A high-pitched screech rang out through the air over our heads. Tuupa skidded to a stop, looking up and whining. I followed her gaze. The storm was almost on top of us—and there was something else. Black dots, swirling around on the wind, darting in and out of the thick clouds.

“What are those?” I shouted over the roar of the storm. “They look like big buzzards.”

“Gamadas,” Nadin yelled back. “We need to get to cover, quickly!”

Thork and Tuupa seemed to understand the urgency. They plunged ahead, up the slope of the mountain, moving so fast my teeth rattled.

“That’s not just any storm,” Nadin called to me, her voice shaking—whether from Thork’s movements or her own nerves, I couldn’t say. “Gamadas travel ahead of sandstorms. If we can’t find shelter, we could get smothered.”

A huge bird streaked over my head, trilling. It was enormous, almost as big as the gurzas, and looked like a cross between a vulture and a pterodactyl. I clutched Tuupa’s reins even tighter.

The storm clouds were all around us now, and I could see what was coming. A massive wall of red sand, surging toward us at breakneck speed. The wind was thick with dust particles. They seeped between the breathing tube and my skin, crawling into my mouth and making me cough.

“Cover your face with your cloak!” Nadin shouted.

The gurzas began to slow their pace. I looked around frantically. I couldn’t see shelter anywhere—like the lava plain, the slope of the mountain was smooth and unmarred, a solid stone mass. The only rocks were far too small to provide any cover. We were sitting ducks.

Tuupa suddenly skidded to a halt, rearing up and squawking noisily to Thork.

“What do we do?” I called to Nadin.

She coughed loudly and yelled back, “I don’t know.”

Thork bucked so abruptly Nadin nearly lost her hold on him. Grasping wildly at the reins, she said, “What is it?” Thork merely bucked again, and this time she did fall, with a hard thud, onto the ground.

“Nadin!” I scrambled off Tuupa’s back, trying to get to Nadin’s side, but as soon as my feet hit the ground, Tuupa scuttled forward, herding me with her tail. The two gurzas corralled us between themselves. I crouched beside Nadin, who was already up on her knees. For a horrible moment, I thought the gurzas had gone berserk in the storm and were turning on us. Then they curled themselves around our bodies, Tuupa tucking her head beneath Thork’s massive tail and vice-versa, and I realized what they were doing.

They were shielding us.

They tightened the circle of their bodies around us, and just as the light disappeared completely, I felt the impact of the sandstorm hit. The gurzas whined softly as the wind and dust pelted them, but they did not move.