Canyon of the Magi

From mind numbing chaos and bone chilling cold, to eye blinding light and sweat inducing heat they went. The red portal closed behind them suddenly, and Callera was a bit alarmed at its disappearance. Scheherazade was beside her, and appeared just as alarmed. Clutched to the sorceresses' breast was the Journal of Horazon.

"Well then, I don't suppose you've any idea where we go to now?" the amazon asked her companion.

The sorceress gave no reply, but simply opened the tome in her hands, and seemed to absorb the information within in seconds. Pages were flipped by magic, and Scheherazade's eyes did not move from it's pages for several moments. Callera was about to see if her companion was alright, when the sorceress snapped out of her blank stare.

"We need to find the Tomb with this symbol on it." Scheherazade then used her staff to draw a symbol in the sand that looked like an crescent with it's ends pointing upwards.

"That should be easy enough. How many Tombs are there?"

"About a dozen. Some are unreachable though. Let us hope the real one is not."

The two set off through the desert sands with the sun at their back. They met little resistance along the way, but soon began to discover the signs of battle. And the unmistakable stench of death. Callera recognized it as the smell of Everett Call.

Scheherazade and Callera approached the top of a sand dune looking down into a valley of sand and stone. The entrance to three identical tombs surrounded the valley beneath them, and dwarfed the inhabitants within.

Beneath the sorceress and the amazon, two or three dozen were-cat women fought a small group of humans. Callera snuck forward to see if she recognized the combatants, and was slightly relieved to find she did not. She began to vault down the hills of sand, fully aware that one misplaced step would send her careening facefirst into the fray. Scheherazade used her powers of magic to warp herself down the hillside, and to a vantage from which she could send her lightning magic blasting through the were-cats.

The amazon readied her crystalline blade, and entered the battle swinging. Two were-cat women lost their heads before they knew they had a new challenger. Four of the beasts turned from their previous prey to attack Callera. Within seconds two were dying from fatal wounds, and a third had run from losing her paw to the blazing blue flame of Azurewrath. The last readed her wickedly curved sword, and leapt for Callera.

Scheherazade had to be wary of sending forth too much power into the battle beneath her. The two humans amidst the were-cats may in fact be her enemies, but she would rather find that out before she slew them. And also Callera was down there, but her sword let her stand out more thankfully.

Thinking of the bare clouds abovehead, Scheherazade called upon a power that seemed natural to her, something that would make her feel empty if she lost it. The sky darkened, and thunder rumbled towards their locartion. Flashes of lightning brightened the now darkened valley, and several struck closeby. Harnessing the part of her power that took some effort, Scheherazade began to direct the lightning towards certain points. Within a milisecond, three bolts of white lightning struck the ground, spraying sand and rock into the sky. A half dozen were-cats did not move from their position. Another half were struck by the flying debris, and suffered minor wounds.

Seeing the true threat to their survival, the were-cats began a mad dash scramble for the jutting rock that Scheherazade stood upon. Feeling the slightest bit of panic infringe upon her thoughts, the sorceress pushed them away and concentrated on the power. Now was not the time to falter. Letting go of the unnatural lightning clouds above her, Scheherazade instead focused on the power within her body. Several of the catwomen had reached the bottom of her perch, and they were the first to die. Incinerated by a bolt of energy hotter than any sun touching the Aranoch Desert, the beasts didn't even have time to scream. But then their companions were upon them, crawling over their burnt out husks to reach the sorceress.

Real terror began to cloud her judgements.

Callera had slain about a dozen of the beasts before her sword arm grew tired. Luckily her shield did not fall. Knowing she would not do too well in melee combat right now, she simply relied on the brute strength she inherited from her parents to bash the cats into the ground. Bludgeoned to death, they proved nice deterrants from future attackers. Which helped give Callera the time she needed to rest.

About the time that the two warriors began to think they were truly outnumbered, the two humans they had thought they were coming to the rescue of moved into action. Callera was given a prime opportunity to examine them now that she was closer, and since they had distracted the cat-beasts pretty well.

One was a man. He was old, clearly, and Callera almost thought he looked ancient. He was the one who reaked of death, but in hindsight Callera realized it was not the same stench as the one surrounding Everett Call, but in fact something different. Something slightly more... pleasant.

He wielded a mighty crossbow against his stark frame, and a single bolt from it's line would fell a were-cat, though occassionally it took two. When there was not immediate threat imposed upon him, he would aid his companion with dark magics that would curse the enemies to falter in their step, or to gush out blood from an otherwise non-fatal wound.

The other was a woman, with blazing red hair flowing from within her helmet. She wore rough platemail despite the heat, and wielded heavy instruments of death with great ease. It was no secret that she was a trained warrior. Her blade moved with timed precision, hitting as many opponents as was possible, and it seemed like the warrior calculated her next move long before she was finished with the previous one. Her ability to sense the attack patterns of the beasts was incredible to behold. It was if she had the Sight...

Callera realized then that the woman was in fact an Amazon. Her movements, her build, it all added up. She anticipated her opponents the same way Callera would have been taught to, had things turned out differently. But why was she here, in the middle of the desert, far from the Tribelands.

Scheherazade screamed. Callera turned about face instantly, spying the end of her multihued ponytail before it finished it's turn, and saw that the sorceress had been set upon by three of the cats. A pile of the beasts lay around the precipice she had claimed for herself, and proved ample steps for the living were-cats.

The amazon ran with renewed vigor, and leapt up the burned carcasses before the jutting stone. She was about to reach the ankles of one of the cats above her, when a projectile whizzed by her, and struck the beast in the lower spine. It screamed and fell backwards, toppling over the now crouching amazon. Looking back she saw that the man was reloading his crossbow, but would not be able to do so before the other two tore Scheherazade to pieces.

Gripping Azurewrath more tightly, Callera scaled the remaining feet between her and the were-cats, and stabbed one in the back, while he tried to reach the sorceress. Falling to the left, he pulled the sword protruding through his chest with him, and it fell from Callera's hands. Seeing her companion dead, the last remaining were-cat leered derisively and leapt straight up towards Scheherazade. The sorceress screamed, and leaned back, falling off the rock and down onto the pile of bones around it. The were-cat landed on the top of the rock, and sneered down at the falling sorceress, and was about to follow after her, when a bare hand punched her in the face.

Unsure of why someone would attack her as such, the cat was surprised to see Callera atop the rock with her, holding her clenched fists before her. The cat threw down her spear, and rushed the amazon with a quick left. Callera moved out of it's way, but got slammed in the gut with a followup right. Winded, Callera still managed to send an uppercut into the cat's jaw, bringing the cat to the edge of the outcropping.
Knowing she was too weak to actually beat the cat like this, Callera launched herself at the beast, dragging it beneath her as she fell towards the piles of bone. A satisfying crunch, and shriek let Callera know which one of them was the victor.

Pulling herself from her grizzly opponent, she found her way towards the slain were-cat with Azurewrath still in it's back, and pulled it forth, while searching for Scheherazade. Seeing she was not among the pile of dead were-cats, Callera noticed the other two human combatants were beneath her, with the sorceress between them. Leaping the last few feet down to the sandy valley, Callera was too weak to keep herself on her feet upon landing. A mailed hand helped her to stand, and it was then that Callera saw her Amazonian companion for the first time.

Queen Charisena, Queen of the Bhagwalli was an impressive site indeed.

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