Snippet #2534664

[co-written with VindicatedPurpose]

95th Night

Dunes Far From Solaria

After the meal, the pair moved on to find a place to rest and clean up. Alleara said very little, following Estios' lead. She still kept watch behind and around them. She could not shake the feeling that eyes watched them from the shadows.

The woman wasn't wrong. The trading post was full of travellers and bandits alike. There would be those who would sell you goods and others who would rob you of said goods in a heartbeat.

The evening fell upon the trading post and outside the tent activity and noise slowed to a dull murmur. The fires outside crackled gently as a few pack animals could be heard shuffling. The slits located near the ceiling of the tent allowed the light of Anara inward. Estios had already retired, snoozing away. The day had taken a toll on the warrior, that was expected. Rest was important though, reserves of strength were needed in the longer journey.

Alleara found a place to change out of her current dress and into the one Estios had purchased. She carefully folded and tucked away her old one into her pack. Using her pack as a pillow Alleara laid down on the carpet. She was tired but sleep was long from coming.

She laid there worries running through her mind. Will they let us in? Will they tell me what I want to know? What about my parents?

---

Ninety-Sixth Day

The sun rose. Alleara had slept as much as possible. She sat up, ran her fingers through her hair to release as many tangles as she could and waited for Estios to awaken. She had woken up with no answers to her nagging questions than she had had before.

Estios was still asleep, snoring away. Had he been in Solaria, he would have awoken a hour earlier. A Sunfire was regimented, trained, and disciplined. Now, he could enjoy some sleep having left that life behind. He was no longer a captain, for by then the two delegates had already tarnished his name. He was fortunate that his only family was the Sunfires. They could defend themeselves. Even that was impossible, they were still hunted. He could only hope to sleep a few hours and be alert to catch any would be assassin off-guard. He could only hope the few hours he slept were good few hours that replenished his strength enough for him to carry on through the next day's unforeseen troubles and trials.

He opened his eyes wide, thankful for two things. The first was that he was not facing east, where the sun rose. The second was that there was not a sword pointed at his face, as was the custom for Sunfires who overslept to wake up with a blade just a few fingers from the bridge of their nose.

Estios exhaled and peeled himself from the mat that he had slept on, "Morning.

"Good morning." Alleara said softly as she watched Estios sit up. "I hope you rested well. Our things and our persons went undisturbed, a small blessing in all of this." She was trying not to think about the past, the events that led to this moment. They needed to think solely on what was ahead of them.

"Are we planning to eat and then try to make our way to the Timekeepers? Am I correct in that we are still going to try for that? I have come up with no other options." Alleara tried not to sound disheartened or frustrated.

Estios rubbed his eyes clean of the web that had kept them shut, "If that's where you think we should go, I have no quarrels. Lead the way."

It was like a weight on her shoulders. If that's where you think we should go... Alleara stood. She wasn't at all sure that they should be going to the Timekeepers. Why would they talk to them? They were just two people with nothing to back up the reason they were there. She wasn't sure they shouldn't go either, after all what else were they to do? They needed information and right now the only people who held it was the Timekeepers. Not for the first time in the past two days Alleara was wondering why she had tried to figure out the queen's death to begin with.

"Yes...yes let's go there but first..." She knelt down and scrounged through her pack. Alleara pulled out some parchment and ink. She began to write out a letter. "If you want to grab something to eat go ahead, I am going to be a moment."

Estios checked his equipment, ensuring that none had been stolen like she said, before he left her to her thoughts. Alleara knelt down and scribbled furiously. The words went down quickly but the writing was small, neat and even. She had one chance, one possible last hope for some help from Solaria. If she could get this letter there and to its intended without interception there was a small, a very small chance of help.

She wrote it all down. What she had learned so far from the deaths of the others, what her observations were of the Lords who had accompanied her and in great detail what had happened on her journey here to this point. She included everything that seemed even remotely important. The more details she included the more she hoped it would persuade the reader that she was telling the truth. The hard part would be getting into Solaria and into the Queen's hands. Alleara knew it was risky but the Queen had given her the job of being her investigator in the matter of the former queen's death and no matter what she was going to do that job. If the Queen did not believe her than she was in no better position that she was currently. If she did, even a little...if she could find out more on the traitorous Lords and those in her court it would be better for all. Alleara wondered how much Lord Faeran and the others were involved in the queen's poisoning, how much they were trying to cover up and just how many of the court were involved.

