The dust was the worst part of their journey this far north. It blew in with every breeze that swept across the dry plains, coating everything it touched. At least it wasn't the summer, where the heat would have been near impossible to handle. How grass grew and animals lived here, let alone men and women, Hamond didn't understand. He knew otherwise, since they had seen the farms as they traveled, even if they were fewer in number.

  The signs left by the dust and the sun weren't quite as evident with him, he knew, since his brown skin didn't show it quite as much as his companions. But looking over at Edeline, he could see the dark smudges on her reddened face. He'd see the same if he glanced ahead at any of the others. They'd just wiped down last night with water they'd conjured, for all the good it did. They all needed baths, even though there were none to be found.

  That was thankfully, finally, about to change. Lasfont lay ahead, just a few more hours between them and the town. Relief at last for them. Hamond knew they all wanted it...even if some of them didn't show it.

  Nela, on the other hand, continued to make it very clear what thoughts were on her mind. "How much farther is it?"

  "It'll be after midday," Myronel - or Ronny, as Nela called him - said gently. He was taking the journey well enough, which made sense with his experience in the armies of Hyarch. Of course, Nela had that same experience. It was how the two had met.

  And it was how the two had fallen in love.

  "Shit." Nela stomped ahead, which only served to kick up more dust. Jylania raised an arm to cover her face, coughing lightly. The girl had struggled at first to keep up, but the time spent on the road had toughened Jylania up as well, surprisingly so to Hamond's eyes. Her desire to be Nela's apprentice, to learn the art of the healer, likely outweighed the discomfort of the road's trials.

  Pacing alongside the group, Ugotlas didn't seem any happier than Nela was. It struck Hamond as odd, because surely a sphinx like Ugotlas would have been tolerant of the climate, being from Remuat. It was possible Remuat was different from northern Hyarch though. How, Hamond did not know. That was a fact that bothered him, given he was Remuati himself.

  Learning more about Remuat was one more thing he could do in Lasfont. Which would be on top of aiding Ugotlas and his fellow sphinxes, searching for Dimaera the Sluice, and figuring out if they wanted to continue north to Remuat or head elsewhere. All while the threat of the king of Hyarch sending men after them, just because of who Edeline was, grew.

  No worries at all, Hamond thought sarcastically to himself.

  "All they saw was reduced to dust, forcing men to rely on trust." This marked the third time Edeline recited from that same poem in the past month. The words were meant as much for her as for him, one of the few signs that the journey was getting to her. Edeline's stubbornness often showed as a dislike of sharing her own discomfort.

  "Do you need some water?" Hamond asked, reaching for his bag. With them almost there, there was no reason to be cautious any more about their dwindling supplies.

  "I should be fine," Edeline answered. Doubtful, Hamond went ahead and pulled out a flask of water. After a second's pause, her thirst won out over pride, and Edeline took the offered flask.

  If there was any shade nearby, Hamond would have suggested using it to take a break. But with the land flat and open as it was, there was no sign of such shelter. Not even so much as a solitary farm nearby. They hadn't seen one for days, which only made Hamond question how people survived in this land even further.

  "Is someone coming?" Jylania asked, peering towards the northwest horizon.

  Looking over, Hamond could see it too. Someone, or something, was kicking up a large dust cloud. And from the look of it, they were drawing closer, and quickly. Too quickly to be anyone on foot.

  "Man on a horse," Myronel called out, staring at the approaching figure. Right, that made sense...although who would have known they were out here, and why would someone seek them out?

  They'd have an answer soon enough, as the horseman...wait.

  What...what were they even looking at? It wasn't a horse. But neither was it a man.

  Instead, it was a bizarre combination of the two.

  And it was charging straight at them.

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  "Scatter!" Edeline yelled, sprinting to the side. Hamond followed, rushing to get out of the way of...whatever this creature was.

  The creature galloped past as they all got out of the way, slowing as it circled around. Now that he got a good look at it, it was even stranger. It had the body of a black haired horse, but where its head would be was the upper body of a man. One with wild curly hair and a tangled beard.

  And most disturbing of all, no arms.

  Coming to a stop, the thing, whatever it was, let out a guttural growl, baring teeth at them. It may have the face of a human, Hamond noted, but not the intelligence of one. Little more than a wild animal, and that left them with no other choice but to defend themselves.

  He wasn't the only one to reach that conclusion either. "Dijed inek heka seshep sheser sheser wenen." The glowing rays of Ugotlas's spell converged on the horse creature, all piercing deep into the body of their attacker.

