After my father disappeared we were left with confusion, excitement, but most of all weariness. Confusion about our new "goal," excitement about what it might lead to, but otherwise we were just plain tired. We all, unsurprisingly, agreed to go back to sleep.
"I was hoping you might do that," spoke the voice of my father once I'd finally drifted to sleep.
"Fall asleep?" I asked in my dream.
"Yes, now I can talk to you. Alone," my father spoke seriously, "There are somethings you will need to know before you start this journey." He waited for me to respond.
"Well..?" I asked.
He sighed, "Sarin do not take traveling to these places so lightly. It made me a little nervous to see how willingly you would go to the Temple of Anubis. It is not just his temple, Sarin. It is also his tomb. Well, obviously not a place of burial for him, but for his followers. They won't just let you walk in and take whatever you want. They will react and they will be hostile."
"So we fight some half dead people, so what? It can't be too hard to kill zombies," I told him.
He stared at me. "Sarin, what makes you assume all of his followers will be human?" he asked exasperatedly.
I thought a moment. I'd never considered anything other than people would worship gods. What else would? Cows?
"He has his own race of worshippers. They're jackal men, standing on two feet. The locals call them anubisiths. They guard the dead buried there and will not act kindly to you disturbing their master's temple," he warned.
"Why are you telling me this?" I asked. It seemed as if he were trying to stop me from going.
"Just warning you," Ouranos said, "Good luck, Sarin. Oh, and one last thing: Remember that whistle. It will come in handy." With his final words he disappeared and I fell back to sleep.
It was finally morning when I woke. Tarik and Sophia were still asleep when I slipped downstairs. There was no sign of the battle from last night or the old lady. I walked outside to get a little air. The morning retained much of the night's cold temperature. The sun was just peeking above the horizon. The sand was soft and a little chilly under my bare feet.
I walked around the back of the house and pulled the wooden whistle from my pocket. I examined it more carefully. It was long and thin, maybe the size of my index finger and width of my thumb. The end was cut into a mouth piece to blow into with a hole at the other side to make the noise. The item was a dark brown and had small horses carved into the left and right side of it. They stuck out slightly and looked as if they were running. They seemed to be made of the waves that traveled behind them which were outlined in a faded blue paint.
I brought it up to my lips and breathed in.
"What are you doing?" a girl asked me.
I quickly shoved the wooden whistle into my pocket and turned. It was Sophia. "Nothing," I said a little too quickly. She looked at me skeptically.
"What was that thing in your hand?" she asked.
I looked at her, sighed, and pulled the item from my pocket. I held it out to her. She slowly reached out and took the whistle.
"What is this?" she asked.
"A whistle," I told her.
"Obviously," she said, "Where'd you get it?"
"The boat captain gave it to me to give to you," I said and looked down.
"Why didn't you give it to me sooner?" she asked me.
"Never got the chance," I shrugged. "The way my father talked about it sounded like it had a use. Blow it maybe?"
She shook her head. "Not now. I don't want to use something like this in the middle of an Ecryptian harbor. We don't even know what it might do."
"Fine. When we get out of the city?" I asked. I was a little eager to see what it would do, if anything.
"Sure."
We both walked back into the house. Tarik was up and eating breakfast. He looked over and nodded.
"We leaving soon?" he asked.
"I guess," I said and sat down on a mat on the floor.
"Well you'd better eat while you can. Desert travel is exhausting," Sophia said and took a large piece of the bread that the old lady must have made. I did the same. The bread was sweet, as if it mixed with dates. I found several small pebbles in the bread and spit them out.
We soon set out for the edge of the desert. We walked only a few hundred yards from the town when Sophia stopped us. She pulled the whistle from her pocket, and, without warning, blew it. The sound was low pitch and soothing. After a few seconds it stopped and nothing had happened. We waited, listening and watching for something to happen. There was a faint sound of thunder. It got closer and began to resemble hooves clattering against stone. Within seconds three horses were standing in front of us. They were translucent and tinted a slight blue-ish color.
I walked up and put my hand on one of the horses. The sides were cool to the touch. My hand came away wet.
"They're made of water," Tarik pointed out.
I nodded and Sophia jumped onto the back of the nearest horse.
"Come on," she said, grinning ear to ear.
"You're a master of transportation, aren't you?" Tarik teased and mounted the second horse. I followed onto the third. Tarik guided the horses through the desert and we followed.
