Waiting Beneath the Sands: Chapter Seven - Through the Desert
Characters: Captain Capsize, Sonja Firefoxx, Skipper Redbeard, Tucker Jericho, Spark Conway, Rupert the Grey, Lieutenant Alister, Tom Syndicate, Jordan CaptainSparklez, Waglington, Deviser Gaines
Relationship: Captain Capsize/Sonja Firefox, Captain Capsize & Skipper Redbeard
Though the trek is long and unpleasant, it isn’t long before the weary group find themselves at the trading post promised by Foxx. Away from danger, Capsize and Redbeard find a moment to reflect on the night’s events and wonder how precisely their attackers had known of their findings.
The following day, all that was lost is regained and Sonja realises that perhaps she is a touch more invested in this expedition than she would’ve given herself credit for.
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The trek through the desert towards the trading post was neither easy nor pleasant. That was to be expected as none of them had been prepared to make such a journey on foot that night. They were soaked through and close to exhausted but were in no place supply or location wise to rest. At least though, they could take some solace in the night. No doubt this would’ve been a rougher trek had the sun been beating down on them.
Sonja hadn’t found leading them nearly as much of a chore as she thought it would be. None of them were particularly argumentative, except of course the woman. Capsize if anything seemed to take great pride in arguing with her.
She’d made quite clear that she had no wish to be carried. The very notion seemed to offend her which maybe Sonja should’ve expected. Maybe she had. She had phrased the request in a way sure to annoy her and found some enjoyment in the ensuing argument. Sure, it had been a headache, but Sonja had found a smile twitching out of her frown. It was exhilarating in a way to have someone so confidently talk back and stand her ground.
It wasn’t, however, an argument she could allow the woman to win.
“Look, as much as I’d love to keep arguing about this the whole journey, you don’t have any shoes. I’d prefer to avoid you stepping on a scorpion and needing to amputate your leg, but if you think that’s a risk worth taking, you can keep walking.”
That had been responded to with a series of high-pitched annoyed gasps accompanied by the first syllables of words that died barely after leaving her throat. Though clearly, she had wanted to keep arguing, hated the outcome that she had been met with, she had been forced to accept it regardless and trudged over to her brother to be carried.
Had she been wearing the correct – or really any – footwear, it would’ve been faster to let her walk. Even barefoot she had been keeping pace during their back and forth. Her brother carrying her was undoubtedly slower.
He hadn’t been slacking as would maybe be expected given his general disposition to doing any work at all. No, he was quite obviously doing his best to keep pace, which he had just about been managing before exhaustion had begun to set in.
The issue, Sonja supposed, was that he didn’t have practice carrying such a load. Not that Capsize seemed particularly heavy, though she was a little taller than her brother, just that carrying any person for an extended period was a difficult and draining task. Especially for a man who was, at least to Sonja’s eye, a layabout who’d rarely done any real work.
In retrospect, Sonja probably should’ve offered to carry the woman herself. She would’ve had a far easier time of it. Course the woman would’ve surely had objections, more than she’d had about being carried by her brother. Though Sonja didn’t particularly mind the idea of hearing her complaints, of getting to continue the argument they had been having. Nor did she dislike the idea of having the woman wrapped around her.
She shoved that thought to the back of her mind. Sure, the woman was good looking, but she was also a damn headache forcing her on this ridiculous journey while being utterly oblivious to the danger she was excitedly traveling towards. She was obviously not worth the trouble.
Besides, even if she had offered, there’s no way she would’ve been given permission.
When it had become apparent that Redbeard was waning, Alister had offered to take over the task. Never had Sonja seen someone snap out of exhaustion so quickly as Redbeard had. The man was shot straight as he quite loudly insisted he was fine to keep going. The assurance had been given in the same manner as most of the man’s speech, nonchalant and sounding as if he had no thought at all, but the suddenness in his change of disposition had made the message very clear. No one was carrying his sister except for him.
Sonja was pretty sure she would’ve been met with the same rejection had she offered. She saw no reason she wouldn’t have been, anyway. So, instead, she focused on leading them as efficiently as possible to the trading post so they could all properly rest.
Luckily, the route she had taken away from Hamunaptra was firmly cemented in her mind as was every useful location along it. Though it had been an arduous journey in the dark and cold of the night, after a long few hours, they had arrived.
