As the Ruby Scarabs prepared to make the journey to the
Parched Dunes in search of Chisisek’s tomb, they made a few additional
purchases of supplies and discussed whether they should acquire a camel. Uto convinced
Sula that it would be worthwhile for her to purchase an enchanted rod that
could extend the duration of her spells, and he even loaned her gold for the
purchase when she realized that she didn’t have enough left after buying a
magic headband for herself and an amulet for Nyema.
In the end the Scarabs concluded that a camel would be an
extra complication that they didn’t need. Uto’s magical accouterments would allow
him to carry enough water and food, and what he couldn’t carry Sula could find.
Sula now had an enchanted ring that would allow her to go without food or
water, so she would only need meat for Nyema, and if game was too hard to find
she could transform Nyema into a figurine to reduce the lioness’s need for
food. Uto could also use his magic to create food and water, removing the
necessity to carry more than emergency supplies. When this decision had been
made, the other four Scarabs said farewell to their comrade Igby, who had
elected not to join them in the desert, and took passage aboard a barge
travelling down the River Sphinx to where it met the Crook River, much closer
to the Parched Dunes.
The barge was called the Golden Ibis, and much to their
surprise it was drawn by two giant ibises walking along the riverbank, while a
second team of the huge birds rested in a nest at the rear of the vessel. The
Golden Ibis had three levels of decks, with a common area for passengers on the
upper deck and passenger cabins below, above the cargo deck. The upper deck
also played home to passengers who didn’t want to pay 12 gold pieces per night
for a cabin, and various livestock. Azzaria, Sula, and Uto elected to spread
their bedrolls on the upper deck, while Kaa chose to pay extra for a cabin.
Sula had learned from their trip on the ferry to Tephu that lions were not
welcome on boats, and she transformed Nyema and carried her companion in her
belt pouch for the journey.
Their voyage was interrupted on the first night after
departing from Tephu. The Scarabs were awakened by cries of alarm and the smell
of smoke. Those sleeping on the upper deck also heard something flying
overhead. As soon as they were awake they could see multiple golden-masked
figures climbing over the sides of the barge. One of these figures immediately
cast a spell that enveloped a large section of the upper deck in frigid cold.
Kaa climbed up out of the passenger deck to find himself facing two of the cultists
not far from the flames that were already spreading from the stern. A third
cultists appeared nearby. Sula had run out from under the cover over the deck
to see a large creature that resembled a cross between a lion and a falcon hovering
overhead. This creature flew toward the bow of the barge and emitted a piercing
scream that left her deafened. Without a ranged weapon to fire on it, she
elected to turn and attack the nearest cultist. Azzaria engaged with two more
cultists near the prow of the barge, while Uto contended with the spellcaster
who had created the cold.
Uto donned the Forgotten Pharaoh’s mask and its eyes glowed
red as he directed its magic toward the cultist mage. But the magic didn’t
appear to affect the mage, who vanished, then reappeared an instant later in a
different spot closer to where Uto stood. Azzaria slew one of her foes with her
mace, and when he fell the man suddenly burst into flames and exploded, turning
to ash in a moment.
Realizing that the mask’s power seemed to have little effect
on the spellcaster, Uto moved toward another cultist near the center of the
upper deck and directed the mask at him. The flying creature, which Azzaria
recognized as a type of sphinx, flew toward the bow and let out another
screech, panicking the ibises. The boat rocked as the birds tried to flee,
forcing their handler to set them loose else their struggles might overturn the
vessel. Passengers began to leap overboard to escape. The cultist wizard aimed
a bolt of lightning at Uto. Azzaria had dispatched both of her opponents and
now ran down the steps from the bow to the deck, shouting at the passengers to
help get other passengers from the lower deck. One of Kaa’s two foes fell and
exploded as had Azzaria’s oppnents. Sula continued to thrust her spear at the
cultist who stood before her.
Without the ibises to keep it on course, the Golden Ibis
began to spin in the middle of the river channel. Uto backed away from the
mage, who kept flickering in and out of sight, and cast a spell on himself to
heal the injuries he had been absorbing from his fellow Ruby Scarabs. The
cultist mage called another lighting bolt at Uto and Azzaria. Azzaria killed
another cultist and headed toward the sphinx, which had landed on the deck. The
wizard shouted for his fellow cultists to get the mask from Uto, and Sula’s foe
ran toward where Uto stood, giving her an opportunity to slash at him again as
he moved away. Sula
ran after the cultists when she saw that he was heading for Uto. When Azzaria approached the sphinx, it spoke to her, saying,
“I am not here for you, chosen one, but you will not stand in my way.” Of her
comrades only Kaa overheard this strange remark.
