Reaching the red desert

The group sailed on the golden hind atop the clouds toward the eastern continent to meet up with the djinns. As they flew over the Qajar shahdom, they saw the entire nation in a blaze, torn down by a civil war caused by the zealots. Villages burned and people held bonfires where they burned themselves for their dead god.

"Not such a great leader now that Burzin. Leaving his people behind as he flies atop his flying fortress," Amala said who had a completely new perspective on the shah.

"We don't know that yet," Rufus said back.

"Oh, he is not much of a ruler. He inherited the iron feather from his grandfather who was a devoted servant of Xerxes. When a berserk war pack came to ravage Isra, the grandfather of the shah rallied his forces and held them back before Xerxes finally came and destroyed their leader. He was designated as the guardian of Isra and with the blessing and aid of Xerxes, the flying fortress was constructed. Now, the current shah just loafs around in his paradise of a ship, being fed grapes and dates, letting the fanatics take control slowly," Zara explained the past.

Suomi then woke up, coughing up dead locusts. Satifa laughed as she was already a bit tipsy and drinking the fine wine that she had bought from Ctesiphon.

"You bitch!" Satifa yelled in anger.

"Calm down. The locusts are harmless. See," Satifa said and summoned one locust on the shoulder of Suomi.

She immediately yelled and screamed like a girl. She swatted away the locusts and brushed off entirely the part where the locusts had stood.

"I CAN'T STAND BUGS!" Suomi yelled, lightening the mood a bit on the golden hind.

The group laughed as they continued to sail on the golden hind.

~~

They flew over the sea of Horimis and soon they approached the eastern continent. The closer they got the harder it was for Yosef to steer as the strong winds pushed the golden hind down. They started to cough as sand was being blown into their faces and their mouths. The sandstorm the djinns had created was powerful, that they had to land soon.

"Where is the harbor you told us about?" Doreen asked Zara.

"Well about that. You see, there are permanent places that intelligent beings occupy, on the eastern continent other than the city of secrets. So you kind of have to dock it here on the coast," Zara said who seemed to be a real scatterbrain.

"Yosef look!" Rufus said and pointed down," There are caves on the coast. Could you dock the golden hind in one of them?"

Yosef nodded and carefully navigated the golden hind toward the caves on the coast. He expertly guided the ship into a large cave that was sheltered from the winds and sand. The group disembarked and looked around the cave. It was dark and damp, but it provided good shelter from the storm.

"We should make camp here for the night," Rufus said.

"Will the sandstorm subside ever?" Doreen asked Zara.

"No. It is to protect the djinns from any possible otherwordly invaders. But you can safely travel under it as the sandstorm only blows dangerously high above where gravity ships would usually fly," Zara explained.

~~

The next morning they climbed out of the cave and onto the land atop. The earth was covered with red sand and visibility was bad because of the constant sandstorm, but as Zara said, it was obstructing them at all.

"So which way is the city of secrets?" Doreen asked Zara.

"Well, the thing is that the city is a city of secrets for a reason. Even we djinns do not know exactly where to find it," Zara explained, laughing, making the entire crew trust him even less. It seemed they had gotten the most scatterbrain djinn as their guide.

"But it is said that the city is to appear to those who desperately needed the most," Zara then continued.

"I don't understand?" Doreen said.

"Well, we djinns are encouraged during our pilgrimage to set out into the desert, and eventually the city of secrets will save us," Zara said casually.

"Wow....we really picked the djinn who literally has a birdbrain," Joan said.

"Isn't that considerate racist?" Yosef asked.

"Nope. I consider it in this case anatomically accurate as most likely she can turn her brain into a bird's brain," Joan explained.

"Fair point."

Rufus then stared at the red desert.

"No use of being here. Let's get going," Rufus ordered.

"Sounds suicidal, BUT. it's not like the first time we have done that," Edward said and was the first to follow Rufus.