“Dune bandits?” Clayton furrowed his brows when he heard Nick’s report, “It would take a small army to ambush this huge caravan, not a puny bandit group.

“My thoughts exactly.” Nick nodded, “There is no way random bandit groups can attack them and even more, I find it hard to believe that someone is living in that desert where we can’t even move during the day, not to speak of lack of water and food. Most likely the attack is being prepared as we speak somewhere in jungle not far from here and the caravan leader got a wind of it. The worst thing is, we can’t leave on our own because we have no idea where are they going to attack from or even when.”

“What kind of force can make this huge caravan weary?” Steven pondered.

“That is also my main concern.” Clayton added, “From what I can tell, there are four or five Qi masters and fifty well equipped regular guards who should all be Qi practitioners in addition to approximately two hundred servants. For them to actively look for us and invite to join, means the risk is serious.”

There was no other option but to join this caravan. On their own it would be impossible to attempt to cross the desert if there was an ambush ahead.

“But how is it possible for attackers to prepare an ambush? There is no fixed route in the desert because of the dune movement and even if the attackers guess, how can they deal with the scorching heat during the day?” Steven was confused.

“A good question.” Nick shared his thoughts, “My theory is that they will follow the caravan when it sets off and then assault during the second night in a pincer attack with the second group from the opposite side of the desert. If there was no risk of the second group, we could've gone alone because the three of us are much faster than caravan full of cargo and slaves.”

Then after a pause his eyes lit up, “Slaves! May be the attackers will use the captured slaves of this caravan as well!”

“But if you can think of it, experienced caravan leader definitely will.” Clayton pointed out.

“Right, therefore we have to watch their formation very carefully to not be in too much danger when the attack happens.” Nick nodded.

“But how can we know that the girls have successfully crossed the desert? May be the dune bandits have caught them already?” The more Steven thought about all of this, the more worried he became.

“I think the attack has something to do with this caravan specifically. The smaller groups that have passed earlier should be safe, otherwise, if someone would try to kill every merchant, empire would have sent the army to clean up the jungle. It is possible they will after this attack, but if the attackers get enough loot, they’ll just scatter. The trade route from Berin to Olava is too much of importance for the empire to let some random bandits to control it. Emperor Osman is not some random clown.” Clayton explained while Nick nodded as well.

They discussed a bit longer, but there was not much they could figure out. They had to be careful and watch each others backs and, if really everything goes astray, they would just flee – there was no precious cargo they had to protect or promises too keep. What they had to protect was already two days ahead of them on the road moving further and further away every moment.

The Qi master Kardiff came over soon after and brought the bow Nick asked for. It was a good weapon and could become useful during the upcoming nights. He instructed them to pick one spot around the caravan according to their own judgment and keep that position until they crossed the desert. The choice would be their own risk and it would test out their luck to later see which side the attack will come from.

After the short debriefing, Kardiff left to speak with other travelers who arrived after trio and were intending to cross the desert as well. Those mostly were small groups of merchants who immediately agreed to Mustafa’s proposal.

Thus the already big caravan became even bigger, but Clayton just shook his head watching the proceedings. His theory was that if you add few more sheep into the herd, it will still disperse in panic when wolves attack and the bigger the herd – the bigger the panic.

But Nick pointed out, that, in fact, Mustafa was quite smart. He obviously knew these people would be of no help. He probably hoped for them to be able to delay attackers even for a little bit so his own forces suffer less casualties while defending and could group up on some of the enemies, while others chase the escaping merchants.

When the evening came, prediction about sandstorm turned out to be true. After the sunset strong winds picked up and the caravan tents started to dangerously flutter in the gusts and it felt like everything, including tents, cargo and even horses, might be carried away at any time. Even though the bamboo grove provided protection, the wind still brought swirls of sand from the distant desert and it went right through the shelter and clothing. People felt as if their moths and nostrils were full of sand even though they hid themselves under many layers of cloth.

Despite the storm, the trio felt relatively safe and the two youths slept while Clayton stayed up on watch and before sunrise Nick took over this duty. It was not that they were tired – there was simply nothing else they could do. During the next day they would mostly practice Qi while waiting anyway.

And it happened so. The winds calmed down after the sunrise and the short sandstorm was over. The group now understood why no one worried about the storm – it came quickly and disappeared the same way.

After they had breakfast, Nick said he had an inspiration and there was something he wanted to test. Afterwards he ran off to the jungle and later there were only some rare muffled explosion sounds coming over from time to time, but Clayton and Steven didn’t bother much. Meanwhile Mustafa’s servants came over and showed how to cover the legs and hooves of their horses for them to easier travel on dunes.

