Author's notes: Well, I'm back. Actually, I wrote this chapter immediately after the first, so I didn't fall into the post-first chapter slump I have a tendency to get into. But I posted it later just to be evil. So =P. And it took forever for people to review, too! -_-; Review, all of you! Oh, and I know that the offerings at the temple were only fruit, but I changed it to suit my purposes. You'll see.
The first thing that Sirrus and Achenar were aware of after the link was the clank of metal.
"Hey," muttered Achenar absentmindedly. "That sounds like a cage closing."
"It is."
"Oh. Pull the shock switch, would you, love?" Sirrus blinked as Achenar leaned into his shoulder, drool dripping out of his mouth.
"Number one: we are *not* in the Mechanical Age, so there is no shock switch. Number two: wake up! And number three: call me 'love' again and I will castrate you." Achenar's eyes flipped open to see that he and his brother were trapped in a small, vertically-oriented cage, and he had pressed himself up against said brother. He also noticed that there was a large drool stain on the back of Sirrus' best jacket. Suddenly, they both became aware of a man standing in front of the cage. He was dressed in what appeared to be a uniform, and spoke in a strange language. "Excuse me, could you possibly let us out?" The man gestured to show that he did not understand.
"Um, Sirrus?"
"Shut up, dear brother. Now you, soldier-man, do try to understand. LET. US. OUT," he spoke slowly, as if drawing out his words would make their message anymore clear. This only caused the guard to attempt the same thing. He was also vaguely aware of Achenar deftly swiping at the shoulder of his jacket, which became increasingly annoying as the guard's one-sided conversation continued.
"Would you stop that?!" Sirrus cried, pushing his brother's hand away.
"But," protested Achenar weakly.
"But nothing...!" The guard took that opportunity to wrench the linking book from Sirrus' hand. "Give that back!" he commanded, trying to grab it back, but the guard was already out of reach. He appeared to be incredibly happy as he flipped through the book, but then something hit him in the back of the neck. He passed out, and then was dragged away from the front of the cage. A masked man decked out in red and black walked over to the lever mechanism across from the cage, pushed it, and jammed a knife into it. The bars in front of Sirrus and Achenar began to disappear into the ground. By the time they were down, the man was gone-with the prison book.
"I'll catch him!" yelled Achenar, dashing up the stairs, across the bridge, and out of sight. Sirrus watched him go with mild irritation.
"Well, perhaps now I can get some work done." He strode into the rotating room and examined the images inside of the beetles. They were quite interesting, depicting in each of them a different scene-one man appeared in all of them. 'That must be Gehn,' Sirrus mused. 'Why didn't Father ever tell me I had such an interesting Grandfather?' He pulled out Atrus' journal; perhaps this would shed some light on the situtation. It didn't. It turned out to be nothing more than his father's useless ramblings. Ah well.
Knock, knock.
Sirrus' head snapped up. Was someone watching him?
Knock, knock.
It was quite possible. If he was Gehn, he would have spies everywhere.
Bang, bang!
The knocking had become a loud banging. Sirrus looked all around him; where was it coming from?
Bang, bang!
He moved closer to the wall. It vibrated with each knock-this was where the banging was coming from. There was a small peephole in the wall...
Bang, bang!
Sirrus placed his eye up to the hole and.......the banging stopped.
There was someone else looking back at him.
Sirrus jumped back, and a nasally wail emanated from the wall.
"Hellllooo, dear brother! Did I scare you?" Girlish giggling followed. Sirrus smacked the wall in frustration.
"Achenar, how did you end up over there?"
"I walked." More giggling.
"I am aware of that...oh, never mind. Did you catch the man?"
"What man?"
".....What did I do to deserve you?"
"I don't know, dear brother, but that's awfully nice of you to say!"
"Oh yes, I killed people, but *really*....I'm leaving." Sirrus began to walk towards the exit.
"No, Sirrus, don't go! I have to tell you what I found!" Achenar spoke through the cave wall. "I ran off looking for that man...ooooh, *that's* who you were talking about...well, I didn't find him, I don't know where he could have gone, but that's not the point. Anyway, I kept running until I hit a wall, and there was a lever and I almost pulled it, but then I decided to come back here to see what you were doing first. There was also a door, but I didn't worry about it, and then I was running across the bridge and I saw that there was another way around, so I walked around, but there was a gate and it was locked, but then I saw one of those neat old knives at the base of the gate, and I realized there was enough of a gap to crawl under, so I did, but it took a lot of struggling-that gap was not made for husky men like me, more like for girly ones like you-and now I have bloody cuts all down my back from that nasty wood. Good thing I had to take my shirt off to get under, or it would have been all torn up too, just like my back!" There was nothing but silence. "Um, brother? Sirrus? Are you listening to me?"
"Well, isn't this interesting?" Sirrus commented, looking at the caged-in chair. The cage ascended as he stepped closer to it. He examined his surroundings carefully; it appeared hat this was some kind of imaging machine.
"Now to go examine that switch dear brother mentioned."
"Um, Sirrus? Are you there? Help...I just need a little bit of help," Achenar squirmed underneath the wooden gate; he was stuck. Again. "Dear brother...HELP!!!"
