The Scorpion King's Lair

Angel, who was standing beside Leoric, smirked when she saw Emily's action. Leoric untangled himself from her embrace and glanced at Alec.

"Can you escort Emily to her cabin? It is a difficult time, and I don't have time to deal with her tantrums." Loeric said dispassionately.

Alec, who also has not recovered from the shock of what happened earlier, pulled Emily by her hand and led her down the stairway. He wanted to calm his nerves with alcohol, and he knew that Emily had a few bottles in her room.

"Do you think they will come back?" The captain asked apprehensively.

"I don't know," Leoric answered gloomily. "Can you have someone get all the weapons in the boat? How many torches do you have? Are there flame throwers?"

"We do have a dozen torches and three flame throwers. But with the number of scorpions, our fuel will soon run out even before we can kill one-fourth of them." Captain Niel answered Leoric.

"Excuse me, everyone. I need your help urgently. Could you please assist me in carrying these unconscious individuals to the lounge? They require immediate attention, otherwise it may be too late." Doctor Reeves interrupted the group while crouched over one of the unconscious crew members and administered an injection.

"I have some basic medical skills. Let me help." Angel did not wait for Doctor Reeves to reply. She took his medicine box and pulled out a bottle of disinfectant and bandages. They were lucky that only three people were bitten. Then she remembered that Leoric was stung by the half-human, half-scorpion creature on his hand, which was why the gun slipped. 

"Doctor Reeves, you should attend to Mr. Graystone first. I think the Scorpion King has stung him in the hand. Considering his size, there might be more venom in his bloodstream now." Angel spoke calmly to her colleague like a doctor would.

Leoric looked at Angel in surprise. 'Was she concerned about me?'

Angel seemed to anticipate his thoughts as she spoke in a flat tone. "My only concern is the safety of everyone here. If you get injured, it'll only add to our burden." She turned around and began attending to the crew who manned the spotlight earlier.

"Mrs. Graystone, what did you call that half-human half-scorpion thing?" Captain Niel asked.

"The scorpion king," the boatswain interjected. "It is not very hard to guess that he is the king."

"Mario Diaz, you did well earlier. Your quick thinking has saved us." The chief engineer commended his boatswain.

"Thank you, Sir. I just learned some basic desert survival skills. Their king is injured, and a lot of the scorpions die. They will not be able to retaliate in the next two or three days. But after that, they should figure out a way to attack us. It looked like that their king is wise."

Doctor Reeves scanned Mario from head to foot. His eyes narrowed, but he did not say anything.

"Doctor, what are those things in your drawstring bag? Why did the scorpion retreat?" Captain Niel asked.

"These are cinnamon barks and peppermint. Scorpions hate their scent. I also learned some desert survival skills."

After receiving the antidote, Leoric's numbness in his right hand disappeared.

"Captain, let us assign the most able crew to take turns guarding at night. We can have three shifts with four people on each shift." Leoric resumed giving instructions.

Captain Niel nodded and assigned people to work on the first, second, and third shifts.

"Ca... Captain. How about my cousin Diana? What will happen to her?" Rosette, the remaining escort, stammered as she asked. 

"I am sorry. There is nothing we can do about her." Captain Niel said sadly.

Rosette started to sob.

"Do you think she is already dead? Will she be eaten by that creature?" Rosette asked in a broken voice.

Captain Niel wanted to tell her to consider her cousin dead, but he kept the words to himself.

...

At the Scorpion King's lair, King Akdan threw the woman he was carrying to the chamber opposite his. Diana, who passed out from fear, woke up from the pain when her body hit solid ground. She looked around and noticed that she was in a big cave illuminated by balls the size of a golf ball. Her chamber has one. There was an elevated big wooden plank that could be considered a bed bigger than a king-sized one. There were three other women, half sitting and half lying on the bed. They have big bellies like they were pregnant.

"Call Vera The Sorceress!" The king commanded the servants who were waiting on him.

Diana heard a booming voice from the opposite chamber, and she shuddered. She only understood one word: Vera! It sounded like a woman's name. She heard hurried footsteps passing back and forth between their chambers.

After a few minutes, a middle-aged woman entered their chamber. She looked emaciated, and her face was full of wrinkles. She gestured for Diana to follow her. Left with no choice, Diana stood and followed her. She navigated through the narrow pathway, and after a few turns, they arrived at another chamber, where water seeped through the crevices of the walls that looked like limestone. A catch basin was etched from a big rock at the base of the wall, resembling a rectangle with rugged edges.

Like the rest of the chambers, a golf-sized ball gave off a bright light like an incandescent bulb.

The middle-aged woman approached Diana and intended to undress her. Diana stepped back.

"What are dawdling? Hurry up and get your bath!" The woman spoke in Astralis language which Diana did not understand. However, by her gestures, she knew that she wanted her to bathe.

Diana quickly undressed and stepped into what she perceived was a bathtub. The water was up to her waist and was surprisingly warm. The middle-aged woman took a clay jar from the side and poured it over Diana's hair, then vigorously rubbed Diana's long hair.

A sweet scent of flowers permeated the air. Diana thought it might be a shampoo as bubbles were formed, and they trickled down to her body.

The woman urged her to stand. She did, but she turned her back on her because she was naked. The woman scrubbed her back clean while Diana used her waist-length hair to scrub her front.

After her bath, the woman with a wrinkled face used a piece of cloth that looked like fleece to dry her long hair. When the dripping water was gone, she handed her a dress.

When Diana slipped on the dress, the middle woman's eyes widened.