Slowly, the three children walked by the flooding stream, delving deeper into the labyrinth with crisscrossing water paths. Jamal took the lead with the candle held aloft. His head jerked from side to side in fear and more than once he jolted and halted at the slightest sound, making the other two bump into him.
" Oh, for God's sake, it was just a pebble crunching under your foot! Why are you so jumpy?!" Ali Baba shouted vexedly at the other boy.
" It's… we don't know anything about this place… what if something is out there in the dark, waiting for us…" Jamal swallowed, his voice squeaky. " We should be careful…"
Zarqa had kept to herself so far, neither complaining nor defending, only staring as the two of them bickered whenever Jamal stopped abruptly or they disagreed on which way to go. She didn't let the smallest sign of sniggering even when Ali Baba had to push Jamal to cross the stream, which was admittedly uncomfortable seeing how the water reached their knees.
However, she stopped all of a sudden when they were about to cross the water again, making Ali Baba groan tiredly. " Not you too… what's the matter?"
" Is it natural for piles of gold to be down here?"
That caught both boys' attention and alerted them. The girl pointed her finger further ahead. " Look, there…"
Ali Baba and Jamal squinted, yet they couldn't see anything past the circle of light cast by the candle. They slowly moved forward, almost about to reach the ledge of the path when Zarqa's face went all blue at once.
It happened all together. They caught something shining in the darkness, like it moved at a high speed, and Zarqa pulled onto their collars from behind, forcing them back. " Run!" She cried, rushing back the way they came from.
Ali Baba and Jamal followed after her, yet they threw a quick look back to see what they were running from.
It was a mistake.
" What the…" Ali Baba seemed to have lost his voice, for what chased them was something none of them wished to ever meet.
A Sand Scorpion, a giant monster towering over them, with an exoskeleton of gold rushed after them. And on its back was the pile that Zarqa had seen, as if it was protecting it.
A huge pincer swept overhead, and if they hadn't ducked in time, their heads might have been crushed together.
The sound of a hundred small feet scurrying behind them had a rather spurring effect on their own legs.
Jamal dared to look back again only to see the hundreds of small scorpions following after the gigantic one, like children following after their mother.
Scorpions were generally fast.
There was no way they could overrun that big one.
" To the left!" Zarqa cried, skidding to a halt before kicking off down the side path. Ali Baba followed her, hand grabbing the corner to help him round. Jamal however, slipped over the slippery moss-covered path and fell down, the candle falling off its perch and rolling away from him.
" Jamal!"
Ali Baba stopped, one foot forward, the other dragging him back. By the dying light of the candle, he saw Jamal sprawled on the ground and the large shape of the Sand Scorpion loomed over him. The older boy struggled to get his bearing and get his limbs to coordinate, but he was not fast enough.
Coward.
Biting his lip, he dashed back. " Stand up, quick!" Helping the other boy to his feet, his eyes went wide as the Scorpion approached them, albeit, it moved right past them, dipping its large pincer into the water canal.
Ali Baba and Jamal didn't waste that chance as they quickly ran away from it and past Zarqa.
" Hurry up!"
Zarqa watched it for a second before going after the two boys. It took a solid five minutes of running and panting before any of them took notice of the eerily silence following them. They stopped, breathing hard and squinting in the darkness, but nothing seemed to be after them, yet.
Ali Baba heaved a sigh and slid down the wall, his knees giving up and throbbing painfully, complaining at the long distance they had to run.
Jamal haunched over, face all red and sweaty, and he seemed to try to remember how to breathe.
Zarqa on the other hand was as silent as ever.
When he pulled himself together, Jamal plucked a small rock, reached into his bag with shaky hands, and, finding a dry spot, struggled to light another candle. When he managed after what seemed like half an hour and perched it on the rock, both boys took notice of the pensive look on Zarqa's face.
" It… didn't go after you both…" she stated looking at the two boys with curious eyes.
" Well yeah, we were lucky it didn't." Ali Baba leaned forward, trying to discern Zarqa's thought process. " What are you thinking?"
Zarqa frowned as she looked up at Jamal this time. " The king's wish, it was for Zamradad to never run out of treasure, right?" The boy nodded. " How?"
" Huh?" Ali Baba questioned.
" How to make sure Zamradad never runs out of gold?"
Ali Baba's eyes widened when he got what she meant. " That's right…"
Jamal considered her, befuddled. " What do you have in mind?"
" That thing earlier, it didn't go after either of you, it went straight to the golden platter that fell into the canal. It's like a guardian, making sure no gold leaves here. That explains the huge pile on its back." Zarqa elaborated, looking from one to the other as if waiting for them to confirm her story.
Ali Baba and Jamal looked at each other quite doubtfully. " Are you sure?"
" Have my eyes ever deceived me?" She gave Ali Baba a certain look and his jaw clamped shut. It was a stupid question he should have known better than to voice.
" But the place was dark and-" As Jamal protested, Ali Baba cut him off.
" It doesn't matter, if Zarqa said she had seen it then she definitely had." Ali Baba's tone was grave.
Zarqa's eyes narrowed as she pondered on the situation further, and suddenly Sindbad's words made sense.
" She is not after the gold."
A spark of determination could be seen flaring in her eyes as she reached into the folds of her dress and brought out her golden anklet. She held onto it with both hands and brought it to her chest, as if keeping it close to her hurt, trying to suck all the memories and feeling it accumulated over the years.
" The most important thing is to have faith and..."
" Move on…" When she finally opened her eyes, she held the anklet over the water canal and let it slide down.
" Wait!" Ali Baba wanted to snatch it off the air before it fell into the stream, but he was late. With a splash, the golden anklet was carried away with the current. " I don't understand! Wasn't it something your late mother gave to you?! How could you throw it away like that!"
As he looked up at her, Ali Baba could see her fists balling tightly. " It is. But even if it's gone, Mama's memories will remain with me…" She took a deep breath, as if wanting to steady herself. Her hands finally went loose again. " She wouldn't want me losing my life over an anklet."
She swiftly turned around, heading back from where they came. " Dump any gold or silver you might have on you. It's the only way to get out."
Standing up, Ali Baba looked back and forth between the girl and his own reflection, torn between two choices.
" Don't let yourself be led astray."
He dipped his hand inside his bag and retrieved a locket with a ruby encrusted into it. Watching it longingly as if debating whether it was really necessary to get out, his mother's face flashed before him.
With his eyes squeezed shut, he let go of the locket and moved on too.
It took a few moments before he and Jamal caught up with Zarqa as she peeked round the corner where they lost the scorpions. None of the small ones nor the unbelievably large mother could be seen, which was a good sign so far.
" Let's go." Zarqa moved rather quickly, almost impatient. Jamal and Ali Baba exchanged worried looks at that, deeply hoping that she was right.
They had crossed the canal and walked a fair distance before Zarqa stopped dead in her tracks." I see a light!" She informed.
" Huh!?" While Jamal tilted his head in bewilderment, Ali Baba's heart almost gave a summersault at the possibility of exit. " Where do you see it? There is nothing but darkness."
" Don't question it." Ali Baba placed a hand on Jamal's shoulder. " What's more important is that we're guaranteed to have a path of escape. What about the Scorpion?"
" I don't-" The word caught in her throat as her eyes narrowed. " No, it came round back."...