The next day Raymond and his party moved with a sense of purpose. After the events of the day before they remained focused and on guard.
They didn't want to be surprised like that again.
Raymond managed to keep a cloud in front of the sun for a while, but it wasn't long before the heat and dry air asserted their dominance.
Once the cloud was cooked away, Raymond decided it was a good time for a water break.
While he conjured a shade wall, Alecia took upon herself to scout ahead and try to locate their destination.
She took to the air, flapping until she found a nice updraft to carry her higher.
She climbed higher and higher until her friends were just specs in the sand.
Far in the distance, near the limit of her vision, she saw it.
A mile wide patch of green and blue. An oasis in the vast desert. Beautiful and inviting.
Her heart leapt, then fell.
In between there and them were roving troops of large scorpions, each led by massive Scorpionkin. A race she thought long extinct.
She cursed under her breath and made her way back to the ground, gliding in wide circles then landing gracefully on Raymond's shade wall.
"Well family, I have good news, and I have bad news."
Everyone groaned in anticipation, knowing whatever she was about to tell them was going to suck.
Alecia giggled, tickled by their exaggerated reactions. "The good news is, there is an oasis about a day's journey away. It looks beautiful from here."
Before they could get too happy she continued. "The bad news is, there are roving bands of scorpions between here and there, and they have Scorpionkin with them."
"What?" Nikki and Una said together, glancing at each other.
"Scorpionkin were supposed to have been wiped out ages ago!" Nikki exclaimed in disbelief.
"Oh no they were not!" Una said with an edge of panic in her voice. "There are tribes of them all over this dessert. They usually live in caves or underground. No idea why they would be walking around the surface today."
"Are they hostile?" Raymond asked.
"Very!" Nikki and Una replied together again
"Everything that is not a part of their tribe in a threat" Una said
"They don't talk, they don't negotiate, they just attack."
"They are vicious, deadly, and unrelenting"
"They're little more that beast, all they know is eat, beat, breed"
"We had to fight them many times in our travels, each time we barely made it out with our lives."
"King Gabriel tried to reach out one time. Instead of sending envoys they sent a kill squad, they almost wiped out the Goatkin settlement."
Alecia shuddered. "Ugh, just like the harpies."
Raymond looked at her, that was a conversation for later.
"What are their weaknesses?"
Una stood. "Their skin is like armor, blunt attacks have no effect, neither does earth or water magic. Fire does damage, but not much. Piercing attacks work best. It is actually best to avoid them."
Nikki nodded. They're deceptively fast and really strong. Most don't carry weapons, their tails are poisonous and their pincers can cut through metal. I'd fight from a distance if possible."
Raymond looked at Alecia. "Is there a way around them?"
She shook her head. "They're spread out into troops, moving and staggered, like they are looking for something. Either we'd run into them or they would run into us."
Raymond sighed and sat back against the wall, thinking. He looked up at the sun, it was just past mid-day.
He stared off in the direction they were going. He didn't want to fight so many enemies at once.
Flying was a no go, a magic flight would only take them so far, and landing in the middle of an army was stupid.
Their best bet might be to wait for night, and hope to catch them sleeping. It was risky, and a single mistake could mean their end, but it might work.
He posed the question to the group.
"Ok, the way I see it, we have two options. We can try to fight them head on, or we can try to sneak by them in the night. What do you think?"
"There's a lot of them, I don't like being sneaky, but that's probably our best bet." Alecia answered.
"I'm with her,"Samantha said. "I don't know if I can deal with another big battle so soon."
"They don't sleep. We might as well fight." Una said, startling everyone.
"We should wait for night." Nikki said Alecia can fly over and guide us, while Ray and I can carry Una and Sammie through Shadow steps."
Ray slapped his forehead and groaned out loud. "Oh! Why didn't I think of that! That's perfect."
Nikki winked. "That's why you have us, so we can think of the stuff you can't. All you need to do is hit hard and look pretty."
That caused all the ladies to giggle, while Ray just rolled his eyes and chuckled. "Really? I thought looking pretty was your job."
Nikki shrugged one shoulder and tossed her hair. "It could be, I definitely do it better. But someone has to do the thinking." She giggled
Ray couldn't help but laugh along with everyone else. "Ok, ok," he said, "let's set up camp and try to get some rest. We'll move once it gets dark."
As night fell over the desert, a squad of demons came up on a strange landmark.
Their leader, a tall, muscular, winged feminine demon, walked up to the odd phenomenon, squatted and pressed her clawed hand against its surface.
It was glass. A massive bowl of charred glass in the middle of the desert.
She sniffed the air. It still smelled of ozone and burnt flesh.
"What in the world did this?" she wondered out loud.
"Mistress Khalifa!" another, shorter, masculine Demon called out from a short distance away. "Look, another of those strange rock walls!"
"Keep your voice down, you twit!" Khalifa hissed back. "Have you never been hunting before? Do you want the whole desert to know we're here?"
The short Demon lowered his head, and his voice. "Apologies Mistress, but it seems we are still on the right track."
Khalifa nodded, still annoyed. "Thank you captain obvious. Do you have any more brilliant insights to share?"
He opened his mouth, then thought better and shut it again. "No, Mistress."
Just then another Demon spoke up. This one was older and taller than Khalifa, his physique was no less impressive.
"Mistress, over here, you'll want to see this." His voice was calm and even, showing no sign of emotion. He was the only one in the squad of five Khalifa respected.
She stood and sauntered over to the older Demon. "What is it, Maleek?"
Malikai knelt and pointed to an nondescript length of flesh, charred at one end, floating in a small pit full of vomit.
Khalifa tilted her head, studying it. "It looks like a bit of a tail."
Maleek nodded. "Indeed, Mistress, but I believe it is an end of a tentacle."
Khalifa narrowed her eyes and squatted beside her right hand man. "What makes you say that?"
He hooked his clawed thumb over his shoulder. "In that trench over there is an oily substance that smells a lot like burned sandworm."
Khalifa's eyes went wide as the pieces fell together. "You don't think…?"
Maleek nodded gravely. "I think our prey is much more powerful than we were led to believe."