Whispers: Part Three

Later on in the day, the five explorers headed north from Sakhmet, their only real idea of the tomb's location being the river and Aurora's memory. The sky was still the same beautiful shade of sapphire, and it seemed to laugh at the toils of the foolish pets who were dumb enough to travel through the desert in the afternoon heat, when most other pets would be sleeping.

      Aidne snorted angrily and slapped a small stinging insect away from her face. Sweat trickled openly down her forehead and beaded on her brow. She had wanted to wait until it had cooled down to leave, but Aurora had shoved her idea to the side. And now everyone had to be dragged out into the scorching surroundings just because Aurora was impatient. Everyone looked at least as haggard as Aidne herself, with the possible exception of Trick, who looked like he was treating this journey as if it were a walk in the park on a pleasantly warm summer day. The Zafara was beginning to suspect that heat just didn't affect him, possibly because he would have to have some resistance to hot temperatures if he expected to hold flames in his bare hand for any amount of time. She'd ask him about it later.

      Lani came up beside her Zafara friend. "Don't worry, the sun will set in not too long a time. It's bound to get a bit cooler soon."

      Aidne noticed a definite pinkish tinge to the Ixi's blue pelt. It looked like she was getting a sunburn. Aidne's feet were blistering on the scalding sand, and she was beginning to wish she'd worn her hiking boots, never mind that they were a bit on the small side.

      If wishes were clouds, the sky would be completely covered, she mused. Of course, a couple of nice poofy clouds would be just like a faerie's blessing right about now. They'd block out the sun a little and-

      "That's it!" Aurora called from up ahead. She was pointing at a small formation of sandstone on a rise not too far off where they were walking at that moment. It looked completely unremarkable. "It's that little bump up there. Come on!"

      She began running up the hill just as a chill breeze picked up. Somehow, it just didn't feel right, especially for the desert in summer, but Aidne quite couldn't put her finger on what was wrong, except that the area around them had taken on a definite atmosphere of foreboding. Something big was coming.

      It was Khaj, however, born and raised in the Lost Desert, who interpreted the signs first.

      "Aurora, come back!" he called over ever strengthening winds.

      To Aidne, Lani, and Trick, he said, "Get down and cover your heads! There's a sandstorm coming and you'll need to keep the sand out of your eyes and nose!"

      "But what about Aurora?" Lani shouted back, her voice practically lost in the roar of gale-force winds.

      "Lani's right! I'm going after her!" Aidne exclaimed. "She'll need our help-"

      Aidne had gotten no further than three leaping steps through the whipping torrents of sand and wind before Khaj tackled her. She fell flat.

      "I said, get down! All you'll accomplish by rushing off like that is getting lost in the storm and suffocating under meters of sand! Aurora has desert survival training, she can take care of herself, never mind that it would be suicide going out into that!"

      Aidne gritted her teeth angrily. Curses on Khaj; he had a point, but it still killed Aidne to have to leave someone behind.

      "Fine," she said reluctantly. "But the moment the storm is over we go looking for her, got it?" If we survive, she added silently.

      Aidne was just pulling her jacket over her head as something beyond the swirling sands caught her eye. She couldn't be absolutely sure, but for a split second she was convinced she had seen two figures, watching them. She blinked and they were gone.

      Sand in my eyes, she told herself firmly. Crazy dreams were bad enough, but I'm not going to start hallucinating now, when there's my friends' lives at stake.

      After telling herself this, she pulled the jacket over her head, practically sighing with relief at the reprieve it granted her stinging eyes, and cursing the fact it was getting harder to breathe as more sand blew on top of her.

      The four pets lay that way as the vicious desert engulfed them.

***

      Outside the localized sandstorm, two hooded and cloaked figures stood patiently as the desert swallowed the other pets. One was clad in in mottled colours reminiscent of a forest at midnight, and the other wore dusky lilac. The purple-clad figure raised a paw, and the winds died down. Fine grains of sand fell slowly back to earth, released at last by the tendrils of manipulated air that had held it aloft and carried it along.

