Alrighty, I'm back. This is more than likey going to be my last chapter before school starts again, so let's make this one good, shall we?
Also, somewhere in the story, there will be some lines and situations played off of The Scorpion King, so that y'all know that it's someone else's work, not mine. The situations and lines just seemed to work so well, so I'm stea... (ahem) borrowing them from the movie. All that I get from watching Egypt movies with my brother late at night...
Onto Damcyan... Something absolutely horrible is about to happen. Several things, actually.
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Chapter 5: Tragedies in the Desert
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Red had done a good job of flying the party over the water in the past two days. Now they were over a wide mountain range, with a glittery streak of yellow on the horizion.
"What's that?" Sefi asked, pointing to the yellow line.
"That's the desert I call home," Red said proudly, holding her head higher and puffing out her chest. "Not much of it now, but just wait until you see the rest of it," She said.
"You continue to drive towards it. I'll go tell the others the trip's almost over," Sefi said, heading to the cabins.
On her way down, she ran into Porom. "Hullo, Porom. How's Angel doing?" She asked.
"Much better. That silver cloth her shirt's made of... It's an amazing substance. It not only made a wonderful bandage, but I think it actaully helpped heal her," Porom marveled.
"Huh. How 'bout that," Sefi said, not as impressed as Porom. "Hey, Red says we're closing in on Damcyan," Sefi said brightly.
"We are?" Someone called from the nearest cabin. Sefi looked in the open door and saw Angel, standing by her bed, with Palom holding her up. "How much longer?" She asked eagerly.
"Only a day, maybe," Sefi said.
"Yes!" Angel cheered, but gasped for breath and clutched her side.
Palom steadied her and said, "Try not to exurt to much energy. You're still very weak. If we'd know that your dark half was so powerful, we wouldn't have let you go in."
"I know," Porom added, walking in the door. "Cecil didn't have so much trouble with his dark half. But he was a grown man, and he had quite a bit of experience with a blade; we should have factored that in," She said.
"Oh well," Angel laughed. "I'm here now, aren't I?"
"That you are," Porom said approvingly. "Although that thing on your side is being very tricky to heal. I don't know how much longer it'll be before you can move like that again," She added.
"Just as long as I get better, I'm happy," Angel insisted.
"Sefi! Get up here quick!" Red called, yelling "Ow!" and "Get off!" as Sefi turned and ran back up to the deck.
"What on earth...?" Palom muttered.
"Whatever it is, it doesn't sound good," Porom added, moving closer to Angel, laying a hand on her side, and casting another strong heal spell on the massive wound. There was a scream, followed by the sound of a sword ripping through the air but not hitting anything.
"Palom! Get up here, now!" Sefi hollared. The black mage set Angel down on the bed and ran out to see what was going on.
"Cockatrices!" He yelled.
There was a flash of yellow light, meaning that he'd just cast a lightning spell of some kind. The ship pitched violently, sending Porom and Angel to the floor. Porom crawled to the door and braced herself against the door post, trying to pull herself back up, but the ship swayed again and she crashed to the floor again. Palom was trying to steady himself against the door that led to the deck, but was also trying to ward off a large silver bird with blue wings with his little knife.
"Porom! Help me!" He yelled over his shoulder. Porom began muttering under her breath while her brother continued fighting the cockatrice.
"Reflect!" Porom cried, sending a bolt of blue light at Palom.
The cockatrice flinched from the light, but quickly resumed it's attack. It targeted Palom's arm as a decent place to begin pecking him again, but when it's beak tounched his arm there was another bright flash of blue and the bird went spiraling backwards. It squawked and flew away from the ship.
"Thanks," Palom said to Porom, "But I think that Red and Sefi could use a reflect spell too. He pointed at the two girls, fighting off the silver birds on the other side of the deck.
Sefi was having quite a bit of trouble keeping three cockatrices off of her, and Red was failing at managing the ship with two birds hoovering around her. She waved her arm over her head, as a feeble attempt to send the birds away, but the ship pitched again and the birds remained over the mage's head. Porom quickly cast another reflect spell on Sefi and sent those three away, but didn't get to Red in time.
