The Valley of Kings

"Easy to blame me, when I was following your lead!" he said with a pissed off roar. He nimbly followed avoiding spikes and his blade in his left hand expanded into a hoplonic shield which he held above his head as he leaped from free tile to tile towards the light. He did think he had done anything to cause the issue. "I told you not to get cocky! You miscalculated!"The ceiling continued to drop as they sought to race to the finish...

He did not slide, as his path was cut off by erupting spikes that burst just after her initial movement, groaning with annoyance he twisted at the last moment and dropped to the ground hard rolling sideways and avoiding a set of spikes before coming up just behind her after the door, his breathing slightly labored. He glowered at her. "What the fuck happened?" he asked.

The room that they had entered to had indeed been brightly lit. All the torches were snapping and crackling in the wide expansive room, which seemed a little like a throne room. There was the main thick stone walk that led up to a throne where a massive human skeleton sat, a huge, glittering tribal crown on its head and gold still around its neck and wrists and over its broad chest. In one hand, it was holding a spear, and the other skeletal hand looked as if it had been holding something as well, but it was empty.

To either side of the throne were great arches of gold that were currently empty. Something huge and heavy had been there before, but they were now missing.

Around the massive skeleton's feet was another massive skeleton of a snake, wrapped around and around, its body draped over head like an arbor over the throne, and its head to one side, jaws open and its fangs bared. Gold was inlaid all around the room, and on either side of the massive stone walk was water. Islands almost as tall as the ceiling and of other varying heights were in the still water, and it seemed that they were made of gold coins and treasure, but had been dyed or cover in green growth from its time in the water.

Still, the most disturbing part of the huge chamber was the glowing eyes of winged stone monkey guardians all around the room, like sentinels that had been awakened. They were staring at Fenris and Rafaela, and as they looked down the stone walkway, they'd see a familiar figure standing in front of an altar with the stone sentinels to either side of him.

It was Inana, and his eyes glowed just like the others. Around his neck hung a pendant, a huge gem that was also glowing, and both Fenris and Rafaela watched as the sentinel that had thrown its spear to stop Rafaela from getting the blue-wrapped statue straightened and pulled its sword from its sheathe.

It, too, gleamed gold.

Inana smiled at them, and when he spoke, it sounded as if his voice was overlaid by another's voice.

"How helpful you are, Rafaela Fletcher," Inana said. "I needed that statue. But please, don't get up. Another guest will be joining us soon. Make yourself comfortable."

And the water to either side of the great stone staircase (that now led to no where) and the great stone pathway shimmered, like something was alive beneath its surface.

Rafaela came to a smooth stand, staring down Inana as she did so, and stepping around the spearhead that was thrown. Inana spoke, and Fenris came up near Rafaela. If he noticed, Rafaela, too, did not seem intimidated, or scared. In fact, she seemed just as thrilled as he was.

She lifted the strap of her satchel over her head so it dropped uselessly to the ground, and heard Fenris' plan. "And some," she murmured back to him, her hands dipping to the small of her back and drawing out her own blades. She flipped them once in her hands, force of habit more than anything else, and let their leather-wrapped grip settle into her own gloved palms, the bare tips of her fingers curled into a light but firm fist.

Two of the Stone Sentinels also began to walk towards them. "See you later," Rafeala murmured to Fenris, and then she darted forward, running at them. Both of the warriors also began to run, their stone footsteps making the great rock path they were on shimmy a little beneath booted feet.

Rafaela ran to engage the two warriors, while for now that 28 others solely watched.

And a sudden burst from the water had a tentacle wrapping around Fenris' leg and immediately yanked him into the murky, black-green depths.

The two stone warriors went charging for Rafaela, their jeweled eyes glowing and the gold that decorated their bodies glimmering under the torches that illuminated the grandiose treasure room. One threw their spear at the charging Rafaela, and then both of them simultaneously drew their golden, gleaming swords. In tandem, they sliced towards Rafaela's belly, while two more guards took up either side of Inana.

