Author's Note: Wow it's really been forever since I've updated and I apologize...actually with all of my other projects I forgot about this one. If anyone still reads this, thanks and please review. As a note, if anyone reads this before I have a chance to revise, Raijinn's name is now Runihura, Maru is Khalfani and I must go back and correct it. Figured it was best for Egyptian characters to have names that are, oh I dunno, Egyptian.
Chapter 6: Of Honor and Pride
Hours later, the plane was a few minutes away from their destination. Lance had his seat reclined, his occasional light snore confirmed the fact that he was asleep. Lara continued to pilot the plane, but the words that the young man had said some time before still resonated in her head: I think the only time we truly gain anything in life is when we experience misfortune. "He's not all that bad." Lara told herself quietly as they landed smoothly in the desert.
"Uh, what? We there already?" Lance sat up and rubbed his eyes drowsily, mumbling something about pink elephants and talking chestnuts.
"Yes, it's still some distance away, but I made travel arrangements for us." Lara said and gestured to a small house with a pen in the back. The desert area was very quiet and sparsely populated, but many people enjoyed living in the secluded area. Lara knocked on the door and a tall, thin man answered.
"Yes?" The older bearded man looked at the two explorers questioningly, his English was surprisingly good.
"May we borrow two of your camels, sir?" Lara asked. The man's wife came to the door and the pair talked in incomprehensible Arabic before turning to Lance and Lara.
"I suppose you may, but please take care of them. I want them returned when you are done." The female tomb raider nodded and the man took them back to the pen.
Lance looked one of the camels over, a slightly bemused expression crossing his features. "Wow, those are some big, ugly dogs." He said as he poked and prodded at the camel's nose.
"That's not a dog, Lance, it's a camel." Lara corrected him, not being able to believe the rather dense young man could not differentiate between the two.
"A what?" Lance asked as he continued to poke it. The irritated animal spit in his face and Lance sprung back with a startled yelp. "Gross! Bad dog! There is no way I'm getting on one of those demonic possessed dogs."
"Then you stay here and I'll go, then I will come back and see how long it took for the vultures to pick apart your dried up carcass." Lara proposed with a wry smile.
Lance looked at the camel, who met his eyes before grunting in disgust and turning away. Both of them got on their respective camels and trotted away, but not without much cursing, grumbling, and complaining on Lance's part.
The younger tomb raider took a CD player out of his bag and put on his headphones, cranking the volume so loud that Lara could hear it as if it were blaring in her ears. "That kid is going to go deaf at this rate." Lara said to herself as an oblivious Lance began to play air guitar.
"What? Aww, damn it." Lance cursed in frustration as he took the headphones off and jammed them back into his bag. "Fifth rule of tomb raiding—always be prepared." He groused fumingly. With that, they continued to travel across the vast, sprawling desert silently.
Not too much later, the pair of tomb raiders reached the ruins that Runihura's Spear was supposed to be located in. "This is the place." Lara told Lance as he jumped off the camel as quick as he could and tethered both of them to a nearby piece of debris.
"Lance, first rule of tomb raiding." Lara asked, pausing before the two entered the ruins.
"That's an easy one." The young man explained. "It is vitally important to always be aware of your surroundings and to watch your back because ain't no one gonna watch it for you."
Lara, while slightly amused at the other's complete disregard for basic English grammar, nodded in silent confirmation. "I didn't want to wait for you to screw up to make sure you knew that."
They both cautiously stepped into the ruins, spider webs lined the corners of the walls and scorpions skittered out of the way. The dusty, stagnant air caused Lance to cough, but Lara, who was used to it, was unaffected. Reaching into her backpack, Lara grabbed a flare and lit it with a resounding crack. "Wow, this is amazing." Lance said. Even though his voice was barely above a whisper, it echoed loudly through the room, bouncing off the ancient stone walls. Lance paused as he felt some sort of carving. "Hey, check this out, are these hieroglyphs?"
Lara, who was a few feet in front of him stopped and turned around, knelt down next to the carvings and held her flare up to them. "I believe they are." She responded absently.
"Can you read what they say?" Lance inquired as the flare burned out. The female tomb raider took out a flashlight and nodded her head.
"Runihura is becoming way too powerful." Lara began. "He incinerated our crops and calls upon the fury of Ra to strike our homes. What worries me and my people the most is the spear he wields and its ability to draw lightning from the sky. As pharaoh, I refuse to let this chaos continue and vow to stop it, even if it shall cost me my very life." Both of them stood very silent for a few moments. "That's all." Lara said softly.
