80. It Goes, They Go, We Go

ATHENS, OLYMPIC GREECE

The bronze dragon soared over the sprawling city-state, an incredibly large wonder compared to the minor villages that the five thieves within had passed over up to that point.

"There," Sa'luk said. "That's our target."

"TIME TO BRING THE FIRE!" Abis Mal yelled, cranking the lever that controlled the dragon's fire breath.

As the dragon swooped over Athens, it leaned downward, its head spewing a steady stream of fire that caught any flammable material it came across. Civilians ran away from the flames in terror, screaming.

"A DRAGON IS ATTACKING!" someone yelled.

"WHO WILL SAVE US?" someone else yelled.

"WE NEED A HERO!" a third yelled.

Inside one particular shop, a certain engineer was meticulously putting aerodynamic carvings onto a wing made of wax, laid out across his worktable. Upon hearing the cries, he suddenly looked up, dropping the knife. "Attacking monster…city in peril…need a hero?" He rushed out the door of the shop, and boldly, he cried out, "FEAR NOT, FELLOW CITIZENS! I, ICARUS, SHALL SAVE YOU ALL!"

Those around him stopped to stare at him in wonder for a moment. Then he heard one lone voice: "Well, we're doomed."

Inside the cockpit of the dragon, Mechanicles slapped Abis Mal on the back of the head for what must have been the seventh time since the dragon had been built. "WHAT DID YOU DO THAT FOR?" he screeched.

"You IMBECILE!" Sa'luk grabbed Abis Mal by the shirt front, lifting him up with his right hand and pressing the blades on his left hand up against Abis Mal's throat, causing the shorter thief to emit a terrified squeak. "We are strangers here! For all they knew, we could have been friends and allies! We could have used that to our ADVANTAGE!"

"Don't kill me!" Abis Mal whimpered. "Maybe they thought it was a friendly fireball! Isn't friendly fire a thing? PLEASE DON'T KILL ME!"

"Sa'luk, PUT HIM DOWN RIGHT NOW!" Mechanicles barked.

"Why should I?" Sa'luk asked.

"I thought you of all people were the one looking to keep as many allies as possible," Mechanicles stated. "You would be ridding yourself of a valuable resource if you killed him. Besides, the situation is still salvageable." He steered the dragon upward, away from the heart of Athens.

Sa'luk dropped Abis Mal roughly. "Tell me how," he growled as Abis Mal scurried down the hallway to the belly chamber of the dragon.

"The people of this city, which I presume to be this world's equivalent of Athens given its location, have only seen a bronze-colored dragon attack them," Mechanicles explained. "They have not seen any of our faces. If we hide the dragon away – a task that would have been much easier to achieve were it a dragonFLY – we may still enter the town completely unrecognized as wanted felons."

"You have a point," Sa'luk said.

"Of course I have a point. I am, after all, the most intelligent of the great Greek thinkers. And, as this appears to be this world's equivalent of Greece, stark architectural differences from our own world's Greece notwithstanding, I have what plebeians call 'home field advantage.'"

"Just hide the dragon," Sa'luk growled.

"Already in progress," Mechanicles assured him. "Also, if you wish to remain part of our little guild, you will NOT threaten another one of my allies."

"Or what?"

"If you eliminate one of us, you will be up against three, and no matter the combination, the group will contain either me and the vast array of destructive mechanical weapons I can construct, or Haroud and his innate streak of good luck and sensibility, if not both, plus at least one ally who is somewhat skilled with a sword at least. However, I do hope it doesn't have to come to that. It would just be so…messy. I think we'd all enjoy this escapade a lot more if we could remain friends!"

"Hmph," Sa'luk grunted, accepting Mechanicles' argument for the moment. "Fine. I'll save it for our victims."

"Very good!"

By that time, Mechanicles had steered the dragon toward a forest outside the borders of Athens, and he landed it gracefully among the trees. "We are now at a departure station for Athens, or the equivalent thereof," he announced.

---

Back in the city, Icarus had watched the dragon wing its way out of town. "Watch out, dragon," he said in the closest thing he could muster to a threatening growl. "I'm coming after you!"

Loaded down with a simple dagger, he took off running, following the dragon in the sky with his eyes and marking its trajectory.

Observing Icarus' chase, one of passerby remarked, "Yep, he's dead."

---

The jaws of the dragon opened, and Mechanicles and Sa'luk exited into the forest, followed by Abis Mal, Haroud, and Amin.

"Remember," Mechanicles said. "We have the element of surprise on our side. I suggest we use this opportunity to take reconnaissance of the city and utilize it to learn this world's principal features."

"Uhhhh…what now?" Abis Mal replied.

"Research what is worth stealing," Haroud simplified.

"Good idea!" Abis Mal cheered.

"Or," Sa'luk suggested, "we use this opportunity to steal our way into the upper ranks and strike the city at its heart."

"WHAT?" Mechanicles screeched. "YOU were the one who pointed out we have the advantage of anonymity! And you would just WASTE it on a larger heist?"

"And I suppose you'd have us bide our time for months and months until we found the perfect treasure," Sa'luk snarled.

"If months are what it takes…" Mechanicles argued.