      "It is done, then?" the darkness-cloaked figure asked as the grains settled.

      The figure in purple shook her head. "Not yet, at any rate."

      The landscape looked completely different from how it had appeared before the storm. The little pillar of rock Aurora had tried to reach had completely vanished beneath mounds of sand, as had all of Aurora's little party. They were nowhere to be seen.

      "It doesn't matter terribly," the lilac-cloaked form continued, "since those snooping foreigners won't be coming back up anytime soon. And the Tomb of Countless Souls is buried again, and that was the the critical factor -- what we came here to do."

      The darker one nodded. "The Tomb is the most important thing." Steely silver eyes glittered under his hood. "No matter what happens."

***

      Aidne was buried alive.

      She desperately clawed at the walls of loose sand that formed her prison, but the fine grains slipped between her fingers. Even if she did manage to make some progress digging upwards, the sand simply shifted again and covered her efforts all over again.

      Come to think of it, which way was up?

      She was beyond caring about whether the storm was over or not. At first, when the sand had only begun to bury her, she'd still had air to breathe, but now her supply was almost completely gone. All she knew at this point was that she needed air, and she needed it now. For the first time in her life, she completely and totally panicked. Buried alive. What an ironic way to go, for someone who dug up buried treasure as a living.

      Just as she was about to black out, a hoof reached down, grabbed her by the backpack, and hoisted her out of the sand into the clean, fresh air. Aidne's lungs were so oxygen-deprived that at first it was too much for her, but she adjusted quickly and took long, grateful gulps of air.

      "Are you all right, Aidne?" Lani asked, concern in her magenta eyes.

      Aidne spat out a mouthful of sand and shrugged, croaking, "I think so, but really thought I was a goner that time, and I've had some pretty close calls before."

      "No kidding, we thought you were a goner too," Trick said, shaking sand out of his black hair, "you were down there for such a long time."

      Aidne glanced around. The only pets there were Lani, Trick, and herself.

      "Where's Khaj?" she asked.

      Trick answered, but not without a slight hesitation. "He's fine, but he's out to look... you see, Aurora..."

      Lani interrupted her cousin. "She didn't come back, Aidne. Khaj is out looking for her, but we don't really have our hopes up. There's no sign of her on the surface, so chances are the sand drifted on top of her and she got stuck under a dune--"

      "--kind of like what happened to you--" Trick elaborated.

      "--and she couldn't get back up to the surface in time." the Ixi finished matter-of-factly, though her eyes looked decidedly wet. "I'm sorry, Aidne, I know you two were old friends."

      Aidne was speechless. She'd been so annoyed with Aurora's bossy ways and the way that she had taken leadership over the excavation that she'd forgotten how much she had actually valued the blue Kacheek, not as a team leader, but as a friend. Maybe Aurora had just been trying to be authoritative because she felt just as weird being around Aidne, whom she hadn't seen in many years, as Aidne felt around her. They had both been a little on-edge for the past two days.

      So why did all this miraculous understanding come to her now, when Aurora was most likely dead?

      While Aidne had been thinking, Khaj had come back and sat down wearily next to Trick.

      "Nothing," he sighed. "I looked all around for her and did some digging around, but it's almost impossible to tell where she might be. Even that little chunk of rock that Aurora insisted was the top of the tomb she found is gone." He was silent for a moment. "That was one weird sandstorm."

      Aidne suddenly remembered the two shapes she'd seen, or thought she'd seen, through the storm.

      How could I have forgotten, she wondered. They burned like a brand in her memory. Possibly a clue to lead to more information about the death of her friend.

      "Khaj?" Aidne asked awkwardly. He turned towards her. "I thought I might have seen two pets outside the storm, just as we were buried."

      "You saw someone outside the storm?"

