" You damn brat! Those were the mice you were talking about right?!" His voice was rather sharp and he spoke in a hurried manner, it was more like squeaking. Yet his tone bore confidence and indignation.
" Wha' do we do with 'em?" The huge man shook them vigorously.
" They do know of this place. We have to get rid of them." The kids' faces drained of color at that.
" Boss! I got the bird!" Another voice cried as a rather lean man climbed up a pile of gold and silver. He was thin, tall, and his hair was scarce, but he wasn't completely bald. His left eye was scarred and white. He was also holding a limb Morjana by her feet, blood shining through the black feathers of her left wing. " We can have meat!"
" Leave her alone!" Ali Baba shouted as he saw the state of his crow and the shorter man glanced over at him in contempt.
" It's your bird I take it." He considered them smugly before speaking again. " Habib, search their bags!"
The larger man, Habib, snatched away their satchels and upended them, dropping their contents. Fancy caps and accessories came rolling from Ali Baba's, while Zarqa's had food and water.
" Food!" The taller man ran over to the wrapped bread and fruits Zarqa had brought with her.
" Contain yourself, Saïd. All this for a bit of food?" The shorter one emptied her water pouch in one gulp, ignoring the other three who gave him pleading eyes. When he was done, he threw it behind him and it landed in the boy's hands. As he held it to his mouth, hoping for a drop of water, Saïd kicked him and took the pouch by force, drinking the last drops left in it.
" Well now." The boss wiped his mouth on his sleeve as he approached the two kids. " You dare steal from me."
" Steal?" Zarqa quirked her eyebrow at that accusation.
" You don't think this whole valley belongs to you, do you?" Ali Baba snorted.
The man kicked away the challis lying down between them and grasped the boy by his collar, almost strangling him. " Ever heard of finders keepers, lad. I found this whole valley, so by all rights it's mine. No one takes a single thing from it without my permission."
" You must be kidding! All of this? You won't use half of it even in a thousand years! And you want to keep it all to yourself?!" Ali Baba argued, vexed at the man's simple-mindedness.
" You see, the problem with people like you is that they're like parasites." He let go of the boy and walked over to the challis he kicked, picking it up and gently rubbing it to restore its shine. " We let one of you walk out of here with gold on him, and you'll be bringing back your friends and family for more. And they would by extension bring theirs. And so until this valley is empty. That's why…" He turned around, tipping the challis towards Ali Baba as if raising a cheer. " We get rid of you so that no one knows of this place."
" Well said, big brother Majid." Saïd snorted only to be hit by the challis on the head as Majid hurled it at him.
" I told you not to call me that! Call me boss!" Heaving out an indignant breath, he rounded back on Zarqa and Ali Baba. " Now to deal with you." His hand slid to the handle of his sword. The two kids shifted and struggled against Habib's grasp, but the large man's grip was too much for them.
" Wait!"
Majid groaned as he looked over his shoulder at the boy still on the ground. " What do you want now, brat?"
He swallowed, fear palpable in his eyes. " There is no need to kill them…"
Majid snorted mockingly. " Have any better ideas then? We can't just let them run back alive. You're so naive. You and your father alike." At those words, the boy's fingers dug deep into the sand.
" Hey!" Saïd sat up on a boulder, still waving an unresponsive Morjana around. " I have a more fun idea! Let's tie them up and leave them in the desert at night. The hyenas would love them!"
" That…" Majid looked at him and smirked broadly. " Is a great idea! Didn't know you can use your mind!"
All three of them laughed gleefully while Ali Baba and Zarqa exchanged fearful looks.
" … Money…"
Majid frowned and looked down at the boy again. " Did you say something?"
" I said," the boy raised his head, bearing more confidence on his face. " If you do that, you won't earn anything from them. But if you sell them, or maybe use them as your own slaves, it would be better."
Majid took a moment to ponder on the boy's suggestions before picking up a plate of the nearest pile of gold and flinging it at Saïd who fell down upon impact. " You idiot! How come you didn't think of that?!"
Saïd sat up, rubbing his head where the plate had collided. The boy on the other hand exhaled deeply, his body shaking with that simple action.
