Ruins Raiders: Book Two
Chapter Four, Traveling Quandaries
By Relm
They were all tired, all six of them. Between the flights, time zone differences and trekking through the desert all six of them should have no trouble sleeping at all. But the brain was a conditioned organ. Even though the night was dark and not light like the usual mornings the brain didn't let the absence of light fool it. The brain knew it wasn't time for sleep and be damned if it was going to let the body sleep. Bedtime was many hours away.
It was very frustrating to have your whole body aching and screaming for rest when your brain was deciding differently. In this were a case back home and not in the middle of a desert there were a few things the adventurers could do in order to help sleep. Calming music, warm milk, sleep aids... All things not at their immediate disposal.
For Lina this was an annoying kick in the pants. She was the type of person that tried to prepare herself for every possible relic hunting situation. Her bags were always packed with weapons and tools to use in case of an emergency, she always had sensible clothing for the area she was traveling in and she always made sure she memorized the maps of the terrains she would be traveling. In fact Lina was so used to traveling to strange and exotic locations that she had her bag packing down to a science.
This time however wasn't quite so normal. Lina had been rushed to get a start on this hunt that she didn't get the proper time to really make sure she packed things right. She had thought she had packed her sleeping pills but when she went through her pack she was angry when she realized it wasn't there. Since she had no milk to warm Lina could have gone for some calming music via her mp3 player. There was two problems with that idea, one her mp3 player didn't really have a lot of calming music and two, it was nearly dead. Lina had meant to charge it before she left though she hadn't realized she'd be leaving so quickly. Her player pretty much died on her during the flights she took. If she bothered to turn it on it would only play for half a song at most before quitting on her again.
All that Lina could do was toss and turn in her tent. Not such an easy task when one was sleeping in a sleeping bag. It was one thing Lina never liked about the times she had to camp out on a trip. She hated sleeping in sleeping bags. Lina was one of those people that loved to be able to stretch out when she slept and not be confined to a small space. That being said no matter how stretched out she was when she fell asleep Lina always woke up in the next morning curled up in a little ball. Lina wasn't a cold weather person after all.
A few dunes down Zelgadis laid in the backseat of his jeep with his eyes wide open staring at the roof of said jeep. Zelgadis was an insomniac on the best of days so he had expected to be spending a sleepless night. Unlike Lina however Zelgadis had packed his sleep aids – not that they were helping any.
In the Filia and Val's tent only of the two step-siblings was asleep. Val true to his nature could fall asleep anywhere and anytime. This was a great annoyance to Filia as she was not as blessed and Val was a loud snorer. It didn't matter how many times Fila smacked him with her traveling mace Val would always go straight back to snoring. She figured this was the reason Val couldn't keep a girlfriend. That and his loud angry personality sucked.
Probably the only camp where all parties was getting proper sleep was Naga and Xellos' camp. Being that Naga always insisted on traveling with her special companions - several bottles of wine. The pair from East Rixx had gotten good and drunk before retiring off to bed. And even though Xellos had flirted Naga up some nothing was going on between the two that night.
So with only one out of the four camps getting any real sleep it was a hellish morning when the sun made its appearance for the day. Gone away was the cool breeze just to be replaced by his friend waves of rolling heat. It was like you were looking through water as you stared into the distance. The terrain seemed to danced around as the hot weather distorted the horizon.
All four parties were well armed with liquids to drink but still the notion of a desert oasis was a pleasant idea. A cool relaxing place with trees to sleep under while you dipped your feet in the water. One might have assumed that there might be an oasis at the area where the lost city was but that would just be wishful thinking. Since the translation went public many planes had flown over the desert to see if the lost city of Velnqxbos could be spotted from the air. Each fly over proved fruitless as there were areas that looked suspicious but weren't anything.
Lina was sure that if any of the lost city of Velnqxbos was still intact that it would be buried under layers and layers of sand. Definitely not a chance of any oasis to be found making water rationing a very important thing. But when one looks out into the dry arid sun drenched horizon it was hard to fight the convulsions to guzzle ones water.
This wasn't Lina's first rodeo nor was it for most of them. Naga was the only inexperienced adventurer in the bunch but she had Xellos to take her canteen and wine away from her. That didn't fly well with the 'princess' but it was Xellos' job to keep her safe.
The sun heated down on the backs of those that traveled the desert. The only one who was free from the harmful rays was Zelgadis. He was the only one that chose a jeep over a camel so he didn't have to deal with the annoying effects of direct sunshine. The East Rixx professor practically sailed the desert sand waves as he raced along. Windows down and sunshades on Zelgadis felt on top of the world. He wasn't a reckless driver as a norm but something about driving so freely off road where there was no real rules and other cars made Zelgadis feel like he could anything.
It was nice driving the jeep like that given that he had already lost so much time having to fix the thing the previous day. As he drove his thoughts drifted to the person who passed him riding a camel. He hadn't meant to but while Zelgadis was fixing the jeep he kept looking at the figure of that person as they rode away. He couldn't be say for sure it seemed like the figure veered off into the direction he meant to head. It made him wonder if that person was someone else looking for the lost city of Velnqxbos. If they were and did in fact head in the direction that Zelgadis thought they did then Zelgadis most definitely had competition.
