IoM: The Famine Stela (unfinished, archive only)

[runiclore]

This is the story I was working on for kytha before my computer died a horrible death. I changed my mind about it when I thought the data was lost, and decided to take a new approach - no harm in putting it up now, since the new idea is very different, and I never got to the relevant parts anyway. :P

Thoughts and comments are still welcome of course, since they can only help the new version.
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The Famine Stela


March came and went before Judas decided he had exhausted the ruins at Kethra and decided to move on. It had primarily been a funerary complex, and as much as he might have liked to stay and examine the artwork more closely, time was passing, and he had a task to accomplish. A pale lotus stone and a protective amulet - poisoned - were all he came away with.

Dawn stained the sands red, but the air was still cool with the last of night's touch, and the wind was calm. He struck out to the west with Raeger shuffling along behind at a maddeningly slow pace. The hills surrounding the complex were blessed with deep wells of fresh water, everything a mythical oasis should be; the sands stretching to the horizon in all directions were harsh and dry in comparison. Raeger, he thought, was going to be miserable. The only thing that had made it through the rigors of their journey without showing any visible wear was her harpaxe, though he would bet money the strings would break if she tried to play.

The land was harsh on the undead, too. The intelligent ones cowered in the ruins to preserve their bodies. Judas supposed he would do the same, if only he were smarter. The ring on his hand couldn't protect him from everything. The pace he set, in the end, was slower than he would have preferred, easier for the girl. He tried to keep his pace even and give the impression that he glided over the dunes as easily as before. She wouldn't notice the difference.

They passed the first road marker when the sun was two fingers over the horizon, and made it to the second in time to shelter behind a rock outcropping to wait out the noonday heat. He took only a short sip from the canteen to wet his lips, as water wasn't really what he needed, and handed it to Raeger when she collapsed beside him.

"Where are we going?" she asked, tipping it back to drink.

He shrugged. "The next place we find."

She sighed, and licked her fingers where she'd lost a few drops of water. "Huh." As if there was anything else she could say. "'nother tomb?"

"A temple." Judas closed his eyes and echoed her sigh. Sometimes he couldn't believe he'd grown up in this climate. The shade did nothing about the heat; all it managed was to keep the sun at bay. The sands around them burned and shimmered with its touch.

He heard Raeger drink again and thought her satisfied. Then she piped up again, "Um, which one? Or what kind? Whose temple?"

"I didn't bring you along to ask questions," he said flatly, and sighed again, rubbing his face with his hand and wincing when dust gritted on his skin. Wind or no, he'd have to jump into a lake to rid himself of it. There weren't any around that he knew of. "Anyway, I don't know, that's why we're going. I only saw it in passing before. The inscriptions were damaged."

Raeger was silent for a time. Her fingers thumped onto the canteen, which he hoped she'd closed first, with no discernable rhythm. Judas kept his eyes closed and concentrated on relaxing his muscles, one limb at a time. He'd fall asleep, if he kept it up long enough.

The damage to the temple was his primary reason in seeking it out. It was rare to find treasure in any of the structures along the river. They were so easily accessible that even outsiders, treasure hunters like Claira, could find them easily. As far as he knew they'd all been stripped of valuables within years of the land's destruction. All one needed was a good sword, and the crocodiles wouldn't be a problem. A good supply of water, and the disease of the innocent green expanse of the river wouldn't be a problem.

Judas had a good sword. And he had magic the likes of which the people along the river hadn't seen since the pharoah's reign. He wondered if they even remembered what it was.

"They say bends in the river were sacred to Isis, and she built many temples at such locations," he murmured. "She would kneel on the embankment and dip her hands into the water to search for..." Judas paused and cracked an eye open against the glare to glance at Raeger. "Ah, never mind."

She raised her eyebrows and blinked at him blearily, looking sunburned and miserable, but interested. "What?"

He shook his head. "Doesn't matter." His face burned, but it was just the heat, surely. And it wasn't appropriate to talk about things like that in front of women either - or girls, in Raeger's case. Judas wasn't sure she counted as a real woman. "I think it might be one of her temples."

"Isis?" The girl brightened, straightening a little against the rock. "You think maybe they left it standing because of that thing back in Kethra?"

