I needed to gather supplies for my trip, and I spent my last coin on a brand new adventurer's pack! Something I've always wanted. The large pack was nothing compared to the one my dad used, but it had all the essentials: rations, a bed roll, rope, and extra spaces for all my belongings. I stuffed a couple of cantinas, and a few reinforced, potion, bottles into a smaller pocket on the front, and my change of clothes into the others.
I had amassed quite the collection of clothing from what my father had brought back from his trips. However, I lacked the one piece I needed the most out here in the desert. A lightly colored head wrapping often encased one's head while moving through the hotter parts of the day. A faded, and torn one laid on my shoulders, and I needed to get a new one to access my next stop. Farther north the sands grew increasingly unstable, and so too, did the heat.
In my trade for the backpack, I got the merchant to throw in a free map to the ancient temple. What luck! It was a bit faded, and hard to read, but it was my best shot so far. The paper had a lot of small scribblings of phrases, and what looked like incantation notes. Even if the map is incorrect, maybe the writings of a previous hunter will provide some insight. I'll admit, I doubt the legitimacy of the piece of paper, but at least I didn't pay too much for it.
I decided to press my luck further, that night, in a friendly poker game at the inn where I was staying. At the beginning, there were five or six playing. It was hard for me to count through the free drinks the table bought me. They seemed so nice at first, but as the night went on, and they realized I had no money, their moods shifted.
When my vision stabilized, I was playing with just one other. A lovely woman sat across from me. Her stark white hair almost glowed by the fire light. It only took a few giggles, and the biting of her nail, to get me smitten. She claimed her name to be Selene, and I offered my own name in return.
We laughed, and gambled for hours, and although I wanted the game to last forever, I called for one final round. She wanted to raise the stakes, as she placed a beautiful stone pendant on the table. It was obvious from its presence, the piece was full of magic, dancing with multiple colors in the light.
I had nothing to match with, but my explanation fell to half deaf ears. She assured me I had value to wager, and dealt the cards. My heart was racing as I looked at my hand. I couldn't contain my joy, not like it mattered, the bet was already on the table. I cried in victory, as I laid down a royal court! My maiden across from me never stood a chance, with a measly ten high.
She conceded, and walked me, and my prize to my room. She refused my kiss at the door with another giggle, which gave me almost the same rush. What an enchanting beauty...
I may have had one too many last night. Rising from my sleep, I found I only had a few minutes to get to my caravan. If I missed it, I would have been waiting another week to head safely into the deeper desert. In my hurry, I forgot my new prize on the night stand by the bed. The thought lept to me as the caravan came into view. I cursed under my breath, and then yelled for the sand glider to wait. I just barely made it.
As the group pulled away I heard someone shout my name.
"Zak! Where are you going without your prize?" Those words... floating on the wind, they are in the voice of my maiden. I looked around desperately, trying to spot her as the caravan pulled away from the edge of town. I didn't dare get off, in fear of losing my ride, but my craving to see her one last time was insatiable.
My heart nearly cracked my ribs, as her hands slid down my shoulders. She giggled at me jumping in my skin, and it instantly returned the wind to my lungs. She sat down besides me, on the back of the main glider.
"You nearly forgot this silly… I'm glad I was able to catch you." My pale haired enchantress said, handing me my stone pendant front the night before. Her beauty was the same, but her demeanor was strange. She wasn't sweating, or breathing hard. She was very calm for someone who was chasing after me, but my suspicions were swept to the side as she laid a kiss across my lips.
I sat there motionless. Struck by Selene’s energy. She let loose one more giggle before she shocked me once more, leaping from the back of the wagon into the soft hungry sands below. She waved at me smiling. Her hair flashed, as the white tips disappeared, I panicked, and threw out my rope.
"What are you doing sir! There is no need for this," one of the sherpas cried, wrestling the rope from around my waist.
"We need to go back! For that woman! She's being eaten by the sands!" I shrieked back, shoving the man off of me.
"What woman sir!? You will be the one who will be eaten by the sands if you continue!"
My craze was broken, and I paused for a moment with my birth pendant. After a couple of breaths, I could think clearly. i spoke in a cool, and calm tone, "Did you not see her? The woman sitting next to me?"
"You joined the caravan late, and all you have done is gaze at the stone in your hand! There has been no one with you, the whole time! Now settle down, it is a difficult journey to the stable sands, and the pilot must focus," my sherpa called.
I reflected in silence on the previous night, and recent experience for quite a bit of the ride. There must have been some strange local ingredient put into the drinks last night, must have been. Nevertheless, I will probably find someone to trade this pendant too.
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