Whatever it is, Noor sent, It’s big.

Kiva agreed.

Several minutes passed before they were near enough to make out the cause.

Kiva’s eyes widened at the sight below.

Noor…

I see it. The kiraeen’s thoughts were like a knife’s edge.

Trundling along across the dusty stone was a monstrous tortoise of immense proportions. Its head was large enough to swallow a person whole. Thick, scaly limbs supported a massive shell covered in hexagonal plates. At the center of the tortoise’s back was a strange, rounded structure with bars from floor to ceiling. It was a cage grown from the same material as the shell. Inside were the six Sahra’ men from the missing hunting expedition. They appeared resigned, their only movement coming from the jostling of the tortoise’s heavy steps.

Sharun sandwarriors flanked the tortoise on both sides, shuffling along in their hideous animal helms, curving blades stowed on their hips and backs.

“Look out!” Kiva cried in alarm.

Noor banked hard to the right as a small boulder flew past. She banked left a second later, narrowly avoiding another. The kiraeen tucked her wings and dove.

Kiva cursed. Another boulder flew wide, and this time she saw where it came from. The sand at its origin appeared to shimmer. Kiva had seen that shimmering camouflage before.

Neferu.

She’d been so focused on the tortoise, she’d missed the Sharun summoner altogether.

Of course he’d be there—who else would have summoned the sand titan?

Crystals, Noor thought. There, on its back.

They were closing on the shimmering sand, though Kiva still had trouble discerning Neferu’s form.

With a deafening screech, Noor extended her rear talons toward him.

“Riah qawia,” The powerful words reverberated from the summoner, and a blast of wind sent Kiva tumbling. She clung with one hand to Noor’s harness as the world spun. Noor eventually leveled out, with Kiva hanging by one arm over her side.

The windwalker pulled herself back onto Noor’s back as the kiraeen fought to gain altitude. They climbed, cutting a path behind one of the tall, narrow rock formations. Another small boulder smashed into it.

We have to free the hunters, Kiva thought.

With that cursed summoner throwing rocks—

Kiva ducked as another flew over her head. Meanwhile, the tortoise and its host of sandwarriors continued through the crags.

Leave him to me, Kiva thought. You stop the titan.

With a powerful beat of her wings, Noor came out from behind the rocks on a path directly toward the shimmering sand where the summoner hid. They flew low, skimming the ground at great speed. When Neferu was fifty meters ahead, Noor’s talons and forewings touched down, and her flight became a loping run. Kiva was nearly thrown from Noor’s back as the kiraeen leapt aside, dodging another boulder. Still, they came on.

Kiva stood, boots on the harness, legs like springs. She held on with one hand and drew her dagger with the other. She ducked, flattening herself against Noor’s back just as another stone rushed past where her head had been. She rose again to find the summoner less than twenty feet away. The ground before him was pocked and cratered.

Kiva leapt, using the momentum from  her kiraeen’s loping stride to launch. She arched her back mid-air, flipping until her feet were once again below her. At the same time, Noor leapt over the summoner, taking flight and avoiding another blast of wind.

Kiva landed in a full sprint, dagger held in reverse grip. This close, she could clearly see Neferu’s form, though the details of his appearance were obfuscated by shimmering sand. She brought her weapon to bear, slashing toward the towering figure’s thigh.

Steel sang as her blade met the summoner’s tall staff, and Kiva had to leap back to avoid a retaliatory swipe. She stood defensively, trying to get the measure of her ill-defined foe. She glanced past him to see Noor plowing through the sandwarriors, talons extended. If Noor was going to free the hunters, she’d have to buy time.

“I know who you are,” Kiva said.

Neferu gave a raspy snarl. After a moment, Kiva recognized it as laughter.

“Good,” he growled in a throaty, feral voice.

“Why are you here?” Kiva demanded.

The summoner answered by taking his staff in both hands.

It seemed the talking was finished. Kiva bared her teeth, and leapt in to attack before he could gain the advantage. Her blade met the metal of his staff and was easily deflected. Kiva ducked as his weapon cut through the air above, then leapt aside as the other end swung toward her from below. She struck, and again the blow was deflected. Kiva fought with everything she had, leaping with acrobatic grace to avoid Neferu’s whirring staff. Desperate to keep the momentum, she delivered a flurry of attacks in a few short seconds. The shimmering golden staff spun, rebuffing every strike.

Kiva leapt back, panting, but Neferu did not press the attack.

He was toying with her.

Kiva risked a quick look past Neferu. The sandwarriors were gone—Noor had made short work of them—but the tortoise was proving more difficult. The kiraeen had taken to the sky.

“Come on!” Kiva shouted. “What are you waiting for?”

Noor, Kiva thought. Hurry!

I’m working on it!  the kiraeen snapped.

Rather than attacking, Neferu began to chant, his voice rent with growls like that of a snarling jackal.

Kiva swallowed, taking a step back. Her limbs were growing stiff. She looked up and saw Noor speeding toward a massive boulder balanced atop a tapered column of stone. The kiraeen crashed into it, talons extended, and the boulder toppled. Kiva watched as it crashed down onto the tortoise, crushing its front limb and crippling the massive titan.

Neferu stopped chanting suddenly, and turned to see what had happened. The stiffness in Kiva’s limbs faded. She lunged, dagger gripped in both hands. Before the blade could come close, Neferu’s palm shot out. “Ainfijar.”

