They stopped, panting heavily as they watched the scorpions running towards Jamal. "Leave the treasure behind! It will kill you!" Not that the other boy answered.
" Forget about him! We need to go! What if it comes back!?" Zarqa threw one look behind before nodding at Ali Baba and they sprang forward again, with the girl taking the lead this time.
Neither of them knew for how long they had been running, only that they needed to get out. Every muscle and bone in their bodies complained, but they couldn't afford to stop, not with a monster behind them. It wasn't before long that Ali Baba was too able to see the light at the end of the tunnel.
" Something is off," Zarqa spoke as she looked back at the water canal beside them. " The water is receding back."
Before Ali Baba could speak up, the whole tunnel shook. " What is that?" He asked worriedly as he looked around, as if expecting the great Scorpion to break through a wall.
The tunnel quivered again and the ceiling cracked. " It's going to cave in!"
" Damnit!"
Just as the arched roof broke down, and great piles of sand came cascading into the tunnel, the two kids picked up speed, racing against the falling path. Dust filled the narrow place, making it all but impossible to see and even harder to breathe. Their lungs ached with the effort of running and the foul air they breathed, their eyes burned, and the spilling sand behind them threatened to swallow them down if they so much as tripped a little. And although the light was getting closer, so was the roof.
The last chunk that fell was so large, that the sand falling through the gap caught up with them and knocked them forward, then ejected them out through the exit. They rolled and flipped uncontrollably in that wave, but never let go of each other's hand before they finally hit the ground again. Above them, the stars of the night sky shone brightly as if welcoming them back to the surface.
Struggling up on all four and coughing the sand they had inhaled, they looked back at the way they came through, only to find it blocked by rocks and sand. No way to go back through it.
" What… Just happened…" Ali Baba gasped as he tried to stand up only to wince when something jabbed into his palm.
A golden small scorpion was there when he raised it, and it hastily retreated back into the sand.
" Ouch!" Zarqa cried as a similar one pricked her and disappeared.
Ali Baba's bag then jerked around vigorously before Morjana appeared out of its opening, cawing loudly and flapping her wings angrily at a golden scorpion that dove right into the sand.
" Even Morjana…" Ali Baba mumbled as he held the black bird while she scratched among her feathers.
Zarqa rubbed the spot where she was stung. " I think, we were marked…"
" Huh?"
" Remember what Sindbad and Jaber said. That they were marked and could not enter the lost city again." Ali Baba's eyes widened at the reminder. " I think maybe it's the same for us now."
The boy looked back at the blocked exit. " I see… so that forever, it will remain a lost city..."
Zarqa dusted away her clothes and had a calm look on her. " How did you know Jamal would bend over the canal?"
" He wouldn't have crossed it if he thought something was wrong. So he would need to check it. And since he's short-sighted, he would need to bend to do so," Ali Baba said as he checked on his wound and caught Zarqa giving him a curious look. " What? It was obvious he had bad eyesight from the way he was squinting at everything and tripping all over the place. Still, you didn't need to open your injury though."
" I had to if I wanted to convince him." She approached the boy. " It was all for the lost treasure."
Ali Baba arched an eyebrow. " So you figured it too, the one treasure the king lost forever."
" His freedom, yes, I too managed to piece everything together. The treasure that won't be found inside the city of gold. The one treasure Jamshid realized its worth too late, being too greedy to consider it. The whole place is bewitched to lure you more the greedier you get." She seemed sad as she looked back at the caved-in exit. " Jamal too was the same. Even in such a situation, he couldn't let go."
"... Maybe, just, maybe… if he wasn't, you know… he will have enough time to think things through. Maybe he would be able to make the right call faster than Jamshid and get out, by the look of it, that place has multiple exits… which reminds me…" He turned around, taking in the extended desert and dunes surrounding them. " Where are we now?"...
━━━━━━━༺ *** ༻━━━━━━━
Tea is one of the most favorite rituals of welcoming guests. While a more generous welcome would require a feast, Malik had to make do with what he had.
