by R. A. Mejia
The conversation shifts to what kind of entertainment she enjoys, and she pauses for a long while before answering. “I find enjoyment in the thrill of combat . . . defeating my foes and watching others of great skill demonstrate their prowess.”
“Okay, I understand the ‘what is best in life?’ answers, but haven’t you ever gone to a play or enjoyed music or read an amazing book?”
She shrugs. “My youth was spent training with my father. Arms, combat, strategy. If I read, it was a treatise on strategy or the histories of great wars.”
“Well, it looks like we have time to catch you up on the classics then.”
Having already told Vrax about them, I’m readily able to tell Sonya about the adventures of Harry Potter. She questions why parents would send their children to such an obviously-dangerous school, but I assure her that it was the only way for them to learn magic. After a while, she just relaxes and enjoys the stories for what they are. By the end of the first story, Sonya wants to murder Severus, saying it’s always better to kill an enemy. I can’t help but wonder how she’ll react to the big reveal in the Deathly Hallows story, but the storm ends before we get that far, and I assure her we’ll have plenty of time to finish the series later.
When the storm does finally die down, and we can uncover ourselves, I note that everything seems wrecked. Getting up requires pushing away the mound of sand that’s gathered around us. When I try to stand, I find my legs are a little unsteady since I’ve been sitting for the last two days. One by one, my friends and members of the caravan push their way out of their own sand mounds. Swayine goes around checking on the crew and seeing who needs aid. A few people are dehydrated or hungry, and one person seems to have died. A good portion of the animals didn’t fare well either.
Swayine approaches Keans, and I see the two of them talk for a while. Keans motions for me and the rest of the group to come over to him. “It seems like we’re in a bit of trouble. Not enough of the animals survived the sandstorm to carry all the goods to the next resupply. A few of the crew have gone missing as well, and their gear is gone with them.”
I blurt out, “That doesn’t make sense. What would have motivated them to risk that sandstorm rather than stay here?”
Keans nods. “Indeed, that is the question. A few of the crew were reluctant to travel here for fear of some curse. Maybe that fear overwhelmed their sense of reason.” He shrugs and continues, “Still, it’s not something we can do anything about. Our bigger problem is the supplies the storm took from us.”
“What you mean?” Vrax asks.
“We don’t have enough food or water for everyone to make it to our next watering hole. Swayine wants to take some people with connections to the local desert nomads and see if he can buy camels and necessities. The rest of us are supposed to stay here.”
I add, “Well, I can gather water with my magic, but it may take more effort than normal in the desert.”
Keans nods as if expecting this. “Yes, Lilliandra could do something similar. That’s why I volunteered our group to stay and guard all of the goods that are being left behind. Between my hunting and your ability to gather water with magic, we can survive until Swayine returns.”
Shortly after Swayine leaves with the remaining pack animals, our group is resting in the shade, talking and playing a game of cards, when one of the guards left behind comes running into camp. He’s breathing hard and, after a quick search, spots Keans, the de facto leader of those left behind. “Leader, leader, I have found the most amazing thing.”
Keans, who’d been reclining against one of the walls while talking to one of the prettier female guards, sighs and asks, “What is it that you’ve found . . . uh . . . What’s your name again?”
“I am Race, sir. They call me Race because I love to run and compete.” He points in the direction where he’d come from. “I was searching for more blown-away supplies past the hills there when I found it.”
Keans, obviously more interested in getting to know the female guard, prods, “Found what? You still haven’t said.”
Race visibly struggles with something and blurts out, “I’m sorry. I do not have word for it. Come, come. I will show you.”
Keans reluctantly gets up and, with a quick hand gesture, motions for the rest of us to follow.
Mary, who’s never done well in the heat, complains, “Aww! I was winning too.” She throws down her cards, and I see that she had a full house, which totally would have beat my straight.
I drop my own cards and quickly mix them up with hers and the rest of deck. “Oh well, I guess we’ll never know who would have won. We’ll have to start over later. Oh, look. Keans wants us to follow him.” I quickly get up and walk away from an annoyed Mary. Sonya, Vrax, and eventually Mary follow.
Once gathered, the five of us follow Race past the outskirts of camp, past the hills, and through a narrow gap between rocks that I don’t recall seeing before. We follow the guard through a series of twists and turns in some kind of maze that seems to have been carved into the bedrock, and I can only guess that the sandstorm uncovered the area. As we travel, I notice strange carvings along the walls of the maze but can’t make heads or tails of them. Still, we follow Race until he stops.
He points to a gap in the stone that leads downward into an underground tunnel. “It’s just past here.”
“Well, that’s not suspicious,” Mary mutters sarcastically as she hovers near my ear. I look at her questioningly, and she continues, “A long and dark underground tunnel in the middle of the desert? Uh . . . it’s obviously the lair of some monster that wants to eat us.” Her eyes widen as she gets caught up in whatever fantasy she’s imagining. “Oh! What if this Race guy has been bewitched by some ancient evil that was awakened by the sandstorm, and now he’s leading us to our doom?” Mary lands on my shoulder and whispers ominously in my ear, “Our doooom.”
