Conjunction

One of the beasts lifted its head, perched atop a long, slender neck. The sight reminded Caden of a cobra rearing up as it prepared to strike, filling him with primal dread. There was something leathery wrapped around its throat, clinging to its contours, but he couldn't make out what it was. Some manner of protective collar, maybe?

As its face caught the moonlight, he saw that it was elongated, ending in a dull, rounded snout. Its eyes were set wider apart than those of a man, their color that of amber, its slitted pupils scanning its surroundings with a palpable malice. It had no ears that he could see, its lips made up of tiny scales instead of flesh, a forked tongue the color of blueberries flicking past them to taste the air.

The reptile rose up to its full height, Caden examining its seven-foot frame in silent terror. Its long legs had two joints, more like those of a dog or a horse than a person, the thighs and calves packed with muscles that shifted beneath its smooth hide as it moved. The toes were long and uneven, splayed wide across the sand, each one ending in a claw. Its midsection was lean and muscular, proportionally slimmer than that of a human, its shoulders comparatively narrow. The creature had arms that were longer than those of a man, its four fingered-hands sporting blunt claws. It was brandishing a spear, the same as those that been used to impale the severed heads, the obsidian tip glinting in the starlight.

They wore little in the way of clothing, this one's modesty preserved only by a loincloth that had been dyed to approximate the tone of its scales. He noted that there were no nipples on its chest, no navel on its belly, its scaly body completely devoid of hair. There were elaborate patterns painted onto its skin with some kind of colorful paste, adorning its torso and face in shades of red, blue, and white.

It spoke to its companion in a language that sounded like the hissing of a viper, the other creature brushing its fingers across the sand. With a start, he realized that they were investigating the footprints that he had left the night before. The tracks had led them straight to him! If it hadn't been for the invisibility spell that he had cast, he would probably be missing a head by now.

The second creature stood up, its tongue flicking at the air as it looked right at his hiding place. Oh Gods, could it smell him? It seemed confused, narrowing its eyes, even their lids covered in scales.

This one was much like the first, if not a little taller, its figure just as lean and athletic. Its stout thighs were dimpled with muscle, its wide hips tapering into a powerful core, so toned that he could see the chiseled muscles in its belly flexing as it moved. Its hourglass waist and the pair of breasts that were obviously contained within the sling across its chest suggested that it was a female. Their tribal body paint was different, too. This one sported pigment in a striking shade of red that circled its eyes, trailing down its cheeks like tears.

The two appeared to argue, alarming Caden with their hissing and snapping. The female suddenly lunged at the male, that leathery structure that he had noticed around their necks flaring, opening up like a parasol to frame her head. It flushed with blood to take on a crimson hue, revealing a pair of intimidating eyespots. The male recoiled, seeming to give in, following behind her meekly as she stalked off into the spires.

Caden realized that he was holding his breath, slowly lowering his hand from his mouth, his eyes as wide as saucers. Monster was an apt name, they were like nothing he had ever seen. They had the features of a lizard or a snake, yet they retained an uncanny resemblance to mankind that had taken him off-guard.

Again, the desire to flee reared its head, but he forced it back down again. They hadn't been able to find him, he could rely upon his magic to see him through this. He must be meticulous, always on his guard, because a single mistake could cost him his life.

Did they only hunt at night? No, Alberich had said that the sun was still up when he and his party had been attacked. There must be a way to get through his...

He sat up, scratching his chin as he mulled over his options. The invisibility spell could not be cast fast enough to shield him from a pursuer, and it was a purely stationary affair. Could he stay on the rocks, avoiding the sand altogether? No, many of them were too far apart. He might be able to blow away his footprints by conjuring wind, but it wasn't practical to do that for every step that he took, it was far too time-consuming.

There must be more spells that could give him the upper hand, he would have to do some research when the sun rose.

