Chapter 170

  A crowd of villagers formed around us, and the story was spilled out from many voices. Something that dwelt in the sand hills around the villages of the area, that rose unpredictably to eat man or beast. They had become trapped within the small area of their fields and villages, and the monsters grew bolder, coming closer in search of prey. They feared it was just a matter of time until they were attacked within village and home.

  "Why it couldn't be something on the surface, I don't know," the woman complained. "How do we trap and kill something that is under us?"

  The scarfed man met my eyes. We knew how to trap and kill something underneath us – with bait.

  We began the laborious walk out into the sand hills, the ground slipping away from beneath us, and the sand ranging from hot to burning.