Where there's a Weewoo, there's a way Circulation: 192,522,755 Issue: 652 | 2nd day of Swimming, Y16
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Treasure Hunters: Part Three


by meganhilty

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The next few hours were incredibly tedious; the tomb was huge, with lots of different passageways and doors and almost everything looked the same. Without a map, finding their way around seemed impossible. They weren't even sure they were going in the right direction, and Archie vaguely wondered whether they'd been going round in a circle for the last hour or so.

     Not to mention, they had to step carefully, in case there were more traps about. In the past few hours they'd stumbled upon a trip wire that sent a heavy, metal ball and chain to swing at them from the ceiling (they'd ducked just in time), another pressure sensor that caused flames to spurt out of the walls and a trapping pit, made to look like part of the stone floor, full of spikes and skeletons.

      Luckily, the light from their torch landed on it in such a way that made the pair realise that something about it didn't look quite right and they avoided it, only realising what it was after they'd passed it.

     "Are you sure we're not going in circles? I'm sure I've seen that carving before..." Archie said, looking at the carving dubiously.

     "There are loads of carvings in here... and they all look the same to me anyway. Look there's a door up ahead, that wasn't there at the last carving we saw, was it? Let's open it and see."

     Saffy strode confidently over to the door, reached out for the doorknob and swung the door open. A second later, she slammed it shut again, using the weight of her body to keep it closed.

     "Nope. Not that door!" she shouted, her face ghostly pale.

     "What is it?" Archie asked, running to her side.

     "Oh... just that monster that people talk about... looked like a giant Hissi," she added, trying to sound casual, but her voice failed her, trailing off into a weak croak.

     "Come on - let's keep going," Archie said, with a frightened glance at the door.

     They made their way through the passages quickly, each throwing furtive glances over their shoulders every now and then; neither of them wanted to admit it, but they were both anxious about that Hissi getting out and chasing them.

     They weren't sure how much time had passed but at last, they reached another door.

     "Please let this be the treasure room so we can get out of here!" pleaded Archie, who was tired and hungry and sick of near-death experiences.

     Saffy was more cautious with this door; the room with the Hissi had spooked her more than she'd like to admit.

     Pulling the door open very slowly, Saffy stopped when a sliver of light spilled out from the tiny crack and put her eye to the opening, to peer inside. She wasn't going to be caught unawares again.

     The chamber was dimly-lit, but by the light of her flaming torch, the Acara could see that there didn't appear to be any monsters lurking in the shadows, so she opened the door a little further and when nothing jumped out at her, claiming it wanted to eat her, she swung the door open fully.

     After scouring the room with her eyes to make sure that there were no trip wires or pressure sensors that would set of an assortment of traps, Saffy took a careful step into the room.

     "Seems okay to me, Archie. Come on in - just be careful where you step."

     Archie hesitated by the door, apprehension written all over his face.

     "Um, I think I'll just wait here for a bit - just until I know it's safe," he mumbled, quietly.

     "Oh, so it's fine if I get hurt, making this room safe for you then?" she retorted, sarcastically.

     "Suit yourself; if you don't want to help me find the treasure, that's fine. All the more for me!"

     "Fine... fine, I'm coming," Archie grumbled, entering the room on tiptoes.

     Between them, the pair methodically searched the room; looking high and low, in small nooks and crannies in the stone work, feeling along the floor for loose tiles or some sort of trapdoor, Saffy even stood on Archie's head to reach up and check the top of the doorframe.

     "Nothing!" Saffy exclaimed, angrily, jumping down off Archie's head with a bang.

     "Ow! You stood on my ear!" he remarked, rubbing his floppy ear painfully.

     Ignoring her cousin, she flopped down on the floor dejectedly.

     "I was so sure that we were going to find it!" she blurted out, her eyes downcast and her mouth drooping.

     "I'm sorry, Archie. This treasure hunt was all for nothing; I've dragged you along, put you in danger time and time again and for what? An unfinished treasure map, leading to a treasure that we'll never find... I don't even know how we're going to get out of here!" she cried, tears welling up in the corners of her eyes.

     Seeing his cousin so downhearted was a little frightening in itself. Saffy never gave up, even when things looked bleak, and he couldn't stand to see her like this.

