They rode until noon. Then the sun became scorchingly hot. They had to eat and give the camels a drink of water. They came upon an oasis. They were relieved that it was not a mirage. Mike and his men set up a tent big enough for all of them. Maeve decided to give them camels the feed that they had got with them. Rongar took out the bread and cheese. Everyone had a drink of water. Maeve spread out the fodder in front of the camels that were sitting in their sophistication as ever. They slowly chewed on the grass. Maeve looked around at the sand dunes that formed a perfect symmetry around the place. She smiled as the breeze caressed her face. She looked over at Sinbad who was helping with the tents. She loved the way the sun shone of the golden tan of his skin, accenting his muscles. She turned away to avoid being caught staring.
She wanted to have a look around the vicinity, so, she climbed up the largest sand dune. She plodded up the sand, and reached the crest. From where she was she got a bird's view of the place. There was sand all over, like a smooth silk they blew around in the gentle desert wind. She looked down at the camp. The people looked like ants from where she stood; the dune was that high. She giggled when the wind lifted up her hair and played with it. Dermott swooped down to her arm. The wind ruffled through his feathers. She cuddled the bird, as it yearned to her touch.
Sinbad took Firouz's magnascope to get a clear picture of any settlement around as he moved it across the horizon, he could see Maeve standing on the crest of the dune looking beautiful as ever with Dermott on her hand. Her hair blew about wildly, he grinned as he noticed those firm well toned legs she had, as the wind lifted her shirt a bit.
"So Sinbad what do you see?" Firouz asked unaware of what Sinbad was actually looking at.
"Absolute beauty." Still in his reverie he smiled and mumbled.
"What?"
Sinbad startled, "Huh? What? Oh! Nothing! I see sand everywhere. Maybe I should go look from where Maeve is standing."
"Where is she?"
He pointed to where he was. Firouz frowned as he recollected that Sinbad was looking in that direction. No wonder he said beauty, the inventor thought with a smile, when will he ever admit that he loves her?
Sinbad walked up the dune where his angel was standing. She smiled at him as he came up to her.
"Hey beautiful!" he smiled. Dermott cackled and flew off her arm.
"Hi handsome!" she smiled seductively.
He came closer to her and whispered, "I want to kiss you."
She raised her eyebrow playfully, she brought her face closer to his and said, "you'll have to catch me first!" she broke away from him and ran down the other side of the dune, her dress billowing around her legs. Sinbad ran after her. They kept their balance half way down, then gravity took over and Sinbad fell, rolling himself into her, she fell and he rolled them all the way down. They were laughing as Sinbad lay on top of her. He supported himself with his elbows as he said, "I caught you, now."
She grinned playfully, "no you haven't." and she started tickling him. Giggling he caught her hands and tickled her badly. She struggled playfully, but to no avail. The couple did not know that Doubar, Rongar and Firouz were watching them with idiotic grins. Sinbad was mercilessly tickling her. She noticed Doubar and playfully called out, "Doubar…help…me..." between giggles.
Doubar laughed and came down the steep slip face of the dune. However he lost his balance and came tumbling down and rolled into the couple. They all broke apart and laughed. Maeve picked herself up, and said, "last one to the top is the first one who goes in the pyramid."
She ran up the dune, slipping, as the brothers laughed and followed her up. Firouz and Rongar were laughing at their friends who were playing like children. Mike came up to them, unaware of what was going on and asked, "Where's Sinbad and Ly…" he saw the trio in the sand. Doubar as usual was the last. Maeve scrambled up when Sinbad caught up with her, he caught her leg and pulled her down. She slipped and rolled down yelling, "cheater!" she caught his arm as she fell, causing him to fall upon her. The couple rolled down the sand, not to mention each other's arms. Mike did not contain his jealousy at seeing Maeve in Sinbad's arms and enjoying it. Doubar huffed up the dune and came to crest and sat. He was panting and said, "I'm just growing too old." He laughed loudly when he saw Maeve and Sinbad wrestling each other. Finally, Mike who couldn't stand this much display yelled out, "Lynn, come for lunch."
Maeve broke away from Sinbad and sat up. She yelled back, "Be right there." Sinbad said with pride, "He's jealous."
Maeve made a face at him and picked herself up. She said, "and you say I set fire to things."
He pretended to look hurt and said, "My heart is not a thing."
