Author's Notes: Well I made a boo boo! I accidently posted chapter 13 twice instead of posting chapter 14! Thanks to Yuune5 for letting me know the error! So here's the REAL chapter 14 folks. Sorry for the delay!

Ruins Raiders: Book Two

Chapter Fourteen, To The Great Feast

By Relm

Lina was almost bouncing off the walls as she was lead to where she was going to eat. She was so hungry that she could have eaten one of the camels raw and still want more. Hell she could have eaten them all. She was that hungry after all. And even though she knew she was going to be getting food soon the wait was killing her.

Given that the King didn't want everyone in Bnxqo to know that the auseo stone was missing or that anything was wrong things had to be done secretly. This meant that most of his people couldn't know that not only were they releasing their prisoners but they were feeding them too. It would be quite hard to explain why he was suddenly catering to the whims of their prisoners without telling the whole truth. So the place where Lina and company would be dinning was deep within the pyramid where few people were privileged to go.

Had Lina's hunger not been so great she might have been wowed by this chance. Where she was going was the innermost chamber of the pyramid where the most important people of Bnxqo ate special celebratory meals. Basically she was going to be eating in the hall where only kings and queens ate previously. It was like Lina was royalty herself. This of course was lost on Lina's stomach which rumbled so loud you'd think it was enough to destroy buildings.

"Have you not eaten in days?" King Po-kota wondered with mild disgust. He had never heard such noise from anyone's stomach before that it was almost alarming.

Lina thought about it and tried to remember when was the last time she had eaten. It felt like days but that hadn't been the case. She had snacked a bit on the camel ride over to the site she had started excavating in. "Hours." She concluded.

"Still the noise... Is this common in the future?"

Lina shook her head. "No, I told you already. I eat a lot."

"No more than me I'll bet but my stomach at least has the decency not to be so loud." King Po-kota huffed.

"If you really could eat as much as I could then there's no way you could keep your stomach quiet. Unless off course you always have food available to eat at any given moment."

"I do."

Lina glared at him. The king wasn't trying to brag he was just being honest. He was a king after all and it was very natural that the king would have all that he needed when he needed it. Still it irked Lina. Especially when she herself was denied eating on many occasions where she could have really used a meal. Like while she's in the middle of teaching a class, sitting through a boring faculty meeting, driving her car or during her dental checkups. If they were going to clean her teeth anyway why would they care if she ate five sandwiches? No everyone always had an opinion to when Lina was allowed to eat. Like there was only three designated times of the day you were supposed to eat at. Maybe she needed that extra hot dog to get herself through the rest of the trial hearing. The judge didn't need to throw it out the window. "So how are you explaining the all the food being brought here?"

"My people think I am having a special ceremonial feast where the rest of the 'uneaten' food will be offered to our gods." King Po-kota explained.

"Have you had any of these 'feasts' before?"

"Yes, usually it's to pay tribute for bountiful harvest and good luck. But it's never this much food. I'm sure my people might suspect that I'm having someone else join me for this feast but they would never question my orders. I am their king after all."

"What about my friends? How are you explaining brining them here?"

"The few that do know have been told they are being taken elsewhere by me personally to be dealt with."

"So they think we're being executed?"

King Po-kota shrugged. "I didn't tell them that was the case but I also didn't discourage the notion."

"You know history books tend to paint a picture of ancient kings and queens being dumb because of their beliefs in mystical and mythical ideas to explain things they didn't understand. People of my time feel smarter because we apparently know better than to believe in 'foolish' things. But you are clearly not a stupid man. Maybe you might because the sun rises and falls for different reasons than what I know to be true but you are smarter than a lot of people I know." Lina said in true honesty. She felt ashamed of her earlier assumptions of the king's intelligence. There was one thing that people in Lina's field hated, and that is getting historical facts wrong.

"I'll take that as a compliment even though it was wrapped up in an insulting generalization of the people of my time." King Po-kota chuckled not really taking offensive to what Lina said. "And the sun rises and falls because the land we are on is round and is circling around the sun."

Lina just looked at him stunned. Her mouth hung open and flapped as she couldn't find the words to comment on what he had just said. She had really misjudged him.

"I'll take it from you're shocked expression that I am correct?" This time King Po-kota was amused.

Lina could only deftly nod.

"Yes older in time does not mean stupid." King Po-kota gave himself a proverbial pat on the back. "As smart as myself and my people may be it definitely didn't help us in the long run. My land is a barren desert, my kingdom lost to the ages... What could have happened to cause this unfavorable turn of events?"