I twitch my head as her breath tickles my ear. “Stop that, Mary. You’re overreacting.”
She flies off and crosses her arms beneath her breasts, annoyed that I don’t believe her. The five of us have to walk in single file to follow Race. We walk for a while, but the tunnel opens up, and we spread out into a cave. There is silence as we stare open-mouthed at the scene before us. Vrax, the shortest of us, yips in annoyance and pulls on my robe, I turn around and see that he’s anxiously hopping up and down, trying to see past the rest of us.
“Sorry, buddy. I forgot about you.” I grab him and hoist him onto my shoulders.
I can feel my kobold friend’s body tense as he finally sees what’s amazed us all. “Yip!”
I chuckle. For that simple word encapsulates the sheer amazement of sight before us. The six of us are standing at the top of a staircase that leads down into an entire city which has been lost to the sands for who knows how long.
The sight of the expanse of buildings leaves my heart pounding and my mind wondering about the ancient people that used to live here. I wonder at how a place such as this could have survived the harsh desert. But my kobold friend sums up my feelings best.
“Yeah, buddy. Yip, indeed.”
Chapter 19
“Oh, titan testicles,” Keans mutters.
“I called it,” Mary says while hovering in the air and staring out at the ruins.
I look around at everyone and see mixed expressions of awe and concern. I mean, we’re like Indiana Jones discovering a forgotten ancient civilization. I feel like I should be wearing a fedora and carrying a whip. But I’m puzzled by the looks of concern. What’s there to worry about? The place is as quiet as a graveyard.
Sonya adds to my confusion when she says, “We should tread carefully, friends. This place may hold great treasures or great trouble.”
“Woah, slow down. I don’t get you all. Why does everyone look so worried? It’s just an old city. This should be exciting. We could be the first people down here in hundreds of years. Who knows what we can learn from this place? Who were these people? What were they like? W
hat’s that huge place at the end?”
Vrax, still sitting on my shoulders, adds, “Treasure.”
I nod and raise my right fist, and I feel his kobold hand fist bump me. “Heck yeah! That too. Treasure. Who doesn’t like loot?”
Race looks around nervously at each of us, but when I mention treasure, his eyes light up. “Treasure? Really, sir? Do you think there will be enough for us all?”
I laugh and feel Vrax wobble as I unbalance him a little. I steady my kobold friend before answering. “Sure. Why not? There are hundreds of homes down there, and who knows what the fancy place at the end has?”
Keans looks at me as he considers the situation. “Hmmm. You may be right, Armon, but what you don’t seem to understand is that ruins like these are often haunted. Deserted ancient cities and ghoulish specters go hand in hand.”
I see both Mary and Sonya nod in agreement. Oh, well, I’d never thought about it like that. I mean, there’s no such thing as ghosts on Earth, but the rules are different here on Terra.
“Well, does that mean we aren’t going to explore the place?” I ask.
Keans shakes his head. “No, that means we’re going to be careful about it. After all, this kind of opportunity doesn’t come along every day.”
Keans orders Race to go back to camp and gather everyone we left there. We’re going to need as many hands as we can to search this place. Race runs back through the dark tunnel entrance. When he returns, he brings with him more people, a mix of workers and guards. Keans quickly organizes us into groups of three, each consisting of a caster, a warrior, and a worker. My normal dungeoning group is split up, and since both Mary and I can both cast light spells, we are placed in separate groups. Vrax is placed with Mary as the warrior, and I see Mary cast [Summon Nature’s Ally I], and her faithful companion, Mr. Snuggle Butt, is by her side within a minute. I get placed with Sonya and Race.
After organizing the groups, Keans gives orders for us to spread out, and we start to search the homes. Anything valuable is to be brought out to the main street where a common loot pile will be established. At the end of the day, we’ll divide the spoils among the group.
Before we get moving, I quickly add Sonya and Race to my group and see small icons for them pop up in the top-left corner of my vision. Below each icon are their health, mana, and stamina bars. I focus on each icon and get a notification for each of them.
Sonya Lvl. 7 Warrior
Health 171
Stamina 231
Mana 42
Race Lvl. 5
Health 52
Stamina 72
Mana 62
Well, it looks like I’m in pretty good hands. I guess Sonya finally decided on a class and has been training because her health is super high compared to my measly 52 health points. I guess my build is closer to that of a mage now, isn't it? Well, maybe a crafting-mage-support build? Hmm . . . I’ll have to think about it later. At least Race isn’t a higher level than I am. I already feel like I’m falling behind my friends as it is.
