Page 45 of Sea of Stars

“If we don’t get to the girl soon she may help the enemy. It appears she is already friends with both a human and a brutarian,” Denton said.

“I like the way you think. What is your name?”

“Denton. And you, sir?”

“Harish,” the guard replied. He walked over and clasped Denton’s arm. Denton did the same and the two men nodded at each other before releasing their grip. Harish looked back at me and shrugged. “So what are we waiting for? Let’s go find the lass and shut her up.” He had a wicked grin on his face.

Both of our pronghorns had fled in the scramble, so we’d all have to ride on Mikado. He was still glaring at me, waiting for revenge. Harish seemed to sense my reserve. “I’ve been told he’s trained, Your Highness.” Harish leapt onto the back of the beast and patted his butt. He waited patiently for us to join him.

I took a step toward the mountain dweller, but Denton pointed to our satchels on the ground. We bent down to grab them and in a hushed voice Denton quickly whispered, “There were no guards by that name in the castle.”

And as if that was the only information I needed, he stood up and strolled over to Mikado and casually climbed onto his back. Pretending I wasn’t about to be killed by Harish and the beast he rode, I followed Denton’s lead.

Mikado began growling as soon as I got on his back. I tried to ignore the noise and grabbed onto Denton’s satchel as Mikado surged forwards. I held on tightly. I was worried that Mikado would try to shake me off his back. Riding a mountain dweller was much easier than riding a pronghorn, but not when the mountain dweller wanted you dead. I wished the pronghorns hadn’t run off. I was going to miss their speed and good demeanor.

I glanced toward the sky and was filled with disappointment. There wasn't an owl in sight. We must have still been far away from Mahlia’s grandparents. If we couldn’t find them, I knew that we would never be able to find Mahlia. Chinook was the only one that would be able to track her, and without her we were going forward blindly. The group had gone toward the desert, but that was all the information we had.

Although Harish was an unwelcome addition to our search, I was growing increasingly glad to have Mikado. He might recognize her scent and want to find her if we drew close enough. Mountain dwellers are rather loyal creatures, and Mahlia had been kind to Mikado. Harish’s only usefulness was that so far he was able to control the beast. But I knew I couldn’t trust Harish. If he hadn’t been a guard at the castle, then who was he? I had an unsettling feeling that he wasn’t just a commoner. He seemed to know enough about Mahlia that he hadn’t just overheard the visitors discussing her. Maybe Mahlia’s strange supporters had sent him in first to scope out the castle, and he was simply biding his time, waiting to slice my throat when Denton wasn’t looking.

The wind was picking up speed, but Mikado prodded on at a steady pace. I ducked low behind Denton, trying to prevent sand from getting in my eyes. I heard Harish coughing in front of me. I found myself wishing he would choke on the sand that was beginning to spin in the air. The cloth around his nose and face would prevent this from happening though. My evil thoughts were quickly abandoned when Mikado lurched to a sudden stop. All three of us toppled forwards. We fell off Mikado and slid down a sand dune and into a ditch.

Clouds of sand erupted out of the ground. They grew and began billowing rapidly toward us. I heard Mikado whimpering, but I could no longer see him. The clouds had descended upon us and a wall of sand crashed down on top of me. Sand swirled into the air, slashing against me. I covered my face with my hands to try to prevent the sand from getting in my eyes and nose.

“Denton!” I called, but I couldn’t hear a response. The sand was swirling around my hair, making it almost impossible to hear. The sand stung my bare hands and arms as it ripped at my skin. Denton had to have fallen near me. Keeping one hand over my eyes and nose I swept my other hand through the air, trying to make contact with him. The wind grew even fiercer. It pushed me forward, causing me to trip over something and fall to the ground. I reached behind me and felt a leg.

“Denton!” I screamed again. I placed the side of my head down on his chest to get my hair to hear his heartbeat. But I couldn’t hear anything. I put my fingers through my hair and dusted some of the sand out, but there was still no heartbeat. I placed my hand under his nose to see if he was breathing, but the wind was too strong to tell if any air was coming out. I opened my eyes, ignoring the grains of sand flying around, and pulled my blanket out of my satchel. I wrapped it loosely around Denton’s face so that he would not choke on the sand that was starting to pile on top of him.

I had to get us out of the sandstorm. I scanned the desert for anything to help protect us against the wind. A loud crack made my sandy hair wiggle uncomfortably. Out of the corner of my eye I saw a bolt of lightning streak through the sky and strike the sand above the dune. There was nothing to hide behind in this ditch, and I couldn’t move to higher ground to find a hiding spot during a lightning storm.

I didn't know what to do, so I lay down next to Denton. Hopefully Mikado and Harish wouldn't find where we were. I buried my face in the blanket to try to breathe air that wasn’t filled with sand. The wind on my back continued to grow in intensity. It was so strong that I could barely stay on the ground. Mikado’s angry roar pierced through the sandstorm. He sounded close.

