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Soul Liberator:

Chapter 2 - Exploration

The sun rose the following morning, warming on the horizon of the valley at first as a gentle red glow which cast al sorts of shadows over the expedition's camp only to shrivel and writhe as if in agony as the scorching heat of the desert sun came to bear down on the collection of tents rising into the sky to take its place as the white disk of blazing light which all of the desert nomads warn travelers about. Leila's wrist comp buzzed softly agenst her forarm, the display flashing 6:45 in a dim blue color on its 2 inch touch screen as the sleek black leather covered computer fulfilled its alarm function, slowly and gently waking her. Lilly had moved her cot into her personal tent, the excuse given to the rest of the team being that Lilly was to be Leila's personal assistant and second in command for the expedition dew to her experience.

As the feline rose, stretching her back much her feral cousins the first wave of heat penetrated the canvas walls of the tent prompting her to flinch, "Unnn... Going to be hot today." She mumbled to herself sliding out of her surplus military cot before brushing a finger over her wrist comp to stop its buzzing. A few stretches and yawns later found her flicking threw her notes on the device, refreshing her mind of all the little factoids about the tomb she was looking for. However the rather pleasing shape Lilly made all wrapped up tightly in the thin silk sheet she slept under was proving to be a rather large distraction. Deciding to let her get her sleep Leila quickly slipped into her jumpsuit, threw on her boots and ducked out of the tent, flinching at the near visible wall of heat before smiling enjoying the warmth, if not the intense light.

She was not the first up, a few of the students had started up breakfast in the central tent, the smell of eggs, some sort of meat, and biscuits wafting over the still air to blanket the camp in the aroma of an American breakfast. As she walked over towards the tent a male student named Robert, a rather thin greasy looking black haired man in his late twenties dressed in blue jeans and an tan a-frame shirt waved to her calling, "Hey Professor! Must be murder for you in all that fur... The heat I mean."

Leila looked at Robert for a moment, the human was already sweating, and the sun hadn't even reached its peak. "This? Why this is your home back in the states on a cold winter's day compared to what we should be getting at about two this afternoon... Speaking of which did everyone bring sunscreen? If not whoever goes to town today should purchase some otherwise you all will burn pretty badly."

A brunet girl who had thrown a plate together for the professor as she had approached handed the meal over with a little grin, "I brought a good amount... But really how are you dealing with this heat?"

"I don't know, I just don't feel hot in the deserts most of the time. It's like I am just meant to be this warm." Leila admits before politely starting to eat, fangs digging into the disk shaped sausage first, the protein would help with the hike.

Robert spoke up again, shifting in his seat to face the still standing feline as she ate, "So we got to talking last night, er the rest of the students and I that is."

Leila's ears perked up, they weren't already wondering what she and Lilly had been up to all night were they? "What about?" she asks trying to sound not overly interested.

"Well we decided that Rachel, Tim, Keri, John, and I will be the first to go to town, the rest of everyone ether is all jet lagged or want to help search the valley."

"Sure thing. Just bring back sunscreen, also some sunglasses if they have any for felines it's going to get rather intense out there and I forgot to pack a pair for myself. You are of coerce free to use the expedition funds for those things, but remember souvenirs are to come out of your pockets." She replies, sighing in relief then trying to hide the sigh by stuffing her mouth full of what turned out to be a rather nice buttery and flaky biscuit.

"Right..." Robert sighs, apparently hoping to have never been explicitly told what the expedition funds were for, "So when can we go? Everyone but Keri is awake. Can we take off when she get up?" He asks jerking his thumb towards the large white van parked by the C-130.

With a nod Leila tosses him the van's keys, then resumes eating her breakfast. After a short time Lilly joins her, making herself a plate and sitting at her side. The two talk over what to do later that day, detailing plans for their search with the casualness of people with enough experience at their given task to see it as a fun game rather than a job to get done. Within a half hour the rest of the camp is awake and eating in or around the cook tent, a general jovial attitude held by everyone, punctuated only by a good number of complaints about the heat.