The three of us move off in a northward direction and start to explore the city. We spend several hours walking through homes and rifling through dusty old places, but we don’t find much aside from ordinary things like crockery and old furniture. The other groups don’t fare much better. Mary’s group finds a few gold coins with strange symbols minted on them. Keans orders everyone to move closer to the larger building at the far end of the cavern. The closer we get to the fancy structure, the more luxurious and well-furnished the homes we explore. The furniture goes from simple wicker to engraved and decorated to upholstered wooden pieces. Groups start to bring out paintings, rugs, silver, gold, and chests that have to be unlocked.
Race, who seems so excited to finally find valuable treasure, points out that the temple at the end of the street probably has the best stuff. He seems eager to explore the building, and neither Sonya nor I have any objections. After all, one building is as good as another to explore. Besides, he might be right. After all, the richer homes are in that direction. So, the three of us move ahead and walk towards the place Race called a temple.
We pass through the courtyard and find it filled with large statues and thick, wide pillars. The columns are as tall as a two-story house and are painted with images that run their entire height. Some of the figures are over ten feet tall, but all are made out of solid rock, and each must weigh a ton. There are statues of men and women in odd, unfamiliar garb, but some of the statues depict beings that are only partially human with the heads or legs of some animal or monster. Some are even holding rods and other objects. Remembering that Race called this place a temple, I ask him how he knows that it is one. He points to the large statues and tells us they are images of the gods.
“Some of the desert tribes still worship them, but it’s not a thing my tribe did. I have heard, from my mother’s mother, stories of these gods.” He points at the many images on the large pillars as we pass and continues, “There were gods for everything. There were gods for big things like life, death, and rebirth, but there were also gods for little things like the wind, flowers, the rivers, and health.” He shrugs and laughs. “It must have been a very busy time, having to pray to so many gods.”
Sonya looks a bit concerned by the mention of gods, but she’s a professional and keeps her hand on the sword at her waist and her eyes peeled for trouble. We walk down a set of wide stairs and through what looks to be the main entrance, and I wonder how many people traveled these steps to worship at this temple. Thousands? Tens of thousands? To create this kind of building, it must have taken the support of many devotees and much money. We pass under the archway and into the dark building, and I almost expect alarms to go off, letting the building guards know three looters are here. I chuckle at my own imagination.
Sonya activates a charm around her neck, providing her with a source of light to see by. I activate [Darkvision], and Race lights one of the torches he was given. The hallways that we walk through are painted much like the pillars outside, but the images on these walls are even more detailed. I can see lines of gold and even individual facial expressions on the people depicted. Should I be concerned that none of the expressions are ones of happiness?
We come to our first obstacle, a massive set off double doors. The frame around them is covered in the same strange writing we’ve seen everywhere, but the doors are oddly free of decoration. We push and pull at them, but they don’t budge. I’m ready to give up and go back to searching homes after fifteen minutes of fruitless effort, but Race is still studying the script along the framework intently.
“Can you read that stuff, Race?”
He turns to me and nods slowly. “I remember my mother’s mother showing me something like this. It’s hard for me to remember, but I think it says, ‘The Doors of Temple . . .’ I don’t know the word there, but it continues, ‘Lord of Sun and Sky. Speak, friend, and enter.’"
I snort in surprise at the phrasing of the last line and thank the gods that I got a copy of The Lord of the Rings when I was young. “Umm . . . this might sound strange, but what’s the word in that language for ‘friend’?”
Race scratches his chin while he thinks then snaps his fingers and says, “Qidas!”
As the last syllable of the word leaves Race’s lips, there’s a grinding sound, and the stone doors before us open of their own accord. Once fully open, the three of us cautiously walk through and find a massive room with a thirty-foot-high ceiling. There are rows upon rows of long benches that face a grand altar on the other side of the room. It rests on a circular staircase and seems to be made of some strange white and green stone. On top is a long purple cloth that hangs over it. Behind the altar is solid gold paneling that reflects the only light source from the ceiling and casts the massive room in a golden glow. Yet, despite all the beauty that surrounds the piece, that is not what catches my attention. The single stream of light from the ceiling above illuminates not only the altar but also the large pile of gold, silv
er, and jewels that rests upon it.
The three of us are overjoyed at the sight. We run down the aisle to the end up the stairs to the pile of treasure. Race grabs handfuls of gold and starts to fill his pockets. Sonya gazes at a pair of large red rubies. She picks one up in each hand, holds them up to the light, and admires them. I just stare at the wealth and wonder how much stuff I could buy with all this treasure. I could hire a whole army to help me get back the kobolds in Attilius.
I blink as the thought of the kobolds cross my mind. Wait, why do I keep thinking that I get to keep all this gold for myself? I have to split it with my group and the rest of the caravan. A quiet voice in the back of my mind starts to whisper to me: Do I? Why should I split it? I need it to help my friends, the kobolds. Surely, Sonya and Race will understand that. After all, they’d only use it on themselves.