Of Hidden Towns and Secret Messages

     “It’s a small one,” he called. “It shouldn’t take long until I’m back.”

     Fiin merely grunted in reply, but Remnok hadn’t been expecting anything else. The Desert Tonu never entered any of the tombs his friend searched for ancient weapons. He was the one who remembered all paths through the Lost Desert and could cross it faster than anybody else, but when it came to dark and narrow tombs, Remnok knew that he preferred to stay outside.

     The light of the sun lightened the tomb sufficiently enough for Remnok to leave his torch leaning against the wall. Searching it would be quick and easy, but if he was lucky, he would still return with a few treasures. In the back, next to the sarcophagus, he saw a few jugs and that was where he headed. If anything valuable was hidden inside the tomb, he would find it there.

     The Desert Aisha’s soft leather boots made no sound as he sneaked towards the back. For some reason, he found it important not to disturb the silence inside the tomb, as though every noise would wake the pet inside the sarcophagus.

     That was why he emptied the first jug carefully and held out his hand to catch its content. Nothing but dust trickled over his fingers.

     Remnok sneezed. The red vase nearly slipped from his fingers as he winced at the unnaturally loud sound. “Sorry,” he muttered, throwing an apologetic glance at the sarcophagus. Hopefully, the remaining four jugs contained more than just sand. It had taken them four hours to reach this tomb and he hated the idea of having made the whole way for nothing.

     The next vase was empty. A Scarabug fell out of the third one and quickly scurried away before Remnok had a chance to catch it. He let it go. He would not get a good price for it, so chasing after it was not worth it.

     Only one jug remained. There better be a good weapon in it. Lately, Remnok’s shop had become increasingly popular. Rich pets from all over Neopia travelled to Sakhmet to buy his ancient and rare weapons. Only two days ago, a Grarrl had stopped by announcing that he would pay every possible price if Remnok could find him a magical dagger that was unique on the planet and that he would be the only one to possess.

     Money, the Aisha had found, was a good motivation to get up long before sunrise and ride through the Lost Desert. On the other hand, the Skeith’s commission made it all the more disappointing if he returned empty handed.

     Lifting the last jug and shaking it carefully, Remnok was disappointed to hear nothing in it rattle. With a sigh, he turned it over. As expected, dust trickled through his fingers. He was about to put the container back into place, when something fell out and landed on his hand.

     A piece of parchment.

     Not exactly what he had been hoping for, but it was better than nothing. Very careful as not to damage the parchment, Remnok smoothed out the wrinkles. He saw writing on it, but in the darkness of the tomb, he could not make out the letters. As fast as he could, the Aisha tiptoed back to the entrance and into the sunlight.

     Fiin looked as though he was about to doze off when Remnok reached him. The Aisha frowned. “I haven’t been gone for that long.”

     “No, but it was long enough,” the Tonu replied, peeling one eye open. “Did you find anything interesting?”

     “No weapons or anything to sell. But I got this.” Remnok held out the parchment he had found inside the last jug. “It was hidden in one of the vases I found.”

     “Ah. What does it say?”

     “Err... It’s a bit smudged. It says...” The Aisha paused, tilting the parchment to get a better look at it. “Well, this word here means ‘find’. And that one could be ‘town’. And then there’s a part that’s easier to read. ‘We are in the valley of sand near the...’ There’s another bit missing, then ‘between Altador and the Lost Desert on the west side of’. Oh, this is interesting. It’s signed by ‘Ellie of Goldrun’.”

     “Yeah, interesting maybe, but nobody will pay for it.”

     Remnok wasn’t listening to his Tonu friend. His eyes had taken a far-away look as he stared right through the parchment. “Goldrun,” he whispered. “Do you think it’s gotten this name because they’ve got a lot of gold there?”

     Fiin shrugged. “I don’t know. Maybe.” He looked up at Remnok. His eyes widened when he saw the expression on his friend’s face and he frantically shook his head. “No, no way. We’re not going there. Between Altador and the Lost Desert. Do you know how far that is? Plus, we don’t even know if this place really exists. And who’s to say that we’ll find it? There’s a lot of sand between here and Altador.”

     “There is,” Remnok agreed. “But we’ve already come a long way from Sakhmet. Think about it. Have you ever heard of Goldrun before? No. Nobody has. If it’s a completely new world, undiscovered by the rest of Neopia, then its treasures are unknown as well. Just imagine how much money we could make by selling their goods.”

     “And how much money we could lose by leaving the shop unattended until we’ve found that place,” Fiin shot back. He got up and dusted himself off. “I think we should return to Sakhmet.”

     “I’m sure my brother won’t care if he has to mind the shop for a few days longer. He’s used to me disappearing for a while on my explorations.”

     Fiin groaned. The sound caused Remnok to grin. It meant that he had won and that they would go to find Goldrun, no matter how much the Tonu seemed to dislike the idea. Besides, the Aisha was sure that deep down, his friend was just as excited about finding a new world. They had both grown up as nomads. The need to discover new paths ran through their blood.

     “Go on then,” Fiin said and Remnok mounted on his back with a smile.

     “I knew that I could rely on you, my Tonu Desert Strider.”

     * * *

     The sun had sunk below the horizon an hour ago already. Remnok pulled his cloak tighter around his body. The desert quickly cooled down after sundown. Despite the days being hot and unbearable, the nights were freezing cold and had caught more than one tourist who had wandered off in nothing but a T-shirt unaware.

     “We need to think about where to stay for the night.” Fiin’s voice was hoarse from the dust. They had been riding through the desert since before sunrise.

     “Yes.” As much as Remnok hated to admit it, he didn’t believe that they would find anything but sand dunes this evening. Plus, the light was fading quickly. “We also need to come up with something in regards to our water supplies.”

     As their detour hadn’t been planned, they had no equipment what-so-ever for such a trip. One bottle of water was left, but they had not taken a tent or sleeping bags.

     “What about that hill?” the Aisha asked, pointing at a dune ahead of them. “We could lie down behind it.”

     Fiin nodded in agreement. “Sounds good. It doesn’t offer that much protection, but it’s better than nothing. As for the water, I have no idea where to get it. We’ve left the last known path some hours ago already.”

     They would need some. Remnok estimated that they had 24 hours left, maybe a bit more, before they would collapse. The heat of the day made going without water unbearable. If they rationed their remaining bottle, they could maybe last a bit longer than a day, but not much.

     With the last light of the day, Fiin climbed up the sand dune Remnok had pointed out earlier. The Aisha, feeling his exhaustion, was walking at his side. Both were so tired that they were sure to just collapse into the hopefully soft sand at the other side of the hill.

     “Why do some dunes have to be that steep?” Fiin asked to nobody in particular.

     Remnok did not reply. He had gotten a few steps ahead of his friend and was now looking down from the top of the dune. A prairie-like landscape stretched out in front of him. But that was not what had caught his attention.

     “Oh,” Fiin gasped, having joined his friend.

     Lying beneath them was a town. They had finally reached Goldrun.

The End