Tarik lead the journey to his hometown. He never mentioned the name of the city and was oddly quiet during the ride. The horses kept us cool.They were strange to ride on. Somehow the water was solid enough to sit on, but still liquid enough to splash off and onto the ground as we rode. They even left wet sand in their tracks.
We stopped at every rare oasis we spotted and took a quick drink. We filled waterskins to the brim with the precious liquid which we drank as we rode. I assumed the horses were not thirsty. I was surprised when we finally reached the town Tarik was leading us to. He refused to go in and told us to get a little food and other supplies we might want and meet him back here.
Sophia and I walked into the city. I didn't think it would be a good idea to leave Tarik alone, especially not in a desert, but he was stubborn and pointed out he'd have the horses with him. I decided to let him stay after long, drawn out sigh of annoyance.
Tarik's home town was a great place and I didn't understand why he wouln't want to come with us. It was so alive and friendly. Everyone smiled and waved as we walked past them, there were brightly colored rugs and mats hanging everywhere, and, best of all, was the delicious smelling food that was being cooked. Scents of spiced bread and bakery goods filled every street and I had to use all of my willpower not to visit every stall.
We picked up some rope, spare food, and a few backup waterskins before returning to Tarik. He was leaning against one of the horses, looking deep in thought.
"You ready?" I asked and he pushed off the horse and into a stand.
"Yeah," he said and caught the waterskin I'd tossed him. "Let's go."
We remounted and followed Tarik as he rode swiftly through the desert. His white hooded cloak flew behind him in the wind revealing a white and red loose tunic and pants beneath it. Sophia road along side me, similarly dressed. I still wore my black leather jacket and long black pants. I regretted not finding a lighter color as the dark material sucked up a large amount of sunlight.
I was sweating by time we reached the oasis Tarik had described to me on the boat. It was a nice place with a large pond in the middle of a circle of palm trees and grass. It looked like an island of heaven in a sea of waste. Ironic, seeing as how it was a pond in a desert. The water was crystal clear and the sandy banks were spotted with various plants. We rested in the shade and I removed my jacket.
"You really should have picked up some clothes in the town," Sophia said and laughed at my obvious exhaustion.
I drew in a little breathe and blew it at her, using a some energy to make it travel further and faster. It hit her face and she fell over in confusion. Tarik began to laugh. Sophia looked at me annoyedly before a small grin crossed her face and she looked away.
We all sat at the edge and drank our water, replenishing it in the pond whenever we ran out. We rested for about an hour before Tarik pushed himself to a stand.
"We should go soon. I don't want to risk walking back at night," he told us.
I stood and helped Sophia to her feet. "I'd have to agree. Especially after what happened last night," I said. Sophia nodded and we began to gather our things and refill our waterskins.
"We should leave the horses here. I doubt they'd follow us into the temple anyway," Sophia said.
"Alright," Tarik agreed and tied the horses to a palm tree near the pond. The foot of one of the horses touched the water. Immediately it lost its form and splashed on the ground, running into the pond. The other two horses did the same.
"Well I guess we won't be leaving them here," I murmured.
The walk was short, hot, and worth it. When we finally reached the temple I heaved a long sigh of relief. The desert was burning no matter how far the walk was. The place seemed to be in more of a state of disrepair than Tarik had described. It guess it had been about seven years since he'd last seen it.
"Do you think we can even enter it anymore?" I asked.
"I'd hope so," Tarik said and walked around the sides of the building.
It was a rather small place for being a temple of an important god. No more than the size of a small house. One wall had fallen down but it was buried in sand, sealing the way in. I walked to another side, which was intact, and ran up the wall. I climbed up, using a little wind to make it easier and quicker.
"The hole is still here," I called.
"How do you expect us to get up there?" Sophia asked.
"Same way I did," I suggested. She sighed and tried it, falling several times before I pushed her up with a little extra wind. She had a look of triumph on her face when she climbed up. I decided not to tell her I was the only reason she made it. Tarik, on the other hand, only took two tries before he managed to get up. Sophia said it was because he was taller.
I walked over to the caved in part of the roof. I pushed a little sand down the hole as I walked up to it and it fell into the dark room. I could only see directly below the hole.
Still looking down the hole I said, "Let's get this over with," and jumped in.