Date: Wednesday 28/4/2060, Location: 31.19102, 23.00302

They found a plateau in their target area, a relatively flat site big enough for the chopper on the shoulder of a large hill or ridgeline – the sensors made it hard to tell in the pitch black night. Marius set the chopper down with his usual skill, and after a quick survey of the area to check that everything was ok, they settled down for the remainder of the night.

Dawn broke, the crew stirred and carried out their morning rituals, whether that be to commune with nature and beseech the spirits for protection and guidance, or to cram themselves into the tiny toilet and relieve themselves of the previous night's dinner. It was cold outside, dry and with a strong breeze from the east. Even at dawn there was no condensation on the skin of the chopper, the wind wicking away the water into the atmosphere before it could form noticeable drops.

The ground around them was a chaotic and broken affair – to the east the ground continued to rise, a rocky shoulder of dark stone rising up, with ridges of stone and huge basins of sand spilling off to either side. North and south the ground looked like the remains of ridge and furrow farming if it had been done by giants in a sandpit, huge sweeping furrows of sand metres across with rocky outcroppings on either side, slowly being eroded by the gentle sandblasting of the wind. To the west, beyond the chopper, the shoulder of the hill descended into the sand, disappearing completely a few kilometres further into a seemingly endless sea of dunes.

"Tads – we're going to have to spend quite some time on this, I feel. Do you think that you could summon a spirit of the desert and ask it to search its domain, to help us?"

"I think so, Aswon. The mana is a little thin here, I think because of the scarceness of life. There is life here, lots of animals and insects I think, though we can't see them… but so little plant life growing. Anyway, I'll try." She moved her hands around, while she muttered the invocations under her breath, calling on the spirit of the desert to heed her call.

An astral wind whipped up, stirring the sand into a vortex that slowly rose next to her. Whirling sand circled in an inverted cone, swirling chaotically and pulsing back and forth. Two darker rocks protruded out of the maelstrom, becoming beady obsidian eyes that surveyed her. Tads blinked with the effort, a headache growing just behind her forehead from the effort.

"What do you require?" The voice sounded raspy, like sand grinding against stone as it poured downwards. Tads took a moment to think about all of the information the team had on the glow scorpions, imparting that information to the spirit mentally before she spoke to it.

"We seek these creatures, or something like them. Can you help us find them?"

"What you look for can be found in that direction," sand sprayed out from the vortex, pointing just south of east, towards the much higher land further up the mountain. "About four hours travel."

"Thank you, will you help us and guide us there?"

"Perhaps, what do you have to offer me?" The rasping grew louder as the spirit approached her, eying her up hungrily." Tads felt her control slipping, her influence over the spirit fraying and blowing away.

"Nothing that I am willing to give. Thank you for your information." She watched as the spirit swirled violently becoming larger and larger, more disparate and then flung itself outwards with a convulsive heave, dissipating into the sands around them.

Tads relayed what the spirit had said to the others, pointing up the spur of land.

"It said it was four hours travel, but it didn't mention how. I suspect that many of the native people here walk the desert, or maybe rode camels, so it's talking about a much slower pace. I think it's probably ten to fifteen kilometres or so, allowing for the terrain. At least, I hope so."

They headed back inside the chopper and spoke with Marius and Hunter. After a quick look at the map, they decided it was unlikely they would find somewhere they could safely land the chopper amidst the rocks, and it was probably best for them to wait here and keep an eye out, while the rest of the team took the UAZ and headed up the mountain to investigate. It wouldn't take long for the chopper to reach them if they needed to call for help.

"We really don't know much about the creatures at all, but I wonder if they hunt by sound sense like some other desert creatures do. Detecting the sound waves of movement, then burrowing up underneath – like the ones we found in the desert near the oil pipes actually. So I would suggest that we get most of the way in the vehicle, then proceed carefully on foot, moving at random and trying to be as quiet as possible."

The team started to get ready, backing the UAZ out of the chopper and then going over it in detail – ensuring that they had weapons, tools, water, food, medical supplies and a host of other gear present and securely stored. Most importantly they made sure that the single dose of scorpion anti-venom was kept in a safe location, accessible to them all.

Tads rested for a few minutes, washing down some painkillers with fresh water and massaging her temples until the headache faded away, then moved outside to a more rocky area, to attempt to summon another spirit. With the change of terrain, a different spirit answered her call, but it too felt surly and uncooperative. She wasn't sure if it was to do with the lack of mana in the area, or just a difference with desert spirits or something to do with the area. Regardless, the spirit made of sharp jagged rocks and tattered cloth acknowledged her, agreeing to come to her aid when called.

The others were going over their plan, trying to work out how they would approach the capture of the critters. It was agreed that their primary weapon would be Tads wielding her stun-ball spell, trying to knock out or stupefy the creatures, making it safer for the rest of them to move in and capture. Kai had his taser, and also had a couple of smoke grenades, saying that in the event of them actually finding a nest, they might be able to smoke the creatures out. Aswon strapped his boar spear to the roof, hoping that the prongs would be useful for pinning down tails or pincers during an attack or attempt to capture. He also grabbed a roll of cammo netting, hoping that it would serve to entangle and slow down the creatures if it was thrown over them.

Shimazu unstrapped his large slab-shaped shield from its normal stowage position, adding it to the cargo area. He hadn't actually used the ungainly and unwieldy shield since he'd purchased it, not favouring how un-manoeuvrable it made him normally. But, if they were to face off against creatures similar to the ones that he and Aswon had faced before, he figured that this was just the right time. Other than that, he had his sword which he hoped to not have to use, and his taser.

