looked exhausted, and more than a bit panicked. “Can you get us back to the ship?”
“ I think so,” she said hesitantly. “ But whatever we saw in those ruins back there is making it hard for my spirit to search the area.”
“Your storm work ed ,” Ronan said sternly.
“ Using my spirit for violence and using it to search an area are two entirely different things ,” Jade said. “Whatever that phenomenon was , it’s been well hidden, and whatever magic was used to conceal it i s ma king this entire region unstable .”
They walked beneath the pale and open sky. Kane heard howls in the distance . The wind was cold and sharp. His body was sore, and his knee ached like someone had jabbed a needle into it . Still, the fact that ever y step didn’t make him double over in agony was a good sign . He’d bandaged his arm – he didn’t remember removing the sliver of steel, but it was long gone – and Jade’s spirit had staunched the bleeding . Even then, it still throbbed and burned like crazy .
They came to the top of a steep rise and found a good vantage of the desert . Thick drifts of cobalt dust shifted in the distance like corroding walls . Storm clouds brewed far to the east . T here were few discernible landmarks they could use to get their bearings: just the ubiquitous sand, rising and falling with no pattern or rhyme, cold and glassy, striated in bands of black and white . There was no sign of the ship, and it wa s impossible to even pick up the smoke trail with so much dust and sand in the air .
“Maur wants to know what the hell that was – that vision!” the Gol said.
“Yeah, that would be nice to know…” Ronan echoed .
“Can we worry about that shit later?” Kane said angrily. “We need to figure out where in the hell we are. We can worry about what we did or didn’t see after we make sure we’re not going to freeze to death out here.”
Kane saw everyone’s faces change at that, and he was glad for it. They had absolutely zero supplies from the airship with them , and if the sun went down they’d be in for a difficult and potentially lethal night …and that was just from the cold. He hadn’t even considered the predators or vampires.
“Got a ny clue as to how we do that?” Ronan asked.
“Well…I have a compass in my knife ,” Kane said . “ Let’s give that a try . ”
What they also had were the map coordinates to Blacksand, and even though they m ust have been several hours out it was still better than nothing , since it seemed unlikely they’d be able to retrace their steps back to the crash site.
They marched. The going was difficult, and every time they started to make some headway they found themselves in a dust storm or standing in an area of dangerously soft sand . The wind hounded them every step of the way and sliced through their clothes.
Kane’s skin turned raw from the cold. Sand invaded his boots and made his feet feel like lead. He, Ronan and Sol all took turns carrying Maur : it wasn’t that the Gol was feeling weak, but with the difficult terrain and the ir desire to make haste he needed help keep ing up with the group. Jade kept everyone as warm as she could with her spirit – it was the only reason they hadn’t come down with hypothermia – but doing so kept her constantly fatigued, and if she kept it up too long she’d end up wearing herself out.
Distant animal howls echoed through th e hollow sky, which turned vein- blue as the sun slowly sank towards the shifting horizon.
“Was that a portal ?” Sol asked. A great deal of time had passed in near silence. Their feet lifted and fell with a monotonous rhythm. Kane and Ronan led the group with Jade close behind them; Sol had Maur on his shoulders, and they brought up the rear. The sky was dark and thin. They saw by the light of dusk, and that light was fading fast.
Kane’s mind had wandered. He couldn’t even
“ I think so,” she said hesitantly. “ But whatever we saw in those ruins back there is making it hard for my spirit to search the area.”
“Your storm work ed ,” Ronan said sternly.
“ Using my spirit for violence and using it to search an area are two entirely different things ,” Jade said. “Whatever that phenomenon was , it’s been well hidden, and whatever magic was used to conceal it i s ma king this entire region unstable .”
They walked beneath the pale and open sky. Kane heard howls in the distance . The wind was cold and sharp. His body was sore, and his knee ached like someone had jabbed a needle into it . Still, the fact that ever y step didn’t make him double over in agony was a good sign . He’d bandaged his arm – he didn’t remember removing the sliver of steel, but it was long gone – and Jade’s spirit had staunched the bleeding . Even then, it still throbbed and burned like crazy .
They came to the top of a steep rise and found a good vantage of the desert . Thick drifts of cobalt dust shifted in the distance like corroding walls . Storm clouds brewed far to the east . T here were few discernible landmarks they could use to get their bearings: just the ubiquitous sand, rising and falling with no pattern or rhyme, cold and glassy, striated in bands of black and white . There was no sign of the ship, and it wa s impossible to even pick up the smoke trail with so much dust and sand in the air .
“Maur wants to know what the hell that was – that vision!” the Gol said.
“Yeah, that would be nice to know…” Ronan echoed .
“Can we worry about that shit later?” Kane said angrily. “We need to figure out where in the hell we are. We can worry about what we did or didn’t see after we make sure we’re not going to freeze to death out here.”
Kane saw everyone’s faces change at that, and he was glad for it. They had absolutely zero supplies from the airship with them , and if the sun went down they’d be in for a difficult and potentially lethal night …and that was just from the cold. He hadn’t even considered the predators or vampires.
“Got a ny clue as to how we do that?” Ronan asked.
“Well…I have a compass in my knife ,” Kane said . “ Let’s give that a try . ”
What they also had were the map coordinates to Blacksand, and even though they m ust have been several hours out it was still better than nothing , since it seemed unlikely they’d be able to retrace their steps back to the crash site.
They marched. The going was difficult, and every time they started to make some headway they found themselves in a dust storm or standing in an area of dangerously soft sand . The wind hounded them every step of the way and sliced through their clothes.
Kane’s skin turned raw from the cold. Sand invaded his boots and made his feet feel like lead. He, Ronan and Sol all took turns carrying Maur : it wasn’t that the Gol was feeling weak, but with the difficult terrain and the ir desire to make haste he needed help keep ing up with the group. Jade kept everyone as warm as she could with her spirit – it was the only reason they hadn’t come down with hypothermia – but doing so kept her constantly fatigued, and if she kept it up too long she’d end up wearing herself out.
Distant animal howls echoed through th e hollow sky, which turned vein- blue as the sun slowly sank towards the shifting horizon.
“Was that a portal ?” Sol asked. A great deal of time had passed in near silence. Their feet lifted and fell with a monotonous rhythm. Kane and Ronan led the group with Jade close behind them; Sol had Maur on his shoulders, and they brought up the rear. The sky was dark and thin. They saw by the light of dusk, and that light was fading fast.
Kane’s mind had wandered. He couldn’t even
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