One of the cockatrices pecked her cheeck and she froze in place, slowly turning a dull gray color before everyone's eyes. The ship began dipping dangerously close to the ground
"Red!" Sefi screamed, bringing the attention of Red's former attackers to rest on her. The two birds flew towards Sefi and the two mages at an alarming speed; the three were barely ready to fight the cockatrices when they reached them.
Angel, meanwhile, had been in her cabin, trying to find where Palom and Porom had put her sword. Even if Porom didn't think she could move with much fluidity for a while, she wasn't about to sit and watch helplessly from the sidelines as her firends were locked in battle.
"FuSoYa, help me," She swore in frustration when her sword continued to prove ilussive.
That was when she heard Sefi scream Red's name, and she correctly assumed that something bad had just happened. She undid the silver cloth around her side and looked at the deep wound on her side; it was no more than a scar now. And she felt fine. She cast her miniscule cure spell on herself, uncovered her sword at last, and ran to help the others.
When she appeared in the door, brandishing her sword, the cockotrices took one look at her, screamed with fear, and fled. Angel was surprised; she didn't know that cockatrices were afraid of paladins... But they wouldn't know she was a paladin, would they?
"How did you do that?" Palom asked her.
Angel shrugged and made a vague noise.
"Porom, go heal Red; if you hurry, we might be able to get back into the sky before we crash," Sefi directed.
Porom surged across the deck to Red and began chanting a spell. Palom, Angel and Sefi all ran to the side of the ship and looked over, hoping they were close to the castle.
Pleeeease, don't be over the mountains, Sefi prayed desparately.
Fortunately, Red had sped The Enterprise to it's maximum before she'd been petrified and they were now speeding over the mountain range with a speed that everyone was gratefull for. But at the same time the ship was nearing the land with evey passing minute. They were coming closer to the desert, at last, but it looked like they might still crash into the mountains if Porom didn't finsh healing Red soon.
"Done!" Porom yelled to Sefi, who came running over to take the wheel while Red got herself in check.
"What happened?" Red asked, slightly confused.
"I'll explain later," Sefi said, pushing a few buttons and exhaling as the ship began to climb up into the sky again.
"Yes! We're going to make it to the desert!" She cried, happy with the way things were turning out now. The mountain range ended and the gleaming expanse of the desert began.
Five minutes later, however, the ship made an odd sputtering sound and it was suddenly quiet.
"What just happened?" Porom asked in a nervous voice.
"The engine's stopped!" Sefi said, pushing some more buttons and pulling a lever so hard that everyone was afraid the stick would break off.
"I think we're out of gas," Sefi informed bleakly.
"What does that mean?" Palom asked.
"It means that we're going to crash," Sefi said, fiddling with some more buttons on the dash board.
"What?" Everyone cried at once. The ship began hurtling towards the ground once again, much faster this time.
"Sefi! Come over here!" Porom ordered, and Sefi ran to her.
"Everyone gather around me," She directed, and everyone stood around her. She began chanting a spell, and then cried, "Teleport!"
The vision of the airship began to spin, gruadually shifing into a blur of yellow and blue light. When their vision focused, they were standing in the middle of a hot yellow void. All was silent for a moment; then there was a loud thud somewhere behind them, and when they looked they saw The Enterprise crash into the sand, about a mile away. Half of the hull gave out and fell in splinters on the ground around it.
"Cid's going to kill me," Sefi muttered with a twicth in her eye.
"Well Cid's not here yet," Angel said brightly.
Sefi didn't really register this comment. Her face was still set in a frozen stare in front of her at the reckage of the magnificent airship before them.
"Hey, how are we going to get to Damyan?" Palom asked.
"I could teleport us there," Porom offered. "Stand around me again," She said, and everyone gathered around her once more while she began chanting the teleport spell.
It worked... To some effect. They wound up about two or three miles from a castle of dark gray stone. In front of them lay a flat stretch of sand, followed by some low dunes; all of which they'd have to cross to reach Damcyan castle if Porom didn't teleport again. And she couldn't teleport them again because she was running low on MP and wanted to save some for an emergency.
So, off the party went across the sand. Walking in the unstable sand was a chore, and the burning sun wasn't making things any better. Porom kept an eye on Angel the entire time, worried about how the current conditions would effect her. She seemed fine, but alert to something. As if she could sence an unseen danger of some kind. Remembering that paladins could sence things like this, she asked Angel about it.