"MONTHS?" Abis Mal groaned. "Oy…"

"Can't we just pick a few pockets now?" Amin whined.

"Might I suggest we pursue different goals?" Haroud brought up. "Sa'luk, you could find the government center of the city and strike there. Mechanicles, I'm sure there's a library you could look through. Amin, you could take to the streets and commit more stealthy pocket robberies, and as for Abis Mal and myself, we shall find other opportunities ripe for the taking. I am sure there is more than one unlocked door in town."

"Well, I suppose it is the only way to get what we all want," Mechanicles sighed, unrolling his checklist parchment and beginning to jot down new goals.

"Then let's go." Sa'luk stormed back toward the city, and the others followed.

Shortly after they'd left, Carpet descended. Sadira hadn't seen the thieves leave; she was braced for battle. She leapt down onto the ground, running into the jaws of the dragon. "All right," she snapped, "you…" She looked around the cockpit, scanning its many bells and whistles. "You…aren't here."

She ventured tentatively down the throat passage, into the belly chamber. "Hello?" she called out. "Anybody home?" She was greeted with nothing but a hiss of steam from the boiler. "Huh."

Then, from outside, there came a great CLANG against the outer wall. Someone was yelling – a male voice, Sadira could tell that much – but she couldn't make out the words. Looking round the dragon's interior, Sadira spotted the hatch in the rear of the chamber, opening it up to take a look outside.

Gingerly, she stepped onto the grass, getting a good look at the dragon's assailant. Icarus lobbed a fist-sized rock at the beast's side, screaming, "Taaaake THAT!" He threw another rock. "AND THAT!" Another. "AND THAT! THAT'LL TEACH YOU TO BREATHE FIRE ON INNOCENT PEOPLE!"

"Ummm…" Sadira stifled a laugh as she walked toward Icarus. "What are you doing?"

"I am saving Athens from this monster!" Icarus answered proudly before throwing another rock. "And surprisingly, throwing rocks seems to be working. It hasn't moved since I started. Hmm…what if it's just trying to lull me into a false sense of security? IS THAT IT?" He threw another rock at the dragon.

"That's not going to work," Sadira pointed out. "It's not a real dragon."

"What do you mean it's not a real dragon?" Icarus asked. "It breathed fire over Athens!"

"Yeah," Sadira confirmed, "but it's a machine. The fire came from the thieves that were piloting it. Though they seem to be long gone."

"And how do YOU know much about this operation, sister?" Icarus asked, dropping the rocks and leaning in close to Sadira, staring her down as closely as he could; she leaned backward in response. "Are you in on it?"

"In on it?" Sadira repeated. "I'm trying to stop it! The guys that built this are from my homeland. And they launched an attack on my palace! Well, my friends' palace. The thieves used this to get close and attack the guards while one of them ran in to pick up a bunch of maps. Maps that led them right here."

"And why did they need to get HERE, hmmmmm?"

"I have no idea," Sadira admitted. "But I do know if I don't find some way to stop them, they're going to wreck your city the same way they terrorized mine. Trust me. My friends have dealt with the guys who built this thing before. And those guys are bad news."

"Hmm." Icarus stepped back to consider the information. "Say I believe you."

"If you don't, I'm just going to keep on doing what I was doing anyway. I just thought you should know that throwing rocks isn't going to help."

"What WERE you doing, anyway?"

"Well…" Sadira looked up at the dragon. "I was going to try and fight the thieves, but they're long gone. So maybe now…" Her next goal took shape in her mind. "If I destroy the dragon…then they can't use it to wreck anything else, and they might not even be able to get very far outside this city!" She took the pouch of sand from her belt, weighing it in her hand. She knew it wasn't going to be enough, and she wondered if she had time to run back to the coast, or if there was any sandy ground to speak of in the area. It then struck her just how odd it was to see a landscape made of firm dirt with foliage sprouting from it as opposed to a desert.

"You need to destroy a machine?" Icarus said, his face lighting up. "Well, you came to the right place. I can take this baby down for ya in ten seconds flat."

"Oh, really?" Sadira asked sarcastically. "Are you some kind of machine expert?"

"Actually, yes," Icarus answered in the most debonair tone he could muster. "You happen to be looking at one of the chief engineers of all of Greece. I mostly specialize in wax wings, but I know a thing or to about steam power and clockwork."

"So you can actually destroy this thing," Sadira stated seriously.

"Yup-er-doo."

"And what if I am one of the bad guys," Sadira teased, "and this is all part of my evil plan?"

"Oh, don't be silly!" Icarus said with a wave of his hand. "Why would you want to destroy your own dragon? You'd have to be one stupid villain!"

"Or the dragon could be a decoy to get you distracted. Maybe I have an army lining up that you don't know about, just outside the gates of your city."

"What kind of person would build a giant animal-shaped contraption just as a decoy to fool a bunch of people and get an army inside city walls? That's just silly!" Icarus laughed. "Anyway, if you want this thing taken down, just say the word."

"Okay. I want this thing taken down."

"Have you been inside it?"

"Yeah."

"And did you see a boiler?"

"Yeah…"

"Watch and learn," Icarus said, bending down to collect the stones he'd dropped. "But first, lead on."

