"You realize, Demonsbane, that when you revealed to me that you possessed the ability to travel across space in an instant, to, and I quote: Anywhere you want." Veska intoned, heaving her legs free of their sandy prison. "This was far from what my expectations were." 

"Everything," Drell grunted in return, her muscles strained as pulled herself from the sand. "Has a cost."

With one final heave, the halfbreed yanked her lower body free of the shifting sand. Her fingers ached as she let go of the rocky protrusion that had been her point of leverage and sat down hard. Sunlight shone into the rocky crag, harsh light illuminating rocks, sand, a succubus banishing the grime from her form, and a panting demonslayer. 

"Tell me why you set your 'beacon' in this specific area." Veska sighed. "When you said 'away from prying eyes' I had envisioned hidden in an alley or just outside city walls, not a rocky tomb filled with sand."

Drell stretched her arms, breath slowly returning, the intense after-feeling of teleportation only now beginning to fade. It was hot, she was covered in sand in places better not to envision, and they still had a journey ahead.

"The last place anyone would go exploring." She explained with a shrug. "It's inside a barren sea of dunes, quite literally a hole in the cliffside and not too far from our location. Safe from prying eyes, and to any inquiring minds, I am a wanderer who comes from and vanishes into the Dunesea." 

"Speaking of which." She grunted, leaning over and yanking her pack from it's sandy prison. "Disguises. Just a simple sand-cloak and hood for the both of us." 

Veska accepted her own with nonchalance, holding it in her grasp before it vanished from sight. Where it went, Drell didn't question. Succubi things and all that. Her eye drifted around the crag, running over the stone walls and the exit above their heads. 

"My eyes seem to be deceiving me, Demonsbane." She mused, her folded wings twitching. "But I see nothing of this beacon." 

Drell finally regained her feet, then gestured at the two indents their bodies had left within the sand. 

"We arrived on either side of it." She spoke, kneeling back into the sand right between the pits they had formed. "It's buried as well." 

With a grunt, she plunged one arm into the sand, forcing it aside as she grabbed the metallic construct and yanked it free. A globe of foreign steel, etched with pulsating runes emerged from the shifting ground. She tossed it to the succubus and stood, brushing herself off. 

"Sandstorm must have filled the place while I was gone." She sighed. "I cant use it as a beacon point until I find some sort of shield rune to hang over the entrance. Sand could very well be above our heads next time." 

Veska nodded absently, her attention focused on the orb. It turned in her hands, faded blue and black steel unresponsive. Only she possessed the key that gave it life. Her pack upon her back, Drell rolled her shoulders, grabbed onto the protrusions her axe had hacked into the solid rock wall long ago, and began the climb. 

Veska flew past her halfway up, landing on the crag's open maw as Drell traversed the rocky wall. One eyebrow raised as if to bid Drell haste, the succubus leaned against the stone. She basked in sunlight as Drell heaved herself over the edge, sweat beginning to form on her arms. 

She inwardly groaned at the sight before her. A sheer slope of rock stretched downwards, stone treachery greeting shifting sands that stretched to the horizon. 

"While I find this fascinating," Veska concurred, offering the orb she still held back to Drell. "Its secrets hide from me." 

It was stowed away in her pack as well, and Drell sighed in preparation for the climb. Now came her least favorite part of the journey. Like an old nemesis, the sheer slope of rock called to her, taunting her once more. The heat beat down from above, smothering waves intent on sapping her strength. 

"And where is our destination, if I might inquire?" Veska questioned. "While this landmark is well and good, it is not within sight." 

"A few hour's trek that way." Drell pointed. "Just remember to watch of for Skallyp pits and we should get there in no time."

She was about to lower herself and begin the climb when strong arms grabbed her. Veska stepped behind her, arms wrapped around Drell's mid-section. 

"Of course you would think of doing this the hard way." The succubus said sardonically. "Why climb, when you can fly?" 

There was no time to utter another word before the ground fell away beneath them. One moment, there was solid rock beneath her feet, the next only air. Drell roared in surprise, then delight as she was pulled through the air, upwards and forwards. 

It felt glorious. Speed and wind and heat all at once. Her eyes watered, stretched wide open as the line of mountains vanished into the distance behind her, endless dunes of sand passing beneath them at speeds she had never moved before. 

She hung in Veska's grasp, the beat of mighty wings above her drowning out any sounds. In moments, they had covered hours of walking. The dunes were barren save for tall, proud cacti that spawned a dozen arms from deep orange trunks, flat stones worn smooth by time, and the occasional creature. 

It all passed in haste as the duo shot from one horizon to the next, Veska moving at near-terrifying speeds. 

A massive titan of orange and a thousand arms rose in the distance before them, and Drell reached up to slap Veska's thigh. 

