Free D & D - Red Sands by Paul B. Thompson, Tonya R. Carter

down the dune, he bowled over Tamakh. The two tumbled face-over-fundament past Marix, past Jadira, down the slope until they smacked bottom and came to rest in a spray of dust.
    Marix jumped off the horse. Uramettu and Jadira skidded down the dune to help their fallen comrades. Nabul, as usual, had ended up underneath Tamakh. The portly cleric had his head buried in the sand like an ostrich. Nabul's feet gyrated wildly beneath him.
    Uramettu lifted Tamakh off. He rubbed his eyes and spat sand while Uramettu tried to dust him off with his own scalp lock. Jadira dropped on her knees by the half-buried Nabul and dug. The thief popped out like a rat from a hot hole.
    "Father of pig-eating dogs!" he cried. "I've had more than I can bear. Do you hear me, you Thirty Gods? More than I can bear!"
    "Calm yourself, Master Thief. You've gained no lasting hurt," said Jadira.
    "No lasting—! You may love breathing sand, you desert wench, but Nabul gan Zeliriya does not! I'm going back! Nothing the soldiers do to me could be as bad as this!"
    "You can't go back to the city. You would be killed on sight."
    "Maybe I wasn't identified. Have you ever considered that, clever woman? And even if I were captured, I'd explain what happened—"
    "Of course you will. I hear the grand vizier is a very sympathetic fellow," Tamakh said.
    Nabul smote the dirt with his fists. "It's not just! Why did the god of thieves steer you across my path? I never asked for much from life: a cup of wine, a bowl of dates, a fat merchant to pluck now and then. . . . What evil curse brought us together?"
    "Who can know the minds of the gods?" said
    Tamakh. "It remains for us mortals to accept our fate and live our lives within the patterns set for us. To contemplate otherwise is to court madness."
    "The Holy One speaks wisely, though I would add that tyranny is not to be borne. The whole man is one who is free," said Jadira.
    "Don't forget duty and honor," put in Marix.
    Nabul scratched sand from his patchy beard. "You're all mad," he said. "Your mad beliefs will be the death of us all."
    Jadira offered the thief her hand. Nabul glared at it. "Take it," she said. "Take it and go on with us to Julli. Once there, if you can find a caravan to Rehajid or Zimora, then part in peace."
    His mouth was too dry to spit. The practical Nabul grasped her hand.
    As Jadira promised, night in the deep desert grew colder with each passing hour. As stars thickened to a dense canopy overhead, Tamakh took a reading of their position. He lay flat on his back, aligning his feet to the north star. That way he was able to tell which way was north-by-west.
    Jadira rested her head on her knees. She drew the trailing part of her robe close around her legs and shivered. Next thing she knew, Marix sat down beside her, draping his Faziri cloak around her shoulders.
    "No," she said. "\ou need this yourself."
    Through blue lips he bluffed, "I am used to chill. In Dosen we have snow for six turnings of the moon each year." He shivered and feigned a chuckle to cover it.
    "What is snow?"
    "Snow is, uh, very cold rain. So cold it is white and solid."
    "You sport with me. Water is not solid."
    Marix put a hand on his heart. "By my ancestors, I swear I speak the truth."
    A sharp breeze whisked the cloak from Jadira's shoulders. He replaced it, letting his arm linger across her back. While Tamakh explained the desert sky to Uramettu and Nabul stamped his feet to keep them warm, Jadira leaned her head on Marix's shoulder and drifted off to sleep.
    The thief roused her a short time later. "The priest says we should go."
    Marix yawned. "Is there any water?" he asked.
    "Not a single drop. And the horse is making odd sounds."
    The horse was standing with its knees together. Dry grunts puffed out its open mouth. Jadira lifted the beast's head and pried its teeth apart.
    "This is not good; the tongue is swollen. If we don't find water soon, the horse will die," she said.
    Marix cajoled everyone into line again. In