"Okay," Sadira said before making her way to the rear hatch of the dragon. "So what's your name, Mr. master engineer?"

"Name's Icarus," Icarus stated. "And you?"

"Sadira."

"Well, pleased to meet ya, Sadira!"

"Same to you, Icarus."

She led him into the belly chamber of the dragon, to where the boiler was hissing steam still. "This is gonna be easy!" Icarus remarked. "Just stand back and watch the master at work!"

He searched the boiler for open outlets for the steam, plugging every hole he found with a rock of the appropriate size. As a last measure, he cranked a valve on the boiler's front to its extreme, building up the pressure inside the boiler.

"Nothin' to it," Icarus said, leaning against the boiler, which was beginning to shudder. "Just a standard steam boiler. Must've worked on about a hundred of these babies with Dad-alus."

"Is it supposed to be shaking?" Sadira asked worriedly.

"Oh, yeah…" Icarus replied. "That's the thing. We sort of have to run if we don't want to be blown to bits."

"Then let's GO!" Sadira yelled in a panic. Icarus prepared to run, but before he could get moving, she'd already grabbed him by the chiton sleeve, charging toward the open hatch.

The pair leapt from the dragon, careening across the forest floor as behind them, the dragon exploded in a great KABOOM and emitted a plume of fire and smoke high into the air; a much smaller mechanical contraption was also launched into the sky and toward the city, riding the cloud.

---

In the streets of Athens, the five thieves gathered; they all found the sensation odd of being able to stand in the middle of a public square and let the public pass them without the fear of recognition.

"And these are flare bugs," Mechanicles said, handing out a tiny red metal beetle, small enough to fit in a palm, to each of his allies. "If any of you should encounter a crippling failure that requires the attention of the rest of us, simply wind up the beetle and launch it into the air. It will explode, and we will all gather at this very rendez-vous point."

"I do not intend to fail," Sa'luk said, pocketing the beetle.

"So you may say," Mechanicles said condescendingly. "However, this world bears very little resemblance to your native culture. I, on the other hand, recognize the majority of the architecture and clothing here as that of my own – "

KABOOM!

When the noise of the explosion came from the forest, Mechanicles' jaw dropped and he emitted a high-pitched squealing noise of dismay.

"What?" Abis Mal asked. "What just happened?"

"Th…th…THE DRAGON!" Mechanicles sputtered. "THAT NOISE CAME FROM – " He turned to look toward the forest only to see a rising cloud of smoke. "NOOOOOOO!" He clenched his teeth, seething. "Sabotage…this is the work of SABOTAGE! When I find the saboteurs responsible for this – "

"You are jumping to an extreme conclusion," Haroud said. "It may be coming from the general direction of the dragon, but we have no proof – "

The small mechanical contraption plummeted out of the sky after its launch, landing hard on the ground between the five thieves. Its appendages twitched; it was charred and dented.

"SCOOTER!" Mechanicles screeched.

"Well, I guess that proves we're out one ride home," Amin sighed.

Mechanicles gently scooped the clockwork beetle up from the ground. "It's going to be all right," he cooed at it. "Daddy will take care of you!"

Sa'luk rolled his eyes and turned away to leave for his personal mission without a further word.

"We should probably go too," Abis Mal suggested, backing away slowly. "Give you two…alone time."

"Well, NOW I've got to go have Scooter repaired," Mechanicles huffed, storming off and muttering to himself, "Where I'm going to find the necessary materials on unfamiliar territory…"

And that left Amin to shrug and set off on his own as well.

"Say, about that whole dragon exploding thing," Abis Mal brought up to Haroud. "You don't think it was Aladdin or any of his pesky friends, do you?"

"I would not put it past them to follow us across worlds," Haroud admitted.

"Well, when I find out who did it," Abis Mal vowed, "there will be DISEMBOWELMENT! There will be BLOOD! There will be EVIC – uh, EVA – uh – SPILLING THEIR GUTS ON THE FLOOR!"

"Evisceration, sir?"

"Yeah. That!"

---

Sadira and Icarus turned to look at the remains of the dragon – bronze shrapnel in a roughly dragon-shaped frame, but utterly useless as a flying machine, its walls blown open and its mechanisms ripped apart.

"So you weren't kidding," Sadira remarked. "Nice job. That thing won't be going anywhere. As for the guys that were in it earlier…" She sighed. "I should probably figure out where THEY went."

"No problem!" Icarus bragged. "All in a day's work for the wax wing king of Athens!"

"Athens…being…the city that's near here?" Sadira asked.

"You got it! Home sweet home!"

Sadira turned back to look in the direction of the city, whose skyline was visible through the trees. "I'll bet you anything that's where I'll find them," she said, mostly to herself. "And that's where they'll be making a mess out of everything." She turned back to Icarus. "I'm going there. Wanna go back with me?"

"Never let it be said that Icarus let a helpless maiden walk alone through the wilds of Greece," Icarus replied.

"Helpless?" Sadira scoffed. "I SHOULD just leave you and go on my own for that. Trust me: just because I don't know how to make a boiler explode doesn't mean I'm HELPLESS. But…I don't know anything about this place, and you do. So I was wondering if you could help me out."

"Sure thing!" Icarus agreed. "Right this way!" He began to walk, and Sadira fell in step alongside him.

