The Treasure in the Monkey's Fist

(continued)

By Rik Hunik

"Yes, we seem to be trapped. I should have guessed it wouldn't be easy. No wonder that madman couldn't stop laughing when I asked him why he wasn't rich." As Zayn recalled, the madman had said something about taking all he could carry, but Zayn didn't bring that up. Thamar stopped talking and looked at Zayn through narrowed eyes, as though just now realizing that Zayn was more than he had pretended to be. "How did you find out about this treasure?"

"From you back in Gazni." He sat down on a chest full of untold riches. Right now its greatest value was as a place to park his butt. "And you?"

"From a crackpot who exchanged interesting stories for beer. The story of the Treasure In The Monkey's Fist caught my fancy. It sounded familiar, so I researched it and found several references in old history books, all rather vague, sometimes contradicting each other. Apparently it started as the treasure horde of a notorious thief several hundred years ago. To prevent anyone, including his own men, from taking anything, he had a wizard set up a powerful
spell to keep the booty in. Only the master thief himself knew the key to the spell, and he was killed before he disclosed it to anyone."

Zayn cocked an eyebrow at him. "Knowing all this you still came here?"

Thamar smiled weakly. "I came today only to verify its existence. The spell is hundreds of years old. I hoped it would be weakened enough for the wizard I hired to circumvent it." He rubbed the back of his head. "I'm not even sure how I got in here." He looked around.

Zayn said, "It's that pile of gold. It draws you in without you even noticing."

Thamar nodded, his eyes thoughtful. "But I didn't take anything from the hoard, I didn't even touch any of it, yet the spell holds me inside. I'm doomed, and I brought it on myself with my foolish greed." He sat down on a pile of gold, slumped, and rode an avalanche of coins to the floor. "I would give half of all I own to just to get out of here."

"Only half?" Zayn couldn't help asking.

"Of course. If I gave it all away, there would be no point in getting out."

Zayn laughed. He briefly considered taking Thamar up on that offer, but being too greedy might net him nothing. Thamar could still come up with the solution on his own at any time. Best not to give him that time to think. He said, "How about a tenth?"

"Huh?"

"One tenth of all you own to get you out of here."

Hope flared in Thamar's eyes. "Are you serious?"

"Are you?"

Thamar lowered his eyes for several seconds while he considered, then looked up at Zayn. "I am serious. If you can get me out of here, one tenth of all I own is yours. You have my word." He reached out his hand.

Zayn took it and solemnly shook it, then said, "Follow me and do what I do." He went to the mouth of the cave, near the invisible barrier, and began to strip. Thamar stared but kept his clothes on. "This is no time to be a prude. Do you want to get out or not?" He turned his back to Thamar, rapidly stripped down and walked out. He glanced back and saw Thamar hastily removing his unfamiliar clothing.

Zayn hurried to the place where he had concealed Thamar's clothes and dressed himself. The garments were far too large, but he didn't care about that; the sash held it all in place.

Thamar caught up and saw Zayn. "You planned this," he shouted.

"Well, not exactly, but so what if I did? A deal is a deal." Being clothed boosted his confidence tremendously.

Thamar's anger melted and he nodded, still a bit disgruntled. "You're right; our deal is still on. And thank you for helping me escape."

"You're welcome. Here." Zayn tossed the blue cloak to Thamar, who gratefully caught it.