One moment Denton’s body shielded me from the wind, but the next second the direction of the wind would shift and I would again be blasted with small grains of sand. Soon the sand seemed to stop stinging. Our bodies were buried deeply in heaps of sand. I got to my hands and knees and let the sand fall from my back. If I didn’t move us soon, we would die in this storm. I brushed the sand off the blanket and grabbed Denton’s wrist. I pressed my fingers down on his veins and was relieved to feel a pulse. I shook him, but he did not regain consciousness. I grabbed a handful of his hair, brought it to my face, and screamed, “Wake up!” But Denton’s body remained still.

Another streak of lightning flashed through the air and cracked against the sand, lighting up the sky. I hadn’t noticed how dark it had grown. I lifted my head, and through the swirling sand I could see the dark clouds clustered above us. A large raindrop plopped on my forehead.

The raindrops rapidly started falling faster. Wet sand pounded against my arms and face. I had never seen it rain in the desert before. I had heard of sandstorms, but didn't realize they could be this bad. A puddle had started to form where we were laying. I stood and tried to pick up Denton. After a few moments I had hoisted his heavy body over my shoulder, but I was unsteady on my feet.

The sudden burst of rain had settled the swirling sand. I looked around, but I could barely see through the sheets of rain and the steam coming off the hot sand as the cold rain hit it. There hadn’t been anything to hide behind in this dune and I was worried that I knew why. We hadn’t fallen into a ditch, we had fallen into a dry riverbed. The puddle that had formed under my feet was expanding fast.

I trudged toward the incline, trying desperately to get out of the riverbed in time. When I finally got close to the side, the water was well past my ankles. I splashed onward. Adjusting Denton forward on my shoulder, I took a step up the side, but I had misjudged the weight of Denton’s top half. He was so heavy that I might as well have been carrying a baby mountain dweller. Together we tipped over. We splashed into the rising brown water. I frantically pulled Denton’s face out of the river, but the cool, rushing water was just what Denton needed to regain consciousness. Stunned and dizzy, Denton fell face first back into the water, flailing his arms.

I reached out to him, but a wave of water crashed into us and knocked me off my feet. The rain must have fallen more rapidly upstream. Now it washed over us and pulled us with the current. I tried to swim to the side of the river, but the current was too strong. The rain pounded against my face. I used all my strength to stay afloat and not get sucked down to the botto

m of the river, which was growing deeper by the second.

A sudden tug pulled me deep under the water. The water completely deafened me, preventing my hair from hearing. Trying desperately to get air, I flapped my arms. My body slammed against the side of the riverbed. For a moment I opened my eyes to try to see through the murky, sandy water, but all I accomplished was making my eyes burn. I pushed my hands down against the side of the sand wall to propel myself upwards. I rose right up into a pair of hands. Denton is a fantastic swimmer. He is here to save me! The hands swiftly slid over my throat, causing me to scream. I lost any oxygen I had left. Instead of Denton rescuing me, I had fallen right in the hands of my new enemy, Harish.

I lifted my legs and pushed hard against Harish’s torso with as much strength as I could muster. He slipped away back into the current. I rose to the surface and gasped for air. The rain fell harder than ever, causing the water to become faster and more violent. I reached out to a large rock and attempted to escape the swirling waters, but my added weight caused the small boulder to smash into the river. The rock slammed right into my stomach. I was once again sinking. Pulling my legs out from under the rock, I pushed off against it. The boulder made the water tremor as it settled into its new home at the bottom of the river.

After reaching the surface, I immediately plunged back into the water. Harish’s head was bobbing close. I swam with the current until I slammed right into his body. I pulled him under the water and kicked him repeatedly with my legs. But he was a large man, much stronger than me. Even if he hadn’t been a guard at the castle, he definitely had some training. Harish grabbed one of my legs and twisted. My body flopped around in the water.

I couldn’t tell which way was up or down. Harish’s hand left my ankle. I reached out, trying to grab onto anything. I was drowning. I opened my eyes, but again I only saw the brown water directly in front of me. My body couldn’t resist any longer. I breathed in the water. I choked and drew more water into my nose, as the river pulled me deeper into its depths. But then suddenly I was breathing air again. My body had been flung out of the water. I was falling. I briefly glimpsed Denton riding on Mikado’s back farther downstream than me. As Denton struggled to stay on the animal's back in the rough waters, the pair spun wildly in the current.

I was flying down beside the small waterfall and breathing in as much air as I could. The pellets of rain slapped against my skin. I took another huge gulp of air just as Harish landed on top of me. We both plummeted into the water at the bottom of the waterfall, but this time, with fresh air in my lungs, I had more time to fight. Both of our punches were pulled back in the water, not leaving much force. I switched tactics and wrapped my legs around his torso and pushed down on his face. This caused his head to beat against the sandy bottom.

Harish mimicked my idea, and as we fought we took turns sliding against the grainy bottom of the river. But luck was on my side. I had more air in my lungs. His body slowly slipped from mine. I swam up to the surface with him, but before we reached the air, I tugged down on his leg and pulled him back into the water's depths. He struggled against my grip, kicking with all his might. The current suddenly pulled us both deep. We crashed and struggled along the bottom.

Now I was running out of air as well. I grabbed Harish and tried to use him to help me float to the surface. He had the same idea, and we each continued to try and push the other deeper into the water in order to be able to rise. I was feeling the need to breathe in the water once again when a small wave pushed us both to the surface. We flew through the air and hurtled onto the riverbank.

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