“No.”

The thief and the slave both froze at the word. It had not been loud, but it held a piercing quality in the cold desert night. The thief licked his lips and looked back and forth between his two apparent saviors in some concern.

“Eat nothing until sunrise,” she cautioned, sweeping a foot across the sand she had been drawing in a moment ago. Placing her own fish aside she turned and looked out over the desert.

“You must lay the bodies of the Ghuali and your friends also so that their feet face the rising sun.”

“My friends? Mistress I assure…” The thief began to object but Amria eyes, flashing in the firelight locked with the bandits for a long moment. Met began to shake and tore his eyes away with a visible effort and a prayer to Allah and a gesture to ward off evil. It took the two men the better part of half an hour to line the bodies up feet facing east. Severed limbs were piled atop of the corpse to whom they most likely belonged. 

“We have no salt, so we must use fire,” Amira said, drawing a burning branch from their small blaze and, after muttering a prayer, touched it to the Ghul furthest along the line. Like oil igniting at the touch of flame, pale tongues of fire leapt over the ghuls gray flesh. It spread in a slow chain from body to body, even the recently dead humans began to blaze with the same pale fire.

“Lord of Wonders,” the thief said reverently kissing at some sort of silver icon he kept on a hemp cord around his neck.

“There is something wrong in this place,” Amira declared as her nose wrinkled slightly at the smell of burning flesh. 

“Come, we must go.”

Without showing a moments hesitation the Sorceress led them out across the sands. The moon was bright and it was easy to find a way. For an hour or more they crossed the dunes until they reached a low sandstone bluff where she allowed her companions a few moments rest. Carefully she began running her hands over the sheer wall of sandstone.

“Master, what are you…” Rhaak began but as he spoke she pressed down on the stone and, to his amazement it slid away beneath her grip. There was a dry grinding sound as a large section of cliff, polished to perfection by the ancient camolgauge masters, slid to the side. A blast of musty fetid air rushed out to greet them.

“It will not be safe to travel by daylight,” she announced, “we will take refuge here.”

"Mistress..." Ma'kum began clearing his throat nervously.

"This is one of the tombs of the apostates, it is not safe to enter such a place."

"Stay if it pleases you," Amira said serenely, "Though I caution you against the daylight in this place."

[@POOHEAD189]