"What's wrong?" Porom finally asked her. "
Something's coming, but I don't know what... There's something in the air that just screams danger," Angel explained, having difficulty describing the odd sensation that she felt. "It's like... it's a tingley feeling, like when your foot goes to sleep or when you jump into cold water... Well, maybe not like that, or... I don't know how to say it. I've never felt this way before," She said.
"It sounds like you're catching a vibe of some kind," Palom offered.
"What's a vibe?" Red asked.
"I think it's a feeling, or something. You can tell something's happening by feeling something in the air," Angel said quickly.
"Yeah. Really strong vibes, like anger, are the ones you feel first, but not many people can sence them right away," Sefi added.
"She's right; it's not everyone who can easily feel vibes," Porom said.
"Only skilled white mages and holy warriors can catch them. That might explained why your parents knew you were leaving and went to find you," She said to the twins.
"So, I'm catching a vibe?" Angel asked.
"More than likely. If you focus your mind on that vibe, you should get a mental picture of what it's trying to tell you," Palom directed.
"How do I do that?" Angel asked.
"Just clear you mind of everything but that tingley feeling and it'll come soon enough," Porom assured her.
Angel took a deep breath and set all of her attention on the feeling that the vibe sent all over her body, pushing all her other thoughts out of her head until her mind was a black nothingness. After only a few seconds a picture formed in her mind, blurry at first, and then it cleared. In her mind she saw herself and her friends, standing on the sand, from a distance of half a mile to their left. Coming at them from that direction was a sandworm and a zu. Then, maybe 20 miles to their right, was a fast moving cloud of sand. She let go of the vibe, noting that the tingley feeling was gone, and explained the predicament to her companions.
"There are two monsters coming from that direction," She said, pointing to the left, "And what looks like a sandstorm coming from that direction," She said, pointing to the right.
"At the speed it's moving," She added, "That sandstorm should be here in five minutes, tops."
Before anyone could say anything something screeched and a huge black bird appeared over a nearby dune, followed by a hideous eyeless tube that slinked and dove over the sand like a dolphin stuck to a snake.
"Great; that's all we need," Palom muttered and began chanting an ice spell for the sandworm while everyone else stared work on the zu.
Palom took the sandworm out in one shot, so he then ran to help the others. He was reluctant to use spells, since the zu was moving so quickly and feared his attacks might miss, so the fight was a difficult one. A roaring and sudden highness of wind made everyone stop and look up: the sandstorm had almost reached them. If they didn't take down the zu and take cover fast they'd be in terrible trouble.
Angel surveyed the party: nobody was hurt too badly, but Red looked terrible. Being in the sun, fighing as hard as she could with weapons as well as spells, and wearing her long red mage's robe for so long had taken quite a toll on her. Sweat was pouring down her face, and her eyes looked glassy and far away. She looked dizzy and tired, like she would keel over at any second. The threat of the sandstorm with a monster to beat wasn't helpping either, but then Red got an idea.
"Angel, I've got an idea. Follow me," She said, and began running across the sand.
Angel didn't understand, but she ran after her as fast as her tired legs could carry her. The zu caught sight of them and took chase, leaving Palom, Porom, and Sefi standing where they were.
"We've got to help them," Sefi said, starting to follow Angel and Red, but Palom stopped her.
"Get down," He said nervously, sinking to his knees and dragging Sefi with him. "Whatever you, don't look up," He advised, covering them both with his robe. Neither of them saw, but Porom did the same.
Angel and Red were still having difficulty with the zu, which didn't seem as aware about the sandstorm as they did. As the sandstorm loomed closer than ever, Red yelled to Angel over the wind, "Drop to the ground and brace yourself!" They both fell on the sand and readied thmselves for sharp winds and the lashing sand that would come flying with it. The zu was confused by this, but took the opportunity to try and nab a prize. At that instant though, the wind picked up more than ever, sending the zu tumbbling back. It struggled against the fierce winds without success, and was carried away.
The winds lasted for about 10 minutes, and then it quickly faded into still quietness. When the winds had passed, Palom, Porom, and Sefi all stood again, the mages shaking the sand from their robes.
"That was very clever," Sefi noted, scanning the surrounding area for a trace of her sister and her firend, but the raging winds had left nothing familiar behind. The flat space in front of them was now a small dune, and the spot where they'd last seen Angel and Red was covered in several inches of sand.