"C'mon, Carpet," Sadira beckoned, and Carpet began to lazily float behind the two.

"Interesting flying device," Icarus said, turning to look over Carpet. "What kind of motor do you use to run that thing?"

"He's not a machine," Sadira explained. "He's magic. He's actually alive."

"How did you - !"

"I didn't! He came from an ancient cave of treasure that was thousands of years old. I think Carpet's the only one that knows how he actually got that way."

"Well, that's something you don't see every day in Athens. Oh, and speaking of which," Icarus continued, "abouuuuut the way you're dressed…"

"What's wrong with how I'm dressed?"

"It's kiiiiinda obvious you're not from around here," Icarus said. "You're gonna stick out like a manticore in a flock of goats. Where are you from, anyway?"

"That's a long story," Sadira replied.

"Well, we've got a ways to walk! And what's a walk between friends without a lively conversation, huh?"

"Fine," Sadira relented. "But I'll only tell you if you answer a question right."

"What kind of question?"

"Do you believe in other worlds?"

"DO I?" Icarus responded. "Lady, you have NO IDEA what I've seen…"

---

Pericles was bent over a desk, putting quill to parchment as to the newest announcements that needed to go out to the Athenian civilians. He re-inked the quill, thinking about how peaceful it was to be in solitude, almost as valuable as gold…"Silence is golden." He wrote that one down for later. It would likely have other applications.

But what he mistook for the silence of inactivity was the silence of an expert in stealth avoiding detection.

Pericles was completely startled by the triple bronze blades appearing at his peripheral vision and pressing up to his neck. Before he could say anything, Sa'luk's voice hissed into his ear, "Don't say a word."

The two burst out of the room, Sa'luk still holding the terrified Pericles at bladepoint. The members of the boule passing through the hallways froze in place, turning to look. "GIVE ME EVERYTHING VALUABLE YOU HAVE," Sa'luk bellowed, "OR HE DIES!"

In a panic, most of the members of the boule began to grab various valuables – marble busts, vases, the money from their pockets – and heap it in front of Sa'luk while making pleas for him not to kill Pericles. And Sa'luk grinned as he watched the mound of treasures grow and grow. "And bag it all," Sa'luk ordered. "I need to be able to carry it!"

A few of the government workers, however, slipped away to find someone who could rescue Pericles and the entire boule from this dilemma.

---

"…And that's how I got here," Sadira finished. "I still can't believe you and your friend actually MET Aladdin. Small universe?"

"Pretty much," Icarus replied as the two crossed the line into town. They'd swapped stories; Icarus had told her of how Hercules and Aladdin had once crossed paths and he'd been caught in the crossfire, taken hostage by Hades and the spirit of Jafar, and Sadira had told him briefly of her history and more specifically the events that had led to her tracking the dragon across the portal. As the two entered the city, Carpet had decided to keep a low profile, rolling up so Sadira and Icarus could carry him around as though he were an inanimate rug.

Heads turned; passerby regarded the duo with a curious look. "Yeah," Sadira said hushedly, "they're staring. It's the pants, isn't it?" She'd noticed that no one in the entire city, at least in her view radius, was wearing any sort of trousers – only chitons and dresses.

"You might wanna come thisaway." Icarus took her by the shoulders and steered her toward a clothing shop. "Excuse me, my good man!" Icarus called out to the shopkeeper. "As you can see here – "

"Icarus!" the shopkeeper interrupted, taken aback. "Surprised to see you alive. We all thought you got yourself eaten by that dragon. A bunch of the guys were taking bets on it. Most of them thought you'd lead in trying to throw rocks at it, but I told them even you weren't THAT stupid."

"Excuse me," Sadira huffed, "but that 'dragon' is a smoking pile of junk now thanks to Icarus."

"BAHAAAA-HAHAHAHA!" the shopkeeper laughed. "Icarus, slaying a dragon! That's a good one! How much did you pay her to say that?"

"Fine," Sadira snapped. "Don't believe me. But that thing's not going to be breathing fire on you anymore thanks to him. Also, if you keep making fun of my friends, I'm going to take my denarii elsewhere." She took a coin from her pocket and waved it in front of the shopkeeper.

"Lemme see that!" The shopkeeper snatched the coin from her hand. He examined it. "I've never seen a denarius like this before…" He bit it. "But it is a denarius, all right."

"How much for one of those dresses?" Sadira asked.

He named a price.

"Tell you what," Sadira said. "I'll pay you that much for one dress AND for you to stop making fun of Icarus. Deal?"

"Some people can't take a joke," the shopkeeper growled. "Fine."

She laid out the coins on the table, and he showed her to a back room where she could have her pick of peplos and try it on. Icarus waited patiently outside, whistling a little tune he made up on the spot.

At last, Sadira left the shop, tying her bag of sand and a coin bag to her waist. "How do I look?" she asked with a smile. "Do I blend in?"

Icarus took in an eyeful. "WHOA."

Sadira was clad in a bright carnation-pink peplos with short white straps for sleeves and a white sash over the floor-length skirt. Her hair was bound up in a ponytail behind her head, save for a lock on either side that had escaped the tail. When she walked, it was clear she was wearing brown sandals.

