Edited: Apr, 26, 2020

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It was a long walk across the rising and falling hilly dunes. Orange sand stretched everywhere she looked. There was not an end to it. The First Ring certainly lived up to its nicknames. It was also called the 'Dry Ring' or the 'Wasteland Ring' because most of it was desert. Rainfall was short during the month of June and summer was three months too long.

A hot breeze slapped sand in their faces. Pinti turned her head away as they stood their ground while the wind grew stronger and buffeted around them, pushing, pulling, or trying to put them off balance. Behind, their paw prints dotted the large swaths of sand but were soon covered up again as if to confuse them about which way they came.

Her mouth was parched, her eyes were dry, and the heat was burning the skin under the layers of her fur. Sticking her tongue out to cool down made her thirst worse and Pinti tried to hold back the instinctive urge to pant. She could hear Kalis' heavy breathing and Vaiter's short gasps. The desert itself was so quiet apart from the occasional sound of the wind whipping across the dunes, scattering sand to new places. When she sniffed the air, there was the familiar scent of fowl. In the piercing blue sky, three vultures flew around in wide circles.

"I'm so famished I could eat one of those vultures." As Kalis mumbled, Pinti smelled the growing sourness on Vaiter's breath, telling her the poison was taking over his body. She could feel the strength in his arms were weakening and she had to adjust him so he wouldn't fall. When he coughed, blood splat on the sand in front of them and mixed with spit as it dribbled down his chin.

Vinyan City wasn't getting any closer—still a blur that wavered in the rising heat. The vultures squabbled above them, ready to feast when they were ready to give up. Vaiter started to cough again and this time he felt into the sand before Pinti or Kalis could catch him. He lay over on his back and closed his eyes when the sunlight hit him.

"Can't go on." His breath wreaked of sickness and poison. Pinti could already tell it was nearing too late, but still she scanned the desert horizon for any pocket of civilization. She knew the Desert Isles—as the vast deserts were called collectively—were full of domed civilizations of small oasis towns like Yargrelid or Nuaka. It was just a matter of finding them.

And in time. Pinti looked over her shoulder. They had not traveled as far as she thought. Yargrelid was still quite visible down to the details of its little rusted sign. Beyond that was Nuaka. Hope rose in her chest when she realized they could still go back and if they hurried maybe Vaiter could still make it.

"Pinti," Kalis snapped, "what are you doing? Resting? Get him up."

"Just leave me." Vaiter moaned. "I'm dying. I won't make it."

"Feigat! I hate your guts but I'm not leaving you!" Kalis spat and reached to grab Vaiter as he weakly protested. "Pick him up." Kalis ordered and Pinti bent down to get his other arm when a faraway sound caught her ears.

There was a soft thrum of hooves on sand. Stretched shadows of caravans on horseback were coming over a small sand dune. The Humans atop wore long fabrics with stitched-on sleeves and had strikingly dark faces. The caravan of ten or so had an array of knives and other sharp weapons strapped around their belts. Sniffing, Pinti found fresh blood on them—the blood of other Humans.

The male Human leading in front held up his hand to halt the entire party.

"What do we have here?" His nasally voice clung to her ears like slime and he chuckled as he hopped off his horse making the stirrups jingle. She could hear his rotating spurs clinking as he walked.

"Rare specimen blue kitties would make us some good dough, eh boys?" said the leading male. The hood of his cloak was hiding his face, but every time a slight breeze carried his scent, she could tell there was something different about him that turned on her flight instincts. Something was very wrong here.

As she tried to find what was off about him, he threw off the hood of his cloak to reveal a sewn-shut eye while the other was milk white. Now she could smell a faint thyme and feel a power coming off of him in waves. This was not just any Human bandit. He was of the Sorcerer race using his magick to see.

"Three blue kitties to add to my circus," he said. "Hm." He narrowed his eyes. "We have a rotted one." He pointed to Vaiter who was struggling to get away despite having told Pinti and Kalis to leave him behind. Wheezing, Vaiter pulled himself across the sand.

"Vaiter," Kalis hissed, "what are you doing?"

"Leave me to die! Take them, they're more healthy!" He shouted in Universal and slowly made his getaway.

