Sun's Heart

Chapter 20 - The Power in a Name

Haliculir tantalized them. They fixed their sights on it, shining and vast and carved out of a lonely, misplaced mountain, and they plodded toward it.

None had spoken since the sun went down the previous night. Energy spent on words was better used attempting to blend into their surroundings. Sleeping in the sand, covered with sand-colored cloths in the hopes of looking like another part of the ground. They dared not sleep too deeply, lest they roll over or twitch. It had worked, for the most part. Selias and Wil kept their magic usage low to avoid attracting attention. A dangerous gambit. There was little choice. Some shadowbeasts found them anyway, but they were quickly dealt with without the use of spells.

Not quickly enough to avoid casualties. A trail of bloodied corpses littered the way behind. Respectfully burned if there was time. If there wasn't, they were left facing the sky, arms spread with head to the north and feet to the south. The injured capable of walking were taken, but those who couldn't were left with what little water they could spare, some dried meats, and half-hearted assurances that Bahittsami was not far behind Kunnafedib. Selias' face hardened with each of his kin he left.

They were all hunters, veteran tonafang killers, but the attacks had become more than dangerous. Now, there was real risk that they might all be wiped out in the span of a minute.

Wil, supporting the weight of an injured hunter, ran his gaze across the bare landscape again. The young man was around Wil's age, or a little older. His breathing was labored and his blood-spattered face sagged. His bandages were soaking through. They couldn't stop to change them. He'd likely lose the arm if he didn't die of blood loss, but if they stopped now, the odds of being ambushed by shadowbeasts would only rise.

Wil wasted only a second in readjusting the boy's weight.

Haliculir had been visible from Lanulotakt's oasis walls, but it had been faint, smudged, and stunted. A misshapen dune sticking up above the rest.

Now they were close enough to see details in individual buildings. Windows and doorways, arching stone bridges like branches between trees. Towers with evidence of battle, worn away by wind and stretching for the sun. A wall curved around the base of the mountain city, no gate in sight. The sheer size of the city dwarfed the walls.

The oasis felt months behind them. Had it truly only been four days since they'd left Lanulotakt? Which meant it would be five days since he and Dain had said goodbye. At least seven since Gale had vanished. Or was it eight?

He sighed. Math had been his only peace of mind in the days spent trudging and fighting through the most hostile stretch of land Sand Sea had to offer. Counting anything he could lay his mind on. Steps, breaths, the passing seconds. As long as he didn't focus on what he was feeling, his thoughts came clearer. But they always returned to, She's been gone so long.

We're not going to find her.

A week in Sand Sea, alone, without food or water, and unable to use magic. If she'd survived the attack without injury, there still wasn't much hope she'd made it out alive.

Where could she have gone?

June would be devastated. The others would offer the proper responses of sympathy and sadness, but they'd move on again in a few months' time.

Dain would likely do the same. As determined as he was about proving if she was alive or not, Wil suspected he only had enough of an attention span to focus on one thing at a time. And for the moment, it was probably getting to Haliculir safely.

"Ha...il kua..." the hunter whispered.

Sparing a glance for the kid, he surveyed their surroundings once more. And try though he might, Wil didn't have the energy to care about more than one thing at a time. None of them did.