Okay, the first part of this chapter is more or less told in Y'asabu's perspective, so instead of the other character's names they'll be referred to as how he refers to them. I'm putting the terms here just in case you get confused as to who is who.
Newbie-Rider: Inzo. This is because Inzo has no experience in neither mounted combat, the race or even hundaraback riding in general.
Two-legs: Hannah, and humans in general, a reference to how they stand on their two hind legs.
Gray-one: Kamrya, reference to her dapple gray coat, the thing that he finds most interesting, since there are only five hundara colorations and none of them is gray.
White-one: Khaxe, the white hundara and Y'asabu's rival, making a reference to her white scales, the rarest of all hundara colorations.
Master- Thel 'Vadam, for obvious reasons.
Spine-back- the labrak, a predatory animal that lives in sanghelios and has big spines on its back. Species created by Dragunalb, much like the hundara themselves.
Although newbie-rider liked the company of she-human and the four-legged gray one in the lonely desert, Y'asabu didn't.
It didn't have to do with being close to a prey he wasn't allowed to eat- though that was part of the reason-, rather it was because he was used to traveling alone without any distractive factors.
The gray one and its rider would slow them down. He was sure of it.
He had watched gray one in that occasion the she-human spent some time within his territory. She was a plant-eater with no claws or talons. She got scared with the slightest sound. She was smaller.
Gray one was weak and helpless. He didn't want to be babysitting such a thing when his priority was beating white one.
Newbie-rider was no help in that regard. He was soft and unexperienced, so naturally he sought company to feel less helpless.
She-human knew she was at disadvantage because of her weak gray one, so she stuck close to him for protection.
Y'asabu saw gray one and she-human as parasites, like those bugs that sometimes got stuck under his wings and caused him itching while feeding on his blood. They were a burden that sough to benefit from him while giving nothing in exchange to compensate.
For now Y'asabu didn't get rid of such parasites because they might be useful as bait should they run unto any burrowers or sky terrors.
Like always Y'asabu was at the lead, following the same routes he had used before with Master.
At least the ones that still were there.
The desert was always changing, just like the position of the two bright spheres in the sky. Old paths were buried under the sands, or rocky formations crumbled and gave way to new.
Only those who could adapt to such changes could make it out alive.
He had learned the hard way the first times he and Master participated in this event. Back then Y'asabu was young, wild and reckless, he always wanted to be at the lead and didn't realize what the true purpose of the event was. He foolishly wasted energy in bursts of speed and fights with other competitors.
Master was different. He was patient, observant and smart. Instead of rushing into action he'd first plan things out. He knew when to save up the energy and which battles were worth fighting and which weren't. This was the reason they survived when many others were consumed by the desert.
Though Y'asabu didn't like Master's way in the beginning, soon he learned they worked. So as years went by Y'asabu started learning these habits himself.
It was hard, but soon he learned that patience was the difference.
He learned that energy was precious in this hostile and almost barren environment, so he needed to save it for when he'd need it, like hunting his prey.
He learned that burrowers and sky terrors couldn't be defeated and they could end both his life and that of Master's in less than a blink, so he had to avoid them or escape if the former wasn't possible.
He learned that the runners who were wise enough to follow these two rules were the ones who made it to the end of the event.
So Y'asabu started following the rules. As a result he and Master always survived, even won a few times.
But newbie-rider was not like Master. He knew nothing about the race, he was far too naive and inexperienced, too soft, he lacked the spine an the cold blood; otherwise he wouldn't have let two-legs and gray-one follow him around.
"So how long till the next oasis?" two-legs asked.
"Well, if nothing goes wrong, we should be there by sundown, maybe even sooner." Newbie-rider stated.
"What could possibly go wrong?"
Y'asabu snorted. She really was stupid, wasn't she?
"Lots of things, and not all of them include the climate," newbie-rider explained. "There are lots of predators in the desert. Every rider in this race encounters one at least once, some don't make it out alive."
"You mentioned them before, but what kind of predators exactly?"
"There's the donara and sak'ul. Those two are flyers, but it's the ground beasts you should worry about. In that case we have the labrak, the sandraith and the sn'ach."
"Which of those is worse?"
