A night of uneventful traveling and a day of camping and sleeping in the heat passed. Dew hobbled using his piece of carved piece of wood as a cane. Dusk approached so he tapped the woman’s tent. Folds of cloth at the opening parted as Nadia peered out. Awlena poked her head out the other side while yawning and rubbing sleep from her eyes. They gazed over the vast expanse of bumpy wasteland populated with snakes, spiders, and scorpions. The sun sunk halfway below the horizon. It became an orange ball steaming the air into a mirage.

“Everyone up, time to move out,” Dew called as he tapped his cane.

Nadia walked to the cart and leaned against the wooden handles. Josh stretched as left his tent. Vestor followed with a sleepy yawn. Their clothes looked disheveled and sweaty from sleeping in a hot stuffy tent all day. Darrell dragged out folded sleeping bags and tossed them onto the cart next to the food and water. Josh tested the left handle while Dew checked the weight on the right. They were the mules who being pulling the cart once again. Dew helped his sister to properly fold tents. Nadia grabbed swords and pillows. The weapons went besides the mats while the pillows went under them.

“You and Vestor should ride in the carts,” Nadia said, “I can make space on the mats so you can rest.”

“I can still keep up.”

Nadia rolled her eyes, “You’re limping with a plank. You fought well, so let us help you.”

Josh rolled his eyes, “If he wants to walk a bit that’s less weight we have to pull.”

“If you can make the cart lighter by riding it, I think you should be the one to rest. The slight addition will not be more of a burden to these big strong men.”

“Hold it! It’s not resting if I’m using my power on a heavy cart!”

Dew stood in front of her, over her, looking down at her, “You were going to use your power to make it lighter anyway. Wouldn’t being in the cart make it that much easier?”

“I can do my share of the work. This is my quest, for me, so it’s only fair. I’m not some fair damsel that you need to rescue. Now get away from me before I kick your leg.”

“No, I won’t allow it,” Dew folded his arms, “I won’t have you over exerting yourself on this journey. We will be traversing one of the deadliest cursed lands known to man. Plus, you have no idea what trials you’ll face at the temple. You need to reserve your strength.” 

“Fine,” Nadia poked his chest, “You convinced me, but I refuse to ride in the cart. I’ll walk ahead and feel out the terrain so you big strong men can follow without hitting any obstacles. If you’re so determined, why don’t you push the cart from behind?”

“Perhaps I will!”

Nadia started walking into the desert while shrugging her shoulders, “And you call me stupid.”

“Yes! Don’t go too far ahead. It’ll be dark shortly!”

They set out immediately, Darrell and Josh pulled the cart from the front while Dew and Awlena guided it from behind. Dew limped. He squinted. It didn’t take long to break into a sweat as his wounded calve pulsed. Vestor tried to help but risked getting caught under the cart if it backed up. They gave up on guiding the cart and left the task to Awlena. Nadia stayed a few meters ahead. Large slabs of stone and spiky rocks that could wedge the wheels or break the axels littered the desert floor. When the sun disappeared completely, a mostly full moon lit the way. Still, Vestor ran forward to give Nadia a torch.

She hummed nervously; the path had been mapped out earlier. They needed to follow the compass to the northwest on a fairly straight course and hope no major obstacles appeared. Nadia listened for the cart, held her torch high, and hummed loudly in hopes the crew would notice if a centipede grabbed her. The thought made her hands shake a bit, but they hadn’t seen any since the attack.

After five kilometers, the ground became more ridged and rockier. The cart vibrated and shook as it was pulled along to match Nadia’s ambitious pace. Soon the wheels got stuck in ruts and rocky outcroppings that Nadia failed to detect. Dew took the opportunity to sit down on a large stone and wipe his sweaty brow with his hood. Awlena bought him a canteen of water, his compass, and the charts while Dew checked the stars.

“We need to turn slightly more to the left or we’ll stray off course. By the looks of it, we’ve entered the cursed desert. We need to make haste. Staying here longer than three days is a death sentence.”

The night air cooled to about seventy-two degrees, but Josh and Darrell dripped with sweat. The cart was heavy and the undulating terrain made maneuvering to avoid jagged rocks difficult. No one was out of breath though, even Dew. They took a break to pass the water canteen around.

“I can make the cart lighter of Awlena and Vestor scout the path for obstacles. Vestor is pretty fast. I’m sure he can handle it.”

“You trust him with a torch?” Josh asked.

“Why wouldn’t she trust me. I’m a hero!”

“Right, why wouldn’t I trust him. Besides, I think he proved himself earlier.”

