Petpet Adventures: Entombed - Part Four

     And then there was a cacophony of angry hisses and the Lizarks began moving. The Lizark who had spoken before, and who Kintyre assumed was some sort of leader, moved first. He darted towards the steps, bone sceptre raised threateningly. The others followed him, several ignoring the steps and instead climbing up the cracked stones.

     Kintyre was frozen in shock as the swarm came closer, and then she slowly backed away. Lithiarre was still fast asleep, and she prepared herself to fight: After years spent together in the Island wilderness, she wasn't about to abandon him now. Quaz seemed unruffled, and she saw Chandre throwing her an uncertain look. Then, probably deciding that she would rather face the angry Lizarks than be wandering alone in the Tomb, she inched closer to Kintyre's side, the fur on her back matching the fur on Kintyre's fluffed out tail.

     They waited in the entrance of the tunnel for the swarm to reach them. The limited pace meant that only a few would be able to approach at a time.

     The leader finally reached the top of the stairs, and advanced menacingly, his eyes narrowed in his gaunt face. He scattered coins everywhere with his approach and the other Lizarks gathered behind him, an angry arrowed head of white and green. Then he held out an arm and they halted.

     "Who are you?" he growled, eyes flicking over them warily, coming to a rest on the dozing Slogmok. The corners of his tips twitched, but he managed to keep a convincingly stern and threatening face.

     Quaz slithered forward about an inch, before a collective hiss from the other side stopped him. Keeping within the confines of the tunnel, he spoke.

     "We're just a group of lost petpets, trying to find our way out of the Tomb. Do you think you could help us?"

     The leader Lizark frowned, a terrifying expression combined with his painted face, and Kintyre resisted the urge to take a few steps backward. He squinted past them into the tunnel.

     "Do you bring any pets?" he asked. The Lizarks around him hissed again and shifted angrily, tails lashing.

     This time Quaz laughed. "No. We're native petpets."

     "I hate pets," Chandre added helpfully. "They caught me and trapped me underground, but I escaped and then we took shelter in the Tomb."

     The Lizark continued to frown. "You have that smell about you, but the others don't. Why didn't you simply leave once they were gone?"

     "Well... they sort of closed the door on us," Quaz explained.

     His words were met with silence only broken by Lithiarre's heavy breathing. He had passed the early stage of sleep, and Kintyre knew that if someone didn't poke him in the stomach soon, it would be nearly impossible to wake him up. She just managed to resist.

     "So now more pets know how to get in..." the Lizark muttered under his breath. He looked up. "We've been trying to keep pets away from here. They come and they steal the treasures of the Temple. It is up to us to keep the Temple Guardian's treasure safe. We reset the traps and we try and scare off most of the pets, but sometimes they get past us, and take the gold and codestones, mostly."

     "We don't want any of that," Kintyre said. "We just want to find a way out!"

     The lizard looked thoughtful. "Well, I have no problem with that. However, you just witnessed a sacred ritual. And..." He turned to look at the second doorway in the massive chamber. "The Guardian will be coming soon."

     "The Guardian?" Kintyre gulped.

     The Lizark grinned. "Yesss," he hissed. "And you must wait here and watch. Because you saw the ritual, you became a part of it, and now you must wait for it to be completed. Follow us."

     He turned and walked away. His companions waited expectantly, and Kintyre realised he wasn't going to take no for an answer. She sighed and poked at Lithiarre's head. With a startled snort he woke up. It was obvious the first thing he saw was a dozen skull-like faces staring at him, because he gave a high-pitched squeal and backpedalled into the wall.

     "What is going on?" he yelled, not taking his eyes off the Lizarks.

     "Your snoring interrupted their ritual," Kintyre said. Then realizing how absurd it was, she laughed. "And now we have to watch them finish it. Apparently we get to meet the Temple Guardian."

     Lithiarre gave her a disbelieving look, then climbed to his paws. "If you say so," he said. "As longs as we can stop walking for a bit."

     Kintyre rolled her eyes and followed him down the steps.

     The Lizarks followed them, a mass of silent guards. She did her best to ignore them and instead stared around the huge cavern. The walls were weathered, but carvings were still visible in some places. The roof, once she reached the floor, was more than a hundred times her height, and she shivered at the thought she could be trapped in here forever.

     Her eyes kept straying to the second doorway, and she could see the archway had been carved with a number of sinuous pets with wings. She vaguely recognized them as a Hissi.

