Ruins Raiders: Book Two

Chapter Eleven, A Tale of Two Cities

By Relm

They just stood there dumbfounded. Of all the strange and mysterious things that they might have seen this was one they hadn't expected. They could understand him!

The 'king' looked at them expecting an answer. Though this wasn't the first time he had been faced with strange intruders in his land these ones were the strangest of all. Their clothing was unlike any he had ever seen and their hair and skin was odd. The sight of them peaked his interests though he wasn't just content to observe. The king demanded answers but still he got nothing. "Who are you people and why have you come here?!" He prompted them angrily this time as his patience was wearing thin.

Realizing the already bad situation they were in was going to go further south Lina snapped out of her daze. "My name is Lina and I am their leader." Lina motioned to their group.

Val snorted at that comment but Filia kicked him in the shin the shut him up. He kept quiet but sadly not everyone was.

"OHOHOHOHO! Now what gives you the authority to call you our leader little girl!? Clearly if anyone has the regal blood and commanding presence to be a leader it would be me! OHOHOHOHO!" Naga threw her head back in laughter making almost everyone in the room cringe.

"Anyone who follows you is an idiot!" Lina glared at Naga. "And what gives you regal blood?! Your father is just a university headmaster!"

"My father is equivalent of a king of this time!" Naga shot back.

"You're not from this time nor is your father! So you're nothing here Naga expect for an annoying useless oversized pair of boobs!" Lina yelled at her.

"Naga, Lina... really is this the time to fight about this?" Zelgadis exclaimed while sighing and shaking his head.

The King whom had wanted answers was now filled with more puzzling questions. The antics of the women before him confused him. Skin colour aside the one named Lina looked like she could actually be one of his people. While the one named Naga was as odd as her booming laugh. To him between the two the taller one did seem to have a more dominating presence though he felt more comfortable addressing the redhead. "Why have you and your people come here Lina?"

Lina shot a smug look at Naga before returning her attentions back to the king before her. "We hadn't meant to come here it was an accident." Usually in most cases telling the truth would be the best course of action but this situation was far more delicate than what Lina was used to dealing with in their present day time. How could she properly explain the concept of time travel to a seemingly primitive man? Most ancient languages didn't even have a word for future. The passing of time and notions such as cause and effect were far too modern of an idea to properly explain. 'Better to keep it simple. People from this age won't have the brain capacity to really grasp the situation anyway. No sense confusing a stupid guy.' Lina thought to herself.

"How does one come to this place by accident? The speed from which you were traveling on those strange beasts suggests you were meaning to invade my land." The king raised a questioning eyebrow at Lina.

'Damn...' Lina cursed to herself. 'Okay so I guess he's not that stupid after all...' She cleared her throat hoping to give herself a couple more moments to think out her answer. "Yes we were riding those 'beasts' as you mentioned but we lost control over them. They smelled your food and ran all the way here." Now that wasn't a complete lie as the others had been trying to halt their camels but Lina had been egging hers on.

"And where had you been traveling to before your beasts took you here?"

Lina cringed. How was she going to explain this without causing a big mess? "We were exploring..."

The king frowned at her. "Explorers? I don't believe that. You are clearly spies."

"King... um... Your highness we are not spies nor do we mean you any harm." Lina insisted nervously.

"Po-kota. That is my name. I am the ruler of this land of Bnxqo!" King Po-kota stood on his throne and staring down the intruders to show his might and fury. This was almost comical as the king himself wasn't that tall to start off with and really standing on his chair only brought him to eye level with the taller ones. Lina was the only one he was looking down on but for him that was enough as Lina had been the one that had identified herself as leader. If he stared her down and show his dominance over her then her 'underlings' would also grasp his authority over them.

Lina and the others were silent as they stared at the king but for a very different reason than what he had intended. They had assumed that the lost city, the one that they had been searching for was named Velnqxbos. It was possible that the name that history recorded for this land was misinterpreted and morphed over the years. Another possibility was that Velnqxbos wasn't the only lost city. Perhaps there had been several cities in this area that were lost just like Velnqxbos but were never recorded. Just hearing the name alone of this city was enough to turn all previous notions of Velnqxbos on its head.

"Bnxqo?" Lina parroted still not grasping the concept of the name. "That is the name of this city?"

"Yes! That is what I said!" Po-kota huffed while crossing his arms impatiently.

"This isn't Velnqxbos?" Lina wondered out loud more to herself than to the king.

"There is no such place with that name anywhere near here!" The king snapped at her.

