Sandworm!

"Because I will vouch for you. I give you my word that you will not be harmed or imprisoned." Having come to realise that Fred put his honour above all else, that had convinced her to make the trip. She also knew that if she did not stay with Fred then she would lose the chance to be part of the expedition to the wastelands that he hoped King Emry would approve. And that was going to be too big an adventure for her willingly to pass it up.

That conveersation had been a few hours ago. "I would like to try to get a message home once we reach Caemlyn," Astra now told Fred. "It has been well over three weeks, as nearly as I can estimate it, since I left Themyscira, with most of that time spent as Minestus's prisoner. My people are bound to be worrying about me. It could be another six months or more before I return home, so I should like to set their minds at rest. Perhaps a message could be sent via some third country where both Allaria and Aqualaria maintain embassies?"

"I don't see why that should not be possible," Fred replied, "though of course such a message would take a long time to reach its destination."

"I would ideally have liked Aqualaria to have more representation in your proposed expedition than just myself. But I accept that it would be impractical. The length of the round trip between the two capitals would have meant an additional delay of two or three months before we could set off from Caemlyn."

Fred did not reply, for his attention had been caught by a strange shifting of the sands off to their right. It was as if something was burrowing through the desert not far below the surface. "Look!" he said. "What do you think that is?"

"I've no ides, but I don't like the look of it. And it seems to be heading this way."

Then the sand some twenty yards away from them suddenly seemed to explode upwards and outwards, and the head and upper body of what looked like an enormous grey worm broke the surface. The part above the surface, clearly only a fraction of the whole, stood much higher than a man and was over three feet in diameter. When the creature opened its mouth, it revealed two rows of very sharp teeth.

1. Both camels turned and galloped away from the monster, unfortunately in different directions, with Fred and Astra clinging on to their respective mounts for dear life.
2. The camels reared in panic, and both Fred and Astra were thrown. Then the animals raced off, taking the supplies with them.

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