That night...

Upon the banks of the Tagria, the two figures settled in for the night. While Amira the Sorceress intoned her occult mysticism and meditated, Rhaak performed the tasks he was meant for. He hauled the skiff onto the soft shoreline, and went to retrieve whatever wood he could find for their food that night. Before the sun had lowered, he had been ordered to catch some fish, and the slave had managed to spear two stout perch.

As if by divine providence, Amira had seen where best to land, and once he had captured the fish, he found a smooth stone near the center of this small clearing for him to clean and gut them in. There were trees and brush around, but not nearly enough to be considered a forest. The foliage was merely the life the Tagria sated at its edge. Other than some birds, he heard no animals save the baying of jackals in the distance, for he could see the dunes of the sand as the sun began to lower.

Within minutes of Rhaak finishing the fish, he began the fire. It gave satisfying crackles as he began to cook the fish.

Rhaak kept silent, but he wished to speak. There was something about this place that brought a chill to his normally confident spine. He was not certain what it was, and he was surprised his master could not perhaps feel it too.

---

"A man and a wealthy woman?" the bandit leader mused, temptation glinting upon his face.

It had been several weeks since the small group of men had left the pilgrim road and settled for raiding near the Tagria. The five thieves had not been lucky for days, only gutting a short, fat merchant, with a purse as empty as his promises. They had not even a camel or horse to their name, and some days they found their blades looked tasty enough to chew upon. But if what Ma'kum said was true, they might have found someone who knew their way around the area.

"We cannot! They have landed too close to the fabled hills of Vathek" one bandit said, fear in his eyes. He received a dagger to his hand for getting upon the leader's nerves, his scream stifled by his throat being slit. Blood dribbled into the sand as the remaining three stepped back, wary at the sudden deadly display.

"You fool," the leader, Alra'heer muttered. "Would you have us starve? The hills are bound to have riches! Perhaps these travelers know of a way in."

"You would have us go into the tomb of Vathek? It is cursed, by Allah!"

"The tomb is filled with the treasure of a Sultan." Alra'heer sneered. He lifted up one of the meager coins they had recieved from the merchant. "Mountains of gold..."

Superstition was evident in their eyes, and yet...yet their hunger and desire for riches weakened their doubts and fears. Before the hour was out, the four thieves stalked the dunes to the north, ever watchful for the fire of the sorceress and the slave.
@Penny

Amira sat cross legged on a flat stone as the aroma of cooking fish radiated from the crackling fire. She rested her wrists on her knees in the pose of contemplation and bought herself into balance. In her minds eye the stars over head wheeled in great arcs even as for others they seemed still and constant. Things changed and things stayed the same. At the edge of her awareness there was a continual buzzing as of the locust in the dunebrush. Slowly but surely it drew her out of her mediation. Her dark eyes snapped open and she found Rhaak gazing moresely into the fire, prodding their dinner with a stick for some culinary purpose she did not immediately comprehend.

"Speak if you must," she said, not quite managing to keep a waspish undertone from her voice. It was the first time she had spoken to the slave except to issue commands or explain a task she needed performed.

"Your thoughts are like rice upon a drum."

@POOHEAD189

The wind brought a thrum to the horizon, and the desert sands began to flow as the moon rose. The rustle of leaves, and the tickle of bits of sand along Rhaak's skin gave him goosebumps, and he cursed to Allah under his breath. There was only a minute or two left on the fish once Amira the Sorceress spoke, and the slave twitched a bit at her stirring. Her voice had an alluring yet commanding quality.

"Your thoughts are like rice upon a drum."

"It is...not my place to question you, master." He said, and briefly he felt like lying. Before the thought passed through his head entirely, he dismissed it. He did not know if she could read minds, but he would not risk such a thing. And as his father had told him many years ago: El Kidb Maloosh Reglein, lying has no legs.

He fell down onto his rump, placing his strong hands on the ground to hold himself up. He had been rowing all day, and though he was strong, he was also famished. Rhaak had not been given the best of treatment in the pit arena, but his previous master had usually made sure he was well fed to keep himself able to fight for his greed. "The Sultan's ire will follow us to the western sea or the city of Raghba Shahar." He said. "My family was killed by the Sultan for embarrassing a guest. If we evaded his Jannissaries, he will be as angry as a wrathful Ifrit."