Nadia lit an extra torch, knelt down, and handed it to Vestor, “Don’t set your tail on fire kid. Be very careful. Hold it like this.”

Vestor’s ears twitched as he nodded to hold it exactly as told. As Dew stood, he groaned in pain audibly and dropped his charts. Nadia knelt by him and used some more healing magic.

“I don’t know why it’s not helping,” she reached up and grabbed his arm, “Look, I’m sorry. But you need to rest in the cart. We still need you to navigate. I need you. Can you do this for me?”

Dew’s head dropped slightly, “I can do such. My sword is dull, my head is dull, my senses are dull, yet the pain is sharp. I’m sorry.”

“You don’t have to apologize.”

Dew sighed, gave up his torch, hobbled to the cart, and crawled on the mats with some help. Once settled, he laid on his back and stared at the stars.

They continued for a while with Nadia pulling the cart from behind. Her abilities flowed into the vehicle to push some of the weight off the sandy stone. But she couldn’t make it fly. She tried, but it felt too heavy to the point of causing her pain.

“Owwwwp!” Awlena yelped.

Nadia let weight return to the cart as Vestor came running back holding his torch high, “There’s a cliff. We didn’t see it in the shadow. And Awlena stubbed her toe on a rock.”

They left the cart and found Awlena holding her foot while sitting on the ground. Flickering flame revealed some tears. Nadia knelt down to check the exposed toe. The sandals Dew and Awlena wore probably weren’t the best footwear. The toe didn’t have bite marks. It looked a bit red and swollen. Nadia felt the nail, still nicely attached, and used some of her power. Dew hobbled forward in a fight with his cramping leg every other step and leaned by his sister’s side.

“Awlena, are you hurt?”

“My foot slammed this rock. I didn’t see it,” Awlena peered ahead, “It was really flat and smooth for such a long time. But now there is a ridge up ahead. Vestor said we won’t be able to get the cart over it.”

The flickering torches weren’t enough. Nadia rummaged through one of her bags. A small flash light was handed to Dew, who didn’t know how to use it. She clicked it on and held it to his map.

“Oh, it’s one of these interesting light magic sticks. A ridge?” Dew said, “this isn’t mapped, we could try to go around it, if we knew how long it was.”

“It’s too dark to explore,” Nadia said, “We’ll have to unload the cart, lift it over the ridge, and load it again. It’s not that high, so we can do this.”

“And if we run into a higher cliff?” Dew asked.

"We’ll face that when we reach it.”

Dew narrowed his eyes, “Let’s at least scout the area as far as we can. Better to not get trapped by another escarpment or a canyon if it’s avoidable.”

“Sure, seems like a good point, but we can only scout so far anyway. Stretching us out would just risk someone getting separated or attacked by centipedes. I say we just do it and save time.”

“You’re the boss.”

They unpacked the cart by taking the tents and blankets and laying them atop the ridge; the food and water were next. Work kept them warm in the chill of deep night. Four of them pulled the heavy water skins out, then took the cart by all four sides, lifted it to the top of the ridge, and proceeded to reload it. Dew and Vestor kept watch and held torches as the others worked. Once done, they kept going, even though it was almost dawn.

Atop the ridge, the terrain flattened out and went slightly downhill. Rocky outcroppings disappeared. Big rock formations no longer jutted from the ground. But with the rising sun came rising heat. By late morning it approached a hundred degrees. In the withering heat, the water bladders began to empty faster than expected. When the sun threatened from directly overhead, they agreed to set up camp. The cart stopped and three tents were erected around it. Thick white fabric reflected the sun. While the sun beat mercilessly upon the sand, the tents stayed somewhat cooler. Windless desert terrain exuded a silent calm.

After pitching her tent, Nadia went inside and laid face up over her blanket. Awlena joined her. She plopped silently over her own mat with a sigh. Miniscule beads of light passed through the motionless tent canvas. Nadia felt her heart beat faster. They were so close. She was too excited to sleep. No, it was something else. This land, this place, wouldn’t allow sleep. Tired as they were, sleep wouldn’t come.

“Peaceful,” Nadia whispered.

“It’s kind of lonely. I haven’t seen an animal or even an insect for a while. There’s not even a sound, not a wind, not a voice, not a cry, not a movement, besides from us.”

Nadia stared into the tent fabric while her heart continued thumping in her ears, “Yeah. I wonder what Jody’s up to?”

“Jody?”

“Oh, sorry, just a friend I’m thinking about. I'm so tired but my thoughts are rolling all over the place.”

“Hmmm, mine too. My heart won’t stop beating heavily.”

Awlena reached to touch Nadia's hand only for her to pull it away. They both continued staring.

Rest never came.