Soon after landing in the Scorpion Den, Sand had noticed something was off. The town was different, changed, and from the looks of it, not for the better.
"What happened here?" He asked a local merchant, who seemed to be selling alligator and camel skins.
"Vulture, remember that guy? Yeah, he took over this place." The merchant had informed him, leading him into a short lasting spiral of rage, remembering Vulture's attempted coup of Queen Thorn's throne.
"Damn, I hate that guy," the merchant started again, "he turned this place into a nightmare. Customers barely come out of their houses anymore and everyone lives in fear of that guy."
"Stop, stop, just stop talking. I don't need to get angry here. I'm just here for directions. Which way is Jade Mountain?" Sand said, cutting off the merchant.
"Oh, the mountain? It's East of here" the merchant said, "I could give you more specific details, for a price..."
"Sorry, but I can work off of just 'east of here', thank you." Sand hurriedly said, trying to end the conversation.
"Come on man, my income was cut down to nearly nothing, and I can barely pay for food. At least spare some coin as a tip?" The merchant asked, grabbing Sand's arm as he tried to walk away.
"Fine, but never again, got it?" Sand said, handing him a few spare coins so the merchant would leave him alone.
"Thank you for your tip, and to pay it back, there's a shortcut to Jade Mountain through a valley just South of here. It will let you avoid Vulture's 'toll dragons'. Just remember, if anyone asks, you found the valley on your own." The merchant said with a wink, before turning around and continuing up the street.
Sand didn't get a chance to thank the merchant before he walked away, but he knew that the merchant appreciated his tip either way.
With his directions set, his stuff packed and a useful tip in mind, Sand lifted off the ground and began making his way South, towards the so-called 'shortcut' mentioned by the merchant, even though something didn't seem right about it.
............................................................................
When Sand reached the valley, he was slow to enter due to it's tight walls, lack of sunlight and vast amounts of crumbled rock on the floor. It looked more like a cave than a valley, yet it was still a valley.
Half ways through the valley, Sand thought he heard a voice coming from some of the rubble below him, so he rushed to help whoever may have been below it.
After what felt like hours of digging and clawing, he couldn't find anything other than a strange stone with a few holes in it, which he realized made the stone hum like a dragon.
"Wow, a stone tricked me into panicking. I feel stupid all of a sudden. Hey, is it just me, or is the sky getting awfully dark? Nope, wait, that's everything. Wait, wha-..." He said, just as fell to the ground, unconscious in the middle of valley in the middle of no where.
YOU ARE READING
Sand on a Stone Beach (The Tale of Aaron Re-Wrote)
FantasyThis book is simply a reworked version of my first book, The Tale of Aaron, where I have simply made some minor and some major changes. The story will stay relatively the same, but Im going to change things such as Aaron's name and some of his backs...