He didn't seem particularly fearful. But he felt as if he should speak aloud his thoughts, as she had bade him. The sweeping shadows of the sparse trees danced along the clearing floor. Rhaak turned from the fire, and handed her his master's portion of the fish. "These hills are cursed as well, I feel." He told her, a cold chill having settled into his spine as they had landed. There were reasons much of the desert was not settled, and it was more than just the heat. Ancient secrets and dangers lurked in the wilderness.

Just before Rhaak took a bite for himself, he heard the most bone chilling screech crack through the silence and shatter his hopes for a peaceful meal. It was passed the brush, among the hills to the south. "By Allah!" The voice cried, carrying a wail that was followed by shouts and curses. The Pit Fighter flung himself up between his master and whatever was occurring, and what he saw past their meager camp was gruesome. Four men, or three now, held their swords and hacked at creatures out of nightmares.

Loping corpse-beasts with jagged teeth and skin mottled grey feasted on the still warm corpse of a bandit, as the other bandits fought for their lives, swords glinting in the darkness as desperately tried to drive away the Ghuls. There was little mercy from Hayashim this night, for even as the Ghuls were hacked down, the others advanced without a care of injury and leaped upon the men with gnashing teeth, mounting the bandits in a lustful parody as they tore their throat out.

Only one bandit managed to escape the circle of doom, sprinting towards the only safe haven he could see and calling for help, promising anything if the two would save him from these beasts...
@Penny

The thief raced across the sands, sparks flew from his hobnail boots as they struck fist sized rocks in his desperate haste. Behind him the Ghuls snapped and howled two or three paused to tear at the fallen bandits, slicking their muzzles in blood as they tore into the soft vicera of their victims, sharp teeth rending and tearing at yielding flesh. Amira stood quickly her lovely features disapproving as her fish fell untouched into the dirt.

“For the love of Allah,” the fleeing thief shrieked, his voice several octaves higher than normal due to terror and exhaustion. As he screamed the leading Ghul leaped onto his back knocking him sprawling into the circle of firelight. The beast howled in triumph but the beastial screech was cut off before it could tear open its preys back as Rhaak kicked it hard in the face, sending blood and teeth flying from its ruined muzzle.

The squeals of dying men and the stink of blood and ruptured intestines was heavy on the air and Amira sensed more of the predators circling in the darkness. She knelt in the sand and began to sketch with a slender finger tip still frowning gently. The sword the thief had been carrying, his fear addled mind hadn't allowed him even the control to drop the weapon, was now in Rhaak’s hand slashing and stabbing. Scrambling to his feet the ragged thief pulled a long wicked knife from his waistband and delivered a backhanded cut across the eyes of another of the attackers as it tried to blindside the pit fighter.

Bestial howls split the night as more of the creatures closed in, confident in their dog like minds that the pack would be able to drag down the few surviving humans.
@POOHEAD189

The thief raced across the sands, sparks flew from his hobnail boots as they struck fist sized rocks in his desperate haste. Behind him the Ghuls snapped and howled two or three paused to tear at the fallen bandits, slicking their muzzles in blood as they tore into the soft vicera of their victims, sharp teeth rending and tearing at yielding flesh. Amira stood quickly her lovely features disapproving as her fish fell untouched into the dirt.

“For the love of Allah,” the fleeing thief shrieked, his voice several octaves higher than normal due to terror and exhaustion. As he screamed the leading Ghul leaped onto his back knocking him sprawling into the circle of firelight. The beast howled in triumph but the beastial screech was cut off before it could tear open its preys back as Rhaak kicked it hard in the face, sending blood and teeth flying from its ruined muzzle.

The squeals of dying men and the stink of blood and ruptured intestines was heavy on the air and Amira sensed more of the predators circling in the darkness. She knelt in the sand and began to sketch with a slender finger tip still frowning gently. The sword the thief had been carrying, his fear addled mind hadn't allowed him even the control to drop the weapon, was now in Rhaak’s hand slashing and stabbing. Scrambling to his feet the ragged thief pulled a long wicked knife from his waistband and delivered a backhanded cut across the eyes of another of the attackers as it tried to blindside the pit fighter.