Alleara stood and blew gently, helping the ink to dry. Now she just had to figure out the best way to get it to the Queen's hand and not anyone else's.

---

Moments later Estios returned with a pair of biscuits and dried jerky wrapped in cloth. A canteen was strapped to the belt on his waist. He set the bundled food down beside her as he saw that she was still writing. Then he took a seat nearby and squeezed his forehead as he watched her write away.

The tent owner appeared from a closed section and noticed this as well.

"Ahh. Scribe?" he asked in a smoothed accent, there was still an accent though.

Alleara's eyes lifted from the paper. "Ugh...yes, yes a scribe." She nodded. It wasn't far from the truth. "I am almost done and then I need to send this off."

The old man nodded before he proceeded to oust the small and enclosed firepit that had lit the tent during the night. Then he drew the curtain fold up to admit more daylight in. Estios was unsure if the old man understood much of what Alleara said.

"What are you writing?" he watched her while sitting with one knee propping his arm.

Before she could reply, he decided to make himself useful. He pulled out his sword once more from its sheath and observed the blade for any marks or dents. He remembered that he barely used it during the battle, he exhaled. Not a single drop of blood was drawn. Perhaps it was not his time to kill yet. He proceeded to rub it down with his Solarian robes; he had taken them off the night before as he donned his new garb to better blend with the desert.

Alleara looked from Estios to the old man. She hesitated for a moment. Crossing to where Estios knelt with his blade she crouched next to him and whispered. "I am writing to the Queen. It is our only chance I think. I have told her that a conspiracy is in the works, that perhaps it has been for a while. I told her of what happened, of the Lord's behaviour as we learned about the other deaths and the ambush, how they killed all those they had not bought off. I told her that no matter what she hears of us that it is not true. I told her everything and all of my observations. I do not know what else to do."

She bit her lower lip. "My dilemma is in how to get it to her hands. I do not know for sure who is working for her and who is against. I don't know who to trust in all of this...except you and you are here..."

Alleara looked down at her parchment. There was a lot of writing, a great deal of information that she wished to impart to the queen. It was all very important. "Do you know anyone that we could send it to? Someone who could get it into the queen's hands? Someone you can trust above all else? They can't let this out of their sight or hands. I don't...I don't have any friends. I spent my life in a lab and I don't know about my parents." Alleara now doubted her plan. It seemed worth it to write it all down, to hope that if the queen read it she might at least investigate the allegations but now the task of getting it to her seemed too big to accomplish.

Estios stopped rubbing his sword as she said this. The captain made no motion, staring blankly at the mat he sat on. The tent lurched at the rolling wind's beckoning. He could see a banner billow in the open air for a time, it would become a windy day.

Estios sheathed his sword once more, "You have not told her anything. The letter has not delivered into her hands."

"And I know not of anyone who could get it to her hands. I don't even know who to trust within the ranks of the Sunfires," Estios paused, "The delegates' agents might be anywhere in the city or the deserts."

"It would be our word against theirs. Just us two. A disgraced captain, and a girl. No proof."

Alleara's heart sank. The last grasp of hope dissolved. She was so sure that if she could get it to the queen that everything would be okay. Now all her concerns about getting it there combined with a reminder that they were such small parts in all of this were shared by another, not just in her head. They were real not fleeting things to be easily overcome.

"It would be but...maybe I will hold onto it for now and perhaps all will go well with the Timekeepers and I won't have to try and send it..."

She carefully folded the letter and slipped it safely away into her things. "I will come up with a plan. If all else fails this has to get to the queen. She can't ignore what is before her. Our word matters." Alleara tried to sound more sure than she felt at the moment.

"Shall we head out?" She turned and looked outside. Sand was blowing about. Alleara took sash from her original dress, now folded in her pack and wrapped over her head. It would help to keep the sand from blowing into her face. She had forgotten about food, her mind too occupied with the letter and the journey before them.

The captain holstered his scabbard, and they bid their goodbyes to the good-natured tent keeper. Another long day in the deserts.

---

Alleara's steps were heavy. The sand slowed her but the uncertainty of her situation, of their situation weighed her down more. The letter to the queen felt like a rock in her pack. She was sure that if she could just explain to the queen what had happened everything would be alright once more. Facts are facts. They will state the truth and in this we are in the right. Justice will happen because fact will prove it. Alleara felt like as long as she believed in that, in the truth of all of this that things would work out.

