NAROKO

In the desert, Rhett the bandit leader and his crew cheered loudly. They had just plundered a shipment of valuable silver, which was even now jingling in sacks strung across saddles. Suddenly, they all felt the sand shift strangely beneath their horses' hooves. In a flash, both steeds and men were trapped in a sandpit! Just then, out from the sea of sand jumped a little girl with strange braids and bells sown into her sleeves! She was supported by a huge Wyrmcrawler, so thick that two men would barely be able to get their arms around it. The girl's face was flushed with rage as she scolded them loudly: "TOO NOISY!"

Exquisite silver items gleamed brightly in the blazing sun, but Naroko just kicked them aside. These jerks in front of her had not only disturbed her lovely nap in the cave, but had also tried to attack her Wyrmcrawler Nadia! It was only when Nadia had them trapped in swirling sand that they begged for mercy, and thought to curry favor with these shattered pots. "There's no candy in the pots!" Naroko was still fuming. These guys deserved to be turned into jerky in the searing desert sun! She rang a bell, summoning Nadia and preparing to return to her cave. "We have lots of delicious things in our camp!" Rhett said quickly, "We only parted from our Wyrmrider friends last month, and wasn't expecting to bump into you today... It was all just a misunderstanding!" "You met the Wyrmriders?" Seeing the hint of expectation in Naroko's otherwise nervous expression, Rhett knew he'd guessed right. The Wyrmriders were a mysterious tribe who lived deep in the desert; while short, they had the ability to control Wyrmcrawlers—commonly known as giant sand worms. They had always lived in seclusion, and this little girl in front of them must have been accidentally separated from her tribe. Still trapped in the sand, Rhett's smile never left his face: "Of course. We traveled together for half a month..." Before he'd finished speaking, there was a surge in the sea of sand, and the bandits found themselves standing on firm ground once again.

Night had already fallen by the time Naroko arrived at the camp with Rhett and the others. He had promised to tell her in which direction the Wyrmriders had gone, as long as she had Nadia stir up quicksand to trap caravans for them. Naroko was so excited that she didn't mind the simple dinner, but Nadia seemed a little restless, shaking her toothed head and nuzzling Naroko's leg. Just then, Naroko remembered there was still business to take care of, and had Nadia lie down. The bandits didn't understand what she was doing, and could only watch as she stuck a hairpin from her braid into Nadia's body! The giant wyrm shuddered, then curled into a ball. The bandits let out a low murmur of surprise and glanced at each other. Naroko was a little surprised when she saw their nervousness, and asked: "Don't you know? The hairpins of my people are all highly toxic, which is how we can control Wyrmcrawlers." "Oh yeah, that's right. It's been a few days, I'd almost forgotten." Rhett mumbled vaguely as he sat beside her. He avoided the hairpin that Naroko had pulled out as he handed her a chunk of bread. Naroko took it with one hand as she patted Nadia with the other and asked, "Have you got any dragonberries? I'm sure you know how much Wyrmcrawlers love them." Rhett stroked his chin, and immediately promised to share all future dragonberries with Naroko. "Okay." Naroko said, and took a big bite of her bread.

"There's a large caravan, just a few dunes away." Under the blazing sun, Naroko stroked Nadia, who had just wriggled out from a sand dune, and shared the news. "Nadia's already sensed their vibrations, so we should probably hurry under through!" Rhett considered briefly, then suggested that Naroko and Nadia go first and trap the caravan, after which he and some of his men would follow on horseback. Naroko disagreed, saying that she was worried about getting separated from everyone in the desert, and insisting that they all go together. Rhett complained, helplessly, that they had no way of traveling under the sand. Realization suddenly flashed across Naroko's face, and she quickly rang another bell, whereupon Nadia began to writhe before spitting out a large glob of mucus. "Just rub this on your body, and you'll be able to breathe through your skin under the desert." Naroko giggled, "Didn't my people ever do this with you before?" "Well, we were all busy rushing back then." Rhett said no more, but reached out a hand towards the stinking mucus. Everyone followed Nadia beneath the desert sand, but Rhett very quickly began to feel suffocated. The mucus on his body made the sand stick to him even more, and gradually became unable to move. He looked around for Naroko in desperation, but couldn't find her. Rhett would never have the chance to learn that the domesticated Wyrmcrawlers didn't need to eat at all, or that the hairpins of Wyrmriders contained no poison. On the contrary, the Wyrmriders sustain the Wyrmcrawlers with their own strength. What really was poisonous, however, was Wyrmcrawler mucus...

Several miles away, Naroko was still furious at being cheated yesterday. "Hard working spitting up all that venom! Ripping them to shreds would have been okay too, but it's more fun this way..." Naroko put her arms around Nadia's neck. "Come on, let's go back and have a nap!"

"What a soft mattress! Look how high I'm jumping! Haha! Oh hey, put on more layers of sand, will ya? Nadia is not having enough fun."