I Don't Like Sand

None of it made sense to the android. Every inch he scanned with his optics showed that these were normal bite marks, biologically canine given the shape and spacing between teeth and fangs, yet larger than what was considered normal. Analysis showed that the body had only been dead for a few days as well. Whatever had done this was not your typical wolf but something much larger, likely roaming around in a pack—and they would be back for another helping of dinosaur meat before long.

Saizomaru hadn’t much longer to think on it by himself once he had spotted someone not too far off in the distance. As the figure hailed him, he returned the gesture. Kicking at the sand as he took a step forward, the android stood in front of the rotting, sun-baked corpse.

“‘Fraid not, traveller,” he replied with a shake of his head. He glanced over his shoulder. “One would expect to be the work of garn wolves, but they prey on much smaller animals than this. Either they’re getting bolder in taking down larger creatures, or they’ve been drinking plenty of protein shakes to get big enough to do this.”

Facing the figure in front of him, Saizomaru dressed him down with his eyes. They weren’t exactly out of place compared to himself, dressed in garb fitting of the people who lived in this arid part of the world, yet something was off about them. Saizomaru just couldn’t quite put his finger on it.

“I’ma guess that you haven’t a clue about what’s been going on here either,” he said with a shrug of his shoulders. “Having said that, not many people come through here. You taking a shortcut to get somewhere? Or are you perhaps looking for something?”

The android felt almost bad for the poor guy with him. It was apparent that they were not experienced around decaying flesh considering he was covering his nose as soon as he got the slightest whiff of it. Being an android had its perks.

“I wouldn’t really call it an apex predator, though.” Saizomaru looked up and pointed to the top of the corpse, where a lump of flesh had been torn open like a burlap sack. “Humpback Kodolizard. They have a hump that stores some of the water they drink from the oases around here. Kodolizards are also notorious for having thick, leather hide, and by ‘thick’ I’m talking a good inch for an adult like this guy right here. You’d struggle with a sword to get through it, let alone biting through it.”

Saizomaru gave a hum as he listened to the other person. “No, nothing of any sort. You’re the only person I’ve seen here. Although…”

Idly stroking his chin with a finger and thumb, he was beginning to put some of the pieces together. Whether or not he would draw the completely wrong conclusion was just a matter of time and investigation. “You’re looking for some group of bandits, and I’m sitting here wondering if we have a furry kaiju on our hands. Maybe, just maybe, they’re both connected?”

He looked around the body of the rotting lizard, looking for signs of anything, all the while making sure that his hypothesis made sense, and that the pieces were fitting as best they could. “Bandits living out here would be a death sentence, yet they seem to be going on by without issue—perhaps they’ve managed to tame or at least form some sort of hunting bond with the wolves.
“Yet these wolves are attacking Kodolizards not only for meat but also water. I would hazard a guess that the bandits are hoarding most of the meat from the animals and the waters from the oasis for themselves. Thus, the wolves are after the kodos, for their meat and the water they store in their humps.
“But how are they getting to be as big and as strong enough to take one down? That… I have no idea. Maybe a new breed, or a mutation.”

Saizomaru chuckled as he twirled back to the man, his hair and coat flowing in the desert winds. “Ah, well, exposition time over. I reckon we should find these Triage idiots of yours and see what they have to say. I reckon they’ll be holed up in the mountainside, somewhere close to a natural water reserve, yet also close to a town or city for them to sell and spend their ill-gotten gains. Like…”

Saizomaru wrapped his arm around his new partner’s shoulder, stared out into the distance, and then slowly pointed forward with a finger. “Skull Rock. Fairly small mountain that’s said to be cursed, a great way to keep most people away. Half a day’s travel from Taola Village too, which has—you guessed it—an oasis that the villagers get their water from. All makey-sensey, right?”

With a clap on the man’s shoulder, Saizomaru made his way from the corpse towards his next location. “And, we’re off! Don’t be slacking behind me now, ‘cause I ain’t carrying you there if you pass out!”

Saizomaru got a little spring in his step at the fact that he wasn’t the only one who found his theory to be plausible. “See? Solid theory for a solid case. I make Shirley Holms look like an amateur compared to my ingenious deduction powers. I guess that makes you Watson, then.”

As they trekked eastward, the android shifted his eyes to his left, through to his right, and occasionally glanced over his shoulders. The blackened sky and curtains of wind-blown sand obscured one’s vision—at least, the vision of normal people. For an android, it just meant he had to switch to Nightvision mode, his sight turning a pale, dark green against the cold.

“Y’know, even a sleeping Kodolizard would be hard-pressed to ambush and kill. They’d just get up and, WHAM, you’re now flying twenty feet through the air with a dinosaur skull-size crater in your chest. Speaking of which…” he glanced over his shoulder, glaring at the man behind him. “Garn wolves are nocturnal hunters. Black fur helps them sneak up on prey. You’ll have to look out for their ember eyes and teeth. Keep your eyes peeled.” It was a thankful moonlit night tonight. It would help spot them from their shining features.

Soon, the two would come to a large dune. Saizomaru climbed up with plodding steps, his feet pushing the sand down the mound as he made his way up. As he reached the peak of it, he scanned out ahead. Zooming in further and further, he could make out a blackened outcrop not too far in the distance. An hour’s travel on foot would take them there, to Skull Rock. “Not too far off. We’ll be there soon… ish. Soon-ish, yeah.”

He hummed and then turned to the other person. “Never got your name, by the way. Gonna be awkward if we’re gonna be walking all the way there and I’ve got no way to address you, besides Mister Sand Man. Name’s Saizomaru, by the way. Just call me Sai, makes things easier.”

