Page 34 of A Shard of Ice

What?

Oh, no!

“What?” Cyrano yells. “Where are they? Why aren’t they attacking?”

“Keep your voice down and stay calm. I don’t want you spooking the camels. Do not show fear. It automatically will put us into victim mode.”

“What are you talking about? I’ve never heard of victim mode,” he says, a little quieter this time. I notice that his hands are gripping the reins tightly.

“We’ll start to look more like prey and thus become more enticing to them. If we show fear, it’ll increase the chances of attack. Right now, they’re trying to decide what to do. We shouldn’t give them any fodder.”

“How long have they been up there?” I ask.

“Almost since we left.”

“What?” Cyrano says. “That can’t be. This is terrible. It’s worse than terrible. We’re done for. One was bad enough.” His eyes are wide. “Now there are three of them.”

“You killed the one that came after you,” Damon says.

“I got lucky. The rock was right there. We don’t have any weapons.” He starts looking around us. “There are no rocks out here. There’s nothing we can use to defend ourselves. We’re doomed. Besides, I may have killed it, but I was badly injured in the process. Kyrie said that I would have died if you hadn’t healed me.”

“That’s just it; Damon has his magic,” I say in a hesitant voice. “You do still have some magic left, don’t you?”

He glances back, looking me in the eye, his expression grave. “Not as much as I’d like. It’ll have to do,” he murmurs to himself more than anyone else.

The lizard birds continue their lazy circles above, their wings catching the sunlight as they glide effortlessly through the sky. They seem harmless from down here, smaller than they actually are. But I know better. We all do. In a second, everything could change.

The tension rises with every step; the camels shift beneath us, sensing the unease.

“We need to stay calm. Concentrate on your breathing. Even though it is time to take a rest break, we need to keep moving,” Damon says in a commanding voice. “If we stay still, we become easy targets.”

We are easy targets already. I do agree with us keeping on moving. Perhaps we’ll find somewhere to shelter. Somewhere to hide.

I can’t see anything but sand all around us.

Damon leads the camels forward, his every movement purposeful and calculated. I can see the tension in his shoulders, and in the way he constantly scans our surroundings for any potential threats. Cyrano, on the other hand, seems to be on the brink of panic, his eyes wide with fear as he looks up at the circling lizard birds. He is breathing hard.

“It’s going to be fine,” I tell Cyrano. “If they were going to attack, they would have done so already.” He needs to lower his energy.

Animals can sense our fear. I agree with Damon on everything. Cyrano is going to get us killed.

He takes a deep breath. “You’re right.”

Just as he says it, the birds swoop down. They do it in unison. All three at once, and they’re dive-bombing straight for us.

Cyrano screams. It’s bloodcurdling and doesn’t help the situation. If anything, it will entice the creatures even more.

“Take up the reins,” Damon says. “Don’t let the camels run. You can’t outrun the birds. We can’t split up; it’ll make us easier targets to pick off one by one.”

Then he lets go of the lead reins and moves a little away from us.

“Keep your camel in check,” I tell Cyrano, who is all-out panicking at this point.

Damon walks out a little farther and then holds his hands up in front of him. They start to glow again, only not nearly as brightly as before. If I wasn’t paying attention, I might not even notice it. His eyes are closed in concentration.

My camel tries to turn and run, but I pull hard on the reins, forcing him to stay put. The creature bellows in fear. I can’t blame the poor beast; he still has claw marks on his rump from his last encounter.

Cyrano’s camel is running in circles. “I can’t control it,” he yells.

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