They returned to the temple to figure out what to do next. Alara found a large map of the continent mounted on a wall in one of the corridors. The map showed Boranna as a smaller country neighboring Ofana. To Baz’s surprise, Vitry was on the map, and not too far past the border. On the other hand, the map showed the Kundara Desert right between Ofanopolis and Vitry. The cartographer had embellished the desert with some kind of predatory bird.

  “It’s about… a hundred and fifty miles,” said Alara.

  You want to go? asked Baz. With a car going that distance would’ve been trivial, but a woman on foot carrying a houseplant would take days.

  She looked down at him, then back up at the map. “I… I’ve never left this city. I haven’t even seen all that much of Ofanopolis.”

  Baz tried to think of what to say. Again, it felt like she had the same problems as him, only more so. He’d visited relatives in D.C. and gone to Disneyland that one time in elementary school, but otherwise he never gone too far from Austin.

  “I… I think I need this as much as you do,” she said at last. “So don’t feel guilty about asking me to go on a quest for you.”

  Alright. We’re going to need supplies. Food for you, water for me, that kind of thing.

  Alara didn’t have any money, but she had access to the temple’s stores. She gathered a supply of food, a couple healing potions (there weren’t a lot available), some water, and a pack to put it all in. She found some ordinary clothes, a rather plain dress made from off-white fabric and a sturdy pair of boots.

  You might want a cloak. People who live in deserts tend to wear light stuff that covers their skin. Baz wasn’t super clear on the details, but Middle Eastern garb covered people from head to toe in light, billowy fabric. He didn’t know if the Kundara Desert was as inhospitable as Dubai or wherever, but he didn’t want to see Alara get sunstroke.

  She nodded and grabbed a lightweight hooded cloak. When she turned a corner, she jumped at the sight of the High Priest, who was chugging from a wine bottle. He smiled and held up a finger as he finished the last of the wine and let out a satisfied sigh. “Alessa!”

  Hand over her heart, Alara took deep breaths. “Er, Alara.”

  “Sure. Going somewhere?” He sounded jovial rather than accusing. And more than a little drunk.

  Alara blushed and sweated. “Uh… I… We…”

  Baz jumped in, hoping he’d judged Taywyn’s character correctly. We have a lead on a potion that could fix me, but it’s in… Alara, what was the place called?

  “Boranna,” she replied. “A village in Boranna.”

  Taywyn nodded with exaggerated thoughtfulness and grabbed another bottle. “Come.”

  Baz was a little tempted to tell Alara to just make a run for it, but he let her follow without comment. The High Priest led them back to his study, and he started searching through his books.

  “High Priest,” said Alara, “I… Look, we just want—”

  “They don’t speak the same language in Boranna,” said Taywyn, so you’re going to need…” He pulled a book out from a shelf. “Here it is!”

  He triumphantly held out a small volume that said “Borannese Phrasebook” on its worn cover.

  Alara accepted the book. “You’re not… going to stop us?”

  He shrugged. “Eh, she’s already forgotten about him.” He uncorked his wine. “Just go. Have fun!”

  Baz figured that there wouldn’t be a better time to get stuff out of the High Priest, so he said, We need some money too.

  Taywyn let his head loll back, then went over to a desk. “Fine, fine.” He handed Alara a jingling bag.

  As they left, they could hear the dook dook dook of the High Priest chugging more wine. Baz wondered if inebriation was even possible for a houseplant. He didn’t have a liver anymore, so probably not.

  Alara changed her clothes and headed out into the city with a heavy pack on her back and Baz under one arm.

  You want to just head out today? he asked.

  She nodded firmly. “If I wait, I might change my mind.”

  Baz hadn’t grown up here, but it was relatively safe, at least when Begana wasn’t blowing things up. They could fail, and he didn’t want to think too hard about what that would look like.

  In a marketplace, she found a man with a cart who was shouting about offering rides. He was a squat, round, human man with a curly mustache, and he introduced himself as Nilliam.

  “Boranna, eh? Sure, sure. I can take you there for 300 rings.” He twisted the end of his mustache.

