The high morning sun shone brightly on the group as they traveled tiredly through the hot sands of the desert. But none of them gave thought to that discomfort, as their minds were still full of the horrendous scenes back in the small, desert city they had left almost two days ago. Once again, one of their friends was lost, and despair entered the girls' hearts as they followed Djoser. Jeneta sighed softly to herself as she wiped a stray tear from off her cheek. First Orana and Kylini were taken, and now Danji is...is...gone. she thought sadly to herself. And I don't even know if Djoser's friends made it from the attack on that town. There are so many people dying out here now because of us. What if...if something were to happened to Djoser? I couldn't stand it! She looked up at the tall, handsome man in the lead, trying to keep a determined look on his face, but Jeneta knew that he was hurting deep down inside too.
She then turned to her left and saw Heather slowly riding up next to her, her blonde head hung low and her face miserable. Poor Heather. I wish there was some way I could help her. I never really considered how much Danji meant to her. Jeneta thought back to the other day when the blonde-haired girl barely said anything. When Jeneta looked into her eyes, she saw that part of her soul had actually died when Danji did. She knew that Heather would never be the same again. But I won't give up on her, Jeneta thought determinedly. I'll be there for her and help her in any way I can. With a determined look, Jeneta spurred her horse on and kept up pace with the other girls.
After a riding many more hours, the desert gave way to a dense, thick forest, and the sun slowly began its decent from the sky. But once inside the large forest, it seemed as though silence filled the whole area, and not even the sun's last, dying rays could penetrate the great number of large trees surrounding them. Moss and vines hung down from everywhere, even the thick trunks of the maroon, colored trees. The leaves stood still, not even a wisp of air moving them. But despite the stillness and lack of light, the forest had no true evil feel to it. Angeni closed her eyes to get a feel of her surroundings for a moment, then breathed with a sigh of relief when she didn't feel any true danger. Several moments later as they rode on, they could even hear a waterfall nearby, giving the forest its only sound.
Djoser put up his hand and pulled his horse to a stop. "We can stop and rest for a while here. Not for long though, we still have a long way to go." He dismounted his horse began pulling out his bags to prepare food.
"Where are we exactly?" Jeneta asked as she helped Prya off her horse. She looked around curiously with the girls.
"This is the Red Forest. When we cross it, we'll be at Anglosia, where the second Sacred Medallion is hidden. Or at least near where it's hidden. The medallions could have been moved over the years. But first we need to regain our strength with food..." Djoser nodded as he held up the bag with the food.
"Great idea! I'm absolutely famished!" said Angeni, rubbing her grumbling stomach. Soon, a small makeshift camp was made, and each had a small meal of soup and bread to eat by a small campfire.
In the middle of eating, Jeneta looked up curiously at Djoser. "Umm..Djoser, I've been meaning to ask you, but I never had a chance. When we were back in Karnack, that knight....that is, who we now know as Zain, asked about where some prince was while we were hiding. Was...was he talking about you? Are you a prince? And you mentioned you had a brother one time....."
The others looked at him as Djoser's eyes widened in surprise, then became silent for a few moments. Memories of a happier life with his family and friends filled his mind then, and he longed to live those times once more. Sadness entered his eyes for a moment, but he quickly shook his head to regain composure. "It'll be better to say I was a prince, and had a family" he said softly.
"What happened?" Ling moved forward in order to not miss a word he said.
"The country we were in....Colaris, where we found the first Medallion. That was...that was my kingdom. It was one of the first to be attacked after Kumraa was freed. I think...I was about your age when it was attacked, but...it's sort of foggy now." Djoser looked up into the sky above him as he tried to remember happier times. "My father was the King there, and my mother the Queen. My father was a good man, who not only ruled the country, but was a very powerful Mage himself. He was the primary protection of our kingdom. Along with Orana, he taught us to use magic and to come up with many spells. My mother stood by him and gave him her support, and my older brother...." A lump suddenly formed in his throat. "My brother Menes was following in his footsteps to be a great king and Mage. Then, Kumraa broke free."
Djoser's hands clenched into tight fists at the memories."For many years, my parents struggled to keep our kingdom safe, and for a long time, it seemed like they succeeded. But then during a surprise night raid just a few years ago, my parents were unable to fight against the forces Kumraa had gathered." The dark-skinned man sighed and stopped for a moment, then continued.
"The strain of using all that magic had taken its toll on my parents, and they perished, along with thousands. When it was done, our kingdom was decimated. My brother Menes...he tried to save them, but he couldn't. He had still not been trained enough in the art of magic. He vowed revenge and took a whole legion of soldiers to find Kumraa and destroy him. But...neither I nor anyone else has seen him since then. I could only think that he...he perished along with everyone else."
"Djoser...my God, I'm so sorry." Jeneta said, putting her hand on his shoulder.
