Pharaoh of Fire (Land of Fire Book 1)

by Chadwick Duncan

  Table of Content

  Burning Sands: Page 4

  Blood Ties: Page 11

  Homecoming: Page 25

  Where Screams are Silent: Page 36

  Violets: Page 45

  Encirclement Battle: Page 52

  Sapphire Eyes: Page 63

  Eclipse: Page 73

  Bonds: Page 80

  The Rains: Page 87

  Little Farm: Page 99

  The Game Begins: Page 108

  First Blood: Page 121

  Power: Page 130

  The Sun Slithers: Page 141

  A Gift: Page 151

  The Strength of Ten Men: Page 165

  Deliverance: Page 183

  Ascension: Page 195

  Wilted Flower: Page 204

  Pharaoh of Fire

  The sun, its heat gives life but also can take it. Man was enchanted by the mysticism and fascination of this being for as long as time could tell. But with such great power, it was only a matter of time before it was abused and a punishment had to be bestowed upon man. Now, lands that used to be fertile and wet have been transformed to hot, arid, sandy deserts. Water is immeasurably scarce in certain regions, with rain only falling once a year, it is a constant struggle for survival and power.

  Chapter 1: Burning Sands

  The sun berated over the land, it vaporized the sweat off a man’s face before he needed to wipe it. Every breath seemed as if it were igniting one’s lungs. The sands roared over the dunes as if it were a sea. A caravan of roughly thirteen men braved these conditions for what seemed like an eternity to find what they had been searching for. The leader of the company, Nairobi Nguvu exclaimed.

  “Men! Our journey has finally come to an end!”

  Nairobi had a grin so large on his face that it could touch each ear. He jumped off his camel, the sand barely moved when he fell, as if he levitated to the ground. The young man was exceptionally light footed with a nimble build. The sun shimmering off his dark skin, he advanced towards the pyramid, his steps so meticulous and adept that if he were walking over broken glass his fellow men probably would not have heard him. The other men were amazed at the structure, staring in awe. One man completely fell off his camel in tears knowing now he can finally return home to his family.

  A man from the company said under his breath, “End? We still have to walk back to the damn Empire…”

  Nairobi continued, “Seems this journey was not a waste of time,” he chuckled.

  “Find the entrance to this godforsaken Pyramid so we can see what resides in this place,” he commanded.

  The men spread out and scoured the lower base of the structure, digging up sand around the base for a way beneath the walls. They chiseled away at the wall itself but to no avail. It seemed like hours under the baking sun until someone made a breakthrough.

  “Your Highness! Take a look at this. I think I might have found something,” a man shouted.

  Nairobi briskly walked over, “Where? Where? Show me you dunce I do not have all day!”

  The man reached into the sandstone brick, “here, sir, look. The stone here has a groove underneath it. As if you can pull it.”

  “Well then, go on!” he ordered.

  The man yanked at the brick. It had the better of him so another man grabbed his back and they both proceeded to pull at the object. Suddenly, they were able to remove the brick and the surrounding bricks came tumbling down. Before them they saw a corridor. It was pitch black and a cool stream of air suddenly hit them and with the breeze came what the men thought was the faint wails of a newly widowed.

  “What was that!” a man exclaimed.

  “Nothing but wind and the desert heat playing tricks on your minds, now come on!” Nairobi replied.

  He pushed the men who opened up the tomb out of his way and proceeded to light his torch, “follow me, I will lead you all to glory.”

  The men followed behind Nairobi one by one. All with their scimitars in one hand and torches in the other. They were all tense except the Prince. Nairobi charged down the pitch black corridors so fast the men could hardly keep up. Suddenly, they stumbled upon a room. Within the room were four stone coffins in the center arranged in a square configuration with a tall torchiere in between them all. At the sides of the room were stone shelves filled with ancient scrolls and manuscripts.

  “Is this everything? All I see are some coffins and dusty scrolls…What am I supposed to do with these! I came for treasure! Where is the immeasurable wealth!” Nairobi Exclaimed.

  Nairobi’s lead man, Emre, jokingly said, “Well in some cultures, ‘wealth’ is more than just money young lord, but knowledge. And from what I can see, it seems like there’s an ‘immeasurable’ amount to go around,” Emre began to chuckle to himself, his thick black-greyish beard muffled his laughs.

  “Now is not the time for your playful banter Emre. The translations for the Nebuvian prophecy within Father’s library clearly stated that there was ‘immeasurable wealth’ within these walls, there has to be more. A secret door or something! I cannot return home with nothing to show. My father will have my head!”

  “He-he okay-okay Young Lord, we will start looking around. Boys! You know what to do!” Emre replied.

  The men began rummaging through the scrolls and manuscripts. But they were all unreadable. Written in an ancient Nebuvian language which no one could discern. While some men were busy trying to understand what these writings were, others began checking the shelf walls for anything of importance. But one man adjacent to the rest of the company in the tomb was amply skimming through each of the texts, as if he could read the pages.

  “Have you morons not found anything yet!?” Nairobi exclaimed.

