By now, the wind was lifting great sheets of sand from the crest of every dune and I was glad to retreat down the dune and under the blankets. The others were struggling to tie them down, and since it was now impossible to talk over the screaming of the wind, I farsought them to tell them Ahmedri’s instructions. Gahltha immediately suggested that the blankets be tied to him and to the other horses to anchor them. I passed this on to the others and though it was hard to manage in the dark, shutting our mouths and eyes against the scouring wind, finally we had the last blanket secured. All of the blankets were flapping wildly, and the air was full of dust but we were protected from the worst of the sand.

The horses were arranged around the rest of us in a horseshoe shape, with Dragon, Maruman and Descantra at the protected end, Dameon in the middle and Analivia, Swallow and me huddled at the open end, which was weighted down with all of the packs. It was very hot and hard to breathe, but all I could think of were the others, who had no blankets to block out the choking sand.

Then the storm hit us with a hissing hum as if a million sand grains brushed against one another. In an eyeblink, it went from dark to pitch black and then the cloth began to be weighed down by sand. After a time the air grew foul, but there was nothing to be done about it, for if we opened a gap, the wind would use it to tear our thin refuge away. We were all terribly thirsty, but it was impossible to find the water bottles without dislodging the packs. Dameon managed to press us little sap-like balls of the dark stuff that Ahmedri had him stirring for hours, shouting to us not to swallow them else we would be sick. The bitterness of them took my breath away, but then my mouth grew numb and the thirst that had been tormenting me became bearable.

I willed the storm to end, but it did not end. Finally we had to open our makeshift tent to let in fresh air. Immediately, choking sand swept in, but Swallow, Analivia and I kept a grim hold on the blanket and were able to wrestle it down to the ground and lie along it to close the gap, and once the dust had settled, the air was sweeter.