“My favorite part was when one of the Frostmates was getting overwhelmed by a group of those warrior Frants but kept on swinging its club, bashing them left and right. I thought it was gone for sure until some of those Froads hopped out of nowhere and started picking them off,” James said.

James and I were going back and forth, talking about some of the more intense parts of the skirmish to pass the time as we headed back out.

“It's almost cruel though that as soon as they got clear of those Frants, a couple of Frawks sprayed the whole area and-”

“About time you princesses made it back out. What were you doin, fuckin their corpses?” an agitated voice interrupted as we made it back to the outside world. Turning around, I saw a grizzled old man with leather cloths lined with Terror fur step away from the part of the Sussie he was leaning against, strapping the rifle he was holding behind his back.

“Any longer and I was gonna leave your sorry asses for goners,” he said testily.

“Jeffe! What's your stringy old hide doing out here?” I said to him once he got a little closer.

Tipping his hat upwards, the one his father had made for him when he killed his first Terror, he scrunched his face as he looked us up and down.

“I came out this way because I heard your girlfriend over there singing about raiders on the emergency channel. I was a few miles out and saw dragonfly raiders hunting a couple of tasty lookin rangers. Thought I’d pull their dicks out yer butts if y’all were real screwed.” Noticing the bloody and torn cloths, the slight stiffness in their movements and the burn marks on their skins, he nodded his head and turned away.

Walking down the dune, he said, “but I guess I worried for nothin. You two look like a pair of sun scorched kings had an argument, but other than that y'all look fine. Fine enough to hobble across some dunes that is.”

Following behind him, the three of us made our way down the dune where a raider laid on the ground, his head spread outwards in a brutal fashion.

“Dammit Jeffe, why'd you shoot him in the head? Could've gone for a leg shot, then even you could catch up to him,” covering my nose with one hand, I tried waving away the foul stench that filled the air.

“Didn't want him getting away on a dragonfly,” he said. Next to the raider laid the remnants of two bullet ridden dragonflies, ours being the closest and more damaged with whole parts of its wings shot or scraped off from crashing.

“Uh huh, sure Jeffe,” I said accusingly. What a load of steaming king shit, he just hates raiders too much to let em live. I would too if my wife died like his did, Cantar bless her soul.

“I reckon you’d be doin yourselves a favor if you stop criticizing the way I do things and focus more on husslin,” walking past the carnage, Jeffe doesn’t bother to look at the mess that was almost our demise. When our Fly started dragging ass, I knew we were in deep because there was no one way we were gonna out pace them at that point. So we headed to the volcanoes, they weren’t too far and we hoped to lose them in a cave system or something.

“C’mon ranger, quit yer day dreamin,” Jeffe said from the top of the dune, James limping slightly next to him. We were both still pretty tender from our fight and the stiffness in my wounds was promising I wouldn’t be able to move like I used to. Oh well, adapt and keep moving.

“I could catch up to you in thirty minutes if I gave you a mile head-start old man, what’s the rush?”

“The rush, Ranger, is that old Cantar’s left nut is about to dip below the horizon and we’re still a couple miles from the canyon. So how ‘bout we start haulin ass, eh?” Recognizing the tone in his voice, it was something I’d never heard from him before. Fear. Looking back down at the fresh corpses, food for those in the dunes, I realized.

“Let’s go old man! Lead the way!” Pumping my fists, I grimaced as I ran/crawled up the dune as fast as I could.

“The canyon is East, that direction,” he pointed.

“I know...where East is...old man,” I said, panting from my climb.

“At least you’re good for somethin. When we get there, there should be an effigy near the lip somewhere, follow north from there a little and you’ll stumble across a hidden ladder. Throw the turd over the edge and climb down and we’re free. Got it?” he asked.

“Yeah I got it, but why tell us? Why are we still standing up here?” I asked, now worried as well.

“Because Night’s almost here and there’s a chance we ain’t gonna make it if we don’t get there in time, this way if it’s me you’ll both know,” looking at his wrinkled brown face, glowing from the final light of the sun, I could see a whisper of a smile on his face. Turning around, he whispered quietly enough to where he thought I couldn’t hear him, “But dyin wouldn’t be so bad, huh Stella?” Stella. The name hit like a hammer to the heart, Stella. My heart went out to the old man, his wife Stella was like a second mother to me. Sweetest woman in the world and she wouldn’t back down for anything. Not even her husband could convince her when she was dead set on something. So when those long haired hippies from the east asked for anyone with medical training to come aid their wounded involved in defending against a massive incursion from the Deep Jungle, she couldn’t not go.

Her and the others deaths are what spurred the push for outposts and forts along the road East, forming somewhat of an alliance with the Jungle Folk. It’s just such a shame she had to die to make everyone safer, but that’s just the person she was. Looking to the west, I watched as precious Sunlight began to fade. Cantar, Lord of Sand, I hope you feel good about yourself. Taking such a sweet soul from us, made the world a worse place for it.

“You want to die or what!?” Looking East I saw my fellow rangers already on the next dune.

“I’m coming!”

“Be still, don’t make a fuckin sound, boy,” Jeffe said to James. We were at the canyon and the Tanya was already taking stage in the night sky. Looking up, I saw rivers of light in the sky, like a portrait from the gods themselves to set the stage for the largest of three moons we had. Regretting not being able to look for longer, I focused back on our task. Which was to avoid dying at all costs. But it seemed like we were unlucky today.

