The thieves set quickly to work on the Het scales once more. Knowing the trick, it was only a few minutes before Arianna held the heaviest ambassador jar. She tucked it snuggly into her bag.

"All set?" Ozan asked, taking the rope at hand. She nodded, and he climbed up the rope to the roof.

Arianna sighed. She had grown used to the few days they had spent in the fine palace, but here they were, returning to the rooftops of Al Kharid once more. But for Prince Ali, they had to get moving. She took the rope, then followed Ozan up to the palace roof.

The warm desert sun beat down on them as they crossed the roof, headed back to where they had shimmied across the rope to the palace. As they lowered themselves back on to the ledge, they both noticed that the arrow and rope were still there and spanning the space between the palace and the next building.

"They left that there? This whole time?" said Arianna, surprised.

Ozan walked over to the arrow embedded in the wall, and examined it. "Yes, this is my arrow," he said. "Not that anyone else could've made a shot like that."

She rolled her eyes as she pulled herself back up onto the rope and shimmied across to the adjacent building. While her nerves did spring up once again, the trip across the roof tops with Ozan seemed to help calm them.

"So, where to from here?" Arianna asked as Ozan touched down on the rooftop. "Back to the north along the scaffolding and buildings?"

But Ozan shook his head. "No, there is a faster way down," he said. He walked over to the edge, looking over.

A sense of dread set in as she followed him over to the edge of the building and looked over. Two stories below them was a large cart full of hay. "Oh, hell no," she said. "You are not getting me to jump from here and hope that I make it into that cart. And hope that it's also enough of a cushion that I don't break every bone in my body."

Ozan stepped up onto the ledge, taking Arianna's hand and pulling her up with him. "Sometimes, Ari, you just have to take a leap of faith."

She sighed and looked back to the cart below them. It was close enough to the building that she could just step off and land in the cart, if all went well. But Ozan was looking at her expectantly, so there was no backing out. "If I die," she finally said, "I promise you that I will come back and haunt you."

"Deal," said Ozan with a smile. "Now off you go."

She took a deep breath and stepped off the edge of the building. The freefall only lasted a few seconds and she felt the slight bounce as she landed on the cushion of hay. She climbed out of the cart and became covered with bits of hay. Once out, she waved to Ozan to jump, and he did.

"Can we go again?" he said with a smile and laugh as he climbed out of the cart of hay, as Arianna was still pulling stray pieces from her hair and clothes. She gave him a stern look and he laughed again. "Alright, alright. So, this 'path of the sun' has got to be in the desert somewhere. That takes us through the Shanty Pass south of the palace."

For early morning, the streets were crowded. No one paid any attention to the two as they set off south. Arianna began to wonder how many of them were even aware of what was going on, how many of them knew of the Prince's kidnapping. But everyone seemed solely focused on going about their own business.

Soon, though, the crowds thinned and they reached a sandstone arch. On the other side there was a wide open area, with a large awning stretched over the space to keep those in the area out of the desert sun. A number of guards milled around the area, all clearly bored by their post here at the Pass. Ahead of them she could see what was obviously the Pass itself and the expanse of desert beyond.

A tall Kharidian man stood beside the stone pass bowed as Arianna and Ozan neared. "Hello, effendi. I am Shantay," he said with a kind smile. He looked between the two thieves, then turned his attention to Arianna. "I see that you are new here. Please read the billboard poster before going into the desert, it'll give you details on the dangers you will face." He waved a hand to a desert weathered sign.

Arianna turned and began reading. 'The Kharidian Desert is a VERY dangerous place. Beware of…' she started, but was stopped as another voice joined them.

"Where are you taking me?" she heard.

She turned to look for the newcomer that had joined them, but only found Ozan giving Shantay a quizzical look. "Excuse me?" he said to the Kharidian. "We're not taking you anywhere. Me and my friend here are heading into the desert."

Shantay was the one to reply, but there was something strange about his voice. There was an odd, out of place echo of his voice that sent chills down her back. "I do not wish to go there- I'm scared."

Ozan shook his head, confused. "Uh, like I just said: we're the ones going, not you."

But Shantay didn't back down. "Please, take me back home," he said, growing distressed.