Arriving, unfortunately, hadn’t been the end of their troubles. Unsurprisingly, a group of travellers, soaked through despite being hours from the river, arriving in the middle of the night was going to raise a few questions at the best of times. When one of said group was a woman in nothing but a nightgown, those questions were asked with more than a little suspicion.
Sonja had tried not to be offended by the fact that the siblings had been taken aside, questioned in the local language about the situation. It only made sense. She and Alister were far more obviously armed than the siblings and distinctly weren’t locals. Probably a good thing this place was checking they weren’t being held hostage.
Thankfully, the siblings were quite the legitimate sorts – or at least Capsize was a legitimate sort and when she was with him, her brother followed her lead. She could so easily picture someone less determined, more dishonest selling herself and the Warden out. Hell, had she been questioned, she certainly would’ve considered lying about Alister to get rid of the man. The siblings, though, they had explained the truth of their circumstances.
She had also been thankful that it seemed, despite his residence in the country, Alister didn’t appear to understand a lick of the language. If he had, he most certainly would’ve insisted on interrupting rather than grumbling on the sidelines. Then they certainly would’ve been arrested for kidnapping. Though the idea of the warden behind bars tickled her, she’d rather avoid more jail time for herself. So thankfully, all the explaining had been left to the siblings.
Given their extreme circumstances, those in charge had offered them free lodging for the night. That was bedrolls in tents, of course, but that was a blessing compared to the notion of sleeping out in the dunes with no protection.
They likely would’ve all been given individual tents. Or at the very least, they held enough money to pay for privacy. However, when the topic of sleeping arrangements had been discussed, Capsize had quite uncharacteristically tensed. Though she had been quite reluctant to say so, she didn’t exactly want to spend the night alone.
Despite how it was a more than reasonable ask considering the night she’d had, she still found it rather embarrassing. She wasn’t a child, she shouldn’t be acting like one who had awoken from a nightmare. Still, despite her unease at admitting her nerves, her request had been granted. That was how she found herself sharing a tent with her brother.
Though fighting against exhaustion, neither sibling had fallen asleep yet. Nor was either really attempting to. They sat rather drained facing each other in the flickering orange glow of a lantern placed between them.
Capsize held absolutely none of her usual confidence. Her shoulders were slumped as she held a blanket around herself, wishing it made her feel any less exposed.
Everything had gone so wrong so quickly. Just this morning they had been in the city, fully prepared for the journey ahead of them. Now they were far from home with none of the supplies they had started with. Though she trusted Foxx’s word that they could resupply here, that didn’t lessen her dejection from needing to do so in the first place.
Redbeard, meanwhile, was locked in a moment of concern that was very much unlike him. He tended to be flippant, even at times where he ought not to be. Tiredness pushed him to be more so. If only going off his tone, he could be mistaken for being as nonplussed as he normally was. However, his eyes were latched upon a cut on the side of Capsize’s neck. She could tell that he was far less relaxed than he was acting.
“You have an odd definition of being fine,” He said, not quite managing to laugh as he normally would. It might seem an odd statement given that the cut was tiny, not even the length of a finger, but he had heard her admit to having a knife held against her neck, to almost having her throat sliced open. Yet still she’d insisted she was fine because she apparently had no sense for her own safety.
Capsize attempted to act herself. It was so much easier if this hadn’t rattled her.
“Foxx burst in before the worst happened,” She shrugged as if she hadn’t been petrified at the time. Really, she didn’t wish to think too much on the fact she had almost died. It ran an uncomfortable sickness through her throat. Still, it was hard to keep up this façade when her brother was staring at her, communicating without words that he didn’t believe her apparent confidence.
She slumped slightly, tugging the blanket further around her shoulders as her eyes fell on the lantern. The dancing flame held her gaze, reminding her of that endless yet impossibly fast experience in the cabin. Her voice turned quiet. “It all happened so fast, I was hardly thinking. It only really hit once I was off the boat and then I was more concerned about…”
She didn’t need to say it. Where her concerns had laid had been obvious when they’d reunited.
The twin’s relationship was a confusing sort. They could spend a great deal of time bickering. Capsize had the tendency to be snippy towards her brother and most certainly acted better than him in a way perhaps not unjustified, but certainly rude. Redbeard, meanwhile, could be far too flippant towards her and a great deal of his interactions with her over the past couple of years had been attempting to get her to bail him out of cons or buy whatever worthless trinket he had come across. Yet, they both still cared for the other.