Marius and Hunter had the metal enclosure unfolded and had grabbed some sacks and folding shovels, and were starting the long and arduous job of bringing in sand from outside to create a bed or environment for the scorpions to stay in. It was likely to take them most of the day to get a decent amount of sand inside, and they didn't look best impressed with their task.

When they were finally ready, the magical team climbed into the UAZ and headed off to the east, climbing the spur, and leaving Marius and Hunter to continue preparations at the chopper. Shimazu was driving, moving slowly, no more than a walking pace to start off with as he drove the 4X4 across the loose sand and rock, getting a feel for the terrain.

"Hey, I've had an idea. I wonder if we can use my spells to create a magical lure for these things?" Aswon and Kai looked at her, wondering what she meant. "Well, if I created some water up in the air, so it fell like rain – I wonder if the creatures would burrow up towards it. Or, if they do hunt using vibrations – what would happen if I made a physical illusion of a large creature and had it move around in a circle or something?"

That started a few minutes of conversation about how best to use spells to mimic prey or get the creatures to respond, assuming they could find them, and how each of the team would respond. They tried to plan for a few scenarios, working out who would do what, in what order.

"So, do any of us think we're slightly more resistant to poison or venom than anyone else? I've heard it said that some meta-humans are more resilient than others?"

"I don't think so Kai. I know I'm not – and none of my tribe ever had an experience with things like this. If you got bitten by a snake or other venomous creature, you were in trouble. We need to not get stung."

Conversation was suddenly and abruptly interrupted as a loud and painful screech sounded across the bottom of the vehicle as sharp rock scrapped across the base plate, while the front end of the vehicle slammed down onto the ridge of rock ahead of them.

"Sorry, sorry, little too fast, and I thought the sand was firmer there." Shimazu winced as he gently let the UAZ roll down the other side of the spur, and looked behind him, making sure that none of the transmission was laid out on the floor. He gave a little sigh of relief as he failed to spot any parts or drips, indicating that something had been broken.

They pressed on, the jeep now having to climb up and crest each ridge, before dropping down into the next little gulley on the other side, constantly having to find the best spot to take the ridge and avoid bottoming out the vehicle. Progress was slow, and as the sun continued its ascent, the temperature in the vehicle climbed higher and higher. Even with all the windows wound down, the through breeze only barely took the edge off the stifling heat, and they were all sweating, even just sitting still.

As they had a quick stop so Shimazu could check out the underside of the vehicle, Tads took the opportunity of a moment of stillness to reach out into the astral realm once more, strengthening the control she had over her rocky desert spirit, hoping that she wouldn't have to use its services to guard the vehicle against Shimazu's driving as much as anything else.

Another thirty minutes of careful driving, they had progressed well up the mountain, and Shimazu was becoming much more proficient at spotting the best place to cross the ridges, and much more annoyed with Aswon who was 'helping' with comments from the back seat. He suddenly slammed on the brakes and Aswon wondered if had perhaps said something wrong, when Shimazu pointed off to one side.

"Look down there. That rock looks wet!" The team followed his outstretched finger, and sure enough about three hundred metres down the ridge, there was a rock that looked to glisten and shine in a most unusual fashion. Using binoculars, scopes or the gifts of their magical abilities they zoomed in for a look, and watched as a few drops of liquid water appeared from under an overhang, rolling down the rock-face and moistening it. Most of the water evaporated, but a single drop made it to the bottom, where it disappeared into the sand, which was a shade darker than the area around it.

They discussed for a moment, wondering if that would be a suitable hunting space for the scorpion – either because it wanted the water, or because it hunted things that wanted the water. After a minute it was agreed that Shimazu should go and investigate, while the rest of the team hung back to avoid attracting attention and spooking any potential prey, whilst still being ready to rush to his aid.

Shimazu climbed out of the vehicle, checking his personal kit and then slowly approached the air. He placed his feet carefully and transferred the weight slowly from one foot to another, using all of his control and prowess to move stealthily. The others watched from the car, and it was the first time they'd really seen him moving like this. For such a big man, he was extraordinarily quiet when he prowled, controlling his movements with a degree of finesse that at times made it look like he was gliding rather than walking. Such was the somatic control of his body that he didn't even leave footprints behind him, which meant that he was also not creating vibrations or impact noises on the sandy floor.

Shimazu stopped a dozen metres away from the rock as he spotted a pattern in the sand. He could see domes, scores of domes, scattered around the surface. Each was about sixty millimetres in diameter, and no more than twenty millimetres high – laid out in a seemingly random pattern. He stopped and examined them carefully, trying to determine what they were. A quick slip into astral vision as he laid his hand upon his sword didn't reveal anything about them either. He called back to the rest of the team on the radio, but none of them could work out what it was either. Yet something made him feel uneasy.

"Do you want me to drop some bait over there, Shimazu?"

"Yes please, Tads. Nothing too big, but I think that's a good idea."

Tads concentrated for a moment, then out of thin air, some chicken drumsticks appeared and fell to the floor. It wasn't more than a moment, before the ground exploded into a frenzy of action. Sand kicked up everywhere and a horde of black scorpions erupted from underneath the sand, one per tiny dome, and made a beeline for the fresh meat. Within seconds they swarmed all over the meat, pincers tearing and tails flailing wildly. Amidst the confusion it was impossible to see if they were stinging the 'prey' or just cutting it at, but either way it made several of them shiver as they imagined that happening to their feet or lower legs.

