AN: Happy Thanksgiving! I just found out that I'm going to be an Aunt! . . . Again! And I'm very thankful. :) I hope all of you have had as wonderful a Thanksgiving as I have. Enjoy Chapter 9!

Disclaimer: Does anyone actually read these? I do my best to make them mildly entertaining, but honestly, one begins to run out of ideas after the zillionth or so disclaimer. . . . It's NOT MINE, okay?

Prince: (to himself) "I suppose I'll just ask the first sand creature I come across:
'Could you direct me to the baths please? Thank you!'
'Don't mention it. I used to be a bath attendant back when I was alive.'"

Chapter 9: The Absence of Mount Doom

I closed my eyes, massaging my temples. If it weren't for the Lucan factor, we'd be able to get out of here easily. However, I didn't think that he was nearly as adept at making his body do gravity-defying things as the Prince was, and he certainly wouldn't be able to fit through that crack. No one else had any suggestions either. We sat in grim silence for several minutes, until, surprisingly enough, Lucan spoke.

"You're right, Jenny," he said suddenly. Everyone blinked and stirred, as though waking from a dream.

"Right about what?" I questioned after a moment, puzzled. He took a deep breath.

"We'll need to use all of the gifts at our disposal if we're going to get through this." He pulled the Compass out of his breast pocket. Farah leaned closer, peering through the bars of the gate curiously.

"What does it do?"

Lucan shrugged. "Finds things. A way out of this is a pretty abstract destination, but it might work. And . . ." he half-smiled at me, ". . . the least I can do is try, right?"

He opened the Compass and looked inside, and . . . nothing happened. Or at least nothing visible to the naked eye. He just stared at the glass surface for a moment, his expression inscrutable, then snapped the cover back over it. He looked up at me. "Your Ring," he said distinctly.

I wrinkled my brow. "What about it?" I'd just about had enough of my Ring, even if it had saved my life more than once. Where's Mount Doom when you need it?

His lips curled into a half-smile. "Well, I'm not certain, actually. That's just where the Compass— ah, directed me." Something about the way he said it made me think that the 'direction' was more than just a compass needle. "I think . . ." He hesitated, and then forged onward. "If we traded for a while, your Ring for my Compass, until we meet again, then you could go with Farah, and I could take routes that I wouldn't normally be able to." He seemed a bit wary of what my reaction would be, but I just straightened up, brightening. Perfect! Besides, didn't they say that distance made the heart grow fonder? Maybe I'd start feeling more charitable toward my Ring after I'd had to go without it for a while.

"Perfect," I declared, beaming. I slipped the Ring off my finger and held it out to him. He took it, sliding it onto his pinky finger, (the only place it fit,) and handed me the Compass. Reluctantly, I thought.

"So, how do I use this thing?" Lucan asked, looking dubiously down at the Ring. I made a face.

"You just . . . tell it where you want it to take you, or will it, I guess. Just make sure you have your eyes on your destination," I remembered to warn him, trying to put every ounce of the gravity of the situation into that sentence. "You saw what can happen if you don't." I shuddered at the memory, and noticed with some amusement that he did too. "So, how do I use this?" I pointed at the Compass resting on my palm.

"Same thing, basically," he answered promptly. "Just tell it what you want to find." I tilted my head to the side.

"No death traps?"

"Not one," Lucan confirmed. We smiled at each other, until the Prince cleared his throat loudly.
"I'm just gonna . . ." He jerked his head toward the sand vortex, and then took a couple steps to enter it.

"What—!" Lucan's eyes widened in alarm, but Farah interrupted him before he could start hyperventilating.

"It's all right," she said in a bored tone of voice. "He does this every time we come to a sand-vortex, and he hasn't gone insane yet, so I figure it's okay." Lucan looked dubiously back and forth between her and the unconscious Prince, but eventually nodded. Did Farah really just say that? Oh the irony. I slid through the crack and joined Farah on the other side of the gate.

A couple minutes later, the Prince awakened with a groan, rising slowly and with every evidence of reluctance. He waved distractedly towards Farah and I, holding a hand to his temple and grimacing. "You two go on down; we'll find another way." Lucan raised an eyebrow at that, glancing suspiciously at the long fall that awaited him if he slipped up on this 'other way,' but didn't protest. Farah and I turned and headed off down the corridor.

"What does he even mean by 'go on down?'" I wondered aloud. "We're going up." Snorting, I added under my breath, "Retard." Apparently Farah heard, however, because she sent me a scandalized look— then busted out laughing. I smiled uncertainly, slightly weirded-out. It hadn't been that funny.

Just then, we came to a small balcony; the Prince and Lucan were visible below us. "Prince! Lucan!" She waited until they looked up before continuing. "Down below you there's a great open balcony. Come on, I'll show you!" She continued down the passage, and I followed, suppressing a grin. Although I obviously couldn't hear from here, I knew what Prince had muttered: "Easy for you to say."

"I know where we are," Farah continued blithely as soon as the Prince reached the balcony. "This gate leads to the baths. Do you think you could find your way there?"

"Of course," Prince said sarcastically. "Finding our way to the baths from here should be easy."

To this day, I'm not certain whether Farah was being deliberately obtuse, or if the irony really did go right over her head. In any case, all she said was, "Good! We'll meet you there."

Prince leaped from his balcony to a ledge, and shuffled his way along that until he came to a beam, where he stood up and carefully walked to solid ground. Lucan took one look at the course, shook his head, and vanished in a gold flash of light to reappear next to the Prince.

