Wandering Wolves

12 . Maganti

A giant wall was waiting for us up ahead. A massive wall, as we got closer I couldn't see an ending to the wall or rather if it even turned to circle the city. The sled came to a halt outside the entrance and the two creatures, Fleckals, popped out of the sand.

"Found some travelers?" A guard with a gun strapped to his waist walked over to us. Unlike Knightly the guards weren't dressed in rags but all white properly fitted to each of them. Adorned with a yellow sash that folded into their head wear with goggles that look brand new.

"Yes sir, some merchants looking to buy some goods."

The guard turned and eyed up all of us "You cause any trouble in Maganti and you'll be locked up with no goods to ever buy again. Understood?"

Kate spook for us "Understood"

He signaled for the other guards and the entrance to the giant wall began to open. The two fleckals dove back into the sand on Knightly's command and we slowly made our way into Maganti. The city was huge and at the far back behind all the buildings was the pyramid Knightly spoke of. People were everywhere and I mean everywhere. Most of them were carrying items around and some with chains on their feet were being led around by guards. As the large entrance was being closed behind us a guard hopped onto the sled and removed Knightly's bracelet before hopping back off. Instead of taking us straight into the city Knightly took us to the left and down a sand road into some sort of underground building.

"Here's our stop." Knightly unhooked one of the fleckals and it spun around in a circle before running into one of the big cages against the wall. Knightly tossed in a chunk of meat before closing it.

"Why are they called fleckals?" Stella removed the cloth from around her face. Upon seeing her face Knightly smiled "Wow...I uh um oh...they're called fleckals because they shed a lot. You see their scales all over the desert so the saying is they just come off in flakes. Flackals doesn't have a nice ring to it." He half heartedly laughed hoping Stella would laugh. Stella, however didn't seem to notice.

"Are they friendly? The one in the desert seemed to attack us."

"You can pet it, despite the many rows of teeth the worse thing they do is slobber all over you." 

As he said that the one still tied up licked Stella's hand. By the look of her disgusted face Knightly nervously handed her a rag.

Worm snickered behind me "Looks like Knightly has a crush."

Kate took off the cloth in front of her face as well "So why did you lie to the guard?"

"You guys needed supplies right? Best to make it look like you're merchants."

"Not really what I meant though, you could have told him we were pirates."

I removed my cloth as well "You really want to let him know that?"

"He already knows"

Knightly nodded.

"How?" Stella asked.

"No one said my name from the moment we met Knightly. Yet somehow he knew I was Kate when he introduced himself."

He moved passed Stella and open up a crate. He picked up a little stack of what looked like papers and handed them to Kate.

"Each and every one of you have a wanted poster up in Maganti except for this one." Knightly gestured to me. "I could have told the guard you were pirates but then they would have demanded to see your faces to make sure you're not wanted. Considering the reward for Kate Oliver, I thought it best to not cause a commotion."