The freeding frenzy lasted about twenty seconds, after which the scorpions scattered and started to worm their way back into the sand, flicking sand up and over themselves to hide once more out of sight and away from the sun, forming a new random pattern of domes. Only the picked clean bones of the drumsticks remained, gleaming white and flensed of all the flesh and sinew by the horde of feasting scorpions.

"Hey guys…" Shimazu was interrupted by a chorus of firm "NO!" and other remonstrations from the team, before Kai firmly told him that no, they weren't collecting any of these, he wasn't adding Scorpions to his collection of leeches or starting a menagerie.

"There is one thing I would like you to do though, Shimazu?"

"What's that, Tads?"

"Can you collect the chicken bones, so we don't litter the desert?"

"You want to pick them up, you're welcome. I'm not getting any closer than I have to!" Shimazu turned and made his way back to the vehicle, climbing inside and ignoring the scowl from Tads as he did so. With a deep sigh, she looked out towards the rock, and then concentrated. Nothing happened. She tried again, and a fresh line of sweat beaded on her forehead, and slowly the bones levitated into the air and moved towards the UAZ, flying in through the open window and into a bag that she held up. With a small sigh she relaxed, and the bones fell to the plastic, happy to once more obey the laws of gravity.

They moved on, the terrain becoming more challenging as they made their way further up the ridgeline. Each of the furrows became deeper, the rock walls on either side sheerer and sharper, the closer they got to the summit of the rocky ridge.

The climbed another side, Shimazu gunning the engine to give them the impetus to clear the ridge before crashing down on the other side, rather than beaching on the sharp rocks and risking damage to the underside again. Once more he slammed the brakes on, but this time he didn't need to point – they could all see the object in front of them.

Down in the base of the furrow was a large black mass of plastic, with several green military cases stacked at one side. The stopped and stared at it for a moment, then quickly scanned around, looking in case they were being outflanked by troops, drones or some other oddity. But no – the desert was quiet, just the mournful keening of the wind as it knifed through the rocks, giving sad little whistles in the air.

Aswon leant forward between the two front seats, examining the contraption before him.

"That's a Mark 15-E bladder rig, we used to use them when we were on extended ops. Collapsible storage system, black plastic treated to be UV and microbe resistant, pretty tough. Holds about two thousand litres of water or fuel, designed to be air-dropped in or lifted out of the back of a truck, or deployed from an extended pallet. One side of it should have a spigot or tap assembly, and they're normally gravity fed – right sod they are to get the last of the liquid out." His voice had that edge that spoke of somewhat bitter experience sometime in his past.

"Anyways, don't know if its water or fuel, but this looks like a pretty standard security or military air drop cache. The crates there are designed to stack and have sturdy handles at either end for moving them around, but they could have pretty much anything in them at all – rockets, rifles, ammo, ration packs, fresh uniforms… anything."

"Should we send the coordinates back to the chopper in case it is fuel? I'm sure Marius would be interested in getting his hands on it?" asked Tads. They nodded, and Aswon checked their GPS position and marked their current location on his organiser. As he did, Tads leant forward in her seat and then left her body, flying up through the roof of the UAZ and into the air, then slowly circled the cache, looking for signs of life of any kind. It didn't take her long, and returning to the vehicle she gave them the all clear.

"So, let's go grab some stuff then and see what we've won on the desert lottery!" said Kai brightly, reaching for the door handle.

"Not so fast, Kai – look. About two inches from the top and bottom of the bladder, and going through the handles on the crates, see? That wire – looks like a circuit cord to me. Really fine, almost like a strand of glass? Probably linked to a booby trap or demo charge. Let's go have a look, but I suggest you don't touch."

The team got out and approached the cache carefully, moving around to examine it from all angles. Sure enough, on the far side to their approach, nestled in between the bladder and the crates was a small box that the cables fed into, with a keypad and multi-digit display.

"Not that big an explosive probably, but enough to damage all the gear, and to send up a big alarm bell that someone is messing with the stuff. Could be a four digit code, could be as many as eight from the size of the display. Could go off after three bad attempts. Really depends on who set it up." Just as Aswon was talking, a red light flickered for a second on the top of the box before going dark. "Yep – power cells are still live."

They decided to leave the cache alone for the moment, and headed back to the vehicle, giving the supplies a wide berth and then continuing on their way. Wide as the gullies were, there was no way the chopper could land here, so it would clearly have to be taken back in the vehicle, or hooked up as an underslung load if they did want to retrieve it in the future.

Just as they were getting back into the vehicle, Shimazu spotted movement back at the cache. He froze, staring in surprise at the figure, as none of them had spotted so much as the trace of life when they'd been there a moment before. With a start, he recognised the old and wizened form – he didn't have his heavy buckets on a yoke now, nor did he have his old sweeping brush, but it was certainly the same magical being they'd met back in Iran, then again in Turkey.

"Hello! Don't suppose you have some spare water, do you?" he called out. Shimazu climbed back out of the vehicle and reached for his canteen to offer the old man a drink. "Oh, it's not for me."

"Who is it for, then?"

"You'll see!" The old man stepped behind the cache, disappearing from view. A moment later Tads shot past in astral space, but by the time she reached the far side, he was gone. She scouted around for a few moments, before returning and shrugging. With a final lingering look, they got back into the vehicle and continued on their way, wondering what the mysterious figure meant.

Driving onwards, they crossed half a dozen more gullies then stopped once more. Tads had suddenly made a face of disgust, as if she'd put something rancid in her mouth. A moment later Kai and Aswon reacted in the same way, and as soon as Shimazu laid a hand upon his sword and could perceive the astral space around them, he screwed up his nose in disgust, too. Astral space definitely felt 'wrong' or 'bad' here, twisted and sickening – yet there was no sign of pollution or anything that would cause it. After a brief discussion and a check on the map, they decided to proceed on foot for a while – they were close to their target location, and the terrain was getting worse and worse anyway.