***

Armed with a new repertoire of spells, Caden made his way through the sand, following the weaving path as it led him between the spires. He knew that he would be found. Confrontation was inevitable, these beasts probably spent their every waking hour hunting and tracking, but he had to trust in his magic. Misdirection, illusion, those were his best options now. Caden's affinity for study and academia had allowed him to memorize a handful of the spells, meaning that he could cast them without having to reference the book, which would save precious time.

Before setting out, he had cast a spell that allowed him to sense the presence of living beings so that he might be forewarned of their presence this time. All things that were alive were imbued with some measure of magical energy, from a mouse to a flower. Those who had more than the average person might find themselves sensitive to its currents, they might experience it as intuition, as a kind of sixth sense. Those who possessed it in great abundance had the potential to become sorcerers, to understand and harness that energy, while the average person might be ignorant of its existence altogether. But if he could sense its presence, amplified by the spell, then he would know if anyone was near.

As he walked, he examined the rocks and corals that surrounded him, the presence of small lizards and hardy plants betrayed by wisps of those silver strands, seen through a sense beyond mere sight. The sun beat down on him as he marched, Caden pausing only to take draws from his waterskin, every mouthful a relief. He was losing so much water through sweat that he had to refill it three or four times a day. With so much practice, he was becoming quite proficient, able to recite the relevant spell by heart.

It wasn't long before his prediction came to pass. He had been walking for a few hours when he was alerted to the presence of something behind him. Two large lifeforms were making their way towards him, their line of sight blocked by the corals. They shone as bright as beacons, brimming with magical energy, the swirling currents flowing through them. They were no sorcerers, but they were more attuned to magic than an average person. Whether that was because of their nature, or a result of their purported shamanistic practices, he couldn't be sure.

Caden quickly slipped into a crevice in a nearby reef, hiding amongst the corals as he watched them emerge into view. It was the same two hunters from the night before, a male and a female, their eyes scanning the ground at their feet as they followed his tracks. They would pause to examine the surrounding terrain as they went, their forked, lizard-like tongues darting forth to taste the air.

He gripped his staff, whispering an incantation, bringing his lips close to the bronze figurehead as he poured his magic into a spell.

"Over here," he breathed, as quietly as he could muster. His voice rang out as loud as a shout, but from a far-off location beyond the spires, thrown by magic.

"Over here!"

The hunters snapped their heads around as they heard its echo, their eyes wide, the strange frills around their necks flushing red with blood as they flared. They abandoned the footprints, darting off into the rocks with alarming swiftness, their snaking bodies vanishing from sight.

Caden waited a few minutes longer, then emerged from his hiding place, hurrying off in the opposite direction. It would not do to underestimate these creatures, to assume that they were stupid. The same trick might not work twice, but he had plenty of tricks...

***

Caden made camp again, not to sleep this time, but to refill his canteen and soothe his blistered feet. He cast a spell of invisibility first, making a habit of concealing himself whenever he stopped. When that was done, he performed another spell from within its confines, conjuring a breeze strong enough to blow away the footprints that led up to the rocky outcrop. He imbued the air with his magic, channeling its currents, directing them down towards the sand as he pointed his staff at the tracks. The fine particles blew away in the sudden rush of wind, the footprints seeming to stop abruptly, as though the person who had left them had levitated into the air. That should confuse his pursuers.

Healing was becoming more difficult in this wasteland. While the Coral Sea was not devoid of life, it was certainly harder to come by than it had been during the earlier legs of his journey. He felt guilty draining energy from what few plants eked out an existence in this harsh environment, but he had little choice.

He lay back against the rock, taking a drink from his waterskin and letting his newly healed feet get some air before he put his boots back on. His perception spell had worn off after a time, and so he renewed it, finding that he was once again being followed. From the safety of his invisible bubble, he watched the two reptiles slink closer, keeping low to the sand as they traced his tracks up to the place where they abruptly ended.

