Chariots of the Living Sand
The group halted near a cluster of weathered monoliths, seeking a brief moment of respite from the unrelenting sun. George's mind was in a daze, the searing heat beaming down with a physical weight that made his vision swim. His emerald eyes were bloodshot, tracking the shimmering heat waves that danced across the horizon.
"We'll die of thirst before the monsters ever get a chance to kill us," Arthur rasped, his voice cracked and dry. He leaned heavily against his sword, the regal poise he usually maintained fraying at the edges. George collapsed, dropping onto the scorching sand with a heavy thud. Frustration boiled over, and he pounded the dune with his palm, the grains stinging his skin. "There's nothing out here but dust and bone," he muttered.
Suddenly, a slight rumble vibrated through the ground. Flynn, ever the scout, instantly steadied his feet. He scanned the dunes, his dark eyes narrowing as he looked past the large blocks of stone. Another shake followed—a violent jerk that threw George off balance.
"Guys, something is wrong," Flynn shouted, his hand dropping to the hilt of his daggers.
"Yeah, I'm dying of thirst. That's what's wrong," George muttered, wiping sweat from his brow.
"No, I mean—" Before Flynn could finish, the dune beneath him erupted. A massive Basilisk Scorpion, its exoskeleton the color of rusted iron and sand, burst from the earth, lifting Flynn high into the air on its broad, chitinous back. "Guys, I think we might have disturbed something!" Flynn yelled, gripping the creature's jagged plates to keep from being bucked off.
The desert became a chaotic landscape of shifting earth. Two more scorpions exploded from the spot where George and Arthur had been sitting, followed by another beneath Siri, and three more flanking the perimeter. These were nightmare creatures, their stinger-tails dripping with a corrosive ichor that hissed when it hit the sand.
The Basilisks hissed and frantically scurried, crashing into the ancient stone blocks in a blind rage, trying to shake the intruders from their backs. Siri was launched through the air, her small frame hitting the hard sand with a sickening thud; she lay still, knocked unconscious by the impact. Moments later, George was bucked off, crashing into a dune. He groaned, the world spinning as he pushed himself up, only to see three of the monsters pivoting, their many-faceted eyes locked onto the defenseless Siri.
"Siri!" George roared.
He knew he couldn't reach her in time, so he created a distraction. He launched a rapid-fire volley of Wind Balls, the compressed air whistling as it struck the scorpions' hard carapaces. It did little damage, but it succeeded in enraging them. The beasts turned, hissing in a terrifying unison, and began to chase George through the labyrinth of stones.
George sprinted, his heart hammering. He was barely able to dodge their lunges, the massive claws snapping inches from his heels and shattering the stone pillars he ducked behind. Meanwhile, Arthur and Flynn were still clinging to the backs of the other scorpions, hacking at the shells, but their weapons merely sparked against the obsidian-hard armor.
"Your really persistent arent you!" Arthur yelled, parrying a stinger that arched over the creature's head.
Flynn, watching the beast's movements, noticed a flicker of movement. He lunged forward, driving his dagger deep into the creature's bulbous, shimmering eye. The scorpion let out a high-pitched shriek, thrashing wildly and smashing into a stone monolith.
"The eyes!" Flynn bellowed over the roar of the wind and sand. "It's the only area that can be penetrated! Target the eyes!"
George didn't need to be told twice. He launched himself into the air, using a localized updraft to hover momentarily before landing hard on the back of the lead scorpion. He channeled a massive amount of aura into his palms. "Wind Bomb!" he cried, slamming two concentrated spheres of air directly into the monster's ocular cluster. The explosion sent the creature into a blind frenzy. It began to scurry in erratic patterns, no longer attacking but simply trying to escape the pain.
"Quick, George! Grab Siri! I have an idea!" Arthur yelled from atop his own mount.
George rushed over, scooping Siri's light form into his arms. "What now Arthur?"
"Jump onto this one!" Arthur pointed to the scorpion he was currently riding.
They all scrambled onto the back of Arthur's beast. As the others braced themselves, Arthur gripped the long, sensitive antennae at the front of the creature's head. "I noticed that every time I pull these, it reacts. This one moves it left... this one moves it right!"
He jerked the left antenna, and the massive predator pivoted sharply, its legs churning the sand as it stabilized. Arthur looked at George, a determined glint in his blue eyes. "Which way, George? Where is the signal?"
George pulled out the tele-stone, the needle glowing with a frantic, emerald light. He pointed toward the horizon, past the shimmering heat and the shifting dunes. "That way! Toward Kayn and Nana!"
"Hold on!" Arthur commanded. With the Prince at the helm, the group began their ride across the desert, the giant Basilisk Scorpion transformed from a predator into a living chariot, racing toward a reunion that couldn't come soon enough.