Shimazu swung the vehicle around to try and reduce the amount of sunlight hitting the cab and keep it as cool as he could, then took off his outer armour layers, stripping down to the figure hugging 'Form-fit' brand underlayers and a loose shirt and trousers over the top. The others similarly divested themselves of any gear beyond the minimum – taking weapons, water and first aid supplies only as they continued on foot.

On foot they now made slightly better time than in the vehicle – though it was harder work physically. The sun was well up by now, and even early in the year the temperature had skyrocketed. As they headed east, the feeling of wrongness intensified, astral space seeming to shimmer and blur as it twisted and rippled. Tads was glad she had summoned the spirit elsewhere, though wondered how happy it would be to appear here. Certainly it made her feel sick, so what it would do to a purely magical creature was unlikely to be pleasant. Certainly she didn't want to channel any of this mana though her body and into the forms of spells – it would be difficult and probably leave her feeling tainted and disrupted.

Another half kilometre up the ridge, they spotted a change in the terrain – just to the north of the ridge, the ground seemed to drop away sharply, in contrast to all the other areas they had seen. They slowly approached, and as they got to the edge of the area, Tads gave an involuntary dry heave as the feeling of disgust rippled through her. Astral space now was a storm, a haze of particles sleeting through the air, a million colours flashing and disrupting her vision as nature rebelled against whatever it was causing the pollution and corruption.

The others felt it too, though perhaps a touch less sharply – their magical power was tied much more strongly to their own bodies and to a certain extent protected from outside influence by their own life force and energy. But they gathered around Tads to support and protect her, on their guard in the air and sensing the unseen danger.

Once more, Aswon's experience with mercenary operations and a decade of warfare proved to be useful.

"That looks man-made – it's too smooth and regular to be natural. Steep as hell as well. Reminds me of a bomb scene I saw in Hamburg once, some freedom fighters had planted a big fertiliser bomb in the sewers, blew up a VIP car as it drove over the top, along with about sixty-five civilians." He closed his eyes for a moment, remembering the scene of carnage, the screams of the injured and dying. "But yeah, the road was all torn up, and the ground underneath looked just like that. I wonder why it's lasted."

They edged closer to the lip, and saw that the walls glistened in places, sunlight refracting through crystals or some other material. Then they saw a figure, near the bottom of the crater, lying unmoving. It was dressed in flowing robes which were wrapped around the body, obscuring any details beyond what appeared to be a human body, denying even an idea of the sex of the subject. Shimazu started to move, clearly intending to go and rescue the man, but Kai laid a hand gently on his arm, restraining him.

"No, hang on a moment. Look how small he looks. It's disarming, but that craters deep, and very steep. Don't get caught in the same trap. Look – it's got to be over a hundred metres deep, and some of those walls look to be about fifty or sixty degrees. Do you think you can carry someone up a sixty degree slope of loose shifting sand?"

Shimazu examined the scene again, and made the same mental calculations as Kai had, realising that he was right. They could probably do it – but it would be a struggle, and not without risk. He was about to respond, when Aswon beat him to it.

"Whatever we're going to do, we should do it fast. I think I know why the magical world is so disrupted. Look!" He held aloft the radiation patch that they'd acquired, and several of the bars now showed a bright white along the strip of material, indicating that they were absorbing a far higher dose than was normal or healthy."

Tads leant forward and took a deep breath, then reached out with her mind towards the man, imagining him to be light as a feather. The clamour of astral space battered at her, and the magic was raw, unstable and chaotic. She concentrated, reciting the words her mentor had taught her years ago, concentrating her power on the familiar language of the Nenets people. She wasn't going to leave a person to die here, this invisible radiation threat stripping away their senses, the hot desert environment in a race to kill them. Elk was a protector. Elk nurtured. Elk cared about life. She gritted her teeth, and a trickle of blood emerged from her nose, running unnoticed down her lips and chin. But slowly the body moved, drooping slightly as the levitate spell grasped the body and lifted it slowly but surely up towards them.

The body flopped, arms and legs over the invisible force that held it aloft, splaying outwards and down towards the earth, but still not revealing anything of the person other than they were likely a native of the area from their darkened skin. As the body came into range, Shimazu gathered it into his arms and carefully slung it over his shoulder, carrying it with ease. Tads dropped the spell, and staggered a pace, finding Aswon's supporting hands holding her up.

"Come on, let's back off from here. Back to where things weren't quite as twisted." Kai led them off, back the way they had come, descending down the spine of the ridge and heading back towards the vehicle. The static and disruption to astral space abated in stages – the horrible harshness of the crater area within a few metres of the lip, then continuing to fade as they put distance between themselves and what they assumed was the source or cause of the problem.

When things felt more manageable again, they slowly and carefully lowered the body to the ground, and began a thorough medical check. Once some of the robes were drawn back, they could see the man was in a bad way, skin dry and sallow, gaunt and clearly malnourished and very dehydrated. The slowly poured water into the mouth, having to help manipulate the throat to trigger a swallowing action in the unconscious body.

Aswon went through the clothing, finding that the robes seemed to be well made and of decent quality, as were the sandals on the feet. Buried deep in the robes in an inner pocket was a book. About the size of his outstretched hand, the leather cover appeared to have been embossed with a hugely intricate geometric pattern. The pages were thin, and covered in dense flowing script with tiny margins, verse after verse of text filling its hundreds of pages. He examined the Quran closely, admiring the intricate stitching and detailing, the quality of the binding and fineness of the text, which looked to have been hand-written. He didn't have to assense the book to feel the sense of love the man held for it, it was evident just by holding it. Carefully he slid it back into the pocket, ensuring it was not snagged or damaged as he did so.

