Elven Survival Manual

Chapter 27 Caravan

In the hot desert, the sun has not yet risen, and there is only a faint light in the sky. It is completely unbelievable that when it rises, it will be so hot that people will be roasted alive.

A caravan is taking advantage of the less heat of dawn.

The number of this caravan exceeded a hundred people, but the largest group of camels they brought was four or five hundred at least.

This is a caravan selling camels, and they will not forget to bring some other valuable commodities, such as salt, gems, cloth and spices.

Of course, nothing can be taken without water. Without water, they can't even live for two days.

This caravan was formed by several different merchants. It has been two months since they set off from their homeland. The leader Sam is an experienced desert merchant who is familiar with every road he has traveled. Make sure you don't get lost in the desert.

But now Sam was in a bad mood.

A few days ago, they encountered a sandstorm. Fortunately, the entire caravan did not suffer any casualties, but the sandstorm not only made them deviate from the original path, but also covered up an uninhabited oasis they knew.

Unfortunately, that oasis was the only source of water they could find for ten days.

And the water they carry is running out, and they can only last for another two days at most.

Among the camels they bring out for sale, there are no lactating camels, so if they can't find a source of water after the water is gone, they have to kill the camel and drink the water stored in its stomach and its blood to quench its thirst.

That is definitely a huge loss.

Regardless of how many camels they have, in fact, even Sam, who owns the largest number of camels, only has a hundred camels, and most small businessmen even only have five or six, which may be all their belongings.

In order to avoid losses, several big businessmen with the right to speak gathered together to discuss, and finally decided to cross the golden sand sea.

This is a helpless decision. Although the golden sand sea sounds beautiful, it is also called the forbidden area of ​​life. It can be called the most desolate place even on this desolate road today. Not a single dead grass can be seen, let alone anything else.

There are the most expansive drifting sand dunes on the entire Viv Continent.

Dangers are everywhere on the ever-flowing sea of ​​golden sand. You never know whether there is a trap that can swallow life under those seemingly solid gravel. As long as you encounter it unfortunately, the victim will be killed by the sand in an instant. devoured, and eventually died of pain and suffocation.

Not only that, but the Golden Sand Sea is also the hottest place in the entire desert.

It is said that the temperature here can be as high as sixty or seventy degrees at the hottest time, but when night falls, the strong temperature difference is enough to freeze the unprepared people-in the coldest season, it is even as low as four or five degrees .

This is completely unimaginable elsewhere.

But they have no choice, only through there, they can find the next water source as quickly as possible.

The only thing that made them feel lucky was that it was still spring, and the temperature in the Golden Sand Sea hadn't reached its peak yet.

And this section of the road, they don't have to worry about robbers coming and going.

It was not the first time for Sam to enter the golden sand sea. He followed his father once more than ten years ago when he was a young boy, but it was too far away. If he had no choice, he would never agree go this way.

The caravan walked very carefully. They dared not climb the sand dunes directly, but could only walk on the sand ridge against the wind.

They also had to work hard during the hottest time at noon, and there was no place to escape the heat. At night, the temperature dropped suddenly, and when they couldn't find any plants to burn, they had to use the camel dung they collected to set fire. campfire, and hide in the camel pile relying on camel hair to keep warm.

After walking for two days, the fresh water was gone, and they had to kill a camel. After drinking the water stored by the camel, they shared its flesh and blood.

However, this sea of ​​sand seems to never end, and they are still here, with no way forward.

"Don't worry, but we'll get out anyway," Sam told the others. He was the leader and had to keep his cool.

But in fact, even he himself has no bottom.

He only remembered that when he and his father walked this road for the first time, they walked for three full days, but now they have passed that time, but they have not even seen the edge of it.

The landform of the golden sand sea is always changing, and at the same time it is also expanding. Obviously, in the past ten years, it has become unusually large.

After another day of walking, they had to slaughter a camel again.

There were already some voices in the caravan, and although they tried to keep calm, uneasiness began to spread.

Sam even heard someone say that camels would have to be killed anyway, and if they knew this, they might as well go the same way, at least it would be safer.

