It had been a long few weeks.  The desert sands were unyielding, and no matter how far we trekked, it never seemed like we ever got anywhere.  This magical talisman that Ordon had acquired never ceased to point us forward, however; though by now, even the most stalwart of our clan were having their doubts.

Only the lure of riches beyond anything we’d ever imagined kept us going.  Rather foolish of us, now that I look back on it… but I digress.  At the time, it seemed to be the best chance any of us had for a life away from the desert sands. 

We were traders, going from one city to the next, and never making anything more than what was necessarily to go to the next stop.  All of us were tired of the trade, but none had the means or drive to work beyond what we knew.

Until Ordon had found that damnable talisman.  Damn him…

As the sun began its decent into the mountain to the far west, the air temperature finally started to cool to something other than scorching.  Soon enough, camp would break, and we would again find ourselves yet further away from civilization and the life we knew.  Our rations were quickly getting short, and no animals resided this far into the desert.

Water was going to become our main concern shortly enough, though.  Two days ago, three of the water containers had fallen from the camel and smashed against a submerged rock, dashing our hopes of even being able to return the way we came.  We were now walking dead, doomed whichever way we went.  With heavy hearts, we continued to follow Ordon and the amulet’s indirect guiding.

Finally, camp was broken and I slid from my saddle with a sigh.  At my estimate, it’d only be another two days until someone from the camp tried something foolish.  Killing a majority of the group and heading back with what remained of the water seemed like it would be the most obvious result.  It was just a matter of who would do the honors of putting the rest of us out of our misery.

Ordon was still on his camel, and was staring at his damned amulet with a strange look in his eye.  I approached his camel carefully, as the ornery thing was known to nip at whoever wasn’t Ordon.  If you only got bit, you were lucky; the thing’s spit was rank enough to make you wish for soap and perfumes.

“Come on, Ordon.  Better get some sleep while you can, before the eternal sleep finally comes for us.”  For a long minute, he didn’t respond, and I sighed.  “Come on, damn it.  Leave that thing in the sands and at least die with some dignity, would you?”

“Bri…”  Ordon’s voice was hollow, though it was tinged with a hint of excitement.  “Bri, we’re here.”

”What?”  I cocked an eyebrow, and gasped as he turned and met my eyes.  His face was weathered, and had sunk in noticeably from when we’d left Reung weeks ago.  Now that I thought about it, I don’t remember the last time anyone had seen him eat or drink.  “Ordon, you ok?  You don’t look so good.”

He waved me off with a flick of his wrist.  “No.  Bri, you don’t understand.”  He raised his hands, and the amulet caught the last final ray of the setting sun.  The light bathed it in an orange glow that continued even after the sun had disappeared.  A low hum started, and I backed away with caution as Ordon’s eyes grew frenzied.  The rest of the camp turned to us, and shouts of alarm and excitement began to rise from the camp.

Something inside of me, however, didn’t feel right about the whole thing.  With a frown, I drew my scimitar.  “Ordon, give it up.  We’re not going to find that treasure, and only a few of us will ever see civilization again.  You’ve lead us to our doom, mage.  Do you understand that, Ordon?”

“You don’t understand.  Bri, you never understood.  None of you did.”  Ordon’s eyes were wild, and his gaze moved to the camp that was now approaching the two of us.  “Let me show you the treasure, and then you’ll see.”  His voice raised to a feverish, frenetic pitch.  “You will *ALL* see!  And you will all *DIE!*”

He raised the amulet even higher, and began to speak in a tongue I’d never heard before.  The hairs rose up on the back of my neck, and I swung at him with my scimitar, fully expecting the pressure of my sword ripping through him to meet my arm.

The blow never landed.  Ordon was propelled upward, up beyond sand and sword, to a place about forty feet above my curses and attacks.  He hovered there, still shouting out in the strange language that was sending a completely alien feeling down my spine.

Fear.

The wind picked up, sending sand and grit through the air with the ferocity of a knife.  Choking, I fell to a knee, my scimitar falling and burying itself in the sand.  Through the burning tears that streamed down my face, I caught a glimpse of a gigantic hand reach from the sands and crush my fellow nomads, burying them with hardly a sound. 

Ordon continued chanting, ignoring the chaos below him.  The sand moved as if alive, twisting and twirling to the north like an adder…

My blood froze as a head broke from the sand, a head nearly fifty feet in width and attached to a gigantic creature that resembled a cross between a lion and a vulture.  The creature shrieked, and Ordon’s chanting ceased, causing him to tumble to the ground from his magical perch.

Before he could recover, the creature sprang to the air and swooped, snatching him with a claw that could easily hold a dozen camels in its grip.  Before I could blink again, the creature was gone into the night skies, carrying the screaming Ordon along with it.  The amulet dropped from the skies, imbedding itself in the sand before me.  A voice whispered in my ear, so quiet that I might have imagined it,  “He was not worthy…”

For a long moment, I simply stared into the skies, the sole remaining human alive within who knew how many miles of unyielding desert.  Finally, shaken, I got back to my feet and started looking around for any hope of survival.

That is where luck finally shone on me.  Nearly every camel that carried the precious water was alive, and though it took me the better part of a night to round them up, I had enough of a water supply to make it back to Reung.  A few camels died during the trip back, which gave me enough food to survive as well.

I settled into a life in Reung then, content to never see the shifting sands of the desert again.  Though now I have to wonder, as I look through my case that contains everything from my past that I’ve chosen to forget…

As I stare at this amulet that Ordon dropped, I have to wonder… was the treasure real?  At my thought, a glimmer of light begins to shine within the amulet again…