It was well before sunrise when Ozan shook Arianna awake. "We will want to get moving," he said, moving back to pack up his bag. "We'll want to start traveling before the sun comes up, and we'll have to stop midday when the sun it at its highest. It'll be too hot to keep going."
She nodded and quickly packed up what few things she pulled from her pack. She nestled the Kharid-ib right on top, leaving it easy for her to access at the sound of another shriek.
The travel was slow going as the night's sleep in the sand had left her sore. The only relief they had was the cool morning. After traveling through the hot desert sun the day prior, this was much more comfortable to travel through. Much to her dismay, though, once the sun started to peek up over the horizon, the temperature rose steadily.
It was midmorning and Ozan had spotted the sundial off in the distance. They made their way towards it, but before they could draw near it finally happened. From Arianna's pack came another shrill shriek from the Kharid-ib, though muffled as they had it tucked back into the ambassador jar. It was still enough to make Arianna wince at the noise. "What do you want?" she muttered, holding her pack away from herself. She decided to try and convince Ozan to carry the strange, shrieking diamond for a while.
Before she even got the chance to ask, the sands around them began to shift. Arianna was shocked as three men rose from the dunes. Two on either side were armed and their faces covered. The one in the middle was a muscular man, skin tanned from years within the desert.
Arianna drew her daggers and waited. Both men that flanked the middle looked ready to strike at any moment, but they clearly waited for the word of their leader. She stood, just as ready as they for the moment to strike.
"Bandits and their king," said Ozan, drawing his bow and notching an arrow in one fluid motion. The arrow tip moved between each of them, waiting for the first move to be made.
The bandit king looked between the two thieves, but his gaze was blank, much like Shantay's. "Why won't you take me back home?" he said.
"What?" said Ozan, lowering his bow in surprise. "That's not a very bandity thing to say."
But Arianna shook her said. "Ozan, I don't think it's the bandit doing the talking- it's like what happened with Shantay," she said.
"Turn back now," he said. "Take me back to the palace."
"My gods," Arianna said softly as it clicked. "Ozan, it's the diamond. The Kharid-ib is talking to us through him. It did the same to Shantay back at the pass."
The Bandit King turned his blank gaze to Arianna, then to the pack that was slung over her shoulder. "Return me to the palace, or you will die."
"We'll see about that," said Ozan, raising his bow once more. "The prince needs the Kharid-ib for the ransom, so the Kharid-ib is what he will get."
The Bandit King's gaze suddenly changed, just as it had back with Shantay. The King's eye's focused on them and he looked genuinely surprised, as though the two thieves just appeared before them. "…what? Who are these two?" He looked to his two bandits, who were just as baffled as their leader. "Kill them!"
The two bandits stepped forward, brandishing their scimitars. They sneered at the pair as they sliced the air, attempted to intimidate.
But it only made Ozan and Arianna exchange a glance. Ozan raised his bow and fired two arrows in quick succession. In a blink, the arrows lodged themselves into the bandits and they dropped.
The Bandit King looked at the two bodies, seemingly disguised that he'd have to dispatch these two on his own. He wielded a large, ornate halberd and Arianna didn't want to meet the metal end.
He made a wide arc with his weapon, forcing the thieves to jump back out of the way.
'No way I'm getting anywhere near him,' thought Arianna, glancing to the daggers in her hands. Her only hope was to distract the Bandit King long enough to let Ozan take a few shots at him. The king wore little armor, so the odds were certainly in Ozan's favor.
Arianna swallowed her dread and feinted to the side, daring enough to step within the king's attack range. She smirked as the king took the bait. He swung wide and Arianna threw herself to the sand to dodge the attack. When he was forced to follow through with the attack, she quickly scrambled to her feet.
With the Bandit King momentarily distracted, Ozan notched another arrow and took a shot. But the King was more aware of what was happening than either thief realized. He managed to side step from the path of the arrow. His focus turned to Ozan, realizing how serious of a threat he was.
Arianna cursed as the King quickly lessoned the distance between himself and Ozan. With nothing but her daggers, it left with little to help Ozan. She took a real chance and threw a dagger. She knew that it wasn't meant as a thrown weapon, but it was her only option.
