North of Nokire was a dozen mountain passes of varying safety and distance, winding from smooth jungle terrain into the harsh rise and fall of foothills and cliffs. The moss became scarce, and soon a grey sand covered everything, save where rocks showed their ribs in the sides of ridges. Vaenuth’s caravan trudged onward, through the bones of the mountains and onto the edge of the desert.
The south side of the Expanse was a rocky underbelly to the endless dunes of the north. Their scouts plotted a path through the winding crevices and hills and, during the middle of the 6th moon, they began to ride west.
One of the wagons was unpacked, and everyone donned loose beige, grey, and white robes. The sun replaced the humidity as Vaenuth’s adversary, and her robe was a tent between her and it. In the jungles, clothes caught more humidity, but out here, moisture wasn’t a factor. Sheer heat was.
“It’s hellish,” said Hulean, riding his grey steed alongside Vaenuth’s Belmyre. “I’ve been to the Eye of Maga before, and it was a paradise compared to this.” He had his hood and mask on wrong; his nose jutted out where only his eyes should show.
“We won’t travel for as many hours,” Vaenuth assured him, breathing through her veil. She wore none of her piercings now, but had replaced certain ones with wood pegs to keep her skin open. “By the end of this journey, you’ll hate the food rationing more than the sun.”
Hulean shook his head. “No, nothing could be worse.”
Banno, despite his immense size, was well accustomed to life on the Expanse. While Vaenuth had been venturing out here for five years, the Maykren man had spent close to twenty years walking the scalding sands. He even claimed to understand some of the hisses of Slithers, a feat scholars had not deemed worth undertaking themselves. “You’ll live,” he told Hulean with a smile. He did not wear any mask at all. “If our pale friend here does, you will too…”
Vaenuth shook her head. “I hope you never see me burn.”
Hulean scoffed. “What do you mean?”
“By the gods,” she said. “Fix your veil. Like this, see?”
Hulean flushed more, which was surprising due to the heat. He quickly fixed his veil. “I don’t like how much it holds my breath.”
“You’ve already got enough sand in your nose,” Banno said. “Trust me.”
“Very well,” Hulean said. “What did you mean about burning?”
“Skin like mine,” she said, “Tans often, but sometimes burns. Unlike the rest of you, I don’t just become flushed. I become red.”
Hulean laughed. “I’ve seen red people before,” he said. “In Var Nordos.”
“Nordos?” Banno asked. “Where haven’t you been before?”
“Plenty of places.” Hulean shrugged. His eyes looked like he was smiling.
They kept riding. A few hours later, Banno came alongside Vaenuth again. “How do you feel?” he asked.
“Fine,” she said, defensively. “Why?”
Banno showed his teeth again and looked back at Elli, who was now discussing something with Hulean from one of the wagons. That new recruit was full of surprises, it seemed. Banno turned back to the caravan leader on her big black horse. “You didn’t eat again. Come on, Vae. We all need you to be strong.”
“I am strong,” Vaenuth snapped. “I had some coffee this morning, and a couple of forest nuts.” The big brown-shelled nuts grew on some of the tallest trees.
Banno shook his head. He didn’t usually question her this directly, and he didn’t continue talking about the food topic after her bristling.
Vaenuth kept looking straight ahead and the caravan marched onward. On their left was the rising foothills of the Yurna mountains, and on the right, the ocean of sand. She spotted no tribes out there, which was good. A mission like this, trading with human villages on the Logren Rivers, was better without any Slither interaction. Her scouts would inform her if any entered their caravan’s trajectory, and if they were willing to trade.
Nine out of ten Slither caravans were. But, for every peaceful encounter, there loomed a fear of the deep desert tribes. To Slithers from the Scalelands, humans were just another animal to hunt, and Vaenuth’s scouts might not return from such a sighting.
For twenty days, they would need to follow the mountains to the west. Vaenuth hoped that Banno’s worrying was the worst issue that they would face.