"Right…" said Ozan. "I think you've had too much sun, effendi. Perhaps you should step under the cover of the canopy for some shade." He gestured to the red canopy that stretched over most of the pass.

But then Shantay seemed to change in demeanor. All panic and distress seemed to melt away and was replaced by confusion. He looked at the two thieves as though they had just arrived. "...Oh, er, hello, effendi," he said, "I'm sorry, I did not see you there. How can I help you? Are you heading into the desert?"

"Yeah…" said Ozan, glancing to Arianna, hoping she knew what just happened to the Khardian before them. "We just said..."

"Here, I insist you take some supplies." Before either thief could say anything, Shantay had already turned again and started rummaging through one of the boxes that lined the sandstone walls. He produced four waterskins and passed them into Arianna's arms.

She gave Ozan a questioning look, uncertain what to do with the new waterskins since there were already two full ones in her back pack, nestled in with the Ambassador weight.

He took the waterskins from her and held them out to Shantay. "Really, effendi, you don't have to..."

But Shantay shook his head. "It is done, effendi," he said, and with that they were dismissed. He turned and walked away from them, leaving the two thieves completely dumbfounded as to what they just witnessed.

"Er, thanks...I think," said Ozan and led Arianna through the stone pillars that marked the entrance of the Khardian Desert. Once they were far enough away from the Pass, he turned back to her. "Well, that was weird. Did it seem to you that Shantay was acting weird for a moment there?"

"Yeah, one moment he seemed really scared, then he got all confused. It was like we were talking to two different people," she said. "What do you think that was?"

"You don't think something was controlling him, do you? Like what Keli did to those mercs back in Draynor?"

Arianna shook her head. "No," she said, "for one thing his eyes weren't glowing. Oh, and there's the fact that he didn't try to kill us."

Ozan chuckled. "Yeah, I guess that you have a point. It was still weird, though. Let's just press on." He spread his hands out before him, to the large expanse of desert before them. "Ah, take in that air- the open desert," he said with a deep inhale through his nose. "Smells like adventure...and maybe just a hint of ugthanki dung." He sighed with a pleasant smile across his lips. Arianna could tell that he was truly glad to be back. "Alright, let's crack open that fat, little ambassador and see what we've won."

She nodded and pulled the Ambassador weight from her back pack. With some effort, the top of the weight was screwed off. She pulled off the top, and what was inside took her breath away. Nestled inside the weight on a cushion was the largest diamond she had ever seen. It shimmered and sparkled in the desert sun.

"Well, hello, beautiful!" said Ozan, just as surprised by the diamond as she pulled it from the stone case.

But suddenly, a high pitched wail rang through the air. Arianna dropped the Kharid-ib to the sand so she could cover her ears.

"Did that screech come from the diamond?" ask Ozan as he uncovered his ears.

"I guess, but how-" she started, but stopped as an odd noise reached them.

It was the sound of heavy stone grinding against heavy stone. Sands began to shift only a few yards away from them. Arianna quickly scooped up the Kharid-ib before it could be lost among the endless dunes. Finally, a small stone structure came into view and as the sands settled they saw it was an elaborate sandstone sundial.

"Well, that's new," said Ozan as he walked over to it, examining it. "I guess Osman wasn't kidding about this diamond showing us the way..."

"And how exactly is a sundial going to help us?" Arianna asked, tucking the precious diamond back into her pack before joining Ozan at the sundial.

"I dunno, but it's got a carving of Het's face on its base- he's the desert god those scales back in the palace vault were modeled on," he said, then pointed to other symbols that lined the top of the sundial. "These are symbols to other minor gods of the Pantheon. The human face is the symbol of Het, then there's the monkey, the symbol of Apmeken, goddess of social pleasures. The crocodile head here is the symbol of the goddess of resourcefulness and modesty, Crondis. And lastly, the scarab here is the symbol of Scabaras, the god of wisdom and isolation. But where do we go from here? It looks like this arm here can move."

"The gnomon," said Arianna, and ignored his curious look. She took the gnomon in hand and turned it to the symbol of Het on a hunch. As it clicked into place, a beam of sunlight shined out of the sundial.