  “I do not care if you cannot read them, figure it out! Whatever looks important hold onto it. Father will have them translated later,” he continued.

  A group of men trying to discern the scrolls talk amongst themselves, “Man, if this brat wasn’t the Mansa’s son I’d kill him. I swear I would!”

  “Yeah, I do not care how much money he gave us, no amount of money is worth this.”

  Another man chimed in, “I bet if it was enough money to buy a whole brothel you wouldn’t be complaining!” they laughed.

  Another man replied, “Fuck the brothel, I just want as much wine and beer to my heart’s content,” they continued laughing.

  As they continued to chuckle amongst themselves, one of the men spotted someone intently looking at the pages of a scroll, “Aye you, are you really able to understand that gibberish? Or you just trying to look busy for princess yapping his mouth over there?”

  The man reading the scrolls ignored the question and kept reading. His eyes fixated on the pages, as if he were in a trance, so they persisted, “Aye! Don’t you hear me talking to you? Are you deaf?”

  Another man asked, “Who is that anyways?”

  “Now that I think about it…I don’t know. He’s covering his face, but from his eyes he doesn’t look familiar. I should know. I never forget someone’s eyes.”

  “That’s an oddly specific thing to never forget,” they chuckled.

  A group of men walk towards the man to see who he was and why he was not responding. But as soon as they came within arm’s reach, the man tossed the scroll in his robes and drew his quama, a straight short sword, from his left sleeve. With a swift motion, he relieved one of the men of his right hand when he reached for him. The man grabbed his dismembered right hand with his left and proceeded to scream in agony.

  Nairobi turned his head to see what was taking place, “What is going on over there?”

  He noticed one of his men was missing a hand and the other had a blade
in his.

  “What are you idiots waiting for? Kill him!”

  The company rushed to the mystery assailant, however, he easily evaded all of their attempts to strike him. Then, in an attempt to insure his defeat, three men swung their swords simultaneously but the assailant dodged all three blades, causing them to slice each other in the process. The assailant then took off over the stone coffins, running over each coffin one by one, flipping over sword sweeps to his feet, then sprinted down the corridor back to the outside.

  Nairobi proclaimed, “You men are useless!”

  Nairobi pulled his saif, a curved sword, from his hip and sprinted after the assailant. The Prince moved so quick that a few of the men had not even realized he left the room. As soon as the assailant got outside, before he could grab a camel, he felt danger looming. The assailant tucked and rolled hard to the left, with Nairobi’s blade grazing his back.

  “Ugh!” the Assailant grunted.

  “Fascinating…you were able to dodge my blade. That is the first time anyone dodged my strike at such close range.” Nairobi said in disbelief. The assailant looked on at the Prince unnerved.

  “Who are you?” Nairobi demanded. The assailant remained silent.

  “Very well then…this will be exciting,” Nairobi chuckled.

  Nairobi then charged at the assailant. The assailant did well at parrying the Prince’s barrage of strikes. One after the other, the assailant blocked and dodged the swings of the Prince’s saif. With the sun beaming down on both men’s backs, this was a test of stamina more so than skill. Eventually, the rest of the company came running out of the ruins.

  “Young Lord, you are too reckless! I’m coming!” Emre screamed.

  Emre’s blade grazed the right shoulder of the assailant as he was parrying a strike from the Prince. Wounded, but not broken, the assailant threw his quama at the Prince. To his surprise however, the Prince was able to dodge. Emre and Nairobi, with the rest of the company, then charged at the assailant. The assailant proceeded to turn around and sprint to the closest camel, quickly putting distance between himself and his pursuers.

  “Do not let him get away!” Emre yelled.

  Nairobi, nimble on his feet, shortened the distance between him and the assailant in no time. But before the Prince could swing a fatal blow, the assailant spun around, leaped, and kicked the Prince in his face. Although not a powerful enough blow to deal serious harm, it was enough to temporarily daze the prince. This was the opening the assailant needed. He quickly landed, gathered himself, grabbed a camel and took off.

  Before the other men could grab camels of their own to pursue, Emre yelled, “Stop! It’s too late now. Priority one is securing these ruins and gathering as much information from it as possible.” Emre looked flustered, the sweat glistening off his brown skin.

  With a heavy breath he continued, “With his injuries I doubt he will make it that far. He’ll probably be a nice snack for the snakes.

  Emre turned to the Prince and saw him kneeling down, tending to his jaw, “Are you alright Young Lord?”

  “Does it look like I am alright!? That man was able to not only land a blow on me but escaped. This is unforgivable. No man can live after such transgressions.”

  Nairobi continued, “He was fast, really fast. And good with a sword too. I must know who that was. Not many people of the realm can best me in combat.”

  “Well that man is going to have to wait because we need to finish searching this pyramid. Come on now Young Lord.” Emre helped Nairobi up and dusted him off.