"Land!" She shouted, her voice hoarse over the roaring wind around them. "We're close." 

The sand rose up to meet them at speeds Drell didn't want to imagine. Veska slowed just before Drell hit, letting the halfbreed drop the last few feet back on the Thrones-blessed solid ground once more. The succubus shot high into the air, moving at speeds human eyes could barely track. She wove through the air, dancing among the clear sky before landing once more. 

"Sunlight." She gasped, exhilarated. "Nothing so empowering to my kind."

 Sadness came to her tone as she looked down and saw the skin on her bare arms begin to crack and fray. 

"Nor so undoing." 

The sand-cloak appeared in her grasp, and the succubus folded her wings to her back and donned it. Her face vanished into shadow as the hood came up, eyes staring into the distance. Drell followed suit, the pack she had clutched in a death-grip throughout the flight opened and her own garment extracted. 

They walked in silence then, towards the behemothic rassolti tree before them. A hundred thousand of these hardy plants grew in the desert, their orange trunks and stiff arms hiding water within. Sharp spines grew from them to deter animals who would have their precious fluids. 

But they could not deter humanity. The two walked past felled cacti, large trunks hewed open, their water extracted and body left to dry and harden. 

"A substitue for wood." Drell explained as the passed stacked rows of trunks covered in dustings of sand. "Once the liquid inside is taken, the flesh hardens. Strong as wood and far less flammable." 

"Hmm." Veska replied, head upturned, eyes on the titanic plant ahead. 

"The Forefather." Drell filled the silence. "Largest and first of it's kind. Every few years, it's spores will repopulate the Dunesea, or so I've heard." 

It was a sight that could not be fully appreciated from a distance. It loomed ever larger as they drew near, a size that could not be fully understood. It's base was wider than most human castles, and million arms reached for endless skies. A mountain would seem of reasonable size next to it. 

And there, in it's shadow, surviving on the rivers of liquid life that flowed from the titan, was their destination. 

Kalsh-ah-rut, the city in shadow. 

"Just follow my lead." Drell intoned as the two drew near to the great orange walls. "If all goes well, we'll be inside in no time. Just don't break any of the laws, and we won't have sandwraiths chasing us across the dunes." 

"I take this comes experience?" 

"Unfortunately, yes." Drell grimaced. "I've been a person of interest to the greycloaks ever since." 

"At this, I would say something along the lines of: let us hope nothing similar happens." Veska sighed, tugging her hood up further. "But hope is for fools. Simply do and adapt." 

"Aye," Drell agreed. "For fools." 

They approached a small gate, an iron door looming open wide enough for several people to pass through. 

"Whatever I say, just follow it." Drell repeated. "Trust me." 

"Perhaps I will." Veska replied vaguely. "But not blindly." 

"Fair enough." 

The doors stood empty as they approached, no mortal guards to watch the empty dunes for threats. Drell fiddled with her hood as they approached, then sighed and dropped it. It wouldn't go up with horns in the way anyhow. 

The axe stayed compressed, it's handle within easy reach. She had left the Wyrm-claw behind, deeming it too unwieldy for the trip. That, and memories of being chased across the dunes after accidentally setting a shop alight were just beginning to fade. 

She managed not to flinch as the ground before them exploded, and the gate's sandwraith rose over them. 

"Business." It demanded, dead eyes staring down at them. A curved blade was set upon an ethereal pole held at its side. The form of an ancient janissary loomed before the pair, awaiting their answer so that It may judge it. 

"Supplies, refreshments and news." Drell answered with a straight face. There was no point in giving anything but the most direct answer. 

Silence for a moment as it judged her reply. It found no untruths. 

"Demon." It spoke lifelessly once more. It's ghostly form shifted, presence becoming foreboding. "No free demons in Kalsh-ah-rut." 

"It it not free. It is a member of my harem." She smoothly lied. Which was technically the truth, since a usual harem relationship implied mastery and ownership. 

"Subservient and obedient to me." She drawled, putting an arm around Veska's cloaked form. She made a point to place one hand on her breast, giving it a small grope. "Aren't you, girl?"

"Yes master." Veska meekly replied, eyes downcast. 

There was a pregnant pause as the wraith weighed her words once more. 

"Keep your pet on it's leash." Came the final hiss. It vanished a heartbeat later, vanishing back into the ground. 

Drell let out a sigh of relief and straightened once more, withdrawing her hand. 

"Subservient?" Veska questioned, almost indignant. "Obedient? I am a proud demoness, not a pet to anyone on this sphere." 

Before Drell could explain herself, the succubus walked past her, slapped her rump with significant force and hissed in her ear.

"You'll pay for that later." 

Drell bit her lip and jogged after Veska's striding form as she passed beneath the arches into the City in Shadow. Oh, she had something to look forward to now.