5 Chapter 5. Caravan

Through the desert toward the South was a huge caravan consisting of several thousand daredevils that have decided for a lot of money to cross this terrible desert of death.

The caravan was led and closed by the guard units specially selected from among the mercenaries to cross this section of the desert, the most dangerous of all.

The mercenaries sat on a special sled birds, about the size of a small horse.

These birds are somewhat similar to the cocks can move through the sand at incredible speed while losing no maneuverability. They were perfect animals support, though by themselves due to their small size and hypermetabolism, cross the desert could not.

They constantly needed food and drink, but they were not able to drag such a hole of food, which would be enough for the entire transition.

But there was no need, for the sand lizards of the traders were always with them. Which, thanks to its massive size and incredible endurance, could carry food, people and payload at the same time.

The sand lizards were creatures with a massive elephant-like body, but with much longer legs and a neck that in turn ended in a snout that resembled a lizard.

Birds that could carry only your rider and a huge reach at the withers six metres of sand lizards, perfectly complement each other in the desert.

Yes, Yes, you heard right, they perfectly complemented each other only in this desert. In any other, the roosters are too old, nobody would have given up and a gift, because of his appetite and constant thirst. But in this particular area, these birds performed one of the most important tasks…

Distraction, on yourself.

— Wait, the whole caravan to stay, ' cried the commander of the mercenaries, who were traveling in the most luxurious of birds, worms nearby, he said, scrutinizing the light up in his hand the medallion.

— No one make a sound or move, we'll distract them.

Separated from the caravan, the three mercenaries on the bird-screamers ran towards the North-West.

* * *

Huge carnivorous worms, that's what this desert was teeming with, that's why it was called the desert of death. And let the worms was not so much compared to the giant area of sprawling Sands, but due to its phenomenal sensitivity to vibration they easily could hear the steps of a man for a hundred kilometers or more. Then they notified all their relatives at a distance of more than ten thousand square miles around, and with them began to hunt.

At this moment, and had by the way two of the most important abilities of the birds are screamers.

First, they were able to run on the sand in a very special way, making such a small sound that the worms began to consider them too small prey, for which it is not necessary to start the chase.

And the second, was their amazing cry that was able to attract worms from all over the area, causing them to throw all the other targets.

It is because of these two qualities, these are pretty voracious creatures were taken into the desert.

By the way, no one was able to understand how a few thousand worms, scattered across the desert of death, can live at the expense of a couple of hundred caravans that they eat in a year. For, even to feed one worm, the size of which could vary from 20 to 40 meters in length, it was necessary to have several caravans.

If we imagine that they eat anything other than meat, then there was another question.

Why should they then give chase, even for the extraction of several people, it's completely minor for them food, for which they obviously will burn much more energy in pursuit than while eating.

The questions were many more, but there was no answer, too dangerous to study these monsters.

Because of them, by the way, scientists of the continent have not been able to explore the remains of living in this desert a few hundred thousand years ago, civilization. Who apparently died because of these worms.

But let's get back to our drivers on the screamers that after driving for fifty miles, pulled the reins, forcing the birds to scream, attracting to itself all the worms within a radius of thousands of miles.

The caravan, meanwhile, went on without waiting for the three mercenaries who had left it.

They knew that those making a big hook and having withdrawn worms on the wrong track, will catch up with the caravan in a couple of days.

Much more important now was to find a piece of rocky soil on which to place the caravan and give a rest to the sand lizards, which for a month went without stopping.

Fortunately, after several days of travel, when separated to ward off worms the mercenaries returned, the caravan had much luck. They found a beautiful place, "island" with solid rocky soil, large enough to accommodate the entire caravan.

* * *

Moving underground with the wild speed of shadows, they wanted to spit on worms, which for them were no more than pieces of meat mixed with sand.

Shadow spirits in fulfilling its mission, delivered by Lord Indaram, carefully combing the area divided into ten groups, and then expand the area of search and do one at a time.

And here is one of them for the first couple of days got a life, not a worm. Immediately changing direction, the shadow spirit sent a mental signal to his brothers. To those first, scanned it a plot instead, and secondly to report that it remains as a spy, the group discovered they are intelligent creatures.

Sending a signal to the brothers, the shadow that always moved underground in the daytime, quietly settled, as far as she could find out, in the main tent of the camp.

In fact, it was hard to tell what kind of work the shadows did better, intelligence or espionage.

For in both cases they were real finds for any country.

That only cost their ability to read the impulse mental wave, which precedes the thought form (word).

That is, the shadow spirits could read the impulses of mental activity before they were transformed into speech. That allowed them to understand what the creature was thinking, no matter what language or adverb it spoke. In fact the creature at all could not be blessed with knowledge of speech (thought forms), the shadow still easily would understand what it's thinking.

The problem for them could only be a powerful mental defense, but no one in this group of people did not have it.