Maeve did not understand what he meant for a second, when she did, she said, "You are getting too mushy for your own good." she held out her hand to help him up. He accepted it and pulled himself of the ground. He picked up the magnascope that had fallen in the sand, and still holding Maeve's hands they plodded up the dune to the crest where their friends were standing. Maeve let go of Sinbad's hand causing the other men to giggle like idiots.
Sinbad looked around the place, through the magnascope, he noticed something which seemed like a mountain. He said, "have you ever heard of a mountain in the midst of a desert?"
Maeve said, "let me see." She took the magnascope form him and looked in the direction he was pointing and said, "that is no mountain. That is a pyramid."
"Really? Does it belong to Horus?"
She put it down and yelled to the camp, "Mike! Get over here!"
Mike came up to her and said, "What?"
"Does that look like Horus' pyramid?" she handed him the magnascope.
"What is this?" he said looking at the invention.
"It's one of my inventions," said Firouz, "I call it a magnascope…it magnifies distant images making them look closer."
"How do you use it?"
"Here…" said Maeve. Mike handed her the magnascope. She held it up for him to look through. He was behind her so he placed his chin on her shoulder, as he looked through the eyepiece. The intimacy of the two of them was driving Sinbad crazy. Doubar and Firouz laughed at his jealousy.
Mike looked through it and said, "Yes…that is the one." She broke away from him and said, "it's huge."
"Very." he said as he walked a little away from her (much to Sinbad's relief of course) scanning the area. He said, "we'll reach there by nightfall."
Maeve nodded and looked at Sinbad who seemed to have an irritated look on his face. She wondered what it was about and shrugged. Mike held out his hand to her and said, "come for lunch."
She took it (unaware of Sinbad gritting his teeth) and walked with Mike to the camp. Doubar, Firouz and Rongar started laughing badly at Sinbad's evident jealousy. He glared at them and stomped down to the camp. They shook their heads and followed him down.
While they were eating Maeve decided to read what she had found out in the book. She said, "Juan says that the pyramid is in fact a labyrinth. However, this is a labyrinth with a difference. It has a simple solution to the crypt of Horus, but finding this solution is tougher than finding a needle in the haystack. Once you get the hang of this labyrinth you will automatically find a way to the crypt."
"Which in simple words means…?" asked Duraid.
"This is what he says, 'The entrance of the pyramid is marked with the falcon head…which is the symbol of Horus. When one knows the right spell, this entrance opens, in the form of a sliding door, or it opens like a normal one. The door closes once all that wish to enter are inside. When you step into the pyramid you end up in a tiny chamber. It looks like cell with no opening. The truth is one of the walls excepting the one through which you have entered can be pushed. On pushing this wall, one activates a lever, which causes all the walls to either move out or in, opening to what seems like seven passageways. One passageway leads directly to the crypt. The others criss-cross each other leading you through a maze of passageways. You might never get out. Not only this, the pyramid has a series of booby traps. So you might as well call it your own tomb.
"'The greatest mystery and characteristic to this pyramid is that it is enchanted. If at all anyone does manage to get out of the pyramid…the minute the door is closed after he gets out the entire pyramid rearranges itself. So it does not have the same secret doors as it did for the last one in. The traps are never in the same place. I know, because I have been in there twice. This pyramid is all about your luck and skill, not about your experience of being in tricky situations.' "
"So we are basically undertaking a suicidal mission." Echoed Doubar.
"Yeah!" Mike said, sarcastically, "ain't it cool!"
"Mike!" warned Maeve, then to Doubar she said, "we have something Juan didn't have Doubar, we have magic and we have Dermott!"
"So how does that help?" said mike, unaware of Maeve's powers. He thought she was talking about Tessay.
"Juan says, the pyramid has a tendency to attract any source of magic, whether white or black. So any possessor of magic will not have as much of a problem in tracking the crypt."
"Wait a minute," said Sinbad, "we're after Taita…not the crypt."
"Actually, if we are to find Taita, or his next clue…it will be around the crypt; and if the pearl is there. Then it will definitely be around the crypt."
"Why is that?"
"The pearl was given by Isis," said Tessay, "and Horus is Isis' son. Since Taita cannot control the pearl. It will force him to take it to where it's mistresses offspring is."
"Mistress?" said Firouz.
"Isis is considered to be the pearl's mistress."
"Oh."
They were all silent after the description Maeve gave them. They all were scared because from what she said, this was NOT going to be a piece of cake.
When We Were Thieves - Part 14 Section 2
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