Finally once the meal seemed to be wrapping up Leila stood up gracefully, her boots crunching on the sandy ground as she whistled for attention, the high-pitched noise cutting threw the meal time conversations like a katana threw a reed training mat. "Attention everyone it's time to listen up and here what the plans for the day will be! I have been informed that Robert, Rachel Keri John and Tim will be going into town this time. Everyone else will be with Lilly and I hiking out to our search area for the day. If you haven't already done so I suggest you put on some form of sun block or cover as much skin as possible, sunglasses are also something I recommend. Everyone will carry their own water, at least a liter. You can of course share but every one of you will carry your own as well, it can get blisteringly hot, you will be sweating a lot, and you will need to stay hydrated.

But you all remember that from my lecture before we boarded the plane I am sure, so let's go over the plan. As you know our camp is set up just five kilometers east from KV 43, or the Tomb of Thutmose the Fourth if you didn't memorize the archeological map. According to the Kesserman Expedition's discovered tablets, the Tomb of the God Slayer is located somewhere to the east of 43, but no more than a four hour's journey. From the compiled fragments, all of which are scanned into the database and should be accessible on your wrist comp, or your laptop Kevin assuming you can get that old thing to get a signal out here, the Tomb is near the highest point in the valley so that 'The Pharos themselves will see it coming should the God Slayer escape'."

Noticing that a few students were mumbling to each other as she quoted the more religious and superstitious parts of the documents Leila decided to quickly quell any fear she may have created. Taking on a dismissive tone she quickly affirms, "Now that is of course superstition of a bronze age people. Trust me the only mummies we might find will be quite dead. Anything else would be just silly." With a playful wink the feline resumes her briefing, "So we can safely assume that the tomb is located somewhere on the peak of Dehent. We are looking for a sealed chamber, from the descriptions we have on file its quite small, probably only a single room and a hallway, as such keep a close eye on your GPR's display. The radar signature will probably slip past you unless you are paying close attention.

The plan is for us to split up into two person teams and scan as much of the mountain face as we can today. Using the scans, unless one of us stumbles onto the tomb itself, Lilly an dI will compile a 3d model of Dehent's internal structure. Once that is accomplished finding any man made caverns should be a walk in the park. Well that is everything that you need briefed on right now. Get the kitchen cleaned up, find out which two of you will be staying to help the pilots guard the camp, there are after all bandits in this area, and the rest of you form up here with your gear in thirty minutes, we want to get moving before the day's heat sets in."

The students scrambled to get ready the second Leila stopped talking, her warning about the heat getting worse adding haste to their steps.

~

A good hour and a half later saw the 8 person team finally at the foot of the mountain, which loomed over them the top hidden in a shimmering curtain of heat. Each of the 8 had a GPR unit hooked into their wrist comp, the metal detector like devices primed and ready to map out the underground secrets of the limestone mountain they now stood at the base of. As the group milled about, the pairs having been chosen on the long hike over Leila called out her final instructions, "Ok everyone, turn your minimap apps on now, keep an eye on them and make sure you are not covering another team's ground. If you run into trouble radio for help, if someone radios, only the closest team reply unless it's a medical emergency in which case Lilly and I will come running as she is the only one with medical training. I know I said there are bandits in the area, and there are, but that is not too much of a concern for us, odds are we will be left alone. I have noticed most of you are carrying a knife and probably for that reason, keep it in the sheath or folded up until you are going to use it. The limestone here can break and cause you to slip and if you ever saw the movie Expo 3 you know what can happen if you roll or slide down a hill with a knife in your hand. That said lets break up and start our mapping, everyone has their sectors, we will meet up here at 4 pm to hike back to camp. Be safe and have fun guys."

As her final cheery tone washed over the other seven people listening they all split off in their groups, heading for the parts of the mountain discussed on the hike, mapping units off for the moment, but GPS's on. Taking a second to make sure her app was working Leila looks at her wrist comp, her screen showing the arrows for each student dispersing across the admittedly large mountain. "Well my map is working, ready to take the west facing ridge?"