Carpet unrolled and applauded with his tassels. Icarus wanted to comment that Sadira looked quite beautiful indeed, but he shook the thought. Even saying that in an innocuous context felt, to him, like adultery. "Thaaaat's more like it," he ended up saying.

"Good," Sadira replied. "Now. Where to find those rats Abis Mal and Mechanicles…think you could show me all the important stuff around here?"

"Sure!" Icarus agreed. "First, let's stop back at my workshop to pick up my handy guide of Athenian landmarks!"

The two set out again, carrying Carpet between the two of them, and Icarus thought to ask, "Saaaaay, why do YOU care so much whether people make fun of me?"

"Because you're the only friend I have on this world," Sadira answered.

"You think of me as a…friend?" Icarus was taken aback.

"Well, if I'm gonna trust anybody around here," Sadira said, "it's the guy who helped me blow up my enemy's flying machine and helped me find clothes to blend in."

"Well, thanks for stickin' up for me, buddy!" Icarus gushed, suddenly filled with happiness that someone new was calling him "friend."

---

As Haroud had predicted, a door was in fact left unlocked. One of the shops in town was left completely empty, with no one at the counter. Abis Mal and Haroud entered this shop, looking around for signs of life.

"Nobody seems to be minding the counter," Haroud pointed out.

"PERFECT," Abis Mal replied, making a beeline for the counter and opening up several drawers that contained money from transactions. He began eagerly scooping the money into his pockets.

Haroud, in the meantime, examined the wares. He stopped to run his finger over a pair of large, birdlike wings carved out of wax, hanging on the wall. "How odd."

"Yeah," Abis Mal said, looking up in confusion to see several similar sets hanging alongside it and on the opposite wall. "What kinda store is this, anyway?"

"Perhaps it belongs to an artist," Haroud theorized. "A very…modern artist."

"Or maybe he sells 'em to fly with!"

"A conclusion only you would have come up with, sir."

"Got that right!" Abis Mal replied, misinterpreting the insult. "I'm a regular genius!" He then turned his attention to the papers on the desk. "What's this?" He rifled through a rather large stack of papers that included a calendar with a particular date – the date of that very day, though Abis Mal had no way of knowing that – marked heavily in red ink. Below that was a scroll, and as Abis Mal unrolled it, reading slowly, he was stunned by what it said. "Hel-loooooo…"

"Something of interest, sir?" Haroud asked, still looking at the wings and attempting to evaluate how valuable they were.

"You're not gonna BELIEVE this!" Abis Mal said excitedly. "This here says that there's some kind of – "

He was interrupted by the sound of metal crashing. Abis Mal and Haroud both turned to face a door they hadn't noticed before, obviously leading to an adjoining room. They were not, in fact, alone in the shop.

"Shhh," Haroud cautioned, beckoning Abis Mal to follow him to the door. They both drew swords from their belts, each pressing a hand to the door. "On three," Haroud whispered. "One…"

"HA!" Abis Mal kicked the door down without waiting for "three," pointing his sword at the source of the noise…only to find said source pointing a screwdriver at his own face whilst giving a yelp.

"I'M NOT AFRAID TO USE THIS!" Mechanicles threatened. "Oh…it's YOU." He lowered the screwdriver.

"What are YOU doing here?" Abis Mal asked confusedly.

"Making repairs on Scooter," Mechanicles explained, motioning to the bug, which was looking far less dingy than before, propped up on the table. "Luckily for me, this shop's workroom was fully stocked with everything I needed to put him back in working order. The owner appears to specialize in waxworks, but also dabbles in engineering in the general sense. All the tools and parts I needed were accounted for! The real question is, what are YOU doing in an engineer's workshop?"

"What do you think," Haroud sighed, "we thieves are doing in an unattended shop with unguarded money?"

"Point," Mechanicles spat.

"But I found something BETTER than money," Abis Mal said, unrolling the scroll. "Check THIS out."

"This had better not be something you misinterpreted due to your lack of skill in the simple art of reading," Mechanicles huffed, taking the scroll. A few key words caught his eye, however, and his interest grew as he looked the parchment over. "Well. It seems you've actually stumbled upon something – "

"WHAT THE TARTARUS?"

Mechanicles looked up from the parchment. Abis Mal and Haroud span around. Icarus was framed in the door of the workshop, his workshop, pointing at the three thieves in utter shock.

"THAT'S THEM!" Sadira cried angrily, gathering a handful of sand from her pocket.

"YOU!" Abis Mal yelled, turning his sword on Sadira. "I should've known you'd follow us, you…you…wait a minute. Which one was she again?"

Sadira quickly threw a handful of sand onto Abis Mal; it sparkled as it descended upon him, and he blinked in confusion. "That's not the only thing you don't know now," Sadira boasted.

"…Wait. Where am I?" Abis Mal asked.

"In an engineer's workshop in a parallel Athens," Mechanicles reminded him.

"…Who are you?" Abis Mal replied.

"I believe that answers one question," Haroud said, fixing his gaze upon Sadira. "You are the Witch of the Sand."

"Got that right." Sadira readied another handful of sand.