     Ahead the Lizark had stopped. He turned back to them. "My name is Xuvaka," he said, smiling now that they had followed him. The smile seemed odd on his face, but genuine.

     "I'm Kintyre," Kintyre replied. "And this is Quaz, Lithiarre and Chandre."

     Xuvaka stared at Lithiarre, who shifted uneasily under his gaze. "You must have been tired," the Lizark said, chuckling slightly.

     The Slogmok looked faintly embarrassed. "Yes," he said, scuffing at the ground with one paw. "I'm sorry?" he said.

     "Don't be! Now you get to see our great Guardian." He smiled again, eyes misty. "We have lived here our entire lives, and we protect him from prying eyes. All he wants is a bit of peace."

     "Have you talked to him?" Kintyre asked, wondering what the Guardian looked like.

     "Only once. He prefers to keep to himself..." The voice was wistful. Then he turned back to the entrance.

     "Temple Guardian!" he shouted again.

     Before he could get any further, a short Lizark scurried into the room, eyes wide and frantic. He raced up to Xuvaka and bowed his head respectfully.

     "Sir, we have a problem," he said in a rush. "There are pets heading towards the central chamber as we speak!"

     It was uncanny how synchronised the Lizarks were in their movements. As one all the white faces swiveled toward the door they had entered through, bodies tense. Xuvaka growled and turned back to the messenger.

     "How many?" he asked. "And what about the traps?"

     "There are two, as far as I can tell," he said. "I would have gone for a closer look but the arrow trap failed to activate. Someone has already set it off! I don't know if there are more pets in here..." he looked unnerved at the thought.

     Quaz cleared his throat. "That would have been us who set it off. It was an accident."

     Xuvaka glared at him, then shrugged. "Well, even though it's a bit irritating, at least we know there are just these two pets. We can easily deal with two."

     "Um..." The messenger sounded a bit nervous now. "Vorn was with me, but they had nets, and they managed to capture her," he said.

     Chandre hissed angrily, and they looked at her.

     "It must be the pets that were chasing us!" she said, looking back and forth between her companions. "I know for a fact they were catching wild petpets for their shop. They must have trapped us in the Tomb so they could come back later and capture us!"

     Quaz was nodding. He turned to the messenger. "Were these pets Kougras, one black and one white?"

     The messenger nodded. Xuvaka looked angry.

     "So you lead pets to the entrance to the Temple, then you set off a trap that might have convinced them to leave. And now they have one of us! I'm not sure what to do with you."

     "Do with us?" Chandre hissed. "You won't be doing anything!"

     The messenger tapped Xuvaka frantically on the shoulder.

     "There's no time to argue," he said quickly. "The pets were right on my tail. In fact—"

     He stopped speaking as everyone in the chamber head it; the foreign language of the pets, and it was coming closer with every passing second.

     The Lizarks immediately moved, many of them scurrying deeper into the chamber, to hide among the treasures. A few climbed the wall on either side of the doorway, then hung there, ready to leap on the unsuspecting pets.

     "Make sure Vorn isn't hurt!" Xuvaka called, though he stayed waiting in the chamber with the messenger, bone scepter clasped in one claw and calmly flicking his tail to and fro.

     A different sound caught Kintyre's attention, and she turned instead to the second doorway. She was sure she could hear a faint dry rustling coming from the entrance. She turned back to the first door and saw the Kougras enter.

     One of them caught sight of the six petpets still left in the open and gave a triumphant cry, jabbering to his companion and pointing.

     They advanced, but as soon as the black Kougra had stepped into the chamber, three Lizarks dropped from the wall and onto his back. He began yowling, clawing unsuccessfully at his back and dropping the net he was holding.

     The white Kougra stopped, wide-eyed, and glanced up. The lizards still clinging to the wall were still waiting, and Kintyre began to wonder why until she realised that his net contained a struggling Lizark. They couldn't attack for fear of hurting their friend.

     Then the white Kougra froze suddenly, eyes widening in fear. He said something to his companion, who was too busy with his assailants to respond. Then there was a loud hiss, which echoed through the chamber.

     Kintyre turned back to the second door, finally seeing what the white Kougra had seen moments before. The fighting ceased, and the white Kougra let his net fall to the ground, where the trapped lizard fought its way out and scurried into the darkness.

     The Temple Guardian had arrived.

To be continued...