The wind had picked up and she was glad for the material of her other dress to wrap around her head to keep the sand out. Alleara put her head down and pushed forward behind Estios. She fell occasionally onto her knees but got to her feet as quickly as she could each time. Alleara looked over her shoulder.

"Do you think we are being followed? I saw people watching us in the market. Do you think they will follow us?" She called out to Estios.

"If they are following us, they'll lose us eventually," Estios was referring to the wind.

It seemed as though a storm had been born not to far ahead. From the moment they left the trading post up until that point, the wind had only grown stronger. It reminded Estios of an old myth that the old women and sages often prattled about. It was a myth relating to a sandstorm in those parts. The legend went on about a great warrior named Apmekh, who was supposedly a brilliant strategist as well. He belonged to a group of peoples known as the wind tribes. These tribes were known as the wind tribes because they went wherever the wind went.

The tale went on to say that by the time Apmekh came into the world, the wind tribes had severely dwindled in numbers due to wars with various other groups. Back when the land still had magic flowing through it, Apmekh went on to lead his people against extinction. His many victories were achieved through sheer speed, they were known to move like the wind and lightning. They moved like the storms. They howled in fury, struck fast, and left their foes in defeat. Some say that Apmekh and his people eventually merged with the sandstorms that strafed the deserts.

It was entertaining to hear when Estios was a child, but it was a myth because the alchemists and thinkers merely believed that the wind had patterns. At certain points the wind would gather into storms until the energy to maintain the storm had dissipated, and the winds themselves dispersed.

The storm that was headed in their direction was not about to disperse anytime soon.

Alleara nodded as she hunched her shoulders, further hiding herself from the wind. She guessed the wind was a blessing in that sense. If they survived the trek there was little chance of finding their tracks.

The wind grew stronger as they walked and she found herself falling more and more as it pushed her down. Alleara clenched her teeth and forced herself to keep moving. She would not give up, it was not in her nature. Alleara was not used to such physical exertion. Sit her at a table for hours on end with a book and not be affected but this was an entirely different experience.

"Cap-Estios are there any animals I need be concerned about in the sands?" Alleara inquired as she struggled to once more return to her feet from her most recent fall. Each time it was as if the sand was trying to suck her in as the wind tried to force her down. She wondered if the land and air were somehow in on the conspiracy and trying to eliminate the last two witnesses of the treachery the Lords had done. Is it possible for men to control the elements? Alleara couldn't help but wonder.

Estios had forgotten that Alleara was a noblewoman, she lacked experience traveling the deserts. She lacked greater knowledge of the dangerous elements aside from the blustery weather. The predators of the land were not afraid to prey on an unsuspecting traveler. They could be buried in the sand by one's feet before striking. The creatures were vicious at times, comparable to the land in which they lived.

"Plenty, but perhaps not now," Estios yelled above the wind.

The captain found it harder to tread, the sand thickened about his feet. Each laborious step dug into the ocean of orange. The incline pushed against them as they climbed the crest of one of the many dunes in their path. He led with one hand in front of him, while his other hand pressed against the robe cloth that helped to cover his face.

At the top of the dune, they were hit by puffs of wind while the sand pelted them. Estios had been through storms before, but he had never grown accustomed to them because he had never spent many days out of the city. At one point he thought he nearly lost Alleara, and he was about to call out for had he not realized her hand was still on his shoulder.

"Stay close," he beckoned.

Alleara's eyes widened as Estios told her there was plenty of things to be concerned about in the sand. She looked down at the shifting land with fear. "Great, one more thing on the list that wants to kill me. Sand creatures..." Her voice couldn't be heard over the wind.

It took her a few moments to realize they were moving upward on an incline. The process grew steadily slower and harder. Even Estios was slowing down. She put her head down, held onto his shoulder as best she could and tried not to eat or inhale too much sand.

He told her to stay close and Alleara simply nodded. She had no intention of doing anything other than staying as close as possible to him. Her hand gripped tighter as her feet sank.

"I feel like the sand is trying to swallow me!" Alleara yelled over the blowing wind. She instantly regretted it as sand found its way into her mouth. She coughed and stumbled as she tried to spit as much of it out as she could. Alleara fell to her knees, letting Estios go. Her stomach heaved slightly as it fought out the bits of sand she had inadvertently swallowed. She let her body clench a moment as it tried to expel the grit.