      The red Zafara nodded. "I thought it was just a mirage at first, but now I'm not so sure. Do you think--"

      "--that we had something to do with the storm?" a cool, feminine voice spoke behind Aidne. "Not a bad assumption, but a dangerous one. You seem to be a great deal cleverer than the average foreign tourist."

      Startled, she began to turn around, only to feel the cold touch of steel on her neck. Her quick glance confirmed that there were two of them, the one who had spoken, and the one who held the blade. She dared not look again. "Why?" she choked.

      "You, perhaps in your ignorance, perhaps not, were trying to liberate the Soul Eater," the female voice responded, "so we are bound to stop you."

      "In whatever way possible," a new voice said.

***

      "Owww!" Aurora moaned, rubbing her aching head. This was not at all how she had planned this little expedition to turn out. She had had every possible iota of this trip planned out so that something like this wouldn't happen. After that stupid sandstorm, she had lost sight of everyone else. It was probably her fault, she amended; she shouldn't have taken off like that. That was downright stupid, plain and simple.

      She glanced up quickly. Where was she?

      Fyora curse it, it was so dark!

      The floor beneath her feet was smooth and hard, probably stone. She walked slowly in one direction until she reached a wall, and she placed both palms flat on it. Despite how warm the day had been, the carved stone was cool, and held not a trace of heat.

      The Kacheek realized she was probably in the tomb, but if that were so, then where was the opening she'd dug out not long ago? Of course, she thought, it probably got blocked up during the sandstorm. She'd probably slid down into the tomb just before the entrance was blocked. That meant she was trapped down here, with no light, no provisions, and probably a limited supply of air.

      But the others will come for me, she told herself. They'll see I'm not with them and come down here and--

      She snorted. It wasn't like her to be so stupid. If Aidne and the others had survived the storm, which admittedly was very unlikely, they would assume that Aurora had perished underground somewhere, and head back to Sakhmet.

      She sat herself down in a cross-legged position and rested her head in her hands. What could she do? It would prove impossible to dig her way out, especially in the dark, and chances of rescue were minimal, at best.

      Aurora made a decision, and stood up with a new resolve.

      She would explore the tomb.

      Why not? It was why she had dragged everyone to the desert in the first place.

      Carefully, she made her way step-by-step, deeper into the tomb. She really did wish she had brought along some source of light, as there were many elegant frescos lining the walls, and even the floor in some places. She could feel their fine lines flowing like living things beneath her feet. Apparently the tomb wasn't nearly as big as she had first thought, because she soon could see the end of the corridor she was traveling on.

      Aurora was disappointed. She'd made such a big deal over what, exactly? A crumbling old building with a few pretty pictures on the wall?

      Hey, she thought. Better get used to it, because it's the only scenery you'll get to see ever again.

      And then she saw the door.

      What really surprised her was just that: she could see it. That was impossible; it was pitch dark in here, but she could easily spot every little carving and crack lining its surface. It was rock, and obviously very sturdy, though it looked ancient, the cracks along it resembling nothing so much as the aftermath of an object that underwent a sledgehammer attack. Repeatedly. The middle of the door bore a large metal handle, probably an early replacement for a door knob.

      I want to open it, she thought.

      Her sensible side responded, Are you crazy?

      No, I just want to open it.

      Sounds crazy to me!

      Her paw reached towards the handle.

***

      "Liberate the what?" Khaj asked incredulously, recovering from his initial shock. He remained wary, however. One of the strangers still held a wicked-looking knife to Aidne' throat.

      "As if you don't know," the pet holding the knife replied in an angry hiss. The voice was plainly male.

      "Humour us then. Who in Nuria's fire are you and what do you think you're trying to do?" Trick was practically vibrating with pent-up energy or anger, maybe both. The Shoyru looked to be on the verge of losing control, and the air in his direct vicinity had taken on a decidedly scalding feeling.

