Ruins Raiders: Book Two
Chapter Seven, Who? What? Where? When? Why?
By Relm
Lina and Zelgadis were so in tuned with each other. At that moment they did the exact same thing. They both cringed and looked to the source of the offending noise.
Standing looking ever so arrogant and busty despite her loose fitting robes stood Naga, the eldest daughter of Headmaster Philonel Sailune. And leading their two camels was Zelgadis' assistant Xellos.
"Oh great Perky Chesterfield is here..." Lina grumbled while taking a step back from Zelgadis. Her face was fully flushed with embarrassment. Really of all the places she could be where she would be kissed passionately by a man like Zelgadis right in the middle of a desert should have been safe. But as always fate was a bitch. She never let Lina have any fun.
"Naga why are you here?!" Zelgadis exclaimed in annoyance. "And why did you bring that with you?!" He motioned towards Xellos though it was obvious what Zelgadis meant when he said 'that'.
"You always go off on your own having all kinds of marvelous adventures! Is it so wrong that I, Naga the White Serpent would want to go on an adventure of my own? OHOHOHOHOH!" Naga threw her head back and laughed dramatically.
All Zelgadis could do was shake his head. "I can't believe your father allowed you to go... He does know you're here right?"
"Of course he does!" Naga exclaimed in annoyance. "How dare you imply that I would sneak off behind my father's back!"
"It's true, Miss Naga did ask her father." Xellos piped up. "He said yes with the condition that I must accompany her throughout the whole trip."
Zelgadis did not look impressed. "And you agreed that?"
"Well as Miss Lina has already pointed out Miss Naga is rather... 'perky'." Xellos winked rather suggestively.
"You brute!" Naga playfully hit Xellos on the arm. "Thank goodness we've found you Zelgadis. You can keep me safe from this sinful monster." Naga grabbed onto Zelgadis' arm and batted her eyelashes at him flirtatiously at him.
Inwardly Zelgadis was cringing. There were two people in the world that Zelgadis couldn't stand. One of them was latched to his arm while the other was holding the reins on their two camels. Any hope of salvaging his chance 'romantic' encounter with Professor Inverse was effectively crushed. Anywhere he went Naga and Xellos would surly follow making it impossible to get away anywhere alone with Lina. "Lucky me..."
"So Zelgadis-dearest have you found anything yet?" Naga wondered while playfully petting his arm.
"He hasn't found anything because this is my site." Lina declared as she got back to her digging. "Now why don't you just push off. The real professionals have work to do unlike vacationing deluded wannabes."
"OHOHOHOHOHOHOHOH! Sounds like someone is testy since she hasn't found anything!"
Lina glared at Naga. "I've only started looking you busty bimbo!"
"Too bad you're not going to find anything! OHOHOHOHOHOH!" Naga laughed loudly as she usually did.
"There! It's that damned noise again!" A male voice exclaimed from behind one of the dunes. "I heard it over there! What the hell is that?!"
"I already said I didn't know! So stop asking me!" An irritated female voice exclaimed in response.
Lina, Zelgadis, Naga and Xellos looked over to the direction the voice. Most them were confused but Xellos knew right away who the pair was. He had heard that angry female voice many times.
"What the hell...?!" Val exclaimed in confusion as he and Filia came over the dune riding their camels. "WHY ARE YOU HERE?!" Val yelled as he hopped off his camel and stormed his way over to Xellos.
Filia shook her head in annoyance. Of all the horrible things she could end up facing on this type of expedition this was the worst kind.
"So I was right! It was your girlfriend chasing us after all!" Naga openly poked at Xellos.
"I AM NOT HIS GIRLFRIEND!" Filia screamed.
"OHOHOHOHOHOH! And yet you still chaise after him! OHOHOHOHOH!"
"You! It was you! You're the source of that noise!" Val exclaimed abandoning his instant anger with Xellos and shifting it towards Naga. "I have been going crazy hearing your obnoxious laugh for the past few days!"
"And you're any angry one." Naga smiled a saucy smile. "What a terrifying beast you are. While I'll bet you could rip a man apart with just your bare hands." She sauntered over to him lightly stroked his right arm. "Yes you certainly could with all those firm muscles of yours."
Val blinked in confusion. His normal comfortable anger had turned into something that he wasn't used to. It wasn't like Val never got hit on but the women were never that forward or that beautiful. She was so tall that she was practically taller than him with silky raven hair that was a pleasant contrast to her creamy ivory skin. Her eyes were a sparkly blue and even though she was dressed in lose fitting robes it was obvious that she had a nice figure. Usually women like her chose to flirt with other men. He never knew why as he was sure he was just as good looking as other guys. But this woman was different and it completely threw him off his game. "I...um...ah...ah...um..." He mumbled not able to form proper words.
"OHOHOHOHOHOH! Looks like something doused that adorable fire of yours. Not that you being all tongue tied isn't just as adorable."
Now Val frowned. "Adorable? That's what you call little babies or fluffy kittens! I am not a fluffy kitten!" He growled.
"That's right Val isn't a fluffy kitten." Xellos agreed putting a condescending arm around Val's shoulders. "He's just a big baby."
"WHY YOU!" Val turned to punch Xellos in the face but the offending purple haired imp dodged and ran to hide behind Filia.
"Get away from me!" Filia snapped while whapping Xellos on the head.
"Why? You make such a nice lovely shield. You're already so wide in the hip area and the robes make you look that much larger. You could probably hide a whole country behind this ass of yours."