Bestial howls split the night as more of the creatures closed in, confident in their dog like minds that the pack would be able to drag down the few surviving humans.
@POOHEAD189

The thief raced across the sands, sparks flew from his hobnail boots as they struck fist sized rocks in his desperate haste. Behind him the Ghuls snapped and howled two or three paused to tear at the fallen bandits, slicking their muzzles in blood as they tore into the soft vicera of their victims, sharp teeth rending and tearing at yielding flesh. Amira stood quickly her lovely features disapproving as her fish fell untouched into the dirt.

“For the love of Allah,” the fleeing thief shrieked, his voice several octaves higher than normal due to terror and exhaustion. As he screamed the leading Ghul leaped onto his back knocking him sprawling into the circle of firelight. The beast howled in triumph but the beastial screech was cut off before it could tear open its preys back as Rhaak kicked it hard in the face, sending blood and teeth flying from its ruined muzzle.

The squeals of dying men and the stink of blood and ruptured intestines was heavy on the air and Amira sensed more of the predators circling in the darkness. She knelt in the sand and began to sketch with a slender finger tip still frowning gently. The sword the thief had been carrying, his fear addled mind hadn't allowed him even the control to drop the weapon, was now in Rhaak’s hand slashing and stabbing. Scrambling to his feet the ragged thief pulled a long wicked knife from his waistband and delivered a backhanded cut across the eyes of another of the attackers as it tried to blindside the pit fighter.

Bestial howls split the night as more of the creatures closed in, confident in their dog like minds that the pack would be able to drag down the few surviving humans.
@POOHEAD189

Rhaak moved with a deadly precision, chopping and severing Ghul limbs and spines. Moving as if he had one hundred eyes and the strength of a bull. He sidestepped a leaping Ghul, the apparition instead finding a blade to meet it, the momentum of its hurtling body causing it to be sliced in twain. Rhaak crushed another's skull with a mighty stomp, and though he was bleeding from a dozen different cuts, he destroyed the five remaining monsters in moments, protecting Amira, and by happenstance the frightened bandit.

The man watched Rhaak in awe, thinking the skilled man stupid until he destroyed the last of the Ghuls, to which he then thought of Rhaak as a brave Mamluk or a Eunech servant, for who else could fight with such valor?

"Oh thank you, thank you, thank you for saving me, praise Hayashim!" He cried, prostrating himself at the feet of the cooly imperious Amira, lathering her feet with kisses before she rebuked him of such nonesense. "I am your humble servant!" the man named Ma'kum claimed, a wet spot on the sand revealing his soiled trousers. His thoughts spoke as well. Images of a tomb's entrance among the hills, and the hopes of treasure and power beyond measure hidden.

Rhaak returned with a bloodied Scimitar, and he knelt down somewhat more nobly beside the man, announcing the threat is now slain, and asking if he could then now proceed to finish his meal.
@Penny

“No.”

The thief and the slave both froze at the word. It had not been loud, but it held a piercing quality in the cold desert night. The thief licked his lips and looked back and forth between his two apparent saviors in some concern.

“Eat nothing until sunrise,” she cautioned, sweeping a foot across the sand she had been drawing in a moment ago. Placing her own fish aside she turned and looked out over the desert.

“You must lay the bodies of the Ghuali and your friends also so that their feet face the rising sun.”

“My friends? Mistress I assure…” The thief began to object but Amria eyes, flashing in the firelight locked with the bandits for a long moment. Met began to shake and tore his eyes away with a visible effort and a prayer to Allah and a gesture to ward off evil. It took the two men the better part of half an hour to line the bodies up feet facing east. Severed limbs were piled atop of the corpse to whom they most likely belonged.

“We have no salt, so we must use fire,” Amira said, drawing a burning branch from their small blaze and, after muttering a prayer, touched it to the Ghul furthest along the line. Like oil igniting at the touch of flame, pale tongues of fire leapt over the ghuls gray flesh. It spread in a slow chain from body to body, even the recently dead humans began to blaze with the same pale fire.

“Lord of Wonders,” the thief said reverently kissing at some sort of silver icon he kept on a hemp cord around his neck.

“There is something wrong in this place,” Amira declared as her nose wrinkled slightly at the smell of burning flesh.

“Come, we must go.”

