Chapter 30 / Secrets of the Sands

"Come on, come on, pick up" Anna muttered as she paced up and down the length of their buggy they had parked at the base of a large dune.

Ahead of her, Elsa was lying in a prone position near the top, peering over the edge through a pair of binoculars as she observed the obstacles in front of them. Dozens of Westguard mercenaries had set up shop outside a large rocky plateau, partially covered in sand. Armed men milled about through hastily erected tents, unloading supplies from two other helicopters that had already landed or setting up various equipment. They were preparing some sort of staging ground on top of what had evidently been the last stop of the lost Nazi expedition that had been lost to the desert. Older Trucks and other vehicles lay half-buried beneath the sands where they were abandoned for whatever reason. It was a curious juxtaposition in comparison to the modern equipment that was being set up around the remnants from the past.

"Kristoff!" Anna cried in a hushed voice as he picked up the line on the other end. "We've got trouble. Hans is here!"

"Same story here. I'm outside some kind cave system. Bunch of mean looking dudes clearly here on some kind of business," Kristoff replied.

"Do you think they've found the grail?" Anna asked.

"I don't know. I'm gonna try and get a closer look," Kristoff answered.

"Well, shit that's not a very good plan."

"Do you have a better one?"

"No," Anna shook her head and kicked at the sand. "Alright, we're gonna try and find the secret entrance that those notes mentioned. Be careful."

"You too," Kristoff said, then the line clicked dead.

... ... ...

"What are we dealing with here?" Anna asked as she crawled up to the top edge of the dune beside Elsa.

"Nothing good, take a look," Elsa replied as she passed the binoculars over to Anna.

Anna glassed the situation below them. Westguard men were still moving about, darting in and out of tents or towards the plateau ahead of them.

"That looks like an entrance, right there," Elsa said as she pushed the binoculars up while Anna still held them to her eyes. They settled over an opening in the side of the plateau, distinctly marked by two large sandstone columns and a staircase that led into the rocky formation.

Just then, a loud explosion echoed in the distance as a cloud of dust burst from inside the plateau and out the front entrance.

"Those idiots are blasting their way in!" Anna cursed. "If they keep it up, there won't be anything to find!"

A sudden rush of movement caught her eye as two figures emerged from the tent closest to the entrance. Anna shifted her focus and settled the binoculars over one tall, auburn haired man dressed in light gray fatigues and a small, squat grey haired man dressed in slacks, a light blue shirt and a tan safari vest. From their position, Anna surmised from their wild gestures that the two were locked in a heated argument.

Anna narrowed her eyes as she recognized them. "Of course," she sighed.

"What's wrong?" Elsa asked.

"Hans and Weselton. They're here," Anna replied as she passed the binoculars back to Elsa. She pointed to their location as Elsa observed them.

"How? How could they have beat us here? How did they even know where we were headed?"

"They must have had more of their men search the bunker after we left. Either that, they must be tracking us somehow," Anna muttered, pressing her forehead against the warm sand as she struggled to think of a solution to their predicament. "What's the play here? They have to know we're coming, they must have spotted us from their helicopter."

Elsa slid down and chewed her lip in thought as she considered their options. "Let me think," she said, as she rested her chin on her hands and peeked over the dune.

... ... ...

Kristoff crept along the rocky outcropping that jutted out from the cave system a few dozen meters ahead of him. Using the rocks and partial shade they offered for cover, he inched his way forward to gain a better vantage point. He surmised that the mercenaries must have arrived before he did earlier in the day, and had been evidently searching for the grail yet it remained unclear if they had found it yet or not. Kristoff's plan was to sneak in and gather more information. If they had already found it, he'd improvise a way to intercept it. If they hadn't, he decided he would let them do the hard work for him until they turned it up or determined that the grail was not at this location.

It wasn't a great plan, but he couldn't think of any other options either, and he had come too far to just sit aside and do nothing. By now the sun had nearly reached the horizon line, beginning the slow descent into nightfall as the sky darkened and the shadows lengthened. The advancing darkness offered excellent cover, allowing Kristoff to close the remaining distance between him and the helicopter without being noticed. Not that anyone was keeping a watchful eye out, preoccupied as they were with plundering the remains of a cave system that possibly contained an ancient treasure trove.