     "Hey... it's okay. It wasn't for nothing. We've had an adventure, and it was... fun, for the most part. But you can't give up now! You're Saff! Head explorer, treasure hunting extraordinaire... come on, we'll find the last map piece it's only a matter of time, and as for getting out of here... there has to be a way!"

     The Acara glanced up at her cousin, a flicker of a smile on her face, and muttered a word of thanks.

     "Okay then, help me up," Saffy asked holding out her hand for Archie to grasp, whilst she held the other out to her side for balance.

     Archie wasn't quite strong enough to heave her off the floor completely, so Saffy had to use the wall as leverage, pushing her left hand against the stone to help her up.

     That was when it happened. Her hand brushed against something on the wall that felt like a lose slab of stone. Saffy thought for a moment that it was another booby trap and instantly dropped to the ground, dragging Archie with her.

     However, nothing seemed to happen. Nothing whizzed in the air above them, or dropped them into a pit of spikes; the only thing that happened was that Saffy heard a rumbling, not unlike the sound of the heavy, stone door to the tomb closing behind them earlier.

     Lifting her head slightly, she peered around and her mouth dropped in surprise; the wall that she had just touched had vanished, and behind it was a dark tunnel.

     "Archie!" Saffy cried, excitedly.

     "Look! It's a secret passageway! I must have pressed the hidden button to open it! Come on, we've got to explore it, this could lead us straight to the treasure room!"

     "Or maybe it's the way out!" Archie piped up, hopefully, hurrying after his cousin who had picked up her flaming torch and scuttled off into the tunnel.

     "Look at all these symbols, Archie!" Saffy exclaimed, her voice echoing loudly in the long passageway.

     She held up her torch to the wall, where runes and symbols that neither Neopet could begin to understand were drawn upon the grey stone.

     "What do you think they mean?" Saffy breathed, her eyes glowing with the reflection of flickering torch flames.

     "Maybe, beware! Go back! Don't go any further! Danger!" he only half joked.

     "Ha ha!" Saffy replied, turning away from the symbols and carrying on down the tunnel.

     Finally, they reached the end of the passageway, which opened out into a large, circular room.

     Holding her torch aloft, Saffy scanned the room, moving her torch in swinging motions to get a glimpse of the whole room.

     "Looks like there are more torches fixed into the walls," Archie noticed, pointing out one to his left.

     Saffy walked over to it and lit it with the flames from her own, then proceeding to do the same to the other four.

     When all the torches were lit, a warm glow filled the otherwise cold chamber, spreading its light towards the center of the room, where a large treasure chest stood in the center of a circular stone alter.

     Gasping in disbelief, Saffy ran to the chest immediately and knelt down beside it. She lifted the clasp, and looked back at Archie who was white and shaking with anticipation.

     "Go on, then!" he urged, in a loud whisper.

     With bated breath, Saffy slowly lifted the green and gold lid and with wide, excited eyes, peeked inside.

     The suspense which was too much for Archie, tapped his foot impatiently and burst out with, "Well, what's in there?"

     "Nothing..." Saffy replied, bewildered.

     "What do you mean nothing?"

     "I mean there's nothing in here, Archie. It's empty! Someone must have found the treasure before us!"

     Archie who couldn't truly believe that they had come all this way to find no treasure, strode over to look for himself, sure that Saffy must be joking, but what he saw inside the chest was exactly what Saffy had told him; emptiness.

     "We've come all this way, only for someone to beat us to it?" he mused, feeling slightly light-headed.

     "Blast it!" Saffy roared in anger, kicking the treasure chest hard.

     The chest was heftier than it looked and Saffy's soon regretted her burst of anger as she hopped around on one foot in pain, from her silly decision to kick the chest.

     "Ow, ow, ow, ow!" she cried, clutching her throbbing foot.

     "Saffy..."

     "Ow, ow, ow!"

     "Saffy!"

     "Ohh, it hurts, why did I kick the stupid box?"

     "SAFFY!"

     "What, Archie?"

     "Look at the chest..."

     Still clutching her foot, Saffy turned around to face the chest and see what Archie deemed so important.

     At first she couldn't see what Archie was looking at, as her eyes had welled up from the pain, but as she looked more closely, she noticed something that hadn't been there before.

     Something had come loose when Saffy had kicked the chest, as there was now a small crack of an opening in the bottom of the chest.

