DAY TWENTY FIVE
(Romance That Lasts Throughout the Ages)
GRETA
She felt exhausted, and that was after waking up from a sleep with Youssef. She crawled out of the tent, and used one of the shower- in- a-can he had bought. Hmmm, that did feel a bit refreshing. Eating some more dry flavourless rations, she looked around room again. Good, she hadn't imagined those spots. Stretching a little, she more felt than saw Youssef getting out of the tent behind her. After he had had his portion of the rations they took down the tent, and she handed him a shower -in -a -can. Then she went exploring.
There were three statues in the room on the main part of the floor. There was also a huge ring of fire blocking one of the statues in the far corner. Hmm, looking closely at the ground, she noticed a pressure sensitive switch as she called them in the ground. Perfect. Checking on Youssef, she began pulling the closest statue to the switch. Finally , manoeuvring it to where she wanted it, she heard the click as it covered the switch. There was a grinding noise, and second switch rose up from the floor a few feet away. Oh great, another pressure sensitive one. Walking over to the next available statue, she began pushing but it wouldn't budge. She tried pulling, but still nothing. Oh, don't say it. Greta just knew that the statue in the corner was the only other moveable one. Great, now what was she going to do? Well, she could always ask Youssef to get it. He was after all her husband, and a man. Surely he loved her enough, and was brave enough to walk through fire for her ,right? Yeah right, she couldn't do that to him. She wanted to show him how worthy she was of being his wife. No, she had to do this on her own. First though, a break.
Looking at the spots on the wall that she had noticed earlier, she managed to open one. It had a treasure chest in it. Scooping up what was inside she decided it was now or never. Starting to run, she kept going heading straight for the flames. She could hear Youssef yelling at her to stop, but she had to try. Just as she reached the flames, she leaped up in the air, and sailed over the fire. WOOOWWWEEE! That was a little too hot for comfort, but she had landed on the other side. Just as she stood and started checking herself for burns and fires she heard a sound like something snapping closed. Looking back, there was now a patch of fire missing in the ring, big enough for someone to fit through. That was weird. Moving closer she examined the ground, just there were what appeared to be vents. Vents? What were these doing here? What exactly was this place? She was shaken out of her thoughts by the sight of Youssef on the other side staring at her. Feeling a bit guilty for making him worry, Greta apologized and explained what she had done, and why.
Youssef had offered to help her move the statue, but she refused. It may have sounded weird, but she felt like she had started this, and she needed to be the one to finish it. Pushing the statue in place, a floor switch raised from the ground near the top of the room. She went and looked at it. Oh good, a foot one. These puppies stayed down once you pressed on them. Standing on it, she waited for the telltale scraping of a door opening, but instead she heard the click of another floor panel lifting up. There just a few feet away from her was another foot panel. Youssef beat her, standing on it before she could. There was another clicking noise, and a third foot panel raised up. Greta went and stood on it, and that's when they heard the scraping of a wall. Looking behind her she could see a new chamber.
The next chamber was magnificent, and thankfully, not that hot. It was actually quite pleasant, and there were more of those plants from before in here. It looked like a little garden patch right in the centre of the floor. Oh, and these plants glowed! The flowers looked like little sparks of fire on the vines. How lovely! She turned to Youssef and asked what they were. Coming up beside her, he explained about the flame fruit bush. Oh wow, and to think they had survived down here all this time, how marvellous. Greta felt Youssef wrap his arms around her from behind, and rest his chin on her shoulder. Now this was kinda of romantic. The two of them, alone, in some ancient grotto surrounded by the soft glow of the flame fruit. She turned her head towards him for a kiss, when he suddenly let her go. Youssef pointed out more funny looking wall patches. Now!? He chose now to get all excited about secret wall panels? Ugh, the mood spoiled for her, she went to check them out. Hearing snapping and cracking noises she looked back towards Youssef to find him harvesting the flame fruit. Wonder if it tastes good she thought. She'd find out later, right now she had to concentrate and check out these walls. Whoever had built these things was a mad genius. It was very well concealed and intricate work. It was certainly giving her a hard time.
A few hours later,Greta found three secret doors. The first and third ones led to small chambers with treasure chests in them, which she had emptied. The second one had led to a chamber with stairs in it. Wandering back out into the main chamber, she watched Youssef as he continued to harvest the flame fruit. He was slow and methodical, this could take a bit. Time for a break.
