A Desert Ocean — Stephen Donald Huff

The Wilderlands exist in an alternate past or a possible future. Depending on perspective, it is a realm inhabited by mysterious wizards or learned disciples of a new religion evolved from the practice of ancient science. Magic or high technology rules the world. Arriving on the burning shores of a vast desert, Epsilon Three of the Martial Rite encounters a lawless citadel equally plagued by human depravity and the malign influence of evil magic. Once the capitol keep of a vast and prosperous nation, Oreset is long since reduced to a Wilderlands waystation patronized by an endless traffic of vagabonds and thieves. Abandoned by his chimeric companions, the Wizardess Pandolyn and her apprentice Ubar, Epsilon must navigate the sordid complexities of this violent border city to make contact with a notorious sandboat captain, who has contracted to carry them across the stormy wastes of the Sand Sea. To confront the violent fate that awaits them on its far side, they must first survive the violent storms and bloodthirsty pirates of the fabled Desert Ocean.