Chapter Three

The caravan wagons were all loaded when they arrived. The woman was there promptly at sunrise, and quietly climbed aboard Atocs' wagon. It was all he could do to not fall out of his seat, for the first time since Lothario had met him, the seventh son of Amic the Honest was rendered speechless. Farceur admired the woman's form and took humor in Atoc's reaction. He'd have three days to get to know her better, something about veils, the mystery...

Lothario tethered his mule to the rear of the lead wagon and climbed in. All was just as he had instructed Amic, the bench seat well padded and clearly more than enough provisions were stocked to get to Al Karj. Jusserand spurred his mount and led the caravan down the street towards the eastern edge of town.

Already peddlers were setting up their wares, and the streets were rapidly coming to life. Children running, taking pleasure in tormenting one nervous peddler by running too close to his merchandise. For a brief second, Lothario saw something familiar about one of the boys, shrugged and filed a mental note to be analyzed later. By the time they cleared the city gate, Sigonela was fully awake.

The city of Sigonela was a unique border city. It was nestled in a series of small mountains, to the east was the vast desert. To the west, scattered forest and the great northern plains. The road was a marvel, intricately laced brick work led eastward from the city.

The sun quickly climbed the sky and the youngest of the knights thought that surely they would die. Following Eristic's lead they dismounted and covered themselves in white linen. Before they climbed back upon their horses they finished removing their armor and stowed it in the rear wagon. Farceur smiled at the woman as he made a point of passing by her wagon.

"Wish I had robes like yours to keep me cool." The look in her eyes sent a shiver up his spine "oh yeah, would love getting into those robes."

By mid afternoon the heat was becoming too much on the youthful knights and Jusserand ordered the halt. They would rest in the shade of the wagons until nightfall and travel in the darkness. Lothario climbed down from his bench and walked to the back of his wagon. There he found and tapped the water keg and took a drink to Jo~well. "Drink slowly or it will do more harm than good" Returning to the wagon he rummaged around some more and came back with 5 very oversized wineskins. "Drink from these, slowly and through out the course of the day. It will help with the heat sickness."

Indeed Jerimiah and Jo~well didn't appear to be taking the heat very well. They rested the remainder of the day and set out at sunset. Jerimiah felt much better but Jo~well was unable to get onto his horse. Jusserand led him to the center wagon and helped him up into it.

"He has a bad fever and has stopped sweating, M'lady please look after him."

A silent nod was all the reply he received. Farceur almost let loose with a comment but quickly thought the better of it, the captain was in no mood to joke with a man so ill.

They traveled hard through the night and again the sun rose up before them. They stopped briefly to refill their waterskins and eat a light breakfast, and then they were off again. Jo~well seemed much better and was able to keep some food down. Able to control himself no longer, Farceur rode up to Jusserand. "Captain, I feel sooo sick, can I go rest in the wagon?"

"That�s not right Farc, I wasn't faking."

A dried fruit barely missing his smiling face. He wasn't nearly so lucky in dodging the second. Everyone began laughing and they continued on for the remainder of the morning. They set up camp and erected some linen for additional shade.

"Normally we would make much better time but with the loss of most of our animals, these poor oxen can only do so much." Atoc added "We should reach the oasis by early tomorrow morning at this rate. After that, we face the dragons. I pray we can outrun them. Only I and Eskan have managed that, and he failed on the return trip."

The weary travelers slept through the heat of the day, with Eris, Farceur and Jusserand taking turns on watch. Eris could be heard complaining throughout his entire watch, Jusserand relieved him early just to be done with the constant droning. Where as the day was bright and stung his eyes, he kept them closed and listened and smelled. One could call upon the other senses when faced with obstacles, and it was always best not to trust just one sense anyway. Vision had been proven faulty in the desert, an apparent lake always off in the distance. What had Lothario called it? A mirage? He had tried to explain it to Jerimiah, but the youth chose to believe it to be a magical illusion cast by the red dragons just to torment them. Jusserand wasn't certain which was true but none the less used his other senses to verify what his eyes told him. That had helped him to ignore illusions in the past and would do so again, whether it was magical or as Lothario claimed "a naturally occurring phenomenon" He could hear no birds, and smelled no plants, so he determined the blue ripples on the horizon were merely an illusion.

A remarkable transformation began to take place, slowly the overpowering brightness of the sky faded. As the sun began it's decent; clouds became visible on the horizon. The golden rays of the sun slicing through them and painting the sky with vivid shades of almost every imaginable color. The shimmering sky enthralled Jusserand, never had he seen such a sunset as this. His mind wandered to the woman and a smile crossed his lips as he realized the inspiration for her attire. She had captured the setting sun and wore it with all of its glory. Almost as soon as it began, it was over. The sun gone, the stars began to light the sky and the moon began it ascent. The heat quickly dropping off, it was time to wake the others and be on their way.

The moon nearly full, travel was easy and they indeed made the oasis before morning. They quickly set about raising the sunshades. Atoc and his servant took the animals to the water and then fed them. The care they showed the oxen and horses rivaled that of the most devoted of mothers to her children. The oasis was in a bowl shaped depression, the water fed by a deep cool spring. Tall slender trees surrounded the water, providing a break in the wind and a place to tie the sunshades to provide more shelter. The scattered remnants of previous caravans dotting the landscape. As the sun rose, Lothario noted the peaceful silence of the oasis.

"They will attack us here, they have been here."

"I don�t see any tracks, no scorch marks. How can you be sure?"

"There are no animals around the water, the only reason life would stay away from water in the desert is death. And as there are no carcasses around the water, it has not been poisoned. So the threat comes from the sky. There to the east, that high mesa would be their lair. It overlooks the road, the oasis and Al Karj. They will come from there and at the hottest part of the day."