Treasure Hunters: Part Two

Deep within the overgrown jungles of Mystery Island, two sweaty, yet persistent Neopets dressed in adventurer clothing, were making their way to the lost city of Geraptiku.

     The white Acara, leading the way clutched an explorer's map in one hand, and a long sword in the other, which she swung out at the vines and long grass in front of her every few seconds, cutting back the dense foliage that obstructed her path.

     A spotted Gelert stumbled blindly behind her, tripping over creeping vines that the Acara had failed to cut through and furiously swatting at the incessantly buzzing Moquot that swarmed around him.

     There must be something about him that attracted the blood-sucking fiends, like a group of hungry Skeiths' to a giant cupcake, as he already had a couple of angry, red bumps on his skin from where they'd managed to bite him, which desperately itched no matter how much he scratched at them.

     What's more was that they didn't seem to be bothering his treasure hunting companion, who had paused in her stride up ahead, to study the map in her hand.

     "Why in Fyora's name did I agree to this?" the Gelert mumbled, almost inaudibly, as he tripped over another vine. Stumbling, he had to grasp onto a nearby tree to stay on his feet.

     "Treasure hunters to the end... what was I thinking?"

     The Acara narrowed her eyes at the map, tracing her finger over the lines and bumps that signified woodland, or jungle areas, trying to work out how much longer they would have to walk before reaching their destination.

     Shifting her adventurer's helmet to one side, she absently reached into her tan rucksack and pulled out a white handkerchief, which she used to mop at her hot, sweating forehead.

     "Okay," she said, looking up once she was satisfied with their position.

     "Not much further to go now, Archie. Just a couple more hundred metres of jungle and we should reach a clearing; that is, if this map's correct."

     Archie, who was panting heavily now, trying to keep up with his older cousin, just groaned in exhaustion.

     "It better be!" he wheezed, clambering over a large, moss-covered, fallen log and looking nervously at the long grass that his cousin was standing in.

     "Saff..." he mumbled, trying not to sound too nervous.

     "You don't think... I mean... there aren't any Wadjets in there, are there?" he asked, pointing to the grass she was standing in.

     "Don't be silly!" she replied, scornfully, with a flick of her hand. "Wadjets don't inhabit Mystery Island - they're Desert creatures! The most you'll see here is a Quetzal; maybe a Cobrall, if you're lucky."

     Archie didn't think that there was anything remotely lucky about a Cobrall sighting, but he kept his mouth shut as he ambled over to his cousin, plunging his hand into his satchel and rummaging around for his flask of water.

     After taking a huge gulp of the cool liquid, and sprinkling some onto his sunburnt face, the pair set off again, Archie taking shelter from the blazing sun under the shadows of the canopy of trees, as he followed Saffy's footsteps.

     Before long, the canopy of trees started to look less dense, as more sunlight streamed in, momentarily blinding Archie, who pulled his hat further down on his head to shade his eyes.

     The foliage was appearing to thin out as well, with the thick blanket of long grass receding into crusty patches of dirt, and even the vicious Moquot were disappearing – not even they were brave enough, it seemed, to cross the threshold into the eerily deserted city.

     Finally, they reached the clearing that Saffy had mentioned, where a sign above them, surrounded by a pile of skulls, read 'Geraptiku'; they had reached their destination.

     The city looked abandoned, with its dilapidated huts and mountains of bones, but perhaps that was how it was intended to look; Saffy could see a trapping pit in the distance, that she would be sure to stay clear of.

     The reason for their journey loomed high above the rest of the city: a huge, stone tomb sitting above the jungle.

     It was said that the Deserted Tomb held riches amongst your wildest dreams, and many a treasure hunter had entered the tomb looking for the treasure room, but few had ever found it.

     There were stories of Neopets never returning from the tomb, and those that had, were never the same again; some came out shaking like a leaf, claiming they'd seen a ghost; others limped out, supported by a friend and had to be taken to the Healing Springs.

     She knew it was a risk entering the tomb, but Saffy had never been afraid of a little risk-taking - her cousin on the other hand...

     "Are you sure about this, Saffy?" Archie puffed, as the pair climbed the seemingly never-ending stone steps up to the tomb. "You've heard the stories about this place! They say it's haunted and full of booby-traps! Do you really think we're going to find the treasure?"

     "Of course we'll find the treasure!" she answered, through heavy breaths. "You'd think you'd trust me after all we've been through!"

     "Oh, yeah," Archie scoffed, sarcastically.

     "After almost drowning amongst the ruins of Maraqua, fighting off pirates on Krawk Island and getting chased by zombies in the Haunted Woods, I'm supposed to trust you!"

     Saffy rolled her eyes, as she continued to climb.

     "Well, nothing bad actually happened to us, did it? We didn't drown, we escaped the zombies and we fought off those pirates! Not to mention, that we found three more map pieces at those locations, which was the whole point of going there!"

     "We always make it through, Archie, so don't worry so much!" Saffy said, reassuringly, turning her head to give him a smile.

     When the pair finally reached the top of the steps, both had to stop to catch their breath. It had been a treacherous climb, with incredibly steep steps, but they'd made it.

     Taking a sip of her water, Saffy paused to inspect the door to the tomb.