Kai and Shimazu finished their examination of the man and swapped notes, checking the diagnostic computer on the medi-kit as well to corroborate their findings. Water was his most pressing need, and they were working on that, then food. He had a number of readings that varied all over the chart, presumably a consequence of his malnourished state complicated by radiation damage. Short of a world class surgical suite, there was nothing they could do about that – he'd either sink or swim. His body was either strong enough to resist the damage from the radiation, or it wasn't, and the best – and only – thing they could do was to support him by replenishing his body's energy and giving him some broad-spectrum antibiotics to try and make sure he didn't fall prey to some other disease.

Aswon started to get to work on an improvised shelter, using materials and spears to make a lean-to against some rocks and casting shade onto the body, while Tads grabbed some material and fashioned herself some head coverings to make her more appropriate to a Muslim – if and when he recovered.

They waited, continuing to supply sips of water every thirty seconds or so, gradually rehydrating him without shocking his body, cooling him as best they could and monitoring his vitals. While they were observing him Shimazu kept looking at the body with a frown. He was sure he'd seen the face before somewhere, but couldn't place it. The more he looked, the more frustrating it was, and the best he could come up with was that he was someone important enough that he'd been featured in an article in something like "Bodyguarding Monthly" or "The Close Protection Expert", two journals he'd used to read on a regular basis.

Sixty three minutes after they had started to attend to him, the man's eyes fluttered, then cracked open. He blinked a few times, then tried to speak, his cracked lips splitting as he moved them. Kai and Shimazu helped him sit up, and offered him a drink of water, and he swallowed gratefully, letting the warm water flow into his body. When they lowered the cup, he swallowed, then took a moment to compose himself.

"Thank you. Where am I, and who are you people?"

"We're just explorers, out in the desert. We found you in a crater up along the ridge, fallen right to the bottom. No idea how long you'd been there, but we didn't want to just leave you there, so we've carried you down the mountain a little to check up on you." Kai had taken the time to darken his skin to something matching the man's skin tone, and had reshaped his face to be somewhat similar.

"Crater?"

"Yes, up the top there, there is a bomb crater. Full of radiation from some time ago, from the war we think. Very dangerous. So that's why we bought you down here, to get away from that. What are you doing out here in the desert?"

"I… I was on a vision quest. Seeking wisdom in the vast emptiness of the desert."

"And have you found enlightenment yet?" Kai took time to shape the question, making sure not to appear to be taking the situation lightly, but asking of apparent genuine concern.

"I'm not sure that I have found enlightenment, but I have found great kindness."

"Well, I'd like to think that you'd do the same for someone else. So let's get some more water into you, and rest you up a bit." He offered some more water, which was gratefully accepted and drunk. The man was still somewhat disorientated and clearly not well – his hands trembled when he tried to hold the water bottle, and a few spilled drops hung in his thick and bushy beard as he lowered the container.

"Thank you. May I ask, do any of you have a compass?" The team shared a somewhat blank look for a moment, then Aswon reached for the tablet and the GPS system. Before he could get more than halfway with unlocking the device and reactivating the map though, Tads had glanced at the position of the sun and the rocks, checked the time and done some quick mental arithmetic.

"North is that way." She held out her arm, arrow straight and spoke with a quiet assurance. Their patient nodded at her, then struggled to roll over, pushing himself to his knees and kicking off his sandals. Taking a bearing from Tad's arm, he aligned himself about seventy degrees to the south, then started to pray.

The team moved away a little to give him some space, taking the time to eat and drink themselves and just relax a little, packing away the med-kit and checking their supplies.

The prayers seemed to fortify the man a little – or maybe the time just allowed him to regain his faculties a little more. But when he had finished, he seemed much more aware about what was going on. When it was clear that he had definitely finished with his rituals, the team moved back towards him, with Kai and Shimazu asking to perform another check on him. Their quiet and professional examination seemed to reassure him, and though his vitals were much better than before, they were still clearly not normal, and he wasn't in a position to move.

Aswon spent a few minutes adjusting the shelter – clearly the man wasn't going anywhere, but they probably were, so he started to improve the shelter a little and removed their essential equipment, replacing the spear with a line that ran clear to the other side of the gully and tied onto a rock, a travelling cloak with a foil blanket from the med-kit and other tweaks to allow them to leave him in a decent shelter without losing any of their essential supplies.

When he was all done, he flopped back under the shelter himself, taking a long pull on his canteen. He'd spent too long in Europe and the cold north it seemed, and despite growing up to the south of here in much the same kind of environment, even he was feeling a little tired. He turned to their guest to ask him a question.

"Hello, I am Aswon. If you don't mind me asking, why are you here?"

"I come in search of truth, or perhaps in search of the right question. It was a feeling I had, a feeling of rightness. I set out to wander the desert, like many have done before to distance myself from distractions and those that would cloud my thoughts. I came to seek clarity, perhaps."

To the team, this made sense – they remembered finding the old guest house at Batumi and spending a night there forming their magical link and bonding to each other, and they couldn't imagine doing that in the hotel suite with Hunter, Marius and Nadia watching them – it just wouldn't be right. Sometimes you had to go into nature, and away from mankind to reach out and understand what was really going on. With what he'd said about being on a vision quest, that possibly made him a mage in the middle of the process of initiation, seeking to understand some higher mysteries of the world or gain access to arcane knowledge.

