The idea of Descole being capable of becoming drunk was a bit out there in Elaine's mind. Or at least, it had been before she saw Descole in his state a few nights previous. There were still questions on her mind, though she had doubt that Descole would answer them willingly. After all, everything she has found out has only been by chance and luck. A part of her felt that perhaps she should stop looking any further before she ended up in a situation akin to that of opening Pandora's Box.
But, why was she so interested anyway? Was her damn curiosity just too strong to resist? Was there something wrong with her mentally? Maybe… Maybe, and it was a long shot now, a part of her has gained a sort of… soft spot for Descole? A slightly twisted sort of 'companionship', or something similar to that sort of feeling. There had been arguments, but outside of that, there was some level of civility between the two. Maybe through those feelings, she was capable of feeling concern for Descole's wellbeing. Whatever had happened in his past must have left some heavy mental scars on his mind.
With everything in consideration, Elaine did consider asking Raymond. He may not have said anything the first time she questioned about Descole's past, but maybe if she were to mention Lucy and Johanna it might give her a chance. Besides the obvious of Raymond simply not answering, the only other problems Elaine could spot were the possibilities of Raymond informing Descole of her questions. From there, things could only get worse. But considering all the other crap she's had to deal with; kidnappings, a week of starvation, fear, being a tool in translating, etc., it was kind of hard for her to imagine it getting any worse for the Frenchwoman. At least at the moment.
Now all she had to do was wait for her chance to actually ask Raymond.
For now, she would just have to stay focused on following Descole through the decrepit ruins of Akbadain. Said ruins reminded her a little of an Egyptian tomb she had seen in some photographs a colleague at work had taken during his expedition there. The stone so far seemed a shade of orange similar to the shades of a setting evening sun, changing to a sort of sea green colour as they went deeper down, while moss crept out through any available crevice. The only living thing so far found were some spiders and the occasional rat or two.
"So, you weren't able to find anyone willing to do it?" Elaine asked as she followed after Descole. She was carrying some supplies in a rucksack on her back, as was Raymond though his amount was smaller (which was fair given his age). Unsurprisingly, Descole wasn't carrying anything.
Lazy jerk.
"Let's just say I found some… 'worrying' information from an informant, and that I'd rather come here myself." Descole responded as he turned one corner.
"Worrying? Worrying 'ow?"
"Let's just say we aren't the only one's interested in these ruins." Elaine scoffed at Descole's vague response. Of course they wouldn't be the only ones interested. That just seemed impossible in her mind.
As for how far they were, Elaine thought it might have been the third of fourth basement level now. It was a hard to keep count since some of the passageways were a bit similar to one another in design.
She didn't think there would be a funny smell like this though. It smelled a bit like…
The source of the smell was seen as they entered the next chamber and Elaine blanched. There were mummies inside. Mostly wrapped in white with the occasional red or blue (these ones strangely enough had spikes growing from their back), they laid on the ground in a semi-decomposed state. Some a bit worse than others and some mostly rotted away on the outside to show insides.
"M-mon dieu…" Elaine felt ill as she look at mummies. Unable to take her eyes away from them. Glancing to Raymond at her side, she felt some relief seeing a small, uncomfortable look on his face. It was some relief knowing she wasn't the only one who ill from seeing this. Elaine preferred seeing mummies intact and not decomposing like zombies in a horror film, thank you very much. Descole didn't seem too bothered however. In fact, he looked back at Elaine and smirked at her.
"What's the matter, Hawthorne? Afraid of mummies?"
"Don't be stupid." Elaine scoffed. Not bothering to look at him. "I'm just… Didn't expect there to be… bodies."
"From what I've found, they were meant to be a security force for these ruins." Descole explained as he looked at the mummies. "When they began looking for that boy, they had to try and get rid of these guards in order to get through safely. I think it goes without saying that they managed to solve that problem."
"Not likely by too pleasant means." Elaine faintly heard Raymond say quietly. Descole didn't say anything else and just walked briskly through the chamber with ease. Carefully to step over anything unsavoury. Elaine and Raymond followed suit, though not quite as briskly as Descole.
Descole had already gone over wanting to find the Masks of Chaos and Order with Elaine, and she just pretended that she was hearing it all for the first time. There was no doubt Descole wouldn't appreciate learning Elaine having overheard a conversation between him and Raymond.
Ignoring the occasional dead mummy or two, the rest of the trip through the ruins was so far uneventful. It probably helped that traps they passed were already disabled. Probably done by that boy or the people that were searching for him. But they soon arrived in the final chamber. It would have looked beautiful with the light rock, natural lighting and some moss growing here and there. But the bleak chasm that covered nearly the entire ground apart from the edge added a scar to it.
"So, we're going down there?" Elaine gave an unsure look at the abyss. While not afraid of heights or darkness, she was seriously considering whether she would prefer the mummies to this. Live ones especially.
