Racing the King of Kades

The rippling dunes reminded Stoe of the ruffles of Evlen’s oversized auburn bandana crumpled around her neck. The burnt sand took on a ghostly glow under the light of the full moon whose face pressed down upon them. It was as if the gods themselves were watching from above, a thought which sent shivers down Stoe’s spine. The sword at his hip he pilfered from a crypt decorated with the markings of Goddess Ginia. If she was watching, doom might be waiting for them in the sands. His grimace deepened.

Toward the bow of the ship Mito Dahz frowned at the desert while counting their components in their satchel, a nervous behaviour which set the rest of the crew on edge. The mage gathered ingredients and a quick flame lit their pinched face before a black cat appeared.

“Hello to you, too, Filo. Do you see anything?”

Murmurs and purrs between the two was an uncomfortable reminder that Mito was at the mercy of the night. They could hardly cast a spell on an enemy they couldn’t see; another reason for the crew to worry.

“Boss, the captain is ready. Are we?” Salud Pakhi stood at Stoe’s elbow.

“I am. Are you?” Stoe cocked his brow.

“If the lich comes -”

“It won’t. You know Mito is nervous enough already. While we are out there, I need you to stop hyping this up. We need to stay focused. What matters is getting out of the desert, not what dwells within it.”

“So you believe the lich exists.” Salud’s grim tone matched how Stoe felt.

“It doesn’t matter what I believe, you know that. Let the captain know we are ready, please.”

Salud acknowledged the order with a dip of his chin to his chest and made a beeline for the helm where their skittish captain waited. The wild look in his eyes gave the crew some comfort. It was madness to cross the Kades desert, so of course only a madman could be trusted to traverse it.

Sitting portside, Evlen watched her older brother move around the sand skipper like a heavy storm cloud. As he looked toward Mito at the front, Evlen whistled to draw his gaze.

“You need to lighten up,” she said under her breath. “Your mood isn’t helping Mito, y’know.”

“It’s not me! It’s Salud. He won’t stop talking about the lich. We just need to get from A to B.” Stoe sounded like he was trying to convince himself of the simplicity.

“Mm, yes. From A to B, while carrying the most important piece of paper of this century which could save countless lives and bring peace to our country,“ she smiled wryly. “Piece of cake.”

“Alrighty gents and lady, this is your cap-i-tan speaking!” Captain Ishna bellowed, flashing a crooked grin through his wiry beard. “Keep your arms and legs inside the Evening Starling at all times. It is time to stow your magical items in the lower cabin for everyone’s safety as we will soon be departing. Our expected arrival time to Haumida Kingdom is dawn, with a stunning sunrise at our backs as the fire chases us to the King! Thank you for choosing to travel in my sand skipper.”

Filo shot a dry stare at the captain then flicked her tail toward the cabin.

“I need your eyes, sorry, Filo. You will need to stay here with me.” Mito noticed the moongleam of Stoe’s sword blade and realised they misinterpreted the flick of her tail. “Stoe! Your sword needs to go in the cabin. Here, wrap it in this, it should help conceal its aura.”

As the boss disappeared, Evlen peered over the edge of the boat to watch the paddles whir into motion, splitting the silence of the desert. The scooped paddles lowered into the sand and the Evening Starling crawled forward on its belly before its first jittering hops turned into a smooth glide. Stoe soon emerged, shuffling toward Evlen at a 45 degree angle to compensate for the lean. The sand skipper shot across the stoss slope of the dunes with such power it cut through the midsection without slipping.

Salud and Mito’s familiar kept a watchful eye on the horizon, scanning for creatures of the night. Evlen was never so worried to let caution interrupt her enjoyment of the little things. Instead, she leaned forward, letting the crisp, clean air whip and tangle her hair around her freckled face.

“Remember wind like this back home?” she asked her brother.

“Of course.”

She peeked through a half closed eyelid at Stoe. “Lighten up. If we end up in a mess, it’ll be better if you have a clear head, not with already-frayed nerves. Relax.”

“I’m relaxed! I was just wondering how you even remember the wind when you were too busy caving… insane child. I was rescuing you even then, pulling you out when you got stuck and didn’t make it home for supper. Scared our parents so badly, their hair fell out.”

“Dad was always bald. In fact… is - is your hairline receding?”

“Ha-ha.” Stoe’s smile was laced with bitterness.

“Well I once met a girl her name was Mandy, walked with a limp now ain’t that dandy, ate lots of fish drank nothin’ but brandy, queen of the desert oh boy its sandy -” Captain Ishna battled against the sound of the wind with his jingle and somehow prevailed.

“You don’t suppose he will be singing that all night, do you?” Stoe asked.

“I’m almost certain of it.”

Hours passed uneventfully. It didn’t take long for the team to settle into the journey. Sand glittered like stardust had been sprinkled from the speckled sky above, and the gentle tilting lulled them into comfort as the dunes cradled the sand skipper onward. When the moon was at its peak, Filo was the first to see the skeleton.

It stalked through the sand with an old sword stuck in its ribcage, empty hollows in its skull seemingly noticing their presence as it stopped trudging to watch them paddle West across the Kades.

“So it’s true,” Evlen released the breath she was holding. “A lich must rule these lands.”

“Indeed.” A sickening pit formed in Stoe’s stomach. “Mito, do you -”

An ear-splitting crack! pierced the air and the Evening Starling began to lose traction and slip down the leeward side of the dune.

“Hold on to your hats!” Captain Ishna shouted from the helm.

With a white-knuckle grip on the side railing of the sand skipper, Stoe instinctively braced his sister and gritted his teeth hard, fearing the boat would flip as it slid. The captain grunted and spat curses as he adapted to the runaway ship, bringing them safely to the bottom of the slope.

