This is my participation in the Inkwell summer contest draft one, I chose to write the topic: A man crawls through a desert looking for water and when he is near death and about to give up, he sees an amazing Oasis and is saved by a fantastic creature there- for a price, from the 50 storylines given.
Trapped
Authur opened his eyes drowsily, his body covered with dust, at the far end was his horse lying lifelessly. "the dust storm must have hit it so hard," he thought. Just when he struggled to get on his feet he felt a sharp pain on his shin and saw bloodstain on his trousers. He shrieked as he strived to stand, only to realize his ankle was broken.
Authur was an Arabian trader, 6 ft tall, fair in complexion, and had long curly hair. He was traveling through the Sahara desert when he encountered a dust storm, all efforts to escape this disaster failed.
"Shit," he cursed, "the compass had given me a wrong reading," he said saddling the horse faster, but he was already in the middle of the desert. Authur opened his eyes lazily, it was three days already, no trace of his bag lunch except his horse which had no sign of life lying on the other side of the desert.
He was all alone lying helplessly as he crawled on the sandy ground dragging his broken leg.
"I thirst," he mumbled searching for an Oasis. His throat was dried, he battled soothing his throat to remain wet as his teeth rattled. The injury on his ankle was still bleeding causing him more discomfort as he crawled on the hot sand, he tore a piece from the overcoat he wore and tied his ankles to prevent the blood from gushing. He crawled a little farther and couldn't move anymore, he lied hopelessly praying a passerby will see him and render help to him. As he lied struggling for his last breath he felt a soft breath on the back of his neck, beside where he lied was an Oasis guarded by a creature. He turned to see a fantastic-looking creature with blue eyes, a pointed nose, and long fingers.
"Save me," Authur cried, his coarse voice could hardly be heard.
The creature said nothing as it stared persistently on the pendant he was wearing.
"Save me please," Authur repeated.
"I will if you give me this pendant for a price," the creature said.
Authur believed it was this pendant that always brings good luck to him as a trader, giving out this pendant means his business may not prosper.
" Make another wish, I will give you plenty of gold in exchange for your generosity," he said.
" No, I don't need your money but this pendant" the creature insisted.
It's Wednesday, a busy day for traders, a trader may pass soon, he thought, but his breath was gradually going out from him, he may not survive that long.
"Take," he stretched out the pendant to the creature, "Help me now".
The creature loosed open the Oasis guard, allowing the water to flow to him, afterward he soothes his wound.
"Besides that tree is a horse, you can saddle on it back home," the creature said. Authur thanked the creature but was pained to have given out his good luck pendant.
