Artefact Hunters: Draikfang

     It was remarkable how quickly the atmosphere in the hidden chamber shifted from triumphant to something dangerously close to outright panic. Brynn shared a concerned look with her teammates, and for one or two stretched-out seconds, nobody said anything.

     Then Hanso clapped his hands together and announced, “Okay, go time. Gamal, Laelia, help me figure out the best way to get this thing safely off of its pedestal. Luckily I remembered to pack a bag of sand this time, just in case…”

     Gamal’s expression flipped from worried to baffled. “A bag of sand? What are you getting on about?”

     Brynn tuned the conversation out for the moment and returned her attention to her communicator and the faint image of Rallon on the other end.

     “We just found Draikfang, and we’re going to leave with it as quickly as we can,” she explained to him. “What exactly is going on out there?”

     Rallon glanced at something off to his side, one ear flicking nervously. “Magdi came into the area a few minutes ago with about two dozen soldiers,” he said. “Around half of them seem to have split into pairs to search each of the tombs. I saw two heading into Heru’s tomb just now. They’re trying to find which one we’re at. Everyone who went to search has caged Scarabugs with them – they must be trained to return to the main group if they’re let loose. I think Magdi’s plan is to use the Scarabugs as a signal, and come bearing down on us in force once he’s found the right tomb.”

     Brynn closed her eyes for a moment and took a deep breath, thinking hard. That was far too much work for one escaped prisoner with a group that may or may not have anything the Mentuans even wanted. Magdi had to have learned something… but not everything, or he would have known to go straight for Heru’s tomb.

     “Okay… okay,” she said. “We’ll have to try and avoid the soldiers in here, then. Or at least keep them from contacting anyone outside. If we can do that, we might be able to sneak away before Magdi finds us.”

     Rallon gave a curt nod. “I’ll stay close. Fortunately, Gamal’s Petpet is smart enough to keep quiet. But the longer we talk, the more worried I am that they’re going to find one of us.”

     Brynn nodded back. “Agreed. Try not to call again unless it’s an emergency, and I’ll do the same. We’ll be out as soon as we can. Stay safe.”

     She ended the call and looked up just in time to see a plume of fire erupt from the back wall of Draikfang’s alcove. Hanso let out a yelp and stumbled back, but he seemed okay aside from the faint smell of singed fur where he’d been nearest the fire trap. Gamal and Laelia had kept themselves far enough back to avoid anything worse than a blast of heat.

     In one hand, Hanso clutched Draikfang by the hilt.

     “See, I [italic_a]knew[i_z] one of these things would have a weight trigger!” he ranted in the alcove’s general direction. “Shoulda grabbed a second sand bag.” He took a moment to glare impotently at the spent fire trap before pointedly ducking low to retrieve the scabbard that had been leaned up against the front of Draikfang’s pedestal.

     Brynn’s curiosity got the best of her, and she moved to get a better look at the sword. Up close, she could see that it had a dark red gem embedded in the crimson-wrapped hilt and Lost Desert runes delicately etched into the flat of the blade. The scabbard was somewhat simpler, its only ornamentation a series of flame-like engravings in the metal fittings and its only hint of magic the fact that it was still well preserved after the long centuries.

     “So this is the artefact that’s caused all this trouble,” she said half to herself, resting her free hand on her hip while Hanso worked to sheathe the sword. He clearly wasn’t used to working with them, and struggled for a few moments to get the curved blade into its scabbard.

     “Yup. I don’t suppose we can just destroy this thing right here and convince Magdi’s cronies that they don’t have any reason to come after us?” he mused, glancing back at her.

     Brynn frowned and shook her head. “Magdi won’t be satisfied with that. He’ll want to take both us and the sword regardless. He’s put too much time and effort into this not to, and there’s a chance that Heksas has someone who could fix or reverse-engineer it even if it was broken. At this point, destroying it is more likely to just set off some reaction and draw his attention.”