In a way, this reminded the tomb raider of her first expedition with Werner Von Croy back in Cambodia, only this time she felt that her protégé was in greater danger than she ever was. "Lance, this is serious…you should go back home." Lara warned as she picked up her bag.
"No." The young man protested forcefully, looking his mentor square in the eye. "Lara, you trusted me…you gave me a second chance that, in my heart, I know damn well I did not deserve. You taught me everything I know about tomb raiding, and even though you may not know it, you taught me a lesson for life." Lara was both shocked and moved by Lance's emotion filled words, but made no attempt to interject. "You taught me never to give up no matter what…that even if you are afraid, to look your problems in the eye and never yield to them. You are my mentor and I am supposed to do as I am instructed, but not this time, I will not run away from this."
All at once Lara realized how much Lance had grown and matured over the year that they had known each other. He had metamorphosed from the rash, impudent, vengeful little brat he once was into a strong, mature young man. "I understand now." The woman said at last, but her sternness was belied by a proud smile at how far her student had come.
The two adventurers moved forward into the darkness, going quickly yet carefully through the dusty stone halls. Stopping in her tracks, Lara pushed Lance onto the ground. "Get down!" The woman instructed as she drew her .45s and fired off a few shots, whatever it was that she saw she was almost certain it was dead. "You alright?" Lara asked the other as she helped him up, the younger explorer shaking his head.
"Yeah, what was all that about?" Lance asked as he shone a light down the hall, noticing a skeleton with several bullets wedged in its bones.
"Get used to it." Lara said as she dug another .45 out of her brown backpack and handed it to Lance.
"Fourth rule of tomb raiding." The young man said to himself as he flipped the safety off. "Don't wait until you are attacked to defend yourself."
Lara nodded as she knelt down against the wall, studying more of the carvings. "The spear now out of Runihura's reach, great power he hath bequeathed . Should you enter unto this room, my spirit shall cast imminent doom." The woman looked over the rest of the hieroglyphs carefully, Lance following suit despite not being able to read them.
"I don't see a room." The younger tomb raider said to himself as he looked around. Lara pushed a stone into the wall as the rocky barrier lifted up, revealing a long stairway. "Damn…you're good." Lance remarked as he walked over to Lara and shone a light down the long tunnel. A long hallway, cracking in many places, would lead them down into the depths of the ruins. The pair turned around when they noticed that another door had opened as well, the room it lead to was littered with debris and had a table in the middle of the room with a spear gently placed on top—presumably Runihura's Spear.
"Hey, that was kinda easy." Lance remarked as he walked into the room, kicking ceramic pots and cups off to the side.
"Too easy." Lara corrected as she followed him. "Be careful." They continued to walk towards the spear, their footfalls echoing in the distance, but when they got to the table a trapdoor opened underneath them, sending them plummeting into the endless darkness.
The two tomb raiders fell into a deep pool of dirty, opaque water. Lara opened her eyes briefly and swan to the surface, gasping for air as she pulled herself up onto dry land. "Oh bloody hell! Lance!" The woman exclaimed as she remembered that her young student was somewhere at the bottom of the pool. Without a second thought, Lara dove back into the watery abyss to search for Lance. The water was almost impossible to see through, but while the pool was exceedingly deep, it was relatively narrow. Lara felt her hand brush against something and made out the vague outline of the young man, then wrapped one arm around him and fought to swim to the surface.
Lara hauled Lance up onto the dry land then climbed up herself, the young man in a bit of a daze coughed up some water and shakily rose to his feet. "I guess I owe you my life twice now." Lance said with a weak smile as he brushed damp brown hair away from his eyes.
"Just as I thought, we should have taken the stairs." Lara said as she gestured to the same staircase that they had saw before. I can't believe I fell for such an amateur trap, Lara thought with a tinge of aggravation. I've been out of the game for way too long if something like that fooled me.
"What's done is done, I suppose." Lance said with a shrug as they both walked on. A gust of cold air blew through the tomb, sending a chill up the young man's spine as the pair stopped in their tracks. "Did you feel that?" Lance asked as he arched an eyebrow in confusion.