Lilly smiles, her eyes hidden by a pair of older beat up looking sunglasses, which aside from a baseball cap are the only additions to her outfit from he previous day, "Yep... Were taking that part because your Gramps always said the Tomb lay on a cliff right?"

Leila nods, affirming her companion's conclusion before starting to walk, one foot paw carefully placed before the other on the potentially loose limestone 'bricks' that made up the ascending natural staircase which would take them to the ridge they were going to scan. "Yes. He always said that the cliffs on the west side held the entrance, he had no evidence for that mind you, at least none that I ever found but given how important someone who killed a god would be to the Egyptians of that time, and given their belief that moving west was scared for the afterlife, it's reasonable to assume that the tomb's entrance would face west. This would also mean that to enter the tomb one would walk east, which in their faith would have been going agents the god Ra's daily path."

"Which would be apt for a so called 'God Slayer'." Lilly interrupts, smiling wider as she gets the idea.

"Precisely!" Leila's tail swishes, happy her chosen mate understood her thinking, "And since we know the tomb is located up high, and those ridges according to the satmap are the only spot I see wide enough to allow for construction on the mountain's face or peek I think it's there."

The two keep climbing, boots scraping agents the limestone, occasionally slipping as smaller chunks break away but nothing too severe. The gentle slope of the natural staircase was not steep enough to be dangerous enough for the two to climb. After the freshly rained on moss covered crumbling Incan Pyramid they climbed together in the jungles of Peru the dry, sandy limestone cliffs were little trouble at all in comparison, and even served to bring back memories of the good points of that older expedition. As the two climbed leather creaked, fabric rustled, stones grated, canteens clicked and clinked, soft words of conversation were punctuated by occasional deep breaths as slowly the two soldiered on moving meter by meter up the rocky mountain side.

Finally the two made it to the top, the small ridge spanning perhaps a hundred yards along the highest of the cliff sides. Lilly's head glistened with sweat and her kaki jacket had a few damp spots on the back as she asked in a tired tone, "Whew, this one took a while. Mind if we sit? I want some water." Lilly exclaims as she sets her first foot on the top, Leila being just behind her.

"I second that; I could use some water too." The sun bore down on them as intensely as it had for the entire climb, but for a fraction of a second the light flickered between the normal yellow and a sickly green hew. The pair didn't notice, distracted as they were with the climb Leila had just enough time to wonder how her students were doing before a thunderous boom rang out the sickly green flash of light occurred once more, much like a camera flash. Leila jumped, yowling in surprise as Lilly exclaimed "What the hell?" looking about for the source of the disturbance.

The sands swirled beneath their feet despite no wind blowing atop the cliff, the light flashed again, once, twice, then finally the sickly green light stayed completely illuminating everything equally to remove all shadows. The swirling sands collected into a large pile a few yards from the terrified pare who rather then descend the cliff pulled themselves quickly to the top so as not to fall from fear. The sands swirled once more as a hissing static sound seemed to come from the pile of sand, moving upwards forming a shape that was vaguely humanoid, which stretched out what could have been an arm before just as suddenly as the nightmarish vision started, the sands collapsed to the ground, the sunlight blinked back to normal, and the sound faded off into the quiet nothingness of the Valley's normality.

Breathing quickly, all of her fur standing on end Leila tapped the screen of her wrist computer and in an obviously shaken tone asked, "Did anyone else see that?"

After a few seconds the other teams checked in, "See what Prof?"

"Nope just a lot of limestone."

"What did a plane fly over or something?"

"I thought I heard a eagle but Sam didn't so well yeah."

"Nothing, err... just carry on." She answers, the negatives from the students serving only to multiply her panic. Turning swiftly to Lilly, the blond girl's face looking extraordinarily pale the feline begs, "Please tell me you saw that..."

Lilly gulps, simply nodding taking a full minute before replying in a very soft tone, "Yes... and I heard it... Oh god tell me that was heat stroke."

"That static, what could possibly have made that. I mean well the light, we saw that in-"

Lilly's look of horror and confusion silences Leila the human woman shortly saying, "There wasn't static, that thing spoke. I don't know what it said it was not English, or Spanish, or Mandarin."