“Phew!” Captain Ishna gave an unhinged laugh. “She always keeps me on my toes! Please help yourself to refreshments during this short intermission.”

Presumably to assess damage, the captain disappeared into the cabin, leaving a white-faced Mito and cautious crew to pace the upper deck. Filo rubbed her side across Mito’s leg, curling her tail around his knee, and purred loudly to comfort him.

“Th-thanks, Filo, I’m okay. Did anyone else see the undead before?”

Salud’s golden earring shone as he nodded. “Yes. Does anyone else see another to the North?”

Four pairs of eyes flicked Northward and found their observer. Holding more flesh than its brother, the ghoul stood atop the neighbouring dune silently, its tattered cloak swaying in the breeze.

“It isn’t approaching, so maybe it is looking to lure us to it instead,” Salud proposed.

“Or it is merely watching,” Stoe said. “Nobody leaves this boat. We defend if they attack, otherwise we wait to be sandborne and outpace them.”

“Are we really this unlucky?” Evlen huffed. “A million miles of desert and one sees us?”

“It’s destiny!” Captain Ishna interrupted as he emerged. “We have one damaged paddle, the starboard side. I disconnected one portside so we are balanced, but we lose some speed. Destiny, I say! This means we can use the secret weapon.”

With wild eyes, the captain sparked up the engine and the familiar whir of the paddles returned.

The watcher remained atop its dune as the sand skipper launched onward, only its skull twisted on its bony neck to follow their journey West. Everyone was on high alert. Salud nocked an arrow, Evlen spinned her dagger in her fingers, Mito counted his components, and Stoe paced while feeling naked without the weight of a sword at his hip. Another skeleton - three - eight - as they continued, more crawled up from beneath the sand.

“Arrgghhh!” The Captain’s cry startled the crew.

Salud drew his bow, Evlen gripped the hilt of her dagger, Mito dropped his ginger root, and Stoe felt panic well in his chest, weaponless.

“What is it?!”

“There is a sandstorm behind us.” Captain Ishna spat. “I hate sand.”

Evlen was about to quip that the man traversed a desert for a living when the words died on her lips. Behind them, shadows danced within the cover of the sand, dark voids seen even under the moonlight.

“It’s getting bigger, right? Mito - can Filo see anything in it?”

Squinting at the sand tornado forming behind them, Evlen missed all colour draining from Mito’s cheeks and the hackles on Filo’s back.

“It’s - it’s not a sandstorm. It’s the li-lich.”

“Oh, him again? Ugh, doesn’t he have something better to do?” Captain Ishna threw a nosy glance over his shoulder, treating the conversation as neighbourhood gossip. “It’s time… for the secret weapon!”

The man dove over the helm and raked his fingers through the tangled rope until it came loose, clearly not knotted properly at all, releasing the two shimmering purple sails. They billowed backward with the propulsion from the paddles doing more than the wind. Captain Ishna licked his lips and unfolded a metal contraption into a standing fan hardly taller than him and began to hand-crank it into motion.

“Just got to give it some elbow juice o’ course.”

Dumbfounded, Stoe watched the captain crank the small fan and the backward sails drag at their speed. “Wha - but, it… Evlen! Take those sails down, now! Salud, to the back with me. Captain Ishna, the secret weapon isn’t working, cut every corner you can or we are doomed.”

With deft fingers and nimble body, Evlen shot up the centre mast and cut the sails down with her dagger. Meanwhile, Salud looked down the shaft of his arrow at their pursuers who had closed the gap by half.

“Filo sees it off centre to the right! Red eyes!” Mito calls out.

At the mercy of dread, Stoe’s heart stuttered as a red glare gleamed from the approaching curtain of sand. “We’re too slow.”

“And outnumbered,” Salud said.

“You know I can take out a lot but… liches are known magic users, and covet magical items, who knows what they have at their disposal,” Mito shrugged, feeling defeat looming.

“Lighten up,” Evlen said, but her heart wasn’t in it.

This wasn’t the first time Stoe had felt the breath of death on the back of his neck in a battle, but in this cursed place was the first time he felt like his sister would go down with him.

As the team discussed battle strategy in the mere minutes they had left, Stoe felt a cold resolve set into his chest, a quiet confidence that he could still do something to save his sister. Maybe it was selfishness, that he just didn’t want to watch her die first, or maybe this sudden urge overcoming him was more.

A broad-shouldered and tall man, Stoe was never one to slip through a crowd unnoticed, but he easily drifted away from his friends and retrieved his sword from the lower cabin. The weight in his hands was reassuring, comforting. His return to the upper deck was met with the twisted red eyes of the lich upon its undead sandsnake, slithering ever closer to their boat in the company of its undead army. The crimson glow intensified as Stoe raised his sword to the monster, the symbol of Goddess Ginia shining from the pommel.

“What do you think you’re doing?” Evlen’s voice was soaked in fear.

“I’m saving you.” Stoe pulled the treaty invitation from his breastplate and handed it to Evlen with a sad smile. “You need to deliver this, and save everyone else. Lighten up, Evie.”

The swordsman didn’t stay long enough for his sister’s tears to break his heart. He threw himself overboard, tumbling briefly in the sand before he lifted his head to meet the greedy expression of the lich, coming to devour him and his magical sword. A distant shriek from the Evening Starling rattled his senses for only a moment before he felt the force in his hands, a furnace of heat radiating from the blade, the power of the Goddess gifted to her new champion. The flaming sword possessed him now to stand face-to-face with the undead King of the Kades Desert.

Salty tears burned Evlen’s cheeks as dawn crept over the horizon, and a heavenly fire chased them to the King of Haumida, just as Captain Ishna said.