Kristoff crouched low and pressed himself up against a low rock a few meters from where a helicopter lay parked. Faintly, he could make out the sounds of some voices as they drifted in and out of the mouth of the cave. Ahead of him, a single mercenary, the leader by the looks of him, emerged from the mouth of the cave and proceeded towards the helicopter.

"Alright boys, pack it in!" he shouted to the other men. "There's nothing here. Radio the boss and tell him we didn't find it, we'll meet them at the other site!."

"Well, how 'bout that" Kristoff whispered to himself. He eyed the helicopter as he began to form a plan in his mind.

... ... ...

Elsa and Anna skirted the edges of the perimeter around the base camp that Hans's mercenaries had set up in front of the entrance to Sarras. Using the tall dunes for cover, they offered excellent vantage points for which the two sisters could discreetly survey their competition below them as they searched for the alternative, hidden entrance to the city.

They made it to the far side of the rocky plateau, and climbed up the side of a tall and steep cliff until they stood upon the flat surface on top, overlooking the encampment below them. Far to the west, the sun was dipping below the horizon as the last fading rays of blood-orange sunlight bled away as the shadows around them lengthened and the air came on as evening approached. Far out of earshot, Elsa and Anna were able to converse freely.

"How long do you think they've been here?" Anna asked, crouching near the lip of a cliff as she observed the movement below them.

Elsa, who was crouching beside her, rose and backed away from the lip as she gazed above her at the stars that were beginning to kindle out of the darkness of the sky. She pursed her lip in thought, "hard to say, but it looks like they still haven't found it yet."

"Well," Anna sighed, "at least we've got that going for us." She backed away from the cliff edge and joined Elsa at her side. "Looks like they're searching in the wrong place too, so that oasis should be all ours."

"That is, if we can find it," Elsa said. She was reading the note they had found in the bunker again. "Seek passage beyond the city..." she muttered.

"Beyond the city..." Anna repeated. "Then we must be heading in the right direction, right? I mean, we didn't pass through any canyons on the way here so..."

"Let's hope so," Elsa said as she folded up the note and tucked it away.

Behind them, a distant but loud explosion split the silence of the night as it boomed and echoed from deep beneath the earth.

Anna scowled as she cast a glance behind her."We better get a move on then before those idiots blast the place to bits," she said.

Together they set off across the plateau at a quick and steady pace. They made fast progress, despite the uneven and rocky ground. At several points, they had to leap over or pass around large crevasses and cracks in the surface of the plateau. Deep and dark as they were, especially with nightfall upon them, Elsa and Anna were extra careful not to fall in one.

"Hey I got a joke for ya," Anna chirped as they passed over a large rock.

"Oh, here we go," Elsa sighed.

"What do you call a witch who is stranded in the middle of the desert?"

"What?"

"A sand-witch!" Anna broke into a fit of hysterical laughter. "Get it? Because of all the sand?

Elsa sighed deeply again as she pretended not to enjoy her joke.

Anna continued to laugh gleefully to herself, "oh I love that one."

A few more minutes of walking passed in silence as the pair continued forwards, approaching a large rise.

"Beyond the city… through the canyon..." Anna muttered.

"And in the hidden oasis," Elsa finished, then ran a hand through her blonde hair as she mulled over the description again. "We've got to be in the right place," she said as she looked all around her at their surroundings.

Anna had continued walking past Elsa. "Right, but we haven't even seen a canyon yet, let alone a hidden oasis. I mean what are the odds that-" she shrieked in fright as she took one step too far and teetered on the edge of a steep canyon that had suddenly appeared before her. "Nevermind! Heh, found it!" she laughed nervously as she recoiled.

Elsa caught Anna by her shoulder and pulled her back. "I'll say," she quipped.

Anna chuckled sheepishly then peered down into the tall, narrow slot canyon she had nearly fallen into. From above it appeared inconspicuous enough, but due to its subtle profile and Anna's angle of approach from atop, she had not noticed it until it was almost too late.

She whistled as she looked down, and was a bit surprised when her echo whistled back. "Well, now that's what I'd call a canyon," Anna said. "But, how to get down?'

