By the time I look back toward the floatcycle, it’s already halfway to us.

I lean against the sandsucker and uncap the canteen. I take a long sip, acting like I’m more thirsty and tired than I really am. The sandsucker makes one of its annoying sounds, but I don’t dare shout at it or poke it to make it shut up, for fear it will stand and expose Elsie.

The dust cloud behind the floatcycle grows smaller as it slows down, and by the time it comes to a stop I can clearly see the driver.

“I’ll trade you,” I shout over the hum of the floatcycle’s engine, pointing over to Pookie.

The floatcycle is hovering a few handspans above the sand, but the driver kills the engine, and it drops down to the ground with a soft thud.

“Where’s your companion?” he asks, stepping off the machine. He reaches into a compartment on the back of the cycle and removes a crossbow, pre-loaded and ready to fire.

He holds it up toward me, then begins stepping toward me.

“Not interested in trading?” I ask. “A floatcycle won’t keep you fed.”

“Floatcycle gets me across the desert so fast I don’t need to eat,” he grunts.

He cocks his head as he steps closer, and his big horns gleam in the sun. “Titus?”

Hearing my name gives me a shock, and I point my fully extended skullspear toward him. “How do you know my–”

Then I recognize him. It’s Algius, of my former clan: the Desert Clan.

I holster my spear, not because I think the danger has passed, but because I want Algius to let his guard down. I point to the floatcycle, “We never had such nice things when I was still with you.”

“That’s why you left to become a sellspear, huh? To have nice things.” Algius says. “Looks like you didn’t make it big.”

He points to the sandsucker.

“Floatcycles only work on the flat plains of the desert,” I say. “It would be a bad investment for me. I have to be able to take jobs all over.”

“We’re renting these,” Algius admits, cocking his head toward the floatcycle.

The dust from his approach has all but settled, and with it an eerie quiet surrounds us.

He’s still clutching the bow, pointing it at me.

“Why don’t you lower the bow, and we can lock horns,” I suggest.

“I saw someone with you,” he says.

I shrug. “The desert shimmers and tricks our eyes.”

“Was no shimmer,” Algius says. “Was smaller than you. Hornless.”

I make a show of looking around. “I don’t see anyone. You said we just now.”

“Huh?” Algius says.

“You said ‘we rented these,’ is the rest of the clan with you?”

“Ah, yeah,” Algius says. “I’m the forward scout.”

The sandsucker starts squealing loudly, and I glare at it.

Algius points his bow at it. “Make it stand up.”

“I pushed it too hard,” I say. “You know how stubborn these things are once they lie down.”

“I’ll shoot it,” he says.

His arrow likely wouldn’t hit Elsie, but it might. That’s not the real problem though. The sandsucker could crush Elsie if it rolled the wrong way. And if it rolled the “right” way, Algius would see her.

“What you doing out here?” I ask. “Why’d you rent the floatcycles.”

“We’re looking for a big guy with real long horns,” he says, his eyes going up to my horns. “Who we hear stole some prized alien from the last emperor.”

“There’s a new emperor?” I ask.

Algius shrugs. “Ain’t there always? They say you–I mean, this long-horned guy–they say he killed the Magistros too.”

“I heard the Magistros was a spoiled dick,” I grunt.

Algius laughs. “Either way, big reward if we bring this alien in. The new emperor don’t seem to care about the Magistros getting killed–guess he really was a dick–so as long as we get that alien, then the big horned fellow can go on his way.”

He’s giving me a way out, but he doesn’t know that I’d rather lose my arms and legs than lose Elsie. She’s bonded to me more than my own flesh. I rarely feel guilt or remorse for killing a man, but killing Algius will weigh heavily on me.

The moment I move for my spear, his crossbow fires. I started dodging even as I reached into my holster, and the bolt misses me by a hair’s length. I hear it swish through the air by my ear.

I pull out my spear, and I extend and throw it all in one smooth, blitz-fast motion.

Algius blocks the spear with his crossbow. Or rather, he deflects it, and it misses his heart, but sinks deep into his shoulder.

As I rush him, growling and frothing at the mouth as I charge, he rips the spear from his chest and swings it at me.

I try to dodge, but I feel the tip tear the skin from my arm as I bring the other arm up to strike him. My fist slams into his neck, and I feel his windpipe crush beneath the force of the blow. Just as it feels I’ve won with minor injuries, Algius sinks the hooked metal of my spear’s tip deep into the flesh of my leg, tearing through my calf muscle and sending me to the ground.

I fall to the ground in agony, and blood soaks the sand. Algius wheezes a few times, then his eyes roll back into his head. I writhe on the sand as my blood soaks it, and Pookie, the sandsucker, jumps up to its feet. Elsie must have poked it.

“Titus,” she screams.

“My clan is coming,” I say. “My former clan. They know I have you.”

She doesn’t seem to hear me, and she falls beside me in the bloody sand. She looks at my leg with tears in her eyes.

I feel anger explode within me, but Algius did what he needed to. He knew he was dead, but he acted for the good of the clan. Maiming me made their likelihood of catching me increase dramatically. That kind of sacrifice for the good of the clan was something I never could do. I have to respect Algius for that, even if he’s put Elsie and me into a terrible situation.

“We have to take the floatcycle,” I say, pointing up toward it.

I grab the bloody spear off the ground, and I use it to push myself up to my feet. I limp forward one pained step toward the floatcycle, using the skullspear as a crutch. “I will be fine.”