After coating Tadwick in that gods awful Shalnack paste… which smells like a vile combination of off cheese and dried saliva… we set off on the first leg of our journey.

  Our first task is to get to the oasis, which is halfway through the wasteland. We had a choice in how to do this. The fastest route is to cross the great sand sea. This shaves days off the journey. It is, however, the most dangerous route. Aside from offering nowhere to take shelter from the sun or easy to defend locations for the evenings… there are the sand worms. Worms with an O not a Y.

  Damecus informs me that these creatures are incredibly dangerous. They are not as big as the rock wyrm that we defeated, nor do they have the rock-hard skin, so initially I thought they would be easier to deal with. The problem is that they travel under the sand… they are rarely above ground which makes harming them incredibly difficult. Unless you possess earth magic. Which Phoenix does not.

  They sense movement on top of the sand… if you feel any rumbles in the ground you have to stand absolutely still… move and they’ll find you and drag you under the sand never to be seen again. Whilst you can pass through the sand sea without ever encountering them… I feel like it is best to avoid that risk… small children are not known for remaining stationary.

  Which leaves us with option two. Travelling around the great sand sea. This takes significantly longer; it offers some occasional caves for creating camps in the evening, as well as some shade during the day. It also offers some hunting opportunities as a few different animals can survive here, mostly rodents. Which means we can catch food.

  The downside… there are other animals that like to hunt in the area. Many of these won’t cause much of a problem… others however, would definitely not think twice about hunting our group… even with the incredibly large lizardmen that we have. Still, safer than risking the sandworms.

  We are currently on day three of travelling this path. We haven’t had much in the way of risk so far. A pack of wolves tried its luck, but Nomius killed two of them and Damecus scared the rest of them off. Nomius being able to turn invisible has certainly been helpful for hunting purposes. We haven’t eaten into our supplies too much because of this.

  I asked why Nomius had come with us, as it is only Damecus who is going through the weird rite of passage thing. Nomius seems to communicate through gestures… I’m guessing because of his throat injury… I am slowly working out what these signs mean, but Damecus is still having to translate for me. Nomius’ answer was “boy… marked… protect.” Damecus told me that Nomius is very protective of children, but didn’t expand on things further.

  Tadwick seems to like him… which is helpful. He spends most of his time sat on Nomius’ shoulders. He has been given the role of look out… he is to let Nomius know when there is an animal nearby so that Nomius can catch it. He seems to have taken to this role quite well. It keeps him occupied which is good. Especially since…

  Damecus: “Stop!”

  Dwynfel: “Huh… what is it?”

  Nomius turned around and signed something that I did not understand.

  Dwynfel: “What does that mean?”

  Damecus: “Deathstalker!”

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Kiyui: “Guessing that isn’t good.”

  Damecus: “Giant scorpion. Avoid the tail!”

  Kiyui: “Yup, not good then.”

  Nomius took Tadwick off his shoulders and passed him to Kiyui. He then disappeared. Feiffer assumed a defensive stance in front of us.

  Damecus: “Get behind me.”

  Kiyui: “How can you tell it’s coming?”

  Damecus: “I saw a tail go into that cave up there. It is watching us.”

  Shit… I was so distracted in my own mind I wasn’t even paying attention. I should have noticed that. I’m meant to be the ranger, damn it. There are a lot of caves and alcoves in this area, if it’s a cave network then it could pop out from anywhere.

  Kiyui: “Are we sure it’s by itself?”

  Damecus: “Deathstalkers are solitary creatures. Nocturnal too. We must be close to its nest otherwise it wouldn’t be hunting at this time.”

  Kiyui: “So, if we just slip past it, then it shouldn’t bother us?”

  Damecus: “No. It knows we are here now.”

  I hate this. I hate being somewhere where I am unfamiliar with the creatures and the surroundings. I should be the one with the information… but sandworms and deathstalkers were never in my almanac. I only know what I know about them from what Damecus warned us about before we set off. I feel useless.

  Damecus walked forwards towards the caves. Keeping an eye on the cave where he saw the tail. Suddenly, the deathstalker lunged out of a cave on the other side of the pass. There must be a tunnel network or something. Its stinger was headed straight for Damecus’ back.

  Kiyui: “Behind you!”

  The stinger was stopped just a matter of centimetres from Damecus. Nomius appeared. His battleaxe blocking the stinger… he sliced it off using one of the other axes that he keeps in his belt. Him and Damecus then swiftly switched places and Damecus began blocking it’s claws with his shield. Nomius moved round to the side and swung his battleaxe into the creatures left claw. Damecus swung his dragon tooth club down hard on its head. He then did so again, and again, and again. The thing was completely crushed.

  Phoenix: “I have to admit. These two are efficient. It would seem that we are surplus to requirements.”

  Tadwick ran over to them.

  Tadwick: “That was so cool!”

  Nomius smiled at him before beginning to cut parts of the scorpion up.

  Dwynfel: “Umm… what is he doing?”

  Damecus: “Parts of the deathstalker can be cooked. It is a bit of a delicacy in these parts.”

  Kiyui: “You can eat this thing!”

  Damecus: “To eat a creature such as this, is to gain its power. At least that’s what they say. Personally, I just like the taste of the legs when you fry them. Add a few spices, make a nice sauce, and you can really create something fun with it.”

  Nomius rolled his eyes.

  Tadwick: “Is that true? About gaining its power?”

  Damecus: “In a sense.”

  Tadwick: “Oh oh oh, can I have a leg then?”

  Damecus: “Not yet child. It must be cooked first.”

  Dwynfel: “In what sense exactly?”

  Damecus: “Same way that any food gives you power. Food is fuel for the flame of your heart.”

  Oddly poetic way of talking for a lizardman. But he makes sense… any food is power for your body really. But I don’t like the look of this scorpion. I’m really not sure about eating it. Nomius continued to cut various bits of the scorpion off and place them in a pouch for later while Feiffer started licking the creature’s blood off the floor.

  As much as I hate to admit it… we would be totally doomed out here without those two. We would have had to use spells and all sorts to take that thing down… by the time it was dead we’d be out of spells and thus completely fucked if anything else happened to attack us. Those two took it down in barely any time at all. No spells used… no arrows wasted. Maybe Kiyui was right to trust them… I’m still unsure… but I am sure that without them we wouldn’t be able to make this trip… so, for now at least, I’ll have to afford them a level of trust.