Trickey #16
The events of the long, wearying day catch up to you all at once and your legs tremble, buckling under your own weight. Collapsing to the dirty, damp cave floor, you sink into an uneasy sleep, wondering how you will crawl out of these caves and how you will ever find the genie again.
*
Days later, when you have recovered, you find yourself back at the desert, at the very spot where you first entered this world. The genie is there already, waiting with a stern, masterly expression, arms crossed firmly across his broad chest and the wind stirring sweeps of sand to funnel about him. Exhaustion drags at your heels and you can barely lift your muzzle, but the knowledge that you will soon, finally, be able to escape this hell propels you forward, your gait steady, if slow.
"Well?" He demanded once you were within convenient speaking range. "Have you got what I wanted? You took your time about it, animal: you were only supposed to be gone for one day. What use are you if you take so long completing tasks?"
“Yes,” you huff, only answering the genie’s initial question and carefully slinging the leather satchel to the ground at his ‘feet’. “Everything that you asked for is there. Take it and be gone.”
The genie takes the satchel strap between two fingers, holding it away from his body as if he does not want to sully himself with the dust, which coats the worn and cracked leather. Carefully, he removes the three quest items – hand mirror, gold key and ruby ‘eggs’ – from the bag and places them delicately upon the sand, each making a little furrow in the fine grain. He inspects everything with great interest, turning the key over several times between his nimble fingers, although you cannot understand why he would be so interested in the key, of all things that you collected. Surely it is simply old junk? The ruby stones and the decorative mirror are far more appealing to you and you start, ruffling your wings; you had been considering taking them for yourself in that moment and you berate yourself mentally for succumbing to a similar kind of greed as the genie’s.
This land must play tricks on your mind... You think dreamily, tail lashing gently as you still wish very much for the beautiful items to be yours and yours only.
"Hm...your effort is admirable - everything here is in impeccable condition," the genie says at last, an air of reluctant admiration entering his tone. "This is a solid beginning. I will see how you perform your tasks tomorrow."
Written by Amethyst Mare on 18 July 2012