Amir watched on unimpressed as the griffin rider saddled his beast like a work horse and rolled his eyes. This guy was such a stick in the mud with his ‘traditions’, and ‘etiquette’, and Amir did not see them getting along in the future. The griffin didn’t look much better than the rider, but then again, maybe they were a match made in heaven. Two creatures that were too serious for their own good. The blonde boy leaned against the cast iron rail as the griffin rider saddled up, clearly the armor clad man had no plan of actually walking the desert and Amir sighed, letting his head loll backwards. “Patience Amir, the griffin rider is our ally.
The blonde boy felt his lip curl as the rider called him by the first reincarnation. Maybe the reason the man had the personality of a damp rock was because any semblance of a personality he had burned up inside that armor he never took off. When with the griffin carrying him the man would suffer from heat stroke far before he reached Gnaji. But Amir kept his mouth shut, surely Mr. My-way-or-the-highway would figure that out on his own. “The name’s Amir, not that you bothered.” He muttered bitterly as the man mounted his beast.
He covered his face as the griffin took off, the huge blast of sand causing him to go into a coughing fit. He glared up at the sky as the man and beast became soared into the sky. He shook the excess sand off himself and started walking back in the direction of his town. “I shall return if we see something of note or the sun reaches four fingers hence from the horizon.” He mocked in annoyance, “I can’t believe that pretentious piece of walking chainmail had the nerve to tell me not to get lost. He’ll be lucky if he happens to see the town from the sky because anyone not from here thinks everything looks the same.”
“You seem agitated Amir.” His beast said with amusement, and Amir shoved the bird off his shoulder again, but he had the slightest hint of a smile on his lips. The phoenix circled his head like a vulture and swooped at the blonde boy, Amir barely dodged it but he was laughing as the next swoop came. Hassan hovered a few feet in front of him, its head cocked to the side as if to say, ‘Come and get me.’ With a mischievous grin Amir darted forward after his companion, a huge grin on his face as he dove forward.
They continued on with this game, until the journey finally reached the beginning of the dead zone. The barren uninhabitable part of Gnaji that was not desert, but dried and cracked land that spanned for miles in multiple different directions. Many nomadic clans travelled the land here with lifestock because it was easier than trekking through loose sand, and many bandit groups resided in this land because of the clans that herded their livestock.
“The mid river is about an hour away from us now, we are making good time. I suspect that the griffin rider will make an appearance sometime before we reach it though.” Amir nodded, a soft frown rested on his lips as he scanned the flat expanse of land. It was completely empty for now, but with out the sand dunes it would be impossible to stay hidden from any of the bad groups that had taken residence in the dead zone. Amir pulled at his scarf before taking a drink of water from his camel skin.
“Well if you’re right about that I better start thinking of more ways to annoy the shit out of the guy.”