"False door," he said. "And yes. Maybe. If they used her seal in such an important construction project, maybe the pharoah hadn't completely turned his back on her before he died." Or it could have been a curse. The Maidens of Isis had been rich in gold and influence before the old ways were torn down and ridiculed.

He sometimes wondered about the revolution, especially on days when he was caught outside in the desert heat, as he was today. The light made his eyes water. It wasn't just the sky that was bright; the sand was pale and full of mineral that sparkled in the sunlight and mirrored it back to the deep blue expanse above. Judas squinted at it and coughed. Grit scraped his skin when he reached up to wipe his mouth. The limestone obliesk planted by the rock outcropping to mark the road gleamed like the sun itself. It had altogether too much pride. He had to close his eyes after looking at it and blink away the afterimage.

There was so much history to unearth, and so few clues to aid his search. The markers had been built by a ruler more ancient than Akhenaten, but who? The names at the bottom were chiseled out of the stone. The incantations to the four directions were butchered, the names of the gods hacked off with even less grace than the signatures at the base. Who were they? Just four more empty spaces in a pantheon he couldn't begin to imagine.

Only Akhenaten's monuments remained untouched. That was remarkable in itself, for surely the pharoah's destroyer would have wanted to erase his existence from the map, as it were. Wouldn't she? His mistress had spoken of many places destroyed by the gods in the war a thousand years ago, and insisted all of them were wiped from the earth. But not Egypt. Should he be grateful?

Judas spit the grit from his mouth and let his head fall back against the stone again, gazing at the dunes through slitted eyes. He'd be damned if he showed any gratitude to a valkyrie. Not for the most delicious irony in the world.

His eyes slipped closed of their own will, shutting out the harsh glare of the sands. Beside him, Raeger breathed steadily, deeply, probably asleep. She couldn't be blamed really, with the pace he set. She had good fortitude. Maybe she wouldn't die after all - barring attacks by wild animals or the festering undead, in any case.

He purged his thoughts and concentrated on breathing evenly. It would be hours before the worst of the heat passed and they would be able to start walking again. Maybe in the meantime he would find some sleep.


* * *


Most days Judas wondered why he bothered with his ridiculous quest to resurrect the dead pharoah. The desert was merciless. His body was more suited to shadows and the northern climes, yet he had spent the last several decades following the old trade routes straight into the lower hell of Egypt, where the breathless air and the kiss of the sun only promised pain.

By the time the sun sank below the horizon and shadow encroached from the east, he was stumbling more slowly than Raeger, favoring his right leg and clutching his right hand to his chest. The ring that protected him from the light burned on his finger. He didn't think it had a limit, but he thought they were lucky the sun set when it did; it was entirely possible the thing would absorb the heat and burn his finger off, should he abuse it any longer. He rather liked his hands the way they were.

"I'm not made for this," he croaked, breaking the silence for the first time since their discussion earlier in the afternoon. His laugh degraded into a cough.

Raeger glanced at him. He could feel her eyes without having to turn. "We need to rest." Her voice wasn't much better off. She pulled her canteen out of her pack. "Isn't there anyplace to stop? Anywhere, even another rock?"

Judas scrubbed a hand through his hair and squinted at the horizon. He couldn't see much yet, but they were still at least a mile off from the next marker, and the sky was still too bright. "We left the rock a few hours ago, yes?" He stopped and dropped onto the sand, unwilling to think and walk at the same time. They were both too tired for that. "And we started out from Kethra." It'd been ages since he'd seen a map of the route they were traveling, but there must be some kind of shelter along the way, like a caravansary, or some kind of temple. Even a burned-out husk of a shelter would be welcome.

"Five," she coughed, and took a drink. "I think."

He shrugged his shoulders uncomfortably. He'd never spent so much time out in the open here, before. And he didn't need water. What must it be like for a human? No wonder his ring was beginning to burn. "There used to be structures all along this route. Towns. There has to be something left. They never did anything halfway here - at least a temple of some kind, somewhere."

The girl plopped down beside him, stuffing her canteen back into her pack. "I thought you said everything happened along the river."

"Culture, yes. All the palaces and major temple complexes will be there. Business found a way to go farther." He pointed at a smudge of shadow against the darkening sky. "Maybe that's what we're looking for, if I'm not seeing things."