"What was that?" Sirrus looked around, hand still resting on the lever attached to the stone wall.
"Still stuck!" a voice echoed. "Need hel...OW! Gate embedded in my back! Brother!"
"Just a dying animal," Sirrus sighed, pushing the stone door open. He entered the large temple room, drinking in the overstated majesty of the place. He stared at the large cage, smirking as he walked towards it. "It would seem Grandfather has quite a God complex." It was then his attention drifted to the offerings on the floor...there was..."Gold," Sirrus breathed. He dropped to his knees in awe of the pile before him, it had been so long since he had seen it....the luxury. The beauty. The awe. His eyes shone with lust as he tenderly picked the coins up off the polished floor.
"GOLD!"
"Ack..almost...out...ah! That's gonna leave a mark....pull, pull, pull..." the sound of ripping fabric could be heard, "...there! Triumph!" Achenar jumped to his feet and struck a dramatic pose. "I've done it! All bow before Achenar, Lord of the Shimmy!" As he finished saying this, he looked down and realized...
"My best pants!"
...That his pants were now around his ankles.
Sirrus tossed the coins up in the air with immeasurable joy. Oh, what a glorious day! Freedom and gold! Yes, nothing better in the world than gold, maybe except for freedom, because, let's face it, you can't really enjoy gold without freedom, but they both are just oh so wonderful. And the best part was he didn't have to share it with anyone, not anyone at all......
Achenar.
Sirrus sat bolt upright, clutching the gold in his hands. His eyes darted around at a feverish pace-yes, of course, how could he have forgotten Achenar? That money-grubbing, greedy, self-centered little.....he'd never let him keep all of it. Sirrus bounced up, began pacing back and forth, all the while pressing the gold to his chest. No, no, he wasn't going to give up his gold, not to him. But if Achenar saw it, he wouldn't let him keep it, he never did before. He always griped about him getting money, Achenar just didn't like to see his brother prosper.
"I'll hide it!"
Achenar smiled proudly. He had managed to turn his torn shirt into a makeshift belt that now held his torn pants loosely in place.
"Yes, I have done it! All bow to Achenar, Lord of the Belt!" He skipped around to the entrance of the rotating room and pushed the button in the doorway. The room spun around slowly until all that remained in the door was a peephole which Achenar peered through. He pushed the button again and again until he figured it out. He had to go back under the gate.
"Damn it."
"That will have to do for now," Sirrus said, tucking all the gold beside the entrance to the temple. "Achenar won't see it if he's not looking for it." He turned to the large contraption behind him, observing the tracks. "Ah, this must be some sort of transport. This will definitely amuse my dear brother." Sirrus headed back to the rotating room only to find it empty and the gate opened. "Brother?" He walked through the room and across the bridge to what appeared to be a giant gold dome. Inside the dome was a pool of water and a giant mechanism hanging from the roof. There were stairs to his left and a broken walkway to his right. In front of him laid a diagram with five points, whatever that meant. Only one way to go.
Sirrus descended the stairs and walked around out of the room. He heard the whistling of steam, and walked out on the cliffside to see a steam pipe. There was a lever on the side; Sirrus pulled it and the steam was redirected through a system of pipes up to the dome. It was then he heard a high-pitched giggling. "I think I hear my brother calling..."
Sirrus continued down the cliffside path thrugh a dark cave, and when he reached the other side, he found Achenar.
"Steam on...steam off. Steam on...steam off. Steam on..."
"Achenar..."
"Steam off. Steam on...steam..."
"Achenar!"
"What?!" cried Achenar, tearing his attention away from his beloved steam lever for a moment.
"Achenar, it's time to move on. Please redirect the steam, and let's go."
"No. I don't wanna. I'm having fun." His eyes gleamed, "Steam off. Steam on."
"Achenar!" Sirrus pulled his brother away from the lever and redirected the steam. "It's time to go!"
"I already told you, I wanna play with the lever!" Sirrus rolled his eyes, and then quickly snapped his fingers.
"But Achenar, I found something much more interesting. A *ride*."
"A ride?"
"Yes, let's go see it."
"Okay!" Achenar happily bounded throught the cave; Sirrus followed him, smirking. They continued to the tram, and got in. "Oh, dear brother, there's only one chair!" Achenar hopped in and sat down. "You can sit on my lap, if you want." Achenar grinned ferociously, throughly enjoying the look of disgust on the other's face. Sirrus reluctantly climbed into the tram and knelt in a small gap next to the chair. Achenar looked over the control panel giddily. "Let's try this one!" He pulled the switch in the middle of the panel, but nothing happened. "Aw...well, how about this one?" He pulled a lever around the panel. The door closed, and the tram swung around. Achenar bounced up and down in his seat.
"Oh, Maker save us," mumured Sirrus as Achenar pulled the switch which sent the tram on it's way.
"Here we go!"
And that's another chapter down! Only about.....a dozen more to go! Actually, I don't know how long this thing's going to be. We'll see as it goes along. I would just like to thank everyone who reviewed already, and ask you to keep those reviews coming! Much thanks, and see you next time!