Lina looked to Zelgadis and Filia. The three of them were wondering the same thing. Was this just a case of a mistaken name or were they in the wrong area? Bnxqo was similar enough of a name to be confused with Velnqxbos so that seemed more likely of the two.

"You mention this place, is that where you were traveling to?" A dubious King Po-kota sneered at them.

"Yes." Zelgadis answered. "We were searching for Velnqxbos. It's supposed to be a lost city that no one knows where it is."

The king rolled his eyes and sat back down on his throne. "Now I know for sure you are lying! There is no such lost city anywhere here! You are spies from Vsvle! They mean to attack my kingdom and they sent you to seek out our weaknesses!"

Yet another discovery to shock and amaze the travelers. Another city? Just how many cities were there that they didn't know about?

"I can assure you we are not from Vsvle." Filia answered hoping to calm down the king.

"If you are not from Vsvle then where are you from?! There are no other kingdoms of this land!" Po-kota huffed in anger. He didn't like being played for a fool.

"We come from a much farther place past the water..." Filia motioned with her hands the distance hoping he would understand.

"You traveled across the water?!"

"Yes! Yes! We did!" Filia insisted.

"And how did you manage such a feat?! Do those beasts of your fly?" Po-kota demanded.

"No, they only walk and run." Lina answered. "We... came here... by flying... on a large... bird." She realized that sounded ridiculous but how else could she explain what an airplane was?

"A bird...?" King Po-kota repeated trying to decide if he would accept such an explanation.

"Yes a bird, big with silver feathers!" Lina held her arms out very wide as she talked.

"This faraway land you come from... what is it called?"

"Rixx. It's called Rixx."

The King pondered their words and was quiet for a very long time. The man wasn't stupid so it was a wonder if he was going to buy their crazy story. For all they knew No one from Bnxqo had ever crossed the water to see what was beyond. Maybe the people of Bnxqo believed the world was flat like many philosophers of history had thought before adventurers proved that wrong. If that were the case then the suggestion of a place beyond the water was pure lunacy. Rather than directly talk to the travelers King Po-kota made a motion with his hands to alert his men to come to his aid. "These intruders are spies. Take them away."

...

"Well this is a fine mess we're in." Zelgadis grumbled as he tugged on his bindings. Him, Xellos, Naga, Lina, Filia and Val were inside a deep pit with their hands and feet tied.

"At least we're not dead." Filia tried to put a positive spin on their situation.

"Not yet. They're probably going to keep us down here until they are ready to sacrifice us." Val muttered in frustration. "You saw the red stained stone way. That's where they are going to do it. They are going to parade us around the city before shoving us up to that spot. Then they are going to take a big blade and chop off our heads. Our blood will spill all over those stones and the people will cheer as our heads go rolling down the steps."

"Val!" Filia exclaimed. "Why would you say such a thing?!"

"Because it's true." Val muttered. "You can't tell me this isn't one of the cultures that sacrifices people!"

"That doesn't mean they are going to kill us!" Filia shot back.

"There's no sense getting all upset about things that may or may not happen." Zelgadis interjected.

"I wouldn't bother trying to get between those two. They are both thick skulled and won't listen to anything." Xellos spoke sagely to his fellow East Rixxian.

Filia glared at Xellos. Being bound she couldn't do anything to him at the moment but that didn't stop her from planning his demise.

"I cannot believe they didn't worship me!" Naga cried out.

"You're not a goddess, princess, empress or queen! So shut the hell up about it!" Lina growled at Naga.

"But how could they ignore my heavenly beauty and charm?" Naga continued on her little triad.

Lina really wished she wasn't tied up right then. Because then she would shut Naga up in the most violent way possible. But since she couldn't she just chose to ignore her. "Hey Zel what do you think about what the King said about Velnqxbos?"

"The two city names sound too much like Velnqxbos for it to just be a coincidence. It could be that history recorded the two cities as one when they were really two." Zelgadis concluded. "If I wasn't tied up and being held in a pit I'd probably be giddy from the discovery."

"Couldn't we just be in the wrong area?" Val wondered. "I mean aren't there other cities around here besides the two?"

"You know that large desert we crossed to get here?" Filia said to her step-brother. "Well a lot of that was originally under water. There were big massive lakes and rivers surrounding this part of the continent. This area is like an island within a country." She explained.

"To think two lost cities... I wonder why no one ever knew before..." Lina mumbled. If she wasn't tied up she too would be giddy.