This was the last day of their voyage. The group packed their things and put
food into backpacks, along with other needed items. The ship docked at a port
in the Northern part of the Lost Desert. They walked off the ship and watched
it chug off back towards Krawk Island. They walked off to Sakhmet. Kay looked
side to side, wanting to see all the merchants and their booths. Some were selling
clothing, others selling weapons, food, and strangely, foreign PetPets. He was
amazed at how happy all the people were, how friendly they seemed. He almost
didn't want to return to his home. He wanted to return to Sakhmet after casting
away the egg in Tyrannia. He wanted to live here for the rest of his life. But,
he also wanted to return to Krawk Island again, to see Judy.
They came to Sakhmet Palace and were greeted by the guards, they were then
escorted to the Throne Room to meet with Princess Vyssa. They entered the room,
Kay was stunned by her beauty. The shyness took over him and he turned red and
started to shake. She was more beautiful than Judy, he thought. Magister Wally
spoke first to Vyssa.
"Magister Wally Sands at your service. You have called upon me?"
"Yes, Magister. But who are these people?" asked Vyssa.
"To my right, is Butterwort, on a mission to the Haunted Woods. To my left
is Rowfort, going to Tyrannia. And behind me is Jellybruan, headed to Terror
Mountain, Brian, also going to Terror Mountain, and last, but most certainly
not least, Kay, headed to Tyrannia."
"Terror Mountain and the Haunted Woods are explainable places to journey to,
but why Tyrannia?"
"This Techo and Shoyru are headed to Tyrannia to cast away a Grarrl egg."
"I thought all the Grarrls were dead, Magister."
"They are, but this egg is not!"
"Well, I'm not one to argue about a matter not concerning me, so how about
we all have dinner?"
"I will not object, a Lost Desert feast is something that we all need." Brian
mocked Magister Wally's words. Vyssa led the group out of the Throne Room and
into a dining room. All the places were already set and food was already out.
They all found spots for themselves and waited for Princess Vyssa to sit. She
sat, and they did the same. They helped themselves to the marvellous feast.
Kay took very little, just wine and one slice of turkey.
"Princess," started Magister Wally. "What is the problem with your father's
shrine?"
"Well, about a month ago, it stopped giving away gifts. Then, two weeks ago,
dark clouds began to gather over it, and only over it. When My guards and I
went to inspect it, a Lupe came out."
Jellybruan, being a Chia, cringed at the name of that accursed species.
"It, looked like my father," Vyssa continued. "Except, it looked mean. Very
mean, almost evil. He jumped at me, my most loyal guard came in front of me
and took the blow. He was mauled by the Lupe. When it got past my fallen guard,
it jumped onto me and knocked me down. One of my other guards pulled it off
of me, but it was able to slash me across me chest before it left me. It fled.
"I was wounded and could not move. When they carried me back here, they noticed
that the wound had a strange green glow." She showed them the glowing wound.
"Eventually I healed, for it was not very deep, but the scars still glow. And
now, ever since then, every other day I became terminally ill and, yet, by the
next morning I would be fine again. And, ever since we first saw that Lupe,
there have been sixteen reported attacks in our city's walls. Of those, only
three died, but we now think it is living in our city, hunting."
Magister Wally sat there and thought for a moment. Then, he spoke. "It is
your father, but more like his zombie. He is probably trying to infect everyone
here in the Lost Desert. I will inspect the shrine tomorrow, but we all shall
spend the night, if you don't mind. Also, I think they should come with me to
the shrine, then leave for the Haunted Woods tomorrow. Is that all right with
you?"
"Yes, of course, Magister! I wouldn't have it any other way!" She snapped
her fingers and a steward came to her. "Ready four extra beds." The steward
walked away.
Butterwort turned to Kay. "Will you come to my room after dinner?" Kay shook
his head yes. When dinner ended, Kay followed the steward, who was a Gelert,
to his room. He came to it and entered it. He unpacked some pyjamas and ran
over to Butterwort's room. He knocked on the door and Butterwort opened it immediately
and rushed Kay in.
"Thank you for coming, Kay. I want to warn you about Rowfort. Magister Wally
says that Rowfort is going into Tyrannia with you, am I right?"
"Yes."
"Well, I have known Rowfort for a few years now, and I'd just like to say:
he's a cheat, a liar, and is not to be trusted, Kay."
"Well," said Kay. He does seem rather a shady character, but what do you think
he could do?"
"I don't know, but keep a sharp eye on him after Brian and Jellybruan leave
you."
"Oh, don't worry, I will."
They began conversing about other things and never noticed that there were
two extra ears listening to their conversation. About an hour later, Kay left
Butterwort's room smiling. He walked down the hallway, and stopped. He had heard
footsteps behind him. Slowly and nervously he spun round and saw Rowfort standing
behind him.
"Don't listen to Butterwort!" hissed Rowfort. He then ran to his room.
"Talk about freaky," he muttered to himself and he walked to his room. He
entered it, changed into his pyjamas and went to bed. He lay there, thinking
about Judy and Vyssa. How he missed Judy. When he was on Krawk Island, he never
had a day where he didn't see Judy, whether it be at the Golden Dubloon or at
her house. He loved her, though, he liked Vyssa, he knew that Judy was his only
love.
Brian sat in room, reading his favourite book, Eye-Sha.
Jellybraun lay in his bed, thinking of revenge on all the Lupes.
Rowfort was sitting outside Magister Wally's door, spying. Magister Wally
was talking to himself about how he would handle the situation here in the Lost
Desert...
The next day, they left for the shrine with Vyssa. It was not far from the
city, and the journey was shortened even more, since they were riding Uni's.
Soon they reached the shrine. The dark clouds blocked sunlight from reaching
the shrine, they seemed to swirl and created strong winds. No sunlight and the
winds were the factors that forced them to put on coats, however, Jellybraun
didn't need to, since he was used to the cold of Terror Mountain.
Magister Wally began chanting some words in ancient languages no longer know
to anyone but the Lennys. The winds blew his feathers every which way. Then
he stopped, the Lupe, Coltzan's zombie, came out.
"Why are you doing this, Coltzan?" yelled Magister Wally.
"Why?" started Coltzan. "Why? I'll tell you why, I have died and I want others
to feel how I felt! It isn't fair that the Lost Desert lives on without me!
It is not fair! Now, die!" Coltzan leapt at Magister Wally and began to slash
at him furiously.
They drove away Coltzan, then took the Magister back to the palace. They laid
him down on his bed, Kay stayed by his side until dinner. They had more turkey,
when they were done, the got ready to go. The group left the city, they were
headed for the Haunted Woods. They crossed the border and entered a small mountain
range. They trudged along, and when they reached the summit of the tallest mountain,
they saw the Haunted Woods stretch for miles ahead of them.
"Well," said Butterwort, "I'm home."
To be continued... | 
