Though she really loved the day, hot, burnings sand underneath, blue sky stretching on for miles, Arta could not deny that night on the Moriaki Desert had a special, unreal beauty the even the fabled tndra of the north had to compete with. Sure, it was cold. That was why they buried under the sands at night. But, tonight, she was going to enjoy it. And she was proud to have the leonine eyes to see it. The sky, almost a milky white with stars, bathed the sands silver with a light more delicate than the sun, and more alien than the moon. The dunes were like the teats of the earth, pale, lonely, stately.
Arta sighed. This was beautiful.
Her red wings, hair, draconian tail, furred haunches, and back and tail spines were washed out in the star's milky light, but were still rather stark against her surroundings. She was quite conspicious, with her bag of jewels at her side. At least, tha's how the bandits saw her.
Arta's head snapped around, red mane flashing behind her. The men rose out of the sands, as if they were made of sand themselves. She was surrounded, but she laughed.
"You know, those jewels look nice. Can we have them?" The man was cowled and wrapped, in cloth the same color of the sands. The only part of his— and his cronies' body left uncovered was their eyes; their glowing eyes, which looked like facetted jewels set into their skulls. This man's were as red as her mane.
Arta laughed. "You think I'm going to give them to you? Fat chance, ruby eyes!" With that, she lashed her tail at him. The sharp scales alone were enough to cut a man, but as she whipped her tail at him, spines flew aout from her skin, like a porcupine's quills, and imbedded themselves in the bellies of the bandits. The leader had three in his belly, as well as torn cloth on his face, showing a face that would be tanned in the day, and a dark goatee. His eyes were wide in shock...
Until they crinkled in laughter and the gang dissolved into sand, only to reappear, behind her, completely unhurt. The leader fixed his cowl, which had still been torn. "That was fun, now wasn't it? Now, we'll be taking those, now." The gang simultaneously raised their hands, and a wall of sand rose around her. Arta grabbed at the bag, which she had dropped to free her hands, but it sank through the sands as if it was sitting on quicksand. The wall rose around her, encompassing her, capturing her in a giant ball of sand. She screamed, banging her clawed hands against the hard apcked sand. It made nono difference. The sand was so compact, not even air could come in. As the night wore on, she began to fatigue, body weakening until she was just sitting, struggling to breathe. Then she was laying down, too tired to even keep her eyes open...