Eventually the rock ended. Ahead lay only open sand between him and the tower, which looked closer now, though the desert had already taught him not to trust appearances. He tightened the cloth around his thigh until fresh pain shot upward and secured the shell across his back. Then he ran.
At first he heard only his own movement. Then, beneath it, came another sound faint, uneven, like hurried shuffling under a blanket of grit. He turned his head sharply and saw the sand plume behind him. The thing had found him again. Terror sharpened him instantly. He pushed harder, forcing speed from a body that had little left to give. The tower swelled in his vision with every stride, stone edges becoming clearer, its base finally distinct from the dune around it. The sound beneath the sand grew louder, closer, until it no longer felt like pursuit but collision waiting to happen.
He was only a few steps from the tower's hard foundation when the creature struck. It exploded from the sand and hit him across the back with enough force to send him sprawling forward. The impact tore a cry from him as he rolled, grit filling his mouth and eyes, the world spinning. He barely managed to twist aside before the thing dived back beneath the surface and ripped past where his body had been.
He forced himself up, half-running, half-stumbling. It came again, rising in a blur of pale segmented flesh and hooked limbs. This time fear lent him timing. He turned and drove the stolen claw into it with both hands. The resistance was sickeningly solid, followed by a shriek so harsh it seemed to split the air itself. He saw almost nothing beyond a slick shell, a round lamp-like eye, and too many jagged appendages before it vanished beneath the sand once more.
He did not wait to see if it was wounded. He ran the last distance and crashed onto the tower's stone threshold, where hard ground met whatever law protected the structure. The creature circled beyond the edge, carving frantic loops through the sand, but it did not cross. Keynaan collapsed onto his hands and knees, laughing once in disbelief before the sound turned into a ragged cough. Relief and pain mixed so violently that he could not separate them. Then the sky changed.
Heavy clouds gathered with unnatural speed, dark and thick against the unyielding brilliance of the still-visible sun. The creature halted almost at once, as though sensing something worse than him, and fled across the dunes with astonishing speed. A second later rain fell in a sudden sheet, hard and cold, drumming against the hot stone and releasing a sharp mineral scent from the tower's surface. The contrast was so abrupt it made him shiver despite the heat still pouring down around it. Sunlight remained, bright and merciless, even as rain struck his face and ran in muddy tracks through the sand. Keynaan lifted his head slowly, rainwater mixing with sweat and blood on his skin, and stared at the tower gates ahead of him.
Whatever this place was, it had not finished with him.