In the morning, after prayer, the caravan was moving again. A ceaseless routine of packing, sweating, eating, unpacking, smoking, sleeping. Rhys found it comforting. The suns were high and hot, but inside, the cart was hung with an organic drape that kept the interior bearable.

At dusk, three weeks into their journey, they came to Tejal where one of the families, Rafshan’s, said goodbye to the caravan.

Rhys took the man by the elbow and wished him well.

“Luck to your family,” Rafshan said. “And God go with you.”

“And with you.”

That night, Rhys slept well. He woke before dawn to pray with the other Chenjan and Tirhani men in the party and prepared for another day on the road. The heat was not terrible, so he traveled much of the way by foot, and rode for a time with Abhinava on his cart, trading stories about bacterial remedies and the most useful type of flesh beetle to treat burns.

At dusk, the caravan camped, and Rhys prepared to spend another night telling stories on the sand. He walked back to his family’s cart. It was strange not to hear Rahim wailing this time of day.

He pulled back the organic sheet that protected his family from the worst of the heat… and froze.

The cart was empty. Not just empty of people, but empty. Their belongings were gone, everything but a single pack he had brought for himself. His heart thudded loudly. Some terrible sound filled his ears.

Rhys walked over to Abhinava’s cart. The man’s wife and Elahyiah had spoken often during their weeks of travel.

“Have you seen my wife?” he asked her.

Abhinava’s wife shrugged. “I have not seen her.”

Rhys moved into the opening of the cart. The woman shrank back. “I will ask again,” Rhys said. “Have you seen my wife and children?”

“They got off at Tejal, after the caravan got underway,” she said. “I’m sorry. It was her right.”

“Her right?” Rhys said. “I am her husband.”

“Among my people,” the woman said, “it was her right.”

Rhys’s hands itched for his pistols. He backed slowly away from the woman. Tejal. Less than a day behind them. He would go there and find her. Bring her back. What madness was this? What was Elahyiah thinking, to betray him like that?

He walked to the popping fire to beg a caterpillar from the caravan leader. But as he approached the fire, he saw there was no one standing near it.

Three figures spoke in low tones several paces distant. He searched for the others.

“Rhys!” Abhinava called. “Arm yourself!”

“What?”

The attack was sudden, and fierce.

It took Rhys several breaths to realize what was happening. He heard three shots. Abhinava ran past him, shouting for his wife.

Rhys pulled his pistols and darted behind the nearest cart.