Whether it was a stroke of luck or some kind of divine intervention, her dagger made contact with the King. While it was only the pommel of dagger, the weight and force that she threw it was enough to daze their enemy for just a few moments.
And a few moments was all that Ozan needed. He fired another arrow and it found its target, burying itself into the King's neck. He gasped for air before collapsing into the sand. The sand around him turned crimson as he bled.
Ozan stared at the dead bandits in disbelief. "I can't believe it- the diamond's trying to get us killed!" he said, looking to the pack straps over Arianna's shoulders. "That will be a story no one will believe."
"Are you sure?" she asked. "It might just be trying to warn us. A magical, sentient diamond able to take control of others. Maybe we should heed its warning and turn back…"
"And leave the prince to die? If we don't rescue the prince, Menaphos will start up the war again- how many innocent people will die then, just so a shiny rock can sit on its pedestal? Just because it can talk, doesn't mean it's alive," said Ozan. "No, we've come this far. We're saving the prince."
"Well," she said with a long sigh. "When you put it like that…we should continue on."
"They likely have a camp nearby," said Ozan. "One that we can raid for supplies. We already know where the sundial is. It'd also be a good place to wait out the midday sun."
She nodded, definitely liking the sound of a rest. She followed after her companion as they searched for the bandit camp.
Ozan carefully bounded up on of the tall sand dunes to scan for the bandit camp. "Just like I said, their camp is just over there," he said, pointing.
Arianna climbed up the dune after him and quickly spotted the small camp. It only consisted of two small tents, and it looked as though it was unoccupied.
It was a brief walk, and after Ozan double checked the area for any allies of the bandits, they began to rummage through the tents for supplies. In only what she could assume was once the Bandit King's tent, she found some food rations that she took and stored in her pack.
When anything of value had been packed away, they each took refuge separate tents. Arianna relaxed in the darkened space. She relaxed back on a bed of pillows and dozed off as they waited for the high noon sun to drop.
Well into the afternoon was when Ozan finally retrieved Arianna. After a couple minutes to ensure that they had anything useful before venturing back into the desert heat.
"Still have the gnomon?" asked Ozan as they finally approached the next sundial.
But Arianna was already pulling the piece out of her pack from where it was nestled beside the Kharid-ib. She was glad when this piece too just slid right into place upon the face of the sundial.
"So, what of this one?" she asked, looking to the god carved into the base. "What god is this?"
"That is the goddess Apmeken," said Ozan. "She's the goddess of…social pleasures, I guess you could say. She's said to be rather playful, unpredictable, and mischievous of the desert gods. Certainly all qualities thieves can get behind."
"If I were to guess," she said, looking back to the symbols etched on the sundial face. "We should be pointing to the head of the monkey." When she got a nod from her partner, she turned the gnomon towards the etched depiction of the monkey. It clicked into place and another beam of light appeared from the side of the sundial. There was a subtle rumble through the sand.
"That's two of them," said Ozan, turning towards the direction of the beam of light. "Looks like the next one is north west of us."
"That rumble seemed rather muted somehow," said Arianna.
Ozan nodded. "Perhaps this sundial is further," he said. "In which case we should be going if we have that much further we have to travel. Let's go."
They walked for hours through the warm sands, chatting idly. They crested a massive sand dune, and it was Ozan who spotted their destination.
"Hey, isn't that the base of a sundial?" he said, pointing. Indeed below they could each see the same mosaic platform which the previous sundials had sat on, but something was missing. "Where's the sundial itself? Let's take a closer look."
The thieves slid down the side of the dune to investigate further, but there nothing but the mosaic and sand. The constantly shifting sands would've hidden any real clue as to where they should look for the sundial.
"Ah ha!" exclaimed Ozan as he bend over, uncovering something in the sand.
"What is it?" asked Arianna, hurrying over to see.
"Oh, it's just the same piece that was broken off the last sundial," he said, pulling another gnomon from the sand. "I was hoping it was going to still be attached. So, where is the sundial itself? It should be right here."
