Chapter 5: River Towns

In the morning, after breakfast, we sailed upstream. It was a slower trip than in the skyways, where there is wind to help carry the ship. The river was very wide. We passed several farms of Krokotopian Wheat that relied on the river water for irrigation. Within a few days we reached the Ziga Outpost, not far from the stormgate to Zafaria, which carried the river downstream from that world. We tied the ship up to the town's dock and walked through the town. That's when I heard a scream. I looked to the right and a lady mander was being robbed by a raccoon.

I ran for this mystical raccoon while Dustin was busy tying up the ship at the dock. The raccoon dashed out of the way and yelped "SKREE!" before disappearing. So, when I tried to tackle him, I ended up landing on the sandy ground.

"Are you okay, miss?" I asked the lady mander after standing up and dusting myself off.

"He ran off with my purse! He went around the corner!"

"Look, captain, the raccoon left behind footprints," Bonnie Anne pointed at the little footprints in the sand.

We followed the footprints, but they disappeared at the edge of town. "They go into the hole on the side of that building," Ratbeard pointed to a hole in the base of a brick wall.

"Who can fit in there?" Catbeard asked, before eating a pickled herring as a snack.

Everyone glanced at me and Fan Flanders. "Oh, crikey," the blonde frog sighed. "This is what I get for never talking." I laughed before letting her in first. She slipped through the hole with no trouble. I had to get on my knees and crawl in. On the other side of the hole, there was a basement-like room and I fell about five feet to the floor where I landed with a somersault.

"Raccoon. Give up. We found you," I said, shining a lantern light around the room. "Drat! We lost him again."

We entered the open sewer grate. We always go into the darn sewers, I thought. I used the ladder to climb down into the sewer chamber.

"You followed me? Welcome, welcome to my secret lair," the raccoon said. "Guards, attack!"

Several anthropomorphic raccoons attacked us. A couple had very sharp claws that looked like they could rip my arm off and the other two had sniper rifles. I fended myself, despite getting a few scratches. I snuck up on the main raccoon, the one who attacked the innocent woman, and he surrendered.

"Spare me, okay, geez," he threw up his arms. "Here's the lady's purse."

"Why did you take this, dude?" I asked, grabbing the bag from him. "And who are you?"

"I'm Thomas Snook," he said. I held back a laugh. "What's so funny?"

"Come with us, you're under arrest."

Outside the hole in the wall, the redcoats were waiting. They took Thomas off to jail and began investigating his raccoon buddies.

"Thank you, captain," one redcoat saluted me. "He's been on the wanted list for a while."

I handed the purse back to the lady mander and she thanked me with a fresh batch of pita bread she made that afternoon, which I shared with my companions at the dock.

"So what brings you here," the redcoat asked as I ate my snack.

"We're going to a pyramid to find an artifact," I said.

"Ah, okay. Just take the road going southwest and it's a short trip to the pyramid complex," he said.

"Thanks, sir," I saluted him.

"Before you go, however, the supplies we sent for? You have them?"

"Yes, sir," I said with a smile. "The crates are aboard our ship."

Some redcoats boarded my ship and unloaded the boxes before opening them to examine the contents. "Oh dear..." one of them frowned. "Where is the Krokotopian Wheat?"

"There's a shortage of it in Rosetta too, thanks to the drought," Dustin shrugged. "I'm sorry," he shook his head.

"Would you be able to go get..."

"With all due respect sir..."I began

"...some Krokotopian Wheat?" the redcoat finished and I let out a sigh "Please, the troops and citizens are going to go hungry this winter." I immediately felt guilty. I probably should help innocent people.

"Alright, where do we need to go?" I asked, stretching my arms a bit.

"Well, there's a village nearby, just down the river, called Saqarra... Reports from there have said they have magical seeds of Krokotopian Wheat. They can grow without the need for water! You should investigate... and maybe bring us some wheat... or at least those magical seeds."

"Magical seeds from Saqarra?" I asked my boyfr... I MEAN co-captain. "You used to live there, right?"

"Yes, in my younger years before getting taken to the arena, I was a field hand there for my adoptive parents," Dustin said. "It's a nice town. I always wondered how their fields were so lush and green in such a dry desert."

Our crew boarded the ship and we shortly set sail. By the time we reached Saqarra, the sun was setting. The town was lusn and beautiful with fields of wheat, which looked much healthier than the crops we saw in other towns along the river. One of the manders at the market told us to find the town's magistrate. We found the magistrate in the town hall. "Hello, young pirates. What brings you to our humble town of Saqarra?"

"The people of the Ziga Outpost across the river are running low on food," Dustin began. "We wanted to bring some of your magical wheat seeds over to them to grow more crops."

"Ah, okay. We do have seeds to spare. Many years ago, Ten Plagues struck Krokotopia. The river turned to Blood. The Frogs, Flies, Lice, and Locusts came. Hail fell from the sky. And Pestilence and Darkness ruled the land. It was our darkest hour as a nation. We prayed to Ra, the Sun Lord. He sent upon our village a great gift. The magical seeds of Krokotopian Wheat! It could survive droughts, the darkness, pestilence, and all the bugs cursed upon our land. We had plagues, but at least we had food to eat. And Ra brought the Sun back, so at least there wasn't any darkness. Years passed, and our magical crops continue to bring us bountiful wealth. We do not give the seeds out to anyone, though. You must pass all of our trials. Only the Strong, Wise, and Loyal may inherit our gift from the Sun."

"What is the first trial?" I asked, tilting my head slightly to the side.

"I will give you all three trials now. It may be tedious for you to do one, return here, go back out for the next one, et cetera etc..." he explained. "To prove your strength, you must catch a Krokogator from the river, then fetch me a crystal from the eastern dunes across the river to prove Loyalty. For the wisdom test you must solve the riddles of Asophoclese the Riddle Cyclops guarding the bridge to the Eastern Dunes."

"I'll catch the gator; you get the other stuff?" I asked. Dustin was much cleverer than I, while I had the strength. Not as strong as a buccaneer of course. Dustin nodded in agreement, and I got aboard the ship and sailed along the river until I found some gators. They boarded the deck and Sarah, Fan Flanders, and I captured one using a fish as bait. I put him to sleep with a poison spell I learned from Morgan Lafitte so he wouldn't try to break free before my companions and I took out the other reptiles.

Dustin's POV

I walked over to the bridge which led across the river. As expected, a cyclops was guarding it. I approached him. "Hello child. You wish to cross? Answer my riddle, and you may pass!"

"Ask away," I said confidently, my hands on my hips.

"What has three legs and views the stars with ease?"

I thoight about it for a minute and the answer came to me. "A Telescope!" Asophaclese let me pass, and I ran across the bridge to the Eastern Dunes. The trail spiraled up one of the dunes where a light blue crystal glowed in the moon light. I had to fight off some scarabs with my companions to grab it. I met up with Oliver back in Saqarra, where a farmer gave us our seeds.

Oliver and I wasted no time bringing the seeds back to Ziga Outpost, where the locals were grateful for the gift of grain. Now to head to the pyramid complex.