"It's alright," Djoser brushed off the hurt and shook his head. "All that matters now is that we finish our mission and set our world free. Each day passing, Kumraa gets stronger and more countries and villages are destroyed." He looked up at the darkening sky. "Come on, we should get ready to go. We should be at our destination soon."
With that, he stood and began gathering his things. No one noticed as Heather walked off to the distance by herself, a thoughtful and sad look on her face. When Jeneta looked around after making her horse was ready, she noticed the blonde English girl was missing. "Heather?" she called out, but heard nothing in return.
She sighed and looked to the others. "You guys, hang on a bit, I'm going to look for Heather." With that, she sprinted off to the direction she last saw her in.
"HEATHER! Heather, come on, where are you?" She walked for a bit until she saw a figure huddled on the ground, near a tree. "Heather? Hey, everyone's waiting for you, let's get going." She walked up closer to the figure and knelt down beside her.
But when Heather looked up, sadness only resided in her hazel eyes, and tears were streaming down her cheeks. Jeneta's eyes widened in surprise. "Heather? What's wrong?"
"Djoser....he didn't even care what happened to his parents...or his brother. He didn't care about anything except his mission!" Heather said softly, hugging her arms around herself.
"Now you know that's not true...why would you even think something like that?" Jeneta's eyes narrowed slightly in anger. What was she talking about? How could she say those things about Djoser?
"It is SO true! He...he let Danji die, and he doesn't even care!" Heather stood up quickly, her face getting very angry.
Jeneta's fists formed into balls as she tried to keep her self control as she too got angry. "You take that back! How dare you say something so...so horrible! You know he's not like that, he'd never...."
"That's because you're too bloody blinded by your stupid crush on him, you don't see how everyone we come into contact with dies because of HIM! Maybe it's US who are going to die next!"
"How...how can you say something like that?" Deep hurt entered Jeneta's heart then, quickly replaced by anger. "He risked everything to get us this far! Danji risked everything to make sure we were safe!"
"You know, I actually thought you were smart, smart enough to figure out that he doesn't give a crap about us. Maybe he'll just kill the rest of us off just to have you for himself. I heard men from his race were selfish like...."
That did it. Heather never even got to finish her sentence as Jeneta roared in fury and tackled her heavily to the ground. It seemed like an eternity passed as they both hit and punched each other as hard as they could, eventually drawing blood.
"Heather, Jeneta! What the hell's going on?" Ling yelled out as she and the rest of the girls, followed by Djoser, ran up to them. But it seemed as though they didn't hear anyone as they continued to fight.
"Please! Please stop fighting! We're supposed to be working together!" Prya pleaded, tears flowing down her cheeks.
"That's enough!" growled out Djoser, diving into their fight and pulling them up from the ground and apart. "What's the meaning of this?"
"Why don't you ask your girlfriend? That is if you can get that crybaby over there to quit bawling enough so we can get a word in!" Heather said, glaring at Prya, then at Jeneta.
The Indian girl gasped at those words, then with a sob, turned around and ran off, shame filling her heart.
"Heather, that was totally uncalled for!" Angeni yelled, getting into her face. "Can't you see we all have to stick together if we want to survive this?" Her eyes softened as she looked into Heather's face. "I know you've been hurt, I know Danji meant a lot to you. We all did, because he meant a lot to us too. But you're not going to honor his memory if you act like that and fill your heart with hate and despair." Angeni took both Heather's hands into her own. "Please, it's not worth it if we let ourselves get divided now. You have to pull yourself together. Please...for Danji's sake."
For a moment Heather looked into the eyes of the Native American girl, and saw how she meant every word of it. The anger slowly left her heart, and in its place was deep regret. "Oh God, you're right Angeni. I...I didn't mean to be...I...I'm so sorry." She turned to look at Djoser, then to Jeneta as tears filled her eyes. "Oh my gosh, what have I done? I...I didn't mean any of that..."
"I know Heather. It was just your pain talking. As well as my own..." Jeneta said sadly. But whatever more she wanted to say was cut off as a scream pierced the air.
"PRYA!" Heather and Jeneta yelled out together. They all ran off to the direction Prya ran to, and stopped dead in their tracks when they came to the scene. Prya was waist deep in a large puddle of black, thick mud, and she was sinking lower and lower with every second. The girl had a terrified look on her face and she reached out desperately for help to her friends.
"Prya, hold on!" cried out Heather, the first one to rush forward to help.
"No, wait!" Djoser said, stopping her. "We have to form a human chain! If you go in yourself, you'll never get out.
"What about your magic?" Ling asked desperately, wanting to do something...anything, to help.
"No good, that's a Black Monga quicksand. The more you struggle or even use magic, the faster is swallows and devours. Quickly!" Djoser braced himself on the sturdy ground as he motioned for the girls to grab each other's hands to make a human chain and go as far into the quicksand as they could.