Lina let out a sigh. "I don't have an answer for you and even if I did me telling you anything could drastically alter the future. Assuming I haven't already screwed things up already but what I have said."

"Do you really not have any notion to why my kingdom is lost to history?"

"If we did then it wouldn't be lost and hard to find. Our knowledge is very limited which is why all of us were searching for the lost city and whatever answers we could find." Lina explained while her stomach rumbled once more. A few plumes of dust blew into the air as the sound of Lina's stomach was loud enough to dislodge small stones from the ceiling and have them fall to the dusty floor. "Are we there yet?"

"Yes, but your food will not get here till after your friends have arrived." King Po-kota informed her in a stern tone as he opened the doors to the dining chambers.

Lina let out a groan as she stomped her way behind King Po-kota to the room she would finally get her food in. She was so focused on the fact that she had to wait longer to satisfy her hunger that she almost let the sight of the room pass her by. Almost.

King Po-kota's throne room had been impressive with all the gold and gems but this room had that room beat by a mile. Yes of course there was more precious metals and gems but this room had an array of artfully crafted solid gold sculptures and intricate mosaics pictures. There was so much to look at that it was dizzying.

"Whoa..."

"Those are the previous kings and queens of Bnxqo." King Po-kota commented on the sculptures. "Eating is not the only thing done in the room. This room is also a place of great thinking and discussion. With the figures of our ancestors watching over us they silently give us guidance to make better choices for the future of Bnxqo."

Though this little speech of King Po-kota was prophetic and deep all Lina could think of was 'they are all staring at me... creepy!'

"No if you'll excuse me I'll wait outside to retrieve your friends." King Po-kota left the room letting the big heavy doors slam as they shut behind him.

Lina frowned as she looked around the room. She hated waiting, impatience should have been her middle name. There was nothing Lina hated more then to have to sit around with nothing to do. There wasn't even a nice comfy couch she could take a nap on. No the only place to sit anywhere in the room was either on the floor on one of the golden chairs. Though fancy those chairs looked anything but comfortable. Add in her ever growing hunger and Lina was just all kinds of impatient.

Left to her own devices all Lina could was look around the room. She tried to appeal to her normally inquisitive mind to see the situation for what it was, an opportunity to study the past. If she and the others managed to get back to their own time then this was probably going to be Lina's only really chance to study an ancient culture in its prime. What archeologist wouldn't jump at this chance?

Lina's rumbling stomach chose to disagree with Lina's rational brain making it hard for the North Rixx Professor to concentrate. As interesting as the mosaic pictures were they weren't enough to truly capture Lina's interest. They appeared to be portraits of the same kings and queens that the statues were off but showing them in potentially pivotal points in their rulings. The events had little significance to Lina as she had very little knowledge to reference it. It was sad to think of just how much was lost of this civilization over the years.

The sound of the door opening was music to Lina's ears as she nearly jumped for joy. Her traveling companions on the other hand didn't look so happy. Each one of them were tied up with their hands behind their backs with blindfolds covering their eyes. There was a look of confusion and fear evident in their faces by the clenched muscles and furrowed brows. It was clear they had no idea what was going on.

"Remove their blindfolds." King Po-kota instructed Lina after he closed the door.

Lina had a saucy little smirk on her face as she went to take Zelgadis' blindfold off. He appeared to be the most upset out of everyone and it delighted Lina's to see the surprise in his eyes.

"Lina!" Zelgadis exclaimed. "You're alive!" It was clear he wanted to hug her by the way he pulled on his bindings but ties preventing him making him jerk around awkwardly.

Lina laughed and untied him and right away he swept her up in a bone crushing hug. "Happy to see me?"

"I thought... They took you away..." Zelgadis trailed off letting the intense worry he had been feeling bleed into his eyes once more.

"Ahem." Xellos cleared his throat to catch Lina and Zelgadis' attention. "Perhaps you could untie the rest of us first before you two get lost in your 'moment'?" He suggested.

Lina and Zelgadis immediately broke apart, their faces red despite the fact that the others still had their blindfolds on.

"So what's going on? Why weren't you sacrificed and why are we here?" Val wondered getting straight to the point after he was out of his bindings.

"We're here to eat!" Lina exclaimed.

"That is not the only reason." King Po-kota reminded Lina.

"Yes yes! After we eat! We're not going to discuss anything until I get some food in my stomach!" She announced defiantly. "Now where's my food!"

King Po-kota shook his head wondering if asking for Lina's help was a mistake after all.