A large golden Scorpion stood straight as if it was a guardian, watching over the treasure and making sure none of it was ever touched. Just underneath its head, right in between its two pincers as if protected by them, was unmistakably, a throne. " This is creepy," Ali Baba shivered at the sight. " Even if it's gold and all, I would never want such a statue, much less sit underneath it."
Jamal didn't seem to agree, for his eyes went bright as he began circling the huge thing, admiring the details and the encrusted gems. " This is a piece of art!"
" You don't want me to believe that this is the treasure, right?" Ali Baba turned to Zarqa whose mind was preoccupied by something else.
" Come along!" She held into his hand and pulled him under the statue, much to his dislike.
" What's it?" He grumbled, feeling uncomfortable being underneath a giant scorpion, as if it may come crashing down on them any moment.
" The setting sun…" Zarqa mumbled as she pointed at the symbol engraved on the ground beneath their feet. At that moment, Ali Baba raised his head, looking up at the statue, and he saw it, right on its abdomen, a small opening.
" Take this." Ali Baba passed his bag to Zarqa and lept, hands clutching at the rim of the hole before pulling himself up and sliding inside the statue.
All Zarqa could hear was scuffing and shuffling as Ali Baba moved towards the head. Jamal on the other hand busied himself with admiring about everything in the throne room, as though pondering which one could be the lost treasure.
A fistful of dust fell upon her shoulder, pulling her attention from Jamal and to Ali Baba as he jumped down, a scroll of parchment clenched in his hand. As Zarqa took it to inspect it, Ali Baba threw a quick look at Jamal before whispering. " I think, I found our way out… We should leave quickly." His thumb thrust back toward the door. Zarqa nodded her head in approvement.
As they came from under the golden Scorpion, Jamal came around to meet them. " Did you find the treasure?" He asked in urgency.
" No…But... I think I'm pretty sure I have an idea of what it's…" Both boys turned back to her, eyes wide.
" What's it, tell me!" Jamal closed on to her, almost about to devour her whole.
Ali Baba shook his head from behind him, warning her against speaking. Zarqa however continued. " Don't get your hopes high, it's not something you could ever take back with you." She walked confidently ahead of them and looked up, both boys followed her gaze, and their jaws dropped down.
The ceiling was a colorful crystal dome with multiple drawings of angels and warriors, all clad in golden armor and donning the rim, while the center was the map of the world. " You said it yourself, that Jamshid was such a greedy man that he never stopped asking for more. Could you perhaps imagine how the throne room would be if the sun shone above it…"
It then downed on them.
" He wanted the world…" Jamal mumbled as he imagined the whole room dowsed in the colors poured from the crystal dome, painting the world underneath the throne, under the King's feet.
" Exactly," Zarqa explained. " However, as he made that wish, Zamradad was swallowed down, so the greatest treasure of King Jamshid was forever lost."
" I see…" Jamal looked down in disappointment. " It's really a shame… but I get now why father said Majid and the other would never want it… More like, they could never reach it..."
" Anyway, Ali Baba…" Zarqa looked back to the other boy. " You said you found our way out…"
" Right." Ali Baba frowned as he pointed at the scorpion. " When I went to the scorpion's head, I peeked out through its glass eyes and noticed something." With a light stomp, he indicated the symbol underneath their feet.
The Rising Sun.
" We got so far by following the Setting Sun. And since Zamradad is the city that got swallowed into the ground, if we want to get out onto the surface…" He pulled out his dagger and jabbed it into the circle's crack, heaving at it.
" We should follow the Rising Sun!" Zarqa and Jamal exclaimed in unison. And just at that moment, the golden disc of the symbol came off, revealing a deep hole and a golden scaffold.
" This will lead us out…" Jamal somehow seemed fearful of the idea.
" It's the only thing we can work with now…" Ali Baba tossed the disc aside and stood up, dusting his clothes. " Then, who gets the honor?"
" I'm going first." Zarqa had no doubt in her voice as she handed off Ali Baba's bag and slid down the hole, climbing into its depths.