Y'asabu sniffed the air and came to a halt, causing gray-one to stop as well. He sensed the smell of water a kilometers away, but also the smell of blood. Curious, he unexpectedly made a temporary detour from the main route to take a peek.
"Hey, where are you going?" he heard two-legs asked as she made gray-one follow him.
"I have no idea, he's going on his own!" newbie-rider replied.
Y'asabu ignored them and kept walking down the rocky terrain while watching his steps carefully. Any body of water was worth checking out even if he wasn't thirsty. He couldn't be certain when there would be water available; like mentioned before the desert changed over time, who knew if the usual places to drink were still there.
Better safe than sorry.
As they neared the source of the smell, Y'asabu heard shrieks of distress and yells. He had an idea as to what was going on, he had been a witness to it a few times in the past, though he wasn't sure if two-legs's stomach would be able to handle the sight.
They arrived at a small watering hole surrounded by big rocks. And there was a fight going on there.
One of the younger Hundara was shrieking at a large, green animal with thick scales, beak-like snout and long black spines running down its back. The creature was circling around the Hundara, spreading out its mandibles in a threatening posture.
The rider was nowhere to be seen, but Y'asabu could smell blood in the air, giving him an idea as to what had happened to him.
"What's that?" two-legs asked.
"It's a labrak," newbie-rider explained. "It's the most dangerous of all the desert dwellers."
"Well, it's too bad Carlos isn't here, he'd love to record this."
"We should go; they are very territorial and you don't want to cross one-but, hey, Y'asabu!"
Y'asabu ignored newbie-rider and quietly made his way to the water. The spine-back would be too immersed with his current prey to mind them; besides, as he mentioned before, who knows when would be the next time they found water. Gray-one followed him despite two-legs's protesting, he guessed she was very thirsty.
But two-legs did manage to lead gray-one to his right, apparently so that in the remote case the labrak did bother with them he'd be the main target. How brave.
They drank in silence, while newbie-rider kept his eyes on the spine-back and red-one; the latter's leg was bleeding and he seemed to wince every time he supported himself on that leg, a sign it was injured, which meant it wouldn't last long. Spine-back whipped its tail at red-one's legs to bring it down before finishing the job by grabbing it by the throat and flinging it around. Red-one gave one last shriek of agony before it perished.
"What happened?!" two-legs asked.
"Err, well, let's say the red hundara's been put out of his misery..." newbie-rider said awkwardly. He seemed to think the same as him, unsure if her stomach would handle it.
Y'asabu stopped drinking and kept a close eye on the spine-back; it hadn't yet seen them, it was too busy feasting on red-one's carcass, but they better no overstay their welcome. After a few more slurps of water, Y'asabu started walking away from the watering hole as quietly as he could, followed by gray-one soon after.
After that... encounter with the labrak, Inzo hoped they wouldn't run into any more predators. Thankfully, ate that time of the day many of the creatures were hiding in whatever shade they could find. Sadly, it seemed Y'asabu wasn't that considerate, he continued to advance without minding he, Hannah and Kamrya were close to collapsing due to the overheat.
Kamrya was panting, while Hannah merely removed her jacket and put on a sort of white creamy substance on her skin to protect it from the UV (sunblock, she called it).
"Isn't there any sort of pit stop or something?" Hannah asked after a few more minutes.
Inzo was unfamiliar with the term. "Pit stop?"
"You know, somewhere to take a break."
"Only the oasis to rest for the night, I'm afraid."
"That sucks."
"Tell that to me, I live here."
They had left the sandy dunes behind and were currently moving through a flat and seemingly endless rocky terrain. They hadn't seen any of the other competitors fo a while now, making Hannah worry for her companions, but Inzo didn't worry much about the other riders. They were more than capable of taking care of themselves.
"Isn't your horse tired yet?" Inzo asked after a while to break the rather uncomfortable silence (other than the clip-clopping of Kamrya's hooves and Y'asabu's talons stepping hard on the ground).
"Nah, she's a sturdy girl," Hannah said confidently, patting her horse's neck. "Besides, arabs are the best resistance runners in the horse world."
"I can tell, considering she's been able to keep up with Y'asabu."
