The Wrong Right Place

“Hey! Girl!” Jackal shook Zagin’s arms. “Wake up!”

“...Mnh…?” Her eyes were barely open when the cantering horse abruptly jerked to the right. “Mnh…?!”

While Zagin dozed intermittently, the ride and terrain had become much rougher as they’d made their way into the mountains. They were now rushing through a rugged pass with sparse plant life and steep cliffs on both sides.

“We’ve run into an emergency! Make sure you hold on tight!” Jackal let go of her hands, which he’d been holding in place around his waist, and kicked the horse into a full gallop.

An emergency?! Was someone after them?! When they were leaving, did someone recognize her white tunic and the veil tied around her neck as temple vestments and report it? Or worse—bandits…?!

Zagin gripped Jackal’s clothing for dear life as they whipped around in a zig-zag formation. Batu and Boolp came into formation from the sides, matching their speed.

She tried to look around to see who they were running from. There was no one behind or up on the cliffs, but as they rounded a bend into an open desert plain, a large shadow passed over them. Zagin’s curiosity won over her primal fear, and she looked up.

Above them, a gargantuan eagle flew toward the sun, then gracefully glided through the sky, turning back to dive at them.

“A Rukh?!” Zagin yelped as they veered out of the creature’s flight path. “They really exist?!”

Jackal let out a hearty laugh. “What? Never seen one?”

“O-of course I haven’t!” She’d heard stories about the legendary birds, but always thought they were just that. “How is it that they’ve never attacked the city?!”

“They’re smart enough to know when humans have the manpower to fight back!” He drove the horse toward craggy rock formations that could provide more cover from the Rukh’s attacks. “Almost makes worryin’ about ghouls feel a bit silly, don’t it?”

He was way too blasé about their predicament, but the way he deftly continued to dodge the Rukh gave Zagin the impression this wasn’t his first time dealing with one. Jackal whistled, and the other two men readied their weapons—a longbow for Batu, and a massive sword for Boolp.

When the Rukh swooped, Boolp managed to graze its mighty feet with the tip of his sword. And when it pulled back into the air, Batu loosed an arrow into its belly with incredible precision.

The Rukh cried out an ear-shattering shriek and climbed higher into the sky. Each flap of its enormous wings created gusts of wind on the ground beneath it.

Zagin watched in awe as Batu shot two more arrows—one hit, followed by a miss when the Rukh dodged. She’d never seen someone perform archery on horseback before. She’d never even heard of someone pulling off such a feat. And all of it with missing fingers, no less!

But the Rukh did not appear willing to give up on its prey. It flew high, then shot downward to strike.

As they neared the tall cliffs on the other side of the narrow valley, Jackal let out a shrill whoop. He gave a hand signal to the others, then the two foreigners split away to double back over the plains they’d just crossed.

Strangely, the Rukh chose to follow them, rather than the single moving target, leaving Zagin to wonder, “Will they be alright?!”

“They’ll manage,” answered Jackal as he steered the horse into a slot canyon.

After they’d made their way into the narrowest part, he slowed the horse to a walk. The canyon couldn’t have been more than a dozen feet wide—maybe just enough for ox carts to pass through, single file—and was carpeted in sand.

Tall cliffs, higher than any manmade structure Zagin had ever seen, surrounded them on all sides through the winding path, drowning everything in shadow. Looking up at the sliver of sky, she figured it was only well-lit when the sun was directly overhead.

As the path curved around a jut in the canyon wall, Zagin reached out to run her fingers along the beautifully layered, rough red stone. She had seen plenty of small samples of raw sandstone through her family’s trade as stone cutters, but never its natural form like that. She wondered if her father had ever even witnessed such a sight.

By the time they exited the slot canyon, Zagin’s eyes had adjusted so well to the shadows that the early morning light left her momentarily blinded.

“Looks like the Rukh didn’t follow us. That’s a relief,” said Jackal, bringing their horse to a full stop.

“But what about your friends?” Zagin rubbed her eyes, trying to erase the sunspots in her vision.

“They’ll meet us here if they survive.” He dismounted the horse with a grunt.

“...If they survive? Aren’t you wor–”

Jackal pulled her off the horse and into his arms like a prince. “Worried? Of course not. If they’re not strong enough to fend off a Rukh, well…” He set Zagin on her feet. Stroking the length of her braid, Jackal brought the end to where his mouth was under the scarf as if kissing it. “I suppose that means I'll have you all to myself.”