"Angel! Where are you?" Sefi called, answered only by her own echo. Sudden movement somehwere ahead of them brought everyone's attention to it, and two things rose out of the sand, one covered in red, the other in white.
"Angel! Red! You beat it!" Sefi cheered, stumbbling clumsily over the dune to them.
"You swated it like a fly!" Palom added, following Sefi and falling face fist into the dune and lowering it's size considerabley.
"Can nothing beat you? You're invinsible!" Porom said to Angel, stepping over what was left of the dune.
"It was nothing," Angel said passively, shaking the sand out of her hair. "And besides, it was Red's idea," She said, looking over at her friend, who now looked worse than ever.
"Red, are you alright?" She asked. Red didn't answer; she swayed back and forth, and put a hand to her head. She whispered something unhearable and fell over. Palom ran over just in time to catch her and ease her to the ground. Gentley he put his hand on her forehead.
"Gad, it's like fire," Taking his hand from her head. Porom knelt beside them and took Red's hand, holding it in her own for a long minute.
"It's desert fever," She informed, looking shocked. "We've got to get her inside, now," She said, beckoning Angel and Sefi to come close to her once more for the teleport spell.
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Damcyan was only a day's flight away for the search party. The parents on board hoped that the kids were okay; Cecil and Rosa hadn't picked up a vibe in days. But if they didn't pick up a vibe then it was a good chance that nothing was going on, so they hoped that it would sty that way.
"Would they go and hide out in the castle?" Rosa asked Edward.
"There's a shrine a mile away from the castle. They'd probably go there," Edward explained.
"But if they aren't there, then I'd suggest combing carefully through the staff. Red's a master of disguise, and can blend into any crowd. She can disguise others just as well too, so I suppose that we'll have to be on our toes," He added, turning to see how much closer to the desert they were.
Rosa made an unhappy sound and frowned deeply. Why did kids have to be so deviously clever these days?
She gasped and Edward turned to face her again.
"What's wrong?" He asked.
"There's a vibe..." She said, focusing on the feeling. Edward looked around for Cecil, and saw him leaning against the rail with the same vagure expression that Rosa wore.
When Rosa snapped out of her trance-like state she looked pale and worried.
"Rosa, what happened?" Edward asked.
"You won't like it," Rosa said. "It was about Red this time."
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"Now, how did I know that this was back here?" Porom wondered out loud when all vision stablized and the party found themselves in front of a big, stone, two story building with a heavy looking wooden door, and seeing that it was a ways behind the actual castle.
"Who cares? You brought us here, didn't you?" Palom said, standing back up and carrying Red to the door.
Angel ran to open the door, bracing herself for a push, but the door swung open without help.
Well, that's convenient, Sefi thought, following Angel into the building.
Inside it dark, chilly, and a little damp. Two sets of stairs spiraled around a pair of columns on the other wall and led up to the second story. In between the stairs was another wooden door. This time Porom ran over and opened the door, which led into a large room with a table and a chair against the left wall, and empty cabinet on the right wall, a tapestry on the far wall, and some primitive looking carvings and paintings in red and black paint on all four of the walls. Unfortunately, there did not seem to be a bed and the table was too small for Red to fit on. So Porom walked to the center of the room and spread her long red cloak on the ground, taking note of the red, dark blue, and black stones which made a pretty circular patern on the floor.
"Put her here," She said to her brother, putting her hand down by the cloak. Palom layed Red down and felt her forehead again.
"No change, even in here," He said bleakly, shivering from the cool dampness.
"Perhaps we should take her robe off," Angel suggested.
Porom nodded and untied the sash around Red's middle. "I can't believe she lasted as long as she did in this thing," She murmmered. "It's too warm to wear in this climate; especially for a fire mage." She opened Red's robe, leaving the princess wearing a thin-strapped, berry colored dress that reached her knees, and carefully slipped her arms out, feeling how hot the rest of body was; and not very pleased by a puff of steam that rose from the robe.
"Who would make something like this for one who has such a lifestyle?" She demanded.
"The elder says to vent your wrath in a productive way," Palom reminded his sister, sencing that she was about to go into a rant.