" Habib, keep watch over them! Throw them in some cave or burrow, I don't care! Just make sure they don't leave your sight!"
As they were turned away and led by Habib, Majid's eyes caught something glistening brightly under Zarqa's robes, around her ankle. " What's that?"
In a split second, Majid used the tip of his sword to snatch the thing. Zarqa looked back in horror as she felt the touch of the cold sharp object on her ankle only to see Majid holding her golden anklet with a large smirk. " Ah, another thief I see."
" Give that back, it's my mother's!" In that moment of confusion and anger, she managed to jerk Habib's hand away and threw herself on Majid. " Give it back!"
" Get away from me, woman!" He slapped her away with the back of his hand. She tripped on the hem of her skirt and fell to the ground. Face and hair coated in sand, she glared back at the short man who seemed to relish that sight. He waved the chain of gold before her eyes tauntingly. " Don't ever think you're getting anything from here!" He thrust the anklet into his pocket and walked away.
Habib grabbed the girl's arm and forced her up, pushing her and Ali Baba before him into a small cavity in the cliff.
" You, dress this and prepare it for dinner!" As they were pushed inside, Ali Baba caught sight of Saïd throwing Morjana at the boy…
━━━━━━━༺ *** ༻━━━━━━━
Sindbad was moving swiftly among the travelers and traders it was all but impossible to keep track of him. All Jaber could see was the tips of his hair whipping in and out of sight. If it wasn't for his ridiculous purple hair dye, he would have lost him a while ago.
The two men ventured deep into the Souks, past the main alley and to a smaller one. Jaber could only tense at the strange rituals and performances exhibited there. It wasn't before long that the other man disappeared into a rather odd shop, one that offered all kinds of eccentric antiques and trinkets.
As Jaber took in the shop and its wares, Sindbad rang the bell on the table, once, twice, thrice… he continued ringing it repeatedly until a voice called out. " Fine! I'm coming! Have some patience!"
A woman stepped out from the inner parts of the shop, clad in extravagant purple robes and fingering a smoking pipe which she was sucking at its end. " Sindbad, what a pleasure. Finally remembered the way to my shop I see."
" Been a while, Shahrazad." Sindbad's voice was void of all the kindness and playfulness he always had. It was cold, business-like, and serious, that Jaber was taken aback by the sudden change.
" How can I serve you today? Something for bad luck? Or perhaps a map so you could visit so often?" Shahrazad shrugged.
" Quit playing around, you know why I'm here. I bet you saw me coming." He slammed his palm down on the counter, making everything on it shake. Shahrazad didn't flinch the slightest, just breathing out her smoke smugly.
" Yes, in fact, I did see a brainless idiot rushing frantically back here like if he had lost his head. The girl left, I presume."
" It was you then." Sindbad squinted, leaning forward so their faces were close. " You told Zarqa about the lost city of gold."
Shahrazad was unphased by the proximity and maintained her cool while facing his piercing eyes. " You sent her there, didn't you? For God's sake Shahrazad, she is a child! Why would you do that?"
" It's her fate, Sindbad. She was led here, and I simply offered my service to a client. That's my job." She let out a puff of smoke that forced the man to step back and smirked. " And I'll always carry out my job perfectly."
" Even if it meant her untimely death!"
" There is nothing as untimely, Sindbad. You know that better than anyone, you who traveled the seven oceans." Her eyes glimmered with a warning to him. " Everything happens in its time, in its place, and for the reason it needed to happen. Zarqa's journey is no different."
" Why? Why her? She is just a child?"
Shahrazad closed her eyes as if to formulate an answer, but all that came was a wistful breath. " No one knows yet. Why it had to be her? Why she had to leave everything behind? Why she was gifted in the first place? The answer to all those questions might be one and the same but we can't grasp it. All we could do is move along this river known as fate and struggle to keep ourselves afloat." She drew another breath from her pipe.
" Speaking of fate, yours seems to come knocking on my window," she said listlessly. Sindbad gave her a quizzical look before he heard a gentle tapping sound, as if something sharp was hitting the glass unceasingly.
Sindbad looked around for a couple of seconds before glancing at the high window in Shahrazad's shop to find a large brown hawk tapping at its pane with its beak...