After he was done, they mounted the stairs together, and found themselves facing a wall, with a floor panel in front of its standing on it, the wall swung open and they found themselves back in the very first hallway after just entering the tomb. Feeling a sense of relief to finally be done, Greta turned towards the exit and was about to leave when she remembered something. There had been another chamber beyond where the key slot had been. Curiosity getting the better of her, she turned to Youssef and asked if he would mind going back in and exploring a bit more. When he said he didn't mind, she turned around and started walking back inside.
The room she had seen turned out to have two creepy sarcophagi in it and some more gold coins, and two piles of rubble. Nothing was ever easy. Greta started clearing away the rubble and soon had Youssef helping her. One was covering a pressure switch, and the other was blocking a hole in the wall. Looking at Youssef, she motioned for him to pick one. He chose the hole in the wall. Sighing, Greta looked around the room for a statue as Youssef walked over to the hole. Grabbing the statue and dragging it to the switch, she heard a piece of wall swing open and was turning to look when a deafening BOOM! sounded off. Jumping in shock, she whipped around towards the noise. Youssef stood with his arm upto his elbow in the wall staring at the floor In front of him. Where there had been flat floor, was now a set of stairs. Staring at each other across the room they began to laugh. Oh man, for a minute there she had thought the tomb was about to collapse. Hand over her chest, she turned around and saw where the wall had opened. Walking over to it, she discovered the pile of coins, and a treasure chest. Scooping out the treasure, she turned around and joined Youssef in the bigger chamber again. Talking things over, they decided to go down the stairs, but first Greta wanted to check out the sarcophagi. This might be her only chance to see a real mummy. Knowing he was exasperated, Youssef still helped her open one. Inside it was empty. There was still one to go. Opening it, they discovered small pouches of money, and some cut gems. Laughing in delight, they started dancing around with each other, and then hugging. Pretty soon, the hugging turned to kissing, and then it was on. Letting go of her judgement ,Greta ended up in a sarcophagus with Youssef.
Not her first choice of romantic places, but not bad either, she thought as they went down the stairs. It had been romantic in a way. Reaching the bottom, Greta focused on business. There was a long hall just to her left. Taking it, she came across a small chamber with a doorway in it, but it was blocked off by a large rock. Exiting they continued down the hall. There was another chamber with a dive well, and two Anubis statues standing sentinel over it. There was also a switch, and when triggered, it opened back into the hall. Walking through the doorway at the end of the hall they came to a long, narrow room. In it was a sarcophagus at the far end, and six treasure chests (three on each side,) and a dead end at the nearest side. Hmm, deciding to take what they could, they each picked a side of the room to gather from.
Opening her first chest, Greta was taking the treasure when she heard a click and the sound of a wall opening. It was too bad she hadn't heard the second click. Moving to the next chest, she starting moving the contents to her bag when she felt Youssef coming up beside her. She started to ask him how he got done so fast when she registered the smell. It was disgusting like rotted meat. Slowly raising up, she turned and looked into the half rotted, crumbling face of a dead mummy. Letting out a scream she tried to back away, but man could that thing move fast! Pretty soon, they were fighting it out on the floor. It's skin was dry, and yet surprisingly squishy, and was it ever strong. This was one battle she was not going to win. Hoping that it would quickly eat her brains, she struggled feebly to get away. Wait, zombies ate brains. Mummies cursed! That was all she could handle. Her system overloaded at the thought of being cursed for life, and shut down. Just before blacking out, she felt the mummy walk away, maybe it wasn't into dead-like things? Who knew mummies had standards. She could hear the sound of a chest being opened and treasure being lifted out. Youssef?
Regaining consciousness a short while later, Greta sat up. She was in a hallway, with Youssef's jacket under her head, the mummy was nowhere in sight. Maybe she had just imagined it. Nah,there were the scratch marks. It had been real. Nodding to herself, she suddenly froze. IT HAD BEEN REAL! There had been a mummy! Shutting her eyes and covering her mouth with her hands to stifle the scream that was about to happen, she felt warms hands rubbing her back. Then solid arms wrapped around her, and soothing hushing noises by her ear told her it was safe, and she was okay. She was being rocked back and forth, and she didn't mind. Greta started to cry and turned in Youssef's arms, she was scared and didn't mind admitting it.