The chainsaw blade wielded by Fenris would find that it wasn't soft, slimy tentacle that it cut into, but instead sparks showered into Fenris' face and above the murky water as he discovered that the tentacle, too, was made of stone. Still, Fenris successfully stopped the tentacle from wrapping around its leg as it reared back, was joined by the second, and they both went hurtling after Fenris in its desperate need to drag it down into the depths. In the inky darkness of the water, he could see three spots of glowing, presumably the eyes of the beast.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The vision of the gargantuan leopard-gorilla hybrid stone beast holding an unconscious Neferet was far too similar to Faye Dunway and King Kong. Still, it barely impeded them as they crashed through the living forest. They left an obvious trail -- something that they had never done before. Who ever they served -- whoever was controlling them -- was being sloppy and obvious now, perhaps out of desperation, perhaps out of arrogance.

The earth trembled beneath their feet as they ran, breaking through trees and leaping over ravines with little issue as they headed for the Valley of the Kings. Krypt was following, and the men that were on the ledge to witness the doom of Akbar and Rasha went off to follow him, charging down the mountain path.

Through the moonlit jungle they ran, until they came upon the Valley of the Kings where the stone heads of long-ago rulers gleamed beneath the pale blue light of the night. They headed for the same tomb that Rafaela and Fenris had climbed, but they came to its base and around towards its back.

They climbed the face of the mountain for only a two to three hundred feet and then stopped. Their eyes flashed a brilliant light, and a face suddenly appeared at the back of the mountain. Its eyes also glowed, and its giant maw opened, revealing a cave passage that was huge, big enough for the beasts to go through. They slipped inside, but the mouth remained open.

. . . . . . . . . . . . .

The pools of water in the throne room were edged with the stone wall and columns where more of the stone Monkey Warriors stood, prepared for battle. Four of them gave loud whooping calls, and they leaped with incredible strength and magical ability, easily crossing the water and landing on the stone walk way where Rafaela and Fenris were fighting.

Two landed behind Rafaela to cage her in, and two landed to either side of Fenris, swords gleaming, and swords striking through the air to kill both Rafaela and Fenris.

"SSShrrrrrrrriiiiiinnngggggg!" sparks flew as the shrill squeal of rending stone and dust filled the air along with those fleeting embers. The flourish that Fenris was using weaved like obsidian lightning serving its purpose as protection against the next tentacle, and the returning one. The blade bounced between each tendril causing flashes to accompany each "lightning stroke", both hands grasping the blade as it weaved and flickered back and forth. Settling on parrying the stone tentacles and more gradually ripping away at them rather than trying to rend them with heavy-blows. If the creature had not been made of stone, he might have been grossed out. It was rather bizare though, perhaps this manner of guardian was composed of some sort of hard-coral.

He saw the monkeys coming on either side of him and he cursed. This was not working, they had to take the initiative against the merchant quickly or they would be overwhelmed. He steeled his resolve, turning it into a zeal to give this mad-merchant more than he bargained for. He leaped up with predatory strength and agility, to intercept the left monkey, Fenris' left leg raised, as his blade raised itself to bind against the monkeys, at the same as Fenris would use it as a stepping stone to propel himself higher as the monkey would have its landing messed up and sent towards one or two of the monkeys attacking Rafaela, kick-off having more than inhuman-force behind it exerting strength to throw the monkey down from the pressure and add to the gravity of its landing to propel the monkey-guard with a decent amount of force to use it as a makeshift projectile.

Propelled higher by his kick-step he turned his blade towards one of the three orbs that peered from the murky brackish depths. His blade extended as it both stretched and spiraled like a drill heading towards the top most or middle eye to pierce through and hopefully at least stun the Water-Guardian. The blade would retract after a moment and liquefy before solidifying again to instead coat his bracers and hands up to his forearms, and his legs from his boots to his knees. Improvised gauntlets and grieves, more better to deliver blunt-force. By his interception of the first monkey he would have changed his positioning and thus had avoided the monkeys initial attacks by changing his positioning before they reached him, and not allowing himself to be flanked.

He quickly landed and he braced himself by curling into a ball to defend himself and land in a roll and then a crouch nearer to the merchant, and beside Rafaela's skirmish. Meanwhile the fog that had filled the room earlier instead condensed and sought to move through the flooring itself in liquid form towards Inana.

The two Warrior Monkeys charged at her, and she slid to her knees beneath their swing, coming up again and twisting around to use one palm against the floor to balance, and the rest of her svelte body beautifully crouched and ready for action.

