The twin suns were almost down. They hovered over the horizon in a beautiful sunset, colors of blue and orange splashed over the sky. If she wasn't about to fall over from exhaustion and thirst, Estar would have appreciated it much more. Tyresius was still a chatterbox, seemingly oblivious to the fact that she had long stopped replying to him, only occasionally grunting. Her legs felt like jelly and her head pounded. She couldn't even understand what he was saying anymore. His voice only droned on in the background, almost drowned out by the dull buzz roaring in her head.
Her foot caught in the sand, almost tripping her. Tyresius caught her shoulder, "Steady there, don't want you dragging the both of us down,"
"I'm fine," She muttered, promptly tripping again. This time, he didn't catch her, so they both fell to their knees.
"You don't look good," He noted.
"Gee, thanks, but I said I was fine," She tried getting up, but her knees refused to lock. Bile rose in her throat. She was probably dehydrated and still exhausted from fighting the sonic cannon and Trumbull. There was a stitch in her side. However, Tyresius did not need to know how weak she was.
"No, you're not," He insisted, "Don't be acting all tough and stoic, then just drop dead. You're not going to be doing me any favors that way. We're each other's best bet for survival. One of us dies then we're both goners,"
Estar nodded, nausea rushing over her. She had no will to argue with the scoundrel anymore.
Tyresius sat next to her, looking around, "Sometimes, there's cave around the desert. Little caves with maybe water deposits inside. If we can find an oasis cave to stay in for a bit, then we can keep going later,"
"Fine. But pull any tricks, Lokai, and you're womp rat food,"
As Estar stood up, her legs still refused to cooperate, so she nearly fell back down. Landing in Tyresius's arms, she leaned against his chest for a moment, trying to get control back of her body, "You're in no condition to walk," He said. In one smooth gesture, he scooped her off of her wobbly feet, holding her in his arms.
"Put me down!" She yelled, squirming.
He held tight, "You can't walk, you're a lame duck. I can handle it,"
Her cuffed hand was pulled uncomfortably tight as he carried her, but she resigned with a huff. The fact that he could carry her wasn't as impressive as one would think. As much as she hated it, Estar could not argue that she had a small frame. Because of her size, she always picked the lightest weight armor that provided agility. In full armor, she still weighed only around 200 pounds. Most armor sets weighed that alone.
Tyresius carried her towards the sand dunes, where he thought a cave would most likely be. She swayed in his arms, slowly being lulled into unconsciousness. Fighting to stay awake, she stared at the white moon rising in the distance.
"This looks promising," Tyresius said, walking up to an oddly shaped dune.
Together, they peered around the corner. Indeed, there was a small cave opening, just as he'd promised they would find.
She squirmed again, "Put me down so we can check it first. Who knows what the devil could be in there,"
Obligingly, he set her back on her feet. The temporary break had helped, but she still felt unsteady. Weaponless, they carefully poked their heads into the cave. As Estar's head entered the cave, she almost instantly felt cooled off. The air was chilled and had moisture to it. She could not hear any sounds of anything, and the moonlight dimly lit it, showing that it was empty.
"See!" Tyresius clapped his hands, "What did I tell you?"