Surviving the Desert of Athas: The Darkness Before the Dawn Chapter 3
Kayan collapses within a mile.
It is the middle of the day. The sun is relentless. They were exiled with three days of food and water, and the chief’s parting threat is still ringing in their ears. They are so exhausted from the cloud ray battle and Kayan’s healing that they can barely walk. And the elves sent them out at noon, which on Athas is basically a death sentence.
Jedra gets her into what shade he can find. He gives her a sip from the waterskin and does not drink any himself. He knows the oasis they were pointed toward might be three days away for an elf. For two ex-city-dwellers who can barely walk in sand, it could be much longer.
The Robe Trick
Here is where Jedra starts thinking like a survivor. He spots a thin, spiny cactus with two branches spreading outward. If he drapes his robe across those arms, the thorns will hold it in place and create shade. But first he has to make sure the cactus is not the kind that swings its arms at anything that gets close. On Athas, even plants are trying to kill you.
He throws rocks at it. Nothing happens. He waves his robe at it. Still nothing. So he stretches the fabric across the branches and notices something clever. The hems are extra thick, designed to catch on thorns without tearing. The elves made their robes this way on purpose. It is a built-in shelter system.
Jedra is learning. He just needs to learn faster than the desert can kill him.
They sleep in shifts through the hottest hours, then start walking at dusk, the way the elves travel. But even traveling in the cooler evening, the desert has surprises. Jedra steps on an underground sand cactus and its spine goes right through his sandal and into his foot. When he wrenches free, the barb takes a chunk of leather and skin with it. Then he steps on another one with his other foot.
Kayan heals the wounds, but the bleeding will not stop at first. The cactus injects something that prevents blood from clotting. Why? Because the plant drinks blood. They figure this out when a b’rohg attacks them.
The B’rohg
A b’rohg is a four-armed humanoid giant. Not very smart, but fast and vicious. This one charges out from behind a dune, screaming a war cry and carrying a stone-tipped spear. They have no weapons. They cannot outrun it. And they do not have time to merge minds and fight it psionically.
So Jedra runs, deliberately making himself look like easy prey. He stumbles and falls to draw the b’rohg toward him. Then he leads it right over the sand cactus patch.
The thorns pierce the giant’s feet and hold it fast. It falls, impaling itself on more needles. And the cactus starts draining its blood.
They stand and watch as the b’rohg shrivels and dies. It is horrible. But Jedra gets the creature’s spear out of the deal, and he rigs a strip of his robe to the butt end as a kind of sand cactus detector, dragging the cloth in front of him as he walks to catch any hidden thorns.
The Vision
Eventually they use their psionic abilities to scout ahead, searching for the oasis. In their merged vision, they see what looks like a beautiful city. Open fountains. Water everywhere. Food enough for weeks. It is exactly what they need.
But when they actually reach the location, it is nothing but ancient ruins. Crumbling walls. Shattered stone. No water anywhere. The gorgeous city was the mental projection of a dying creature they find collapsed among the rubble. Its mind was broadcasting its delirious last memories of what this place used to be, and Jedra and Kayan picked up the signal and mistook it for reality.
I love this detail. It is such a good use of the psionic mechanics in the story. Their power lets them see things that are not really there, and the dying creature’s mind was basically screaming its memories into the void. On a world this harsh, even hope can be a trap.
The creature is a thri-kreen, one of the giant insect-people of Athas. And it is nearly dead from dehydration. Which means there is no water here. Not for hundreds of miles. Everything Jedra and Kayan had been counting on was a mirage.
They are standing in an empty ruin with a dying bug-man, almost no water left, and nowhere to go.
Book: The Darkness Before the Dawn Author: Ryan Hughes (Jerry Oltion) Series: Dark Sun, Chronicles of Athas #2 ISBN: 0-7869-0104-7
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