That's when she felt the pull. Was it it the mummy!? Had he followed? No, this was familiar. She felt herself being lifted up. Home, she was heading home! She felt so relieved, then her eyes snapped open. No! Youssef! Where was he? Would he be coming with her? She blacked out for a second time with no answers.
YOUSSEF
Youssef woke with a start. He had been having the weirdest nightmare ever about a dusty cave. Opening his eyes, he realized that it hadn't been a dream. He really was in a dusty cave, no tomb. Where they stored ancient dead people. Ugh. Rolling onto his back to alleviate some of the stiffness, he stretched a little. He wasn't used to all this hard work, he was sore and tired. Impressed though, nothing seemed to get his wife down for long. The way she worked at a puzzle until she solved it, never giving up, it was impressive. Her enthusiasm was contagious. There were several times he felt almost caught up in it. Well, with her leading the way, they just might make it out of here alive, he knew he wouldn't on his own. Unzipping the tent he got out to see what was going on.
After sharing some mindless small talk with Greta, and eating a hard flavourless breakfast, he helped take down the camp. Seriously, they needed to make better quality meals for explorers, still they were filling. Looking around the room, he was lost. There was a ring of fire, and some statues, and a different kind of floor panel from before. He was about to turn and ask if there was something he could do, when Greta handed him a shower in a can. Did she think he smelled? She was the one who was constantly mucking around. That was it, she could do it on her own. His bad mood worsening, he wandered into the corner to use the shower in a can.
Boring! Yes, that was the word for watching Greta figure things out. He had been amused when he first watched her trying to push that statue across the room, but she had done it. His admiration started to grow, just like his excitement when she moved it onto the switch. But then another switch had come up. Slowly, time began to pass as nothing happened. He realized Greta was a little lost as to what to do, well if she couldn't figure it out, how was he supposed to? As she started searching for secret doors, Youssef took a seat against a nearby wall and waited thinking. He came to the conclusion that behind that ring of fire was something they needed. It was a large, hot burning fire though. Whoever went into it might not come out again. Thinking about sending Greta into it, he felt a pang of guilt. She wasn't from here, she hadn't grown up in the deserts hot weather, where fire just made you hotter. Nope, he'd have to do it. He stood taking his jacket off, and that's when he saw her.
He watched as Greta came running pell-mell out of the one chamber, straight for the fire. No! Youssef screamed for her to stop and went running after her. What was this crazy woman thinking!? He knew he wouldn't make it in time, but he had to try anyways. Just when he thought he might make it to her in time, she jumped straight into the fire. There was a cloud of smoke going up right in front of him, and he was forced to stop before running into the fire himself and being burnt to a crisp. As the smoke cleared, he could see a patch of the fire missing, and there she was crouched down, perfectly fine (a little sooty,) looking at the floor. A great sense of relief washed over him. She stood, then came over and apologized. Why was she saying sorry? Silly woman, all he wanted to do was hold her. Glad she was alive, he only nodded as she told him her theory. So, they had been thinking the same thing. Offering to help her move the statue, he was a little surprised when she told him no, she wanted to do it herself. He smiled inwardly, stubborn little thing she was.
After watching her haul the second statue over to the floor panel, he waited for something to happen. Another floor switch. Would they be stuck rearranging the furniture in this room forever? Maybe some sadistic feng-shui artist had designed it to trap people. Hm, Greta was standing on the new switch. Looking over he saw a new switch pop up, he went and stood on it. Another click, another floor panel. Greta stood on this one. Looking around for the next floor panel, for their game of musical switches, Youssef heard a scraping noise, like a wall panel being opened. Turning, he could see another chamber. Oh, that breeze felt nice.
The next room had more flame fruit bushes. Oh goody, these ones were ripe. Looking beside him he could see Greta staring at them. When she quietly asked what they were, he could hear tones of amazement in her voice. Hmm, how to answer? He would tell her the tale his mother told him, that was probably the best way.
