10. Epilogue
Jaco looked out over the green field. A pool of water rippled in the center, while the burning sun shone on a small, brave cluster of flowers. His tongue hung out of his mouth as he dug another hole in the sand. A ground squirrel ran across the field, deftly avoiding the flowers, and stopped out of breath before his snout.
She handed over a parchment scroll.
“A message from Gidi.”
Jaco unrolled it and scanned the text.
“She found a new seed … but no one can make it grow … something about a maze and magic … she calls it greenglass.”
He shook his fur and spoke to the air. “We already have glass, Gidi, this is confusing. I’ll shorten it to grass.”
“If I may ask,” the squirrel began carefully. It remained strange for them to have a king who ate them without hesitation after they’d died. But with each day, Jaco gained more trust. “Why didn’t you go with her? They say you two went on many adventures together.”
“I’d love to, but I’m grounded.”
“But you’re the king!”
“So? No rules apply? Let me remind you of a lion who thought the rules—”
“Yes, you remind us a lot.”
“Besides, she was right. It was stupid of me to secretly steal something from Isis’s treasure.”
“It’s understandable, Your Highness. Thanks to that wealth, we’ve managed to create fertile green land in the desert for the first time.”
“That’s what I told Gidi too, and that’s why I’m grounded. To care for the plants, she said. Oh, and one of us always has to stay in Floria.”
“Why’s that?”
“Not everyone accepts that Gidi made a foreigner king. Especially not the newcomers flocking to Floria like moths to a flame. What do they want? For us to fight it out like the Tigers, until only the one with the biggest claws is left standing and gets to play boss?”
They walked away from the field, toward a beige building made of limestone. A large canvas, stretched across the entire front, provided cooling shade. In front of the building stood a fountain—without water thus far—with a statue of a large fennec on top.
They had invited the best Bearbuilders to make the statue. So that, with optical illusions and tricks, its shadow resembled not the statue itself, but a dragon.
“Besides,” said Jaco, stroking the statue with his paw, “Isis’ curse may be tied to the treasure. Strange things have happened ever since. The Pearl Pyramid? Overnight it reappeared, good as new.”
“Forgive me for asking, but did you really see her? Did you see Isis in the flesh?”
“Didn’t see her, heard her. I thought I’d found a text revealing her whereabouts, but I don’t understand it.”
Jaco rummaged in the bag around his neck and pulled out a parchment scroll.
“Look. It just has a drawing of two pandas. One completely white, the other completely black. And in the background something that looks like a wooden clock.”
“Curious. Should I take the drawing to the Wise Owl?”
“I would greatly appreciate that. Bring some friends for your safety. Borrow my boat, as long as you promise not to wreck it.”
“I can’t promise that. You know our steering skills. This whole boat idea is still rather new to us.”
Jaco laughed and nudged the ground squirrel with his snout.
“I guess I’ll start on a new boat then.”
And so it was that life continued …