It still lingered within both of their minds, the period that had threatened to tear them apart. That time of anger, resentment, and death. Though neither particularly tried to look back to those days, the effects lingered. They would not lose the other. They could not even imagine it.
That, however, didn’t make conversations about the fear they both held any easier to have.
“Yes, all those supplies were quite the loss,” So, instead, Red joked, steering away from the topic of their lives being in danger earlier that night. It caused a little huffed laugh to emerge from Capsize, lightning the mood ever so slightly. “Luckily, I made quite the killing in poker. We can resupply on our rivals’ dime.”
A far realer laugh came this time and Red smiled too. His sleight of hand had been proving quite useful in this whole situation.
“How much did you make?”
“A couple of hundred. Idiots had more money than sense,” He said, having little other way to describe the group continuing to play despite them rightfully suspecting him of cheating. Scholars they certainly were not.
Then again, neither was he. Discounting them for being annoying and unfocused – insults quite often directed towards himself – seemed rather unfair. “Suppose they did shoot that river pirate who was trying to kill me though. I might owe them for that.”
“Are we really going with ‘river pirates’?” Capsize half-complained.
It had seemed a reasonable description to give those questioning them, as having to explain that the attack seemed targeted would’ve meant explaining their destination which felt beyond foolish when it wasn’t necessary. However, she didn’t think that it could be in any way reality and, as such, didn’t want to use the description when just talking among themselves.
“Until we have a better description,” He answered her rhetorical question with a shrug. He didn’t really care about making sure he was calling men that had tried to kill them the right thing. Frankly, he didn’t wish to give them that dignity. Nor did he hold his sister’s curiosity about these things. He’d call them river pirates until the end of time if it meant they never had the displeasure of running into them again.
Still, he held little notion that his own lack of care would persuade Capsize away from her own.
“I just don’t understand how they knew about the map,” She muttered. Everything about the attack was bothering her, which she supposed was a reasonable reaction to experiencing such a thing. So many questions just rattled about her head.
Why had she been the one targeted first? Why not Red or Foxx?
Why had they supposed she had a key?
The most recurring though, the one that bothered her beyond all the others: how had they known about the map? It seemed a silly thing to be so hung up on, but she really had no one to attribute the blame to. It just didn’t make sense to her.
Red had little idea either. It hadn’t been him for once, which brought him more pride than it probably should. Still, for his sister’s sake, he could conjure a few suggestions.
“Someone probably just overheard our meeting at the museum. Or some group knew Foxx had it and had been stalking her when we butted our heads in,” He rattled off the first two explanations that came to his mind. The first two that didn’t require any of them to have spilt about the map, anyway. They sounded as reasonable as any other he could think of.
“I suppose,” Capsize muttered, clearly not able to believe either one. She wouldn’t be able to believe anything until she got actual confirmation it was the truth. Given that might never happen, it was likely the night would bother her for a while. Though, perhaps only natural, it seemed her questions about it would be unceasingly bothering her.
Before she could dwell anymore on it, though. A voice came from outside the tent.
“You two awake and decent,” Foxx asked, soft enough to not disturb the night.
Redbeard grinned, clearly wishing to mock his sister about late night rendezvouses or if she’d rather be sharing with Foxx. Luckily, he knew what was good for him and kept his thoughts inside his head. So all he received from his sister was a roll of her eyes.
“Yes, you can come in,” She called outside to their guide.
The cloth flap separating them from the outside was pulled open, revealing Foxx stood on the other side. Despite how she had suffered through the same night as them, she didn’t look like exhaustion had touched her at all. She was just as strapping as she had been on the docks.
Her expression was stern, only just betraying her concern within it.
“I brought you both some food,” She said, offering a small, wrapped bundle and a couple of waterskins.
There hadn’t technically been a need for her to get them anything. They had eaten on the boat before they’d been forced to make an early departure so they should be fine until morning. However, with the journey they made on foot, hunger was bound to have made a reappearance. What was the point in rationing when they could afford not to?
“Thank you,” Capsize said as she took the offered food. She had almost forgotten to be hungry with all the chaos. Now presented with food, she could let herself remember and be more than a little appreciative for Foxx.
Red grabbed a waterskin.
“Don’t suppose you grabbed anything stronger,” He said, shaking the container that almost certainly contained the liquid it was named for.