Without showing a moments hesitation the Sorceress led them out across the sands. The moon was bright and it was easy to find a way. For an hour or more they crossed the dunes until they reached a low sandstone bluff where she allowed her companions a few moments rest. Carefully she began running her hands over the sheer wall of sandstone.

“Master, what are you…” Rhaak began but as he spoke she pressed down on the stone and, to his amazement it slid away beneath her grip. There was a dry grinding sound as a large section of cliff, polished to perfection by the ancient camolgauge masters, slid to the side. A blast of musty fetid air rushed out to greet them.

“It will not be safe to travel by daylight,” she announced, “we will take refuge here.”

"Mistress..." Ma'kum began clearing his throat nervously.

"This is one of the tombs of the apostates, it is not safe to enter such a place."

"Stay if it pleases you," Amira said serenely, "Though I caution you against the daylight in this place."

@POOHEAD189

Ma'kum mumbled a prayer to Allah and the daughter of the moon, before inching his way inside. Rhaak entered without hesitation, though he did have a raised brow, unsure of what dangers the sun would bring to such a wasteland as this. Inside, pictographs of pagan gods and far eastern stories were depicted on the walls. Rhaak would spy a series of sconce's along the walls in blocky intervals between the prophetical artwork. Amira ordered Rhaak to close the tomb, and the muscled slave did so just as the ray of the sun began to peak above the dunes west of them.

There was a terrible screech, and a mad laughter as Rhaak closed the tomb, the sealed rock shutting off the sound of what could only mean death. A sudden, impenetrable darkness filled the tomb, and the pit fighter could hear the bandit whimpering. With a flourish of her hands, a lit torch appeared as if out of nowhere within Amira's grasp, and she curtly gestured Rhaak to take it. He did so, trying to remain resolute, though the shadow of what he saw outside brought a shock to his senses. By Allah, this was indeed a cursed land. Still, he seemed better than the newcomer who had only heard of what lay beyond.

"Are you ill?" Rhaak asked the shivering bandit, somewhat amused, for the man now had a puddle at his feet.

"A live dog is better than a dead lion." Ma'kum said resolutely, trying to show he was ready to continue, despite the obvious fear in his eyes.

Rhaak nodded, and was was allowed to eat in haste. He took what fish he had placed in his small sack in his mouth. The warm feeling of food brought a renewed strength in his limbs, though he was hurried by his master as they were led deeper into the tomb. The stone hall abruptly ended, and the mausoleum they entered was in stark contrast to the sparse hall, for there were 8 sarcophagi in the wide room. Twin stone statues of foreign, striped cats guarded the archway as they stood at the doorway.

Across the sarcophagi were Khopesh swords made of bronze, as if the dead would still have need of them in the afterlife. A faint trail of light was at the far left of the ceiling, a long airway that led through meters of hill toward the surface, barely catching the light of the sun. The light aimed at the center of the room, for within the illumination was a dias where a papyrus scroll was nestled, untouched by human hands.
@Penny

"Touch nothing," Amira commanded as she moved to each of the three entrances to the room. The way they had come had been cleared by their passage and the other two archways, each guarded by the statues of fantastical beasts were choked with cobwebs woven by small silvery spiders. Proof enough that they had lain undisturbed since before the time of the prophet.

"There are powerful curses on this place," she mused, more to herself than to her companions.

"Who... who are you?" Ma'kum blurted, his voice rising to end on a squeak of terror. Amira turned to him from the last of the doorways, her eyes glinting in the flickering torch light.

"We are travelers," she said simply and then seeing the dissatisfaction in the thief eyes elaborated, "This is Rhaak and I... some call me Amira, although I do not expect you will have need of my name."

"Yes... yes mistress," the thief stammered.

Amira awoke from her trance, she never really slept as such, to the feeling of something monstrous moving beyond the sight of men. She didn't need Rhaak's shouted 'Master!' to bring her to her feet. In the center of the room stood Ma'Kum, a look of abject terror on his face and the papyrus in his trembling fingers. A grinding boom and a great cloud of dust gouted from the entrance passageway like a tidal wave, completely blacking out the torch.

The dust surged for a moment as Amira raised her palm and then rushed together to form a perfect sphere a foot wide suspended in the air.

"Fool!" she snapped at the thief her voice unusually animated.