Now that there were no cultists attacking him, Kaa
demonstrated a new ability by directing a blast of ice-cold breath at the fire
in an effort to suppress it. To have a moment to further heal himself and
escape his pursuers, Uto took flight and left the deck of the barge. Azzaria
shouted, “You chose the wrong side!” at the sphinx as she attacked him. The
cultist mage tried to send lightning at Uto and Sula, but the effect that
caused him to flicker in and out of sight caused the lightning spell to flicker
as well, thus missing his targets. The sphinx fell to Azzaria’s blows and she
moved to attack another cultist, while some of the passengers struggled with
two more of the masked figures and Kaa continued to try to put out the fire
with his icy breath. The Golden Ibis had begun to list alarmingly. Kaa called
out, “I think the ship is sinking!”
“Out of the way, fools!” the cultist wizard shouted as he
directed a burst of flames toward Azzaria and Sula. Sula shrugged off part of
the damage, for her ancestry included creatures of flame. Azzaria turned
another cultist into pile of ash, leaving behind only his clothing and
equipment. One of the remaining cultists ran toward Uto, who was now flickering
like the mage. Uto then went over the side of the barge and out of sight.
Azzaria avoided another blast of lightning from the mage and moved closer to
him so she could ply her flail against him. Sula decided to summon lightning of
her own and direct it at another cultist and the mage, but her bolt missed the
disappearing and reappearing mage. Uto reappeared, his flight ability exhausted
for the day, and the cultist went after him again, but then began to retch and
flee in panic after the mask’s glowing red eyes turned on him. In his
desperation to get away from Uto he jumped overboard. Kaa moved to where the
rest of the Scarabs were, and he and Azzaria together struck out at the wizard,
who exploded into ash like the other cultist.
With all of the cultists gone, the Scarabs quickly searched
the barge for survivors and got every person or animal they could into the
river. Sula also picked up the things the mage and several of the cultists had
left behind when they died, hoping to find some clue to the cult’s goal. When
the Scarabs had assured themselves that everyone had escaped, they too jumped
into the river, Sula transforming herself into a crocodile to swim to shore and
Kaa using his wings to fly over the water. Azzaria was startled to find when she hit the water
that she could stand on its surface, though there was no rock or tree stump or
sand bar beneath her. She also saw a green glow at her feet, and when she
looked around in bewilderment she noticed a similar glow among the reeds along
the riverbank not far away. Somehow she knew that the glowing spot was a place
of safety.
The Scarabs helped all of the people from the barge to get
to shore, even carrying their animals for them, though the passengers rejected
Sula’s aid when she came to them in the shape of a crocodile and spoke to them.
Uto used his prehensile hair to lift some passengers out of the water. When the
Scarabs had made sure that all of the passengers and livestock were safely on
the bank, Azzaria suggested that perhaps they should leave. Sula agreed,
fearing they would soon be blamed for the disaster once the other passengers
realized that the masked men had only been attacking the Ruby Scarabs and no
one else. Though it was still night, some of the passengers were already
starting to walk back to Tephu along the riverbank.
The Scarabs crept away, and Azzaria showed her friends to
the place among the reeds. None of them could perceive the green glow she saw. Within
the reeds they found a circular mat where the reeds had been bent over, and in
that place was a small camp, with a fire burning inside a clay pot. Azzaria was delighted to realize that it was her
tribe, the nomads who had adopted her as an infant. An elder who introduced
himself as Walaji greeted Azzaria as “Daughter of the Sphinx,” and welcomed her
friends. The nomads were not troubled when Sula brought out her figurine and
returned Nyema to her natural shape. Walaji explained that a sphinx had told
the tribe to go to this location, but the sphinx they had spoken to was not the
one from the attack on the barge. Uto was very interested in meeting this
sphinx, though Walaji couldn’t tell him where to find her as she had found the
tribe rather than them finding her.
The Scarabs remained with Azzaria’s tribe for a dozen days
as they traveled along the river to the point where the barge would have
dropped them off. During the journey Walaji and his people told them of the
dangers to look out for in the Parched Dunes, such as various creatures that
would lurk under the sand waiting for unwary prey to pass. He also told them of
a possible oasis, and of the merchants and slavers who would cross the Dunes to
get to the river. Sula recognized that it would be wise for them to cover their
tracks to avoid having the cultists follow them, and that being able to hide
their camp from view would also be helpful. She began to prepare for spells to
hide them from unwanted notice and to keep her comrades more comfortable in the
desert heat. The Parched Dunes were much more like the environment she was familiar with than cities like Wati and Tephu, and she looked forward to being able to assume lion form and hunt with Nyema among the dunes after dark.
Next: part 19, Tomb of the Jackal Pharaoh
Next: part 19, Tomb of the Jackal Pharaoh
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