Alleara looked up hoping Esitios had not gone too far. She struggled once more to her feet and tried to run towards him to no avail. She began a slow, heavy footed trudge. Her head down this time she raised her voice once more. "How long do these storms last?"

"Long enough to force one to seek shelter," Estios's reply was clipped by the buffeting wind. His field of view was limited to a couple of steps before him, but that was enough to spot the canyon opening. He thought perhaps they could shelter there until the storm pattern dispersed and the taste of sand had disappeared from their mouths.

He was sure her hand was still tugging on his shoulder, and he led them to the crevice that would lead into the interior of the rock formation. The wind was less harsh with the rock walls covering them. Estios was careful to keep his face covered with whatever cloth he had. He ran his free hand among his robes to ensure that their pouch of funds and his sword had not fallen off somewhere in the path. The search for them out among the dunes would serve to delay their progress, and to go without them would be foolhardy.

Shelter was music to her ears. Alleara struggled to remain close as he led them forward. Thank any gods listening that he is with me. I would have.... She didn't complete the thought. She knew what would have happened if Estios had not saved her life. She reached out and grabbed his shirt once more as they pushed forward.

At first she didn't know what he was moving towards but eventually she could see the opening. Alleara wanted to go faster, to get out of the wind but it was like the sand was mocking them with every step.

"Not-much-further-" She yelled above the wind. It had picked up, blowing stronger and Alleara wanted to curse at it as it tried to take her breath away once more.

Estios pushed as far into the canyon passage as he could. With the arches overhead, they were protected from the beating wind for a time. He intended to set out as soon as the storm let up.

Estios let out an exhausted exhale, which was followed by several coughs as he attempted to relieve himself of the salt that landed in his mouth. Both were muffled by his robe. The taste was nothing new to him, but the texture was certainly annoying.

“Are you alright?” he yelled, “Keep your face covered.”

He knew she was fine, but reassurance never hurt. He could see the wind was calming from its earlier howls, the sand was less bitter. It was still far too harsh to make any further headway in the open stretch. At least he could see his hand in front of him, that was a positive sign.

Alleara took a breath and immediately started coughing. It felt as if the sand had penetrated every crevice of her face. "Yes, I am fine but I feel like I have eaten a good portion of the desert..." She turned and in a very unladylike fashion spit out as much sand as she could. "Yuck." She covered her face once more.

If Alleara could see Estios' face, she would see him smiling.

Her head went back against the wall for a moment. "I am exhausted. I never realized how hard that walk was going to be."

It was then that Alleara realized her heart was pounding in her chest in an almost uncomfortable fashion. She also realized her eyes were verging on tears. She felt defeated and they hadn't gotten very far at all. How am I going to do this? Doubt began to creep in again.

Alleara pushed herself away from the wall and began to walk towards Estios. No tears, no giving up. You can't do this. He lost so much and you don't get to buckle now. "Do we wait or keep moving?"

"We wait, until the storm dies," Estios covered himself once more as bits of sand had nearly lashed his face.

Alleara nodded and huddled into her clothes a bit more to keep the sand away. This wasn't what she had envisioned when the Queen asked her to investigate. She had thought questions, lists and then finally an answer. Nothing was to result in caravans through the desert, ambushes and more death let alone hiding in a passage to wait out a sandstorm.

She almost missed her mother's nagging her to be social, to get out of the lab.

The storm carried for a time.

---

When the dust settled, literally, they found themselves in the same place as before, the sprawling desert. The storms never did much to alter the landscape, however, some say that the grooves, curves, nooks, and crannies on rock walls were the result of erosion by bits and grains of sand for years on end. Perhaps that too was the work of Apmekh and his followers, wearing away the great walls of rock until everything turned to sand.

Alleara fixed her scarf, adjusted her pack and had finished freeing her nose and mouth of as much of the sand as possible. When the storm finally died down she felt ready to continue on. As she peered out at the landscaped she was disheartened to see that nothing changed in regards to the landscape but she also wondered why she thought it might. What would a storm like that accomplish really other than pushing sand about? Expose some long forgotten city of legend? Open a new path to an unknown land? When did I take to having such fairytale hopes? Alleara sighed in annoyance and stepped out into the sands.

"Now that I can hear you better what exactly should I be looking for in regards to things that might lurk in the sands? With the storm not battering at us I imagine we are not that only things that will come out of shelter to explore the lands once more."

"Venomous creatures. Their stings would make the sands your crypt. Let's hope they all scurried into their holes during the storm."