Another shrill burst came from Arianna's bag, making her jump and clap her hands over her ears. Ozan did the same before glaring at the bag slung on her shoulder.
"No, that's enough out of you, diamond! We're not turning back!" snapped Ozan to the Kharid-ib. He sighed as he ran his fingers through his hair, clearly frustrated. "I've got a bad feeling about this..." He looked to her, a sudden look of realization on his face. "Hang on, it's more of a sinking feeling...quicksand!" He smiled widely. "This is great! I've never been in quicksand before!"
"You're happy about this?" said Arianna, staring at Ozan. "Happy about being stuck in quicksand? How exactly is this great?"
"Can you imagine just how much more exciting this story will be when I retell it?" he said, grinning ear to ear.
"Good luck telling that story because aren't we going to die? It's quicksand!" she said, struggling against the sand, but only in succeeding in sinking into it further.
But Ozan laughed. "Nah, quicksand's not that dangerous," he said. "If you know how to escape."
"And how do we do that exactly? Because I'd honestly rather a boring story," she said.
"Okay, okay. Just get your legs up and lay flat- make yourself buoyant."
Arianna nodded. She leaned back against the quickly rising sand and attempted to pull her feet up, but it held fast. The quicksand rapidly started to spill into her lap, dragging her deeper. "I can't move…" she said, trying to remain calm, but the panic was swiftly rising.
Ozan attempted too, as if he didn't believe her. He only succeeded in sinking further into the depths of the sand. "Er, it's not working…why isn't it working?" he said, the panic rising in his voice. "This isn't right! This isn't how quicksand works! Not real quicksand!"
"Ozan, we need to try something else, anything else," she said, glancing around. She spotted a rock close to the edge of the sand that trapped them. She tried with all her might to reach for the rock, but it might as well have been in Varrock. "Can you reach it?"
Ozan, who was marginally closer to the one thing that could save them, reached. But Arianna's heart sank as his fingertips didn't even come close to brushing the surface of the stone. "I can't reach it either," he said. "Maybe we could lasso a nearby ugthanki."
But there were none of the animals around and despite how much she reached, Arianna couldn't get into the pack on her back as it was already buried in the sand. "I can't reach the rope…" she said hopelessly. "I can't move."
"Neither can I," said Ozan, his arms were pinned to his sides by the sand. He had stopped struggling against the sand, and while the sinking slowed, it still crawling its way up around his shoulders.
"Help!" called Arianna, the sand now up to her upper arms and shoulders. "Someone please help us!"
"Anyone! We're over here!" shouted Ozan desperately as the sand reached his chin. "Nothing's working! We can't get out!" He was forced to dip his head back in order to remain above the sand. "This can't be how it ends…Leela! She'll never know that I-"
Arianna looked over to Ozan, or where he once was. He was cut off as the sand finally consumed him. "Ozan!" she called and the sands stopped shifting where he was. She cursed, and she cursed anything and everything. She cursed ever being in Draynor that day, that she even ever met the notorious thief and befriended him. She cursed again as the sand encircled her face. "It can't end like thi-"
It was then that the world went back as she was pulled below the surface of the sand.
Well, hello again. Been some time, huh? Well, I'm still alive and well. It's been a busy time, loss of family members and change of jobs, so life got out of hand. Not only all that, but I'm moving 14 hours away from the town I've lived in my entire life. Busy, busy, busy. But I want to work through finishing up Arianna's story so I can move on and introduce you all to more characters. Beyond my RuneScape stories, I've started working on two different stories set in Dragon Age and one set in Skyrim (what with FINALLY having 100% that game, it's been on my mind a lot as of late). I'm hoping to be around more now, and I know I've said that before, and it may never change, but for those who really enjoy these stories, I want to change that.
Also, not sure how many people know of RainyMood. It is a recent discovery for me and I am in love. Thunderstorms are really part of recharging my creativity (or even just rain storms [it recently got warm enough where I live that we're FINALLY getting rain instead of snow and it is amazing]) and the discovery of this website is what honestly made me want to get back to this. There's an app that looks like it has a lot of cool options too, so hope that it is a tool that will help at least someone out there.
So, hopefully there will be some more updates before long.
Have a good day!