"We are sealed in now," she declared as rubble from the collapsing tunnel tricked into the chamber. In the distance there was a clank of metal against metal that began low and rhythmic. Sealed in, but perhaps not alone.

@POOHEAD189

Rhaak gave a nod to Mu'kam as the bandit regarded him. "You are of the fighting pits?" He asked suspiciously. Rhaak nodded once more, sitting down to rest as his master had bade him touch nothing. "My last master was Mal Jashe of Sharsaya. I fought and bled for his coin, until I came into my new master's service."

Ma'kum eyed Rhaak, having heard of a slave fighter of renown known as the 'Qabdat Alhajar.' He would have pondered this further, but there was an unknown quality to this place. A quality that spoke to his thieving nature. A quality that even went beyond his mortal desires. It was a calling; a yearning to learn of the ancient past of this place. Ma'kum's eyes glazed over, having fought against the urge for many minutes before succumbing.

"The scroll..." he heard in the deepest reaches of his mind, and his conscious mind agreed. If ancient secrets of magic truly were written upon it, he would make a fortune in the market's of Iz-Rayed.

What happened was as Amira feared, and at once they were trapped within the tombs.

Ma'kum shivered, gaining a clarity of what he had done. The bandit dropped the Papyrus Scroll and flinched back, gazing around sheepishly and in claustrophobic fear. Within the dark, bronze glinted as figures shifted in the gloom. Rhaak was on his feet, a scimitar in his hands as he stood protectively before Amira. Stone grinded upon stone, and Ma'kum turned about just in time to see the first mummy rise from the sarcophagus.

No, not a mummy. It was a guardian of the tomb. Its shoulders were broad and its body sculpted, an archiac lower robe was swept across its upper legs and hips, inlaid with gold. The Tomb Guardian was taller than Rhaak by a head. The bronze Khopesh swords were in its hands, and its head was the visage of a snarling Jackal. Baleful eyes met Amira, and then Rhaak, before settling upon Ma'kum. Three other Sarcophagi began to shift as the Anubis drooled and advanced.

Behind Ma'kum, the dias had fallen from the tomb's movements. Below it was a shaft, albeit a small one.
@Penny

The tomb smelled of dust and the acrid chemicals of embalming, if there had ever been a hint of rotting flesh it had long since fled the desiccated corpses of the no longer human guardians. They creaked oddly as they advanced, ancient leather and sinew stretching as it was flexed for the first time in uncounted generations.

"They cannot be destroyed with weapons," Amira cautioned as Mak'um, to everyone's surprise, scuttled forward and snatched up the scroll, narrowly avoiding a decapitating strike from the closest of the creatures. Rhaak and Mak'um exchanged uncertain looks.

"Back into the passageway she commanded, gesturing to the spider web clogged doorway. Mak'um bolted with the energy of terror crashing through the cobwebs into the darkened passageway beyond. Almost immediately he stumbled and clattered across the ground on some unseen obstruction as Amira strode quickly after him.

Once through the archway the light of the torch revealed a long hallway with colorful if faded paintings etched into the wall, festooned with a strange script of letters and glyphs. The floor was in disrepair showing the wear of ages. The thief had evidently tripped on one of the cracks in the sandstone and was even now pulling himself to his feet and tearing frantically at the spiderwebs which practically coccooned his slender body.

"Wait," Amira commanded as Rhaak backed into the room followed by the slowly advancing tomb guardians.

"Lift me," she directed.

"Master?" the pit fighter asked in confusion, keeping his back to her and his weapon to the creatures now only fifteen paces away.

"I cannot reach the key stone, lift me up." Awkwardly Rhaak tossed his sword to Mak'um, a dubious gesture, and made a stirup of his hands. Amira stepped into into it the slave straightening effortlessly to bring her to the level of the stone archway. With deliberate care she placed two fingers on the key stone. Sand began to fall first in a trickle and then in an increasing torrent. The stones groaned and buckled as the key stone began to fail.

"Put me down, and I suggest you move quickly," she commented, the groaning of the stone arch grew more pronounced and dust rained from the ceiling. Without hurrying she strode down the hall as behind her a titanic crash sounded as thousands of pounds of stone gave way and tumbled into the hallway whipping a billowing cloud of dust around her. No grain of it settled on her as she strode out of the dust storm.