"Long ago, in the time of Kings, there was one who had a daughter. She was not his oldest, or his prettiest daughter, but she had a large, loving heart, and a kindness that all around felt. Yes, the king was proud of his daughter. As she grew, she brought all those around her great joy and happiness. This was a good thing because times were hard, full of bloodshed and war. His empire was expanding, and with it came new struggles and new rebellions.
"There was one enemy in particular that was a thorn in his side, but hopefully all that would be ended soon. Peace was soon going to be bought from him, in the price of his his eldest daughter. If he could not beat his enemy, then he would net him, and make him an ally.
"On the eve of his eldest daughters marriage to his new ally, she sat by the water watching his favourite children play. Before retiring to bed, he went to his most joyful daughter and talked with her a bit. She was saddened by the loss of a sister, but happy that war would end soon. She wished for peace for the people and prosperity for the kingdom. Smiling, that night he went to bed.
"He was awoken in the middle of the night by shouting in the halls outside of his chambers. Getting up, he went out to find his soon to be son in law covered in blood, and holding the limp dead body of his eldest daughter. Screaming in rage about how she had come to his chambers and tried to assassinate him, he called for revenge.
"The king was shocked and unsure of what to do. His enemy took advantage of this distraction and attacked. Making it past the kings guards, he went to land the final blow, when a gentle voice called out for him to stop. The king looked up, and saw his most joyful daughter standing there, she was pleading with his enemy to stop. Take her life instead, take her life and seal the deal. Have peace at last between the two kingdoms. He saw his enemy consider and agree. Beside himself, the old king begged for his daughters life to be spared, but to no avail.
"The foreign king took the life of his daughter, and called them even. The treaty would go through, and peace would finally come between them. The king held on to the body of his daughter and sobbed. Pleading with any god who would hear him, he begged for them to bring her back, make her live again he sobbed. She loved this kingdom as much as he did, and the people loved her back. The gods answered.
"His daughters body disappeared and in his arms he found a bush. It's fruit was ripe, and warm, and it glowed. Knowing he had his answer, the king planted it in his garden and watched as it spread throughout his kingdom year after year. All who saw it, knew it was the princess for it gave off the warmth of her heart, and brought joy to all those who saw it. It was named the flame fruit fruit bush, not only in honour of princess Ember, but also because it shared her passion and kindness for the kingdom."
After finishing his tale, he looked over to find Greta staring down at the plants, her eyes a little shiny in the soft glow. Walking over, he wrapped his arms around her. In this dim light, she was beautiful, and the way she reacted to his story, reminded him of old times with his mother. She found the story romantic, and would sigh. She said the first time she had heard that story was from his father, and it had moved her to love him even more. She always thought of him after telling the tale, and would be a little sadder, but she would tell it often.
What was he thinking? He could feel Greta turn her head towards him, and he could feel her emotions against his skin, but they were in a tomb. Trying to wrangle his own feelings, he pointed out some funny looking walls he had noticed while story telling, and stepped away from her. Whoa, she seemed a little mad. Well, best to leave her alone for a bit. He would gather as much flame fruit as he could. He set about his task as Greta headed for the walls.
Hmmm, gathering flame fruit was harder than he had thought. It had to be gently done, or the fruit burst, and dang if they weren't burning hot when they did so. It was taking forever to gather them, but he wasn't ready to stop yet. Greta had long since finished exploring the walls. She had found three rooms. Finally, after what felt like hours he was finished. Greta showed him the stairs she had found and they went up.
One floor panel and secret wall later, and they were back at the beginning. Smiling a little as he started heading for the door out, he stopped when Greta tugged his arm. Was she insane!? She wanted to go back in? Sure, why not? How much worse could it be?
The next chamber had sarcophagi and rubble. How thrilling. Buckling down he began to help clear the rubble. They uncovered a floor panel that needed a statue, and a hole in the wall. Greta offered him a choice. He'd take the wall, less work.
Bracing himself incase something happened, he gingerly started placing his arm in the hole. Feeling around for a bit. His fingers found what felt like a button. Pressing down with all the strength that he could muster, he felt it push down. There was this loud BOOM! and the floor shuddered, as a few feet away from him, the floor suddenly fell away and formed stairs. Feeling startled, Youssef looked towards where Greta was standing. The noise must have scared her from the look on her face, it had scared him too. Soon they were both laughing, getting rid of the tension that had been there a moment ago.
