What Is Done

Chapter 20 - Nowhere

We didn't stop to sleep even if it was the middle of the night. Sellion knew if we stopped to set up camp, we would be sitting ducks. Sellion also knew about the not so well known thing in the Knowhere Desert. The coldness of night was refreshing to me. It'd been so warm recently. I seemed to take pleasure in closing myself off from the world in winter.

The horses walked slowly over the sand. I was usually fast asleep when the moon was high. I missed the feeling of safety.

"Where are we going?" Essaerae asked Sellion, who guided us atop Oakley. We kept heading northeast.

"To the Knowhere Oasis."

"Huh?"

"You know what the Knowhere Desert is, correct?" 

"Yes...It's only one of two deserts on Icast. It takes about two days to fully cross—in any direction—by foot." 

Sellion nodded. "And smack in the center of the desert is what's called the Knowhere Oasis."

Essaerae propped herself up with her elbows. Even if elves sleep less, we eventually get tired. My eyelids burned. "Uh huh...What's at the oasis besides water? I take it we're going to make camp there?" Essaerae yawned. Her body was telling her to sleep. Mine was too. I couldn't concentrate on sleeping right now.

I leaned forward in an uncomfortable position. Sellion kept a watchful eye over me to make sure I didn't fall off Maehara as we rode.

Sellion must've been the only one who wasn't at the brink of passing out. "There's an inn there. We can sleep safely there."

"Oh great," Essaerae had been mordacious, a yawn trailing.

The desert was boring. There was nothing spellbinding to look at. I could only concentrate on counting the multi-tinctured blue and gray spots on Sellion's shirt to keep myself awake. I kept losing count and having to start over. The question dawned on me how Sellion wasn't tired. Nor had I witnessed seeing him eat in some time.

Close to the early morning, past midnight, a speck of water with trees and buildings crowded around it. The moonlight against the surface of the Knowhere Oasis made it noticeable, catching my vision.

"Keep your cloaks on," Sellion instructed Essaerae and I as we entered the Oasis, not turning to meet our sleepy gazes. Essaerae was too tired to fight with him about it. "They're on our tail. It will be best if the innkeeper can't describe us checking in." Sellion adorned his body with his own cloak. It was black, like the night. Perfect for someone like him who waits in the shadows. It almost made him appear more natural.

We surrendered the horses to the inn's stables for a price of five gold pieces each. Sellion dug fifteen pieces out of the bag we used for money, money that came out of my personal funds. The bag of gold was among the few things we took inside. The others were our weapons.

The first floor of the inn was a tavern and restaurant. Stairs led up to the rooms. Three cloaked strangers weren't unusual in the Knowhere Desert. Wanderers and outlaws were the more than once seen faces around here. Travelers tried to avoid the dusty barren desert of Knowhere. There was a horned man manning the check in counter. It was no surprise that the horned men would have made a base of operations in a desert. They were the only ones who could stand living in intense heat.

"Hello." The innkeeper said as we approached him. His horns curled backwards like a ram's. His red skin was shiny. Piercings hung from his ears. A vacant wall made for hanging room keys was behind him. "A room for three?"

None of us said anything. We were all too tired.

The horned man began scanning papers with his fingers. "We don't have any available rooms for three people. Just two. Sorry."