They waited a while longer, chatting about the desert and conditions out here, watching as the man regained his strength. After a while, Shimazu asked the man's name and then watched as his body language changed, becoming guarded and closed for a moment before he could deflect the conversation elsewhere. It was suspicious, making Shimazu even more curious about who he was, and where he recognised him from.

Aswon risked angering him, and actively assensed the man – trying to gauge his power and experience. He was magically active, but not as powerful magically as any of the rest of the team – it was amazing what having to escape captivity and then survive in the shadows for a couple of months did for the brutally Darwinian process of learning! But Aswon's quick probe didn't reveal anything that worried him and he was pretty certain the man didn't represent a serious threat to them. Even if he was a hermetic mage and had some powerful elementals that he could call upon, between Tads, Shimazu and himself they could easily handle most magical threats and he was sure that Kai could best the man with his taser given his weak condition.

Another hour passed, and the man appeared much stronger, thinking clearly and responding articulately to conversation. He thanked them profusely for saving his life, calling upon the blessings of Allah upon them. Tads wriggled slightly, not wanting to offend him but also being certain that the blessings of Elk was all she actually needed, thank-you-very-much. As the man spoke though, it became clear that he was a practiced speaker. Kai watched and listened carefully as he spoke, picking up on some of the basic techniques he used to steer conversations and to guide people. He also came across as a man of genuine faith, and even though none of the team followed his religion, it was hard to take offence at what he clearly believed was the right thing to do – even Tads.

They split up their supplies a little, providing him with water, food and some medicine designed to prevent nausea. The cleric thanked them again, shaking their hands warmly for their acts of kindness and generosity.

While he was distracted, Tads slipped behind the shelter and called the rock spirit to her, asking it to search for scorpions whilst avoiding other people. It disappeared into the ether, presumably searching through the desert for the creatures she sought. Coming around the front of the lean-to, she found the rest of the team all geared up and ready to go. It was a coin flip as to which way they went – north or south, and after a moment consideration they picked north, heading at a ninety degree angle to their original course, ensuring they wouldn't get any closer to the crater.

They crossed the ridge, and started to descend down the gentle slope of the gulley, Shimazu a few metres ahead, Tads and Kai behind him and abreast of each other, and Aswon bringing up the rear, forming a very loose diamond formation. They'd travelled perhaps a half kilometre down the gulley, seeing nothing but sand and rock when some sand shifted under Shimazu's foot and a skeletal hand grasped his foot.

They all saw the flare in astral space as his powers activated. His reactions peaked, dumping adrenaline into his system and his thyroid squirting a potent cocktail of drugs into his system as his fight or flight reflex was triggered. Before they even had a chance to speak, he was already commando-rolling to the side, sending a spray of bones into the air as they flicked off his foot, and when the roll was finished his sword was already in his hand, looking for a target.

A split-second later and they all reacted likewise, weapons raised, spells poised to cast and boar spear ready to impale anything that dared show its face. Nothing moved beyond a few grains of sand trickling into the hole as the wind blew, starting to slowly obscure the bones again.

Slowly their alarm dulled, and they relaxed when undead legions failed to erupt from the sand or ancient curses didn't attack them with magical power from subterranean ancient crypts. They moved in to examine the area, slowly and carefully – not ruling out some kind of delayed ambush. But as nothing untoward continued to occur, they finally relaxed and investigated more thoroughly.

Digging through the sand they found an entire human skeleton, picked clean of all the meat and soft tissue, wrapped in scraps and tatters of uniform. Just off to one side, buried slightly deeper was a tube or case of some kind, the plastic rot proof strap wrapped around the skeletal arm. They unearthed it with a little effort, pulling out the 125 centimetre long item and carefully brushing away the sand to reveal stencilled text.

"Gran dragon MGA Marca 5b" They didn't need to speak Spanish to realise it was a shoulder launched missile, and the "Great Dragon" system was a well-known line of self-guided warheads.

"Hey – should we look for identification and things? They're made of metal, normally, right?"

"I'm not sure we should report them as missing, Tads," Kai shook his head, "if they're military, then we're going to be dealing with either a nation or a mega-corp, and we don't want to get on the official notice of either!"

"No, I wasn't thinking of that – we could hand them over to Milo, Marius's friend, so he can use their real SIN numbers for his fake IDs."

"Oh. I hadn't thought of that. That's probably a good idea."

They dug down, finding a second, then a third skeleton, each a little deeper in the sand. It was hot and hard work digging, and Tads suggested that she try to cast her spells again like she had in the helicopter graveyard on Marius, trying to catalogue the area and determine if there was any items of value. When she tried to cast through, the disruption to astral space was strong enough that she couldn't quite achieve the effect she wanted, and she found it was still tiring to cast – especially after an already somewhat stressful day. She looked around the area, trying to assense the area to determine if there was anything to guide her search, but all she got from the area was a quiet sense of desperation and the crushing lack of hope given off by the former soldiers.

"After this, I want to go somewhere cold again," she said dejectedly.

They dug on a little further, finding the edges of a fourth skeleton, along with a battlefield PDA in a transit case, with an Aztechnology badge stencilled on the outside. The PDA was in standby, but still powered up, showing the last message received which was just a six digit number: 2. The rest of the messages were indecipherable, presumably being some kind of encrypted Spanish.

Other than the missile which had been physically attached to the skeletal remains, they found no weapons or ammunition, and wondered if the heavier objects had worked their way deeper into the sand. It didn't seem worth the effort required to go digging for them, and they decided to move on instead, gathering the bones back together and at least pushing them under a loose pile of sand.