  Alara pulled out the bag from the High Priest and started counting out money. As she got near the bottom of the bag, she looked up at Nilliam. “Uh. Um. How about… two hundred fifty?”

  He narrowed his eyes. “Two seventy-five.”

  “Um… Two sixty?”

  He broke into a grin. “First time haggling?”

  “Um. Yes.”

  “Two sixty it is. If you’re ready we can head out now.”

  That left Alara with 36 gold rings. She carefully put the money pouch away, and Baz mentally thanked the High Priest. He seemed like a decent guy under a lot of pressure.

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  Baz had seen a fair number of horses around the city, but Nilliam’s cart had a pair of bipedal lizards instead. Their beady eyes darted around. Better not get too close to those guys, said Baz.

  “Oh yes. They’re great desert runners, but their bites are nasty.” After a pause, he added, “Who said that?”

  “Oh,” said Alara. “This is Baz. We’re, um, looking for a way to make him human again.”

  “Mercy,” he muttered. “I wish you the best of luck with that. So, are you ready?”

  “Uh, yeah,” said Alara. “Thank you, sir.”

  Nilliam laughed. “I’m no ‘sir,’ just Nilliam, Nilly to my friends.”

  Once they were settled in the cart, Nilliam flicked his reins and the lizards started off. It was a much slower pace than Baz was used to, but the open air and sunlight felt good on his leaves.

  Excited? asked Baz.

  Alara nodded. “I don’t know much about Boranna. We… don’t have much contact with neighboring countries, because… well, you know.”

  “Borannese folks are lovely,” said Nilliam. “They do love their hats though.”

  Hats?

  “Begana doesn’t like hats for some reason,” said Alara. “The Fourth Principle of Beganism is ‘No hats; She doesn't like them.’”

  As the ride continued, they chatted a bit. He told her about life in Austin, about cars and computers. She and Nilliam explained a bit about magical stuff. There had been a Thaumaturgical Revolution centuries ago, and now you could learn basic magic just by buying a book printed with movable type. A lot of trades had developed a small repertoire of spells that made life a bit easier. Serious, professional magic took a lot more effort though, which was why institutions like Wizzing Academy still existed.

  The terrain changed, from the cityscape to a rolling countryside, and then to scrubland and eventually desert dunes.

  How many miles would you say we’ve been going per hour?

  “Oh, about eight or ten?” Nilliam offered. “We’ll have to make camp so my girls can rest up—they’re too slow at night, lizards and all—but we should get there before midday tomorrow.”

  A winged shadow passed overhead. Neither Alara nor Nilliam seemed to have noticed, so Baz spoke up. Hey, guys—

  The entire cart jerked up as a massive bird of prey grabbed one of the lizards in its talons. That lizard’s harness snapped, and the cart jerked downwards. They watched the bird fly off with the writhing lizard. It grew smaller and smaller, its huge shadow flitting over the dunes with alarming speed.

  “Well,” said the pale-faced cart driver. “We should be able to make it as long as—”

  A second massive bird snatched up the other lizard. The bird turned and followed after the first one.

  Nilliam thrust his reins down. “Mercy! Mercy, mercy, mercy!” He whirled around, and his desperate eyes met Alara’s. They stared at each other, then he snatched up Alara’s bag of supplies and raced into the desert.

  Alara stood up in a panic. “Fire Bolt!”

  A small burst of flame shot out from her hand, but impacted on the sand, creating a small patch of glass. Nilliam disappeared over a dune.

  As the situation started to sink in, she sunk to her knees and started hyperventilating. Tears welled in her eyes. “No, no, no… We’re gonna die, this is stupid, it’s all my fault, it’s all my fault!”

  Up until now, Baz had been learning to let Alara figure things out herself, without too much prodding or thanks or anything, but this didn’t feel like the time to leave her be. Alara!

  She started and turned to him. “Wh-What?”

  Look, we are in a bad situation, but we’re not dead yet.

  Alara shook her head. “I finally try to do something with my life, and…” She covered her face and sobbed.

  Baz kind of wanted to cry too, but he didn’t have the physiology for it. And we had a setback. We got knocked down. The real test is whether you can get back up again. I need you to get back up, and so do you.

  She shook her head. “I just…”

  Take a little time if you need it.