"Either that, or we're both going crazy." Lara remarked vacantly as an even stronger wave of cold air washed over them. A form walked out of the room and into the hall so that he stood directly in front of Lance and Lara. It was a man dressed in what appeared to be ancient Egyptian clothing with medium black hair tied back in a ponytail, the man's cool blue eyes coming into sharp contrast with his deeply tanned skin as he calmly looked over the two adventurers.
"Grave robbers? Even after all these years?" He questioned in a deep, powerful voice that was both calming and sternly commanding at the same time. Lance fumbled out his .45s and fired off a few shots, and was amazed when the bullets merely passed through the apparition. "Do not strike me, I am only here to help you." He put out his translucent hand out in a gesture of good will and a faint hint of a smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
"Who are you?" Lance asked once he realized the spirit would do them no harm.
"The correct question would be who was I. I was Khalfani, former pharaoh of Egypt…my reign was cut short after I was killed in battle by Runihura." Lara, having seen so many odd and supernatural things in the course of her career did not even consider the spirit who was talking to them to be strange. Lance, on the other hand, had his jaw hanging and stared in confusion. "Now your turn—who are you?" Khalfani asked as Lara put her guns away and approached him.
"I'm Lara Croft and that kid is Lance. We came to find Runihura's Spear before it falls into the wrong hands." The woman explained as the pharaoh closed his eyes.
"Your intentions are pure…unlike the last man that I saw." Khalfani stated, causing Lance's head to shoot up.
"What did he look like?" The young man asked.
"Pretty tall, dark blonde hair…he talked funny and didn't seem to be all too intelligent." The pharaoh responded, and both Lara and Lance agreed that Khalfani's description matched Larson very well. "All I want is for the spear to be safe…somewhere where it will be undisturbed forever." Khalfani started in his deep voice. "I trust you will fulfill my request."
The apparition disappeared but his words still resonated through the room. "Lara, whatever happens, this is my fight." Lance said as he turned to his mentor. "I want to settle this on my own." Lara knew what he meant and understood his adamancy towards confronting his father. "So where are we going now?" The young man asked after a few seconds, trying to get off of a sore subject.
Lara scanned the area and noticed three rooms on the same side of the hall—the first room the pharaoh came out of, the second one was a narrower room enveloped in darkness, and the third had a locked door with a keyhole. "Simple. All you have to do is think logically. Lara began. "If a door is locked, there must be something of value behind it. In order to protect it, the key is hidden in a conspicuous place that few people would find."
Lance nodded in understanding as he took in the entire information. "Good theory chief, but there are still two doors to choose from." He noted and shone his flashlight into the dark room which had three hallways, each going in a different direction. "Perfect." He mumbled as he peeked into Khalfani's room, a faint, eerie glow palely lit the chamber that only contained one hallway.
"Let's go this way." Lara said and walked into the black room, then briefly thought about which route to take.
"Hey chief." Lance started tentatively. "What if they're using the reverse psychology thing…y'know, hide it in plain sight?"
Lara sighed, while the young man had made a very valid point, he was making the matter more complicated than what it really was. Or am I just making it simpler than what it really is? The female tomb raider let out another sigh. We've only been here a few hours and already he is making me contradict myself…no wonder I usually work alone. Lara reminded herself. "Let's go through the passage on the left." She told Lance as he obediently followed, the narrow hall leading them into a large room.
As Lance was walking into the room, he absently stepped on a raised rock. "Lance, you did not just do that." Lara said as she heard the distinct sound of stone scraping against itself, followed by yet another sound she knew well—a little too well. Looking up, then to her left and right, her suspicions were confirmed as she noticed the rusted spike walls caked with dry blood and dirt closing in on them on three sides. Without hesitation, the two ran from the spikes before tripping and stumbling down a slope. Lara and Lance hit the ground hard and struggled to rise back up quickly.
"You alright chief?" Lance asked as he helped his mentor up, a dull ache surging through his body as a result of the hard landing.
"I've been better and I've been worse." Lara paused to wipe the blood from a deep scrape that ran from her elbow to her wrist. "How about you?"
Just then the ground shook, a vicious, blood curdling howl filled the air as Lance stared in disbelief. "This could be very bad."
Chapter 7 preview: The great beast of the skies threatens to destroy the two tomb raiders, but after a long and valiant struggle, Khalfani steps in. Larson also makes his appearance and has a chance encounter with the spirit of Runihura, and the ancient spirit decides to strike a deal with the man...