In Hawikku, the last city of the Hisatsinom culture, the gods of Orniskem bought their final provisions before departing for the desert that stretched to the south.
“You must not go any farther south!” said one of the people selling goods to Anpiel, who by now spoke enough Tano to communicate with the locals.
“That’s right. To the south lies the desert of Samalayucan, a place now inhabited by demons, and the temperatures there are terribly high. It’s a road of death!” said another vendor.
“Well, we are in great haste to reach the city of Tula, and that is why we are heading there,” the angel replied, trying to sound reassuring.
“I recommend that you travel east, to the great empire of Cahokia. There you can take a ship that trades with the empire in the south,” said a passerby moving through the little market in the city.
“We thank you, but we do not have time to go all the way there,” Anpiel said to the man.
“I say it because even if you try to enter, something will make you walk in circles and bring you right back to the outskirts of that great desert,” the man continued.
“Yes, we have already been told as much,” Anpiel replied.
“When I was a child,” the man said, “my father always took us south to sell goods to the peoples living in that region, such as the Rarámuri and the Yaqui. But several years ago, demons appeared there, and Grandmother Spider sealed the desert so they could not escape.”
“You mean those peoples are trapped in there together with those demons?” Anpiel asked.
“I do not know how far the barrier of the great Grandmother Spider extends, but we have had no contact with those nomadic peoples for at least fifty years,” the man continued explaining.
The man took his leave, and Anpiel relayed the conversation to the rest of Orniskem.
“I think we should have done that from the beginning, returned to Cahokia’s lands and taken a ship,” Epona said pessimistically.
“No, Epona, remember. We need to grow stronger and face this so-called Coyote. I’m sure that will give us a great part of the momentum we need,” Menrva replied, encouraged by the horse goddess’s pessimistic words.
“Besides, going all the way there, even by air, would surely take us twenty days; and then who knows how many months at sea,” Menrva added, equally pessimistic.
“You’re still worried about Athena, aren’t you?” Anpiel asked the Etruscan goddess, who only nodded.
“Well, demons or no demons, we’re crossing that great desert and reaching Tula,” Tania said brightly. “And we’re gonna kick that Coyote fellow’s ass!”
The people, hearing Tania say Coyote out loud, immediately began crying out in agony and covering their ears. Others pulled out amulets, while many simply hurried away. Meanwhile, the shopkeepers politely told the gods to leave.
“I think that word must be taboo in this region,” Anpiel said after trying to explain to the people that they only meant the friendly little animals roaming around there, though it did little good.
After leaving the town, though not in the most honorable manner, the gods walked for a while until the little city was out of sight.
“All right, let’s travel the way we discussed,” Ana said, making her cabin appear from her pocket dimension.
All the gods except Rodrigo entered the house Ana had summoned. Then the young tannin opened his fifth chakra and underwent his usual transformation.
“You look real handsome all surrounded in white, Rodrigo,” Epona said to the young tannin, blowing him a kiss from the window.
Rodrigo thanked Epona for the gesture, then with his strength lifted the cabin, set it upon his shoulders, and began to fly with it.
“Remember, Rodrigo,” Tania said, “the moment you start feeling tired, let me know so I can take your place and you can come in and drink some of Tul’s energy juice.”
“Yes, Tania, though I already feel able to travel longer,” Rodrigo said.
“And remember, at night we rest, no excuses,” Menrva added, leaning out the window as well. The young man nodded and flew at great speed with the house on his back.
“This was a most excellent idea, Tul-chan,” Susanoo said as he approached the rabbit goddess, who was still admiring the cabin.
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“Yuum bo’otik, yuum Susanoo,” Tul said, turning to the eastern god. “Though ch’úupal Tania said at first it was a very childish idea.”
“All right, I apologize,” Tania said. “I just felt the air currents would blow away everything we have inside.”
“But thanks to yuum Susanoo’s barrier, there’s nothing to fear,” the rabbit goddess said cheerfully.
Indeed, the cabin was covered by a light layer of air that kept the wind currents from buffeting it or blowing away everything inside.
“By the way, we have another surprise,” Tul said excitedly, beginning to pull out several clay jars from her bag, the ones they had bought in Chaco.
Ana took one of the sealed jars, smelled it, and realized it contained the chocolatl drink they had tasted before.
“Is this the sweet drink from the other day?” Ana asked. The others looked at the little clay cups as well.
“We mixed what little ambrosia-mead we had left and diluted it with Tul’s drink,” Tania said.
“Well now, chocolatl with alcohol, now that’s good news!” Loki said excitedly, reaching to drink some. The Norse god had already returned to his male form.
“Don’t drink it, idiot. It’s for emergencies!” Ana said, snatching the cup away from him.
“With pleasure, I would share my cup with you, beautiful,” Loki said, giving her a flirtatious look. Tania immediately grew furious, while Ana only blushed.
“Well, we hope what remains will be enough,” Menrva said, seeing that there were only ten cups, one for each of them.
