Mira reached Elena as Elena reached her. They collided in a tangle of limbs, rolling over the sharp stones. Hands clawed for purchase, nails digging into skin, drawing dark lines of blood that dried almost instantly. It was ugly. It was feral. It was the scraping of two wildcats in a cage too small for both.
They look at each other: enemy, then human. Without a word, Raya tosses the canteen to Sera. Sera cuts a strip from her coat. Together, they wrap their faces and dig into the sand, back-to-back, shivering as the world turns dark. Desert Duel Catfight
Just as Sera raises her heel to finish the fight, a low rumble shakes the ground. Sandstorm. A black dune —a rare, lethal wall of static-charged glass dust—rises over the horizon. Mira reached Elena as Elena reached her