The Sorcerer chuckled and muttered something under his breath. Immediately Vaiter was on fire, yowling and growling as the flames devoured him. Pinti flattened her ears against her head to block out his screaming. Kalis gave a war cry and launched herself at the Sorcerer, claws unsheathed. The Sorcerer brandished a whip and it whistled through the air, snagging Kalis' wrist.

"Feigat!" She bared her fangs and tried to bite him, but in quick succession the other bandits tied her up, throwing rope around her body to bind her. Pinti, all the while, stood still with her heart pounding. Vaiter's screams had long died out. At once, the nauseating scent of scorched fur, flesh, and fresh blood pierced her nose.

"Get the other one, boys," the Sorcerer said as he pulled the whip around Kalis tighter making her mewl.

"Pinti," Kalis hissed. "What are you doing, feigat, help me!" she whined. But Pinti knew she wouldn't stand a chance. There was no way she could fight against all the bandits and free Kalis.

Do I want to free Kalis? The thought that jumped in her mind shocked her. Would she leave her mentor who was kind enough to show Pinti the ways of a Shamala, who helped her make her Lunar marking glow, and helped her survive when she had no one else?

Kalis mewled and the bandit kicked her. "Stop mewling! Get the other one!"

The bandits took a few steps near. Pinti glanced in the direction of Nuaka. She knew if she ran, she could outrun them. Besides, Nuaka was her last chance to answer to her father's wishes. The Scepter of Tamido might not be just a tale. The two Humans could have been telling the truth.

Once in a hundred years, one wish, right? She recalled their conversation and took a few steps back. Kalis hissed and glowered at her.

"If you run after a fairy tale, Pinti, I will hunt you down and kill you!" Kalis growled, her tone of voice convincing. But helping Kalis would forever hinder her chance of ever finding the scepter. She had already spent too long caged and sold for entertainment. It was only a matter of time before someone wanted to kill her for her fur. She couldn't take that risk. She didn't want to fail her father again.

She whipped away, dashing across the sand in the direction of Nuaka. Kalis called after her, but her voice was soon muffled. Pinti didn't have time to stop and look back as the bandits were after her now. The sound of whips slapping against the sand made her heart race and old whip scars on her back stung. Adrenaline was pumping in her veins. Pushing herself forward, she climbed up the nearest dune frantically with unsheathed claws and slid down through the sand on the other side.

Once at the bottom, she scrambled to resume running. Panting heavily and shielding her face with her arm as wind blew sand in her face, Pinti kept running. Slipping and sliding across the desert, never stopping, always listening and sensing. What could she hear? What could she smell?

Her legs ached from running across uneven land. A headache pierced her, and she gritted her teeth as it pounded pain in the back of her head. Her chest tightened and when a large sand dune loomed before her, her legs buckled under her and she fell into the dust. Fear made her scramble to get up on shaky, wobbling legs. Weak arms shivered from exhaustion and her mouth was so dry she felt faint.

Still, she climbed the dune and half fell, half slid down the other side, but kept going. By now, Pinti was running aimlessly with the only purpose to get far away from the bandits and hope they would give up chase.

Tripping on her feet, she rolled down the side of the sand dune. Yowling in frustration for nothing to grab onto, Pinti landed upside down and sand slid into her ears.

"Heizak!" She choked and coughed, spitting out sand, flicking her ears and shaking her head. The sun beat down on her. Although it wasn't high noon anymore, the sun still scorched her fur and burned her skin. As she lay there, chest heaving, panting, and catching her breath in short gasps, the sky darkened. Soon, evening dropped the sun and night came to the Desert Isles.

The air instantly cooled making her shiver, but still she was glad the Desert Isles had skewed time zones to allow for nighttime to come quicker. Now her blue would be concealed in the dark and hide her from the hunter's eyes of bandits. When she staggered to her feet, two crescent moons came out from behind the horizon and in minutes, they rose overhead. Her shadow cast down and across a few dunes.

When her breathing slowed, she realized, for the first time, how alone she was now. Since leaving Makiista Clan grounds, she had been with somebody—Kalis, Vaiter, or one of the other survivors.

