Shrieking howls and curses filled the air behind me. I quickened my pace, not daring to look back. I knew I’d see my footprints trailing after me, marking where I’d been, and making it impossible to hide. I was so tired of running.

The pebble I had been sucking on caught in my throat and I gagged on it. It was difficult to spit it out with a dry mouth and cracked lips, both of which were further evidence that the rock had stopped making moisture anyway.

Why had the slavers taken such an interest in me? Despite their doggedness, I was confident I could lose them in the twists and turns of the empty city even though I had never been there before. In the light of the full moon, every wall shone like burnished bronze. The collection of squarish houses with flat roofs were unlike any I had ever seen. Stranger yet, despite all the buildings jumbled together, there were no doors anywhere.

If I could just figure out how to get inside one of the buildings, I could hide. I could hide and finally rest my weary bones.