Haroud thrust his sword toward her, but Sadira had anticipated that. Instead of casting another mesmerism burst, she threw the sand at Haroud's hand, and it solidified into a heavy earthen cuff that dragged his hand downward and locked the sword inside his fist, causing him to stumble forward; the blade missed Sadira by a foot's distance.

"Get outta here," Icarus snapped at Mechanicles, "and stop touching my stuff!"

"You have no idea what you're dealing with!" Mechanicles threatened. "SCOOTER! GET HIM!"

He pointed dramatically at Icarus. Scooter, still in need of minor tweaking, just flopped around helplessly.

"Who are THEY?" Abis Mal asked, pointing at Icarus and Sadira. "Whose side am I even on here?"

Haroud, regaining balance and control even with the extra weight on his sword hand, took another swing at Sadira. She ducked the blow, launching another handful of sand; it missed Haroud and scattered all over Mechanicles.

"EEEEEEK!" Mechanicles screeched. "DO YOU KNOW HOW HARD IT IS TO GET GRAINS OF SAND OUT OF ALL THE FOLDS AND POCKETS?" He picked up the screwdriver, driving it toward Icarus' face like a dagger. Icarus instinctively grabbed Mechanicles' thin wrist, holding off the screwdriver hand, though Mechanicles was persistent, trying to force his way past Icarus' grip and dig the screwdriver into his eye.

"WHY AM I HOLDING A SWORD?" Abis Mal yelled, starting to get frustrated that no one was answering his questions.

Hearing that, Sadira turned to the flummoxed Abis Mal and wrenched his sword out of his hand. "Thank you!" she said as she charged Mechanicles with it.

"You're welcome!" Abis Mal said with a friendly wave. Haroud lightly cuffed him with his free hand before slamming his sword hand into the wall to break the sand cuff and free his other hand.

Sadira kicked Mechanicles in the stomach, causing him to reel backward; Icarus let go of his wrist. As Mechanicles charged forth with the screwdriver again, Sadira parried it with Abis Mal's sword.

Haroud rushed Sadira from behind; panicking, Icarus upended a nearby table onto him, knocking him to the ground. In the meantime, with a few quick strokes of the sword, Sadira managed to send the screwdriver flying out of Mechanicles' hands.

"RETREAT!" Mechanicles screamed, sensing that without any of his finer mechanical creations, he and his allies were on the losing end. He charged out of the room, grabbing the flare beetle from his pocket and winding it up.

"That means you too!" Haroud yelled, grabbing Abis Mal by the sleeve and dragging him after Mechanicles while using his other hand to put away his sword and seek out his own flare beetle.

"Ohhhh no," Sadira growled. "YOU'RE NOT GETTING AWAY THIS TIME!" She took off running after them.

---

Amin Damoola spotted yet another hapless civilian whose back was turned and whose money was tied in a pouch at his waist. Stealthily, Amin crept behind the man, using a small dagger to open up the pouch and leeching all the gold coins out of it to transfer to his own pocket.

He'd had a successful run, managing to relieve several unaware people of their jewelry and money. In fact, he couldn't remember the last time he'd had such a stroke of luck.

As he turned to move to another square, he heard a cry of "Hey! MY MONEY!" At first, it chilled him. However, he resolved to shake it off and keep walking. Even those who noticed their missing belongings had no way to pin it on him.

Other voices joined up the chorus: "My earrings are gone!" "Somebody took MY money!" "My wrist sundial!" Amin ignored them all, playing it off casually.

He strode toward another citizen he'd robbed, one who was just noticing her missing article. "My bracelet!" she cried. She turned and caught a glimpse of Amin…and a certain item around his wrist. "HEY! THAT'S MY BRACELET!"

Amin froze. "Uh…no. No, it isn't!"

"THIEF!" the woman cried, pointing at him. "HE STOLE MY BRACELET!"

"AND THOSE ARE MY EARRINGS!" another cried, pointing at Amin's ears.

It was starting to sink in that carrying the jewelry Amin had stolen by wearing it was a bad idea after all.

They swarmed around him: "That's my wrist sundial on his other arm!" "THIEF!" "GET HIM!"

Amin dropped to the ground, slithering through the legs of the crowd, and getting back up to his feet when he'd managed to get out of the throng. The people he'd robbed turned to give chase, and Amin put on as much speed as he could, taking the flare beetle from his pocket and trying to get his fumbling fingers to wind up the delicate mechanism. "Come on…COME ON…"

His attention focused on the beetle, Amin didn't see the rather large obstacle in his path – a horse-drawn cart – until he rammed right into it. He flipped over the edge of the cart and into it.

Righting himself, Amin looked out at the crowd of people still chasing after him, looking for blood. "GIVE BACK MY MONEY!" the man heading the crowd bellowed. "OR I'LL BEAT IT OUT OF YOU!"

Amin quickly picked up the horse's reins and cracked them, hard.

The horse reared, whinnied, and bolted. Amin was nearly thrown out of the cart, but he held onto the reins for dear life with one hand while finishing up the flare beetle with the other and sending it into the sky. Then he attempted to bring the horse enough under control that he could direct it toward the rendez-vous point.

---

"Keep it coming!" Sa'luk ordered, still keeping Pericles at bladepoint as two large bags were loaded up with the valuables. "I know you have more around here!"

