At the tail end of their first journey together, the couple finds themselves starving and freezing in search of the desert kingdom to make their big sale and find shelter.

———-

We’ve been out here for days. Six. Wandering. No sight of anything. No site or anything. This desert goes on and on. Our water supply is running low. Our stamina is burning off quicker each day.

Our tents have kept us warm during the sun’s intense rule of the sky. We’re on the move again at the start of the frozen nights, following the glow of each others lanterns. But even the lantern oil is drier with each night. With the dark comes harsher sandstorms trying to steal the air away. Yet, the goal has all but changed. The longer we venture the more determined we are to arrive at our destination. And the desert kingdom must be nearby. It has to be.Upon arrival the goal is to sell the hundreds worth of silver we’ve collected in goods and treasures through the lands in the woods. The people of the desert have little access to what we bring and will pay high price, but only if the journey there doesn’t kill us first.

Martha’s barely standing. I’m dehydrated. The cold is threatening us with hypothermia. Creatures hidden in the dark of the desert howl and screech at us. With all the reason to stop, there is still more incentive to continue. I’m not letting my wife die in this horrible place after surviving what we have to acquire these treasures. But this journey is beginning to look more like the trail to hell. Any moment now whatever is lurking into the dark will attack and by the time it’s in the radius of the lanterns it’ll be too late. The moment we stop moving its over for us. And there’s no hope in the heat, so we’re left with no option but to gamble the last few nights in the dark hoping we’ve successfully traveled a straight line.

I refuse to have brought this lady here to die. That will not be the case.