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Untitled Document
"Okay," Liji helped him up, and they walked together, Olcoro
leaning on Liji for support. When he fell his artificial leg had gone off center
and so he couldn't balance on it very well.
"Oh, boy," said Liji, looking into the distance
as a brownish blur started their way.
"What? What is it?" asked the Kau in a worried
tone.
"Desert storm. And let me tell you, they can
get really bad," Liji helped him walk along still.
"Should we find shelter?" he asked.
"What? Out here?" she laughed. "Your lucky to
find anything out here, let alone something to get away from the storm."
"I can't walk through winds like that, even
with your help..." he said, laying himself down on the ground. "We'll just duck
until it passes."
"That might be a while, but okay..." and she
got down next to him, and covered her head with her hands.
It was hard to stay on the ground with all of
the winds blowing them every which way. Somehow, they managed it. But the sand
was worse. The coarse grains slashed at their backs in a harsh, never-ending
way.
"We should just get up, Olcoro. It won't pass."
Liji stood up in the storm, but was kicked back down to the ground by a strong
breeze that almost tore her arms out of their sockets.
"Not so easy, is it?" he joked loudly over the
raging winds.
"It's no laughing matter," she said, covering
her eyes as another gust blew past them in a desperate attempt to strangle their
little bodies.
"How long do you think it will be?" asked Olcoro.
His voice was muffled by the strong winds. Liji could sense it growing worse.
She crawled back to the Kau and covered her eyes as a tsunami of sand came up
over a dune and landed right on top of them.
"There's sand in my eye!" Olcoro cried, flinching
as his body was whipped with sand.
"Just keep them closed!" she screamed through
the storm, only to have a mouth full of the painful, dreaded, desert sand.
***
It was an hour or so until the chaos of the desert had passed completely.
The two Neopets wavered slightly as they stood up in the melting heat of the
Lost Desert.
"Almost makes you want a storm again..." said
Olcoro, panting in the sun as Liji helped support him.
"Don't even think about another storm," said
Liji. They walked on in silence for some time through the blistering heat, sweating
the entire way.
"So, how long did it take you to get out of
the desert the first time you were here?" asked the Kau after several hours
of slow movement. Liji paused for a moment to go back through her memory bank
and retrieve the answer.
"Hmm..." she though to herself. Three months
was longer than it had seemed. She recalled the first day, when they were originally
transported there via Wheel of Excitement. The rest she couldn't remember, all
but the evil tribe of Poogles and her ancestors from hundreds and hundreds of
years back... and her mother...
"Uh... Liji?" Liji felt a sharp poke in her
back. She looked up, seeing Olcoro with a worried expression on his face.
"What?" she asked, getting up and looking around.
She had the sudden hope that the Kau had pulled her along back to civilization,
but no. It was the same desert. The same sand. The same scorching heat from
the fiery sun above.
"You dozed out on me, there..." he chuckled
lightly and helped her to her feet. "I fixed my leg while you were out..."
Liji groaned and started to walk on again, Olcoro
following her, seeming happy to be able to move on his own again.
"You never answered my question..."
"Huh? Oh... I don't remember." Her brain felt
like it was fried.
"Oh..." Olcoro seemed bummed more than concerned
about this.
"Well, I think it was-" But Liji didn't get
to finish her sentence.
"General, I cannot believe that you just went
and did such a thing. Do you know how big this desert is? Do you? They could
be anywhere!" Olcoro tugged at Liji's arm. They ducked behind a sand dune to
hide from whoever was out there.
"Olcoro..." Liji whispered fiercely. "What are you doing? They are civilized
Neopets! Exactly what we were searching for! What are we hiding from?"
"Liji, I thought you'd be smarter than that."
The Kau smirked as Liji rolled her eyes. "That's the voice of Major Tanren...
he must have General Ariconn with him, too. We don't want to be caught..."
"Oh..." Liji even held her breath as they waited
for the general to reply.
