Desert

Cerosi wrenched herself awake as something tore through the peaceful silence of the night.

Heart thundering, she cast about her for Kara and Zemirah. What had woken her up? It was silent again now - had it just been a dream? A sound from one of the other Desert herdmembers? Maybe some of the foals were up and roughhousing under the brilliantly full moon. Cerosi could hardly blame them; it was almost as bright as day beneath that rolling silver eye. She could not see any movement nearby, and as her nerves began to calm, she assumed Cain had scolded the rambunctious children. She let out a breath, and her eyes began to slip shut again.

No, something is still wrong.

Cerosi was suddenly awake again. There had been another sound, but a much different one, and it made her skin crawl. It sounded like footsteps in the distance, but… not hooves. Quiet little shuffles came unobstructed over a dune and into Cerosi’s ears, pressed forward to catch any noise. Her heart thudded. Something was wrong.

Cerosi extracted herself from her daughters and told them to stay put. Head low, she left the warmth of the herd and made her way toward the unsettling sounds. She was thinking of the first noise that had woken her up, which had been unmistakably a voice, but not one Cerosi recognized. It had been a yelp, she thought. Did it even belong to anyone in the herd?

A low dune rose before her, and Cerosi slowed her pace to a quiet crawl. Something was just beyond the ridge of dry earth, scrabbling and fighting with something. She could hear ragged breaths, and low growls, and claws against the hard, dry dirt. Every instinct was screaming at her to run, but she had to see what it was. She had to know, to protect her children, and Cain, and the others. She cast a brief glance behind her to see if anyone had followed, but before her eyes made it that far, a ripping snarl sent her skittering backwards down the dune. Eyes rolling, Cerosi hardly had time to see what had made the sound before she realized exactly how screwed she was.

At the top of the dune was a hulking shape, bathed in moonlight and clear as day. It was a dog. In its mouth was a shining pink bone, and it was looking at her.

It dropped the bone.

A few more furry shapes rose up behind the first, and their gleaming eyes bored into Cerosi like hot coals.

She ran.