She leaned forward. "I can't see anything."

"It could be the river." The sky wasn't dark enough yet that he could mistake a cloud or a shadow. He sighed. "Or the heat."

"How far away are we?"

Still full of questions, was she? He'd have to run her for another ten miles - maybe she'd be too tired to talk, then. "A few days. I don't know, exactly." He scowled, but couldn't keep it up long. No one drew maps to scale in the old days, and old maps were all he had.

"But, isn't there--"

He threw his hands up. "Who knows? An old hostel maybe. A ruin. A mammoth skeleton we can drape a bit of canvas over and use as a tent." He got to his feet again somehow and started walking, speaking over his shoulder. "Get up. We'll see soon enough."

In the past Judas was able to pass at least three markers under the cover of darkness before he had to take shelter. They were exactly ten miles apart, capped with metal and enchanted so they would glint in the sunshine and guide caravans across the sands safely. He and Raeger had passed only one, and could only look forward to reaching the second before the sun rose again and they would have to seek some kind of cover for the day. He would form one with magic if necessary, though he hoped to avoid that and find a more mundane means of shelter.

Less than twenty miles out of Kethra, and he was already faltering. If they reached the Nile, it would be a miracle.

The night was deep, the moon new and invisible to the eye, when they reached the next marker, glowing in the darkness as if the sun still shined upon it. A jagged, uneven shadow rose out of the sand beside it, but upon closer inspetion it proved to be nothing but a big rock.

"Maybe there's something in it," Raeger said, knocking the surface. "Remember the cave on the way to Aragon?"

"Hm." There was nothing in the last one, he wanted to say, but they hadn't looked. The obliesks seemed to be placed next to rock outcroppings consistently along their current route, so maybe she was right. He ran his hand flat against the rock, searching, and said almost as an afterthought, "You go the other way."

The shadow turned out to be a jumble of sharp rocks, tall enough to dwarf a house all together. He didn't feel any gaps, however, and was beginning to have doubts about Raeger's idea, however wonderful it sounded. It felt like granite, and granite had always been a good, solid shelter against the sun in his experience.

It also wasn't natural this far from the mountain range, so maybe, just /maybe/...

"Over here! I think I found something!"

Judas hurried around, nearly tripping over his own feet and kicking up a lot of sand. "Where?"

A pale hand appeared, waving. He grasped it and peered into the shadow. Raeger was shimmying into the shadow, and turned her head to grin at him, the first smile she'd given him in ages. "It goes deeper. Should I look?"

He pulled his pack off so he could fit into the narrow opening. "We both will."

She nodded and disappeared. He followed more slowly, eyeing the sky before it disappeared. They'd reached the marker just in time; he estimated they only had an hour at most before the sky started lightening again.

"I, um... can't see anything, but it /feels/ like there's a lot of space, so--"

Judas rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers, expending just a little energy to form a light over his hand. "Better?"

Her back was to him, but he knew she was blinking rapidly, blinded. "Er." Human eyes didn't adjust so well to sudden changes in light intensity. He'd forgotten until her handicap reminded him. "... Yes."

The space they'd entered was large enough to accomodate a dozen people with ample room, or perhaps fewer humans to make room for horses or other mounts; the opening wasn't quite big enough for them, but lesser pack animals would be able to get through just fine. The walls were roughly chiseled, the floor uneven, and there was a depression at the center surrounded by bricks, meant for a fire. It had been ages since the last flame burned here, but the stone still showed its mark, black and dusted with gray sand.

He gave it another once-over, then bid his spell to rise to the ceiling, so it would shed light into the back. The stone wall jutted out a little, but he couldn't see what it was hiding. "Look back there. Is there a well?"

Raeger skipped around the fire pit - so full of energy now that they were stopping, Judas thought sourly - and bent around to look. "A basin, like a cistern," she called, voice hollow. "Dunno if it had any water, though. None now."

"Good enough," he murmured, striding over to join her. The basin was shallow, but large enough for the girl to curl up in, covered in a fine sifting of dust. A stone spout jutted from the wall, decorated with runes.

"Can you..." she waved her hands vaguely, pantomiming magic.

He shrugged. "Enough to replenish our supply for now. Go move one of the bricks into the firepit," he said, jerking his head back toward the main chamber. "I'll take care of it."

