Minute

"Get down!" shouted Fulcher, tackling Schon to the bottom of the wagon. The spiraling whirl of a bola passed over where she had been standing as the pair clattered against the wood. Fulcher stood and looked behind him at the bandits that had been chasing the group for the last couple of miles. The wagon was slower than their horses, and they had gotten close enough to begin their attack. Akaj stood next to him at the end of the wagon with his sickle drawn.

"It is exciting, no?" he asked "Human bandits this far south!" Schon stood up with a groan, rubbing her head.

"Just get rid of them already," she said Fulcher looked behind him as Arrow began barking at the encroaching marauders.

"Vardia get us out of here!" he said.

"I'm on it, Sir! The clay gives way to sand soon. We can fight them at the top of a dune if we must," The Custodi responded.

"Better than open ground against cavalry," Fulcher said, aiming his fist at a nearby bandit. It fired an arrow from its shortbow, the projectile spiraling past Fulcher's cheek.

"Abyssal Black!" Fulcher shouted. Darkness poured from the ring, coating the air around the bandit and its horse. Confused shouting and a distressed neigh from the horse were all that remained as the bandit stopped riding to try to find its way out of the artificial darkness. Akaj held up his sickle in one hand, cutting from right to left through the air. From his blade an arc of fire came forth, crackling through the desert air and slamming into one of the other bandits, burning them off of their horse. Fulcher flinched at the violence, but he knew it was necessary.

It's them or us, he thought. They won’t hesitate so we can't either. The wagon shuttered as the ground beneath it shifted from clay to fine sand.

“Abyssal Black,” Fulcher said, drawing a dome around them with the darkness as they ground to a halt. The group leapt from the wagon and made their way to the dome’s edge.

“What's the plan?” Schon asked. Vardia turned to face them all, pointing behind him into the darkness.

“A few meters away is the dune. We'll fight our way to its peak and hold our ground there. Their horses will have trouble climbing the sand and they will be forced to attack us on foot, giving us the high ground,” he explained. The group nodded and readied their weapons as Arrow growled at something unseen.

“Ready!” Fulcher said.

“Go go go!” Vardia shouted. The group leapt through the thin layer of darkened night and back under the open sky. The bandits were circling the black dome, seemingly afraid to enter themselves. As the group ran out the bandits turned their horses and followed. Fulcher turned as he made his way through the sand, noticing a golden shine coming from each of the horse's hooves. Their horseshoes were shimmering with a golden light, and his heart sunk as he watched the steeds run on top of the sand without sinking in.

“They have some kind of enchantment!” he shouted. “We won't make it to the dune!” He turned and drew his sword as the rest of the group followed suit.

“Do not worry my Prince,” Akaj said. “I will take care of this in just a moment–”

The ground shifted beneath them before he could finish speaking. Each of the bandits’ horses reared on their hind legs and neighed, turning and scattering away from the area despite their riders’ commands. It seemed Arrow too had noticed what was wrong and turned to face towards the sand dune, letting out a low bark. Fulcher turned as well, trying to follow the wolf's gaze as a sinkhole began to form between where they stood and the dune. As the shifting sands created a depression, the entire party found themselves upon the edge of the new sinkhole, falling in one by one. Only Arrow found success in clawing back up to the top of the depression, turning and barking at the party below.

“What's happening?” Schon yelled.

“I don't know!” replied Vardia. Meanwhile Akaj simply laughed, turning fully to face the deepening sinkhole with his sickle ready.

“I have yet to find one of these!” He called out.

“One of what?” Fulcher shouted, spitting out a chunk of sand. His answer came quicker than he would have liked as the bottom of the sinkhole hollowed to reveal twitching mandibles and a churning maw. The sand began to swirl like a whirlpool, slowly dragging its prey towards the chittering mouth near the bottom. Vardia screamed, immediately dropping his weapon as he tried to climb back out again.

“What is that?” He yelled as Schon tried to climb after him. Fulcher was frozen in fear, only now realizing how close he was to the massive bug in the center. 

It looks like an ant lion, he thought, A massive ant lion! Akaj devolved into a cackle as he leapt deeper into the sinkhole, fire erupted from his body. Flames licked up his skin and blew out through the top of his hair as he clutched his sickle with murderous intent, landing on one side of the creature's mouth. The bug’s mandibles twitched and bent to try and grab Akaj, but with two quick cuts of his sickle the mouth parts were sheared off. An eerie screech could be heard from the creature has a second set of mandibles pulled themselves out of the sand, grabbing Akaj and pulling him in against the churning teeth. Fulcher watched in awe as the creature seemed to bite down on Akaj’s side, the teeth making no progress against the churning flames as Akaj simply laughed and tried to cut into it with his sickle again.

Before Fulcher could watch any more of the fight the sand that had been slowly dragging him down to his doom, stopped moving. With a golden swirl, his body was suddenly scooped up in a sort of dust devil, his feet finding themselves eventually planted at the brim of the sinkhole near Arrow. He watched as Vardia and Schon were also scooped up by similar dust devils, dragging them up to the top again and spitting them out along the side of the massive bug's trap. Vardia curled up into a ball hyperventilating as Schon coughed up sand, sitting next to him and patting his shoulder. Fulcher turned to look and found a man standing before him. He wore a black robe over his body and carried a curled and gnarled staff. The continued sounds of screeching and murderous laughter behind Fulcher were cut short by the man's words, his voice deep and booming through his hood.

“Why do you wander our deep deserts?”