"By Allah," Ma'kum whined, making a sign to ward of evil.

"A witch!"

@POOHEAD189

Rhaak wrapped his mouth with a cloth as the dust billowed, for the ancient air was already stuffy from centuries of little to not filter. He and Amira made it out of the falling stone alive, with Ma'kum holding the Khopesh menacingly only to have it lower to the floor as he gaped at the scene that now unfolded before them. For at the end of the hall was not a dark dead end, but a drop. An entrance to a stone stairway that led to a gaping, vast cavern.

At the entrance, there was a small causeway. Thick enough for a mouse to slide down, and to Rhaak's amazement, he smelled oil within it. At Amira's order, he placed the torch upon it and a fire flared brilliantly, racing down and illuminating the vast cavern to reveal mounds of sand, with Wadjet statues of sheer gold standing guard. They were made of pure ore from the looks of it, and held no dangers other than perhaps a ceremonial gaudiness. Upon each of their brows were diamonds the size of Rhaak's fist, sparking enchantingly in the firelight.

At the end of the cavern looked to be another drop with no discernible end to its depth, though neither Rhaak or Amira had deigned to look as of yet.

Below the stone stairs was a depression in the ground, and to the mounting fear of the group, it looked to be an entire river of black adders. The hisses were even audible as high as they. The archway they stood at was framed by two statues of bronze, in the likeness of a man and a cloaked woman with 4 arms each.

"By Allah, what is this place?"

"The tomb of a witch!" Ma'kum cried, and Rhaak spun as the bandit had seemingly regained his wits and lunged at the Sorceress. Rhaak moved on instinct, blocking the Khopesh by his forearm and gripping Ma'kum's shirt, sending him sailing end over end to hit the stairs and roll down it hard, cursing with each bounce until he made it upon the dirt floor of the cavern, groaning. Rhaak picked up the Khopesh as Ma'kum groggily came to his feet.

As he dusted himself off, the mounds of sand behind him began to shift ominously. "I have been through raids and tombs, and now a sorceress and her thrall is all I have for company!?" He asked himself. Rhaak blinked, and even the hardened fighter was aghast as one of the mounds uncoiled to reveal itself as a truly enormous snake, its eyes fixed on Ma'kum. The sand slid off of its body like trickling rain.
@Penny

"Allah Protect me!" The thief screamed and raised his hands as though to ward off a blow. The snake, as long as a date palm and nearly as thick, struck like lightning. Ma'kum spun away with an agonized shriek but before he could hit the ground a second snake struck from the darkness, then a third. Within moments the thief was silent and all that could be heard was the rasping of scales and the low hissing of the great serpents.

Behind them came the grinding sound of stone against stone. Amira did not look back but spoke after a moment, sensing Rhaak's question.

"The guardians of the tomb will not be detered by a simple rockfall. Even should it take them a thousand years to clear the way, they will come for those who disturbed their slumber," her tone was not worried and perhaps held a hint of wonderment at such a thing, though it was difficult to tell.

"We must cross this cavern, there will be a sacrum, where the spells of this place are carved into the walls," she explained as she looked around trying to find an alternate route past the snakes.

"Without reaching it we cannot hope to escape this place."

@POOHEAD189

"I cannot fight them all and live." He stated, more out of giving advice than any sort of fear. Yes, he knew of slave revolts and had dreamed of it for years, as he had not been born a slave. This life of servitude had been thrust upon him, just as the chains on his wrists. However, there was a sense of destiny surrounding this woman, and he had seen her perform miracles. He was not to abandon her, even in such a state as this.

And as much as it grated him, he had also gotten used to having a master. One day, hopefully he would change that.

The Great Serpents lazily coiled and slithered across the illuminated cavern beneath them. One of them gazed up at the Sorceress and the slave, a tongue the size of Rhaak's arm flickering out as it tasted the air. Its iris was the size of his Scimitar, an endless blade of darkness. Rhaak had never before felt as close to a meal as he did as when the serpent looked at him. Though it did not approach, and he wondered why that was.

The stairway seemed large enough-
Rhaak's eyes caught the statues that framed the archway, and he decided to try something. With a look to Amira, he stepped forward cautiously, his every muscle tensed as he did so, before his foot passed the statues and stepped down upon the first step. The serpents that were not gazing his way were coiling and hissing, but the one that had watched them curiously suddenly drew itself up, and approached with sinuous grace.