He received a glare from Foxx, the soldier holding none of the softness or patience for him that she did for his sister. Unfortunately for her, he had little shame. “Fine, I have my own supply.”
He lent over to his sister, who still wore his jacket. From one of the inner pockets, he somewhat awkwardly pulled a small metal hip flask that contained his preferred beverage. As he unscrewed the lid to take a sip of the unpleasantly warm drink, his sister sighed as she so often did at his drinking. Not that she was against the activity, but simply that there was a time and place to be inebriated that her brother cared little about.
“A hangover is going to make travelling tomorrow a hell of a lot less pleasant,” Foxx warned. Travelling through the desert, the sun beating down with inescapable intensity, was a trial at the best of times. Doing so in a condition that made light painful sounded like self-inflicted misery.
“Yes, yes. I know my limits,” He replied, his words quickly followed by a scoffed laugh from Capsize. There were a great many things Red knew. When to stop drinking was not one of them.
Realising that the man was a lost cause, Foxx turned her attention to the sibling with at least a modicum of sense.
“I found some women – seamstresses – who are able to give you some suitable clothes in the morning,” She said, hoping to ease some stress. Having to traipse around shoeless in a nightgown in the daylight hours can’t have been an activity she was looking forward to.
“Thank you,” Capsize spoke, barely above a whisper. A small smile was clear on her face.
The expression was enough to make Sonja smile too, feeling some warmth at making the woman happy. Still, with every hint of softness she gave, she found the need to cover herself with some words less vulnerable. She suppressed her smile back into a neutral façade.
“Offered to get me some suitable clothes too. I graciously turned that offer down,” She added with a laugh.
“Well, I think your clothes are plenty suitable,” Capsize replied, quite meaning her words.
The clothes Foxx wore were menswear, so perhaps by society’s standards they were unsuitable for the woman wearing them. However, they were certainly good hardy clothes for desert travel while allowing for easy movement. She couldn’t imagine there was much that could be offered that would be better. Though maybe she only held that thought because Foxx looked good in them.
Foxx didn’t thank her for the words, though she did give a ghost of a smile.
“Sleep well. I’ll see you in the morning,” With those words, Foxx disappeared off to her own tent, leaving the two siblings alone.
Capsize sat for a moment, staring at where the woman had been with a smile upon her face. Perhaps she’d judged Foxx too quickly in their first meeting. Even if she came across a scoundrel, it was becoming clear that she was far from actually being one.
Unfortunately, her thoughts were not allowed to linger on that notion.
“Should I start writing a speech for the wedding?” Red asked, immediately knocking her back to sense. There truly was nothing that stopped her acting an idiot like her brother having a wide grin at how she was behaving.
“Please do shut up,” She muttered despite knowing he wouldn’t and that requesting he do so would only encourage him. He truly was insufferable, but still she was glad for him being here. She couldn’t imagine making this journey without him. Nor did she wish to imagine the horrid reality of losing him along the way.
𓂀 𓂀 𓂀
The following morning, Sonja stood in the beating sun wishing to be on their way already. There wasn’t exactly a rush, but after the attack, she wanted to be on the move as quickly as possible. In crowds, even those as thin as those in a desert trading post, assassins could blend in and sneak up on them. In the open desert, that was far harder.
Objectively speaking, they were making good time. They had managed to get all the supplies they’d need for the journey and the expedition in only a few hours. Still, that made every delay feel longer.
Or maybe it was just that within all these preparations, she’d lacked good company. Capsize had been absent the entire morning, presumably busy with whatever measuring and fitting that was required to acquire her new clothes. That was a necessity, obviously. She couldn’t very well continue the journey in her nightgown. Still, it meant the most decent company Sonja had for this trip wasn’t about which was why she supposed she’d felt so annoyed this entire morning.
Quite predictably, Redbeard had been reluctant to move that morning, complaining of an aching head. She’d had no sympathy for the man given that she had quite clearly warned him. However, no matter the satisfaction she got from having been correct, that didn’t make dealing with the man in this condition any easier. Having to listen to his constant complaints about having to do literally anything was still a damn annoyance.
She supposed he’d had his uses. Though he’d complained non-stop about the fact he had to move around and help out, he had indeed been helping. Even if he put quite some effort into presenting the illusion of being an exceptionally useless man, Sonja found that he had incredible familiarity with the supplies they needed and a silver tongue when it came to haggling. If only he didn’t fight so hard to do nothing.
