...Somewhere behind, one of the sages was beating a drum, while Cendrine sat obediently in the hole and waited for what would happen next. The shaman drew a circle around the hole with white ash and dropped some foul-smelling oil on her forehead. Then all the men knelt down and began throwing sand into the hole, burying Cendrine alive until only her head was visible. She felt no fear, even when, through her trance, she realized that she could not move. Only her eyes and mouth obeyed her. She was now one with the desert and felt the warmth of the heated sand flowing into her body...