In a few short minutes Greta joined him by the stairs, and they discussed whether to go down or not. Well, it hadn't been so bad so far, and he had found the flame fruit. It would make her happy, why not? Youssef agreed to it, and started heading to the stairs when Greta's voice stopped him. What was wrong with this woman!? Most woman would have bolted when given the chance, but oh no! Not this one. This one wants to look at dead bodies. Not sure if his agreeing was the right choice, he reluctantly helped her open one sarcophagus. When he didn't hear any gasping, he peeked over the lid. Greta had a disappointed look on her face. Curious as to why, he looked inside; nothing. Thank the gods. Thinking it was over, he breathed a sigh of relief, but it may have been too soon. Greta called to him from across the room. She was trying to tug the second one open and wanted help. Was she kidding? How badly could she want to see a dead person, or what was left of one after all this time. There was seriously something wrong with her he thought as he helped her lift the lid. There was something majorly wrong with him as well, because he was still helping her.
Once the lid was cracked, something made a tinkling sound, and gold coins started falling out in a mini landslide. Prying it wider open, more fell out as well as precious gems. Jack pot! Giddy with what lay before him (he was rich!) he began jumping around with glee, and laughing. Greta soon joined him, and all the feelings he had been holding in came tumbling out in a jumbled mess. He pulled Greta close and hugged her, then kissed her. Soon he found he couldn't leave her alone, and they ended up in the sarcophagus.
Well, that had been a first. Not one he wanted to repeat mind you. Well, the actual fun could be repeated, but not the place. Still a little unsure of his feelings, he was a little embarrassed as he and Greta took the stairs down, back under the earth.
So far, coming down here was a huge disappointment. First they were blocked by a rock, then there was another well, please no for the love of all holy things. Greta jumped right in of course, but there was no tunnel (his prayers had been heard,) just a switch, which opened into the same hallway. What was the point in that!?
Finally they entered the room at the end. It was longer and more narrow than the others, and it had a sarcophagus in it. Please let her be over her dead body fetish. There were also treasure chests! They talked about it, and decided to split the raiding between the two of them. Standing in front of his first one, Youssef opened his first one, and found a lever. After pressing the lever, he heard the slide of a wall opening up, and glanced at the end of the room. Yup, open section of wall. Whoever had designed these things had been a mad genius. Moving on he quickly cleared out his other two chests and decided to check behind the newly opened wall. He could hear Greta still shuffling around and opening her chests, he had a few minutes.
After seeing another hallway, this one looking exactly the same as the last one, he turned around to find Greta. He was in shock! There was a dead dude reaching out for Greta. She let out a bit of a scream, and tried to push it off. Finally regaining control of his legs, Youssef started to head over to Greta, but the fight was at its crescendo. Greta fell to the ground, unconscious, and the mummy was shuffling back to its coffin.
Youssef was not proud. When he had gotten close to Greta, he noticed that she hadn't gotten all of the treasure out, and true to his nature he stopped to gather it before checking to make sure she was alright. He really was a schmuck. The main thing though, was that she was okay, aside from a few scratch marks. Now what was he going to do? What if that thing came back out? They couldn't stay here, and for once in his life he was thinking of someone else before himself. Dragging Greta, he carried her over to the new hallway and laid her down. As a second thought, he took off his jacket and put it under her head. Then he sat against the wall and waited, hoping against hope that that thing didn't come looking for them.
He had just been about to doze off against his better judgement, when Greta snapped awake and sat up looking around her. Forcing himself awake, he was about to say something when she covered her mouth with her hands, letting out a muffled scream and then proceeded to cry. Feeling like his chest was being ripped open he got up and went to her. He started rubbing her back and telling her that she was ok, she was safe. All the while she cried, and he felt angry. Here was this silly woman, who was willing to work hard, never give up, she took everything thrown at her and made it better (even him,) and here she was scared and crying. It wasn't fair. He felt Greta turn, and was just holding her tighter, when he felt her jerk back out of his arms. What was that? Looking past her, he expected to see that thing towering over them, but nothing was there. Then he felt a tug, something was tugging him backwards away from Greta. No! Struggling to get back to her, he yelled her name, and was jerked backwards very hard, and very fast. Youssef lost consciousness, right before he was sure his heart was going to stop.