He was, somehow though, her more pleasant company this morning. Though it had taken a great amount of effort to get him to be so, Redbeard had proven helpful. She couldn’t say the same about Alister.
Once more Sonja found herself questioning why the warden had insisted on coming along. She understood that he was an idiot only concerned with money and likely believed he’d be cheated out of it if he wasn’t here to immediately scoop up his share. Surely, though, the man had to realise he was slashing his chances of ever seeing any treasure with every action he took. Apparently, he lacked any such sense though as Sonja’s morning had been spent dragging him away from vendors before they could jack their prices up in response to his belligerence.
She was still currently babysitting the grown man as they watched Redbeard haggle, bicker really, with a man selling camels. The words were fast paced in the local tongue. Sonja was just about keeping up with Redbeard’s arguments about the price of the animals. He was, in her own opinion, being far too picky considering they had little choice but to buy the damn things.
She’d be tempted to yell at him to just get on with it, except there was a far more annoying man that she knew would get satisfaction from her doing so and she planned to give him none.
“Why on earth are you letting him take the lead?” The warden next to her complained. Once more Sonja considered the consequences of just leaving the man here.
In the long term, there really couldn’t be many. It wasn’t as if he’d die if they left him at a trading post. He’d be able to barter for travel back to the city and go back to his normal life of being a generally unpleasant individual away from her. Then the rest of their journey would be far easier and nicer without him.
However, if she’d wanted to commit to that idea, she should’ve done so earlier, before they’d purchased supplies based on the prospect of four of them making this journey. Though, she supposed that extra supplies were always useful…
The weighing up of the possibility was entirely for her own entertainment. No matter how much of a pain he was, she wasn’t leaving the man behind. She was better than him.
That, however, didn’t mean she was going to answer his questions with any hint of sympathy.
“Do you speak Arabic?” She asked flatly, already knowing the answer to be in the negative. She frankly didn’t understand what the man wished to be happening instead considering he couldn’t even speak to this seller.
“No, but there’s clearly people here who speak English,” Alister retorted, in a tone of voice that prickled at Sonja. Where did he get off acting so superior when he spent his days drooling over executions? He was by far the worst person she’d met over here, and he wasn’t even from the country.
“Not people selling camels,” She muttered back.
Alister’s face turned even more to a scowl.
“Couldn’t we have waited until the girl was ready?” He asked in a way that made Sonja wonder who he was fooling. He held no respect for Capsize. Certainly, he would’ve had just as many complaints if she had been taking the lead in their trading.
As such, Sonja held no inclination of humouring him.
“Sure, we could’ve wasted some of our precious headstart waiting around doing nothing, but I think we have better things to do,” She said, hoping that her words would shut him up. Waiting silently with him would still be an annoyance but it would at least be more tolerable. Unfortunately, the man just didn’t know what was good for him.
“Do those two know how you ended up in prison?” He asked with an ominous edge to his voice. Finally, this obvious threat was enough to get Sonja to grit her teeth. “Don’t think they’d let you act so high and mighty if they knew what you did. Do you?”
She could’ve just bit her tongue. She knew regardless of what the siblings thought of her, she was along for the ride. Without the map, she was their only hope of finding Hamunaptra and clearly neither was letting go of that idea. So, the warden’s threat rang hollow.
Still, the idea of him telling them sent a certain twinge through her stomach. She could almost picture Capsize’s reaction to the version of the story Alister would surely twist the tale into. Not a part of her wanted to face it.
Unluckily for the man attempting to force her into bowing, she wasn’t about to be threatened without recourse.
“Interesting question, Al,” She said, matching his low tone. If this was the sort of game he wanted to play, she was very willing to play. “Better question, does he—”
She jabbed her head towards Redbeard who was clearly growing more exasperated by the second.
“—Know what you tried to coerce his sister into doing back at the prison?” She kept her voice hushed, ensuring that no one but the man next to her could hear her words.
Never had she seen a man’s face drain so quickly of colour. The fact of the matter was, he was in a far more precarious situation than she was. He was neither wanted nor needed. Maybe Redbeard wouldn’t immediately argue for the man’s abandonment, but that certainly wasn’t a risk she’d want to take in his position.
“So how about we both just play nice?” She said, seeing no need to hide the hiss in her tone.
She could sense he still wished to argue but lacked any room to do so. Nor was it in any way a wise idea when they were soon to be joined.