Zagin’s stomach dropped. Was she wrong to trust him? No… There was no way. The goddess led her to this man for a reason!

When Zagin looked past him at the cliffs boxing them into a wide, deep canyon, she understood Nanshe’s guidance.

“They will take you where you need to go.”

Carved into the magnificent red rockface were the deteriorating facades of temples, palaces, and tombs. Beneath their feet, partially buried under sand, were the foundations and rubble of more buildings that had been decimated by disaster and lost to the passage of time.

“...Why are we in Suagal?”

They’d gone in the opposite direction of the Magician’s Tower.

She hadn’t noticed they were headed east since they departed at night. If Zagin hadn’t fallen asleep before sunrise, would she have been able to call him out on it sooner?

“We’re exactly where you need to be,” Jackal answered with a dark chuckle.

Zagin got chills.

“Tell me what you know!” she shouted. This was the third time in the past three days that someone had said something so ominous to her, and she couldn’t stand it anymore. “What did the gods tell you?!”

“Tell me…? You think I’m close to the gods? Ahaha!” He was beside himself with laughter. “What I know is that a cute, naïve little temple maiden begged me to take her away…” As he spoke, Jackal pulled a satchel off the horse and slung it over his shoulder. “Also, there was a certain magical artifact right under my nose. In my own secret base, no less!”

Zagin ground her teeth. He planned to come here from the start. Calling him out would have accomplished nothing, and it would have been three against one at that.

Still, they were alone together now. Zagin may not have been physically strong enough to fight him, but she was probably quicker on her feet than Jackal. While he busied himself unloading the horse, she crept away one step at a time.

Her eyes darted around the abandoned city for the place where Nanshe had said Nanna’s son was imprisoned. If she could hide there, she might be able to figure out how to get away from Jackal before the two foreigners returned… If they returned.

Zagin racked her brain trying to remember what the facade of the specific ruin looked like. It had pillars—but damn near everything in this place had pillars!

Fine. She’d have to find it based on the entrance. She remembered that it was definitely half-buried in sand, so where–?

“Where d’you think you’re goin’?” Jackal grabbed Zagin by the shoulder.

She pushed him away with all of her strength, then ran past him as fast as she could over the sandy ground. Zagin scanned the bottoms of the ruins, looking for the specific one she needed to find. There were a few entrances that had been excavated, which helped narrow it down somewhat.

But as she struggled across a sand dune, Jackal caught up to her with practiced ease. He grabbed her from behind, pinning her arms to her sides, and lifted her off her feet.

Zagin headbutted him, and he dropped her like a sack of grain onto the sand. As she scrambled over the dune on all fours, Zagin caught a glimpse of his nosebleed staining the white scarf around his face.

“I thought you said you’d help me!” she shouted, clambering back to her feet.

“I only said I’d get you outta the city!” He didn’t even need to run after her. Jackal was able to close the distance between them by just stepping carefully over the dunes. “Didn’t you say you’d give me everything you’ve got?”

“This isn’t what I meaaaagh!” Zagin slipped on shifting sand and fell face-first. She didn’t even have the chance to crawl away because Jackal was right on top of her before she could move.

When he tried to pin her arms behind her, Zagin thrashed her body enough to at least roll over onto her back. That didn’t deter Jackal one bit, however, because he grabbed her wrists to bind them in front.

“What would your people think if they saw you doing this?!” she hollered. Jackal sat on her legs to prevent her from kicking, so all she could do was weakly punch and slap at him.

“My people…?”

“Th-the no–” As she desperately clawed at Jackal, Zagin’s fingers caught on the scarf and yanked it down, exposing the rest of his face. “...mads…?”

“Who said I was a nomad? The person who sent you my way?” His wide grin was dotted with broken and missing teeth, and a raised scar cleaved his lips diagonally. “I never said I was one of ‘em.”

The tattoos Zagin had assumed were those unique to the desert nomads were, in fact, the brand of a thief and a swindler, respectively. He must have used the scarf to hide them often enough because the lower half of his face was markedly lighter, split in half by a tan line.

Zagin wanted to cry—she had never felt more foolish in her life. Had Nanshe really led her to this man? Or, remembering the actual nomads, had she been gravely mistaken about who Nanshe was pointing her towards?

She leaned her head back and looked at the upside-down ruins looming over her. Maybe all she needed was to look at everything from a different perspective, because Zagin found exactly what she was looking for.

Dead ahead, at the top of the dune, was the half-buried facade from her vision. Inside that ruin was where she’d find Nanna’s son sleeping—waiting to be freed.