"Get up!"

Kaden's weary mind was lost in a fog. He believed the angry words were part of a delirious dream. One brought on from exhaustion after a night of passionate lovemaking had finished and he had drifted off to sleep in the wee hours of the morning. Until, that was, they came again, and angrier.

"I said," his wife ordered, "get up!" She added a kick to his ribs for good measure.

Ribs that were still a little tender, even with the elixirs he'd found in the tombs and that had accelerated his healing.

"Ow!" Kaden's pained protest was like the blast from the Rage Bomb they had set off against the demons in Ison's Upper Ring.

He jumped up, naked, while his rock hard penis stood at the strictest of attention. Had he realized before doing so that Sava Warrioress Ina was also present, he'd have definitely considered covering it before exposing himself in front of her.

The woman in her blue silk armor cocked her head slightly and regarded what she was now laying eyes on. "You definitely weren't exaggerating," she said. "He is perhaps the most impressive male specimen I have ever seen. From the waste down, at least."

For a second, Kaden didn't realize what she was referring to, and then did. He hastily grabbed a pillow and covered himself as he blushed.

"And so modest," Ina continued her social commentary. "Definitely not the sort of man we're used to around here. Any of the Savan Devotee's here who had a weapon like that at their disposal would be parading it around in the streets and making sure every woman in the camp knew about it."

"Uh," Kaden stammered to reply. "Can I help the two of you ladies?"

Lyla folded her hand less arms, her new weapons hanging at her side to be ready in a moments notice. "You've already helped me, and I wish I could do the same for you, but—"

"But what?" Kaden picked up on the depressed tone present in his wife's voice.

Ina cleared her throat. "You are not a Savan Devotee, Kaden, Son of Orl, former Karo Shar of the prince of Ison."

"Obviously."

"As such, you cannot remain among us," she explained. "You shouldn't even be married to this woman, according to our customs. I understand that when such occurred, you were living under the rules of men. But here, those rules don't apply."

"Ok." Kaden continued holding the pillow in front of him as though it were a shield. Pressing so hard that he nearly hurt himself while trying to calm down his raging manhood.

"You need to take the Trials," his wife said plainly. "Only then, in the eyes of my people, can we be rightfully married. And share a bed, and each other."

Kaden hemmed and hawed his response. "Right, so—like a test?"

"Yes. definitely a test."

His eyes reflected a bit of his concern over what this 'test' entailed. "I don't have to fight you again, do I?"

His wife smiled at the suggestion. "No."

"Good. Because I think you'd whip my ass."

"I always have."

Ina broke in to the banter between them, "If the two of you are finished? Sava Warrioress Lyla, the man needs to prepare. He can do it naked if he wants, he could probably beat his opponents to death with his penis, I'm sure. But most usually prefer to be clothed."

"Ok, so what do I have to do?" Kaden asked.

"First, you must spend a night alone out in the sands of Ieron."

"Yes, the Barrens. If you recall, I've already done that," Kaden bragged.

"Not like this, you haven't," the woman in blue chided him. "You can have your armor, but you don't get to take your weapon."

"Hmm. Uh, what about the Black Rohs?" Kaden asked without his sarcasm being masked.

"That's," his wife explained, "what makes it a 'Trial'."

"Ok," Kaden said, unconvinced that such was a good idea. But he couldn't find anything else to say beyond that.

"Look, Kaden, do you want to be married to me? Or not?" Lyla's tone bit hard, and her questioning doubt of him and his professed love was obvious.

"Well, yeah."

"Then you have to do this. Just like I did. Just like every other warrior in this camp did."

"Ok, ok. Fine. I guess I'll figure it out. I'm good at that." Kaden grabbed for his urk, and wrapped it around his waist to replace the pillow. "I assume that since it's called the 'Trials' there's at least one other part to the insanity?"

"Yes. There's three parts, actually," his wife explained.

"And what are the other two?"

"Worry about them once you pass the first trial."

***

As night was preparing to descend with the setting of the suns, Lyla helped Kaden into his newly found armor as best as she could without hands of her own. They were miles from the main encampment.

