Tale of Death

Chapter 7 - Suna Desert

It has been around 5 days so far and the carriage Shi was in traveled in the intended direction, they had to pass through a traitorous desert, which Shi learned from the driver was called Suna Desert.

Apparently, it was the largest desert in the world of Shinseina, so widely stretched that it would take weeks to fully travel from one end to the other in a straight line. It was such an extremely hot piece of land covered in sand and stone for as far as the eye can see, inhabited by even more dangerous creatures than the forest near her village.

Shi's body would shake in her seat from the bumpy road they traversed, it was simply made from stone and sand, with the wheels even getting stuck sometimes. But this didn't bother her all that much, after all, she was getting a cheap ride, so, her eyes gazed out into the vast Desert.

All she saw were massive mounds of sand and rocks, dunes of sand, hiding who know what under it. The only sight that Shi found unusual, was that of a wagon parked by the side of the stone road. The horses which normally led the wagon were missing and its crew sleeping on the sand, Surely they must know that this is dangerous? Especially on the open road, it was just too strange.

"Excuse me, do you know what happened with them, Mister?" She leaned forward over the wooden board that blocked the back of the wagon and asked respectfully to the gruff driver.

Shi had spoken to him little over the last 5 days, and he seemed to be a kind man, if not somewhat grumpy at times. He was a short man, and Shi assumed he was a dwarf because of his build, she knew what a dwarf was because she saw then often in her village.

He still looked the same as he did over the past days, with a beer-stained beard, and swollen eyes from the lack of sleep that driving the wagon for days on end brought. His hair was short and grey, matching his older hardened face.

"Vultures~" The man indicated looking up at the sky above the wagon where the huge winged meat-eaters lurked in wait for their prey below "Must've been attacked while on the road." the driver finished his grumbling.

Shi was in a moment of shock, she realized the people on the sand weren't sleeping at all, they were rotting corpses. Even the wagon showed signs of being burnt and broken which she hadn't noticed before due to the angle and distance.

As they passed the wagon, she got a better view of the bodies, five disfigured bodies lay on the sand. Some were covered with sand due to winds, but all had the same disgusting look to them. Their eyes, stomachs, or even limbs missing, their bodies infested by scores of maggots embedding themselves into the corroding flesh, thankful for a new meal. They were dead a while from the look of it, all the blood gone, which was why she thought they were sleeping.

As they passed a vile stench overtook Shi. Her eyes swelled with tears as they burnt from the smell, the smell of death, decay - The true horrors of the world. She was holding back her tears along with her vomit, she was downright sick that someone could do such a thing to five men and even women, it just goes to say how some people are twisted and corrupted.

The driver kept going not seeming to be bothered by the sight, leading the carriage through the dunes of the desert, as he would normally do. He seemed all too used to this, to death, he didn't even worry or felt sorry for those people that were dead, or at least he showed no signs of that.

Shi decided to ask him why, so turning her head from observing the wreckage in the distance now passed, spoke "Mister, why don't you seem fazed by the fact that those people were dead back there?"

"You see kid when you've been on these roads for as long as i have, you just get used to it after time. These roads~ no matter fact, this world is a dangerous place. Monsters and bandits all waiting to kill you, and even the environment tries to kill you sometimes." The old man said in a narrative voice like he was reading a book.

Shi didn't know how to respond, the man just said something so serious in such a casual voice, Shi was just going to return to her seat and rest, when the man spoke again, "Kid, i don't know where you're going, but you trust way too easily. I could've been a slaver, and you would've been screwed by coming out here alone with me. Word of advice from an old man, trust hardly, learn freely."

With that, silence returned to the trip, and Shi rested in the back, thinking about what was said, time flowing her by without a care.

After a while of driving the carriage came to a halt, Shi knew she hadn't reached the drop point yet, because it was way too fast, the ride was said to take around 2 weeks according to the old man. So, getting up she asked the driver what the problem was in hopes it was just a pit stop. "Mister, why have we stopped?"

The driver turned around with a serious look plastered on his face and looked the girl straight in her eyes, "Bandits, at least 6 of them." The driver's voice was stern showing just how serious this situation was, "They must have been here still, of course, they have been here a while, the corpses weren't even a few days old meaning that the bandits recently killed them and settled up camp around here. How did I not notice that."

Shi confusion instantly changed, it changed to the natural feeling any normal person her age would feel in a situation such as this, fright. Shi was scared to the core, her body was shaking and her mind was blanking, she didn't know how to react, she had just started her travel, and wasn't even to her first location yet.