Mariah had stuffed a pack full of dried meat rolled in socks, dressing quickly in brown pants, tying the draw string around her waist to keep the hemline at her hips; she tucked the cuffs into her walking boots and then pulled on a thick long sleeved shirt, securing a hood around her head. With a grumble under her breath the Raven Tribe woman finished filling her bag with essentials for the desert, storming out of her tent and back to where she had left John. Blinking in surprise as she came to stand next to him her soft green eyes narrowed on the well-fed man who stood across from the shaman. "Who are you?" Mariah questioned in a need-to-know voice, looking between the two men.
The question hung in the air for a few moments before the girl realized she had interrupted an conversation the two had been involved in. Mariah honestly wasn't concerned with what they had been discussing, sighing with a roll of her eyes. "We're wasting daylight, we don't want the Dark Ones following us all night. If we leave now we'll make it to the outcroppings West of here, that'll give us shelter." Mariah explained, adjusting the pack on her shoulders, giving a small smile and patting John on the back, shouldering past the boy who had appeared in her absence. She didn't bother looking back to see if they were following, the chief would surely drive them out sooner or later and they'd be forced to catch up with her, if they could. John was crippled, though the other man looked physically fit.
Mariah had only been out in the sun for a few minutes and was already beginning to sweat in her thick clothing, though when night fell she'd be thankful for wearing the protective clothing. Days were scorching and harsh, reaching temperatures exceeding one hundred degrees, but when the sun set and moon rose was when the desert was at its most dangerous. Temperatures would plummet more than ten degrees per hour until the air was crisp and freezing, killing anything that wasn't smart enough to keep warm or find shelter in the barren landscape. Not to mention all the night beasts that hunted in the light of the moon, stealing away children, small animals, and even groups of armed men with not a trace left behind.