The pair began to search around in confusion, hissing at one another, gesturing to the nearby rocks. Perhaps they were wondering if he had jumped? Their tongues flicked forth, they were definitely using them to take in his scent, but he felt relatively safe behind his concealment spell. He could get a better look at them in daylight now, their blotchy, patterned scales reflecting the sunlight like varnished wood. They were smooth, streamlined creatures, and he imagined that their leathery hides would be flush to the touch. The way that the light reflected off them almost made them look slimy, but he knew from experience that reptiles had dry skin, and these creatures were likely no different.

It was no wonder that they were such fearsome warriors, considering their size and strength. They stood seven feet tall or more, but the length of their bodies was near twice that if one included the winding tail that trailed on the sand behind them. Caden had thought the Dweorh uncommonly strong, but that was nothing in comparison to the developed muscles that rippled beneath their scaly hides, the physical demands placed on their bodies by the life of a savage honing them in ways that civilized men could scarcely imagine.

When the female snapped at her male companion, he noted that her jaws were full of sharp teeth, the inside of her mouth the same dull blue color as her tongue. How unusual...

They scoured the nearby rocks for a few minutes, but found no trace of him, eventually deciding to continue on ahead. He watched them leave from the safety of his bubble, making a mental note of which path they had taken. The intense fear that he had felt the night before was waning, giving way to a more reasoned caution. Would he be able to keep this up until he reached his destination, or would they eventually figure out what they were dealing with?

***

Another day passed without incident, Caden seeing neither head nor tail of his pursuers. He ate and slept under the cover of his invisibility spell, erasing his footprints only when he stopped for an extended period of time. He ate his rations cold, avoiding making fires for cooking, and leaving as little evidence of his presence as possible.

As he made his way along the winding paths between the spires, his augmented perception warned him of an impending ambush. The magical energy of what must be a dozen of the creatures lay ahead of him, their different elevations suggesting that they were hidden in the fossilized reefs. They had locked down all of the branching paths that weaved between the corals ahead of him, cutting off his advance. Far from abandoning their hunt, they were calling in more of their kin, trying to lure him into a trap. Even if they couldn't work out his precise location, they had a general idea of where he might be, and what direction he was traveling in.

Caden immediately stopped in his tracks, scanning his surroundings to make sure that no more of them were hidden nearby, then turned about. He probably wouldn't be able to wait them out, but as long as he could sense their energy, he could find ways to get around their blockade. Avoiding them was merely an inconvenience, but their determination had him worried. Why was it so important that they stop him? What harm did they imagine him doing?

He took a long detour to their North, giving them a wide berth. He almost wished that he could see their reactions. How frustrated must they be by now? The pair that he had seen were especially short-tempered, they would be pulling their hair out if they had any...

When he was safely cloaked beneath a spell of invisibility once more, he checked his map, making sure that he was still on the right course. There were no landmarks in this labyrinth, everything looked the same. Wherever he ventured, there was nothing but towering spires and ancient reefs, each sandy pathway identical to the last.

The compass that the Master had given him, that was the only way to keep track of his position with any measure of reliability. As long as he kept heading East, he would eventually reach the far shore. He reached into one of the pockets of his pack and retrieved it, popping open the protective, brass cap. A knot formed in his stomach as he watched the needle spin erratically, stopping to point in one direction for a moment, before returning to its wild dance.

"Damn it," he muttered to himself, giving the glass lens a gentle tap with his finger. "Why isn't it working anymore?"

He unfurled his map and lay it flat on the rock, placing the compass atop it, watching the needle whirl around. Could it be that there were lodestones in the Coral Sea? Magnetic rock that was interfering with it?

"What am I supposed to do now?" he demanded of nobody in particular, frustration getting the better of him. He couldn't use the stars to navigate, not with the heavens askew the way they were. His only option now was to rely on the sun to find his way. Although it still rose in the East and set in the West, it could be as much as thirty hours between dawn and dusk, making its movements far less reliable than usual.

What was he thinking? There must be a spell for navigation, surely? He rummaged inside his pack for his spellbook, reading through the index. He found it, flipping through the pages frantically, his eyes scanning the arcane incantations.