Just me and myself. Don't cry, don't feel. Tensing her shoulders and listening for any sounds, she searched around for the tallest dune so she could get a better look at her surroundings. Picking the tallest one she could see, she climbed it hoping to get a good view of where she was. Once at the top, she spotted crystal-like dome-shaped structures sparsely dotting the desert. The civilization pockets of small towns had no money to build mega walls to keep the sand out like Bairenshire.

She recognized Yargrelid not so far behind. Closest to her was Nuaka, glowing with yellow-gold light. The slight sound of music danced into her ears.

Not too far beyond was the cone-shaped dome of the Portal City of Syaraize with the tip of the dome covered in several holes to let in wind or rain. Beyond the cone was the humongous oval of a portal that swirled in place. Although very little light permeated the Desert Isles, she could still make out the tin-colored outer rim of the portal and the swirl of sparkly, yet ugly dark green and equally sparkly, and ugly dark yellow cloud that seemed to have no end to it.

Portal. I could go to other Rings? But where? Pinti pursed her lips. The world was not kind to the likes of her no matter where she went. She certainly wanted to stay out of the Fourth Ring where Sorcerers lived. They hated all races but themselves. Last she heard in Human news about home was that the Third Ring was locked, and the portal was closed. Even if she wanted to, she couldn't get home.

The last option was the Second Ring, home to Halfhumans, the closest to anthropomorphic as a race could get apart from Kathula. Pinti had only met a few in Bairenshire, but so far, her impression of them had been good. Perhaps she had a chance there if this strange Human in Nuaka turned out to be fake and the scepter turned out to be a fairy tale.

With a nod at her plan, she marched across the sand. Nuaka had a metal sign in front of it, sticking out of a rock half buried in the sand but the words were so rubbed off that all it said was, 'u ka'. Human sweat stung her nose as a guard stepped out from behind a dead tree and shoved his spear in her direction.

"State your purpose," he said in Universal, his scruffy old voice matching his scruffy old face. "Eh," He blinked his eyes and held up his lantern. "aren't you the blue kitty race? By the Gods!" The guard grinned from ear to ear and stomped his feet in place. "The blue kitty race... Wait," He pointed behind her, "where did you come from?" He stretched his hand out and Pinti leapt out of the way twitching her whiskers. She wasn't going to tolerate any stupid Human being all touchy-feely with her just because Kathula reminded them of the cats they loved.

The male shook his head. "Wait, no, don't go. How did you get—"

Pinti steadily met his gaze. "I'm looking for a Huama—I mean, Human who knows of the Scepter of Tamido," she said.

The guard stared at her. "Well, it's, wow, okay." He nodded and shook his head, then nodded again. "I can take you to him."

At that moment, the scent food wafted out of the oasis town and into her nostrils immediately making her mouth water and her stomach growl. Twitching her whiskers in annoyance for letting him hear that, Pinti grimaced when he began to laugh.

"Oh, ho! You're hungry! You have to stay. Trust me. I can take you to him and get food, a bed even. He's got good reputation here. C'mon." His eyes crinkled and he gave her a toothy smile. It didn't seem like she had any choice.

"I will claw you if you dare do anything stupid." She growled low at him, but he only smirked.

"You can speak really good Universal for a blue kitty! Just like Deel."

Before Pinti could ask who Deel was, the gruff male turned around to yell, "Gaitz!" At the call, a young male Human in baggy clothes came out from behind the tree. "Take over for me a bits will you, boy?"

But Gaitz was staring at her and pointing. "Yanga, that's the blue—"

"I know, I know." Yanga flicked his hand. "As if I've suddenly gone blind!" He scoffed. "Now, never mind that. Get to duty!"

Gaitz whipped his head back around to stare out at the desert with a short, unhelpful-looking spear. When Yanga handed his spear over, Gaitz took it in trembling, eager hands as if he had been given an honorable gift.

"Well, Yanga's the name." He held out his hand. She glanced down at his pot belly. It meant he did more eating than fighting. If he did anything suspicious, she was certain she could take him on with just her claws. He shrugged when she didn't take his hand and opened the gates with a crank hiding behind his back.

"C'mon." Yanga grinned and went inside the dome. Leaving a good length between them, Pinti followed behind. If he ended up taking her right into a Kathula-hunter's cage, she wanted ample space so she could run if needed. Surely, Nuaka was her last chance to find the scepter, but she learned in her time in Bairenshire not to trust Humans so easily.