     "It's a false bottom!" Saffy gasped, forgetting all of a sudden about the pain in her foot and rushing over to the chest.

     Wedging her fingers into the crack, she started to pull out the wooden shelf that had previously been hidden.

     It wasn't big enough to hold much; its height only looked to be a few inches, but there was definitely something inside; something rustled against her fingers.

     Finally, after what seemed like an age, though really it was probably only a minute or two, the thin wooden drawer sat in her hand.

     Inside was a leather pouch, pulled tightly shut with a piece of string, a golden talisman and something else.

     A piece of faded yellowed paper, frayed slightly at the edges, but in fine condition otherwise.

     Saffy picked it up carefully, her heart hammering in her chest, hoping against hope that this was the final map piece; the one thing that they came here to find.

     Turning it over she saw a faded blue hue in the corner, a few lines and ridges etched on the paper in black and in the center of it all a giant, red X.

     X marks the spot.

     This was it, the last map piece.

     Grinning from ear to ear, Saffy looked up at Archie who had been examining the pendant and the pouch.

     "There's about a thousand Neopoints in here, Saff!" he cried, happily.

     "And I bet we could sell this pendant for a pretty penny! What have you got there?"

     "It's the last map piece, Archie! We found it... we have the complete map now!"

     Archie didn't look as thrilled about the map piece as he had about the treasure, for it meant more exploring, and most probably, more danger.

     Turning the map piece over in her hands again, Saffy noticed something that in her hurry, she had missed earlier.

     "There's writing on the back, here..." Saffy muttered, bringing the piece closer to her face to examine it further.

     The writing was faded and Saffy had to bring her torch perilously close to the paper to be able to make out what was written on it.

     "They're symbols, I think. Not like the ones we saw earlier... they look more like hieroglyphs."

     "Hero-what?" Archie asked, puzzled.

     "Hieroglyphs. They're characters of an ancient writing system, most notably found in the Lost Desert. They look like pictures, see?" she explained, showing Archie the back of the map piece.

     "What do they say?"

     "How should I know?" she snorted. "I don't understand ancient languages! The one thing I can guess is that it's Ancient Qasalan, not Sakhmetian, because I have seen this symbol before," she said, pointing to a shape that looked like two pyramids.

     "My mother showed me a book that she'd bought in Qasala once, and this symbol was on the front cover. So I suppose we'll have to head over to Qasala to find out what they mean."

     "But first we have to find our way out!" Archie replied, looking around the room for an exit.

     "Maybe there's another hidden button or lever that will open up another passageway leading outside. They couldn't have left the treasure here and gone all the way back to the way they came in."

     Saffy and Archie searched, pressing the walls again hoping that the same way they got into this chamber, would be the same way they got out and whether it was because they knew what they were looking for now, or because they were more motivated, it didn't take them long to find an indentation in the wall behind the treasure chest.

     Pressing it with their fingers didn't work, sadly; nor did nudging it with their feet. They even put their whole body weight against it but nothing moved.

     It was only when Archie kneeled down to look at it, did he realise what it needed. The indentation was in the exact shape of the golden pendant he'd just found.

     Removing it from around his neck, he placed the pendant into the imprint in the stone, and suddenly the wall began to move.

     Another tunnel appeared in front of them, and taking the pendant back from the wall impression, the two cousins set forth through the unexplored tunnel.

     It seemed to go on forever, winding left and right, before finally, when the pair had come to the conclusion that the tunnel might actually go on forever, they came to a stop and had to fight their way through an archway covered with thick vines.

     Saffy made her way through first, shielding her eyes against the bright sunlight that blinded her briefly after being in the dark tunnel for so long. Blinking rapidly, she looked around to discover that they were about half a mile away from the city of Geraptiku, back in the lush, green jungle.

     "Saffy... help!" came the strangled voice of Archie, who was completely tangled up in the vines, hanging upside down by his foot.

     Trying not to laugh, Saffy cut him free, and waited whilst he sat on the leafy, floor of the jungle trying to catch his breath.

     "So," Saffy barked, when her impatience had got the better of her and she could wait no more.

     "Off to Qasala it is!"

To be continued...

 
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Other Episodes


» Treasure Hunters: Part One
» Treasure Hunters: Part Two
» Treasure Hunters: Part Four



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