By the edges of the wreckage, the first vultures werebeginning to descend.They stayed on the periphery, watching the two livingpeople with obvious caution, but their eyes were drifting hungrily toward thedead bodies, and they were growing bolder by the minute.Their dark formsshuddered across the sand.
Isaac heard the squawks overhead like the ringing of achurch’s bell.
“Which do you think’ll comefirst?”Zaria asked.“Sunstroke or thirst?Lying out here, all on yourlonesome.It’ll get you quick, believe me.The only hope you’ll have is thebuzzards trying to nip your flesh while it’s ripe to eat, but that won’t be toomerciful of them, either.They’ll start at the soft bits.Eyes and lips.Youname it, they’ll get it.They’re very patient.”
Isaac tried to control his breathing.He knew she was tryingto intimidate him again, and he attempted to respond in kind.“You will neversee a single coin of that gold without me.”
She squatted down again, meeting his eye with an expressionthat was not entirely cruel.“I’m well aware.That’s why the deal’s beingoffered.I help you get your father, you help get merich.Otherwise, we go our separate ways, here and now.”
“That’s not much of a choice.”
“Course it’s not.That’s why I’ve already packed your bag.”She gestured to the two packs she’d dropped down from the ship.“Your brave newknight has pilfered enough skins and rations from the cargo to last us thewhole adventure, looks like.It’ll be freely offered, on condition ofagreement.”
He looked at his upturned pack, seeing nothing but glass phylacteriesand strips of old vellum parchment.He would never be able to reach his fatheron such meager supplies, let alone the journey back.Even after wetting his throat, he was still desperately thirsty.He would giveanything for another supp of water.
He took a small breath.
“Smaller one’s yours, naturally,” Zaria said.“Can’t have mysquire growing weak at the knees.”
Isaac glanced at the vultures again.
“Whatcha say then, Isaac?Comrades in arms?”She spread herarms in a hopeful embrace.“Soldiers for a cause?”
He glared up at her.“Just untie me, you mangy cutthroat.”
“Yes?”the hyena asked.
“Untie me.”
“Was that a yes, then?”
“Untie me!”
“I’m gonna need a yes there, squire.”
“Yes!For fuck’s sake, yes!Untie me!”
Zaria hummed to herself.“Oh, aye.Right.‘Bout that.Thosearms of yours—them magic cannons, I mean—those are going to stay nice and bounduntil the coin’s in our pockets.I ain’t riskin’ a spell from a mage of yourcaliber.You understand.”
He stared at her, long enough to hear the vultures begin tosquabble over the lioness.Slowly, Isaac leaned forward, raising his tiedwrists through the porthole of a cannon.
She grinned, pulling out a dagger.“Oh, just you wait,Isaac.We’ll be thick as thieves.You ain’t never had a better companion.”
ChapterThree
Cargo
The sunseared itselfacross the sky.
For the most part, Isaac had never ventured out during the day.Every night, he had stopped his march hours before dawn, taking shelter withinrocky grottos, the nooks of slot canyons, and the last vestiges of chaparralforest, hoping to wait out the malevolence of the light.His uncle had insistedhe not take unnecessary risks.Rescuing his father was all well and good, butthe man had been trapped for decades, and he could wait a few weeks longer thanplanned, if only to make sure his one begotten son would not perish beneath thesun.
But even in the shade of a slot canyon, the heat remainedmiserable.It never truly abated—only fell and rose in intensity, like waves ina tide.It was a constant muddiness, a weight on his steps, a simmeringcauldron for his thoughts.By the time he entered the dunes, dried sweat hadcollected in every crack of his skin, and no amount of water ever seemed toslake him of thirst.Even the sandwyrms and their vortex of teeth hadn’t madehim panic like the thought of being caught by the sun’s light without shelter.
Isaac sighed.
Right now, he judged the sun to be just past its zenith.Itpulsed in the firmament like a throbbing, angry hole, turning the sky from blueto a pale shade of red.
He tugged on the rope binding his hands, glaring at Zaria.