"We were planning on leaving them stranded out here, anyway, so I figured..."
"General! We needed Liji for records! And Olcoro
was the only one who could make drinks!"
"If you're having such a problem with it, then
you look! I am your superior!" Liji and Olcoro heard the general clap his paws
together. They could tell that he had disappeared, mainly because of the cry
of shock that Tanren gave out. They figured that since the major was alone,
it would be safe to come out.
"Stupid general..." he kicked the sand like
a little four-year-old would do. "I was always at least twice the Lupe he was!"
Liji and Olcoro carefully passed the major from
behind.
"That was a close one!" said Olcoro once they
had gotten far away from Major Tanren.
"Don't worry about him anymore. I doubt we will
have to," she giggled a bit as they inched through the desert.
"Noon..." the Kau groaned. "The sun is at it's
hottest. No shadows...no shade..." He plumped himself down in the ground, the
sand sticking to his sweaty skin. "How did you do it the first time you were
here, Liji?"
"Well..." she thought back a little ways. What
had they done? She racked her little Aisha mind as she tried to find the answer.
"Oh," she laughed when it came to her.
"What's so funny?" Olcoro asked, an angered
look spreading across his face.
"We traveled by night... so that we wouldn't
have to face the heat of the day..."
"THAT'S NOT FUNNY!" Olcoro slapped Liji across
the side of the face, leaving a raw red mark that could easily be identified
as a Kau's hoof. She stumbled a bit, and pressed her hand to her cheek. She
stared at Olcoro with hatred burning not-so-pleasantly in her eyes.
"Fine," she said in shaky voice, standing up
quickly with rage building quickly. "If that's the way you want it to be, then
be my guest! Go ahead! Go out into the desert alone! Yup! I dare ya!" and with
that she turned around and stormed away from the Kau.
"Liji!" he screeched, but she shook it off.
"Liji, I'm sorry! Really I am! Liji! I can't do this alone! What if Major Tanren
finds me?" This made Liji stop and think for a moment, but then she brushed
it aside and kept moving forward with ever-growing hatred for Olcoro.
Liji walked on for an hour or two. She found
that she really did miss Olcoro, and that she should have accepted his apology.
But he did slap her...
She started to walk quickly again. No apologies.
She didn't need them. She wasn't the one completely dependant. She was Liji,
for heaven's sake! She always was her own Aisha, who followed her own thoughts
and instructions. She didn't need anybody's help. Why would she? She could tackle
that Lost Desert any day!
She slumped down in the sand, sobbing. No, she
couldn't get through it alone. She could barely get through it with both Baroo
and Riggo there. She gulped. Remembering her friends made her sad.
"Well, well, well..." she heard an evil, sinister
laugh from behind her. "If it isn't my little friend, Liji, all alone in the
desert?" Liji turned around, eye to eye with Major Tanren. He smirked.
"No..." said Liji desperately. "I'm not Liji,
you see... well, um... my name is...Patora!" she bit her lip, not liking what
was about to happen.
"Hm... well, Patora, I'll see you be on your
way..." Liji was shocked. He bought it? "Unless, since I feel really bad about
leaving a little Aisha like yourself out here all alone, you could come with
me?"
"W-well...thank you for the kind offer, but
no thanks..."
"You sure? I mean, the desert is a big place.
One could easily get lost, one could easily be forgotten..." the major began
to circle Liji. "Patora..."
"Um... sir?" she said. "Why are you circling
me like that..."
"No reason, Liji..."
"Well, could you please stop, sir? And uh, who
is this Liji?"
"Don't mess with me, you wretched little Aisha.
I wouldn't be here if that stupid general hadn't dumped you out here. You should
be thankful, I'm going to get you outta here! And where is that dumb Olcoro?"
The major had bounded Liji in ropes while he spoke. She could feel her heart
beat flying. She gulped.
To be continued...
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