"Raymond and I are." Descole answered as he took the rucksack off Elaine bag and took out some supplies such as rope and flashlights. "You're staying here." Elaine looked up at Descole in surprise. "We're in ruins in the middle of a desert. I have little fear of you being able to run away without doing yourself harm." Elaine frowned. In such an unfamiliar area, trying to run would be a bit of a risk. True there was that town that was supposedly not too far from here, but since she was blindfolded for most the trip to the ruins it just felt like too much of a gamble.
With the extremely long and thick rope tied securely to a pillar, Descole descended into the black abyss followed by Raymond. Leaving Elaine alone at top. With nothing else to do as she waited, she sat down to consider whether or not it would be worth going back just a bit to see if there were any glyphs she might have missed. If she went now, she could be back before Descole and Raymond got back. That was worth keeping in mind.
Groaning in annoyance, Elaine laid back and stretched her arms out. Already wishing she could go down the chasm too. At least then she would have something to think over. Such as how it was surprisingly fairly hot here. Hell, the fact that there's even a desert in this part of Europe should be considered shocking. She was just glad she was dressed for it with a pair of blue sandals and jeans and a short sleeved lilac shirt.
But perhaps now, a nap would do. Yes, Elaine would just shut her eyes for a moment and go to sleep for a while. A nice, pleasant sleep where she can pretend to be somewhere else for a while or so.
It didn't feel like it lasted too long. That was what Elaine thought after she sat up with a jolt after a quick jab to her side. She looked up to see an apathetic Descole looking down at her. He probably gave her a swift kick just hard enough to wake her up.
"Wh-what time…?"
"It appears there may be something to the belief that the boy is still alive." Descole interrupted. Elaine noticed only now that Raymond was packing the rucksacks.
"Did you find a tunnel?"
"Actually, we found that at the bottom there's rushing water. Possibly heading towards a river of some kind I imagine."
"Water? That doesn't necessarily mean-."
"I know, but this just means that the Mask of Chaos may indeed be lost!" Descole spat. "All because that stupid boy had to bring the Mask with him!"
"The Mask could still be in the water down whatever river it ended up it."
"If so, it's definitely lost given that it's been eighteen years."
"The lad might still be alive, Master and may still have the Mask on his person." Raymond spoke up as he finished packing the bags.
"… Yes… Yes, that's true. There may still be some hope." Descole looked back down into the chasm. "I suppose I'll just have to find some sort of map of the area and see where the river leads and look into places close to the river."
"So, what do we do for now?" Elaine asked as she stood up. Descole looked to the other side of the chamber where an open door stood.
"First, I want to check inside that chamber, on the off-chance the Mask of Order is in there. Afterwards, we'll go and see how much light there is outside. If there's not enough we'll have to sleep in in the ruins for the night."
"Pleasant." Elaine mumbled as she picked up one of the bags.
As expected, there were no masks in there. All the way back upstairs, Descole was grumbling and muttering to himself. He probably felt the trip was almost for naught considering how little was actually obtained. Little next to none to be more precise.
Footsteps were then heard. But none of them came from the three. Elaine presumed it may have been archaeologists or just simply some curious people. As such, she found it strange when Descole and Raymond tensed. She was going to feel a bit awkward for asking, but she felt that she had to.
"Is something-?" Descole suddenly grabbed Elaine, moved a hand tightly over her mouth and pulled her close to him as he and Raymond hid inside a deep alcove. Elaine was muffled as she tried to speak. Demanding to know what was wrong.
"Quiet, woman! Are you trying to get us killed?!" Descole hissed in her ear. That made Elaine quieten down. Was there possibly a serious threat out there?
The footsteps got louder ever so slowly. Taking their time. Elaine wondered if perhaps those people knew where they were and were deliberately stalling to try and increase fear.
They were soon in eyesight. Walking right by as they failed to notice the alcove, or at least the people hiding on the inside of it. Two people, wearing a dark blue uniform with caps and black lensed glasses. They didn't seem too special though Elaine's heart was beating fast.
When they were out of eyesight, the small group stayed where they were a little longer before Descole let go of Elaine only to grab her wrist.
"Hawthorne. Keep quiet until we get to the cart at least. And for once in your life, do what I say without question." Elaine didn't even bother to nod her head before Descole began walking, tugging Elaine after him with Raymond by his side.
It almost felt like forever before they made it to the outside. There was a black car not too far away from the exit. Probably belonging to the people Elaine had just spotted.
"I suppose at least they'll be disappointed at finding nothing as well." Descole muttered, his pace increasing. "At least they sent grunts. At least they have the possibility of being stupid enough to not look inside the chasm."
"Shall we leave right away then, Master?" Raymond asked, keeping up with Descole's pace then Elaine was doing.
"Of course. No point risking another minute here when there's nothing worth risking for now. We'll just have to try and travel the night or at least find somewhere to rest at some point."
Once at the cart, they quickly left. No sooner had they then did Elaine ask,
"Who were they?"
"Just a group I'm not very fond of to put it in a very, friendly way." The tone was clearly full of disdain.
"Do they 'ave a name, or am I just supposed to think of them as people who dress up like security because they could never get into any kind of police duty?"
"I'll… Tell you later." Descole muttered, not bothering to acknowledge Elaine's presence. "Right now, I just don't feel like entertaining your questions."