“Fine! Fine!” Redbeard switched back to English as he finally gave in and agreed to pay far too much money for the damn camels. Did they need them regardless of the cost? Yes. However, that didn’t make him any happier at having to fork over a small fortune for them.
The seller, who had rightly read that he had little choice but to pay any price asked, had far too wide a smile for Red’s liking. He quite gladly handed over the leads to the camels, now a good deal wealthier.
Sonja strode over as Redbeard was left by himself with the four animals. She took two of the leads from him, thinking better than leaving him to his own devices and possibly letting himself get trampled.
“The price of these fleabags,” Redbeard muttered as they began to lead them over to somewhere with enough space to saddle them and pack them up with supplies. From the amount of cash he’d forked over, he ought to be getting a full herd. Such was the cost that came with desperation.
Sonja gave a smirk.
“We could’ve gotten them for free, just had to give them your sister,” She said, obviously joking from her expression and tone. Not a joke she’d make had the warden been in earshot – he’d take far too much pleasure from it – but thankfully he had decided to sulk rather than follow her.
Redbeard laughed.
“They’d give her right back and charge us more for the headache she caused them,” He replied, sounding somehow as if he’d tried that very thing before.
The relationship between the siblings sort of confused Sonja. They seemed to flicker between being incredibly overprotective and relentlessly making fun of the other. Maybe that was just the nature of siblings. She didn’t have any, so she wouldn’t exactly know. There was something about it though that brought a smile to her lips despite how much of a pain in the ass she thought the man.
She half-thought about cracking another joke, making sure to keep the conversation going so Alister couldn’t turn it to whatever he wished to whine about when they joined him again. However, she found herself thoroughly distracted before she could.
At first, she had no idea who the figure approaching them was. She’d had the sun in her eyes or maybe that was just the excuse she gave herself for being so unsure of who she was seeing. There was, after all, only one person it could be. The sight stunned Sonja speechless.
There had not been a single part of Sonja that ever could’ve denied that Capsize was pretty. That had, in fact, been the first thought she’d had about the woman and one she’d been unable to forget no matter how argumentative she was being.
However, it had also been undeniable that the woman was a buttoned up professional. She wore the clothes of an academic, respectable and covering, which was to be expected given that was precisely what she was. The only time she hadn’t been nearly completely covered up she had been a soaked through mess that Sonja had felt immense guilt about eyeing.
At this moment, Capsize was the furthest thing from a mess.
The previous night Sonja had given very little qualms about what she was paying the seamstresses for. She had asked them to make sure that the clothes were suitable for desert travel and comfortable, but she’d mostly been trying to find people who could work quickly. Maybe she should’ve paid more attention, though it seemed quite to her benefit that she hadn’t.
The dress Capsize wore now was beautiful. It was made from a black fabric that Sonja recognised would keep the heat off her. The skirt was long and loose, flowing down to just above her feet. The top, meanwhile, was fitted with long sleeves. Not tight as it had enough looseness to breathe. Nor was it quite sheer as everything important was hidden. However, still her silhouette was clear, and hints of freckles were beneath the slightly transparent fabric. A belt decorated with coin-like pendants that glinted in the sun hung around her waist. Her curls were loose, flowing freely rather than being held back in an updo.
The sight of her made Sonja realise that, despite everything, she had been underestimating Capsize’s beauty. Her smile alone was enough to freeze Sonja to the spot.
…What had she gotten herself into?
She barely managed to shake herself out of her stupor to properly be paying attention when Capsize was once more with them.
“You’ve all made good progress,” She greeted, sounding pleasantly surprised at that fact. Sonja supposed that she had a good deal of knowledge about the difficulties of getting her brother to do anything. Still, the soldier was glad to have not disappointed her.
“Yep, managed to replace everything,” She replied with a nod. Unfortunately, her words were nearly immediately contradicted.
“Well, nearly everything,” Redbeard interrupted as if his input was in any way requested. The comment perturbed Sonja more than she cared to admit. The man found the time to barter to get his hip flask filled but had neglected to mention something they actually needed. “Couldn’t find replacements for your tools, I’m afraid.”
“Oh,” Capsize’s smile dampened. “Well, I suppose that was always going to be a longshot.”
The disappointment evident in her voice clawed at Sonja’s heart.
“He never mentioned—” She began before swallowing that muttered excuse down and getting to the point. “What kind of tools do you need?”
