The Free Trader of Warren Deep (Free Trader Series Book 1) by Craig Martelle

WHEN we cross, we will make history! We cannot fear the unknown. We must conquer it!” Braden said with a final flourish, head held high.
    ‘Who is it talking to?’ Braden heard the ‘cat say.
    ‘I have no idea.’ Skirill responded.
    “Let’s go,” Braden said, his grandstanding moment deflated.
    ‘I think it was talking to us. How odd.’

 
    31 – Into the Great Desert
     
    Two turns later, they made it back to the campsite by the stream in the middle of the night.
    “I don’t think I’ve ever been so hot and so tired before in my life. It was like getting cooked over a fire, without the benefit of spices or tubers.” Braden almost fell from the saddle into the stream. The horses were already muzzle deep, enjoying the unlimited supply of fresh and cool water.
    G-War hopped lightly from the cart, although his fur betrayed his seeming resistance to the heat. In two turns, the ‘cat’s sleek coat had been replaced by dry, frazzled hair sticking straight out. G-War waded into the stream letting his paws cool, and slowly lapping his fill.
    Skirill had flow to the camp just before nightfall. He was already recovered, stately sitting on the rocks, watching over his worn out companions.
    They traveled quickly at first, then slower and slower as the heat of the sun beat down on them. Their breaks lasted longer and longer, but were less and less restful. When they settled for the night, the desert sand radiated heat, preventing a sound sleep. The horses drank and drank, but never seemed to cool down. Over two turns, they drank half their water supply. The distance they covered on the first turn was greater than what they covered on the second turn. It took them halfway into the night to make up the time. Half the water with a precipitous drop in travel suggested that they would make it only halfway to the garden, as Skirill had called it.
    They slept well into the next morning, happy to wake to the cool of the foothills.
    “I don’t know how we’re going to make it, G. I think I’m trying to lead you on a fool’s errand,” Braden lamented. He sat with his head down, his face still red from the burning sun.
    G-War sat upright and licked a paw which he used to groom his ears and cheeks. The ‘cat was unperturbed as usual.
    ‘Why does it insist on traveling in the sunlight?’
    “So we can see where we are going, of course.” Braden responded without thinking. As he looked back, he understood – the distances were so vast in the Great Desert that he could see the entire turn’s track at his first glance. As a new moon waxed, they would have enough light to see any obstacles immediately in front of them. They could focus on something in the far distance to help them go straight toward the oasis.
    “You’re a genius G! Dig into that big brain of yours and tell me, how can we rest during the daylight?”
    ‘It builds a shelter with a sun screen. Dig into a bank, opposite the sun, put up a roof.’
    “All because I have thumbs,” Braden answered with a smile. G-War never stopped grooming himself during their conversation.
    “What would a shelter look like? How can we carry something big enough to cover us all, including Max and Pack? How far can we travel at night?” Although Braden asked these questions out loud, they weren’t questions as much as problems that he was already working to solve. Deer hide. Light, but long branches, wide forks at the end. He could tie these across the top of the cart. Yes. He could see how it would all work. Traveling at night was the key.
    They spent the next two turns resting and finding the materials Braden needed to build their daylight shelter. With G-War’s help, Braden was able to find three deer. He smoked the meat to build up their supply, but it was the hides they were after. Braden didn’t have time to tan them properly. Even untanned, they filled the need.
    It took some creativity to cut down the right branches. They were usually higher in a tree, where G-War