The nomads moved to Tuath's Rest after the water subsided, partially to prevent another hive of Thri-Kreen from moving in. The party finally left for the south, taking with them a chest of treasure that the nomads had found in the ravine, which they agreed to trade for various things the tribe wanted in return for a share of the profits. Their guide was Dahlil, who had visited the Kingdoms of the Five Sisters before. They took a road he was not very familiar with because the more familiar road led to two kingdoms currently at war where the party would not have been welcome. Along the way they encountered sand-storms and various unfriendly denizens of the desert.

One of the oasis they found was surrounded by nomad tents, but the inhabitants (the Lakal tribe) and all their animals had been beaten to death by blunt instruments, and the well had been fouled with their bodies. Desperately in need of water, the party headed south to the nearest oasis. Along the way they were constantly harassed by creatures made of sand. They finally reached the oasis, which was located in a small range of mountains; while they were at the oasis they were attacked by a Roc, and some of their pack and riding lizards were killed.

Fleeing south, they found that their way out of the mountains and onto the desert was blocked by a huge sandwhip, a creature that lives under the sand and entangles any animals that walk over it in its many tentacles. This one was huge, over three hundred feet in diameter. Unable to return the way they come because of the Roc and other monsters, they first tried to poison the sandwhip.^[17] When that was unsuccessful, Gim Torson summoned the Roc, although he was unable to control it; the sandwhip attacked the Roc, and in the ensuing battle the party slipped by.

Crossing a huge salt flats, the Salt Sea, they came to an inhabited oasis, Sev-a-kalam, where they stopped briefly to rest and recuperate.