Porom sighed angrily and began chanting a heal spell for Red. Palom turned to Angel and Sefi, who were looking at the glyphs on the walls, and asked hopefully, "I heard your mother had desert fever once. Do you know the cure?"
The twins looked at him saddly ad said, "No," at the same time.
"Surprisingly, they've kept a lot of details about their adventures secret from us," Angel said dryly, running her hand over the carvings.
When Porom was done with the cure spell, Palom asked her, "Do you know the cure?"
"Oh, how I wish I did..." She said, hanging her head.
"Hey, look at this," Sefi said, pointing to a glyph depicting a woman who held a hand to her head. The next glyph showed the same woman, falling to the ground with signs over her head that showed she was dizzy. The next glyph showed her with red skin, sleeping what looked like a very deep sleep.
"She must be quite uncomfortable," Palom mused once he'd come over and looked at the glyphs. "She appears to be dizzy and, if I'm correct, the red skin indicates that she's either very hot or has a fever," He added.
"How do you know that?" Angel asked.
"I've studied glyphs before. I know how to read some of their many, many forms," Palom explained. "This one looks to be one of the simpler of these forms," He added.
He traced the glyphs with his finger, as if he was reading a book. The glyphs now showed the same woman, lying on her back, with someone who looked to be a healer of some kind. In her hand, the healer held up a red dot over the sick woman. At the end of the painted story the woman was standing again, her face and skin of black paint again, showing that her faver had gone. That section of glyphs ended with a detailed painting of a strange red gem with many odd angles. Markings, which looked to be letters of a long dead language, surronded the gem. But Palom explained saddly that he wasn't versed in this tongue.
"Porom, do you think that you can read it?" He asked.
"I hope so," She said, leaving Red on the floor to examine the letters on the wall. She was silent for many minutes, and then finally announced, "It's one of the ancient Damciani texts. Luckliy, I do know it." A sigh of relief rose up from everyone else, and Porom read the words on the wall:
"'The ruby which cures the face heat is found where the sand lion resides. Seek it to make cool the body that burns.'"
"What they call the 'face heat' must be a fever," Palom guessed.
"This ruby that they speak of... It could be the supposed sand ruby. I know little of it (this kingdom has kept many secrets to itself), but it seems that the ruby is the cure for the fever. And all that I know of the cave is that it's full of bugs," Porom said, continuing to read the wall.
"Oh..." She said saddly, continuing to read, "Only Damciani royals are allowed inside."
"So what do we do?" Sefi asked.
There was a silence while they tried to think of a solution.
"...I think that the rules can be pulled, just this once," Palom reasoned.
"Whever you say 'just this once'," Porom pointed out, "It's never just this once."
Palom gave her a maddening grin, and said, "I'll go to the cave and bring back the ruby. You three stay here and do what you can for Red." He started for the door, but Angel ran after him.
"I'm going with you," She stated.
"What?" He asked, surprised.
"But, Angel," Sefi pointed out from across the room, "You hate bugs."
Angel turned back to Sefi and said, "I told the elder that I wanted to make a difference with my new powers, and, by gum, I going to make a difference," She turned back to Palom and added, "And besides, it's my job to help those who need me. If Red needs this ruby thing, I'm going to help get it."
She'd expected Palom to tell her to stay back, but instead he grinned at her and said, "Sure. I could use the help of a paladin; and I'm sure that you could use the practice."
"Be careful; both of you," Sefi said to them before they walked out the door.
"I can only keep Red alive for so long," Porom warned them. "Get the ruby as fast as you can and run back."
"We'll be back soon, I promise," Palom said, walking back to Red, removing his own robe, and laying it over her like a blanket. "You're the best white mage of your age," He said to Porom. "I'm sure you can keep her alive that long."
"Only if I don't run out of MP for two days. It's already dipping from the trip here," Porom said quickly. "You and Angel go. We'll still be here when you get back."
Without one more word, or even a backward glance, Palom and Angel rushed out the door.
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Ah, so... Off to get the cure for Red's desert fever. Ya still got clean trousers?... 'Cause it ain't over yet! ("Ask a Ninja" reference. Check it out; it's insanely funny!)
Well, more stuff's about to happen, so I guess I've gotta get to work. A reunion, a dangerous flight home, and the death of a beloved party member await... Stay tuned!