'How much further?' Honeydew, the Dwarf, complained for the fifth time in the past ten minutes. Peculier, the Knight, groaned.

'Not any further than when you asked me two minutes ago!' He sighed in annoyance. Honeydew frowned.

'But my feet hurt from walking so much! I'm meant to dig holes, not walk a marathon.' He grumbled. Silence fell between the two before a loud piercing scream echoed across the sandy dunes. This alerted the two to the absence of their fellow hero, Xephos, the Spaceman.

Honeydew looked around quickly, noticing his best friends absence. 'Where did Xephos go?' He frowned, he knew that Xephos wasn't one to wander off without telling them. Peculier stopped, whipping his head around in all directions in search of Xephos.

'Hero? Xephos?' He called, his raspy voice echoing through the now silent desert.

'You don't think anything's happened to him do you, Peculier?' Honeydew asked worriedly, he had heard Xephos scream before and it sounded very familiar to the one they had just heard. Honeydew didn't like being away from his best friend, as the two had been inseparable since the start of their adventure. Peculier shook his head.

'I don't believe any harm has come to the hero. It may be that he simply collapsed a while back. We will retrace our steps and try to find him.' Peculier took charge of the situation and stayed calm, Honeydew could see that he was still worried for Xephos, but was staying calm. Honeydew respected that. Even if he could see that Peculier didn't believe himself and like Honeydew, knew that Xephos wouldn't just collapse, no matter how exhausted he got. He would keep walking. It made them both worry more thinking about that.

The two heroes retraced their steps, two sets of footprints could be follows quite easily. They simply needed to find where there had been three sets. The longer they walked back the way they came, the more worried they got. Peculier was the first of the duo to spot the three sets of footprints, imprinted into the sand. He had been the first to know.

'Honeydew...' Peculier stopped himself. He suddenly bent down and ran his fingers through the sand. 'Honeydew!' He shouted more urgently. Honeydew ran to his side, and bent down beside him. The sand was lifted up at this point, as if there was something underneath it. Another worry was that some of the sand was stained with Crimson. Honeydew didn't need to ask what it was. Although Peculier confirmed his thoughts anyway. 'I think... I thinks hat's Xephos' blood.' His voice trembled. The sand in front of them suddenly rose up, then dropped shakily. Honeydew and Peculier scrambled backwards, staring at the sand, they shared a look.

'Do you think?' Honeydew mused aloud. Peculier nodded. 'We have to get him out then! There's no telling what may have happened!' Honeydew shouted, Peculier agreed nodding again. The two then bent down beside the lump in the sand and began to dig.