Mik came to lying on a mat made from some kind of strange hide. The cave was dark, with just a slight blue glow from the dying embers of the fire illuminating the area.

Mik sat up and looked around. Darryn was leaning against the wall on the other side of the cave, his hat pulled low over his eyes. Honor and Rocky were both lying on a couple of mats near the fire, the Steeleyes sprawled out comfortably with her limbs in all directions and the Gath laying flat on his back. Eralis was laying in an uncomfortable position in the back of the cave, bound at both wrists and ankles now. 

The song pilot slowly got to his feet, eyes scanning the barren cave for any signs of food. His stomach was growling like a Legunan Cave-cat. 

Seeing no food in the cave, Mik decided to try looking outside. He carefully made his way across to the entrance, trying not to wake the others, and pushed one corner of the hide covering to the side. 

A beam of light entered the cave and Mik caught his breath as a blast of hot air hit him in the face. He caught a glimpse of a red sun setting behind a distant outcropping before he quickly dropped the covering over the scene, cutting off the light and heat. 

Honor groaned and rolled over, and Darryn shifted positions, but neither of them woke up. Mik pondered the situation. It was blazing hot outside, but he was pretty sure he’d caught a whiff of something cooking in the brief moment the door had been open. He felt as if he hadn’t eaten anything in days. 

For all I know, that’s how long I’ve been asleep.

Mik fingered the edge of the hide flap, considering how far it might be to the next cave. He remembered seeing how many caves there were when they’d arrived, but he had no way of knowing which one of those caves they were now in. Or which cave has the food in it. 

His stomach was growling. It couldn’t be that far to the next cave, right? He’d only seen one sun, and it was going down. It had to be cooling off a bit, right? 

Mik took a deep breath, grit his teeth, and pushed through the hide flap. 

He immediately regretted his decision. The sun was going down, but it still felt like stepping into an oven working at full blast. Mik tried not to scream as the heat raked across his skin. He staggered back, eyes closed against the red glare and tried to find the cave entrance. His hands hit rock instead. 

He stumbled along, feeling the wall, searching for the opening. Any opening. He couldn’t breathe, the air was too hot.

He collapsed against the wall and suddenly found himself stumbling through a hide covering and into another cave. Mik collapsed on the floor, coughing and gasping for breath. 

There was a startled yell, and Mik realized this cave was occupied. Anaka’s young assistant jumped up from where she was sitting next to a fire, staring at him in shock. She said something in the tribal language. 

“Sorry,” Mik coughed. His mouth felt dry. “That was stupid.”

The girl grabbed a waterskin and rushed over, offering it to him. Mik eagerly grabbed at it and began gulping down mouthfuls of cool water. 

“No go out before suns sleep!” the girl shouted. 

“No kidding.” Mik coughed and looked down at his hands. “Oh boy, am I going to have a nice sunburn!”

The girl pulled him to his feet and ushered him over to the fire. “Sit. Rest. Stay here.” 

“Thanks.” Mik sat and closed his eyes, enjoying the cool feeling radiating off the flames. 

The girl checked him over for a second, then whacked the back of his head. “Stupid!” 

Mik winced. “Yeah. Yeah, it was.” He took a deep breath, then looked up at her. “Do you have any food? I’m starving.”

She sighed and walked across the cave, rummaging through some belongings before returning with a bowl containing some kind of meat. “Here. Eat.”

“Thank you.” Mik took the bowl and gave her a smile. “I’m Mik.”

“Aureth.” 

“Thanks, Aureth.” Mik started eating. The meat had a strange taste, but for someone who hadn’t eaten in at least a day it was delicious. “I saw you last night, right? With the healer?”

“Narerta. Yes.” 

He paused, not certain he wanted to know, but needing to ask. “How…how’s Jax?”

“Jax is warsick one?”

“Yeah.”

“Is resting.” Aureth stood up and went to tentatively check the hide covering. “Narerta say he will be alright.” 

Mik felt a huge surge of relief and the tension he didn’t even realize was there until now left his shoulders. “Thank goodness…”

She gave him a curious look. “He is warrior brother?”

“You could say that.” 

“You not look like warrior.”

“Gee, thanks.” Mik laughed. “I really needed that shot to my ego.”

Aureth looked perplexed. “I not understand…I offend you?”

“Forget it. It was stupid.” 

She looked as though she understood this. “Yes, stupid. Like going out before suns sleep.”

“Yeah.” Mik coughed. “Definitely won’t be doing that again.”

She shook a finger at him. “You lucky big suns already gone behind rock shadow. They burn you good!”

“And their little brother didn’t?” Mik shook his head. “Remind me if I ever feel like doing something that stupid again.”

“If I see, I will smack you again.” Aureth peeked outside again. “Sun be nearly gone now. Soon we can leave.”

Mik made a move to get up and groaned. “If it’s all the same to you, I might just stay here for a while.”

“Not in my cave!” Aureth came back over and pulled Mik to his feet. 

“Ow!” He protested, but she shook a finger at him again. “Burns need treating. I take to Narerta, and she smack you good for be so stupid!”

“Ok, ok!” Mik moved towards the door. “You win, I’ll go.”

Aureth poked her head out of the cave, then pushed the covering aside. “Is dark now.”

“Thank goodness.” Mik stepped out onto the walkway and looked around. He could see a few more members of the tribe beginning to make their way out of their caves as well. 

Aureth sniffed the air and frowned. “Must hurry. Bad smell in air.”

“I don’t smell anything.” Mik looked around. “Except for something cooking.”

“Is not that.” She looked concerned. “Is something….Yorek. I not know this word.” 

Mik looked out across the desert. “I don’t know what yorek means…but I don’t like the look of that cloud.”

Miles away, across the white sand that was just beginning to sparkle in the rising moonlight, a huge storm was brewing, already blocking out the distant ridge the sun had set behind. Mik could make out lightning flashes deep within the cloud, and distant rumbles of thunder could just barely be heard. 

It was the biggest storm Mik had ever seen. And it was coming their way.