"That simple, huh?" said Ozan, mildly amazed. "That beam of light coming out of the sundial must be our 'path of the sun'. I guess that means we follow it. Looks like we're going to the south west. At this rate, we'll have the prince rescued before the day is out! Let's go!"

After a long, hot day of traveling through the desert, they made up camp. Ozan managed to find enough wood to build them a small fire to keep warm in the night.

"Despite how hot it was during the day," explained Ozan as he set up the kindling and logs, "it gets unbelievably cold during the nights. Good to have a fire going through the night."

Arianna leaned back against some rocks that lined the edge of their camp. She looked out at the vast darkness that spread across the desert around them. The only lights that she could see, save from their own fire and the stars above, were the torches that had been lit at Shanty Pass, but those were just pin pricks in the distance. Out here she felt truly small, and yet, it felt oddly refreshing to the young thief. Out here she didn't have to watch her back and that left her a moment to breathe and think. And there was one nagging question on her mind. "Did Osman really help us today?" she asked, looking over to Ozan.

He set down the arrow that he was whittling away at. "It would seem so," he said with a laugh.

"But why?" she asked, still stunned by the decision that Osman made. "He was so adamant against helping us because of the Emir's last order. Why go against it in the end?"

"He's sneaky, that one. You have to read between the lines of what he's saying. I guess that comes with the turf when you're a spy," said Ozan with a small shrug. "Though he did make it pretty clear he agreed with us about using the diamond, the REAL diamond, to return the prince. But also that he's not officially supporting us, because of those orders from the Emir. So, he told us what we needed to know, then turned a blind eye. Taking none of the risk, but no doubt all of the glory, if we succeed that is." He said it so lightheartedly that she was beginning to believe that there was no way they could fail.

"So, what now? What's going to happen to us if we were to go back right now?"

He thought about it for a minute. "Right now, it's like we were never caught, except that we made it out of the palace with the real diamond, not that fake in the display case. So, we'd be fine go back to Al Kharid now," he said. "I'm thinking once we've retrieved the Prince, I'll steal the diamond back somehow and we can return them BOTH to the palace .That way, no one but us and Osman will ever know what had really happened."

"Somehow?" repeated Arianna. "That doesn't sound very confident. What happens if you can't get the diamond back from the Prince's kidnappers?"

"Then I get branded a traitor of Al Kharid, and can never return on pain of death," he said, then gave a lighthearted laugh. "Good times, huh? It's situations like this that can make it all worthwhile."

But Arianna didn't share his attitude on the matter. "Would that be the same for me?" she asked. She had grown fond of Al Kharid, and was already planning on visiting again, strictly non-business related.

But Ozan shook his head. "Nah, you'll be fine. Osman's smart enough to lay all the blame at my feet. With my reputation, that shouldn't be too hard for people to believe," he said. "And besides, he had no idea about you." He then paused for a moment, thinking. "Or maybe he did and played coy about it. But either way, I've been banished once before so doing it again is not a problem for Osman."

"Well, that sounds lovely," said Arianna with a sigh. "It looks like we have a long few days ahead of us."

Ozan nodded. "Indeed we do, so it's time to rest up." He laid back in the sand, making himself comfortable. "Tomorrow, we will continue and see where the path of the sun takes us. Rest well, Ari."

"You too, Ozan," she said as she hugged her cloak tight around her shoulders. The deep chill of the desert was finally starting to set in.

Well, hello there. Sorry about this taking so long to get off. This was originally supposed to come out the day that Plague's End ended up coming out. And well…since then, the elves have kind of taken up a lot of my time. On that note, a lot of Fayne's story has been fleshed out. (Speaking of the elves, how is everyone liking Prifddinas? I for one have barely left the city since its release.)

This time used a different way to edit. Put this whole thing into a text to speech website (6 pages ended up taking about fifteen minutes to read through that way), and while it had issues reading contractions, it was really helpful.

Also, I have a twitter account that you guys can use to find out what I'm working on, miscellaneous Runescape stuff, or to contact with questions, comments, or to bug me to get that next chapter out. Its Aquarius_142 (don't forget that underscore!). I'd love to hear from you guys.

So, hope you all enjoyed.

Until next time. =)