And then another stuck its head up to the right of the first one. And another and another.
I spun like a dancer. We were surrounded by giant snakes with very nasty-looking fangs. If we didn’t do something quickly we were going to end up the main course for lunch.
“Nice place,” Aahz said as the moving grass got closer and closer around us.
“Any time now,” I tried to suggest, but the only thing that came out of my still sealed mouth was “Aggghhh tgggghhhh.”
What’s the matter?” Tanda asked, smiling at me. “Afraid Of a little snake?”
I nodded vigorously as another monster snake head popped up not more than fifty paces from us. It looked not only hungry, but angry.
“Yeah,” she said, “me, too.”
With that we were back in the dust storm on Vortex #1.
“Skeeve!” Aahz yelled as the dust pounded into us.
Before I could even act, Tanda said, “Don’t bother.”
Then we were back in the Shifter’s tent, staring at the creature who now looked just a little too much like the snakes we had just left.
“I am glad for my percentage to see that you have returned,” it said.
“I’ll bet,” Aahz said.
“Vortex #4 please,” Tanda said, getting right to business.
“The total is now fifteen percent.”
“I understand our agreement,” Tanda said before Aahz could say a word. “Vortex #4 please.”
The snakelike-shaped Shifter nodded, and again we were whisked through to another dimension.
And right back into the same stupid dust storm.
Okay, I have to admit that when we dimension-hopped back into the dust storm, I was shocked.
Tanda motioned that we should follow her. It took me almost all the way to our destination before I realized where we were. Now granted, I had the excuse that it was blowing heavily. And to me, one dust storm looks just like another. But it wasn’t until the old log cabin loomed up out of the dust like a ship in the fog that it dawned on me that we were back in the same place.