The Nightmare Beneath the Sand

The Nightmare Beneath the Sand 9

A quick kiss and softly muttered prayers for blessings in a language that rolled and shifted over their tongues from long practice, and Alaric split from his lover, heading to head for the book. His lover would be going up against the creature since he was the only one able to wield the weapon out of the two of them. He could hear the snuffles and words that he could barely translate, the actual language the Egyptians used twisted and changed with time and other cultures coming in.

It spoke of feeling those that dared to invade It's maze and wondered if it could, this time, become free. It knew that there was work along it's front, at the door that it could get out of. It wasn't able to get out of the smaller doors, the walls carefully covered in hidden wardings that kept it away from the walls and the door itself.

Alaric shuddered as a loud clang rang out through the maze, sounding far but echoing well. He had known that Leon was quick on his feet, but he hadn't anticipated that he was fast enough to get away from him so that he could draw the creature's attention. Licking his lips, he slipped down the hall and into another smaller hallway, carefully making his way through the maze.

Leon talked in his ear, muttering just loud enough to be heard without distracting or calling attention to Alaric. He talked about the walls that he passed, about the passages that he was using as he worked his way down to the fourth floor. He was using one of the passages that the creature used and the stairs that ran behind a wall of the passage, weaving in and out of the doors to keep It's attention.

Alaric breathed out a slow breath as he found the stairs that would lead him down to the fourth floor himself, knowing that if he was found he was going to leave Leon alone. Not only alone against that creature, but also in life. As a human, Leon needed a lover, needed him to ground him from what he could feel every day of his life.

Walking the Earth with a connection like Leon's, as strong as one, meant that they could be a bit flakey, at least when their feet were on the solid ground. Their home was lifted from the ground, a safe haven from the rest of the world, and the walls and basement were at least four inches thick. It allowed Leon to do what he wanted to do.

It allowed him to rest from the rest of the world, just as a plane, a car, a train...anything that touched the ground with something man-made could do.

Shaking his head as he slipped around the door of the passageway that he had used, he ran down the large passage until he found the right hiding place, opening the hidden door and sliding in. He pulled the door closed with a slow breath and looked around. He jerked when he found a mummified body staring at him.

The clothes were newish, most likely someone who had found the hidden doorway and come down. Walking over to the body, Alaric used his flashlight to take in more details. Blond hair curled tight, dirty with dust, while the clothes were those of a normal human who worked the deserts as a finder of history. Khaki shorts, a light polo shirt with a thinner shirt under it to keep off the sun. A sunhat sat, battered, bloodstained, near the body. Boots and socks still on feet looked well worn.

Swallowing and muttering a prayer for the poor soul who had come across the maze, he found her wallet, and her ID, sighing at it. It was one who had been a part of the class that Leon taught, one who had been extremely interested in the tablets. "You stupid fool. Did you figure something out before we did and come here without anyone to back you up? Without any research?" he asked softly, shaking his head.

He frowned and swept the rather large room for anything else that could have been there, finding her bag, opened and with some food and water still in it. He stood up and dug around, finding that she had used bandages and most likely died of her wounds that were hidden by her arms around her body. "Why did you come?" he muttered, Leon making a curious sound. "I found one of your ex-students."

Leon's panting filled his ear as a door slid shut. "Did you?" Leon asked softly. "I've got two seconds before I have to head out."

Alaric grunted and took a moment to drink some of his bottle, holding it with his teeth as he dug around in the bag to see if he could find out more. Pulling the bottle from his mouth, he removed her journal. "Found her journal. Keep doing what you need to do, I'll speed scan and see what she was doing here," he promised. Leon grunted, the sound of sucking coming over the line before the door was opened again and he started to run again.

It took Alaric only moments to find out that the backers of the dig had sent her as a kind of...forward guard. They had paid her quite a bit, signed a contract that they would pay for her sister's treatments and her college years to become a cancer researcher when she was better, and sent her here.

As she said in her last entry, they knew what was here and they had sent her here to die.

Flipping the journal closed, Alaric told his lover what he had found out, pulling his bag off f his back. Removing the map, he spread it out and told Leon what he was going to do while the other man kept the creature away from the shortest path in the maze.

He was angry. The training that he had gone through his life thrumming, making his head run with plans on how to get to the book fast to call the magic that it held. To call upon the soul that had willingly been trapped in the book and would be willingly trapped to hold the creature in the darkest depths of the afterworld.

He took a deep breath and dug in his bag, pulling out the dagger like knife and strapping it to his waist and leg. He pulled off the scarf and instead wrapped his hair back with a thick piece of fabric embroidered with prayers that hid in the palm leaves and creatures of the Egyptian desert. He took one last drink, said a prayer over the woman who had been used for her soul, and left the room, the only light his head lamp.

He heard Leon tell him to go and went, running down the halls, passing glances of the walls telling him that he was on the right path.

Left. Left. Right. Right. Straight. Back up. Left, immediate right. Straight.

And finally, he arrived at one of the many entry points of the main area. He stopped for a second, catching his breath as he listened to Leon curse the creature with the Ancient Egyptian that he had picked up from the God that watched over them.

The fact that Leon called the creature a sand sucking worm just made him pause for a second before shaking his head and start the run across the sand for the circle that he could feel thrum with power and protections.

A creature that was much like the worm that Leon had called him roared as it came out of the tunnels, eyes dark with hatred and power. It's body was long and slinky, the legs that it did have short, making it low to the ground. The head was more snake like, much like the mamba.

Alaric could not help himself. "My lover is right!" he called out in an older version of Arabic as he ran for the border. "You are much like a worm! The dragons of the Ancient Land are more powerful than you in looks and style!" he said as he ran. The creature roared and dived for him, hissing when it missed him as Alaric rolled over the boundary, swerving away from the line.

Alaric panted as he came up, turning as his lover came around the end, holding the long sword in his hands, looking so much like an ancient warrior from times long gone. His hair flowed and whipped with power that Alaric had never known he had, his dark eyes as black as midnight as his voice echoed with something.

Or with someone, as if he was riding with another in his body and soul.

"It's your turn to go down, worm!" Leon cried out as he ran to the creature.