  The creature did not immediately collapse, but instead stumbled backwards for a moment, whining pitifully before finally falling over on its side. Given that he'd seen Ugotlas use that spell to take out entire groups of men in an instant before, Hamond was worried. If there were more creatures around here such as this, and they were all this tough...

  "Aether's blood," Edeline said as she cautiously approached the body, sword in hand. "Is this something that lives in the north?"

  "There are no such beings like this in Remuat," Ugotlas answered. He padded over to the body, idly sniffing the air. "I would have assumed it was something native to your lands, but...there is the scent of strange heka about this. This is not natural, whatever it is."

  "You're saying someone used a spell to create this...thing?" They weren't even in Lasfont yet, and they'd already stumbled onto something nasty. Wonderful.

  "Correct," Ugotlas said.

  "Whoever made him into this, they sure weren't feeding him," Nela pointed out as she walked up, "Don't need to be a healer to tell he was starving." She extended a foot to point at the ribs on the human part, which clearly stood out. The horse part showed the same.

  "Starved of food, starved of mind," Edeline said. Probably quoting from another poem.

  "Well, with something like this, he would have to eat enough for both a horse and half a man," Nela continued, "And there's no telling what he could even eat, since horses prefer grass to meat and stew."

  The lack of arms wouldn't have helped either. Whether or not this creature had once been a man, its existence had to have been miserable. Killing it had been a mercy, one that they definitely ought not show to whoever was responsible. At least, Hamond had no intention of such.

  "So what do we do with it?" Edeline wiped at her face with one hand. "We can't carry the body all the way to Lasfont, either to return it or as proof. And I don't want to waste time burying it."

  "Make a pyre then?" Nela asked.

  "Probably the best idea." Myronel glanced around the area. "We'll need to clear the area first though."

  "Why must you delay this further?" Ugotlas sounded quite irritated. Maybe it was the fatigue speaking, but Hamond found himself agreeing. Getting to the city today was more important than honoring some random dead man, assuming the horse creature that had attacked them had even once been that.

  "It won't take long," Myronel said, glancing at his sister.

  Edeline nodded back. "Be quick," she said.

  Hamond had hoped she would have decided otherwise, even though he knew her well enough to realize what her answer would be. In fairness, they had left more than a few bodies behind them. Some were men who were cruel and deserved nothing but a swift death, while others had been forced into it, by spell and circumstance. No, at least this time they could give some respect to the dead.

  It did little to ease the worries on Hamond's mind, though. A voice inside him wanted to persuade Edeline to give up this journey, to seek happiness and peace outside the kingdom together. Another told him the honest truth, that Edeline would never give up searching for the rest of the Elemental Hex. Another still reminded him of his own past, the guilt of his now-dead father and the Spellking's court that he himself had been part of.

  All he wanted was to keep Edeline and himself safe. A complicated matter, when the time was running out on the king of Hyarch finding out just who Edeline was. The last known living member of the Pelagoin, the old royal family, was a young woman who now stood, dirty and tired, near him. The word of what had happened had to be spreading. It was only a matter of time.

  "Remind me why we didn't get gloves," Nela complained, "This grass is rough. Feels like it could slice my hands open if I'm not careful."

  "Blame Hamond," Myronel answered, pulling up and tossing a handful of plucked plants aside.

  "Do you really think I foresaw this when we were in Kelshir?" Hamond grumbled. True, he had been the one to buy their supplies, but he could hardly have known this would be where they ended up.

  "It was a joke," Myronel said slowly, giving Hamond an irritated glare.

  Hamond realized, too late, he'd sounded harsher than he'd meant to. "Sorry," he said quietly, looking down.

  "We're all tired." Edeline took his hand, giving it a reassuring squeeze. "When we get to Lasfont, we can just find a room, and just rest for what's left of the day."

  "Agreed," Myronel said, continuing to pull up plants.

  "Same," Nela chimed in.

  "Also same," Jylania added. Nela snorted in response.

  A short while later, a roughly cleared circle dirt surrounded the dead body. Myronel and Nela both stepped back, looking down at the horse creature. "You want to ignite it?" Myronel said with a glance at Hamond.

  "Phloxoistos." Hamond wasn't going to hesitate. A fiery missile formed out of the air, then flew forward and down into the flank of the horse part of the creature. It took a moment for the fire to catch, but in no time at all it burned brightly, sending a plume of smoke towards the sky.

  The wind shifted yet again, and the smoke suddenly went into their faces. Coughing, the group retreated out of the way, hands covering their mouths and noses. An odd thought came to Hamond as they moved, that this could be their life now, being forced to keeping moving to stay clear of the fires they had set.

  It was not a comforting thought.

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