The City Of Sand

Kies couldn't contain his laughter and for the first time in years, burst out laughing. It was astonishing. It was as Sirks said. Iris somehow mistook a few centimeters for an entire foot. How was that even possible? He has seen some pretty funny things before but the most they did was make him raise his eyebrow a little. Never would he have guessed that it would be something like this to make him laugh again.

Iris, still not realizing that she was very off with her measurements, asked Kies, "What's so funny?" She still didn't get it from the other three's reactions that a 'couple of centimeters' didn't look like that.

"Do you really not get it?" Sirks asked her in amazement.

"No, I do. I'm wrong aren't I?" That she understood from Kies' laughing. "But how far am I off?" she asked.

Sirks stared at her a moment with a 'are you serious look on his face. When he saw that Iris was indeed not joking around and was genuinely asking that question, he showed her what a 'few centimeters' really looked like. Sirks pointed at a spot under the cap with his finger and showed it to Iris.

"Oh..."

After learning this, Iris turned to the other water dew and cut the lid off as well. With this one, she cut it off correctly, which was a few centimeters under the cap like Sriks said. "See, I'm a fast learner. All you need to do is tell me and I'll get it," Iris confidently said again, completely forgetting about the embarrassing things that she just did seconds ago. Or maybe she just didn't care about something as trivial as making a mistake like this.

Anyhow, after Iris finished cutting the plants, Sirks moved the horses to one of the water dews and had them drink out of it while the rest of them took the other one next to it. "Hurry up before it dries," he told everyone. Iris gave Kies back his sword and they all gathered around the plant.

Kies never had the chance to see one of these plants up close since they were on horseback all the time and it was a lot bigger than he thought. It was half as tall as him and also just as wide as him too. Inside it, Kies could see that it was filled to the top with water. Truly a bizarre plant. What did it need so much water for?

Sirks saw the confusion on Kies' face and explained to him that, "The plant opens its lid when it rains so that it can catch water and store it to use later. It can last years without rain with a full sack."

Interesting... So water dews are plants that can survive through long droughts with the water they store. Kies also saw that these plants are pretty dominant in the desert. There were hardly any other plants here at all and more than half of the ones they see are all water dews.

After everyone drank their share (including Kies because he didn't want to look suspicious to them), the group went back under the shade of the rock and waited for the sun to set a little before they continued their journey. Kies estimated that at the pace they were moving at, they would make it to Otane by the end of the day if nothing bad happened.

But through him jinxing it or by some greater force like fate, something bad did happen before they could make it to Otane. Just as they spotted Otane on the horizon, a sandstorm set in, causing them to change directions to avoid it. After getting distracted by the sandstorm, they also encountered a bunch of monsters. Though they looked a lot more like beasts than monsters, Kies called them monsters since that was what he was used to. Iris and Sirks on the other hand called them beasts since they hunted them all the time for food.

The pack of wild beasts surrounded them which made the horses panic. They struggled to keep them under control. But luckily for them, the beasts were no big problem and Sirks was able to scare them all away by himself. After cutting down just two of the beasts with his sword, the rest of them ran away.

Sirks picked up one of the beasts and casually threw it onto the back of his horse and looked at the rest. "Come on, let's go. We got our dinner right here," he patted the beast on the horse.

They found another giant rock in the middle of the desert and decided to use that as a camp instead. Even though Otane was visible and they were very close to it, it was decided that it would be better if they went in the morning since there were more guards patrolling around during the night and they would also seem more suspicious if they tried to enter normally at this time.

Sirks built a campfire with leftover wood and grass that Kies gathered yesterday behind the rock facing away from the city to reduce the chances of people spotting them. By this time, the temperature dropped from a sweltering heat to a frigid cold breeze, and everyone except for Kies was shivering. At this point, no one was surprised about it and just accepted it for what it is.

Sirks skinned the beast they just caught and then harvested it for its meat. After cooking it and eating it for dinner, everyone went to sleep while Kies kept a lookout. He told the others that he was fine keeping an eye out for the night while they all slept. The others were a little unsure of it at first, but after some convincing, they agreed to let Kies do it.

The night went by without any issues and everyone woke up in the morning fresh and ready to go. Everyone got on their horses and continued the rest of the way to Otane. The trip went smoothly and they made it to the city around noon. They were stopped at the gate and saw that there were a lot of other people lined up waiting to get in as well. The guards check everyone one by one to confirm their identity and their purpose of entering Otane. They went to the back of the line and began talking about what to do next.

"Here comes the hard part," Sirks whispered to everyone. They had to get past the soldiers and into the city.

"What's the plan?" Kies asked him. It didn't look like they could just walk in. The soldiers would recognize them and capture them before they could even step foot into the city.

"Distract them and we run in," Iris suggested.

"Not a bad idea, but who's going to distract them?"

"I can," Kies offered to take the role. It was something that he was used to doing. Since he was always alone, he often encountered groups of enemies at once and had to resort to tricks and deception in order to get out of messes. "I can catch up very quickly."

"If you say so. But you don't know any of the places in Otane do you?" Sirks pointed out. He remembered that Kies said it was his first time in Otane. If so, then it would be difficult for Kies to find them again as he doesn't know any locations or places in Otane.

"Don't worry, I'll be able to find you."

"Are you sure?"

"Yes. We have no time anymore." Kies pointed in front of them and everyone saw that most of the people in the front were already done being examined. It was going to be their turn soon. They needed to act right now

"Alright. On your mark I guess."

"Get ready," Kies told the other three. He got off his horse and everybody else did the same. Horses were useless in the city. They had to abandon them.

As the guards walked up to them, one of them eyed Iris and Wompa suspiciously.

"You... Aren't you..."

But before he had the chance to figure out anything, Kies kicked him in the face and knocked him out.

"You scoundrel!" The other guards drew their weapons and everyone around them gasped and moved away from them. Amidst the panic, the three were able to run past the guards and through the gate along with some of the other panicking people which helped them blend in with the crowd.

After seeing that they made it through safely, Kies looked back at the ten or so guards that now had him surrounded. "Resist and you die! Come with us quietly!" one of them shouted at him.

Kies had two options here. He could either choose to fight them all and run into the city after the three or run away and infiltrate the city during the night.

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