Judas traced the incantation for water into the dust of the basin, half-listening. His companion dropped her pack with a clang and, after spitting a few very unladylike curses, he heard the slow grind of a heavy stone being pushed over the floor. She was better for manual labor than fighting, and altogether not very girlish at all. He supposed her neutrality on the issue of gender was something he should be grateful for, if only because it made traveling with her a bit easier. Hunting ruins was serious business, not to mention exhausting, risky, and rather dirty. That snobbish princess they'd escorted back in Artolia wouldn't have lasted a day in Amenti.

Water spurted from the faucet violently the moment he finished his incantation, thouroughly soaking his left arm before it calmed and fell into the basin where it belonged. Any other day he'd have cursed, but he thought he could bear being a little damp after the heat of the afternoon.

When the basin was nearly full, he waved a hand to remove the spell and the flow of water died to a trickle. "Fill the canteens," he called, wiping his face off with his dry sleeve.

They were lucky Amenti's merchants - or the pharoah, or the mages, or whoever had bothered to maintain the trade routes - had seen fit to accomodate magic in their designs. Judas was tired, more than he should be under normal circumstances, and he didn't think he had the energy to call water out of nowhere, or to reach deep into the ground to draw it up. Not like he would on a normal day. He dropped his pack carelessly and dropped down to the floor with just as little grace to stare into the cold fire pit. They didn't need any more heat, but the girl needed to eat, and she would probably appreciate the fire. It would make her feel safer.

He flicked a finger at it, having abandoned his staff long ago in the pharoah's tomb, and set it alight without bothering with the proper words. It didn't flame but glowed instead, emanating just enough heat to satisfy the requirements of a pan or a tea kettle. If the night grew cold, it would be enough to keep them warm. He banished the light above. The cave grew dimmer, but not dark.

"You could help, you know," the girl said a bit sullenly when she left the basin to join him at the fire. The canteens were dropped unceremoniously between them.

He snorted. "And you'll cast the spells for me, won't you?"

She sighed sharply and decided to rifle through her pack. "You said you'd teach me anyway."

"Not here," he replied more softly, watching her pull out a packet of dried meat. "Even I try not to use magic if I can help it. This land is tainted. We can defend ourselves and use it to find water, but every time we do it draws unwanted attention. There'll be a fight before we reach the next marker, I'd almost wager on it."

"But why? Before--"

"Amenti is shielded," he said, cutting her off. "And Aragon, all that territory, was never part of Egypt in the first place. They were controlled by someone else, I don't know who."

Judas lay back, using his pack to cushion his head. The paper wrapping rustled loudly as she put it away, and he heard Raeger rip a piece of meat and chew. He listened in anticipation of another question, and wasn't disappointed.

"Why didn't we have a problem before Amenti, though?" she asked around her mouthful. "But I guess we had..."

They'd had Lawfer for their journey into the desert, to the tomb. His name hung heavy in the silence, as it always did when one of them brought it up. She still cared, but he thought it was high time she let go of the knight and accept his fate. He'd chosen to die the moment he picked up that spear and aimed it at Judas. He thought at least a small share of the girl's sympathy belonged to him - who was it that was nearly skewered unawares?

"There were natural water sources between the tomb and Aragon," he supplied helpfully when she fell silent. "Nothing of that sort lies between us and the river. I hope you remember how to use that knife, little girl, because we're going to have company all the way there."

Her face paled, or perhaps it was a trick of the false light. She didn't try to pursue the conversation after that, and Judas was satisfied to let the time pass in silence. There wasn't enough energy between them to light a candle. They would stay the day, and depart again at sunset.


* * *


The previous evening's dire prediction, as it turned out, was mostly an exaggeration. When they set out from the shelter at sunset the way was clear and the heat somewhat tolerable, though the ever-present grit of sand stopped it short of being pleasant. Judas could feel it crunch between his teeth when he clenched them. Why couldn't the damned valkyrie have melted the /entire/ desert into glass instead of that one little spot around the capitol? Her effort would have made the world a better place.

