ASRAN SERIES- ACROSS THE BORDER

Chapter - 9

Peter shook his head in disappointment and then impatiently asked Robert, “Can we leave now? How long are we going to stall here?”

“Wait, what’s the hurry?” Robert asked him and started to examine the sleeping plant.

“What's the hurry, you ask? My friend might get an attack at any moment and I don't even know what condition my sister is living in right now. If you like it so much then I suggest you can keep this plant inside your bag and admire it as much as you want,” Peter said with a sullen face and uttered in a low voice.

He then put his hand inside his bag to take out the plant but Robert stopped him immediately. 

“Yes… I mean… no… no… Since the plant chose you, I will not fight with you for it. Please do take care of the plant from now on until it is ready to come to me. Also, we need to make sure to feed it every four hours, if we don’t want to get swallowed like before.” Robert warned him.

“Whose fault is it?" Peter asked but then realized that he could not blame anyone in this situation. 

He took a deep breath and said, "OK... Fine… I will do it... Now, let’s move from here and not waste our time on this deserted place any longer,” Peter muttered and briskly walked in the front.

Robert followed him with his eyes... still kept on roaming to Peter’s bag while hoping to catch a glimpse of that marvelous plant once again. But then the plant hid inside the bag so well that he could not even see a single one of the thousand tentacles which was all over the plant's body.

They finally began their journey to the main city on foot without any more arguments. After walking for a few hours, they noticed the sky started to darken and decided to get some rest before they continued on their journey at night. 

Peter pulled out a small piece of cloth from inside his bag. He then twisted and turned it several times in the shape of a tent. When Robert noticed him struggling to create a tent with magic, he came to his help.

“How could you survive without me? You were even asking me to leave earlier… Huff… Huff….” He pulled the fabric from his hand and within a few seconds a tent big enough for four people appeared in front of them.

“Hmm…” Peter moved away to set a table for them to eat.

But before he could do it, Robert jumped in and helped him again. Peter glared at him but did not stop him from performing the magic to set up their dinner table.

Robert then went on to make a magic fire with his double-headed wand and the blue flames lit the night with magic sparkles. Peter shook his head in disapproval and commented,

“Are you inviting all the creatures around this area to us? Do you want to get that much attention for our little adventure?” 

Robert smiled showing all his teeth and then brought the flames down. He sat on one of the benches and said,

“Come… I brought my mother’s special dish with me… Let’s enjoy the feast…”

He pulled out several trays and placed them on the table. Peter looked at the dishes and started to salivate. Without even waiting for Robert, he started to dig in. He had not seen such a portion of food for a long time now. 

Especially, after they left the city, all they could eat was some rare fruits and edible wild roots that were available in the desert.

“Isn’t it too hard to stay in the desert when we could have enjoyed the life of the city?” Robert asked and let out a sigh.

“Yes, we could have but… Do you want to bow your head to those militants and be their slave who does their bidding?” Peter asked him.

“No, I hated it…” Robert said and took out a piece of meat to throw it at Peter’s bag.

In seconds, the meat disappeared and so, he kept on feeding the plant. When Peter noticed that he asked him, “Are you not going to eat?”

“I am not hungry. I will eat later…” Robert said and then he took out the flower from the small box.

He examined it under the fire and saw it glow. He scratched his head while wondering, ‘I have seen this flower somewhere before… What is the name of the plant?’

He opened his bag and took out an ‘All know book. He placed the flower on top of the book and uttered some magical words. Then removed the flower and placed it inside the box again.

A green light glowed on the bottom of the book and the pages started to turn on their own. Robert eagerly waited for the answers while Peter ate the food in silence as if he didn’t care about what his foolish friend was up to.

Suddenly the minute the book stopped turning its page, Robert exclaimed and stood up in astonishment. He looked at the sapling peeking his head out of Peter’s bag and then the picture on the book.

“They are the same! They are actually the same… Peter, do you know what this flower is called? Oh my goodness, it's a treasure! A TREASURE!” He shouted and jumped up and down in delight.

“You already said earlier that this flower is a treasure. Now stop shouting and sit down quietly… Shush...” Peter said without showing any interest in knowing about the flower or the plant.

“You fool… Why are you such a loser? Look at this page… it clearly says that…” Robert tried to explain but Peter stopped him again.

“I am not interested in any plant or flower… All I want is to take some rest for an hour and then we will continue our journey. We cannot waste our time here for long… Even though Militants don't roam around this path… We cannot be sure of that now as the war is spreading across the planet…” Peter said and stretched his muscles.

He then let out a huge yawn and said, “Good night! I know you can stay awake for a longer period of time than me but I hope that you will also eat something and rest before we continue our journey to the main city.”

Robert pretended as if he did not hear him and continued to say, “Just look at this flower once… You will only understand just how important this plant could be to us on this journey.”

Peter groaned and then glanced at the flower once just to satisfy his friend's thirst for the treasure hunt. He then slowly said, 

“I do not see a treasure here but all I could see is a flower which has a common color of purple. Don't almost all the flowers in this country carry some level of purple color in them?”

“Ignorance is bliss. But let me tell you, i***t, how valuable this flower could be for us! You can find your sister in less than half the time using this flower,” Robert proclaimed.

“Really? Does a small flower like this have such super magical powers? Why did I not know about this?” Peter exclaimed and became interested in a millisecond because it concerned his missing sister.

“Lower your voice, do you want the whole sleeping desert to wake up and offer yourself as a dish flavored with desert mud?” It was now Robert’s turn to mock Peter.

He then said, “Listen carefully, just with this flower alone we cannot achieve the results we want…”

Peter raised his hands above his head and mumbled, “Now he will tell me that we had to go on a real treasure hunt…”

He stood up to go inside the tent but Robert pulled his hands and made him sit next to him. He then whispered near his ears, “Yes, we cannot do that with only this flower but with just a little more ingredients, it is definitely possible. Also, most of the substance is with you already...”

“What nonsense are you blurting out? Stop wasting my time.” Peter pulled his hands away from Robert and tried to escape from there as soon as possible.