Kamrya snorted, offended. Y'asabu retorted with a low growl coming from his throat. Was it their imagination or the had just... communicated? The latter suddenly raised his head and looked backwards, prompting Inzo and Hannah to do the same.
Khaxe and her rider were running at top speed, soon going past the four of them without giving them a glance. Soon after she was followed by other Sangheili on their own mounts. Inzo noted the riders were looking backwards, making it look as if they were running from something.
Soon he saw the reason.
A colossal dust storm was heading their way.
"We have to look for shelter, now!" Inzo cried out in alarm. "Follow me!"
Y'asabu burst out into a run, followed by Kamrya. But soon it became evident he would outrun her. She was, but not enough to keep up with a thoroughbred hundara such as him, and the dust storm was quickly catching up to them. A few unfortunate riders whose hundara were too exhausted or too young to have known what to do had already been swallowed by the clouds of dust and sand.
"Inzo!" Hannah cried in panic when she noted he was getting farther and farther ahead.
"Y'asabu, slow down, you're leaving them behind!" Inzo growled, but Y'asabu merely snorted. If he could speak, he would have probably said 'I don't care'. Of course, he had forgotten he might care about Hannah's wellbeing, but Y'asabu didn't.
Panicking, Inzo grabbed unto Y'asabu's neck and pulled it backwards, forcing the hundara into an abrupt halt that sent the young sangheili flying off the saddle and unto the ground.
Damn it, not again. Inzo thought, but what nearly did it was the angry shriek and slit-pupiled glare Y'asabu gave him. He was sure he wouldn't let him unto his back after that.
"Inzo, are you okay?!" Hannah asked when she and Kamrya finally caught up.
"I'm fine, I think..." was Inzo's reply.
Y'asabu looked back at the sandstorm, which was dangerously close, and apparently decided he'd reprimand the boy later.
Right now the priority was to make it out of this alive.
With another shriek he lifted Inzo by the clothes without giving him time to recover and flung him unto his back before bursting into another sprint, and again Kamrya galloped after him with some difficulty to keep up.
Fortunately, there were some sort of ruined stone structures up ahead which would make a good hiding place until the dust storm passed. they entered through the door-like opening just as the cloud finally caught up, nearly sending them flying inside. However, even though not directly out in the open anymore, the wind was so strong it sent dust flying inside.
Hannah and Inzo both covered most of their faces with their desert scarves to keep their lungs and nostrils clear of any sand. Hannah covered Kamrya's head with her jacket to protect her eyes, while Y'asabu lay down and hid his head in his wings.
"Well, it looks like we'll be stuck here for a while." Inzo commented, glancing in the direction of the entrance. Nothing could be seen outside except for flying sand and dust.
Kamrya let out a snort, and a half-frightened whiny. Y'asabu snapped at her from under his wings.
"They did it again." Hannah pointed out.
"I wonder if animals have their own, intergalactic language and can understand one another..." Inzo muttered.
"Curiously, some people back on Earth think something similar about the animals. In the past, most animated movies depicted animals as being able to understand one another."
Inzo glanced at her. "Animated movies? What are those?"
"Are you serious...?" Hannah's tone made him wonder if he had just said something wrong. "You don't know what a movie is?"
"I'm more or less familiar with movies, but not animated movies."
"Well, animated films are kinda like normal movies, but instead of living actors you manipulate items or objects to make them appear as if they were moving. Think of it like a sort of optic illusion. They were mostly directed to kids, though."
"Were?"
"They're a rarity today. With the war and all that, most industries outside of military were mostly discarded to put priority on mankind's survival. Some are trying to bring that industry back now that it's over, but most people just don't... find it appealing anymore."
There was an awkward moment of silence before Hannah asked. "How long do these storms usually last?"
"It actually depends on the climate, but they don't usually last more than two days."
"That long?"
"How long do they last in your planet?"
"Id lie to you, I've never been in one. But from what I hear, sometimes they leave as quickly as they arrive. The thing is if this one lasts THAT long, how are we going to get water or food of any kind? It's not like we can just dig and expect to find an underwater spring, and Kamrya needs more water. "
Inzo whispered. "Believe me, if you have to choose between starving in a cave or being out in the open during a storm this bad, it's better to starve. There are worse things than the labrak underneath the sand."