Of course there were two possibilities that went against that line of thinking. One it was just a local traveling by camel the common method of travel. Or Zelgadis had just been seeing things and the traveler went a different way.
Still Zelgadis did find himself mulling over the possibilities as he drove. The nervous energy bubbling up inside him almost burst when he noticed he was coming up on a person riding a camel. He couldn't be sure it was same person riding that same camel but the nerves in his stomach seemed to think so. The desire to pass this possible rival and make them eat his dust was a strong urge. Zelgadis found himself pushing down on the gas pedal in an effort to go faster. He had to pass that person riding that camel.
Though Zelgadis was determined to pass the camel riding person the jeep was not. Cars didn't always do well in hot climates especially when driving in a dusty sandy one. So as Zelgadis got closer to that person on the camel the jeep once again kicked the bucket.
"Nooooo! Not again!" Zelgadis cried out in frustration as the jeep puttered and stopped. Smoke started to rise from under the hood and up into the air. Putting the stopped vehicle in park Zelgadis let out a big sigh before getting out to fix the jeep again.
...
Up ahead Lina paused to look backwards. She had heard the jeep and had been started to see it getting so close. When she had passed that man on the side of the road the previous day she had assumed it was just another stupid person searching for the lost city in the wrong area. It sure as hell hadn't been a local. But Lina had never expected to see that person again. This meant that she wasn't the only one searching for the city in the right area. It had to be the case, as she couldn't think of any reason why someone would be driving in a jeep in that particular area.
Thoughts ran through her mind as Lina tried to guess the identity of this potential rival. It was a very short list of whom Lina thought had the mental skills to figure out the translation problem. Of those few people the top one of on her list had been on her mind the previous night. Zelgadis Greywars.
Lina had no proof it was Zelgadis but just the same she was sure of it. She could just imagine how the lavender haired professor was cursing the jeep as he tried to fix it. It would surely give him a start if she just sauntered her way over there.
Really that is what Lina should have done. Zelgadis wasn't just any normal guy but a guy she was sort of involved with. Well potentially going to be involved with if work and personal lives allowed it. Zelgadis would be surly happy to see her and the two of them could spend some time cozying up together as they searched for the lost city of Velnqxbos. It was a very attractive idea that almost had Lina turning around and heading towards the smoking jeep.
Two things stopped Lina from doing this. One was that she wasn't absolutely certain it was Zelgadis. It didn't seem likely but it could have been someone else. And one rule of thumb when it came to traveling abroad especially in the more dangerous or impoverish areas of a country it wasn't good to take chances. Anyone could be trying to scam you or potentially hurt you. Lina was a risk taker but not when it came to these sort of things.
The second reason why Lina wasn't about to turn back was because of her competitive nature. She was on the hunt to find the lost city of Velnqxbos. It wasn't like she wanted to share credit even if it was with man whom she liked and respected. No her school sent her out to find the lost city not to help someone else find it with her. Lina was determined to be the first one at the city and get the all the credit.
'Hopefully I'll see you in Velnqxbos soon Zel. I'll be waiting.' Lina thought to herself with a devilish smirk as she and Petunia rode off.
...
Going at a slow but steady pace Xellos and Naga rode their camels in an effort to catch up to Zelgadis.
"Can't I have a little bit of wine?" Naga whined.
"No I'm sorry my dear that would be good for you in this heat. You'll get very dehydrated if you did drink any of it." Xellos advised her.
"Then I want some water." Naga demanded in her typical snotty princess like fashion.
"You just had some a little while ago. We need to be careful with how much and how often we drink. Water isn't something we can waste."
Naga pouted while crossing her arms. Her camel looked up at her not impressed with her one bit. Still the camel kept going even though Naga wasn't guiding him.
"Now now Princess don't pout this is all part of the adventure. And that's what you wanted after all, adventure. Otherwise we wouldn't be out here in the desert." Xellos reminded her.
"I wanted adventure? Yes. This is not adventure, this is tedious!" Naga exclaimed.
"Sadly adventures are not all fun and excitement all the time. Tedium is a part of it. It will get more interesting later I promise."
"What about Zelgadis. How far away is he?"
"Miss Naga I have no way to tell that. We don't even know what method of travel he chose. He could be riding a camel or driving a vehicle."
"Is there not tracks in front of us? Is that not what we're following?" Naga prompted him.
"There is tracks but we're not following them. We're just coincidently heading in the same direction."
"Then that must be Zelgadis. Who else would know where the true location of the lost city would be?" Naga stuck her nose up in the air.
"Well if it is Zelgadis then he's probably driving a jeep. Not a smart choice but then Zelgadis isn't always the smarted choice himself." Xellos decided with a small little smile.
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOH! So you're the smarter choice?! OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH! Now that is a laugh!"
Rather than say something witty as a comeback Xellos stuck his tongue out at her. Childish but effective.