The Jackals of Sakhmet - Kasha's Plot: Part Seven

With Scarab leading the way, and Lee and Cole on his side, the three heroes rode off into the direction of Sakhmet. Cole realized that he and Lee had done a lot of commuting back and forth from Sakhmet today. Everything was strange. One moment, Cole and his friends were living a good life, eating fruit and chatting away.

      And then the next moment, a stranger named Kasha, and her accomplice Niger appeared out of nowhere and they managed to take control of Omar's mind. Not too long ago, Lee and Cole were stumbling through the desert to find Scarab, and along the way, Lee had informed him of what Lycos had told her.

      The story still rattled Cole; how could one pet be so cruel to her own sister? How could Kasha use Lycos to get what she wanted? How could Kasha think that one species of pet was better than the rest…?

      "Don't worry, Omar," Cole whispered, making his grip on Scarab's back more firm. "We're coming to the rescue…"

     * * *

Sakhmet City

      Meanwhile, back in Sakhmet, Kasha's notorious plan was put into action. Already her necklaces were activated, and all the Cybunnies of Sakhmet were turning on all the others. She smirked at the scene before her as she leaned casually against the wall, waiting for Niger to return with her report.

      A shop-keeper was arguing about the price of his ummagines with a Cybunny, who looked like he would attack him at any given moment. Omar stood beside her, chuckling to himself.

      "Where's Niger?" Kasha sighed. Omar shrugged, still laughing at the arguing pets.

      "Big help you are…" Kasha whispered. A few minutes later, Niger came rushing over to them, grinning from ear to ear. Kasha leapt up to meet him. Quietly, the two talked, while Omar stood and examined them. Look at them, he thought. I wonder what they could be saying…Trying his best to be unseen, Omar edged closer to them, trying to listen in on the conversation.

      "She has no idea, yet…" Omar heard Niger say to Kasha. "She's too busy with other things…"

      "Did you see where she was?"

      "In the throne room, as always…"

      "Perfect… Round up everyone you can, and then meet me at the castle walls…"

      Why did Kasha wish to go to the castle walls? Who were they talking about? Omar shrugged, thinking he would find out sooner or later, and turned back to the streets of Sakhmet. Things were getting worse. It went from yelling to fighting.

      Pets were wrestling with Cybunnies, and many pets were running from them, trying to escape the one's carrying stones. Yes, my friends, Cybunnies were throwing stones at others… What dark days had hit the civilians of Sakhmet? Everyone was fighting.

      Omar observed more; just now noticing how many Cybunnies lived in Sakhmet. Pets were completely outnumbered! Pets were being dragged away by Cybunnies. Omar watched as they dragged them away in the direction of the castle.

      Why was everyone heading for the castle? The streets were changing; there were now Cybunnies giving orders to others, commanding them to pick up the pace. Other pets were being pushed along to the castle, all looking confused, scared, and depressed. Omar moved along with them, walking on the sidelines.

      An old Acara threw him a furtive look as she was pushed along by a Cybunny. But Omar didn't care. He couldn't care less for these pathetic excuses for pets. He was on the winning team, the best team there was. And he was enjoying being on Kasha's side… wasn't he?

      No… Once Omar pondered this for a while, still slouching along the side of the street, he realized, he wasn't happy. This, he stared around at the civilians being forced to the castle against their will… this was not what he wanted. This was not the way…

      "What's going on with me? Of course this is the way," Omar told himself quietly. "It is…"

      But even as Omar said this, something in his heart was telling him otherwise. You are probably wondering, reader, was the effect of Kasha's necklaces wearing off? No. The necklaces worked ten fold! But one thing Kasha didn't count on was the power of friendship.

      The power of Omar's friendship with Lee and Cole was stronger than any mind-controlling necklace. Deep down, Omar, the real Omar, was still there. The real Omar was telling himself that his friends needed him. The real Omar was slowly coming back to his senses.

      Omar came to a halt, as did everyone else to the right of him, and stared up at the castle walls. High above everyone else, smiling evilly were Kasha and Niger, blocking the entrance to the castle. Kasha raised a paw to silence everyone.

      The sky, Omar had just noticed, was unbelievably dark and clustered with huge, gray clouds. It looked as if it were about to rain. Omar listened as Kasha spoke to the pets, more actually the Cybunnies, of Sakhmet.