     Hanso’s mouth twisted into a frown. “Hmm. Shame.” He knelt down to unceremoniously shove the sheathed sword into his pack and then stood and swung the pack back over his shoulder.

     With an exaggerated sigh, he added, “I guess it’s back to sneaking around, then.” He paused, his brow furrowing worriedly. “That [italic_a]is[i_z] still an option, right? I was too busy trying not to get barbecued to hear what Rallon had to say about that.”

     Brynn nodded. “It should be, but we need to get going soon and be careful about it.”

     While she was explaining the situation to Hanso – and Laelia, who’d come over while he was packing Draikfang away – Gamal had become absorbed by something written on the back wall of the artefact’s hidden alcove. Just as she was finishing, he muttered, “By Nuria’s wings!” and ran to join the rest of them.

     “That writing details the origins and nature of Draikfang,” he told them in hushed tones. “I’ll have to come back with another team to study it when we’re not pressed for time, but I managed to at least decipher the gist of its magic. The legends aren’t too far off, but they did get one detail wrong. The sword’s power is not connected to the sun, but to the fire magic permeating the Lost Desert itself!”

     Brynn’s ears pricked with interest. “So, the faerie who built it not only found proper proof about the fire magic in the region, she found a way to harness it?”

     Hanso seemed decidedly less interested in the historical revelation. “Okay, so does that actually mean anything for us?” he asked dubiously.

     “Aside from the potential wealth of information it could provide scholars, it means the artefact’s power is tied directly to the Lost Desert,” Gamal explained. “If you bring it closer to the Desert somehow, its magic will be stronger and easier to control. But if you remove it from the Desert, or otherwise cut it off from its power source, it should become magically inert.”

     Hanso and Brynn shared a look, brows raised.

     “Sounds like our best bet is to skip stopping back in Qasala and take the shortest safe route out of the desert, then,” Brynn considered aloud. “That may be the best way to throw Magdi off our tracks, too. I don’t know how much you heard, but he has two guards searching the tomb now. If we can get past them without alerting the main force, we might be able to sneak our way out of here.”

     She thought a moment longer and then gestured to Gamal, who was still holding the torch Hanso had been using earlier. “We need to put the torches out. If the Mentuan guards spot another source of light from the next room over, they could contact Magdi before we see them.”

     Gamal frowned as she bent to smother her own torch in a heap of sand piled near one of the room’s corners. “Won’t we still need to see, though?”

     Brynn checked over her torch to make sure it was fully extinguished. “The glowing inscriptions on the walls provide a little light. Ixis and Kougras have excellent night vision, so Hanso and I will be able to see even if you and Laelia can’t.” It was a fact they’d both learned the hard way in the past, when Hanso tried using the cover of heavy darkness to give guards the slip on a few of his nighttime heists; on one occasion, she’d been the only one who could properly follow him. Unis seemed to have traded out the night vision enjoyed by other equines for greater long-distance vision for flight. And based on Gamal’s hesitation, she doubted that Moehogs could see any better in the dark.

     “We’ll lead you back to the front hall if you need it. From there, we’ll be close enough to reach the entrance by touch if the daylight from outside isn’t enough to see by,” she continued.

     Gamal frowned uneasily, but finally extinguished his torch with a low sigh. “I guess it’s our best shot. Let’s get going, then.”

     As the last of the flame went out and the room plunged into darkness, the party took it as their cue to stop talking. They’d spent long enough deliberating as it was, and they needed to get moving. Still, it took several seconds for Brynn’s eyes to adjust to such low light conditions.

     Finally, she started to make out the outline of the next room from the faint light of its growing symbols. She looked toward Hanso, just barely visible as a shadow among other shadows while they were beyond the threshold of that space, and nodded to signal that she could see him. He nodded back, and she turned her attention toward the others and whispered, “Let’s go. Stay close.”

     In response, she felt Gamal place a hand on her shoulder to guide him and saw Hanso place his own guiding hand on Laelia’s flank. Slowly, cautiously, they began to shuffle their way out of the treasure chamber and into the next hall. Brynn took care to stay in the middle of the stone bridge even as her eyes began to pick up more details with the inscriptions surrounding them.

