Page 1 of Blood of the Sands

Prologue

Keera

The desert held her breath. She’d been my only companion for many years, and I knew her rhythms like I knew my own heartbeat—the swish of the burrowing owl’s wings and the brushing of wind over sands. While the desert seemed quiet to many, it was a symphony to those who knew how to listen.

Now, she fell quiet. Even rustling of the date palm leaves had ceased and the back of my neck prickled with awareness. Something deep in my belly stirred—something that had been dormant for so long I thought I had imagined it, not yet awakening but shifting.

The desert was waiting, and I stood with her on the precipice.

Something was coming.

Chapter One

THE VIPER

Sparks danced through the air as the blade of my saber clashed against my opponent’s. My blow was stronger than his, knocking his sword out of the way. He switched directions quickly, blocking my next strike before it could land.

The Lord of Clan Ratan wanted a battle with the Viper, so that is what he would get.

I pressed forward in a flurry of strikes, driving him back toward the edge of the circle of people watching us fight. His arms shook as he blocked my blows—he was growing tired.

Even as his movements became sluggish, his technique saved him from several strikes, speaking to the skills that allowed him to become Lord of Clan Ratan. I gritted my teeth at the show of his talents. He would have been useful in training the riders of the combined clans if he hadn’t gotten it in his head to challenge me to a duel of honor.

Such duels could only end one way.

Finally, the lord made a mistake, and I struck with a flick of my wrist. My opponent landed on his knees, saber dropping to the sand beside him. As the tip of my blade pressed into the space below his breastbone, not penetrating him but clearly showing my victory, he snarled up at me.

I stared back down at him in a mix of triumph and frustration. Battle had amplified the voice of the desert in my head, her power pounding through my veins. With magic coursing through me, begging for blood, it made gritting out my question difficult.

“Will Clan Ratan bow to Lord Alasdar and Clan Katal?”

“Over my dead body,” sneered Lord Einil.

It was a challenge, the lord mocking me. Duels in the Ballan Desert were to the death, and sparing your opponent was seen as a dishonor to both parties. My hesitation to end his life had not gone unnoticed, but I had no honor left to risk.

Before I could move, Lord Einil fell forward onto my sword, impaling himself on the blade. I hissed but did not pull away, staring into his face as the life drained from his eyes. My blood boiled at the waste of such a worthy warrior, one who could have been useful in saving the desert, but I leashed my anger through force of will.

The clans had to be united, and Lord Einil had left me no choice. He challenged me to a duel of honor as the condition of Clan Ratan’s allegiance, and a true warrior of the clans could not refuse such a challenge. The shouting of the desert in my mind reminded me of the urgency of my task.

With a decisive movement, I yanked my sword free of the corpse, and it teetered on its knees for a moment before collapsing to the ground. A hush had fallen over the surrounding crowd, but nobody protested my actions. The clans of the Ballan Desert understood power above all else.

I turned toward a young woman at the edge of the crowd, Einil’s daughter, who would now serve as lord of the clan. Leadership in the clans didn’t necessarily pass from parent to child, with riders of the Ballan Desert valuing power over blood. The way every member of the clan turned deferentially to her though told me she had been groomed to have the strength to lead.

“Lord Alasdar will expect Clan Ratan to join him within a fortnight.”

“I will see it done, Viper.”

The way she spat my title spoke of more insult than respect, but I paid her tone no mind. It didn’t matter what anybody thought of the masked warrior, Lord Alasdar’s Viper. I had been tasked with restoring the desert, no matter the cost. If my penance should be the hatred of the clans, then so be it.

I wiped the blade of my sword on the sand, and the shouting of the desert in my mind quieted to a whisper. As the crimson melted into the golden dune, I looked up to the sky, the rays of the sun moving quickly toward the horizon, piercing the openings around the eyes of my mask and heating the stifling metal against my skin. I drank in the rare moment of clarity that came after a fight, grateful to be able to hear my own thoughts where so often they were drowned out by the overwhelming crush of magic.

My saber was clean enough for now, and I sheathed it across my back with a sigh. I was envious of the blade—it didn’t have to think about its existence until it was brought out to draw blood, put away with no worries until the next fight. I needed to make my way back to Lord Alasdar.

I walked through the crowd, and they parted like water to let me through, no one daring to come too close. We were already near the edge of Clan Ratan’s encampment where my horse waited for me.

Alza tossed her head as I approached, throwing her glossy black mane into my face. At least she was happy to see me, greeting me with a low whicker. I spared her a pat on the forelock before vaulting onto her back and spurring her on with a squeeze of my knees. She picked her own pace across the sands, and I didn’t bother to direct her with my heels at her sides. The desert was pleased with me today and wouldn’t let me wander long before she offered place to rest.

The dunes flew by, familiar only in their ever-changing ways, the landscape shaped by the wind to be something entirely different, even though I had passed this way earlier in the day. An oasis appeared in the distance, and I directed Alza toward it with a nudge. The sight of date palms rising out of the greenery indicated that this oasis had at one point supported a clan’s encampment, and they had cultivated the trees to protect the water source from the wind and sands, making it a lasting haven for travelers. I could camp there tonight and let Alza drink her fill before rejoining with the rest of the clan tomorrow.