“What is that?” James whispered.

“It’s a godsdamned Sand Witch. She comes almost every night, think she admires my work.” And it appeared that way too. Looking over the lip, I saw the long limbed, lanky form of a Sand Witch starring with covered eyes at a large tree like effigy, adorned with hundreds of human skulls. Looking at Jeffe, I saw a tad of sorrow, but mostly what I expected. Satisfaction.

“What the fuck Jeffe? Who’s skulls are those?” I asked.

“Ain’t it obvious? Raiders make good decoration when you cut em up,” he said with dark eyes. Unsettled, I looked away and watched as the Witch continued to stand there. Then, like a dancer to a song that only she heard, she glided across the grains and swirled away, heading southbound.

“Phew that was a---” before he could continue, Jeffe clamped James’s mouth. A wordless, haunting voice began to fill the air, trying to pull the limited tears out of me. We layed there against the dune, waiting for the sorrowful song to fade away in the distance for what felt like an hour.

Crying silent tears, James looks at me with bloodshot eyes, “Why’s she seem so sad, Rick? Is there a way we can help her or… or somethin?” He asks.

Slowly shaking my head, I answered, “I wish we could, I really do. They started appearing after Oogla was founded, but only out here in the wild dunes. They don’t show themselves during the day with Cantar’s light shining down, and we tried sending rangers in the past to see if they were monsters or something else. Someone had the wild idea that the Witches were the souls of the wrongful dead who met their end here in the dunes. But we still don’t know.” I said.

“Why not? Did they ignore us? Maybe they only notice us if we bring tribute or somethin,” he said. Poor kid, I hate to break it to him, but someone’s gotta do it.

“We don’t know because the rangers never made it back. We found their dried up husks and not an ounce of blood on them. They were just...sucked clean. Forget about ever approaching, if you see one just lie still like we did here, got it?” His shoulders slumped, he nodded his head.

“Good boy. Toughen up a little, these dunes are harsh on the soul.”

“How do you do it, Rick? Stayin out here for long periods of time, not a soul to shoot the wind with but monsters and raiders. If I’m being honest, I don’t feel cut out for this whole ranger business.” Head down, the poor boys lack of self confidence shown in the way he was walking.

“Because for exactly those reasons. There are monsters, raiders and who knows what out here. Communication isn’t so big an issue since we try and stay in touch over the radio at nights. Believe it or not, the biggest problem is finding a nice little hole to tucker in at night and making sure a King’s Terror doesn’t come and set-up shop while you’re on patrol,” seeing my words having an effect on James, I go for the kicker.

“The other problem is when we head back to Oogla. People love us and if I weren’t a faithful man I’d have a different woman in bed every night I was there,” gotta hand it to my wife, she knows how a man thinks. She calls it the ‘Thinking Ladder’ because she told me men think with their dicks first, their stomach second and their brain last.

Yup, James doesn’t prove her wrong as I watch him hold his head high, his shoulders squared back and energy in his movements. Oh sweet Cantar, I hope I didn’t just create another Morty. That boy was ordered to resign from the rangers after having too many children, didn’t want to be responsible for taking care of them if he died out in the wild. The rangers took care of their own, no doubt. But there were limits, even for them.

The rest of our travels were uneventfully quiet. The stars shining down with otherworldly beauty, something you won’t see in Oogla with all the lights blocking out the night sky. To our right, the quiet gurgle of moving water bounced along the canyon walls as it flowed past us towards the ocean to the far west from the jungles in the east.

“Alright, over one of these dunes should be the ladder, but don’t go squeelin when you see it greenie,” James said after climbing the next dune in front of us.

“Why would I whine about a ladder? It’s not like you made it out of bones or somethin, right?” James asked.

Looking back, I saw the wild gleam in his eyes and his mischievous grin. Oh Cantar, save us. An old man with a bone fetish, a newbie ranger and his mentor are stuck in the dunes, what do they have in common?

“Sweet Cantar Jeffe, why’s everything with you about-” Turning quickly away from the dune with a pale face, Jeffe held a finger to his lip and signalled with his hand for us to stop. We crawled right below the peak and raised our noggins real slow like, not wanting to give away any noticeable, sudden movement.

Laying down next to a pile of bones attached to one another by string or maybe hemp, we saw the large frame of a Terror snoring with a broken, chewed bone in one hand.

Shaking, I lowered myself away and closed my eyes, trying to remember when I ever had so much shit happen in one day. Because if it’s one thing we all three have in common is that we keep getting stuck knee deep in whatever shit’s out here.

“What do we do?” James whispered. I turned to Jeffe since he has the most experience fighting Terrors. I mean they aren’t as bad as a King, but no one wants to fight either if they don’t have to. There’s a reason they’re called Terrors.

“Well we can’t stay here and fuck each other till we give Cantar a hard on. Terrors don’t sleep long and that’s the only good time to try and take on those bastards. But usually,” he looks at both of us, “there’s more than three fuckin rangers when we do. So, here’s what I think.”

For the next few minutes we quickly hammered a quick and dirty plan of action. Until we heard the roar of a waking Terror right before we headed to our positions. Looking down on my body, I saw a large black orb strapped tightly to my chest.

Thank god Krystal gave us back our Beast Killer.