He sat on a sheepskin rug out in the yard and used a long stick to prob and stir the fire in the brazier on which the teapot sat, its flap quivering as the liquid within brew.
The smell filled Malik and Sindbad's nostrils, and if the latter was any tired from his journey, it served to stimulate him.
There had been quite the long uncomfortable silence between them as they watched the fire eating away at the dry logs and it downed heavily on Sindbad. He couldn't bear it.
As the one who took Zarqa away from her home, it was his responsibility to bring her back safe and sound. Yet he had the face to just abandon her at some valley and then show up at the door of her village. He wanted so badly to punch himself. If it wasn't for his word to Ali Baba, he wouldn't have ever stopped by the town.
" That girl made her choice I get it," Malik spoke up with a calm and gentle voice, making Sindbad snap his head back to him. He looked down, feeling very little and ashamed of himself.
" I'm sorry. I know I should have stopped her but…"
" Tell me, boy? Have you ever lost someone?"
Sindbad shifted in his seat. " Yeah, quite a lot… friends with whom I journeyed."
" No matter how hard you blamed yourself and lamented what you could have been able to do, were you able to go back in time or change the flow of events?"
Sindbad swallowed. " No… not at all…"
" That's fate, Sindbad. We busy ourselves with thinking we should have done this and that. But in the end, it's all to no avail." Malik looked up with a small smile on his face, and his wrinkles were highlighted by the effort. " Fate is something to be accepted and overcome. We move on, never back. Otherwise, we might lose sight of the great things that await us ahead. If you were to forever mourn what was lost, you'd never appreciate what you've gained in exchange. Isn't that right?"
Another jab at the brazier. " When I first found Zarqa, we both had our share of losses, and it was through them that we were led to each other."
Sindbad looked down, Malik's words turning around in his head. He only snapped back when an ancient hand reached out with a small glass of tea. " That's why, I have faith, that although our paths may have forked, we're meant to reunite. For Zarqa would overcome her fate and come back home."
With a gentle smile, Sindbad took the drink from Malik. " I'm praying for that, from the bottom of my heart."
As the two sipped their tea and conversed more about Zarqa's brief journey with Sindbad, the house's door flung open, admitting Jaber inside. He gave a quick nod to the Sheikh which he returned with a smile.
Sindbad put down his glass when he saw the glum expression on Jaber's face. " How is she?"
Jaber heaved a sigh and shook his head. " I'm afraid, I can't help her with what we have now. All I did was give that girl, Aisha, some herbs to soothe her pain and help her sleep. But her lungs seem in bad shape. It would require time, more herbs, and daily tending to."
" Which we can't afford any of right now," Sindbad grunted as he ran a hand through his hair.
" You're speaking of Jawaher I presume?" Malik walked over to them, leaning on his stick for balance. " Halima says the poor woman is growing weaker by the day. Maybe her son's absence is affecting her as well."
Sindbad looked at Jaber. " Did you tell her, about Ali Baba?"
Jaber clicked his tongue, almost cursing. " I did assure her he was fine and all with our caravan the best I could."
" It's better that way." Malik nodded his head understandingly. " While the poor woman is suffering, it would be the greatest mercy for her."
" What should we do about her situation though?" Sindbad asked, wanting to hear Jaber's thoughts on the problem. The other man ran a hand over his face.
" Let's continue towards Baghdad. We can solve whatever problem they needed you there for, get more medicine, and come back here for her." Jaber placed his hands on his hips as he spoke, clearly having run each scenario through his mind countless times. " I may be a physician but I can't treat people with my fingers alone, I need the right ingredients."
" Very well then, let's dally not." Fetching their traveling cloaks, Sindbad and Jaber quickly made for the door of Malik's house.
" Be careful lads. May you have a safe trip." Waving at the man who stepped out of the house to see them off, both of them mounted their horses and set course for Baghdad.