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~~((National Do Something Nice Day Special -- Page 17 of 24))~~
The wind picked up suddenly again, and the mechanical snake veered off course. Instead of hitting the figure, it circled around it and then came sailing straight back toward Morgunov.

Morgunov barked a laugh, and the snake disassembled itself into a thousand tiny pieces. The parts scattered and rained down around the Mad Demon and his captives.

Asad could see some of the machine parts disintegrating into dust, too, before being swallowed by the desert.

"Parson Miles!" shouted Morgunov. "Get your butt down here and say hi! It's been too long! Let me get a look at ya!"

Asad blinked and strained to see. Captain General Parson Miles? The one behind the plot against the Rainlords? He couldn't truly be here, could he? He'd been removed from Sair on the Vanguard's own orders.

But as the figure slowly descended from they sky and as Morgunov raised a giant light bulb out of the sand to help illuminate the area, Asad saw that it really was him.

Asad had only met him a couple times, many years ago, but recent events had made him refresh his memory with all the pictures and documentation that the Sandlords had of the man.

Morgunov was cackling again. "Wow! Still keeping yourself nice 'n young lookin', I see! How've you been?!"

Miles' long coat flapped wildly around his missing legs as he hovered there, apparently deciding that it was better to remain in the air. He was using pan-rozum, no doubt, and likely didn't plan on releasing it for as long as he was in Morgunov's presence. "Oh, we've been better," he said quite calmly in two voices. "This war of yours has been keeping us busy."

"Of mine?" said Morgunov. "You're misinformed! I'm just lending Calthos a hand against the big, bad Vanguard! They wouldn't stand a chance against you jackbooted thugs otherwise, eheh! I mean, just look what you did to poor Sair!"