“We lost too much ambrosia in the fight against Anat,” Epona said gloomily.
“It’ll be enough, I’m sure of it,” Menrva said melancholically, thinking that they would now be facing the most powerful gods on the continent. Considering only that the so-called king of Aztlán should have power similar to Anat’s, according to Odin.
“It’ll all be fine, Menrva,” Freyja said brightly, giving her a thumbs-up. “Thor always used to say that the more the odds are stacked against us, the more glorious our victory will be.”
Menrva tried to smile and nodded.
At that moment, the dreamcatcher Menrva wore around her neck began to rise and glow gold.
“Look, the amulet’s glowing. We must be close,” Menrva said, delicately taking the dreamcatcher in her hand.
Freyja leaned out the window and saw a chain of mountains dividing the Hisatsinom land from a desert full of sands and dunes.
“Yep, them’s the mountains that wouldn’t let us through,” Freyja shouted as she looked down at the ranges beneath them. Rodrigo kept flying, and at last they entered the desert of Samalayucan, where all that could be seen were great dunes of sand and absolutely no vegetation.
Then the dreamcatcher stopped glowing and returned to its resting state.
“Yes, it seems we are finally in the territory of that so-called Coyote,” Menrva said.
Tania leaned out the window beside Tul, and the two of them gazed at the vast dunes spreading out below.
“Where I grew up, there are desert dunes very much like these, Tul,” Tania said excitedly as she watched the immense sea of sand beneath them.
“I’ve never seen anything like this in my whole life, ch’úupal,” the rabbit goddess said, thrilled by the sight of the sand. Then she turned to Tania with a sweet look. “Can we touch the sand?” she asked.
“Of course, and that gives us a chance to switch with Rodrigo too,” Tania said with a broad smile.
“Hey, Rodrigo,” Tania shouted to the young man, who was using his reserve strength by then. “I told you not to overdo it. Bring the house down here, please!”
Rodrigo nodded and landed on the great dunes of Samalayucan.
The house began sinking into the loose sea of sand, though not so much that the gods could not climb out through the windows. Meanwhile, Rodrigo lost his transformation and leaned back against the wall of the cabin.
“Idiot, get inside and drink some of Tul’s concoctions,” Tania told the young tannin as she climbed out the window and stepped onto the hot desert sand. Tul also jumped out and began hopping around, scooping the sand up in her hands with great delight.
“I’ve never been in a place like this,” Ana said as she came out with the others, all of them gazing at the desert with curiosity.
“No, neither did Yggdrasil have environments like this,” Freyja said, fascinated by the sand.
“It gives me bad memories of when I faced Al-Qaum and he nearly turned me into a statue of salt,” Epona said pessimistically while staring at the sea of sand.
“Well, that’s a surprise,” Anpiel said. “At last we find something we all enjoy, and you’ve already found something wrong with it, Epona.”
The Celtic goddess stuck out her tongue at the malak and went to help Rodrigo back to his feet, while Loki and Susanoo came out as well to look at the great sea of sand that was the incredible desert of Samalayucan.
At that moment, Loki noticed something strange. Part of the sand spilling from the cabin and spreading across the dunes was moving in the opposite direction. The god remembered the Talking God’s words about seeing things that were not right.
“I know everyone’s enjoying the moment, but remember we’re in enemy territory, and we can’t let our guard down,” Loki said.
“Loki is right,” Menrva said, seated on the sand while watching Tul throw sand in Susanoo’s face. “We have to get up and keep moving.”
“I can’t believe Loki said something coherent for the first time,” Tania said, and all the gods stood and returned to the cabin.
Tul stored some sand in a little jar and put it in her bag. “It’ll be a souvenir from this part of the world,” she said.
The gods went back inside the cabin, where Rodrigo was sitting beside Epona, drinking one of Tul’s energy beverages. He still looked tired.
“Done having fun that fast?” Epona asked.
“We need to continue our journey. We can’t wait for that so-called Coyote to come attack us,” Ana said.
“Is everyone ready now?” Tania asked, while Susanoo once again covered the house in his wind power. The sand that had buried the structure blasted away like a cloud of dust.
Tania then transformed into her manticore form and lifted the house without difficulty.
“All right, we’re moving out!” Tania shouted, and everyone nodded. The Punic goddess began to fly, and they continued their march over the great desert.
“I wanted to play in the sand a little longer,” Tul said sadly, looking out the window as the vast desert stretched below.
“Do not fret, Tul-chan. Thou shalt see it again another time,” Susanoo replied, placing a hand on her shoulder while Tania was not watching over her.
“I hope you’re not saying weird things to Tul, Susanoo,” Tania shouted while carrying the cabin and flying south.
“Uso! It is impossible that I would do such a thing, Tania-san,” Susanoo said, surprised and annoyed.
At that moment, Menrva looked toward the table and chairs and frowned.
“Hey,” she said to the group. “Were the chairs arranged like this when we landed?” she asked.