Ali Baba looked over at the other boy who wrung his hands together and was sweating. Jamal jolted when Zarqa's voice came out, somehow muffled by the distance between them. " It's safe so far, albeit dark."
" Got anything with you that could help?" Ali Baba turned to Jamal, an eyebrow raised up at his bulging bag. " You're more or less a treasure hunter too, you should have something."
" Yes, yes… In fact, I do…" he fumbled with the clasp and pulled out a candle. " I have a kit to start a fire and some dry grass on me, but I might take a few moments."
Ali Baba chewed on those words before bending down over the rim. " It will be a bit before we get some light down there. Don't move recklessly." He received no answer but he knew Zarqa enough to take the silence for a yes. " And can you hurry?" He looked back at Jamal who embarked on striking a rectangular finger-long metal rode against a dark grey stone, sparks flew with each blow, showering the dried grass underneath.
Jamal stopped when it began to smoke and blew on it, fanning it. When the smallest wisp of flame appeared, he struggled to set the small string on fire. Ali Baba watched as the flame on the white candle became steady.
" That would do, then you go next."
" Me!?" Jamal sputtered, horrified.
" Yeah, we can't leave Zarqa in the dark for long down there, can we? Unless you want me to take the candle and you follow after, but that would mean you will be left in the shadow."
Jamal bit on his lip as he thought about it. " Okay…" he mumbled.
" Great." Ali Baba threw him a golden plate. " Use that as a perch for the candle and get down."
Reluctantly, Jamal put the white stick on the plate and climbed down the hole. Ali Baba waited long enough to make sure he wouldn't run into him as he descended and followed after, the light of the candle flashing in and out of his sight as Jamal moved, making it all but impossible to see clearly.
Ali Baba however was used to the darkness, he liked it actually. It was, as he would usually say, another partner for him. It hid him, shielded him from searching eyes, and protected him for so long. He felt the safest when engulfed in it. Nothing was easier than sneaking and stealing in the darkness. So long as he abandoned his sight and strained his other senses, darkness was sure to whisper back to him, to lead him. The rustling of the clothes, the dumb feeling of the cold golden bars he used to descend, and the soft whistle of air passing through the cracks and small openings, all of them were signs left for him to follow.
The darkness guided him, and Ali Baba followed like an obedient child.
He felt strangely at peace.
Not before long, the light finally stabilized, growing brighter to disturb Ali Baba's cocoon of darkness, much to his annoyance.
When he neared the ground, he pushed himself off the scaffold and landed beside the other two. It took his eyes a few moments to readjust and take notice of where he was. The first intriguing thing his senses picked was the sound of flowing water. " Where are we?"
" Aqueducts…" Jamal mumbled as he cast the light of the candle on the waterway running beside them. " They're used to carry water all across Zamradad."
" So…" Zarqa looked up and down the tunnel. " How to get out? Which way to go?"
Jamal pondered over it for a second before an idea crossed his mind. " This is the aqueducts, running right across Zamradad…" he repeated.
" Right, we heard you the first time." Ali Baba sighed in irritation.
" No, hear me out…" Jamal walked past them, holding up the candle high to illuminate more of the space. " The water has to enter Zamradad somewhere and exit it from another place. So if that was the upstream…" He pointed a finger into the right side of the tunnel through which water flooded and traced it all the way to the left. " Then that's downstream where water is ejected outside the city…"
" So if we follow the stream…" Zarqa began, giving Ali Baba an unsure look.
" We can get out?" He questioned, not believing it to be that easy.
Jamal pivoted with a shrug. " That's how it logically works. Either way, we don't have a map of this place, nor do we have any better option."
" Right…" As she considered it, Zarqa finally gave a nod. " Let's give it a try. In the end, if we were wrong, we could just switch course."
Ali Baba rubbed his head uncertainly, not that he had any other way in mind to argue though. " Okay, let's move on then. For some reason, this place gives me the creeps."
Slowly, the three children walked by the flooding stream...