They needed meds. Meds and gunpowder.

"Specifically, we need nitre and panax," explained Rakthi the first evening, as they gathered around a small fire. "We should get a good trade for the things in the cart."

They had taken turns in hauling the small, three-wheeled cart across the wastes under the heat of the two suns, pulling it and its cargo of fresh water and vegetables as fast as possible to the edge of the burnt lands. They made it to the camp shortly before sundown, thankfully without encountering any of the beasts that haunted the place.

The camp was located on an elevated area of solid rock around the circumference of which a wall of thick wood had been built. It was barely wide enough to accommodate the five of them, but the relief of reaching the safety of its walls was palpable.

"Nitre I know. That’s for gunpowder, right?" asked Rial.

Rakthi nodded while Karal snorted derisively.

"And panax is a stimulant," Rakthi said. "It's better than coffee and far easier to carry."

"Surely there are things you need more than a pick-me-up?" asked Rial.

"Out here, a pick-me-up can be the difference between life and death," continued Rakthi.

Hurstrom grunted in assent from where he stood, at the top of the short set of steps to the platform that passed for a lookout tower.

"There's plenty of other things we need if we find them, but those are our main goals."

Karal growled and looked over the fire at them.

"There are other priorities too," he said.

"Of course, Karal," said Tala, cutting in. She wanted to stop the man before he got going. "We will destroy any vivinder we find."

"Hell's own oath we will," Karal said, spitting into the fire. "And I'll be watching to make sure we burn it all."

Karal's eyes narrowed as he spoke, focusing on Rial. Rial did not react.

A startled shout from over their heads broke the tense silence.

"What? What is it?" asked Tala as Hurstrom regained his balance. He had stepped back and almost toppled over in surprise.

"Nothing, sorry. Bloody grakar coming at us from the west. Must have been hiding in the trees, didn't see the thing until it was halfway to us."

Even as Hurstrom spoke the loud, leathery snarling of the creature echoed over them, increasing in volume rapidly until a thud and drawn-out scraping sounds told them it had reached the wall.

"Damn it," swore Karal. "That'll keep us up all night."

"Why don't you simply kill it?" asked Rial.

The others turned and looked at him.

"Kill it? Kill it? It's a bloody grakar," said a stunned Hurstrom.

Rial looked away from them and up into the sky. He was clearly working something out in his head.

Tala was not ready for what happened next. One second Rial was sitting with them, part of the circle around the fire, the next he was vaulting over the top of the walls from the lookout point and disappearing from view. Tala jumped to her feet as Rakthi let out a cry of shock, Hurstrom's mouth hanging open in shock at what had just happened. Even Karal looked surprised.

They froze there, halted by the grating, paralysing roar coming from the other side of the wall.

The roar ended abruptly as if choked off, followed by a series of barks that fired off one after the other. Something squealed, and then a sound as of air leaving a torn bladder-skin whistled over the motionless group.

A banging came from the other side of the gate. Hurstrom, face once more paler than the moon itself, turned slowly towards Tala, mouth opening and closing like a fish.

Nobody said anything as Tala stepped stiffly over to the gate and lifted the heavy bar that was its lock. The door creaked open slowly as the others craned forwards to see...

"They can be delicious when you cook them right," said Rial.

Behind him he dragged one of the largest grakar Tala had ever seen, killed by what appeared to be a single stroke of the sword to the head. Its plate-sized eyes stared sightlessly into the night sky.

Tala didn't know what the sound was at first. It rasped, a strange sound as if someone was choking. She found herself, with the rest of the group, staring at Karal, from whom the strange sound was emanating.

Karal was laughing.

Rakthi joined in next, then Hurstrom. Tala didn't know how to fight it.

The wastes rung out with the laughter of the damned.