"Don't listen to them, those people are just reluctant to lose their little bit." The servant persuaded Sam beside him.

Of course Sam knew this, the two slaughtered camels were not free, and all those who enjoyed them had to pay accordingly.

The big merchants don't care about this, but the small merchants accompanying the team are different.

Sam could even think of what those who said these words were thinking. They wanted to use this kind of words to attack Sam to accept the loss of two camels alone. After all, he still had a hundred camels, didn't he?

But Sam wouldn't be so foolish as to do what they wanted, he pretended he didn't hear those words at all.

However, he still rewarded his servant. The other party really cared about him, which he could clearly see.

Before dawn the next day, the journey continued.

This time, it was different from before.

The servant who persuaded Sam last night rode a camel and followed Sam to lead the way. He has a pair of very sharp eyes.

"Master, look over there!"

Sam raised his head and looked forward, the sun made his eyes a little bit hard to open, he raised his hand to cover his forehead, and it took a long time to see clearly what the servant wanted him to see.

In the sunny blue sky, a small patch of black sky in the distance looks particularly conspicuous.

Thinking of what the black would represent, Sam's heart moved, and he turned his head and shouted: "Wahab, Wahab, quickly bring your baby!"

Wahab, another big merchant in the caravan, had just over 60 camels, but he brought other more valuable goods, such as gems and spices.

What Wahab always carries with him as a baby is a single-eye telescope.

That telescope was quite old, and according to Wahhab, he bought it from a nobleman in exchange for several fine gemstones.

Reluctantly, Wahab came over from behind, handed the telescope to Sam, and said, "You have to hold it carefully, don't break it."

The color of the telescope's lens is not very pure, and everything seen through it has a faint red tinge, but this does not hinder Sam's vision.

He finally saw clearly what the blackness was.

"It's dark clouds! It's raining ahead!"

This is really an unbelievable answer. Everyone knows how little rain there is in the desert, and now they actually see rain in this most unlikely place to rain?

Several big businessmen came forward one after another to take a look through the binoculars, and then they saw it too.

The dark clouds in that patch were so dense that the entire sky was covered, and occasionally there were a few thunderbolts churning in it, illuminating the clouds.

Even if they couldn't see the rain, they could imagine it was raining if they saw the lightning.

Where there is rain, there will be water.

But the weather was so strange that they were not sure whether to go there.

"That's where we're headed, right?"

"Yeah, we can walk in and see the situation, isn't it still far away?"

"Could we still go back? That's another few days' journey."

The other small businessmen talked a lot, obviously wanting to move forward.

Several big businessmen also supported them, and even Sam was very moved.

After all, as they say, they can't go back, and other roads will make them completely deviate from the original direction, making this road even more endless

The further you go, the more you can see through the telescope.

Then they discovered the castle under the black cloud and the tall sycamore forest outside the castle.

There is such a magnificent building here, even many palaces they have seen will not be more majestic than this one.

In the hottest place on the whole continent?And it's still raining there?

They even thought what they saw was a mirage.

But after careful identification, experience told them that it was indeed a real castle.

"Are we going to move on?"

Some people began to be afraid, no matter how you look at such a place, it is very strange.

Some people wondered if it was the lair of a desert thief, but it was quickly overruled by others. If the lair of a sand thief can be so grand, does he still need to rob it?

"It's more like some king's castle. He must be very rich."

This sentence reminds everyone.

Yes, the person who can build such a castle must be very rich, and he must be very powerful if he chose the golden sand sea as the place.

"Perhaps he has a noble mage serving him under his command."

"Let's go and see? Maybe we can not only find the water source, but also sell these things in our hands for a good price."

There will always be thieves and thieves here, and ordinary people dare not go too far. Only these businessmen will run around for profit, so they are very popular with the nobles and tribal leaders.

Most of the time, the nobles and tribal leaders would not take action against the merchants, lest other well-informed merchants would never come to their territory after hearing the news.

So as long as the businessman doesn't offend those people, they can always get some courtesy.

It was precisely this that made them finally decide to go to that unknown castle to try their luck.