     She squinted at the small stone square, only big enough for two Neopets to enter at a time, which was covered with intricate carvings that Saffy couldn't quite make out. A thin coating of moss and a web of vines partially concealed the door, undoubtedly to hide its location from those who would seek to enter.

     She couldn't see a handle, or any other way of opening the door, and she was just starting to think that they might have to pry open the stone with their bare hands, when Archie started flailing his arms and running around in a circle, batting at something on his shoulder.

     "Getitoffme! Getitoffme!" he shouted at the top of his voice.

     Saffy thought it might be a Spyder, one of Archie's biggest fears, and was wondering what a Spyder was doing all the way out here, but when she looked closely she saw that it was only a Draphly.

     Before she could say or do anything to calm him down, Archie tripped over a vine and crashed against the stone door, shouldering a large circle carving in the centre of it.

     Almost as soon as Archie's shoulder touched the carving, there was a loud grumble and the stone began to slide slowly upwards. The two Neopets stared at the door in stunned silence, as it moved into position and stopped halfway up.

     "Well done, Archie!" Saffy exclaimed, with a congratulatory clap on his shoulder (the Draphly had flown off by now).

     "You found the way to open the door! What would I do without you?" she grinned, peering into the blackness of the tomb.

     "Yeah... great!" Archie mumbled, sarcastically, silently cursing himself for finding the way to open the tomb.

     "Come on, then!" she said encouragingly, climbing through the narrow opening on her hands and knees.

     Archie heaved a defeated sigh; he would give anything not to enter that tomb, but this was what he'd signed up for in that attic five years ago - he'd agreed to hunt for the treasure with Saffy and he couldn't go back on his word now.

     So, with a sigh of resignation, he followed his cousin into the dark tomb.

     Archie shuddered as he brushed back vines that touched his skin like cobwebs and hurried through the door as fast as he could.

     Once inside, he blinked several times, but still couldn't see anything.

     "Saff?" he called out, shakily, turning left and right with his hand reached out, but he could feel or hear nothing from his cousin.

     "Saffy?" he called, louder this time, starting to panic.

     "SAFF!"

     "Shh! Do you want the monsters to hear you?" her voice echoed back to him from up ahead.

     "Don't do that to me!" he exclaimed, partly cross with her and partly relieved that she hadn't left him (or been eaten by a monster).

     "Where did you go?"

     There was a sound of a match being lit, a flicker of light from the other end of the path, before light filled the room; Saffy held a flaming torch in her hands.

     "Just to get this off the wall," she answered, nodding towards the torch.

     At the sound of stone moving again, Archie whipped round, only to notice the door slowly sliding shut.

     "Saffy! The door's closing!" he called, definitely panicking now. He looked about desperately for something to wedge it open with, but there was nothing in sight and before he could do anything, the door slammed shut.

     It was lucky that Saffy was there to keep her cool, or Archie would have become hysterical.

     "Don't panic! There has to be another way out. We've got the torch and plenty of matches, so we'll just explore the tomb, find the treasure and another way out. Now, come on. Stay close to me. We don't want to get lost here!"

     Saffy pulled the panic-stricken Gelert towards her and started walking down a winding path.

     It wasn't long before they reached a fork in the path, one leading off to the right, the other leading straight on.

     "Which way?" Archie asked, looking first at the way ahead, and then at the turning. The path to the right looked narrow and slightly creepy, with a ghostly blue light glowing at the bottom, whereas the path ahead seemed exactly the same as it had been.

     Archie moved to walk on ahead, not letting Saffy choose the scarier direction, when his foot stepped on a loose slab of stone.

     Thinking nothing of it, he moved his foot to walk on, when Saffy cried out, "Archie, don't move!"

     But it was too late; his foot was already hanging limply in the air, the pressure of his body weight gone from the slab.

     "Get down!" Saffy screamed, lunging herself at her cousin and tackling him to the floor - and just in time too, as an arrow shot past his head, narrowly missing his floppy ear.

     The arrows that shot out of the nook in the wall kept on coming; hitting the wall opposite and landing beside them with a 'thock, thock, thock.'

     Once the last remaining arrows lay still on the ground, Saffy cautiously got up from the cold, stone floor and looked around.

     "All clear. You can get up now, Archie," she told the quivering Gelert huddled on the floor in fright, with his paws over his eyes.

     "Can we please leave now?" he asked, once he'd managed to get up onto his wobbly feet. He'd stopped shaking, but he still felt unsteady on his feet - his knees felt ready to buckle.

     "And how do you propose we do that?" Saffy replied, scrutinising a pit full of spikes that had appeared up ahead; another trap that had popped up when Archie had stepped on the pressure sensor.

     "The door closed behind us, remember? We just need to push on. We must be getting closer to the treasure if these booby-traps are anything to go by. Come on!"

     Archie shook his head, and looked towards the other path - perhaps the creepy looking path would yield better results than following a path full of deadly traps.

     "I think... maybe we should take that path instead," he said, pointing to the blue, glowing path.

     "Don't be such a scaredy-kad! There's no way of knowing if that path is any different to this one. I'm going to keep going - if you want to chance the ghostly, blue path, go right ahead."

     Archie looked skeptically at the path ahead and then to the path that Saffy had described as 'ghostly'; Archie would take traps over ghosts any day.

     "Alright... wait for me!" he called out, as he rushed to catch up with his cousin who had already walked off ahead.

To be continued...