Snippet #2455161

The Kadias Stretch

I am going to kill him. I am going to tear his head off, and drink the blood from the stump of his little neck. Maybe that would alleviate the heat, Rysdin thought idly. Although only fantastic in nature, his grim thoughts swirled about in a muddled mess as he stared at the back of the young Cron Suil. Slogging their way through a particularly arid portion of the desert was not how Rysdin Aureliar would prefer to spend his free time.

When they'd met, he'd been enthusiastic to sign on to Eian's little venture. Eian had described it as nothing short of perilous. In retrospect, Rysdin mused, Eian had not lied. The intense heat of the blistering stone mesas, the frost-producing cold of the mesa nights, and lack of any redeemable respite from the elements made wherever the hells he'd brought them a particularly hazardous place to travel.

A slight scuff against stone caught Rysdin's attention.

“You trying to set him on fire with that stare, Aureliar?” Shari said with a smirk. She was a bit too perceptive, this one. The vaul had learned quickly that Eian and Shari shared a strange power dynamic that he could not hope hope to understand.

Rysdin grunted. Taking a moment to think it over, he responded in that low sing-song voice of his. “Only if it warms us more than that paltry fire you two made last night.” he made a show of shivering and preening the fine feathers of his throat despite the mid-morning sun bearing down on them, “When do you think a giant scorpion will burst forth from the sands to lay waste to us weary travelers?”

“Why just a scorpion?” she replied in good humor, “Why not an entire brigade of bandits and highwaymen, appearing from the shadows to waylay our troupe and make off with what little riches we posses. Maybe even hold our Balu Chital to be hostage, thinking to ransom him off to his own-”

“That will be difficult,” Eian interrupted, “Considering the marked lack of shadows for miles.” he punctuated his statement by waving a hand to encompass the wide expanse of rock and sand. Indeed, there was little more than reddish-brown rock, granules of dust, and shimmering heat rising from the earth.

Shari looked as if she was about to respond, but Rysdin waved the thought away. It wasn't worth pursuing. They were all sweating and irritable. Well, except for Eian. Rysdin was not even sure if the strange creature could even feel the heat, much less be bother by it.

Ruffling his feathers to disperse some of the heat building up within, Rysdin loosed a low hiss of air from his beak.

“Friend Eian.” he said levelly, “While I did say that I would accompany you for no monetary payment, I did expect the barest amount of excitement. We've yet to see even a carrion bird, much less a true threat to our well beings. I am beginning to wonder why you required assistance at all.”