool yourself in the pool by the waterfall.” As he spoke he emptied out the knapsack in which Lara had traveled the previous night. Several wooden poles had been used to give the pack its shape. Og removed them, and used them to make a shelter. He hung Lara’s wineskin, and spread the furs tanned side up for a bed.
“I am going to seek what wood I can find, and any dried fronds from the trees. We will burn them tonight in a fire to keep any beasts away,” Og told his young companion. “See the ring of stones there? Others have made fires here.”
The sun was growing hotter. Lara coaxed Og to cease his work, and come into the tent. He could not stand in it as she could, but he was able to crawl in and sit, provided he kept his head low.
Lara fed them from her small stash of food, and Og surprised her with several loaves of bread he had managed to secrete for himself. They drank a little of the wine to assuage their thirst in the heat of the day, and then lay down to sleep. When they awoke, it was early evening. They were hot, and Lara felt a headache coming on.
“I can’t swim,” she told Og, “but I can cool myself in that pool. Come with me, and enjoy the water, too.”
“If I went into that pool,” he chuckled, “I fear I would cause all the water in it to flow out. But I will certainly
