Epilogue
The desert was awash in white heat as the sun sailed above in a deep blue sky. It was not yet summer across Katlom Desert, but the oppressive heat drove all within its reach to seek cover. Transparent waves danced off great white dunes that rose out of the desert sand like the humps of a sea serpent and then disappeared off into the distance.
The young woman turned from the harshness of the desert and walked out onto the lush, soft grass that lined the banks of an underground river that bubbled up from the depths of the earth and fed the large Sangron Oasis. She sat under the deep shade of a palm tree swaying in the afternoon breeze. Dipping a slender hand under the blue waters, she felt the cool, rejuvenating powers of the river. A black snake slithered out from under a thick g
