"He was once a man, but now he's a god-the god of death, murder, and tyranny," Lander answered.

"In the desert, he is called N'asr," Bhadla explained.

Musalim nodded thoughtfully, as if the god's involvement explained everything.

"The Bedine claim N'asr is the sun's lover," Bhadla continued. "The sun, At'ar, forsakes her lawful husband every night to sleep in N'asr's tent."

Lander ran his fingers over the blisters on his sunburned face. "I don't doubt it," he said, squinting up at the sky. "She certainly seems brutal enough to be Cyric's lover."

"Perhaps N'asr, er, Cyric has sent the Zhentarim into the desert to kill At'ar's husband," Musalim suggested. "Jealousy has caused many murders."

Lander chuckled. "I don't think so, Musalim. In this case, I think they're after gold."

"Gold?" Bhadla queried, perking up. "There's none of that in Anauroch, is there?"

"They're not looking for gold in the desert," Lander explained. "They're going to carry it across the desert." He pointed westward. "Over there, two thousand miles beyond the horizon, lies Waterdeep, one of many cities of great riches." Next, he pointed eastward. "Over there, five hundred miles from the edge of the desert, are Zhentil Keep, Mulmaster, and the other ports of the Moonsea. They serve as the gateways to the ancient nations of the Heartlands and to the slave-hungry lands of the South."

The two D'tarig frowned skeptically, and Lander guessed that the desert-walkers were having trouble imagining a world of such scope. "In the center of all these cities are six-hundred miles of parched, burning sands that fewer than a dozen civilized men have ever crossed."

Musalim picked up a handful of sand and let it slip through his fingers. "You mean these sands?"

"Yes," Lander confirmed. "And whoever forges a trail through this desert controls the trade routes linking the eastern and western sides of Faerun."

"There you are mistaken," Bhadla said, his eyes sparkling with faintly kindled avarice. "The land surrounding the desert belongs to the D'tarig, so we will control this trade."

"If you think the Zhentarim will honor your territorial rights, you are the one who is mistaken," Lander said. "When the time comes, they will find a way to steal your land."

"You underestimate us, Lord," Bhadla said. "The Zhentarim may have cheated many in your land, but they cannot beguile the D'tarig." As if he had said all that needed to be said on the matter, the guide turned to Musalim. In D'tarig, he asked, "Have you returned all you took from the Bedine?"

"Yes," Musalim answered, a note of melancholy in his voice.

Bhadla turned back to Lander, then took the Sembian's arm and tugged him toward their camels. "Come, it is time for us to ride."

Lander refused to budge. "I'm waiting for the Bedine."

"If they have not come by now, they are not going to," Musalim said. "They are a shy people, and the survivors of what happened here are certain to be more so."

"There are two more oases within two days' ride," Bhadla added. "Perhaps another tribe will be camped at one of them."

Lander's stomach tightened in alarm. "Where are these oases?"

Bhadla pointed in the direction the Zhentarim had taken after destroying the camp last night.

Without speaking a word, Lander started toward the oasis pond, where the camels were tethered. Previously he had been puzzled by the Zhentarim's quick departure last night. Now he realized they were trying to reach the next tribe before it learned of the slaughter at this oasis.

When Bhadla and Musalim caught up to him, Lander glared at the guides. "Why didn't you tell me about the other oases earlier?"

Bhadla shrugged. "I would have, if you had told me we were being watched."

Irritated by the D'tarig's reply, Lander quickened his pace. "Don't fill more than three waterskins," he snapped. "We'll have to ride hard to beat the Zhentarim to the next oasis, and the extra weight will only slow us down."

Musalim pointed at the haze on the southern horizon. "But, Lord, we may need a lot of water. That storm could force us to stop for several days!"

"We're not going to stop because of a little rain."

Bhadla snickered. "Rain? In Anauroch?"

"That's a sandstorm!" added Musalim.

The trio reached the camels a moment later, and the beasts lowered their heads to the water for one last drink. Lander undid the tethers of his mount, then paused to look southward. The haze was creeping steadily forward, streaking the sapphire sky with gray, fingerlike tendrils.

"I don't care if it's a firestorm," the Sembian said. "It's not going to stop us."

In the end, the D'tarig insisted upon filling six waterskins, but at Lander's direction, they agreed to push their camels along at a trot. The trio covered more than a dozen miles by early afternoon, and the sands paled to the color of bleached bones. The dunes changed orientation so that they ran east-west and towered as high as five hundred feet. Lander was glad their path ran parallel to the great dunes rather than across them. The Sembian felt sure that scaling one of the steep, shifting slopes would have been as hard on the camels as trotting for an entire day.

The dunes' great size did not make them any less barren. The only sign of vegetation was an occasional parched bush that had been reduced to a bundle of sticks by an untold number of drought years. Even the camels, which usually tried to eat every stray plant they happened upon, showed no interest in the desiccated shrubs.

The storm crept closer, obscuring the sky with a haze that did nothing to lessen the day's heat. The blistering wind, blowing harder with each passing hour, felt as though it had been born in a swordsmith's forge. On its breath, it carried a fine silt that coated the trio's robes with gray dust and filled Lander's mouth with a gritty thirst that he found unbearable. Soon he was glad his guides had insisted upon filling extra skins, for he found himself sipping water nearly constantly.

Bhadla slowed his camel and guided it to Lander's side, leaving Musalim fifty yards ahead in the lead position. The D'tarig always insisted upon riding a short distance ahead to scout. Lander did not argue, for it spared him their constant, inane chatter.

"This is going to be a very bad storm, Lord," Bhadla said. "I fear that, when it grows dark, we will have to stop or lose our way. There will be no stars to guide us."

"Don't worry. I will always know which direction we are traveling." He purposely did not tell his guide about the compass he carried, for he suspected the D'tarig would steal such a useful device at the first opportunity.

Bhadla shook his head at his employer's stubbornness. "It may not be as important to beat the Zhentarim to the next oasis as you think," he said. "Bedine scouts range far. They probably know of the Black Robes already."

"If what you say is true," Lander countered, "why did the tribe at the last oasis perish?"

The D'tarig frowned, then shrugged. "Who can say? But we will do no one any good if we lose our way and die."

"You really don't understand what's at stake here, do you?"

"What is there to understand?" Bhadla asked. "The Zhentarim are trying to cross the desert, and the Bedine are in their way."

"There's more to it than that," Lander replied. "The Zhentarim need the Bedine to open their trade route. Merchants can't survive in the desert alone, and the Black Robes know that. They need the Bedine for guides and caravan drivers. What the Zhentarim want is to enslave the Bedine."

Bhadla laughed. "Enslave the Bedine? They would find it easier to cage the wind."

"The Zhentarim have caged things more powerful than the wind," Lander noted flatly, then took a sip of water. "If they approach the desert tribes in the same way they have approached villages all over Faerun, this is how the Bedine will fall: The Black Robes will approach the sheikh in the guise of friendship and offer him a treaty. Once he agrees, they'll find a pretext to invite his family or other important tribe members into their camp. The Zhentarim will not permit these guests to leave and will use them as hostages to guarantee the tribe's submission. They will send agents, whose job it is to report murmurs of rebellion, to watch over the tribe. Before they know it, the Bedine will be subdued."