"I'M GOING TO KILL YOU!" Filia whipped out a mace from under her robe and proceeded to try and bash Xellos' skull in. Naturally he was far too spry to fall victim to Filia's spiked weapon of choice.
Xellos tried to use Zelgadis as a shield but the East Rixx professor wasn't about to let his assistant to do that. The second Xellos was in arms reach Zelgadis grabbed him and held him in place. "NOOOOO!" Xellos screeched but it was in vain.
SMASH!
Xellos fell to the ground in pain but with only a mild bruise. Filia was angry but she wasn't really about to kill the guy.
"Awww... it's always so sad when lovers fight." Naga mused with a sly smile.
"WE ARE NOT LOVERS!" Filia screamed waving her mace in the air.
"No Filia you are not hitting the pretty lady with the mace!" Val grabbed the weapon from his step-sister. "I don't even know how the hell you got this through airport security."
"OHOHOHOH! So my adorable beast thinks I am pretty?" Naga swooned. "Oh I am going to have to keep you!" Naga latched onto Val's arm.
"I am not ADORABLE! I am strong, fearless and powerful!" Val clarified.
"And mine." Naga added while squeezing Val's bulging bicep and giggling girlishly.
Val wanted to say something angrily in response but he was blushing too much to do so.
"Are you unhappy that your little girlfriend has dumped you and moved on?" Lina teased Zelgadis with a smug grin on her face.
"She was never my girlfriend and you know that. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't pleased with her finding someone else to latch onto." Zelgadis admitted.
"They do make an adorable couple don't they?" Lina laughed.
Val shot her a nasty glare though it was hard to take it serious as the aqua haired man was still red as a tomato in the face.
"Miss Naga you do realize that he's from a rival university." Xellos pointed out. "I highly doubt your father would be too pleased with you claiming Val as your own."
"I do not care! My father will have to be fine with my choice as I'm sure he would not want to make his favourite daughter unhappy!" Naga declared.
"Your sister Amelia might be unhappy with you suggesting that you are your father's favorite and not her but alas that is beside the point Miss Naga. Your father was fine with your choice of Zelgadis why would you be so quick to cast him aside?" Xellos pointed out.
Zelgadis glared at Xellos. 'He damn well better not get Naga's attention back on me when it's finally shifted to someone else!'
Naga looked between both men with interest. "Oh Xelly Xelly. He's already scorned you once before clearly Val's not interested in men. So trying to make me go back to Zelgadis won't do your cause any good. Val is never going to like you the same way you like him."
Zelgadis, Lina and Filia burst into fits of laughter while Xellos frowned.
"Miss Naga..." Xellos groaned.
"That fruitcake has a thing for me?!" Val exclaimed with obvious disgust.
"He 'claims' he only loves the blond woman but how could he not be smitten with you too? Look at you, you're magnificent." Naga purred.
"I do NOT love that woman!" Xellos exclaimed pointing at Filia with obvious annoyance.
"OHOHOHOHOH! Funny how the pretty boy gets all huffy when I suggest he's in love with a woman but he barely has anything to say when I state he lusts after men!"
"Miss Naga!" Xellos whined. "Must you be so mean to me?"
Lina rolled her eyes and went back to her work. "Okay show's over everyone can leave now. I have a lost city to find and I can't do it with all you clowns hanging around."
"Why should we have to leave for?" Naga exclaimed with her nose up in the air. "The lost city does not belong to you and you only."
"This site does as I WAS HERE FIRST!" Lina roared in frustration. She was so distracted that she barely noticed the strange circular shaped object when she started to brush where she had dug. It wasn't until she heard a gasp come out of Zelgadis' that she looked down.
"Lina do you know that is?!" Zelgadis exclaimed kneeling down next to her.
"It's an altar stone isn't it?!" She looked to Zelgadis with obvious excitement.
"Yes! Look at the engravings! Those symbols look far too old to be Jhonwxan... Lina you might have found the first real piece of Velnqxbos."
"I can't believe it!" Lina cried out in happiness. "I wonder what these symbols mean..."
"Well think about how long it took for that tablet to be translated. And this language is far older than that of the tablet. Lina this could take a lifetime to understand." Zelgadis pointed out.
Lina nodded. That was always the case with relics. The glory went to those that first found it and those who discovered its mysteries. Often it wasn't the same person that got both honors but to have one was still a great achievement. Looking down at the altar stone Lina tried to imagine was it must have looked like. It was brownish gray in colour but Lina could tell at one point it had been a vibrant orange yellow. The center of the stone was smooth while the edges of the circle had symbols etched into it. Some of the symbols were somewhat easy to see but others were badly faded from erosion. Looking at the stone Lina couldn't help but be struck with the notion that the smooth center of the stone was like a button waiting to be pressed. And like all humans it was hard to resist a button so Lina went to push it.
Of course it was an altar stone not a magic button so nothing should have happened when Lina pushed on the center surface. It shouldn't have given way with the pressure of her fingers and it certainly shouldn't have bathed them all in a sudden wash of amber light.
But it had.
When the light faded there was something very different about the desert they were supposed to be in. For one thing it wasn't dry and hot, it was warm and humid. They weren't surrounded by endless miles of sand but lush tropical trees and exotic flowers. Birds were chirping, fury animals howled from the trees and bugs flew over head making buzzing sounds. Off in the distance the sound of running water blended in with the sounds of the jungle area they had suddenly been transported to.
Petunia grunted but otherwise the six travelers and other two camels were quiet. Camels didn't care but the travelers were just too stunned to say anything.
How did they get there? And where is 'there'?