  Alara worked her way through the tears, then cleared her throat and blew her nose. “What do we do?” she said hoarsely.

  Although Nilliam had run off with Alara’s bag of supplies, he’d left most of his own stuff. They had a waterskin, some jerky, a compass, an old map, and a tattered parasol. It wasn’t a lot, but it was considerably better than nothing.

  Finally, Alara stepped onto the sand and started walking. With the compass and map they had some hope of not getting lost, and since they were well into the desert, they couldn’t be too far from the village.

  They traveled in silence, with Alara occasionally changing her grip on Baz’s pot. He insisted she use the parasol. Being in the shade wasn’t optimal for him, but the hot sun could be fatal for Alara if they weren’t careful.

  Alara had already been sweating during the cart ride, and now a bead of sweat dripped from her chin onto one of Baz’s leaves. It stung slightly, but Baz kept that to himself. He wondered how that worked for seaweed and other aquatic plants though.

  They occasionally saw an insect or tiny lizard flitting around, but thankfully no monsters. The sunset was gorgeous, though without the sunlight Baz’s mind grew more sluggish.

  Two moons? As night fell, Baz saw a larger crescent moon and a smaller gibbous moon. The white light they shed was dim, but it made the desert beautiful.

  Alara stopped on a rocky outcropping and set Baz and her pack down. “Yeah. They’re named Stella and Ella. Earth doesn’t have two?”

  No, only the one, so we just call it “the moon.” The country I’m from actually sent explorers there.

  She listened in awe as he told her a bit about the Apollo program and ate some of the jerky.

  Anyway, you should sleep. I’ll keep watch.

  Alara reluctantly agreed. She curled up and draped the cloak over herself. It couldn’t be comfortable with the rock under her.

  As she drifted off, she said, “Do you really think we’ll make it?”

  Yeah, I really do. Life had no guarantees, but he genuinely liked their chances of making it to Vitry. The big question was what would happen once they got there.

  That left Baz to figure out how to occupy himself for the night. Thinking about his friends and family back on Earth made him depressed. In all likelihood he’d never see them again. He hoped dad would finish fixing up the old Trans-Am, Ricky would get the promotion he’d been hoping for, and Janice would graduate and thrive, but he’d never know.

  He thought about Earth knowledge he might share, which just made him wish he had a hand and something to write with, because it was hard to keep everything straight in his head.

  Finally, he started counting. He’d reached 1,299 when a pair of furry ears peeked over the edge of the rocks, followed by a pair of yellow eyes. A catgirl was staring at him.

  Uh, hey. Nice kitty.

  The catgirl surged closer to him, leaning in and sniffing at his leaves. She had yellow, slitted eyes, and black hair/fur.

  Please stop. There’s a person in here.

  He knew there were animal-eared people in this world, just like in an anime, but the ones at the guild had been acting like regular people. This one was being extremely catlike, and he knew how cats were about houseplants. His sister had given up on having houseplants because her cat Louise was utterly incorrigible about trying to nibble on them.

  Hello? Was she something different from those animal-eared people? Or some kind of wild child? Alara! Wake up!

  Alara stirred a little but stayed asleep.

  The catgirl picked up the bag of jerky and grinned.

  Alara, I really need you to wake up!

  The catgirl loomed closer and sniffed at him. Then she bit one of his leaves and chewed on it.

  First taste is free, but that’s enough! Baz shouted.

  He used his telekinesis to bop her nose. That was what his sister did when Louise misbehaved. The catgirl started, but then launched herself at him, ferociously biting at his leaves. In a panic, he shouted, tried to use telekinesis to shove the catgirl away, and finally use it to jostle Alara awake.

  When Alara took in the situation, her eyes went wide with horror. She raised her arms and shrieked, “Go away! Stop that! Leave him alone!”

  The catgirl swiped at Alara with one hand, then turned and fled.

  Tears welling in her eyes, she turned to Baz. “Oh, no, Baz! Are you alive?!”

  Y-Yeah… He didn’t feel right. There was a lot less of him than before.

  “I’m so sorry. If I had woken up sooner…”

  I’ll be fine. Really. But I need… to rest.