  Nairobi, Emre, and the rest of the company proceeded to finish their endeavor as the assailant vanished over into the horizon. The sun began to creep under the horizon. The overwhelming heat from earlier in the day started to dissipate. The assailant saw a large boulder off to his right. This was a suitable sanctuary throughout the night. He tied his camel’s ropes to an adjacent smaller rock and then proceeded to climb the larger boulder, throwing his blanket a top it. He then unwrapped the shroud over his face but it was not a he, but a she. She let her long, black, dreaded hair down and allowed it to flow in the desert wind. She then laid on her back and stared at the lights across the night sky. She sat back up and removed some cloth wrapped around her right shoulder and her neck, revealing two separate injuries. She ripped some more linen from her garment and reapplied it to both areas.

  “How do I get myself in these messes?” She asked herself.

  “Well then, I do not intend on dying anytime soon so let’s just hope none of these scratches gets infected. It would be a real pity if a little scratch kills me,” she chuckled.

  She pulled the scroll from her satchel. She unraveled the scroll and gazed upon it as the moon’s rays shone on her. Her eyes fixated on the pages, wide and full of light. She noticed a mark to the lower right corner of the page, it resembled a cobra with its fangs erected drawn in blood.

  “This symbol is familiar…this scroll feels familiar…but I don’tt know what it says! Ughhh!” She said as she rolled the scroll back up. She placed it in her satchel along with her other belongings and laid back down in frustration. The mystery woman then rolled over and went to sleep.

  Chapter 2: Blood Ties

  A few months prior to the incidents that took place at the pyramid, an operation transpired which would spark change in Namib. There is a bustling city to the far south-west named Istapor. It sat on the western tip of Namib, with the Garam Sea to its west and Green Sea to its south. The city harbors many wealthy families but also an insatiable amount of criminals. Istapor is the only major civilization in the immense Moto Desert, and also the last city before you arrive to the formidable Gibraltari Empire to the north. Many ships sail across the Garam Sea from Mahaan and the Green Sea to the South to trade due to its strategic position.

  The buildings of Istapor were made mostly of sand and clay. Many people of different social statuses line the streets, from the poor to the sick, assassins to fishermen, cultists to doctors. The wealthiest of the city reside in its center within magnificent marble structures. With such wealth being tossed around a massive trading city riddled with crime, many facets of the people’s lives are decided behind closed doors and back alleys.

  In a building on the outskirts of the city, a group of men meet in a basement. The clay room is small and dimly lit by a few candles across the walls. Several men sit down at a long stone table. All of their faces shrouded, with a weapon to their hips. As everyone settles in, one man begins the deliberations.

  “We can all take these shrouds off our faces now. The Creed is all here.”

  All the men proceeded to unwrap their faces. They all varied from the young to those who could pass as their grandparents. Not only were they differing in age, but their skin tones varied as well, except one who had bandages still covering his face. There were men the same color as the clay walls around them to men as dark as the night itself.

  “Okay, let’s begin!” stated one of the men as he gets up from his chair.

  His face was dark, and his eyes even darker. The eyes of a man who has seen unforgivable things, the eyes of a man who has done unspeakable things. His face chiseled and hairless. The man had arms and legs like that of a man who carried oxen for sport. He had a deep scar along his chest, that which looked like he was dealt with an injury that most men do not walk away from. His voice shook the room as if wildebeest were stampeding.

  “A ship said to be carrying enough gold to have us all living like the Mansa himself is due to port here in a weeks’ time. To carry that much gold on a single vessel it must be heavily fortified, with at least three other escort ships. The full details have not leaked of how many men are aboard the ship, but we do know where it should be docking,” the man stated.

  He placed a map of the city’s ports on the table and continued, “Here. It should be docking here,” he pointed to a region of the port where there is known to be heavy military security.

  He added, “As you can see, stealing this gold is
next to impossible.”

  A slender brown, middle-aged man with a thin moustache replied, “But stealing isn’t what we do, we kill for money,” the other men at the table nodded in agreement.

  “You speak true Ymir, however, with this amount of gold being physically transported you’d have to be a fool not to attempt to steal it.”

  “Well, what if some other thieves plan on stealing it before us?” Ymir replied.

  “They have, and they have failed. Recently, Ahmet and his group of pirates attempted to steal the vessels but now they swim with the sharks,” the men at the table looked emotionless and unfazed at this news.

  “So meeting the ship at sea is impossible, but on land we have a chance. The gold is to be delivered to the noble clan of Isradon in the city’s wealthy district. I need men to gain access to the convoy on its way to their estate, and kidnap a family member. This will force them to turn the convoy right around and place the gold throughout the city in our ‘drop off’ zones. There we can have our grunts collect the gold and safely deposit it to us over time. If any man gets caught, they know their only option is to take a blade to their neck. Understood?” he concluded.

  Another man at the table chimed in, he was dark skinned and youthful with a small brown spider monkey atop his left shoulder. The monkey wrapped its slender long tail around his neck and babbled as he spoke, “This plan is good and all but how are we going to safely kidnap one of their family members? Who is to say we will even get that close? Maybe they have an official meet the convoy and secure the gold?”