It had no arms and then a hundred, no feet but one as wide as the base of the advancing dune itself. Everywhere and all of it was dark red, like all the rust that had ever afflicted the metals of the world squeezed into a swiftly shifting pyramid of rage. The dune howled and moaned and bellowed like some sky-scraping banshee unwillingly fastened to the Earth. Etjole Ehomba is a simple, humble herdsman from an isolated tribe, and a man of honor. So with only his spear, his sword, and a bag of gifts from the women of the village, Ehomba leaves family and home to walk the length of the world, cross an impassable ocean, vanquish an unstoppable evil, and rescue a woman he has never met for the sake of a dead man he does not know.
Honor demands nothing less.
Being a herdsman, he is used to hardship. Being humble, he asks many questions. Being simple, he is not surprised to be answered by beasts, trees, or forces of nature. Being pure, he can touch the spirit in his bone spear to bring forth ancient monsters and the spirit in his sky-metal sword to call down the cosmic gale that rages between the stars. Which is why nothing about Ehomba seems simple to his accidental companions, the swordsman Simna ibn Sind and the great cat Ahlitah.