Leila pauses for a moment then lets out a relieved sigh, her fur moving down a bit, but her ears and tail staying in their rigid fearful positions, "Oh good! We didn't see the same thing... Probably just heat stroke then. We should stop for a while and drink."

Lilly nods then sits, taking her canteen out and taking a long pull before looking over along the ridge, still visibly spooked. "Do you have any idea what language this is? It sounded like 'almag had reh alan wlah terfth qabr aw swim alm quill'."

Leila shakes her head, swallows her own mouthful of water and scratches at the limestone with one claw absently, "Linguistics was never my thing. It could be Arabic, or any one of a dozen local languages, but odds are its just gibberish. You heard words I heard static... It's nothing, we were just out in the sun too long that is all."

The two sit in silence for a while longer, taking the occasional drink from their canteens until their courage returns. Lilly stands first, swinging her GPR unit into position shortly afterwards and taps a sequence on her own wrist comp, "Well let's do what we came to do then get out of here before we have any more issues. Scanner is on, I'll sweep the outer edge and you can take the inner, we'll be done in an hour."

Leila nods and switches on her won scanner, slowly sweeping the radar disk over the ground and mountainside, advancing slowly, methodically checking every single centimeter of the area, watching her screen diligently, wanting to sweep the memories of the terrifying event from her mind much as she was weeping the cliff face. The scanner picks up nothing but solid rock, Lilly's showing much the same. Occasionally the small air pocket deep within the stone makes the GPR units ping but a football sized cavity a tomb does not make and so the spots are ignored. Then perhaps a half hour into their scanning Lilly stands up from her stooped scanning position, turning her head left and right with a frown before moving over to a patch of the mountainside that was right behind her.

"What are you up to?" Leila asks in a curious tone, the sound of the other's footsteps prompting her to turn to look.

"I..." Lilly starts before frowning more, "You can't here that? A faint... It's like someone is whispering. Like they are right here in front of me and whispering."

"You must still be dehydrated and overly hot..." Leila utters in a nearly begging tone fear creeping into her voice. One mental break was enough for the day.

"No." Lilly replies in a confused tone, "This is... English! Yeah let me..." She trails off pressing her head agents the sandy mountainside to listen repeating what she hears as she hears it, "Don't run, open the door. Open it. Your are in danger, open the door and I will save you. Open the door now. Quickly before they see you haven't left... Leila I think someone is behind this sand!"

Lilly starts to dig with her hands, knowing full well that someone buried in sand or behind it will eventually suffocate, "Don't speak anymore you will use up air! Hold still we'll dig you out! Help me!" she pleads looking over to the feline, who with some apprehension decides to help her lover dig at least to show her there was nothing there and to be closer incase of further mantle breakdown.

"I should have had us do this later in the day when it was cooler." Leila mutters to herself, scooping at the sand with her hands.

The two dig, and dig, until Leila's claws scrape agesnt stone. Looking over at the human Leila shakes he head, "That was rock there is nothing here."

Lilly shakes her head adamantly and yanks a brush from her pocket, rapidly sweeping the face of the rock they had been scooping sand away from. Brush stroke by furious brushstroke reveals a flat slab of lime stone, and eventually, slowly the carved fresco of a circle comes into view, then the head of a lioness, which rested upon the shoulders of a woman, "That's Sekhmet. We found your tomb Leila! But... I swear I heard a voice."

Leila has just enough time to open her mouth to get the first syllable of her shocked exclamation from her lips before with a thunderous boom the sky goes green once more, the loose sands glide across the rock carving channels into the stone. This time they resolve themselves not into a vague shape, but that of a large horned lizard like humanoid. With a second thunderclap a silvery hooked Egyptian sword materialized in its left hand, and is raised menacingly skywards. Where he apparition's eyes should be the sand sinks back, drawing the face into a skull with the gaps of the eyes, nose and mouth seeming to bleed sand to reveal that sickly green light spilling from the sockets. The thing's mouth opens and it speaks. The word's are not in a language ether woman understood, but their meaning was clear enough, "You were warned!"