61 Desert II (2/2)
”Yes, sir.” The five boys nodded. Seeing this, the dragon also nodded its head. Ling just grinned at his friend, and Maga grinned back, before they got distracted by Mayari's signal.
”Then, let's go.”
The temperature kept rising as they walked on. Ling could smell his sweaty body, thinking that a wash earlier would really have been useless. His long hair was sticking to his scalp, not ruffled by the scorching wind. However, he could also feel a refreshing breeze together with the hot air, and a slightly fishy smell was invading his nostrils.
As they continued walking, the surroundings was getting foggier. The yellow 'haze' blurring the rocks around, as well as the person farther from them, so they had to keep up to avoid losing each other. Or getting lost themselves.
Ling never voiced out his observations while Mayari was still explaining to them. ”We will only be here for an hour. I'm afraid you kids still won't be used to the air here. Stick close to each other. While you collect, I'll stand in the middle and light my 'mist', so you would still know where to return in case you explored farther.” Mayari paused as he looked back to glare at the rest of the group following him. ”That doesn't mean I'm lettting you wander off. Wait for your punishment if you got lost and I had to find you myself.”
After a while, Mayari finally stopped walking. He turned around to look at the young men with him again, before crouching down to point at the ground. ”If you looked closely here, the 'mist' around was flowing to this spot.” He brushed off a few sand grains and the group saw an orange rock the size of a bean, absorbing the 'mist'. Mayari picked it up and raised his hand to show them. ”This is what we're looking for.”
Mayari stood up while brushing some sand off his pants. ”I have an hour glass here. Spread around and look for the rocks. The bigger the better. But, again, down wander too far.” He gave another glare before continuing. ”I'll give a signal once our hour is up. My voice might get drowned out by the wind later, so look for my 'mist'. I'll have it flare up for about ten minutes once I want you all back.”
”Yes, sir.” After that, the boys paired up and spread out. Ayuk paired with Ta, while Kisig signaled Wa'al to follow him. Of course, one boy paired up with the dragon.
”Hey, Maga, let's go search too.” The boy whispered to the dragon. Earlier, Ling had noticed that Maga was getting a little restless, so he had to remind it. The dragon kept turning its head to several directions, as if it was hearing something.
Ling thought the dragon was just disturbed by the roaring wind, its hearing had always been sharper. But later, he could also hear another familiar roar joining the sound of the wind. It made him stop his search on the ground, as he looked up and observed his surroundings too. A frown marred his face when he heard another familiar roar.
”Do you recognize who that is, Maga?” Ling leaned close to Maga, dropping his voice as if afraid of being overheard. He felt that the atmosphere became even more quiet despite the noise of the wind.
After seeing that a confused expression was also on the dragon's face, Ling decided to go back and ask Mayari. It was better to have more information which they could use when they travelled to the Limaw Sea on their own. Anyway, the two were still close to where the older man was standing at, since Maga hadn't moved much from its previous spot, so they didn't need to walk back far.