Knightly (A Reverse Harem)

Chapter 18: Oasis Adventure

It was getting hot. Really hot. I pulled my white headdress around me a little tighter to try to keep more body heat in. I had the urge to chug down most of my water, but that wasn't a good idea. Especially since the oasis was still in a few miles. 

"Rion! How much longer?" Aries whined for what felt like the millionth time. I groaned in response and ignored him.

"About six more miles until the next stop." Blaise answered on my behalf. "By the pace that we are going I'd say that will be in an half hour, maybe more."

"Hey, Snowen? Don't you have any magic to, I don't know, make it cooler?" Aries questioned. I thought that was a stupid question. Magic can help control a lot of things. But the weather?

Snowen scoffed. "That is the most unintelligent question I have ever heard. Of course I can't make the desert cooler! If I could I would have done it by now."

"Don't be so hard on him. He wasn't exactly born to tolerate the dry heat." Cinder pointed out. Tianos and Jasem gave him a confused look. Right, they weren't there for that incident. "Aries was born in a severely different environment." Cinder explained.

Tianos laughed. "I would appreciate it if you would elaborate on this environment."

Aries looked conflicted. He probably wanted to tell him but he knew that would cause trouble back home. "Aries comes from a kingdom by the sea in the north. It's usually very cool there and there is always a cool sea breeze." I lied.

Jasem nodded. "I can see why this wouldn't be his ideal environment. I guess I never noticed how hot it could get here because I'm so used to it."

Aries looked at me with gratitude. I gave a small shrug. I was just doing my job and fulfilling my promise. I looked ahead and squinted. I could see a small speck in the distance. "I think I see the oasis up ahead."

"About time!" Tianos exclaimed. I had to agree with him on this one. We made the camels run faster to the oasis and after a short while we finally made it. The water reflected the clear blue sky. It glistened against the scorching sun. 

I didn't hesitate to jump right in, clothes and all. I didn't care if the boys thought I was insane. I felt cool. It wasn't long until I heard splashing. The boys were jumping in to water as well.

"This feels so good!" Jasem floated on his back. Cinder dived under and resurfaced. He chuckled. Blaise stood in the shallow end, holding his tan pants up above the water. Snowen sat on the sand and splashed water onto his face. Tianos and Aries started to splash each other.

I went under the water and was surprised at how clear it was. The water wasn't deep either, so the bottom was clearly visible. I planned on swimming close to where Snowen was and popping up to scare him. I saw something shine briefly as I swam by. 

My curiosity got the best of me so I swam down to see what it was. I was surprised to see that it looked like a small lamp of some kind. I pulled it out of the sand and resurfaced, gasping for air. "Guys! Look what I found!"

I swam closer to the shallow part so everyone could gather around. "What is it? It looks like a teapot or something." Tianos analyzed. I moved it around in my hand, trying to figure out if it was of any value.

I thought I saw some symbols on it but it was hard to read. It looked like it was covered in extra sand so I tried to rub it off. The lamps started to move in my hands and I yelped.

Blue smoke started to ooze out of the spout and swirled around in the sky. I figure started to form and groan. "About time I was found! It's been thousands of years! Why did I have to end up in the bottom of an oasis? Talk about horrible location."