Then a well-built, bearded man clothed in a bright blue chiton and a large blue hat stormed into the hall, with several guards bearing spears at his back. This man drew a bronze sword, pointing it at Sa'luk. "By order of the City-State Police Force of Athens, drop your weapon!"

Sa'luk laughed. "Do you really think you can get to me before I have time to cut your precious leader's throat?"

A loud BOOM sounded outside a nearby window. Sa'luk turned to look at the source of the noise. Red sparks filled the air. One of the fools set off his flare, Sa'luk thought. Well, the other three could just take care of it.

The other three flares exploded in the air shortly after.

When Sa'luk turned back, he noticed the city-state trooper and Pericles' guard had moved close enough to him that their weapons were nearly brushing his skin at all angles. "Fine," Sa'luk said, shoving Pericles away from him. "Keep him."

Then he deftly turned to an angle at which he slipped between the various spears, dealt a right-handed blow to the face of the trooper, hauled the bags of treasure up over his shoulders, and ran.

---

Haroud, Abis Mal, and Mechanicles arrived at the rendez-vous point, having set off their flares, just in time to meet the oncoming cart Amin drove. "GET IN!" Amin yelled, and Haroud and Mechanicles wasted no time hopping over the edge of the cart. Abis Mal, at that point following simply because it seemed like the best course of action to stay with the people that dragged him along, struggled to keep pace with the moving cart before making a leap and grabbing onto its edge. Haroud and Mechanicles, in tandem, grabbed at his shoulders and hauled him into the cart.

Sa'luk charged into the square as the horse and cart did an about-face. He didn't need time to process what was happening, though he did take a moment to think quite a few condescending thoughts about his comrades, and as the cart passed, he leapt, landing hard in the cart and dropping the valuables he'd gathered.

"GO!" Sa'luk barked.

"I'm not sure I can STOP!" Amin argued as he steered the cart out of the square.

Sadira caught up just in time to witness Sa'luk leaping into the cart; then she watched the horse put on full speed, causing the cart to outpace her, a distance too great to make up on foot. As she saw the thieves make their inevitable escape, anger coursed through her, and she acted purely on impulse. She stamped the ground before her. On sand, it would have sent a tremor that would have pulsated into a gush of sand under the cart, upending it. However, Sadira realized after doing such a thing that she wasn't on sand, and therefore nothing was going to happen.

But something did happen. There was the slightest tremor in the ground. The bricks beneath one of the cart wheels shifted and were upset, creating a bump in the road. The cart jolted, but didn't fall or slow, and its occupants wrote the disturbance off as a flaw in the paving of the street.

Sadira was well aware that something had just taken place. She'd felt the vibration in the ground, and she saw the cart jolt just before it sped out of her line of sight. She wasn't quite sure what to make of it. Feeling defeated, she turned and shuffled her way back to Icarus' shop.

As she entered, she saw Icarus rifling through the papers on the shop counter. "No," he was muttering in a panic. "No no no no nonononono nooooooooo! NOT THAT! ANYTHING BUT THAT!"

"WHAT?" Sadira asked, suddenly panicking. "What did they take?"

"My calendar that said today was the day of the ascension of the Oracle of Delphi!" Icarus moaned. "And my letter EXPLAINING the Oracle of Delphi!"

"An oracle?" Sadira repeated. "In their hands…that's not good."

"It is VERY not good," Icarus emphasized. "Very…very…very not good!" He ran to the wall, taking down a pair of wax wings and beginning to strap them to his arms.

"What are you doing?" Sadira asked.

"Going to Delphi," Icarus answered. "I have to stop them!"

"Well, then, I'm coming with you," Sadira insisted. "Carpet!"

Carpet sailed over to her from a corner of the shop where he'd been waiting. Together, Sadira, Icarus, and Carpet exited the shop. Icarus leapt into the air, and for a moment, Sadira doubted; she was sure that he would just fall right back down to the ground. He pumped his arms, and the wax wings caught the air; he began to climb into the sky with speed. Sadira leapt atop Carpet, who, without a word, knew to follow Icarus. They soared upward, out of Athens, and into the clouds.

"What did you do to that guy back there, anyway?" Icarus asked. "When you made him all…confused?"

"That was my kind of magic," Sadira answered. "I'm a witch of the sand. I can use sand to do a lot of things. I just used a simple mesmerism technique. I didn't have much prep time, so it's going to wear off him in a few minutes. If the ground here was actually made of sand, I could have stopped that cart before it left the city…" She stopped herself in that train of thought; it was making her angry that she'd let the thieves get away.

"Sand magic?" Icarus clarified. "Sweet."

"So what's the deal with this oracle anyway?" Sadira asked.

"It's not really the oracle they'll be after," Icarus explained. "It's her eyes!"

---

Mechanicles had taken the reins of the cart, steering it toward Delphi at high speed. Abis Mal had finally come out of his hypnotic stupor, asking, "Okay, where am I, and what happened for the past five minutes?"

"Remind me why I waste my time with the likes of him," Sa'luk growled, rifling through the bags he'd gotten from the capitol.

"Because I," Abis Mal boasted, unrolling the scroll in front of Sa'luk, "found this."