      The figure holding the knife nodded at his companion, who stepped forward and removed the hood of her lilac cloak. A mass of perfectly straight, shiny black hair tumbled out, and Aidne could clearly see the stranger's face. She bit her lip to keep from yelping in surprise.

      "I am Tehalah," the Desert Aisha from the hotel said, like a challenge.

      "Very impressive. I'm terrified," Trick snarled.

      The Aisha smiled, though there was not a touch of amusement to it, and the smile never even reached those cold, black-painted eyes. She was one of the most beautiful pets Aidne had ever seen, though she was somehow harsh and cruel-looking at the same time.

      "Your apparent lack of knowledge is the only reason you are alive right now, young pet. If you tell the truth, and you really have never heard of the Soul Eater, then your insolence could still cost Miss Lilith one of her ears. You wouldn't want that, would you?" She paused. "If you lie to us, however, rest assured that my brother Taahn and I have no objections to killing you all here and now, as our little sandstorm proved... uneffective."

      "Your sandstorm? But how..." Aidne closed her eyes, thinking. "Ah, you know my name from when you were at the hotel, spying on us. I kind of thought there was something weird about you, but I didn't really think about it. And then later you repaired the damages from the fire. Believe it or not, that's the one thing I don't get. Why would some cold, aloof, snobbish assassin help some pets in trouble, not to mention only hours before you try to kill them?"

      "Watch your language," Tehalah's armed companion, presumably Taahn, growled.

      Tehalah wrinkled her small nose in annoyance. "Even I am capable of a good deed now and then."

      "I find that sort of hard to believe, you know," Aidne replied steadily. "You can't exactly blame me for that, can you?"

      Tehalah snorted. "Continuing on. You are correct, Lilith. I was there at the hotel, watching to see what you would do. Actually, that is the least of it. As soon as your Kacheek friend discovered the tomb, we decided to monitor her letters out of the Lost Desert. We traced a certain letter to you, and you have been followed since Mystery Island."

      "Why such a fuss?" Lani asked. "From what I could tell, it was just your average Lost Desert tomb. Aidne and I have been in loads of them before, and we've never found anything worth mentioning. What's so special about this one?"

      Taahn answered the Ixi. "The Tomb of Countless Souls was hidden beneath the sand for a very good reason. The secret it contains is... deadly. If anyone were to set it loose, it would ravage every inch of the desert before moving on to the rest of Neopia. My sister and I are here for the purpose of guarding it, to ensure this never happens."

      "What are you talking about, 'it is deadly'? What's deadly?" Aidne shouted. She had never been one for riddles or mysteries; she only cared for answers.

      Tehalah and her companion exchanged looks.

      "We must tell them," Tehalah said in low tones to her brother.

      "No," Taahn said. "It is not worth the risk."

      The Aisha's cold eyes blazed. "They must know, or they will stop at nothing to find out, and we could unwittingly cause just the thing we are trying to prevent. From what I've seen, Zafaras, and Miss Lilith in particular, can be very persistent."

      "They can't be persistent if they're buried ten meters below the Lost Desert."

      "No, Taahn. There won't be any unneeded bloodshed. After all, isn't that what this duty tells us to prevent? Put the dagger away," Tehalah spoke quietly, but there was a dangerous edge to her voice.

      Taahn lowered the blade from Aidne's neck, and the Zafara sighed in relief. Taahn straightened from his hunched-over position and strode over to stand by his sister, and although he had not lowered his hood, allowing Aidne to see his face for the first time. The pet beneath the cloak was so dark, it was hard to tell where the clothing finished and the pet began. He was a shadow Aisha with features very similar to Tehalah's, so similar in fact that Aidne was led to believe that they were twins. Instead of his sister's tan, his pelt was a swirling mixture of steel grey, tar black, and deep chestnut. His tunic and weapon handles were all black as well, as opposed to Tehalah's white gown. They looked like two sides of the same coin.