"I'd feel better about this, if I had some essence," Kaden groaned. "And a weapon."

"You'll do fine," Lyla snapped. "You're not getting any essence. Just trust yourself."

The pair stood on a dune overlooking an unlit torch planted in the sands below them. Sava Warrioress Ina accompanied them and provided witness that Kaden was being left as the Trials prescribed.

"You are not," Ina reminded him, "to leave this vicinity. No more than one hundred paces from that torch. Here." She tossed a flint and steel for Kaden to catch.

Which he did. "Well, I guess I should be thankful that I at least get something to light the torch with. I'll at least have the light to protect me."

Lyla and Ina both frowned simultaneously. As though they'd sucked on something very sour.

"What?" Kaden asked.

"You can do such, if you like," his wife said with a bit of distaste upon her tone. "But the number of Black Rohs you kill will help determine your standing within our society."

"Yeah, well, without a weapon—"

"You need to stop worrying about that." The snap behind his wife's words was getting harsher, to the point of annoyance. "Find a way to be my husband by showing that you are worthy."

Kaden cinched the buckles of his breastplate and conceded. "Fine. Fine. I kill a couple Black Rohs. Somehow. Maybe I'll find a smaller one, beat it to death, and use it as a hammer to batter the larger ones."

"Is he always this sarcastic?" Ina asked.

"Please do better than that, Kaden." Now Lyla's tone was just a resigned annoyance at his response.

Kaden turned to her and tried to draw her close for a public display of affection before heading off. But his wife pushed him away.

"Not now," she rejected him. "After you've completed the Trials. As always," she grinned, "I promise to make it worth your while."

"The things I do for love," Kaden sighed.

"And the things you'll keep doing for love. If you know what's good for you. We'll see you when we return in the morning."

Lyla and Ina took their leave, and left Kaden to ponder the torch that would be his only company this evening.

"I'll be here!" He called after the two women as they left. "Just waiting for you!"

***

Alone, and the sky darkening out upon the Barren Sands, Kaden pondered what was to come in the ensuing hours. He could already swear he felt the sand quaking from stirring Black Rohs beneath it. And that he could hear their hungry chittering.

He patted at the torch that would be his only companion for the night. "Guess it's just you and me, buddy." With darkness consuming the land and several Black Rohs appearing on the top of the surrounding dunes, Kaden struck his flint and lit it.

The torched roared to life, casting the area around him into a day-like light. All while a horde of Black Rohs stormed down the dunes towards him when the last hint of day faded. They stopped at the very edge of the light.

One particularly large specimen tested the invisible barrier more than once and thought better of entering the light each time. Kaden watched and studied his would-be tormentors, daring to approach the edge of the circle of light himself. There he stood, face to face with that incredibly onerous desert spider. Closer than any sane person would dare to approach.

The two stared at each other for what could have been several hours. But, in reality, it probably wasn't quite so long. Kaden looked at himself in the reflection of those black eyes while the giant mandibles flexed impatiently and hungrily.

As the standoff went on, Kaden noticed the monster took a small step closer. At first, he thought nothing of it. Until it happened again.

Kaden looked at his feet. He hadn't moved, but the edge of the light was closer, and he watched it creeping closer still. Or so he thought.

To confirm, Kaden took two steps back. And shortly thereafter, the spider hungrily advanced again.

Kaden spun about and observed the torch that was slowly and noticeably dimming. It wouldn't last the entire night, and Kaden realized it had been designed that way.

He hurried back to the torch itself, spinning around and around and counting the plethora of man-eaters slowly collapsing on him. All the cursing in the world would do no good, Kaden knew, so he engaged his mind to find a more practical solution.

It was difficult with his thoughts starting to roam into panic over the situation he found himself in. What he needed, he firmly believed, was a weapon. Something he desperately did not have.

Kaden's mind kept telling him he was doomed. Kaden, in defiance, kept reminding his thoughts that death was not an option and to try harder.

