Back to the Source - Part IV

This is the fourth part of a longer story. If you would like to see what has already happened, here is part one:

https://shopping-feedback.today/fiction/back-to-the-source%3C/em%3E%3C/a%3E%3Cem class="css-ak7tmt-Italic">

part two:

https://shopping-feedback.today/fiction/back-to-the-source-part-ii%3C/em%3E%3C/a%3E%3Cem class="css-ak7tmt-Italic">

and part three:

https://shopping-feedback.today/fiction/back-to-the-source-part-iii%3C/em%3E%3C/a%3E%3Cem class="css-ak7tmt-Italic">

The wall of the Fortress felt warm and reassuringly solid against Zaric’s back as he sat on the rocks. Despite this, he shivered. He knew he should have been on his way to the border, away from the King and his guards. He could still count on a long stretch of darkness before the dawn came and the heat would make the desert a furnace. But where could he go? And how? The guards simply brought him to the gate straight from the King's study and shoved him outside. They didn’t give him a chance to pack his belongings or time to think about what he might need. He had no food, no mount or even clothes suitable for a journey through the desert.

He felt exhausted. Pain throbbed in his head with every movement. Even thinking about standing up and moving his legs made him weary. How was it possible for his entire life to tumble down so quickly? He had been born and raised in the Fortress. The palace life was everything he knew. Zaric’s mind tried and, time and again, failed to make sense of his current situation. Maybe he could just stay here. Let them find him, let them do to him whatever they wanted. His life was finished anyway.

He must have dozed off because the pressure on his palm didn’t register at first. It was a gentle touch on Zaric’s cheek that interrupted his slumber. In his sleep, he slid down to a recumbent position with his back still touching the wall. When he woke up, the first thing he saw were two yellow, unblinking eyes fixed on his face, and a tiny blue tongue carefully examining the shape of his nose.

Zaric scooped the golden gecko in his hand and sat up. The night was still dark around him. He looked closer at the creature. Something that resembled a harness made of woven leather strips and pieces of sand-coloured textile was attached to the lizard’s back. The boy took it off the animal, which scurried down his legs and disappeared among the stones. Something rustled inside the harness. The boy fumbled with it and found a small piece of paper with only two words on it:

western tunnel

Zaric’s heartbeat accelerated. He recognised the handwriting. With renewed energy, the boy got to his feet and staggered when his muscles, stiff after a nap on the hard ground, protested as fiercely as his sore head. There was no time to lose though. He was on the western side of the Fortress but still several hundred steps from his destination.

For the second time that night, Zaric found himself in the same area of the desert, at the mouth of the tunnel he used not too long ago. The place was empty. He peeked into the dark mouth of the tunnel and listened. The only sound coming from the blackness inside was a hollow echo of his own breathing.

The boy frowned. He hid nearby and waited.

After a while, he thought he heard something. The distant sound of shuffling and clinking of claws hitting the stone floor was coming closer and closer, until two gryplions soon emerged from the darkness. Both had harnesses and saddles with saddlebags attached. A tall hooded figure was leading the animals.

‘Darien!’

Zaric’s grin was almost splitting his face in half but the prince seemed unperturbed. The hood of his sappar robe with the attached facemask hid his face in the dark. There was stiffness in his stride, a suggestion of an alien glint in his eyes visible in the starlight.

‘The gecko found you, that’s good. I wasn’t sure if it would work.’

‘It was a brilliant trick! I didn’t know you could train them to send messages.’

‘‘It’s something Fayla has taught me. And geckos are everywhere, no one notices them. Now, there is a robe for you under the saddle. Be quick, there is no time.’

Zaric wished he had more light to have a better look at his friend.

‘Darien, what’s going on? Don’t tell me you’ve been exiled too?’

The prince turned towards him, a dark shadow against the background of the night sky. When he spoke, his voice was inhumanely cold, like a blow of air from a deep cave:

‘I have stopped following my father’s plans for me. We are both exiles now. We’ll talk later but, for now, let’s go. There is a lot of ground to cover before the sunrise.’

‘But, Darien, where are we going?’

‘South. Follow me.’

Zaric felt he wouldn’t get the explanations he craved any time soon. He sighed, climbed into his saddle and followed.

They sped through the night in silence, their robes flowing behind them like wings. Winding narrow gorges forced the gryplions to slow down but, whenever they hit a stretch of open sands, the riders urged them to gallop at full speed. Stars were their guides. Dawn didn’t slow them down, and the first sunrays peeked from among the rocks when they finally stopped at the edge of the red outcrops.

In front of them stretched the open desert. A flat expanse of golden sands with no discernible landmarks deceived the eye with its vastness up to the distant horizon. The sky was a blanket of blue, with a painfully white glint in the east where the sun had already started its climb to the peak of the sky.

‘We need shelter for the day,’ said Darien.

It didn’t take long to find a cave. The gorges were full of them, but not every cave could accommodate both animals and their riders. The one they settled for had a conveniently inconspicuous entrance, slightly narrow for the gryplions, but they managed to squeeze through after some coaxing. There was ample space for all of them inside though. Once the boys got rid of some scorpions and their mounts took care of a snake napping in one of the corners, their shelter turned out to be quite comfortable. A narrow crevice branched out from the main grotto, leading further into the darkness but they had no more strength left to check it thoroughly. The animals sprawled out comfortably under one of the walls and appeared unconcerned, so it seemed reasonable to assume that the place was safe. The boys took the thick travel blankets from behind the saddles, unrolled them, and were asleep in seconds.

*

Would you like to know what happens next? Feel free to read part 5:

https://shopping-feedback.today/fiction/back-to-the-source-part-v%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3C/div%3E%3Cstyle data-emotion-css="1x3zcuc-StoryContent">.css-1x3zcuc-StoryContent{pointer-events:none;}