The wind was knocked from Kiva’s lungs as she flew backward. She landed hard on her back, sliding several feet before coming to a stop. Groaning, she sat up. Noor was frantically scratching at the violet crystals on the tortoise’s back. With each one she destroyed, a part of the titan disintegrated into sand. The hunters were standing now, kicking and punching at the bars of their deteriorating cage. In an instant, sand swirled around Neferu, and he sped toward them.

Noor, he’s coming!

The kiraeen continued biting and clawing at the crystals, undaunted by Neferu’s imminent approach. Her onyx beak snapped shut on the final crystal. The cage, along with the rest of the tortoise shell, crumbled into a mound of sand. The twisting dust funnel sped over the mound, and the newly freed hunters had time only to duck for cover as Neferu blew through them.

The whirlwind continued past, speeding across the stony ground through the crags until it was out of sight. The hunters were covered in sand, but otherwise appeared unharmed.

Seeing this, Kiva breathed a sigh of relief and stood.

“Ahlan!” said a tall hunter walking down off the mound toward her. He had gray in his black hair, and wore a necklace strung with three long, curving white aga claws. The other hunters wore similar trophies from past kills.

“Ahlan,” Kiva said, clutching her side, which was bruised and tender.

The hunter’s eye widened. “You’re…”

Kiva raised her eyebrows.

An awkward moment passed before the hunter continued, “I didn’t expect…”

“Didn’t expect what?” Kiva asked.

“You’re…that windwalker,” he said, “The Fariq girl.”

The other hunters were approaching from behind. On their faces was a mixture of apprehension and uncertainty. None spoke.

Kiva breathed an exasperated sigh, shaking her head. “And you’re alive, because of her,” she said. Never before had Kiva seen a group of grown men so conflicted, to the point of silence. “I believe the words you’re looking for are thank you.”

When it was clear no thanks were coming, she asked, “Which one of you is Rim?”

A man with short dark hair and muddy green eyes perked up.

“You,” Kiva said, pointing at him.

Rim’s brow furrowed as he stepped forward. “Me?”

“Come with me,” Kiva beckoned, then turned and began walking toward where Noor landed nearby.

“What? Where?” he asked.

“Home.”

Behind, Kiva heard one of the hunters ask, “Where’s Ezra?”

She paused, turning around. The hunters were looking around. They began calling his name.

“He’s gone,” cried one.

“That’s impossible. He was in the cage with the rest of us.”

They began digging at the sand of the fallen tortoise, calling his name.

Kiva’s stomach sank. Al’ama.

Neferu, Noor sent.

Kiva replayed Neferu’s escape in her mind. He had passed right through the group of hunters, and must have grabbed one on the way.

Kiva turned aside and closed her eyes in a moment of intense frustration. She ran to Noor.

“Wait here,” she shouted from Noor’s back, and the kiraeen’s powerful legs thrust them skyward. They sped in the direction Neferu had gone, watching for the plume of a whirlwind. Nearly thirty minutes of searching revealed only sand and stone. Neferu was fast as the wind, and able to camouflage himself in sand. Their chances of finding him had vanished the moment he disappeared from view.

With heavy resignation, Kiva urged Noor to turn back.

They returned to the mound of sand several minutes later. The hunters sat atop it, waiting. Noor landed at a distance, so as not to blow sand in their faces. They stood and walked toward her. Kiva slid over Noor’s side and untied a pair of waterskins strapped to her harness. She approached the hunters, her expression grave.

“Did you find him?” asked the graying hunter.

Kiva shook her head.

A solemn hush fell over them.

“Here,” Kiva said, handing him the waterskins. “There’s an oasis half a day’s march to the northwest. Look for the stone shaped like a snake’s head.”

The graying hunter nodded, but stubbornly gave no thanks.

“Come on, Rim,” Kiva said.

He shook his head. I’ll walk back with my brothers.

“Al’ama!” Kiva cried, utterly exasperated. “It was your wife who sent me to find you! I swear to the gods, if you do not come with me right now, I will tell her how ungrateful you are, and that you refused when I offered to bring you home!”

A look of panic came onto Rim’s face. To refuse Kiva now would dishonor his wife. After an awkward moment, the graying hunter gave him a shove. “Go on,” he said. “We’ll meet up with you in the basin.”

Rim gave him a look of gratitude, and followed Kiva to where Noor was waiting. Kiva climbed onto her kiraeen’s back, and gave Rim a hand up behind.

“It’s not that we’re ungrateful,” Rim said. “It’s just that…if word gets out to the other hunters—”

“Gods forbid you have a shred of humility,” Kiva interrupted. “Yes, I am a windwalker. Yes, I am a woman. So what?”

“We will be shunned from future hunts.”

Kiva felt a stab of pain. After all she’d done for her people, there were still those who could not accept her.

“So what then, should I have let the Sharun take you?”

“No,” Rim said. “It’s just…Many hunters feed their families with what they catch. It’s our livelihood.”

Kiva was tempted to lash out, but held her tongue.

“For what it’s worth,” he said. “I am grateful. For a while there, I thought I might never see my wife and son again.”

“I won’t say anything,” Kiva said at length. “But someone will need to tell Ezra’s family the truth.”

Rim gave a solemn nod.

“Noor, yatir!” Kiva cried. Soon the three of them were climbing toward the clouds, on their way back to Madina Basin.

Windwalker: Bonds of the Forsaken

August 18, 2020

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