Bright orange gave way to deep red and mauve when the sun finally sank below the horizon, and dusky purple encroached on the vibrant tapestry of cloud and sky from behind them to the east. Many poets had likened the vision to fire, but he thought it resembled the light of colored quartz and crystals when they were held up to a candle flame: diffuse and vivid, but sharp along cuts and imperfections. The clouds were like colored glass, milky and limned with gold. The ancients had known better than to try imitating nature with their pigments. Instead they'd decorated their coffins and treasures with jewels and metal, because only objects of the earth could compete with the heavens.

Humans now forced their mark upon the world. He supposed the pharoahs had too, in their own way. But even then, the people were dependant on the land, and respected it. Without the annual floods they would have perished; without the vast sands of the desert to guard their borders, raiders would have plundered the great cities and temples he visited now.

That didn't mean he had to like the sand, though. He would be chewing grit for /weeks/.

When the light ahead had turned to dusk and darkness settled, Judas caught sight of a glimmer far ahead - the next marker, if he wasn't mistaken. He hadn't thought it was dark enough to see it at such a distance. "We should be able to make two markers a day if we keep a steady pace," he said, slowing to allow Raeger to catch up. They'd be able to make at least three, maybe four, if he could set his own pace, but he doubted she could keep up. He was used to her flaws; there was hardly any accusation in his voice this time.

She nodded, but said nothing. It looked as if she'd had a hard time sleeping, but there wasn't much he could do to help her on that point. They would keep walking whether she slept or not.

"We really shouldn't spend any more time on this road than we have to." //Or I would ease the pace,// he would have said, were he a little more humane. She'd figure it out, or learn.

Her hair was limp and tangled like honey-colored straw, a little too dry at the ends, and she was tanning, the sunburns finally fading from their irritated red into milder brown. Her robes, like his, were long since coated in dust. He felt almost guilty for the unweildly nature of the clothes he'd chosen for her, but they'd kept her safe. He hadn't thought about mobility when he purchased them.

Judas turned his attention back to their path. He'd have to show her how to use the cosmetics he bought in the city - at least the oils, to soothe her skin. She was miserable, and that wasn't any good for him. The taste was simply too bitter.

The wind grew faint, then stopped. He didn't notice it for some time, until Raeger said in her small, cracked voice, "It's awfully quiet right now. D'you think something's up?"

She was right. The wind hadn't stopped since they left Aragon over two months ago. It had nearly driven them both insane the way it howled through the upper levels of Kethra. "Possibly," he said, stopping. The marker was tantalizingly close; much safer to stop there, he thought, than out in the middle of the desert.

Then it moved, and he sucked in his breath, reaching and pushing Raeger behind him.

"What's--"

"Stay behind me," he snapped. There was too much distance between them to know what they were facing, but he would eat his boots before believing it was in any way friendly. He glanced behind quickly, but there was no sign of anything there. They were lucky. Kethra was far-flung from the main structures of Amenti; perhaps there just weren't any ghouls within close distance.

That didn't bode well for their situation, though. If Egypt's undead could feel minor spells over miles and miles of desert, they would be pursued everywhere they went.

"Blessed Hel," he muttered under his breath, fingering the hilt of his sword. If magic was out of the question - not that it mattered anymore - he'd have to hope the enchantment on the sword was enough to hurt this thing. He didn't even know what kind of spell it was.

Raeger's voice piped up again, more hesitant. "What is it?"

"Don't know." He drew his weapon and, after watching the misty glow waver for a few minutes, he decided to meet it head on, and tugged on her arm. "Just stay behind me. Don't let it touch you. Remember the instructions Claira gave you when we were in the mountains." He couldn't remember what the woman told her, but it must have been good. Keeping Jelanda alive was Claira's duty after all, and she was a woman who knew her business.

"I-isn't there anything I can do? Throw something, or..."

Judas snorted. "Throw the ferret, that'll distract it." There was no real heat in the words, though he almost regretted them - almost. She was unreasonably attached to that annoying little rat. It had already eaten into his components once; he'd resolved to fry it the next time, no matter how much she cried. "Just stay away from it. It'll be after /you/, not me. I don't have anything a ghoul would want."

The creature seemed to notice them now that they'd gotten closer, and began to move faster. Raeger whispered something soothing to the ferret, clinging to the back of his coat with one hand, which he shook off.

It wasn't much to look at. Vaugely human-shaped and translucent like clouded glass, it shuffled toward them soundlessly and hovered uncertainly a few feet away, turning its head this way and that. It shied away when he threatened it with his sword - the weapon could accomplish that much at least.

