The Young Nabile

     "You can't do this! I'm Princess Neera!"

     "You were once Princess Neera, but not anymore." The two soldiers grabbed Nabile by the arm.

     "Run, Nabile," her mother whispered.

     "But, Mother, I can't do that! I would be disobeying King Coltzan's law."

     "It doesn't matter; just run!" Nabile managed to get away from the Grarrls and ran till she found an alleyway to hide in till night and the next day knowing that she might not see her mother again...

     The morning sun arose all of Sakhmet's citizens, another day of selling its exotic food and Petpets. There was chattering, selling, bidding, and a big commotion, but in an alley poor little Nabile, who had just lost her mother the night before, was crying her little eyes out.

      "I sure am hungry. But I don't have any Neopoints," Nabile whispered to herself. "Maybe I'll just wait for someone to throw something at me." The purple Ixi sat there for hours, yet no one threw not even a scrap. She got more and more hungry.

      "I guess that didn't work. Maybe I should steal something. No! Stealing is bad! I could get killed for that!" Nabile spotted a ripe Tchea sitting unprotected on a fruit stand. Nabile couldn't help herself. She swiftly walked up to the stand, blended with the crowd, and grabbed the Tchea when the shopkeeper wasn't looking. "That was close." Nabile was about to take her first bite when someone behind her shouted.

      "Hey, you thief! Give that back!" Nabile looked back to see the shopkeeper running after her. Unfortunately the shopkeeper had seen Nabile take the Tchea. Running as fast as she could, Nabile tried to escape, but she was blocked by passersby.

      On the other side of Sakhmet, a young Lupe was running away from a street patroller.

      "Stop, you little thieving thief!" yelled the street patroller.

      "Ha! What kind of threat is that?" The little Lupe jumped on top of some barrels, pushed them down, and they landed on top of the street patroller.

      "Hey, stop, thief! Get back here!" The Ruki street patroller tried to get free but the barrels were too heavy for him to lift.

      "Catch me if you can!" laughed the red Lupe and he ran away.

      Meanwhile, Nabile was still running away from the shopkeeper.

      "Someone stop that Ixi thief!" screamed the angry Grarrl shopkeeper.

      "Dear shopkeeper," said one of the richer Sakhmetians, "she's just a little Ixi, probably an orphan."

      "But that gives her no right to steal from me!" While the shopkeeper and the rich Sakhmetian were arguing, Nabile got a chance to run away with the Tchea.

      "You sure have caused me a lot of trouble!" Nabile scolded the Tchea. The Lupe on the other end wasn't paying attention to where he was going and ran into Nabile! Oof!

      "Oh my gosh! I am so sorry! I didn't see you. If I knew you were running this way, I would've gotten out of the way for you! Forgive me?" pleaded Nabile. The young Lupe got up, said nothing, and looked both ways.

      "Looks like they're after me again... and after you too. Come one!" He grabbed Nabile's arm and they both started running.

      "Huff huff... Who are you?" asked Nabile.

      "The name's Tomos, huff. Follow me!" They stopped in an alleyway that was covered by clothes and on the left was a wooden door. Tomos knocked on the door twice, then once, then twice again. A little window opened on the door and a pair of eyes looked down at Tomos and Nabile then the window closed. The wooden door opened and they both entered while the street patroller and the Grarrl shopkeeper gave up their search.

      "Hey, Tomos!" said a blue Techo, "What treasure did you find today?"

      "No treasure, Hocks. I found a girl instead. She bumped into me, or should I say, I bumped into her. This is Hocks, the leader of the Desert Scarabs."

      "Desert Scarabs?" Nabile nervously walked forward.

      "Hello there, little Ixi," Hocks said. He saw her still carrying the Tchea. "Where did you get this?"

      "I... I... um," Nabile stuttered. "I took it without paying for it from a fruit stand."

      "You did?" Hocks said with a laugh. "Hey, Tomos, you've been looking for a partner for a long time. Why not let Nabile join you?"

      "What! But Nabile doesn't know anything!"

      "I can learn fast, Tomos," Nabile snapped back.

      "Well, you do, don't you? Show her around!"

      "Alright. Come with me, Nabile. And you better finish that Tchea first before it goes rotten." Tomos took Nabile on a tour around the Desert Scarabs' hideout. Of course this one was only one of them. There were many others in Sakhmet. The hideout led to many places like the bazaar, marketplace, outside the palace walls, outside the city, and into the desert. There were rooms, each room with four bunks, and each bunk with a member of the Desert Scarab. There were rooms that held the Scarabs' treasures.

      Hocks met Tomos and Nabile back at the hideout entrance, where the duo entered this morning.

      "So, Tomos, did you show her around?"

      "Every room! Well, not every room that we're not supposed to go into. So, Nabile, do you want to join the Desert Scarabs?"

      "Well," Nabile muttered, "I'll join since I have nowhere else to go."

      "Alright then. Follow me both of you." Hocks gestured. He led the children into a room with only a chair and a burning fire, which was a bit odd since it was already burning hot outside, and a long iron stick with a mark at the tip of it in the shape of a scarab.

      "Just sit on that chair, Nabile." The Ixi sat nervously wondering what the Scarab leader was going to do. Hocks lifted up the iron stick and held it over the blazing fire. The mark at the tip started to turn red and hot. Hocks the Techo walked over to Nabile carrying the stick with the scarab mark.

      "Turn your left shoulder to me," Hocks ordered. Nabile turned and the Techo pressed the scarab mark just right below her left shoulder. She screamed in anguish as it stung her. Tomos poured water over it slowly to cool it down.

      "Are you okay?" Tomos asked.

      Nabile looked at him in the eyes. "It hurt before you poured water on it, but I'm fine now." She gave Tomos a small smile and looked at her shoulder and saw the scarab mark would be forever on her.

      "You're now an official Desert Scarab, Nabile! Tomos, show her to where she will stay. Then I will tell you everything you need to know." Hocks gave Tomos a wink.

      The duo entered the room they passed by that morning.

      "This is where you'll stay, Nabile. You can have the bottom bunk." Tomos then pointed to two other Desert Scarab members on the opposite of the room.

      "Hey, Tomos!" one of them cried. "I didn't see you at all this afternoon. Who's the Ixi?"

      "Didn't you hear, Horace? We have a new member!" The other one jumped down from her bunk.

      "Nabile, this is Zina and this is Horace. They're partners just like you and me!"

      Everyone introduced themselves to Nabile and she felt glad. This "Desert Scarabs" thing was like a second home to her. Of course she did not forget her loving mother and father. Nabile looked up into the sky and saw a shining star. She knew her new life of adventure and friends began...

The End