Bushtabhar greeted them with hellish heat pouring down from the sun at its zenith. Even with spells limiting the heat, it was difficult to bear. It was in situations like this that Darius regretted not being a dragon.
The journey so far had not been so bad. They spent a little over two hours in Alexandria, heading for the permanent gate leading to El Tharan, which was the halfway point of their journey. There, they had to spend more time going through other portals, but fortunately, those led directly to their destination. The real heat hit them as soon as they emerged from the gate in Bushtabhar.
The place did not look very interesting. Just a few wooden houses squeezed into a gap between high cliffs, enclosed by a palisade and gathered around the entrance to a cave. Even the gate itself was simple - a stone arch without any decorations. One could say that apart from the golden portal, there was nothing here to indicate magic.
A soldier stood near the magical passageway, and at the sight of the emerging column of Guards, he froze. The boy barely held his spear in his hand, trembling like a young aspen tree. The blood drained from his face, and terror took its place.
Darius gently urged Bellator on so as not to slow down the other Guardsmen. Rex immediately caught up with him. Earl looked around. The area in front of the enclave's entrance was actually the border with the Sheheds, although the lack of visible sentries did not indicate this. The only upside was that the taboo totem was clearly under the protection of a priest. Thanks to this, at least there was certainty that no lost non-magical wanderer would stumble upon something they should not see. Such objects were placed near the entrances to enclaves to prevent unintentional taboo violations and exposure to the consequences.
Bleist turned in his saddle, looking for the unfortunate soldier guarding the portal.
‘Where's the commander?’ he growled in a hoarse voice. The dry air clearly did not suit him. Personally, he preferred to
