Another World

Chapter 3

Chapter3

Slowly my stomach became noticeable, I had been thirsty forquite a while. How long it was ago that I eaten anything? I did notknow it. I wondered if I could get out of this tent at all. Mychronological overview could I forget, it has already passed awaywith my arrival in the desert. I imagined that I am in a waiting roomfrom the dentist. Always on the go, but very afraid of it. Thefeeling was right now.

After endless long hours, someone cameback into the tent. This time it was the Guy with the knives. Just asI wanted to ask him something, he already pulled one of his knives. Ipinched my eyes in the expectation that he was going to take me out.Luckily I was wrong. He cut through the handcuffs. Apparently, I wasclassified as harmless. I rubbed my wrists, the rope had rubbed quitenicely, I had tried to keep friction as low as possible.

Andonce again I was touched, without I was prepared. He took my hand andhelped me to get up. I had already panicked that he handed me a hand,wherever he went, but he only asked me to advance. He told me whereto go. I followed his instructions with no great respite. I tried totake a closer look at the robber's cave, now that I was outside. Whoknows when I will be brought back to the tent? The robber's cave wasvery much in turmoil; tents were scattered everywhere, some of themhad already collapsed. Besides, there were here and there fragmentsof sculptures which were meant to represent a deity or something likethat. I wanted to stop more often, to look at the ruins more closely,but the knife type drove me to a hurry, with a harsh tone he led meto a table. The other robbers were already there and were alreadyexpecting us.
A huge big hole would now be optimal, so right underme. Is that too much? As it seemed, it was not. The situation seemedto me like a police officer, there are always two officials present.(In this case it was seven) The mood is always depressed. It was thesame now. At least from my point of view. The robbers seemed to bemore amused to watch me. Of course, they could also decide my futurefate. I did not like the idea.

"We decided to keep you herefor the time being." Shun broke my thoughts. I did not know if Ishould be afraid or happy. "You only stay until our leader Saluk ishere again." Without it, the memory of the meeting in the museumcame back to my mind. I wanted to address them first but let itremain. I myself could not believe the whole story, why shouldthey?

"What were you looking for in the desert? With yourlittle kit?" One of the triplets asked me, If only I knew thatmyself. That comes from skip the school. "I don't know " Ireplied truthfully. I squinted my eyes and wondered what I could saywithout telling too much about me. "What about your wound?" Thethicker asked me, I just wanted to say something, Shun intervened."It looks better already." The thicker was satisfied with hisanswer. "Why did you help me?" I blurted out. "In the desert itis a simple rule to help others," said the knife type. "Inaddition, there is the law to help weaker" added the thicker. Ahokay I was classified as weak. Good Good. "If Saluk has no use foryou, we will sell you as a slave," the triplets chorused. Eitherway I was delivered.

"You can move freely here, because youcan not escape from here," said the fat man. The others noddedapprovingly. I thought it better not to say that I know the magicwords "Open sesame", then I would be bound again.

It waslike everything was said. I wanted to ask a few more questions, butsome robbers went away. I was not so interesting anymore. Only theguy with the knives and Shun stayed with me. It was quite unpleasantto me. But that did not bother them.
"The tent where you are isyour sleeping place, you should know," Shun said he stood up as hesaid that. The type of knife also made institutions stand up. Afterall, I was alone at the table.

In front of me was a pot ofwater, a cup also stood not far from me. I drank something quickly.Then I stood up, but still gave me a few grapes from the table anddisappeared into my tent.Good I had noticed the way. Somehow I wasrelieved that they ignored me. So I avoid further stammering. Butwithout talking to anyone is also stupid. So I left my sleepingplace. Let's see what you can discover in a robber's cave.


Wewere straight there was apparently a kind of common room. Irecognized the image of Cassim, which Saluk had torn in the film withhis claws. I raised the picture and saw a wooden box between thestone wall. I took a chair to get it better so I got it. Curiously, Iopened it. There was a medallion in it. What Cassim had worn on hiscloak. This was the hand of Midas. As far as I remembered, there wasa secret passage in this cave. I try to find him afterwards. I putthe medallion in my pocket, now I wondered if there is a connectionbetween the King Midas and this robber cave. After all, you can findthis sign everywhere. Also, on some statues I had seen the symbol.

Ilooked around, then I saw the fat guy. He sat in a corner and countedhis gold. He had not noticed me. I approached him slowly and put myhand on his shoulder "What is your name?" I asked him. He wassurprised, and he dropped his gold. "You messed me now," hegrumbled at me. "I'm sorry, I'll help you count when you want.""And then you take my gold away! So I'd rather go on alone." Ithought, quite distrustfully. But you had to be as a robber. "Iwould not take anything away from you! Still, I want to know whatyou're called? "While I said that, I folded my arms in front of mychest. He looked at me a little, then finally gave me his name. "Myname is Hakim." I did not want to know either. "I'll go awayHakim." "Wait," he said, before I turned around. He looked atme embarrassed, "Maybe you can help me count ... I'm not so good incounting."
I smiled and sat down next to Hakim. "But keep yourfingers in view," he admonished me, I just nodded and counted hisgold pieces.
He was very pleased when I called him the sum.
ThenI got up to explore the cave again.

I think I now have somegoals here. My first goal here is to reveal the secret of Midas andthe Thief Cave and hopefully find a way out of here. My second goalis to find the names of the other thieves just to know who I amdealing with. The third goal is to find out why I am here. It musthave some reason why I am here. An inner voice whispered to me, whichSaluk knows the answer, but meeting Saluk was a nightmare for me.

AsI realized my goals, I made the effort to get the names of theremaining robbers, which seemed to me to be the simplest goal so far.So I searched the cave for the robbers, after a short time I had alsofound the names. The type of knife was called Genghis. The largest ofthe triplets was Pierre, the second largest was Narid and thesmallest Fazul, the guy with the rope was Akam. A goal chopped off.Only two left.

However, finding a link between Midas and thecave was harder than imagined. Just because of that I could not readthe characters. I wandered through the cave without any purpose,until I came to a place that seemed very familiar to me. This wasCassim's secret place, which could only be reached with themedallion. I took it out of my pocket. I found the indentation forthe medallion quickly and wanted to insert it, as a hand placed on myshoulder. Frightened, I turned around. Akam stood behind me. Helooked at me suspiciously. "What are you doing?" "I just lookedat the characters!" He pushed me against the wall. "If you thinkyou can get out of here, you're wrong! You can move freely, but wealways keep an eye on you. As soon as Saluk is back and he has no usefor you, you come to the slave market. The prices for slaves are goodright now. "He pushed me to the side and disappeared just asquietly as he had come. I remained sitting on the ground for sometime. I suddenly felt terrible. I did not want to end up being aslave. But meeting Saluk was also no rosy prospect. " I think thesecret tunnel remains my emergency plan," I whispered to myself.Then with still trembling knees I get up and go back into my tent. Ineeded some rest now.