     As they reached the top of the main bridge, she kept her eyes and ears open for any sign of the Gelatinous Non-Cube. She thought she could make out the faintest glimmers of light reflecting off its drying slime trail, but it seemed the Non-Cube itself had wandered off to some other part of the underground complex. Still, between the wide room and the treacherous drop, she was more than a little relieved when she and Hanso had finally brought the other two into the enclosed hall.

     With the walls and their glowing inscriptions closer set and no gaps in the floor, Gamal and Laelia were starting to pick up the pace as they better oriented themselves. The latter moved forward to join Brynn and Gamal, and Hanso pulled ahead, ears twitching to and fro. “I can’t hear anyone yet, but I’m worried that they might have had the same idea as us,” he murmured to the others.

     Brynn hadn’t heard anything yet, either. “They shouldn’t know that we’re aware of them, but that’s still a possibility,” she whispered back.

     She thought she saw Hanso frown, though his features were hard to distinguish in the gloom. “Hang on, I’m going to scout ahead.”

     He slipped silently down to the far end of the hall, and Brynn watched him crouch low and peer carefully around the corner. After a moment, he stiffened, pulled back, and then turned to face her and gestured for her to join him.

     Brynn held a hand back toward Gamal and Laelia, unsure if they could see the gesture in the minimal light. “Stay put,” she whispered to them. “Hanso’s found something. We’ll be back for you in a moment.”

     She made her way to join Hanso as silently as she could, suddenly thankful not to be in her usual metal armour. He pointed wordlessly around the corner, and she edged past him just enough to peek down the hall.

     It wasn’t hard to guess what had him worried. There wasn’t a soul present in the hall itself, but the slowly brightening light spilling past the next corner spoke volumes. She pulled back and returned her attention to Hanso.

     “They haven’t rounded the corner yet, but they’re definitely coming this way,” she whispered to him. “We could try doubling back and slipping past when the path branches, but this close to the treasure chamber, I’m worried someone will go in and recognize that there’s a new alcove. It might be better to ambush them before they can contact the others.”

     Hanso nodded. “That’s what I was thinking.”

     Brynn got as low to the ground as she could, and peered back around the corner to see just what they were dealing with. After a few more moments, the light at the far end of the next hall resolved itself into a lantern being held aloft by a single armoured Pteri. Hanging at the guard’s waist was a wooden Petpet carrier, within which a small Scarabug fluttered its colourful insectoid wings anxiously.

     Brynn frowned – there was the Petpet messenger Rallon had mentioned. Scarabugs had a strong swarming instinct and navigated well through dark passages. She and Hanso had to be careful it didn’t get loose, or it would head straight for whatever central point Magdi had designated so he could follow its path back to them.

     Brynn pulled back behind the corner again before the lantern’s light could reach her. With one last whisper of, “Just one guard. Be careful of the Scarabug,” she shifted up into a ready crouch. For a single long minute, she and Hanso could do nothing but wait. Light from the lantern gradually brightened their own corridor, accompanied by the soft buzzing of the Scarabug and thumps of the Pteri’s footsteps.

     Finally, the guard reached their corner of the hall and Brynn sprang into action. She aimed for the Pteri’s wings fist, pinning them to the guard’s sides while Hanso jumped forward and grabbed the Scarabug cage. The guard let out a startled squawk and took a deep breath to shout for his partner, forcing Brynn to move one hand to force his beak shut before he could make too much noise.

     The shift was enough for the guard to force one wing free, and he started batting it at Brynn’s head in an effort to disorient her and throw her off. She grit her teeth and held on desperately as the wing-arm cracked against her forehead and thick flight feathers slapped her face. After a moment, Hanso managed to come in and get the Pteri’s wing back down. With the guard now properly hemmed in by the two of them, Brynn was able to shift her grip into a chokehold and subdued him in short order.