"And you might want to take a good look at it," Mechanicles asserted. "It is in essence the very reason we are going to Delphi."

"Hmm." Sa'luk took the scroll into his own hands, reading it out loud. "On the day of the ascension of the Oracle of Delphi, the most powerful of the oracles in residence at the Delphi temple shall be granted the Eyes of Truth, which shall allow her to see all things that have not yet happened and discern all truths from lies. Her power shall resonate with that already contained within the Eyes…" Sa'luk realized what he was reading. "The Eyes of Truth allow their bearer to see the future? And there is magic contained within them!"

"Of course, the insinuation is that the only person who can truly be all-seeing with the Eyes of Truth is the Oracle of Delphi," Mechanicles pointed out, "but there is also the implication that whoever has the Eyes will be able to see the future to some degree."

"Seein' the future," Abis Mal added. "Almost as good as changin' the past."

"If we could," Amin said happily, "there's NOTHING that could stop us!"

"It may just be the most powerful advantage we could have," Haroud concluded.

"Then spur the horse on toward Delphi," Sa'luk ordered. "This power shall be ours."

---

"So basically," Icarus concluded, "they put the eyes in her head, and she becomes all-seeing."

"That's what they want," Sadira inferred. "The power to see the future."

They were nearing a large mountain, where Icarus had described Delphi to be whilst explaining it and the Eyes of Truth. Cold winds whipped past them as they flew. "If they get there before the Eyes are put in the Oracle," Icarus moaned, "that would be bad enough. But if they get there AFTER that…they'll hurt…HER!"

"Who?" Sadira asked. "The Oracle?"

"Ye-e-essssss!" Icarus moaned, tears forming in his eyes. "The next chosen Oracle of Delphi! Cassandra! The light of my life! The beat of my heart! The wind beneath my waxen wings!"

"So…your girlfriend?"

"If you want to put it LIGHTLY!" Icarus went on. "If those guys get there when the Eyes of Truth are already inside her head…they'll rip them out of her beautiful, perfect face! That face, that I never wanted to see in any pain!"

"Wow," Sadira commented. "You must really love her."

"More than anything in the entire cosmos! She is the most perfect creature that the gods ever made! They must have used Aphrodite for a model when they came up with her. She's got more grace than any princess! And the way she speaks!"

"She's really lucky to have you," Sadira observed. "I wish somebody would talk about me like that." As she said this, she thought about what it would be like if Icarus himself were saying such things to her. She didn't find him bad looking. He was skinnier and ganglier than her usual type, and he was definitely louder, but she found that charming. His energy in particular impressed her, and she found herself looking fondly upon that goofy smile he had when he was happy. No, Icarus wasn't a bad catch…for Cassandra, she resolved. She was thoroughly done with committed men.

"Love is a strange thing," Icarus sighed. "Just when you think it's impossible, you'll find it hiding just around the corner! I bet people are just linin' up for you, aren't they?"

"Well…" Sadira admitted. "I actually got a little bit possessive over a guy who was…already engaged. Actually…it was Aladdin."

"No kidding!"

"No kidding. And I may have done a few regrettable things with my magic to try and break him up with Jasmine so he'd notice me. But that's over with. In the end, I just liked him better as a friend anyway. And he and Jasmine forgave me for a LOT. I owe them big time. I guess that's part of why catching these thieves matters so much to me. Anyway, after an incident a few days back, I met another guy, Amal, who wasn't bad, but we never really clicked. And there's also this one magical bounty hunter that sometimes turns up…but he's pretty much a lone wolf, so that's not really worth my time. So I'm single now. But chasing boys always gets me into trouble anyway. Trust me. You do NOT wanna see me when I get possessive."

"Aw, c'mon! A lot of guys out there like a little bit of possessive!"

"Hypnotized into thinking you're in love with me possessive?"

"If Cassandra ever hypnotized me into loving her forever, I'd take it as a compliment. But she doesn't need to, because my love for her is already eternal."

"Well, then let's hurry up and save her before she gets her eyes ripped out!" Sadira concluded.

They crossed from the cool winds over the mainland to the sharp chill of Delphi.

---

Chapter 80:

· The title comes from the song "The Walker" by Fitz and the Tantrums, which was kind of my muse-song for this interlude.

· Icarus' knowledge of other worlds is a reference to his involvement in "Hercules and the Arabian Knight."

· Sadira's outfit is of my own design. It was originally going to be pink with purple accents, but I realized that would sound way too similar to Meg's ensemble. I went with pink and white as an homage to the first dress she picked up after discovering the scrolls of the Witches of the Sand. She seems to like the pink/red/purple spectrum in general given the dresses she creates for herself when not wearing her customary outfit.

· I didn't intend for Abis Mal's sword to get hijacked again. This may become a running gag.

· A "boule" is a Greek governing body.

· As I'm currently watching Avatar: The Last Airbender, I kind of want to hook Sadira's powers up to earthbending, even though she can technically do tons more in terms of reality warping. Hence you see a glimpse of her manipulating earth that isn't sand.

· You should probably be able to see the ship I want to play by now…it sure ain't Icarus/Cassandra. I'll explain more about it as it gets, well, shippier.