      "Fellow pets, I welcome some of you here today for a glorious occasion; the rise of Cybunnies!"

      At this, all the Cybunnies, except Omar, cheered loudly, but the other pets simply glared at Kasha. Niger held up his paw to silence everyone once more.

      "Thank you, Niger… Now, the naïve Princess Amira is inside this very castle, unaware of the doom that awaits her outside." More cheering. "So we're going to pay a little visit and take what is rightfully ours; the City of Sakhmet!"

      "No," whispered Omar, and others beside him. These words seemed to have brought Omar back to his senses. He ripped off the necklace that once had controlled him, and turned and ran away from the scene. He ran as fast as his feet would carry him, trying to reach the city gates before Kasha could do anything else.

      Though Omar was unaware of it, Niger had spotted him running, and then his eyes found the thrown necklace strewn on the ground.

      "Hmm…"

     * * *

      "What on Neopia is that noise?" wondered Princess Amira from in the throne room. She sat on her glorious throne, listening intently to the noise coming from outside. She got up, carefully, and made her way across the extravagant room. Before she could pull the door open, a scrawny, old, blue Shoyru rushed in, looking quite terrified.

      "Princess Amira, you need to come see this!" he said, pulling on Amira. If he hadn't sounded so frightened, Amira would have yanked her paw away from him, but this seemed urgent, from the sounds of it.

      "What is it?"

      The Shoyru led her to a window that revealed the entire city to Amira whenever she looked through it. But this time, instead of seeing the busy city, she was greeted by the sight of a large group gathered around the gates.

      Some pets, mostly Cybunnies, were cheering, but the rest looked glum. What was going on?

      "Send the Tonu guards down there to see what's going on," Amira ordered.

      "Yes, Your Highness," the Shoyru said, bowing down to the ground. He left her, still staring out the window. Now here's a sight for sore eyes, she thought, looking down on Kasha and Niger. They seemed to be the ones giving a speech, but a speech about what? Why did it have to be in front of the castle?

      "Hmm…"

     * * *

      "What, no guards?" Scarab asked, climbing off his Uni once they had arrived at the city gate. He stopped to help Lee off, but Cole just jumped off, too anxious to wait any longer. Cole ran up to the gate and started pushing on it, forcing it open. Lee and Scarab came up and helped him with it, until…

      "It's opening!" Lee shouted. It didn't open all the way, but enough for the three of them to get through. Lee and Cole climbed through, but when Scarab did not follow, they stopped to look back. Scarab had turned to his Uni friend they had rode.

      "Go back and bring the others. Keep yourself safe," he told her. She nodded, nudged him lightly on the shoulder as if saying good-bye, and turned and rode off back to the Dunes, a band of desert thieves. Once the Uni was no longer in view, Scarab turned and climbed through the gate.

      "Ready," he said.

      "Great!" Lee said. "Let's go."

      "Whoa!" said Cole. The three pets turned around to find the streets empty and quiet. They stared around their home, walking along. Everyone was gone. All the streets were deserted and littered with food, paper, and other trash.

      "Kasha's probably activated the necklaces already," Cole whispered, kicking aside an empty can of neocola.

      "Do you hear something," asked Scarab, staring down the street. Lee and Cole looked ahead; a small figure was running towards them. It was a Cybunny, but not any Cybunny. It was…

      "OMAR…!"

      Lee and Cole ran up to their friend, who was, for the first time in a while today, smiling at them. He was back!

      "Hey…guys," he panted, bending down to catch his breath. "Who's… that…?"

      Scarab walked over to them, smiling at the children.

      "Name's Scarab," he said, offering Omar his paw. Omar gladly took it, shaking it friendly. But suddenly, Omar became serious.

      "Guys, Kasha's planning to overthrow Princess Amira!"

      "What?" Lee, Cole, and Scarab shouted. Omar nodded, still breathing heavily.

      "What happened to your necklace?" Cole asked.

      "I took it off, but that's not important right now…"

      "Wait," Scarab interrupted. "You took off your necklace?"

      "Well, yeah… Why?"

      Scarab turned and put a paw to his chin, thinking. Lee, Cole, and Omar exchanged nervous looks.

      "I have an idea," Scarab said finally. "But you three need to help me with it. Here's what we do…"

To be continued...