The captain moved on ahead as ever, his scabbard hung from straps at his hip.

The captain's lack of details about the things that might try to kill her left Alleara feeling less than excited about their trek. Her mouth set into a line as she followed him through the sands.

The sun grew higher in the sky and Alleara kept pulling her scarf further and further over her head until she could get no more shade from it without covering her face completely. Sweat trickled down her body. For the first time in her life Alleara thought about what it must be like for those who could not afford a home to give shelter from the repressive sun. Sure tents worked but there was nothing like the cool shade of a built home to make you underestimate the everyday impact the sun had on the people. Alleara spent most of her time in the lab and hidden away from the outside world. Now it beat down on her and she wondered if she had what it took to survive.

The trek was tiring but Alleara said nothing out loud about how weary her legs were growing or how her pack, as light as it was began to feel like rock on her back. They had to get as far as possible. There was a lot at stake and collapsing in the sands was not an option.

A bead of sweat dripped into her eye and with a sharp hiss through her teeth Alleara paused to wipe it away. It was then that something tickled her leg. It wasn't a tickle of say a feather or material brushing against skin but more like something touching her.

"E-Estios....those creatures....um..."

Her eyes moved downward to see a thing with many legs and a shiny body at her feet. Part of it's frame remained in the sand as it decided to crawl out to see what was standing near or on its home. Long thin limbs moved against her leg, feeling her.

The logical part of her said it was simply checking to see what she was, food or predator, perhaps an object blown by the wind. The logical part saw the need for the creatures curiosity.

The part of her that was now overwhelmed with fear could not focus on anything but the pincers that protruded from the front.

"What do I do?" Her eyes remained on the thing in the sand.

Estios turned to see her predicament. Fortunately, it was nothing serious to warrant pulling out his sword. Many occasions in the past were otherwise though.

"Leave that one be. It's one of the few harmless ones," the captain waved the creature off.

It did as told, scurrying into the wide expanse. Somewhere along the way it buried its head into the ground, the body soon followed and altogether disappeared beneath. The captain huffed and cleared his throat, he kept moving forward. He was trying to retrace their path. The desert was never marked with roads, it was the reason why there were so many trade posts. They served as markers for those who traveled, those who stayed at the posts were well-traveled and could serve as guides or give directions if necessary.

The words that one of the guides had given him was to head north. He had rarely visited the Sanctum himself, but he knew that it would be recognizable from a distance.

Alleara was relieved by the statement that the thing was harmless. It never occurred to her that any of them might be harmless. She had been too fixated on the venomous aspect.

The thing skittered away. Alleara opened her mouth to thank Estios but he had already turned and with a huff started off again. She followed behind and once more thought perhaps things would be easier if she had more real world experience. Reading in the lab was not the same as interacting with the world around her.

The pair walked and walked. Alleara said nothing more, asked no other questions and kept her eyes out for other things that might come crawling out. She wanted to show the captain she was not a liability or a burden.

When the first pieces of the Sanctum appeared in the distance over the top of a dune Alleara thought she was imagining it. Clearly the sun was causing strange visions in the distance. She said nothing to Estios, fearing he might think her going mad from the heat.

The tops of the Sanctum grew and extended down to show the rest of the building. Alleara blinked ensuring she wasn't hallucinating. "Estios. Do you see that? The heat isn't getting to me, there is a building there right?"

It was a structure in the middle of the desert. It was shaped like a dome, but other than that it had no real aesthetic to it. It was colored like the sand, almost as though it were meant to be a dune. Estios had to cover his eyes, as they were facing the sun. He could not tell if it was a mirage, or if that was the recognizable Sanctum that was foretold.

Alleara looked over at Estios. He seemed to give pause as if pondering if he too were really seeing a building. The heat and trek had taken a toll on them both.

"Let's keep moving. The sooner we reach it the sooner we are out of the sun and the sooner we can figure out our next step."

With a shift of her pack on her shoulder Alleara began walking once more. The colouring of the building was throwing her off, making it hard for her to keep focused on it. She could see it but the constant squinting and blinking from the sun meant that at times she could not find it again right away.

The closer the came to the Sanctum the more clear it became. The structure grew bigger and its shadow became ever more discernible on the sand.

"Almost there. I hope the men here are willin-"

Alleara paused, stopped walking and turned her head as if listening intently. After a moment she looked at Estios. "Do you hear that?"