She didn’t see why they couldn’t give the place another once over. They still had cash spare.
For a moment, Capsize’s face turned to surprise. The same sort of surprise she’d held at Foxx knowing about the Book of Amun-Ra. Surprise at actually being able to talk about this topic.
Quickly, her face turned to a soft smile.
“Archaeology tools. Brushes, trowels, picks and tweezers for more delicate excavations. Then there’s everything for properly surveying and documenting relics…” She began listing off the tools, attempting to keep half a mind to not begin rambling. She had been so excited to actually be out in the field that she’d gone out of her way to get a new, high-quality kit. Losing them was a blow, but still she held some delight at getting to talk about them at all. “…Really, I didn’t expect the specialist ones to be available out here. They were hard enough to find in the city with my museum contacts. But it is fine. Well, no, it’s annoying, but we can just focus on larger excavations and bring anything that needs finer analysis back to the museum.”
Sonja nodded along to her words, having taken mental notes as she listened. She had to concede that Capsize was correct. The specialist tools weren’t going to be available out here and what they could acquire had been among the list Redbeard had initially given her.
Still, she committed what they couldn’t currently acquire to memory. She didn’t have any further stops planned, but there might still be opportunities for her to find what Capsize had lost.
That, however, was a concern for later. For now, there were a great many supplies that needed packing up onto their newly acquired camels. That was a task she had the sinking feeling she would be completing alone.
𓂀 𓂀 𓂀
Sonja hadn’t quite been right in her assumption of being the only one to load their supplies. It had seemed she would be when neither of the men had shown any inclination of helping after she’d finished saddling the camels. However, Capsize had had no intention of lazing about. She had immediately offered her assistance, dragging her brother to do so as well despite his lack of willingness. Then the sight of both the siblings helping had shamed the warden into getting off his ass.
The job had gone far faster with the four of them. Though Sonja still very much had to direct all the placements as the only one with any real experience of this sort of travel, not having to do all the heavy lifting herself most certainly saved time. Their journey was ready to recommence only an hour or so after noon rather than past sunset.
When the time had come to leave, Sonja had taken the lead once more. Though she didn’t have a lifetime of experience, she had ridden camels before. She knew how to mount and control the creatures and – to ensure none of their party lost control and got themselves lost or hurt – she thought it best to give them all pointers. She’d have to focus on actually leading once they were out in the desert so beforehand was the only real time she could.
Alister, of course, barely listened to her, not that she cared much. She only cared about keeping him with them because his camel held supplies that they couldn’t afford to lose. So, she gritted her teeth through his clear annoyance, forming a backup plan in case he did get himself lost.
Redbeard insisted he already had the basic knowledge on the practice. A claim that Sonja had sincerely doubted but had little evidence to disprove as he managed his way atop the animal without tutorial and with surprisingly little effort. She decided to just take his word and keep half an eye on him.
Capsize, meanwhile, listened quite intently. She didn’t look intimidated, Sonja doubted she ever could, but this sort of activity was clearly out of her typical wheelhouse. The way her eyes focused, the way she nodded and hummed at every new piece of information, swelled Sonja’s heart in a way she hadn’t experienced before.
Questions were answered with small smiles until eventually she was helping Capsize atop her camel. She almost didn’t want to let go of her hand, but such a touch was always going to be brief rather than lingering. Sonja had the group to lead and every moment they weren’t moving was a moment of advantage lost.
Travel through the desert was easier than it had been the night before. With actual preparation and the camels doing the majority of the work, this was a trudged trek. There was no exhaustion, at least not yet.
That didn’t, however, mean that the journey was easy. Traveling under the baking sun never was. The dunes of sand appeared an endless landscape, so identical to each other that at times it was impossible to believe they were moving at all. But then a landmark would appear, reassuring them that their journey was indeed moving forward.
How Foxx was navigating was a mystery to those following her. It seemed entirely instinct, but one they had no choice but to trust as they were now so far from civilization, they would remain forever lost without guidance. Perhaps that should’ve been an unnerving thought, but none held any fear of the soldier leading them astray.
To Sonja, this route was one scarred into her mind. A route to hell she had never wished to take again but had never once left her mind no matter how she tried to rid herself of the memories. She could follow this route in her sleep, but she forced herself to focus anyway. She wouldn’t allow herself to become complacent and lead those under her care astray.