      Tehalah took a deep breath. "I will tell you the story from the beginning, so hopefully you will understand why we must be willing to sacrifice a few lives to protect the secret of the tomb." Tehalah settled her snow coloured skirts around her as she sat down.

      "Some parts can only be guessed at, as tales become distorted over time, but the truth of the matter is this. In early Lost Desert history, there were, and still are many settlements scattered throughout the land, far too many to count or keep record of. Papyrus, or desert paper, was far too expensive for all the settlements to be recorded officially on, and it took a long time for word to travel, so no one really noticed when a town or two went missing. Only a few pets ever wondered, but these curious ones soon uncovered a similarity between all the villages that vanished into time with no explanation at all. Shortly before their decline, each of the settlements had built temples for the worship of a nameless god, whom they only knew as 'The Reincarnated Anubits.' We think his preferred form is a Desert Lupe, as black as night, though some accounts say he can be invisible, or can change his form at will. I don't know what exactly he is, incredibly powerful enchanter or malevolent spirit, but all I can say for sure is that he was no god."

      Aidne felt a crawling sensation along her spine. She was beginning to think she understood why that tomb was a bad place to be...

      Tehalah continued, "Soon after the settlements let this so-called god through their gates, awful things would begin to happen. The inhabitants would die mysteriously, and the town would crumble into pieces. Since no records were made, it was a long time before we Sand Mages realized what was happening. We gave him a new name, which roughly translates to 'Soul Eater' in your language. He drains victims of whatever force it is that keeps them alive, and the more he does it, the stronger he becomes. In our foolishness, the Sand Mages left incapacitating him until far too late. He was too strong for them to destroy, or even to banish forever, but they managed to lock him away in the Tomb of Countless Souls, at the cost of over a third of their number. The remaining mages performed the Rite of SandSpirits and buried his prison beneath the desert. They knew that it wouldn't hold him forever, especially as their power waned and his grew, but they hoped to keep him trapped until there were enough Sand Mages again to destroy him. The irony is that one day soon, he may escape, and Taahn and I are the only Sand Mages left in this world. We would not stand a chance against him, even in his weakened form. He would devour every occupant in the Lost Desert, and no one would be able to stop him."

      Taahn sighed. "There you have it: The tale of our curse, of the apocalypse. I hope now you understand why we had to stop you, no matter what happened. We can't risk any pet reaching the tomb and setting free an ancient menace, even if they are clueless as to what they think they are doing."

      "Or are doing it on purpose." Tehalah's eyes studied each pet in turn. As she finished, she frowned even deeper, if that were possible. She cast an accusing glance at Aidne.

      "Four of you came to the Lost Desert, one was already here before. Five set out for the Tomb, and now there are only four. Why?"

      Aurora's death came back to Aide in a rush. She had completely forgotten she had a score to settle. "The fifth? The fifth is dead! All thanks to your lame party tricks!"

      She had expected the Sand Mages to blast her into oblivion or something of the sort; it was definitely what she would've done had their positions been reversed. What she didn't expect was for Taahn to stiffen and Tehalah's already pale face to drain of what little colour it had.

      "Impossible," the Desert Aisha whispered. "We would have--should have--felt something-"

      "You know what it means if we didn't," Taahn put in gravely. "She's still alive."

      Aidne's navy eyes widened. "Aurora's okay? That's the only good news we've had today." Aidne hugged Khaj, whom she was closest to, and was startled to see an odd expression on both of the Aishas' faces.

      If they were real pets, capable of real feelings, she thought, the happiness bubbling up in her dying down slightly, I'd almost think they were worried. Terrified, even.

      "I saw her buried, I know it!" Tehalah exclaimed. "She still is buried, that much I sense, but why didn't she suffocate?"

      "The Tomb," Taahn said shortly, spinning to look over his shoulder.

***

      Aurora had opened the door.

      There was a sound like a thunderclap, and she lay on the floor as a shadow passed over her.

To be continued...