"Hey Tads – haven't you got a spell to move earth? Wouldn't that have been easier?"

"Oh, yes, Shimazu." There was an edge to her voice, and Shimazu took a step back from her as she blew some stray hair out of her face and threw another shovel full of sand around. "I've got the spell formula, and that would have been EXACTLY the right spell for this situation. We've just not stopped in one place and had nothing urgent to do for long enough for me to learn the bloody thing!"

Shimazu gave a nod, then continued with his work, covering the last of the remains over with fine sand.

Tads gave a jump as her spirit appeared before her in astral space, reporting in that it had found the creatures they sought. When she asked where they were, the spirit described the crater they had already found – but on the far side to where they had been. She told the others and watched as they too considered the idea of walking around the rim of a nuclear blast crater and found it to be unpalatable. They'd have to get close to capture the creatures, that much was a given – but they wanted to limit their exposure as much as possible, which meant circling at a reasonable distance.

But the further out they were from the crater, the greater the circumference and distance they had to travel. The hundred and fifty metre walk around the crater lip would turn into a three kilometre trek up and down gullies at only a kilometre out, and at their current distance where astral space was still distorted and uneven was more like a six kilometre hike – probably with a fight at the end. Then a six kilometre trek back, carrying hopefully a stunned and docile pair of deadly scorpions, plus another kilometre back to the car, then some rough driving back to the chopper. That didn't sound like fun or a good idea to anyone.

They at least had a lead on the creatures' location now though – so perhaps it was time to head back, brief the others and think about moving the chopper and making a fresh attempt tomorrow. They headed back, retracing their steps and aiming for the shelter that Aswon had created. When they made it back, the cleric was still there, eating some food and sipping water, looking considerably better than he had been. As they came in sight, he gave them a beaming smile and a cheery wave.

"Hello my friends! I hope you have been successful in your explorations!"

"Hello there, good to see you looking much better. We've had a good explore actually, and we're heading back to our base camp now. Would you like to come with us?" The others looked at Kai as he made the offer out of the blue, wondering what was going through his mind.

"Thank you for the offer, but I feel my path lies elsewhere. You have renewed my body, as the trials have renewed my faith, and now I feel a call leading me that way." He gestured in a southerly direction, down one of the gullies.

"Well, fair enough then. As long as you're certain. But here – for when you're out of the desert, here are some contact details for us. When we're not exploring, we move things around, from place to place, quietly and efficiently. Maybe we can help you at some point." Kai passed over a card with his contact number scrawled upon it.

The cleric pocketed it, and gathered the supplies he had been given, then once more blessed them and their task, before starting to slowly walk down the slope to the south. As he did so, Tads muttered behind him.

"Elk watch over you." She wasn't sure that was how it worked, but if he was going to sincerely offer his thanks and support, calling on what he believed to be a higher force, then she could, and should, do no less for him. And a man determined to wander the desert alone, needed all the protection he could get.

Aswon quickly stripped down the shelter, gathering the supplies back up and splitting them out amongst the team, then they turned to the west and headed back towards the UAZ. They resupplied there, glad that they'd bought what they thought was surplus water and food with them. The inside of the UAZ felt like an oven, regardless of their efforts to keep it in the shade, so they had to wait a few minutes with the doors wide open, just to let the stifling heat dissipate somewhat. Once it was bearable though, they headed back down the ridge, heading for the gully containing the supply cache.

When they reached the cache, it looked just the same as when they had found it. This time it was Aswon that headed out on his own, heading for the small explosive pack. He checked the number sequence, and carefully entered the digits one at a time into the keypad. As he entered the last digit it beeped once at him, making his heart skip a beat, and then a green light appeared at the top of the device. A moment later, the cables released from the lock with a click as the mechanism retracted, and he was able to pull them clear and then carefully move the explosive package clear of the supply cache. With that done, he could wave the rest of the team in to investigate.

Testing the tap, they found the bladder was full of water – but as they let some run out in a plastic container they could smell that it was brackish and not potable. Clearly despite the anti-bacterial nature of the container it had been here for long enough that the water had become foul due to organisms present from the supply.

As they moved towards the supply boxes, they noticed Tads just standing looking at the bladder sadly, her arms wrapped around herself tightly.

"Tads, are you ok? Is there something wrong here?" Aswon looked at her with concern.

"It's sad. They were close. Really close. I don't know if they were good people or not, but they can't have been more than a kilometre or two away. And they ran out of supplies, and died. So close." Her voice had a quiver, and Aswon put his arm around her for a moment, standing in silence with her as he looked at the supply cache.

The others had been moving the boxes around, taking the two stacked on top and repositioning them on the ground next to the bottom layer, so they could open each in turn. The first box contained five assault rifles and five pistols, all sealed in plastic vacuum bags. They looked brand new, and though the brand was unfamiliar, they assumed it was from some Aztechnology weapons subsidiary. There were several large, heavy inner cartons in the box, containing hundreds and hundreds of rounds of ammunition. They did a quick count and some very rough maths and thought they had about two hundred rounds for each assault rifle and fifty for each pistol – give or take a few.

The other boxes contained a variety of ration packs, water stills, solar panels, pop up tents, sleeping bags, small first aid kits – a whole variety of equipment designed to make surviving in the desert not only possible, but effective and allow soldiers to survive and function as a unit. As they were looking through the things, Aswon came over and made a suggestion.

"That guy – he could certainly use some of this stuff? How about one of us heads back to find him, and gives him one of these small tents, a still, some of the survival gear? He'll have a much better chance with it?" Kai nodded and looked over the pile of gear.

