CHAPTER FOURTEEN
I yelped and clutched onto Ben as our steed dashed forward. The reins that had lain in Ben’s lap dropped between the harnesses and the qasi was allowed to drag us down the road. The path wasn’t completely straight, nor was our terrified steed great at straight lines, so that the sled on my side of the wagon veered into the softer, deeper sands. The animal’s inconsistent direction meant the tip of the sled dipped into the soft earth and jerked the wagon off course for a moment before the animal ran back onto the road proper.
I glimpsed a group of tents about twenty yards ahead of us and some hundred feet off the road. They were situated near some dunes and some of the piles of sand had been carved into with shovels, leaving holes in the ground. A young man with a tan
