"It can kill a man if it touches him. It rarely does, though. Just don't lift your sword over your head. I saw that once. We were having a mock battle in the plains and a storm blew in. They made us keep fighting, but told us not to lift our swords. It's a challenge to the storm spirits. So of course one warrior had to issue that challenge. He lifted his sword clear over his head. A bolt of lightning shot from the sky. It hit the sword, lighting with a blast that blinded the two warriors standing beside him."
"Did he die?"
"Exploded in a cloud of ash."
"Truly?"
A twitch of his lips. "No, not truly. Nor were the others actually blind--"
She lifted her hand. "I'll keep the first version."
The twitch grew to a half smile. "I thought you might. Lightning is deadly, though, so--"
A blast of sand hit them, seeming to come from nowhere. Gavril let out an oath as he coughed.
"These thunderstorms come with wind?" Moria asked.
Gavril nodded, spitting sand.
"Then we'd best prepare for more than rain and lightning. I've been out in a sandstorm and--"
The wind whipped up again, and she quietly shut her mouth and eyes. It wasn't just a single gust of wind this time. It swirled around her, blasting from all directions, and she fumbled with her pack, yanking out her cloak and putting it over her face. She peeked out to see Gavril circling, trying to get his back to the wind.
"Cover up!" she shouted. "You can't avoid--"
A gust sent her stumbling. The wind howled now, sand battering them from every direction.
"Down!" she shouted. "Get down!"
She fell to her knees as Gavril struggled to get his tunic up over his face.
"Down!" she yelled. "Before--"
The wind caught him and knocked him clear off his feet. Moria crawled over. He tried to rise, but Daigo pinned him there. Moria reached him and slung her cloak over both their heads. She tried to stretch it to cover Daigo, too, but the wildcat snorted and burrowed between them, telling her he'd rather just keep his eyes shut.
The wind continued to whine and howl like a wild beast, ripping at their clothes and blasting every bare piece of skin. She tried to see Gavril under the tented cloak, but could only make out the whites of his eyes, then a flash of teeth as he hissed in pain.
"Who'd have thought sand could hurt so much," she said.
He grunted and shifted, as if yanking his tunic down more.
"Is this part of the thunderstorm?" she asked, raising her voice to be heard.
He said something, but she didn't catch it. The whine of the wind hurt her ears, and she gritted her teeth against it. While the wind seemed to grow stronger, she swore the sand wasn't blasting as hard.
She was about to say so when a tremendous crack sounded again. Rolling thunder. She'd heard the expression and it seemed appropriate--great cracks of thunder, one after another. They grew louder and louder, as if the storm was closing in on them. Then she couldn't just hear the thunder--she felt it, too--huge vibrations that seemed to push down from above with each crack.
Gavril's head shot up. "That's not--"
Daigo screamed, like a woman's shriek, a terrible sound that ripped through Moria. His claw caught her in the side, tearing through her tunic as she grabbed for him. Her fingers brushed his fur. Then he was gone.
Thirty-three
Moria threw off her cloak and leaped up. Wind beat down, waves of it buffeting her as if trying to push her back to earth. Only a smattering of sand still swirled around, and she squinted, daggers out.
"Daigo!"
He screamed, and she looked up and there he was, suspended in the air, all four paws lashing, tail lashing, too. Moria saw what had hold of him, and yet it took a moment to believe what she was seeing.