"Gods damn it!" he grumbled, realizing that it wasn't going to work. The spell in question would pinpoint the position of the North star in the sky, even in daylight, but the North star had drifted far from its normal position along with all of the constellations. The authors of this book could never have foreseen such an eventuality, the heavens had always been thought of as pristine, unmovable.

Caden forced back the panic that was threatening to rise up inside him. He could still do this, he just had to keep going straight, he'd reach the far shore eventually. Besides, it wasn't as if he could turn back. He rolled up his map and returned it to its tube, resolving to keep going.

***

The sun bathed Kadal in its warmth as she basked on her favorite rock, shifting her weight occasionally to expose more of her winding body to its invigorating heat. The lethargy of the morning was slowly leaving her, she could feel herself becoming more alert, hot blood coursing through her veins. She rolled over into her back, enjoying the feel of the baking rock against her scales as she stretched out, her eyes shut tightly against the glare.

"So you are here, Kadal?"

The voice roused her, Kadal rising to sit on her boulder, covering her bosom with one arm to preserve her modesty as the frill around her neck fluttered with irritation. She opened her eyes to see another female standing on the red sand at the foot of the rock, peering up at her.

"Is that you, Nyoka?" she muttered. "What do you want from me? Can you not see that I am basking?"

Interrupting the morning ritual was considered rude at best. Something unusual must be happening if Nyoka's business couldn't wait until later in the day.

"The Shaman wishes to speak with you," Nyoka replied. "She says that it is urgent."

"Very well," Kadal sighed, sliding down off the warm rock. She donned her sling and loincloth while Nyoka waited expectantly, the young female following after her as she made her way back in the direction of the settlement. The sand was pleasantly hot between her toes as she strode between the spires, her long tail dragging behind her.

Kadal had the highest standing of any huntress in her tribe, and the elaborate body paint that adorned her scales reflected that. She was the largest, the strongest, the most accomplished of her kin. As such, it often fell upon her to deal with the problems that arose.

"Did the Shaman mention why she wanted to see me?" Kadal asked, the pair rounding the coral-covered base of one of the towering chimneys that dominated the landscape.

"No," Nyoka replied. "She only said that I was to fetch you."

After a few minutes, the settlement came into view. Her people lived in the shelter of shallow caves formed by the ancient reefs, taking refuge there at night, or when they needed to escape the midday sun. The perimeter of the settlement was protected by wooden palisades, sharpened to a point to deter attackers, the walls painted with runes declaring a warning to any who might seek entry. That threat was redoubled by the presence of stakes that were topped with the skulls of their enemies, the bone bleached white by years of harsh sunlight, most devoid of any remnants of flesh or hair. The different tribes that inhabited the Coral Sea were usually at peace with one another, but one never knew when trespassers from beyond the shore would make an incursion into their territory. Their fate was to defend this land, and they would never allow themselves to grow idle.

Kadal made her way through one of the openings in the palisade, emerging into the village proper. There were several large reefs scattered about, covered in the petrified remnants of corals, red sand filling in the spaces between them. Generations ago, the tribe had chosen this location for its abundance of caves, settling here permanently. Their jagged mouths were covered over with colorful fabric curtains that served both to keep out the heat, and to provide some privacy for their occupants. Some of the caves could better be described as tunnels or simple dugouts in the rock, but they were still highly valued.

In the center of the settlement was a large fire pit that was filled with heavy stones, the licking flames tended by a handful of older females who were clustered around it, one of them stoking it with a long stick. There was a spit sitting atop it, the roasting carcass of a large prey animal slowly rotating as its skin began to char, the smells making Kadal's mouth water as she passed by.

She could see a few other villagers going about their business, some of them stopping to greet her. A couple of males were tending to a tanning rack, the hides drying in the hot sun, the gleeful cries of a pair of small hatchlings who were playing in the sand outside their dwelling drawing her attention. Most of the settlement's inhabitants would have found a private place to bask at this time of the day, warming themselves in the sun before their hunting and foraging duties began.