"Sure, we came prepared, and this stuff really will help – but he's going to need something. Hey Tads – can you find him for us please?" Tads sat down and leaned against the water bladder, then vaulted skyward. It didn't take long to locate him – the bright white splot of colour against the otherwise dim desert, trudging southward. She worked out roughly where he was in relation to the ridge, then dashed back to her body. Flick.

"Ok, he's about two and a bit kilometres that way, still heading mostly southward." Aswon nodded, and grabbed one of the small daysacks provided in the supply cache, stuffing in the small tent, sleeping bag, and the other supplies they had separated out.

"Ok, I'll be back soon. Shouldn't take me long to run there and back, just make sure there's some water ready for me!" He gave a big grin, letting his fangs show as he contemplated really stretching his legs. With the bag slung over his shoulder, he got ready to set off, stopping when Tads tapped his shoulder.

"Just before you go, Aswon." She focussed on the astral link to her spirit, calling it to her. "This is Aswon, he needs to run somewhere – quickly. Please help him move through your domain, to take him to his destination and return. Should he be attacked by anything, please help keep him as safe as possible." The spirit rumbled its rocks together, then slow sunk down into the desert sand. A moment later, two large flat rocks rose up under Aswon's feet, giving him a solid surface to stand on. He smiled at her, then set off in a ground-covering lope. As they watched him, they could see the ground momentarily harden each time his foot descended, and it looked like when he pushed off, the ground rose underneath him, making him bound through the air.

Aswon accelerated, enjoying the sensation. With his long legs and fitness, he could run at over twenty kilometres per hour on a good day for some time. Now ever step he took thrust him forwards into long bounds. With the additional momentum, he felt like he was jumping through low gravity, and he had to adjust his gait slightly to make the most of it. As he did so though, the ground underneath him started to push him harder and harder with each step he took, and the bounds grew longer and longer. His lips pulled back with the sheer joy of it, and soon he was bounding from the ridge edge of one gully to another, covering metres with a single bound. The odd scorpion or lizard was disturbed by his passing, but as he accelerated past fifty kilometres per hour, there was no time for them to react to his presence. Two minutes later, he spotted the cleric and slowed, heading out wide to make sure he would be seen in the man's peripheral vision. As soon as he was spotted, he slowed some more, trying hard to run at a vaguely "normal" rate and not attract too much attention.

The cleric changed direction to come and meet him, and Aswon slowed to a halt, aiming for a rocky patch and letting the man close to meet him, hoping he wouldn't notice the change in the ground under his feet – or the desert spirit watching over him. Fortunately the cleric didn't seem inclined to examine him in astral space, instead just looking at him curiously.

"We got back to our vehicle, and found some spare supplies. Here, these should help your journey through the desert." He proffered the pack, and watched the man take it, examining the contents. As he turned towards Aswon, surprise evident on his face, Aswon decided to cut things short. "I know. I know. And you're welcome. Please, we don't need it, and you do. I hope your journey goes well, and I don't want to take up any of your time. Perhaps this is all part of your test or ordeal, I don't know." The cleric stood there, his mouth still open, then he abruptly closed it. Cocking his head to one side, he smiled at Aswon.

"I was searching for an answer on the future of this part of the world. Perhaps this is the future. Perhaps this is what I came here to seek." The smile suddenly vanished, and was replaced with an anxious look. Rather than getting into a philosophical debate or trying to reassure the man that he hadn't said anything he shouldn't have, Aswon just nodded and smiled, turned and ran off, trying to keep the speed down and reasonable until he was out of sight and then opening up the taps full bore.

Aswon veered slightly off course, enjoying the exaltation of bounding across the landscape too much. As he cleared one gully he startled some creatures, who immediately scattered in all directions. One of them bolted in the same direction as him, and he saw that it was an antelope of some kind – perhaps one of the ones the guy at the refuelling stop had mentioned. It was certainly fast, and it too bounded in massive leaps across the desert, all four legs coming together and thrusting powerfully, making the body describe a long and graceful arc. With the spirit assisting him though, Aswon proved to be as fast as it was, and he could see the animal watching him with one eye, ringed with white as it bulged in panic. It ran in the same direction for nearly half a kilometre with him, clearly concentrating on moving quickly, rather than away, and Aswon almost wished he was out back home on a hunt – this would make a fine catch for the tribe. Eventually though some tiny mote of intelligence managed to fire some neurons in the creature's brain and it abruptly turned a sharp left and zoomed away from him, springing across the dunes and rapidly opening the distance.

He slowed as the UAZ came into sight, and then stopped, his chest heaving and sweat streaming down his face, gratefully accepting a drink from Shimazu.

"That was fun. But package delivered and our friend is on his way south again."

They loaded up their new gear, and got back into the vehicle, then Shimazu carefully retraced their route, heading back towards the chopper. It was a little quicker on the return leg, as they could follow their tracks somewhat, and Shimazu had a lot more experience with cresting the ridges and spotting good crossing points, and they made it back to the chopper late in the afternoon. They found Hunter and Marius relaxing in the shade with the weapons laid across their legs, sipping at drinks, having clearly had enough of shovelling sand for the day.

They unloaded from the car, laying out the supply cache items they'd found just in front of the curious pair, while Tads found a good sized depression and set up the solar still to see how well it worked. Kai, Shimazu and Aswon grabbed additional drinks and chairs, then sat down near to Hunter and Marius, lining up against side of the chopper in the shade, telling them both about the discoveries for the day.

The sun continued its stately passage through the sky, dropping towards the western horizon as the team sat looking out over the desert, making plans for the following day.