He found that, ears plugged, his sense of balance was lacking. With each step he wobbled from side to side, both from lack of balance and from the loose particles beneath his feet.
He could see now, though dimly. His eyes burned and teared. If he only had water to wash his eyes.
And his mouth! Dry, filled with the taste of earth and silt and minute particles of rock. And the rising wind was driving even more grit into his face, into his lungs. He turned his back to the wind, gazed at the bleak landscape of Regulus' Lair.
For the most part there was nought to see but bare desert waste. And yet, dotted here and yon, remains of those who had gone before. A skull, whitened by the windblown grit. The rib cage, each bone in place, lying half buried at the base of a dune. And the horizon darkening as the wind's intensity mounted.
Though he could hear nothing the felt the driven grains striking even through his clothes. And dust devils rose from the desert floor, danced their dance, and faded in the distance. The sun was blotted out as the gusting wind lifted silt and sand and dust into the sky.
He lay down, desolate and knowing not which way to turn. But even as he lay on the desert floor the sand began to blanket him. With an effort he stood erect.
How could he find Regulus? Indeed, with the blowing wind, the shifting dunes, and the desert heat how could he do anything. Zeus, he though, I have failed you. I'll see home no more.
Amun the powerful ruled those desert wastes. Amun the merciless drove the sand across its surface. But Amun could relent. Perhaps the pleas of Mut, Goddess Mother, perhaps but a whim, yet the winds died and dark clouds gathered, poured briefly their life giving waters on the scene below.
The huge drops fell, pelting the desert floor, drenching Demo in the deluge of a rare thundershower. And bringing a new and different danger.
For the rain fell in torrents, and water rushed down gullies, down ravines, flushing sand and rocks before it. A wall of water loomed above Demo's head, coming ever closer. He clambered up the side of a dune, fell. He rolled down, but managed again and again to regain his footing. Finally he reached the top.