Rhaak stepped back immediately and held his Scimitar defensively, and the Serpent halted its advance as soon as he re-entered the archway, seemingly uninterested. Rhaak looked to the statues, and wondered what to do.

"They are the pagan Gods Muhamara and Bresia," Amira declared, though her sharp, enchanting eyes showed a hint of curiosity at the strange behavior of the serpents as well. "We shall use them."

Luckily, the statues were not large. Merely a tad bigger than the busts that Praelians were so fond of, and Rhaak, at Amira's behest, ripped them out of the stone and held them under each of his arms. He then knelt down for Amira to ride upon his back, so both of them would be between the statue's warding powers.
@Penny

Amira face remained flat and disapproving as they crossed the chamber. All around them the great serpents coiled and agitated, scales rustling like the bones of dead men. Several tried to strike but despite their clear desire to kill they still shied away a few feet from the statues, shutting their fist sized reptialn eyes as if against a terrible radience.

They had almost across the chamber when the hissing, already at the intensity of a sandstorm redoubled in its fury. Amira looked back over her shoulder to see the tomb guardians marching down the far stairs in a neat phalanx. It had not taken them long to break through the rockslide. When they reached the floor of the chamber the snakes began to strike out, spending the frustration they could not vent on the Sorceress and the Slave on the walking corpses that strode among them. Copper blades, razor sharp and bound with terrible geas, struck out in verdigris arcs and cool serpent blood gouted in pale red arcs. The shear weight of the serpents smashed the tomb guardians down over and over, but each time the corpse rose and stabbed or bit at the animals.

"They will cross eventually," Amira said as Rhaak set her down.

"THey will hunt us until we are destroyed or..." she trailed off leaving the alternatives unspoken. Somewhere in this tomb there would be a sanctum chamber where the spells which defended it were scribed into the stone with the finger bones of the ancient priests. That was the only way to find safety. Of course once she had the ring no foe could truly contend with her. It was a tempting thought, but how long could she stay ahead of the guardians, beings who never ate, never slept and never rested.

"We must find the spells that animate them," she declared.

@POOHEAD189

"Yes master" Rhaak said as they moved, fear mounting in his broad chest as he heard the sounds of battle and hissing behind him. It was to Amira's and Rhaak's fortune that his legs were as powerful as a mules, and he leaped when he could not run past a vein of golden trinkets. It was indescribably heinous to throw a Pasha's treasure in front of Rhaak, the former thief turned slave, and yet he could not grab any of it.

At the edge of the tunnel, Rhaak set Amira down and the statues as well, making sure to place them before he and his master so any snake who pursued would think twice before striking. Indeed a few did turn their great heads, but with an almost supernatural intelligence, they decided to return their attentions to the guardians, a much more immediate threat. The fact serpents the size of small rivers could deduce strategies was chilling.

Rhaak then felt along the wall, drawing an upraised eyebrow from Amira that he did not see, his attention elsewhere. Once when he was a boy, he had fallen into a tomb much like this one, though far less perilous. His days as a trinket hunter and tomb robber served him well, and he knew there had to be pressure plates upon the ground or within the wall. Slight uneven patches in the stone spoke of previous work, and he placed his weight along various stone segments before one slowly slid further into the wall, and a door sized slab was removed as if by some mechanism.

Placing the Statues of the heathen Gods at the doorway, he and Amira fled further into the tomb through winding tunnel ways. If not for the sorceress's magic, they would have been lost and died of starvation as the darkness was nearly all-encompassing. Thankfully, the tunnel suddenly began to incline upwards, the dust covered ground an easy foothold as they began to ascend. Gripping the wall of stone and helping Amira forward, they were finally led to the exit.

They stood at the doorway, and their eyes drank in a beautiful sight. An underground chasm, where stone and earth had created areas where vegetation and even the odd flower grew. The air was humid and pleasant to breath, a rise in the ground from where they stood led down in a small pathway to the center of the cavern. Light filtered in from small holes in the ceiling, centering on the pool of water that bubbled lightly from the small waterfall that tumbled over a slab of stone, where intricate, flowing script caught the eye in its mesmerizing swirls.

"By allah..."
@Penny