Seeing that she had now grouped the four monkeys together, she sheathed both of her daggers at the small of her back and instead used a new weapon as she smoothly came to stand. Her back was to Inana, but she could allow that to slide for a moment, as she jerked her wrists and little crossbows came undone from her bracers. Pew! Pew! the little, thick, dart-like bolts shot out of her bracers and to the two monkeys that were charging the closest to her, slamming into the joints of their knees and making their legs crumble apart. It only temporarily put them down, but then brazenly, boldly...

Rafaela turned, her wrists bent forward and both of her wrist-secured crossbows were pointed at Inana. The other two monkeys were fast approaching.

"I will shoot you in the head, here and now, Inana," Rafaela promised quietly. And the golden spear and sword that had been swinging from her body suddenly halted. Inana stared down Rafaela, and Rafaela stared him down as well.

Krypt didn't struggle nearly as much as some might have as the stone gorilla held him in it's grip; rock fingers pressing tightly around his torso and threatening to squeeze his ribs into his organs. It was an intensely uncomfortable position to be in, with the warrior finding it difficult to breathe and impossible to relax.

He watched as Neferet was laid out, presumably unconscious, and the woman he didn't recognize was pushed nearby as a prisoner. Their position had worsened dramatically, it seemed, with Inana controlling all of the pieces and the mercenary who still attempted to fight severely outnumbered and disadvantaged against what he saw to be more of the stone lackeys; albeit smaller, from what he could tell.

"I never liked you," Krypt spoke to Inana, his voice forced through with a grit against the tightness of his chest. "You had always come across as a pathetic weasel, worth less than the shit that left his mouth. But now you're underestimating me," he explained, fingers tightening into fists and voice beginning to strain. "The oracle, Lady Neferet, has already told me of my destiny. It lies at the end of a long and dangerous road, no doubt, but I do reach the end of it. I don't know what you're trying to do here, but it has already been decreed that I will not fail against you or your pathetic guardians."

The guardian that held him would find the fingers of it's fist involuntarily shifting, stone grinding against stone and tight grip becoming more and more of a struggle to maintain. "Your fate, no matter what plans you put into place, or what weapons you use, is destined to be crushed under the heel of mine. There is simply no way that you can win. No part of your being that can resist what is about to happen to you," he spoke, the strain in his voice increasingly rising in intensity to match the strain the guardian's hand would feel.

"Especially now that you are trying to harm Lady Neferet, a woman who is kind and beautiful and who has the loyalty of men like me, who are beyond you in every way. She has the power of destiny on her side: my power. And if you don't surrender right now, I will use that power to beat your skull into your brain with my bare hands and turn your mind into mush."

Every word he spoke was done with a tone of calmness, but that tone did not match the anger, frustration and brutality that welled up within him. Rather, instead of releasing it through his words, he kept them pressurized and building - filling his insides like too much air in a balloon. Then, he released it all at once in a two-stage event that had the potential to quickly turn the tide of the battle. First, he struck out against the inside of the fist of the guardian that held him with all his might, with such furious power being released in one breath that the stone that held him would be shattered and thrown away from his form. Then, after he was hopefully released, he hit the ground and let out a horrific roar comprised of nothing but rage, before setting off in a full-blown sprint straight at Inana's location. If there was a height to be climbed, he would jump it in one swoop; if there were guardians in the way, he would simply attempt to smash through them like a juggernaut; if there was nothing, then Inana would find himself to be in more trouble than he could have possibly hoped for. Either way, if Krypt reached him successfully, Inana would no-doubt find his throat grabbed and then crushed against the floor under Krypt's palm.

Inana smiled at Fenris. "Fine." One tentacle reached out from the depths of the murky water and snatched up the statue, tossing it far over their heads until it clattered with a bang and rolled to the feet of the gigantic skeleton of the dead king, still in his throne.

Inana paused when he heard Krypt's words, and he looked over at the man. When his strength broke through the Guardian's gasp, his eyes went wide while rock shattered everywhere. The glow intensified, and as Krypt lept through the air towards Inana, the other Guardian intercepted him, tackling him down onto the stone pathway.

"Hurry, HURRY!" yelled Inana, now suddenly in a rush. The Monkey Guardians turned onto Fenris and Rafaela. "Kill them all!" Inana ordered in a panic, as he rushed to pick up the statue and quickly unroll it from its cloth. A few more guardians came up to Neferet and took a knee, holding down her wrists and her ankles and keeping her laid out as the runes glowed all around her.