Slowly, the Black Rohs continued to advance as the torch continued to dim. Time and again, Kaden's mind kept coming to the same conclusion; that he was going to die.

Knowing that relying on his brain and meticulous thoughts wasn't going to save him, Kaden decided to embrace his warrior spirit. He braced, weaponless, and waited, determined to fight with his bare hands if need be.

With the circle of light almost gone, and the Black Rohs clamoring to devour him, Kaden backed up until his back was against the torch. He spun and looked at it. It was all he had, and it was almost out.

Then, with no other options, he realized, it was all he had—and it would have to do.

The final flames flickering, Kaden ripped the torch from the still warm desert sand. The unburnt end that had been thrust into the sands was pointed and sharp—something he could definitely use. It was heavier and not as well balanced as his Rohs Fang, but Kaden employed it to unleash the Abyss upon his inhuman tormentors.

Kaden skewered the largest one, the one he had stared down, straight through its maw just as it lunged for him. The creature squealed and died while spraying green blood that seemed black in the now pitch darkness.

Barely able to see, only the stars in the clear desert sky gave Kaden any light at all. His eyes needed time to adjust, but his body fought using all its senses other than sight to find and destroy his enemies in the meantime.

He wasn't perfect. Every so often, before he got the complete hang of his new weapon, one of the carnivorous spiders would clip his flesh with one of its pointed talons at the end of its legs. Kaden fought on, surviving, ignoring the minor inconveniences.

Spider after spider died, and the slaughter became worse as Kaden's eyes started to work better once they adjusted to the night. More Black Rohs would arrive, like a river of blackness. And Kaden swam through it, upstream with the desperation of a man who would drown if he didn't.

In the end, it wasn't even daybreak when the last of the creatures fell before Kaden. And he was surprised there weren't more. But surveying the carnage he'd wrought, Kaden realized he'd slaughter at least three full dens of the monsters.

Triumphant, he planted the torch back into the sand and sat against it. Folding his arms, he waited patiently for the suns to rise.

***

With the coming of morning, the desert began to bake. The blood from the Black Rohs was dried and hardened like a green crust on his skin, hiding most of his own wounds which had stopped bleeding, but still throbbed. And on cue, his wife and Sava Warrioress Ina crested a nearby dune.

Kaden was in a foul mood. He fumed silently as the two women descended to his location. They were talking about something, but what he couldn't tell.

Ina angrily slammed several shiny round bits into Lyla's gasp as his wife laughed heartily. "I told you!" she announced as they came within range of Kaden's hearing. "I told you," she repeated.

Ina looked sour.

"You bet on me too?" Kaden grumbled.

"Of course! I bet on my husband to survive the first of the Trials. What kind of wife would I be if I didn't?"

Kaden glanced at Ina.

She shrugged. "Someone had to take the other side of that bet," she said almost apologetically.

"Sorry to disappoint you," Kaden stood.

"You didn't disappoint," Sava Warrioress Ina explained. "We don't enjoy seeing our people fail the Trials. Failure means fewer warriors."

Kaden ripped his torch from the sand.

"You figured it out?" his wife asked. "You didn't actually think we'd leave you out here alone without a weapon against the Black Rohs?"

"Oh, for a while I did." Kaden twirled the crude staff. "But it took realizing the light wouldn't last the night to force me to come up with a solution."

"We're warriors, Kaden. Not barbarians."

Kaden planted the improvised weapon once more in the sand. "So I take it I passed?"

"Passed?" His wife surveyed the myriads of corpses; a sea of dead spiders. "You not only passed, but I dare say, you may be in the top ten of kills all time. Sava Warrioress Ina? I want an official count made and the results properly recorded."

"Yes," the warrioress in blue bowed. "As you wish Sava Warrioress Lyla."

While Ina took to the assigned task, Lyla ushered her husband back towards town with her handless arms.

Raising an eyebrow as they walked, Kaden asked of her, "Did I beat you? With the number of spiders, I mean."

Lyla glanced over her shoulder. "No. No. I don't think so. But I'll admit, you may have come close."