008-The Missing Mummy
"Who ARE you!" Nonoth yelled at Lili in rage.
"I'm Lili. We just met last night. Aww, you forgot me that quickly? I'm sad." Lili said with a chuckle, somehow made it sounded like she was not sad at all.
"You are an evil witch!" Nonoth burst out with anger.
"That I'm not, I can assure you." Lili was still cleaning, well, wiping the bar with a just as dirty rag.
"You drugged us, didn't you?" Nonoth crossed her arms in front of her chest, inquiring Lili.
"How horrible!" Lili put on a so very obvious fake shock: "I did no such thing! I guess Ravenlick IS a bit too strong for two kids, so I AM sorry for getting you drunk."
"I'm not a kid! I have had liquor more than you can imagine when I was living on..." Nonoth swallowed the words "the cloud" back, thinking it might not be wise to give "the evil witch" anymore information of her. So after a short hesitation, she finished her sentence with: "... and better liquor, for that matter!"
"Ohh darling, I don't know about that." Lili giggled at Nonoth as if she knew Nonoth was lying about the last part. Ravenlick WAS the best liquor Nonoth ever had, counting all that she's ever had on the cloud. But it could just be because everything was dull on the cloud so it was harder to enjoy a good wine.
"Humph." Nonoth decided to ignore the fact that Lili saw through her lie. "Tell me where you took Mal!"
"I already told you, darling," Lili replied in a lazy yet charming tone. She's done with the fake wiping now, so she just rested her arm on the bar, holding up her head: "I didn't take him anywhere. How could I when he is such a cute little gentleman?"
Ignored her giggles, Nonoth stormed out with anger, knowing she wouldn't get any serious answer out of this devious woman. But to her surprise, Lili followed her out.
Lili leaned on the door post for, watching Nonoth standing in front of the tavern not knowing where or how to find Mal, looking amused.
"I know you took and hid him somewhere! Why didn't you take me as well? Why are you letting me go?" Nonoth let out another outburst after two minutes of Lili's teasing stare.
"I have no ill intention to you, NOR to him." Seeing Nonoth rising her fist, Lili added the second half of that sentence. "He's not here, that much I can guarantee. I suggest you be on your way. I'm sure he is fine, wherever he is. You two are not on the same path anyways. You are mortal, whereas he's an undead."
"He is my friend! And you are NOT my mother!" Nonoth yelled and ran away.
"That's a weirdly specific comment." Lili thought to herself. But the teasing on her face faded into a serious worried look after Nonoth is gone. "She does look like HER a lot, though." With this thought, Lili sighed and closed the tavern.
...
"Ahhhh!!!" Mal cried out loud, again. And on the side was the man from Ravenhead the night before, with an evil smile on his face.
There was Mal, hanging in a prisoner wagon the man and his men put together with some batten last night, with his feet soaked in a deep bucket filled with water.
"You better hope your tomb is close, so I don't have to peel all your skin before I get to the buried treasure." The man said with mad cruelty in his eyes, which only rose laughter from the men following him.
There are a dozen men surrounding the carriage Mal was on. They were all riding on horses, with firelocks and swords in their waists. Scars all over their bodies, some even deep on their faces.
The caravan of the Death Merchant.
Even though none of them looked nothing like tradesmen of any kind.
Mal had never been so thirsty after he left the desert. He felt like his lips are cracking up. The worst part was that there was water right under his feet, but he could not either drink it, nor could he turn into sand and escape because his feet are soaked wet.
"Where did you take Nonoth?" He wanted to sound tough, but his voice was so weak that it made him sound like he was begging.
"The little witch? She was the one who sold you to us. Just be quiet and save yourself some energy. We don't have water to spare you. Oh right, we don't have to, because you can't die, right?" The man laughed at his bad joke, and a lot of the men around echoed him.
Mal didn't even care for his horrible lie, but he was still worrying about what the man had done to Nonoth. He looked up to his right hand, which only had nine fingers now because the dark finger turned into sand right after the bandages were taken off. The sand was flying right at south, give or take some degrees despite the wind, which was the direction to his tomb, hence, his hometown.
Of course, this was just what the man told him. He was not sure how much of that man's words could be trusted. But if it WAS true, then he could actually find his home in this way! Only it was a super painful way because they call the bandages on mummies "skin" for reason! It felt as if he was peeling off real skin of him, well, how it would feel anyways because he didn't know what it feels like to get real skin been peeled off.
But for now, all Mal could think of was getting out of here and looking for Nonoth. Seeking his home WAS important to him, but not really the priority when his body felt so much heavier than usual because it was soaked wet and his head dizzy for the unbearable thirst.
But there was no way.
There was no way he could escape from the Death Merchant Caravan; no way to go literally because with his feet wet, he couldn't go anywhere.
He could only close his eyes, with his hand hung from the wagon, riding into the unknown future, or, his unknown past.