Saizomaru furrowed his brow at the other man and jerked his head to the side to give him a slight sideways glance. “Seriously? Never heard of Shirley Holms? Y’know, one of the greatest detectives ever, right alongside Hercule Parrot and Lieutenant Pulumbob? Geez, you must live under a rock or something—No, wait, under a dune! Hah… nailed it.”

Lack of pop culture knowledge aside, Saizomaru gestured out with a hand. “Anyway, Prim, Skull rock is about five kilometres that way. With good pace, we’ll get there in half—Hey!” He watched as Prim lept from the top, landing down at the bottom, and kept walking.

“Aight, show off,” he groaned, mumbling under his breath and he walked down the slope. He didn’t feel the need to follow suit. Instead, he just grumbled and flailed his hands haphazardly out to his sides in a mocking, exaggerated imitation of his companion. “Oh, look at me, princey-prancy Prim with my cartwheels and backflips and shit…”

It wasn’t until he reached the bottom of the incline that he began to pick up his pace a little to catch up with Prim. Before long, he was strolling by their side. “Okay, I know we’ve only met and whatever, but could you at least try to be a little more… I dunno… friendly? Hospitable? Something like that.” He sighed and swept his fingers through his long hair. He felt grains of sand cling to his synthetic skin. With a slightly disgusted noise, he banged his hand on his leg. “Okay, I don’t expect you to howl with laughter at my jokes, but at least crack a smile once in a while.”

A deep, droning whistle of a noise cracked through the dead of night. Saizomaru stopped and held his arm out, pressing his palm against Prim’s chest to get him to halt. “Y’know… when I said “howl with laughter”, I didn’t mean it literally.”

A second one erupted again. It was clearer this time. Closer.

Saizomaru turned to Prim and gave him a once-over with his eyes. “I’m gonna assume you’re able to fight? Cuz you’re gonna be doing a bit of that right now.”

His eyes shifted over the man’s shoulders. Three of them were making their way from behind Prim, from the southwest. In turn, they would be able to sense another four coming from behind Saizomaru; two from the north, and another two from the southeast. They were closing in in a triangular formation, their growls echoing in the night, their eyes and fangs glistening in the moonlight.

Saizomaru gave a wry smirk. “I like the cut of your jib, Prim,” he praised as the man took a stance. The android, on the other hand, didn’t feel the need to. He knew well enough that beasts didn’t require him to prepare himself.

The growls grew louder, clearer, and more aggressive. Shining features became more prominent as they prowled closer. Their silhouettes became larger, larger than any wolf that occupied these sands. From twenty feet away, their appearance became fully lit in the moonlight—blackened fur had become stained in shades of red and brown; amber eyes had become bloodshot with a deep crimson glow; small, pointed horns protruded along the top of their skulls like spines; their size was closer to that of a brown bear than any sort of canine.

“See? What did I tell ya? Lotsa protein shakes.”

With a mused hum, Saizomaru took a step forward towards the north two. The second couple followed his movement with a swivel of their burly necks. The last three kept their eyes locked on Prim. All three groups trailed closer. “I’ll take these four, you take the other three. And here… we… go.”

Saizomaru pushed off with both feet, sand spraying behind him from the sheer pressure of his momentum. Within a blink of an eye, he was already amongst the northern couple and beyond. He skidded through the sand, creating a wave of it, his hand clasped around the snout of one of the wolves and burying it face-first into the ground. It gave a half-lifeless twitch before it stopped moving.

The remaining three sped after him as he stood back up, the remaining wolf of the couple way out in front of its southeastern brothers. In a swirl of black and silver, Saizomaru swept up a curtain of sand, the grains burying into the wolf’s eyes and blinding it. Then, a sharp kick to the side of its skull sent it tumbling across the desert floor, its limp body rag-dolling before becoming motionless several meters away.

“Such a shame,” he muttered to himself as he stood upright. The second pair raced through the sands, closing the gap between themselves and the android. “They need to be put down…”

The remaining two beasts of Saizomaru’s share leapt into the air. Their guttural growls turned to roars from gaping maws, slobber stringing through the air behind them as they leapt to their target. It was only for a split second before they had found their muzzles snapped shut in twined, black cables. Then, like two furry rocks, both slammed hard into the ground, with grains of sand erupting upwards like a geyser.

“Oh, I’m fairly sure I’ll be done before you,” he called out to Prim. His arms extended out in front of him. The black cables trailed into the underside of his wrists, tort and sturdy, the fibres shimmering brightly. They began to crackle and surge with blue light before being veiled in thin streaks of lightning. The energy shot through the fibres and enveloped both of the wolves, engulfing them in a shower of electrical currents. They didn’t move, they didn’t cry, not even so much as a whimper. It took only a few moments before they were left as charred, smoldering corpses. The smell of burnt flesh and fur poured from their bodies.

The cables withdrew into the android’s arms. He stood still, glancing down at the poor animals around him. He gave a shallow sigh. “May Hokushin have mercy on your souls.” He glanced back up at Prim, waiting for them to finish the last one off.

When all was said as done, he stepped to the closest of the bodies. Reaching forward, he placed a hand on top of the head of the animal, fingers lacing through the thick fur and pressing down on the skin. He paused for a moment, staring, and then looked up to where his companion was. “I thought as much once I saw them. Blood ruby corruption. They must have made a den somewhere close, if not inside, the Blood Ruby Mines. But to wander all the way out here…”

He took his hand from the body, trailing his palms and fingers along its haunches gently as though giving one last sign of affection. He made his way over to Prim. “I don’t suppose you’ve knowledge of blood rubies? If these Triad fools are using them to tame and corrupt animals to bolster their strength… then the people of these lands are in more danger than they know.”