"Don't speak," he murmured softly to his companion before he raised his voice to address their opponent. "Identify yourself and state your purpose."

The fiend rippled uneasily, its light dimmed. Judas checked a sigh and switched to archaic Hieratic, repeating his question carefully in the hope that he would sound fluent.

It seemed to understand. A wispy hand lifted to point at him - or perhaps behind, to the human cowering in his shadow. When it tried to speak, only a labored 'ah ah' rattled from its throat, as if it wanted to form words but couldn't remember how its mouth was supposed to shape the sounds.

Judas had encountered many fiends in his time, and this was by far the most pathetic of the lot. He tried not to let his opinion show. "I have nothing to offer you." He enunciated carefully to make sure there was no room for debate.

It rippled and darkened again, attempting another question. He shook his head. Whatever it wanted, he wasn't going to share.

The ghoul hovered like a misty lantern and seemed about to turn away when a shrill, "OW!" shattered the silence from behind him. It lunged toward them. Judas shoved Raeger away and slashed at the mist with his sword. The blade passed right through, but it recoiled as if stung. He slashed at it again, driving it back.

//This isn't going to work.// He eyed the fiend, whose light shed not a glimmer onto the steel blade. If it were a weapon capable of destroying the supernatural it would have shone with that unnatural light. Judas cursed himself for not thinking of that. His negligence left them with only one choice.

He sheathed his sword and spread his hands, reciting in the ancient tongue, "//Hail flame which rises in the east--//" Raeger crept up quickly, hudding behind the sweep of his robe. The fiend made a gasping moan and shuffled back from the heat of his spell. "//--set in this soul with a storm of all-consuming /flame/.//"

His target let out a high, keening shriek as the heat consumed it. He heard Raeger yell and clap her hands over her ears. His head rang with the sound even after it stopped, and Judas shook his head violently to be rid of it.

"I'm sorry! Ky--"

"Of all the-- " He shook his head again, cursing in every language he could think of, and then rounded on Raeger. "If you'd kept your mouth shut--"

"I said I'm /sorry/!" She sucked on a bloody finger, returning his glare as if he'd just kicked her.

Judas flicked his eyes to the trembling lump in her shirt that was the ferret and scowled. "/Next/ time," he bit out - because there would be a next time now that he'd thrown magic like that around - "stuff him into your pack, or let him run. /Do not/ make that mistake again."

He turned on her swiftly, robe billowing, and started walking.


* * *


They had to carve their way to the Nile through ethereal flesh. He hadn't been serious about his prediction back in the cave, but his pessimism was coming back to bite him in the nethers. If there had been anything in the vicinity that slept through the magic he cast near Kethra, Judas was positive the spell he used to destroy the ghoul rang like a bell toll across the desert and woke everything up. He should have known better than to use an Egyptian incantation.

The eighth marker rose above the broken walls they'd taken shelter in, lit with a pale luminescence that rivaled the moon. Their schedule was off, their pace broken by encounters and fights in the desert, and they had once again been forced to march through daylight to protect themselves from the worst of the creatures in pursuit. His hand ached from the burning of the ring. Raeger breathed steadily beside him.

He had not spoken to her since the first ghoul attacked them, except to deliver curt instructions. Her misery was like an overripe fruit, pasty sweet, but the resentment ruined it - because he'd unfairly blamed her for the attack, no doubt. Judas would gladly blame the ferret instead and gut it for their next meal, but alas, she probably wouldn't take to that suggestion any more kindly.

Judas let his eyes drift closed. Four more markers, and they would reach the edge of the river valley. Just four more. The press of ghosts and otherworldly pests would be thicker once they passed that point, but there would be water, and ruins that could shelter them and properly anchor a defense spell.

He'd be able to rest. No sun beating upon his head, nor heat radiating from sand. He preferred humidity to the dry crackle of dust and rocks. Shadows would cool the light and dapple the flagstones. And the rush of the river - he could almost hear it, smooth and silky, lapping at the shores and slithering through the reeds.

His drowsy image shattered when Raeger screamed. He was on his feet before his vision fully cleared, sword drawn, though it would do no good.

. . . (unfinished)