Awesome, I could feel the sand whipping against my face. Love the imagery and planting of exposition. Sweet!

I like the story a lot. Especially the bit about global warming. However the first sentence throws me off. It needs a bit of a tweeking.
The two travelers pulled their cloaks tighter, protecting themselves from the blowing sand.
or
The two travelers pulled their cloaks tighter to protect from the blowing sand.

Besides that it was great!