"Hold on Prya, we're coming!" Jenata said, her heart pounding hard in her chest as she became the first in line. She cringed with disgust as she got into the quicksand, then tried to ignore the slimey, sandy water as she moved forward. When she got close to Prya, she stretched out her hand as much as she could. "Come on, you have to give me your hand! You can do it! Please!" Sweat poured down their faces as their stretched out as far as they could.
Terrified, Prya stretched with all her might, but it wasn't easy for her as her breath began to become short and her vision blurry. She was going to pass out! But she struggled to regain consciousness as she stretched. Her fingertips barely reached Jeneta's before she gave a final lunge forward and quickly grabbed Jeneta's hand. When Djoser saw that Jeneta had her, he pulled back with all his strength, along with the other girls, and Prya's body was pulled free of the devouring mud.
"Oh God, Prya, are you okay? I'm so sorry! I didn't mean any of that!" Heather said, quickly rushing over to her and holding her head into her hands as Prya collapsed on the ground. But the girl heard nothing as she struggled to take air into her nearly collapsed lungs. Her skin began to turn pale and her eyes drooped.
"Oh no, it's her asthma!" Jeneta rushed forward and gathered her into her arms. "Prya, come on, you have to calm down and breathe! Do you hear me? Come on, please, just take a breath! You have to breath for me love, you hear?" Slowly, very slowly, Prya began to calm and take in breaths as Jeneta continued to hold her. "That's it...just take small breaths, just breathe...everything's okay now." Jeneta soothed.
After what seemed like eternity, Prya finally lay still and her chest moved up and down in rhythmic breaths. Soon after, Prya closed her eyes as exhaustion overtook her, and she went into a peaceful sleep.
"Is she going to be alright?" Ling asked, pushing a stray lock of dark hair from Prya's face.
"Yeah. I knew a couple of kids from my old school that had mild asthma, and most of the time the attacks are due to anxiety. Prya just needed to calm down." Jeneta said as she breathed a sigh a relief.
"Well, since we just ran out of water, I suggest we go find that waterfall we heard back there and get some more. She should have some for when she wakes up." Heather said, wiping the sweat off her forehead.
"You girls go ahead, I'll keep watch over her." Djoser said. "We can't take any chances of something coming to attack."
"Right. Let's go, it shouldn't be far." Angeni agreed. With that, the girls rushed off to their horses, took some canisters to put the water in, and followed the sound of the rushing waters not too far away. After about almost ten minutes, they parted away some bushes and came into a beautiful clearing with an inviting lake, beautiful bushes, and small trees surrounding it. Off to the right was the tall waterfall that feed the lake, the water sparkling clear and refreshing.
"There it is!" Jeneta said happily. She reached down and took the small canister that was tied to her belt. She and the other girls came to the edge of the lake and began putting water inside of it. Suddenly, the medallion that Jeneta wore began to glow softly in a soft, green light, almost as if it was signaling something. "Err...guys, my medallion is glowing. What could it mean?" The girls looked at her medallion in puzzlement for a moment, then up at her.
"Maybe we're near another Sacred Medallion," Ling said hopefully. "Djoser said there was a town nearby...." At that moment, a bright light burst from the depths of the lake.
So surprised were they, the girls flew back and fell to the forest ground. "What in the heck was that?" Heather groaned out. Curious, they got up and looked out at the lake....and dropped their jaws at the sight before them.
In the middle of the lake, a beautiful woman floated, her bare feet barely touching the water, and her white, nearly transparent dress flowing in an unseen, unfelt wind. Her face was pale, and it was in sharp contrast to the deep black of her hair. Her closed eyes snapped open after a moment, and she fixed the girls a hard stare with her glowing, blue eyes. Although the woman was young looking, her eyes held a wisdom and power that clearly showed she has been in existence for a very long time. Immediately, the girls knew she had to be some sort of goddess.
"Who dares to take this water without the permission of Liandra, The Lake Mistress?" Her voice was deep, yet had a flowing, gentle quality to it, almost like water itself.
For a long moment, the girls could only stare at the woman, awed by her beauty and her power. Finally, Heather stepped forward and spoke. "Please, we only want a little water for our friend. She is not well, and she needs it. We are travelers on a journey for the Sacred Medallions, and..."
"Is that so? You wish to find the Medallions?" The woman's eyes bore into Heather's. "I am one of the guardians of the Sacred Medallions. All who wish to seek it must go through me and defeat my warrior. If you succeed, you will have what you want. Fail, and you and all those with you shall perish."
"What? But I..." Heather never got to finish as the woman raised her arm forward, and a bright, violet light shot out. It slammed into Heather and engulfed her, then pulled her down into the water.
"HEATHER!" Jeneta, Ling, and Angeni screamed out, but could only stare helplessly as the woman, her face like a mask and devoid of any emotion, disappeared in a flash of white light.
******************************************
To Be Continued...
******************************************