Elsa scanned the walls of the canyon and the sandy bottom until she spotted a dip in the ground a short distance away to their left. The slope there was gently enough to walk down and the section of rock was short enough to drop down into the canyon without injury.

"Over there," Elsa gestured to the dip and made her way over to it.

She descended first, grasping the lowest edge and easing her way down by bracing her legs against the side of the wall. Elsa hung there until she settled as low as she could go, then turned her upper body halfway around and released her grip. Pivoting her torso and lower body as she fell, she landed gracefully and then paced away a short distance. A sudden crash and thud came from behind her.

"Oof!" Anna yelped as she landed in a heap behind Elsa. She quickly rose and then dusted herself off, flashing a bright grin at her older sister. "What? It was quicker to just jump down," she shrugged.

Elsa rolled her eyes, "so graceful, dear sister."

"Don't tease. Sarcasm is a terrible look on you," Anna chided as she walked past Elsa.

Elsa shook her head, and followed behind Anna.

Together, they pressed deeper into the canyon. The walls pressed in tighter in some areas, and widened in others while twisting and turning here and there. Above them, the stars and moon cast just enough light to see by so that Elsa and Anna weren't stumbling blindly in the dark. Eventually, the way before them widened outwards as the canyon stretched away into a large and open clearing that held a shimmering oasis. A small copse of palm trees surrounded by tall grass hugged the edges of the water, and the pool of crystal clear water was fed by a waterfall that spat out from a hole in the rock face directly ahead of them. The oasis was a tiny, lush paradise virtually untouched by the ravages of the desert that lay just beyond as it was shielded by the high canyon walls.

Elsa gasped in awe as she stepped forward into the shady, cool air and gazed all around her. "Wow," she muttered softly as she drank in the sights.

Meanwhile, Anna sidled up against a wall furthest away from the water as she stared resolutely at the night sky, determined not to look at the water. She gulped deeply, "hidden oasis, okay, cool. And water, I should have expected that. At least I can see the… bottom. You don't uh… you don't suppose the entrance is… underwater do you?"

Elsa looked back towards Anna, and felt a pang of regret as she noticed the anxiety etched into her features. She stepped towards her younger sister and placed a reassuring hand on her shoulder. "It's okay, I'll take a look around, alright?" Elsa said soothingly.

Anna glanced down at Elsa before nodding her head before turning away to study the very interesting rocks by her feet. "Okay," she mumbled.

Elsa lingered a moment longer before she turned around and explored the oasis. She walked the perimeter of the pool of water, assessing its depth as well as its source a few meters above as water cascaded outwards from the rock face. This close, she felt the mist on her skin and Elsa delighted in its cool kiss. The surface around the base of the waterfall tossed and roiled relentlessly as water continued to pour down from above. Thankfully, as far as she could tell, there was no hidden entrance underwater.

She paced towards the waterfall, eyeing the surface of the rock face around it as she searched for any openings or other clues that might suggest another entry. Finding none, she shifted her focus closer to the ground and found what appeared to be a small cave sitting a small distance away from the edge of the water alongside the waterfall.

Elsa walked towards it, pushing aside a stand of tall grasses that partially concealed the mouth of the cave. She withdrew a flashlight from her belt and shined it into the darkness. The passageway before her struck ahead and sharply turned away as it sloped downwards into the dark. Looking promising, Elsa retreated out of the cave and jogged over to Anna, who had busied herself with cleaning her gun and removing the sand that had accumulated on it.

"Find anything?" Anna asked without looking up.

"Well the good news is, you won't have to get wet," Elsa said. She pointed over to the stand of tall grasses she had emerged from, "there's a cave over there that leads further underground. I think that's our way in."

Anna stood up and inserted her weapon into its holster, "hmm, a secret entrance by a waterfall. How cliche" she drawled. "Well, lead the way, ma cherie. Treasure awaits!" she grinned as her eyes lit up in anticipation.

Elsa couldn't help but smirk as well, finding that Anna's excitement was highly contagious.

Together, the two sisters pressed forward and entered the cave, descending once again into the depths of the unknown.