Desperation

Islana - You continue east trudging across the blistering hot dunes, the midday sun beating down on you terribly, as if cooking clay inside a kiln.

There are no signs of water anywhere you look or walk, however you know you could easily have passed a waterhole hidden in the sands and be none the easier.

You notice that Kaithak circles in the sky above you become wider and wider. A group of around three or four large black feathered birds with naked heads seem to be following you as well, circling closer and closer to your position.

At some point during the day, you eat the last of your rations. No water and now no food leaves you in a very precarious position.

Later that evening as you look for a place to settle for the night not knowing if you will watch another sun rise, you catch the glimpse of a small lizard like creature peering at you from the top of a nearby dune.