On his way back, Nick bought more arrows, which like everything else in this settlement were very expensive and then ordered lunch in a nearby inn for all three of them. In the meantime his companions already prepared horses and were eager to leave as soon as the scorching heat calmed down. They were not the only ones – in the late afternoon the big caravan was all packed up and ready to go and so were the small merchant groups which joined later.

As soon as the sun touched the horizon, Mustafa gave the command and everyone moved out in an orderly fashion. The moment they stepped on the desert sand, the faces of many twisted in pain – the sand was still scorching hot. Now Nick understood why the horses were prepared that way and why Mustafa’s followers were having cloth strapped round their own feet, almost up to their knees. Nick himself didn’t have such problem and similar to the Qi masters he was stepping on the sand without his feet sinking in. Steven wasn’t this lucky. With an ugly face he tried to keep up and did his best to pretend it was only a leisure walk.

“I think the threat is bigger than we expected and the caravan is attempting to cross the desert in one night.” Clayton said in a low voice.

“We both know it’s a fools dream. Even two or three hour head start can not compensate the distance that is usually covered in a whole night.” Nick sighed, “Normally it should take two and sometimes even three nights to cross the desert. Let’s prepare for emergency. Steven, take this.” he passed two rank three beast cores to his friend, “Even if this is an extreme situation, try to train and walk on the sand, Clayton will help you with the theory. I’ll go and talk to Kardiff for a bit.”

The practice he suggested not only could transform the pain in to improvement, but this could help them later greatly as well. In addition it gave them something to do and divert attention, because even if they had only walked several hundred meters, this desert already seemed endless and brought a sense of depression.

“What is the protocol in case of an attack?” Nick asked Kardiff.

“What?” The latter got confused.

“How do we proceed when we get attacked?” Nick corrected himself again.

“After the nightfall we will be carrying torches and as soon as there is an enemy – we will light up the perimeter to control our defenses. Other than that – we will simply kill any attacker. Besides the regular guards, there are several Qi masters present in caravan and, with addition to your boss and a couple of others who joined later, there won’t be any problems.” Kardiff confidently said.

“Alright, when that happens, I’ll try to light up surroundings as well. The few splashes of light will be from me, don’t get startled at that time.” Nick plainly said and went back to his friends.

Kardiff shrugged and didn’t seem to care since he was very confident in their own strength.

The darkness soon enveloped the desert and the temperature started dropping at fast rate. The waning moon showed up only long after the midnight and didn’t give much light, it even seemed that the millions of stars covering the dark sky were better at doing its job.

The huge caravan slowly crossed one dune after another, while impatient Mustafa tried to hurry the panting servants and animals carrying the goods without a break. The shackled slaves were mostly moving silently, albeit few women kept weeping from time to time despite reprimands from the guards.

When the first rays of sun colored the east, the tired and depressed Mustafa ordered to set up tents to hide from the inevitable heat that will burn everything already an hour later.

“It was obvious it’s impossible to cross the desert in one night, why did he have to push his people so hard?” Clayton was annoyed. As a captain he valued crew’s condition greatly and could not accept poor management when he saw one.

“I think the fatty is scared out of his mind.” Nick grinned, “Even if he seems only upset, our guess is right and the next night will be when we get attacked. Clayton, please concentrate to spot any movement and I’ll light up the sky immediately. Steven, when that happens, please secure horses first and then join us in defense. Also – take this paste and apply to your legs, you should be fine already in the afternoon. We have to be at full strength tonight.”

His companions agreed and they finished setting up the tent that covered them and the horses as well. It was made from thick whitish cloth and only two sides were stuck in the sand with two other remaining open. It will protect them from direct sunlight, but the heat from the sand will still be hard to bear, especially for the horses.

Thus during the day they took turns on taking care of the six animals, kept their heads wet and let them drink to their fullest. Since they were mostly hidden from the eyes of others, they could use the water they had in their meteorite rings without any restrictions.

There were some inconveniences caused by the natural needs of the horses though, but friends just laughed it off and agreed to never talk about that again.

When the evening came and the caravan continued on it’s way, the trio became serious again. The tense expressions on the faces of other guards also showed that they were preparing for the inevitable attack.

The situation grew even more stressful when from time to time they stated to hear a weird whistle behind them. Last night besides the wind and the panting servants it was absolutely still and now these whistles made the night sound extremely creepy. People had an inborn fear of the unknown and now in the darkness everyone's fantasy was running wild.