If Anyone Lives...

JP with Omni, Lorem, and Winteroak

Two days! Two days they had been pushing themselves onward despite the grueling conditions and lack. The hope of catching up with the caravan was a tease that kept them going, but also led to disappointment at the end of each night.

Traveling at night was the right call. It helped save them from enduring heat exhaustion, blistering sun exposure and quicker dehydration. During the hottest parts of the day they tried to rest as best they could in camp. At night it was the same, follow the stars Gonyaul had identified as their course before they lost the caravan.

It was turning from night to day. Soon it would be time to setup camp and hide from the sun. Usually they saw nothing but sand for as far as the eye could see; however, this time they noticed an old abandoned fort with signs of neglect evident everywhere. Sand was covering one of the stone walls completely.

Strangely enough the large wooden gate was still standing and closed...

Gonyaul looked to Voah. His movements were consistently lethargic from the fatigue. His voice was hoarse with dryness. “I think we can’t afford not to check it out?”

There was no disagreement from Voah. Any change in the environment would be better than continuing on into endless sands.

With weary eyes, she nodded at Gonyaul. She wasted no time in heading directly toward the fort. For two days she had endured the physical pain of her nasty dog bite, but it was also really wearing on her spirit. This wasn't the first time she doubted her choice to come out here, but they had already made it this far and there was no turning back.

"Shall we make for the gate? Or the wall?" she asked Gonyaul.

Gonyaul readjusted and shouldered their supplies. He was carrying the lions share because of Voah’s hurt arm. In addition, if they ran into trouble, it would be her skills and sword that was best equipped to handle the situation.

Gonyaul fell in step alongside her, now moving towards the structure.

“The gate. If anyone lives inside it would be kind to approach in full view to the entrance.” He suggested.

The two of them approached the gate, listening for any signs of life within. Voah did not expect anyone to make a home out here where there was nothing but dry and shifting earth, but she humored Gonyaul and gave it three good pounds to make her presence known.

The sound echoed across the small fort but no reply came.
The banging made the gate shift. It is not closed.

You push against its wooden frame trying to push it open against the piled up sand. On e you manage to wedge the doors open enough you squeeze through inside.

Out in the open in what was once a courtyard you see dozens of dried out human corpses and bones, dried and bleached by the sun, wind and sand.

In the centre of the fort you see that appears to be a well.

Voah's heart sank and so did she, to her knees. How she had hoped to be wrong. That there would be some residents to welcome them. Invite them in. And water... Cool, clean, fresh water. There was nothing here but death and ill omen. There was a well... but it didn't seem to have saved these people.

Gonyaul entered second, having to take off the supplies he was carrying in order to slip past the sliver of an opening in the door. He noticed Voah sinking to her knees in dismay and his attention immediately shot outward, following her line of sight, to see what was the cause. He blinked and paused in silence when he saw the unwelcoming sight for himself.

“This land does not agree with people.” He whispered in a voice that kept cracking and was punctuated by a sticky sound of saliva instantly drying.

He didn’t move from his spot. Even though he wanted to sit down, he was not convinced this place was safe to take repose in just yet. He scanned the surrounding interior with his gaze to see if there was any clues. He was not yet willing to venture further.

“What you think happen here?” Was this recent or ancient? Voah had more experience probably around such things as death and destruction than him and he wondered if she saw this from a different perspective than himself.

Unburdening herself of the traveling gear, Voah stood up and armed herself just in case there was any lingering danger.

Scanning the bodies, she tried to determine what killed these people and how long they had been dead. Could it have been the sandstorm? An attack? Could the well have been poisoned? She found herself wondering these things aloud.

“What happened here?”

Gonyaul likewise lowered the gear. It always felt like a gift to his sore muscles and sand rubbed skin to unburden himself. He kept hold the staff and followed Voah. Though dogs were able to disarm him easily enough, he could only imagine what an actual human opponent could do.

“Many reason maybe cause this?” Perhaps they died of thirst, hunger, maybe slain, etc.

“Perhaps they leave behind useful things, like flint?” He mentioned as he carefully made his way over to the well to take a look at the structure. On route to the well, he glanced to see if the sun bleached corpses were in possession of any items, such as cups, nearby which could hint at drinking the well water caused their undoing.

It was strange. Voah found comfort at the thought of a possible shelter in this graveyard and simultaneously dread at the thought of what could have caused them all to perish. For now she was glad to be able to find a place that wasn’t out in the open, had some shade and possibly useful supplies.

“Panolis please, let there be clean water…” she whispered with a voice that was dying of thirst.

Gonyaul frowned slightly. Dealing with his own discomfort and suffering was manageable; however, hearing it in the dry voice of his beloved made him wish he was more capable to improve her condition. He missed her lovely voice, the sparkle in her eyes, and the dancer’s grace in her movements. The beating their present circumstances and desert had unleashed, had them both reduced to a basic state of animated exhaustion and dwindling functionality.

Panolis was definitely one of the pillars he was not as familiar with. Though due to all their time together in regards to discourses on divinities, he was feeling more confident on his knowledge of the main five. He was also very pleased with his progress with language. Simultaneously he was grateful Voah was so intelligent; her picking up Vauxian sign language little by little was enabling them to talk even when their mouths were to parched to use.

Gonyaul continued moving from corpse, and bone pile, to the next in order to try and find anything of use. He was careful to use his staff to move or leverage anything. For it was unclear what caused the deaths, it very well could be some insect hiding inside or underneath a body.

He was nearing the well and making sure to keep checking to see how Voah was fairing.

The desert was such a new discomfort, it was like the opposite of Ypogeios. Bright, dry, open and abrading. Voah did not long to meet her end here, like these people. People who knew how to survive in the desert. How in Zin’s name were they going to make it?

Gonyual found Voah closely inspecting one of the corpses to see if she could determine what occurred in this place and whether they carried anything useful on there person.

They had very little experience with the desert to ascertain how long these bones and remains had been here, but they could determine that they were not fresh kills. They could've been here like this for a year or decades.

The well looked sound from where they were.

Seeing nothing else of value, nor anything indicative of how the locals died, Voah and Gonyaul made the well their next priority. They made their way over to see if any life giving contents remained. Looking around them, Voah thought the fort seemed almost like it was meant to keep people in, like a prison of some sort.

Gonyaul looked silently to Voah and ran his hand through his hair in frustration; sand came falling out all over his shoulders. He couldn’t see or locate nearby anything to actually draw water up from the well. If there even was water in the well for that matter.

“This well missing rope and bucket. Perhaps they around here somewhere.” He pleaded to himself with hope.