As such, she remained ahead of the group, focusing on the route ahead rather than interacting to make the journey less dull. She did, however, allow her ears to wander back to the conversation happening between the two siblings.
“Never did like camels,” Redbeard complained. Once more Sonja found herself wondering what sort of a life the man led as it certainly couldn’t be the one she had pictured him living. Not that she believed she had misjudged him. She knew from experience that he was a thief and an annoyance. However, perhaps he might not have led quite such a stagnant life as she’d supposed from his demeanour. “Filthy creatures. They smell, they bite, they spit.”
To his complaints, his sister merely laughed.
“Well, I think they’re cute,” She replied. Her joy was obvious. In the middle of the sunbaked desert, she was having the time of her life.
That made Sonja smile too. Her joy was more than enough to keep her moving. This entire journey was a phenomenally bad idea, that point Sonja would not budge on. However, when it brought such happiness to a woman who deserved the world, she’d do everything to make sure it went well.
𓂀 𓂀 𓂀
Eventually, night fell. The boiling sun was replaced with the chill of moonlight. Most would’ve stopped to rest at whatever safe place they could find, but four camels still trekked across the dunes.
Sonja had thought it best to keep riding. The stars gave her more certainty in her route and the cold was easier to travel through than the heat. She had, however, only made this choice after realising how well the camels followed each other. The others could rest while they continued forward.
Indeed, she was the only one currently awake. She could almost convince herself that she was the only human alive in the entire desert. Only almost because the stillness of the night air was broken by the warden’s snoring, a constant reminder of the life she was guiding. Still, her night watch was lonely.
She was used to the feeling of being alone, though. Since her last trip to Hamunaptra, she’d spent more time being so than she cared to admit. There had been people about her, in bars or clubs or the various shady lodging houses she found herself taking residence. However, she found them mostly strangers, not the friends and comrades she’d had in the army. That was to say, she was used to only having her own thoughts as company.
In this instance, the lack of anything to distract her thoughts had them wandering constantly back to Hamunaptra. To the battle, the death, that thing in the sand. There was evil in that place, she was sure of it. Yet for some goddamned reason, she was heading back there. Her thoughts kept asking over and over why she would possibly do that.
The answer, of course, was obvious.
Capsize rode asleep next to her on her own camel. Her breathing was soft, barely a disturbance to the night air. She appeared so peaceful in her rest, an untouched softness vulnerable to the horrors of the world but right now completely oblivious to them. It was a sight that Sonja couldn’t help but allow herself to be distracted by.
It was a good thing in this instance. Slowly in her sleep, Capsize was slipping from her saddle. Obliviously in her rest, she was skewing towards a fall, but not one she would actually take.
Sonja, so carefully as to not wake her, reached over and pushed Capsize back onto her saddle. She kept her gaze on her the entire time, to keep watch for any sign of her waking, then for a long few moments afterwards, to ensure she wasn’t going to start slipping again. As she settled peacefully and stably, Sonja smiled and finally allowed her eyes to drift from the sleeping woman.
She might’ve found her eyes drifting back between glances to the stars to ensure that they were continuing in the right direction. However, in her first gaze up towards the sky, she caught sight of something else that completely took her attention.
High on a ridge, silhouetted in the moonlight were another group atop mounts. Unlike her own group, they were unmoving. A more paranoid sort, someone less familiar with the nomadic groups of the area, might’ve held some worries at the sight.
After the previous night, Sonja certainly held some discomfort at the thought of being watched. However, she had travelled enough to know such groups were rarely threats. They were just observing strangers passing through their corner of the world.
She raised her arm in half a wave, acknowledging their presence before continuing her task at hand.
Atop the ridge, the guardians watched the group travelling below them with flat faces. They had no proof that this group was headed towards Hamunaptra, but they certainly were headed in that direction and word had been received that the attempted assassination of the group currently seeking the city had failed.
The fate of the world now rested solely upon their shoulders. No risk could be taken. Still, they looked towards their leader for their commands.
The old man set his jaw, knowing precisely what needed to be done. He had done it hundreds of times throughout his life, hoping each one would be the last. However, while the threat still lurked, they could not rest. He could hope to be wrong, that these were innocent travellers not headed towards the city they were sworn to guard. That, however, was not a hope he could risk believing in.
He signalled for those with him to follow and they began to ride, keeping pace with those below them. No matter what, he would ensure that the creature was not awoken.