I grinned. "Cool." Farah chuckled, rolling her eyes at me.

"That's your ability he's using there. You make it sound as if it's some strange and foreign thing that you've never seen before." She started through the gate on the right.

"Well . . . I've never seen it from the outside before," I argued stubbornly. I just felt like being contrary. With no Lucan to trade good-natured insults with, I had turned my attentions to training his stand-in to my satisfaction: Farah.

Said royal threw up her hands in frustration. "I give up," she told me laughingly. "You can't stand to just agree to something, can you? Even when you know I'm right?"

I cast her a glance full of disdain. "Of course not." Ah, the joys of being contrary.

This section of the palace wasn't nearly as damaged as the other portions had been. Most of the walls and floor were totally void of holes and rubble, which is why it came as a surprise when the next archway we approached was completely stoppered up with large chunks of masonry. Farah stamped her foot in frustration. Finally! I did mental twirls of glee. So people (or at least Farah) really did stamp their feet when they were frustrated! The age-old question, finally answered.

"This will delay us considerably," she said, her voice filled with annoyance. "Unless we find a shortcut . . ." She sighed. "But that's not likely."

I patted her shoulder sympathetically, suppressing a grin. "Don't worry," I said consolingly, "you'll see your man again soon." Crap . . . I hadn't meant to say that. My evil inner self giggled maliciously as Farah spun around, staring.

"My man? Explain. Now." Her tone brooked no argument. Even if it had, why argue when it was so much more fun to tease?

"Did you really think that I hadn't noticed?" I queried smugly, crossing my arms across my chest. "Seriously, the frequent 'moments?' The intense 'looks,' when you go off in your own little lovey-dovey world and completely forget that I'm there? The thinly disguised flirting?" I snorted. "You guys are so obvious that it's pathetic."

Farah's mouth open and shut soundlessly, like a stranded fish. Eventually she regained her voice, unfortunately for my peace of mind.

"Well you're in a fine position to talk to me about 'thinly disguised flirting!' You and Lucan do nothing else! You just flirt at each other, all the time!" She glared at me, and it was my turn to gape wordlessly. Lucan? She couldn't possibly be serious . . . One more glance at her scowling features was enough to convince me that she was. But that was ridiculous! He was rude, annoying, and insufferably smug— His only use was that of a verbal punching bag! . . . Right? Disturbed, I pushed the issue to the back of my mind, along with all the other Things-I-Must-Not-Think-About.

"Oh my gosh! You're serious!" I exclaimed out loud, astonished. Farah rolled her eyes, visibly calming herself.

"Come on," she said in a low voice, gripping my arm and tugging me down a side passage. "And yes, I'm serious." I waited for her to elaborate, but she stayed silent. Eventually the silence became too much for me.

I said, "If it makes you feel any better, he obviously likes you too."

"AAAAH!" Farah released my arm and smacked the palm of her hand against her forehead, a habit that she must've picked up from me. I didn't think it was usual princess-behavior. "Will you give it up already?! Wait, don't answer that," she said hurriedly when I made to speak. "Here, I'll make you a deal: until we meet up with the guys again, the subject of either of us flirting with or being interested in either of them is completely and totally off limits, alright?"
I eyed her dubiously, but, remembering that Farah could give as good as she got, reluctantly agreed.

"Fine," I said, sticking my lower lip out in an exaggerated pout. Just as I had hoped, Farah giggled, and just like that all the tension was dissipated.

"Look!" Farah exclaimed as we came into a lush green courtyard, watered by the decorative fountain in its center. There was even an apricot tree off to the side. Before I could ask what exactly she wanted me to 'look' at, she had already sprinted through an archway on the left, toward a crack. Unfortunately, her passage must have triggered the gate mechanism somehow, because the gate slid shut behind her with a clang, effectively cutting us off. There was no lever or pressure plate in sight.

"Fantastic," I groaned. If Farah had been alone, as in the game, this wouldn't have been a problem; if she went through that crack, she would eventually reach her destination. But what about me?

Farah searched her alcove for a pressure plate with no success, and I conducted a similar search in the courtyard. "I can't open the gate," she finally said with a sigh of defeat. "What do we do now?" I came up and leaned against the front of the gate, peering through the bars at her frustrated visage.

"I don't know," I admitted. "There's no way for either of us to open this gate, as far as I can see." Reluctantly, I realized that there was only one viable option. "We'll have to split up," I told her. "You go through that crack, and I'll see if I can find my way to the baths on this route."

Farah looked concerned. "But—"

"No buts," I interrupted. "There's nothing else we can do. Now, go on," I said firmly, gesturing toward the crack. Farah didn't look very pleased with the situation, but she obeyed, sliding through the crack on her belly. I watched until her leather sandals disappeared out of sight, and then turned to start out on my path.

I wasn't hungry, of course, but I absently walked over to the tree and plucked a ripe apricot from one of the lower branches, examining the skin for flaws before raising it to my lips.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you."

I yelped and spun around, dropping the fruit. "Who's there?" I called suspiciously, raking the courtyard with my eyes. The voice had sounded female, but it definitely hadn't been Farah. It had had strange, rippling undertones that no human voice could hope to duplicate.

"Look down." The voice sounded amused. I looked down.

There, in the fountain at my feet, was one of the strangest creatures I had ever laid eyes upon.

Are you intrigued? I hope so. Please review, whether for cookies or critique! Feedback is my elixir of life! And thanks for reading. :)

~Killer Zebra