     When the excitement had finally settled down – aside from the wild buzzing of a now very agitated Scarabug whose cage had been set down several feet away – Hanso grinned up at her. “Seriously, you’ve got to do this more often,” he said.

     Brynn couldn’t resist a half-amused little huff at that, but she replied, “It’s better if we don’t have to. Now come on, we need to keep this guy from catching up to us once he wakes up.”

     In the light of the lantern, Gamal and Laelia had come forward to join them. After some brief discussion, they decided to bind the unconscious guard’s wings and gag him while Hanso swiped any weapons or tools that could be used against them aside from the lantern itself. That he secured at the guard’s belt – they wanted the Pteri to struggle for long enough that he’d waste time, not die of thirst in the dark.

     That all done, they quickly returned to their task of backtracking through the tomb’s winding halls by Brynn’s and Hanso’s night vision.

     “Suddenly I’m wishing both of those scouts had been together,” Hanso grumbled softly as the group painstakingly made their way along the ledge of the first chasm room. “Then we could’ve been done with them, stolen a lantern, and gotten out of here a lot quicker.”

     Brynn grimaced. She’d stuffed the Scarabug’s carrier in Laelia’s pack and it had gradually settled down, but it still let out the odd noisy hum that made her nervous. “That’s assuming we could have taken them both out quickly enough to keep them from releasing their petpets,” she pointed out. “Still, it would have made things easier if that worked out.”

     Hanso let out a barely audible snort and slipped forward to scout ahead again. Brynn marvelled, not for the first time, at just how quiet he could make himself when he wanted to be. He could admire her skills in combat all he liked, but she could plainly see why Queen Fyora had wanted them both for artefact missions.

     The way was still clear for the moment, and the group picked up the pace as much as they dared now that they were close to the tomb’s entrance. Gamal and Laelia were getting used to navigating in the dark, and with the treacherous drops left behind they had one less thing to worry about. Brynn thought she was catching more glints of light off the floor, presumably from the Gelatinous Non-Cube’s slime. So far, however, they hadn’t come across anything bigger than the odd small, skittering petpet.

     Finally, the group came to a corner where the glowing script on the far wall suddenly cut off. Brynn couldn’t help but feel relieved when she saw it – from here, it was only one more turn to reach the entrance tunnel. Despite the loss of half their light source, she felt a renewed sense of energy that she swore she could see reflected in the others when they rounded the corner and started down what was very nearly the final stretch.

     They had gone about fifteen paces before Hanso froze, ears twitching. He broke suddenly into a dead run, in the same moment that Brynn heard the angry hum of a flying Scarabug and spotted the blob of shadow flitting further down the hall.

     Sucking in a breath, Brynn extended her claws – she didn’t dare draw her longsword in this dark and cramped space – and started casting about for the other guard. If she went after the Scarabug in these conditions, she’d be more likely to get in Hanso’s way than help him. But the scout had to be close, and there was no sign that this one was using an extra light source. There was a side hall only a few feet ahead of her, and from what little she’d seen of the Scarabug, that was its most likely point of origin. She crept toward the opening, ready to pounce.

     The other guard moved first. Brynn saw the glint of a short knife before anything else and dodged to the side to avoid it, but her assailant caught her shoulder with his other paw and overbalanced her. Hitting the ground with a hard thud, she had just enough time to register the feeling of something faintly sticky beneath her arms before the guard grabbed her ankle and dragged her into the alcove.

     The light was a little better here where the glowing inscriptions appeared on both walls. Still, she caught only a short glimpse of the guard, a Lupe, before another flash of the knife forced her to block him with both hands. The Mentuan winced as her claws dug into his arm, but after a moment’s struggle he was able to use his leverage over her to throw off her grip before punching her in the temple.

     Disoriented, Brynn made a wild swipe that just managed to connect to the Lupe’s snout. That finally threw him off of her, and she scrambled to try and pin him before he could come at her with the knife again. He was already recovering, though, and the two of them tumbled one over another as each fought to gain the upper hand.

