Rebellion: Prince of Dawn

Interlude: The Narrow Way

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The moon had come and gone for Roxy and Roxanne. In just about an hour, Mrs Robinson would depart.

The twins went to the room Ilias and Jaime bought for the night, pounding on the door to wake them up.

"Guys, wake up!" Roxy said. "Just put on something and get ready at the office. We're going to miss our chance if you take any longer."

They continued to pound until one of the neighbours popped his head out. "Will the two of you be quiet?! I was up all night doing a job!"

With that warning, they dropped off their room key to the half-asleep receptionist and gathered their thoughts in the quiet streets.

"We can break the door down," Roxy suggested. "But that would just cause more trouble and we might miss the expedition because of it."

"Let's go to Mrs Robinson. If they get to her on time, then that's good. We can't be punished because of their tardiness."

"Ilias did say that we should just go ahead if they're not here."

The twins were the first to arrive at the office. They caught a glimpse of the workers finishing up the prepping for the expedition. All in all, there were twenty-nine workers escorting us-thirteen drivers, fifteen mercenaries, and Mrs Robinson leading them.

The twelve stagecoaches had wheels the twins had never seen before. The closest thing they could compare them to were sleds. Instead of two wheels, these vehicles had eight encircled within short metal tracks. They were small interlocking plates that seemed to favour stability over speed.

Each stagecoach was powered by eight camels pulling it.

If horses were the animals of the field, camels were the animals of the desert. They were twice as big and twice as durable as horses. The humps in their backs-contrary to popular belief-stored fat that would keep the camels sustained for weeks. They could drink their weight in water and keep its loss at a minimum. Their noses, mouths, and eyelids have the ability to shut so tight that even a sandstorm couldn't disorient them. Their coat of coarse hair kept them cool under the sun and warm when the temperatures of the soaring desert plummeted to that of the light winters in the north.

The expedition wanted to cross the desert as safe and steady as possible. Camels were the perfect choice of transport.

By the time the sun's bottom arc had lifted from the ground, an additional twenty passengers joined the twins in waiting. Accompanied by a few of the mercenaries, Mrs Robinson went around collecting the fare.

"Where are the kids?" the guide asked when she started with the twins.

"We don't know," Roxanne answered. "I think they overslept."

"I did warn them yesterday so that's too bad. They'll have to wait for next month's expedition."

Mrs. Robinson led the line of carriages with her right-hand man. A mercenary guarded the in-between of every vehicle. The ones who had no space to guard scouted ahead or fell behind covering tracks and making sure they weren't being followed.

The Great Sand Sea, as vast and empty as it was, was home to dangerous monsters and highwaymen. They couldn't be too careful.

The odd track-like wheels made a lot more sense now that Roxy and Roxanne were travelling on desert sand. If they had been normal wheels, they would simply sink or get stuck in the sand. The tracks made it easy to traverse the fine grains, adapting to whatever shape the dunes were.