“Shh, Hardesh,” Tania soothed, getting him to release his grip on me and pulling him farther into the cart.

But he kept shouting, “You have to forgive me.”

“I forgive you, Hardesh,” I said.

He nodded his head repeatedly as though I’d exonerated him from his greatest crime. But he wasn’t a criminal. He was the victim. Another victim of my father.

I tried not to let his words show their effect on me, but I was shaking.

My father thought Rodric was of the desert, chosen by the desert, and that’s why he deserved to rule. Well, I’d show him that the desert had accepted me too. It made me want to train all the more. Because once I was done with Rodric, I was going to face my father.

I would demand justice for his crimes. I wasn’t going to abandon him to the fate of the arena. I would deal with him personally. I would be the desert’s justice, mightier than any tiger.

Tania waved as the cart started to creak away, led by several of the Desert Boys. More boys raced to open a pathway set so deep back into the rocks I hadn’t even known it was there. They shoved away two wide sheets of metal that were so cumbersome, it took three boys to push each one aside.

“Safe travels,” Cion called as the carts disappeared into the sunlight that lay beyond.

When the boys pulled the metal sheets back into place, the cave felt even darker than it had before.

“Let’s go train.” Cion said.

As the rest of the boys were busy sorting out the new supplies the arriving caravan had brought, Cion and I slipped back through the tunnels. After getting a few sips of water, he picked up a yellow sun fruit from an open bag and cut small slits in the pointed joints sticking out from the bulbous center before tossing it to me.

“You’re going to need that,” he said.

“We’re heading to the shifting hills?” I asked as I peeled away the hard outer casing of my breakfast.

He nodded. “I think you can make the walk in the heat now.”

I swallowed my groan along with the sticky pieces of sun fruit. Now more than ever, I’d do anything I could to beat Rodric, so I followed Cion out into the blazing sun.

We encountered two different sets of guards on our way to the hills. We were able to easily slip past the first group by crawling over dunes while they were down in a valley several hills away. The second set made enough noise that we heard them before we saw them.

“If the king cuts off access to the wells, we’ll all be killed in the revolt,” one soldier said as Cion and I ducked into a dune’s shadow.

I looked questioningly at Cion. Cut off access to the wells? I wouldn’t put it past Rodric and my father. Not anymore.

“As long as we keep receiving extra water rations, I don’t care what the king does,” a second voice said. “My wife just gave birth to our second son, and I need all the water I can get.”