     As they were struggling, something glinted strangely just up ahead. Brynn suddenly became acutely aware of the way her fur and tunic had begun to stick to her arms and back, and she quickly formed a plan as the Mentuan guard knelt over her and brandished his dagger once again.

     “You should have cooperated with General Magdi,” he hissed, holding the knife close to her throat. “He could have cut you a good deal for whatever you’ve found in this tomb. Now it looks like you’ll be saying goodbye to your fancy little artefact gig. And everything else, for that matter.”

     Brynn carefully moved a hand into position and levelled him with a defiant glare. “Do you really think I got this ‘gig’ by giving in to people like you?”

     Without another word, she hooked one arm under his knife hand to knock it away from her, before rolling and sideswiping with the other. Where before this would have just started their struggle anew, now she rolled with him and used her momentum to shove him straight into the side of the Gelatinous Non-Cube that their struggle had been inching them toward. The Non-Cube, its translucent mass near invisible in the darkness, jiggled and gurgled its displeasure at this turn of events as Brynn picked herself off of its slimy trail. The Lupe growled and struggled ineffectively, shouting something crude sounding in the Mentuan tongue as he strained to pull his limbs free from the sticky creature’s body.

     “Brynn?” Laelia called out, and Brynn turned to see her squinting half blindly down the hallway. “You okay back there?”

     Brynn cast one glance back at her stuck opponent before moving to join the others. “Yeah. I found the Gelatinous Non-Cube. Luckily for that scout it still isn’t hungry, but they’re going to be stuck with each other for a little while.”

     Hanso reached the rest of the group at the same time she did, the wayward Scarabug humming angrily in his hands. “That’s good,” he piped in, “because catching this thing was a pain and I’m starting to worry that it won’t buy us much time. Also, did you just make a pun?”

     It took only a moment to shove the Petpet into the carrier with the other Scarabug, and then they were finally off again. It wasn’t long before light – real sunlight, not just the faint glow of the symbols on the walls – started to spill in from the entrance hall. With no more scouts to hide from, there were a few audible sighs of relief at the sight.

     Once they had turned the final corner, the group had to restrain themselves from running until they finally found themselves blinking in the bright desert sun.

     Any thoughts of celebration were cut off by Rallon cantering up to join them, Oasis in tow.

     “Do you have it?” Rallon asked.

     Brynn nodded. “Yes, but we ran into the scouts on the way out. We’ve detained them and taken their Petpet messengers, but I don’t know how long that will hold them off.”

     Rallon nodded and turned to the side so she could get into his saddle. “Let’s go, then. I think I know the best way out to avoid General Magdi’s crew.”

     Soon the group was galloping over the desert sands, speed finally taking precedence over stealth.

     “Two things,” Brynn called out over the rushing air. “Gamal says Draikfang’s power comes from the Lost Desert, so once we’re clear we’ll want to head north for the Haunted Woods and get it out of the desert as fast as possible.”

     Rallon was too focused on running to spare a reply, but he flicked an ear to show that he was listening.

     Brynn turned to look at the others, addressing her second note to all of them. “Also, one of the scouts mentioned our artefact retrieval missions. That confirms that Magdi knows what they are now, he just doesn’t know which artefact we were looking for.”

     Hanso let out a low groan. “I guess that’s really no surprise, considering all the trouble he’s going to.”

     Something was flying high in the air, wheeling through the thermals just a little ways back and to their left. Brynn frowned and squinted up to see if it was a Uni or another flighted Neopet scout, but the shape didn’t look quite right. It was more like… a fluttering creature, maybe a Petpet like a Carmariller.

     Did any fluttering Petpets live in the Lost Desert?

     Before Brynn had time to think much about it, the figure suddenly drew itself into a hover. Then, just a second or two later, a bright spark of magical energy grew into a great sphere that hurtled through the air.

     “Scatter!” Brynn shouted, tugging her reins to the side as a massive fireball streaked right for the crew.

     To be continued…