The words on the pages started to blur together; they formed unintelligible masses of black ink. I rubbed my eyes. Hopefully all these late nights would be worth something in the end. My partner and I had been on this ‘jungle trek’ as she called it for nearly a month now. We were looking for an ancient temple which supposedly held relics of great magical importance.
My partner, Minty Leaves, dozed off in her sleeping bag. We were an unlikely team of archaeologists; just two normal earth ponies, racing against my nemesis. The mere thought of her made me scream.
“DARING DOOOOOO!” I yelled out into the tent. Minty shook awake.
“What’s going on? What’s happening?” she asked groggily. I calmed down.
“Nothing, just reading about the horn again.” Minty sighed.
“We need rest for tomorrow, Wayfinder,” she said. Minty laid her head back against the pillow and yawned. She didn’t understand how important it was that I understood the temple. The horn was of great importance, and, in some circles, power. There are no records of what it was capable of, only whispers.
It had belonged to an ancient tribe of pegasi who defected from the skies. Every ruler had worn it until it was buried with the last, Lord Yarak. After him, the Eyas ((Hawk Terminology) A Falcon who has been taken from the nest) tribe disappeared forever. I laid back down and threw the book into a saddlebag.
“I’m going to get that horn, no matter what,” I whispered. I felt sleep come slowly in waves. I didn’t fight it one bit.
The next day started bright and early. Minty stretched her back as I disassembled the tent.
“Are you sure we’re close? It’s not going to be like the Mojave again, is it?” Minty asked while I stuffed the tent into a sack. I shuddered at the mention of that hellish desert.
It had been our first expedition together. We had been looking for an old settlement. We wandered the desert for a month before I realized the map was upside down. I was surprised she came with me after that. It must be our lust for adventure that kept the group together.
“I’m sure it’s just around the bend, Minty,” I assured her. It was only the weariness in our bones that had kept us from going on last night. By all accounts the temple should be only a mile ahead of us. I shuddered in anticipation. After this find, Minty and I would be famous... famous for finding something at least. We’d had a string of bad luck in artifact hunting. A string that had lasted the entire career. It was all going to change today.
Minty and I started to walk northwest. It was slow going through the thick underbrush of the rainforest. I hacked through the choking vines with a machete. Even the heat was against us. Still, we made progress.
Why would the Eyas pick a location like this to live? Pegasi aren’t known to live in a tight environment. Something must have brought them here.
“Why do ya tink dey moved ‘ere?” I asked Minty, my mouth occupied by the machete.
“From what I read, they moved here to get away from the unicorns,” she responded. I nodded.
“But why? Da horn?” Minty shrugged.
“Perhaps. It could also be a land dispute. There just isn’t that much written down.”
We continued on for an hour before my legs gave out.
“Just a quick break, Minty,” I wheezed. I could tell the trek was taking a toll on Minty. She nodded too. Sweat lined her light green coat. Her simple mane lay limply. I fumbled for my canteen. Grasping it firmly I took a few hearty swigs. The water did little to cool me off, but it felt great just to sit.
“How much further do you think?” Minty asked. I looked at the map I’d drawn out.
“Should be… 10 minutes,” I calculated. Minty smiled happily.
“Finally we can get out of this silly rainforest. We can go home. I can take a bath!” Minty lost herself in mirth. It’d be great when we got back, but this expedition wasn’t over yet. We still had to delve into the ancient temple, uncover its secrets, retrieve the horn. I smiled, thinking of what it would look like, feel like. Its comfortable weight held in my hooves. My strength returned quickly with that thought. I leapt up.
“Come on, Minty. Let’s make history.” She nodded. I picked up the machete and began hacking away at the underbrush. The minutes crawled by as we made progress. Daring Do can’t stop us now. She foiled us with the sapphire stone. Not here, never again.
Finally, after what seemed like forever, the trees cleared away briefly. An ancient temple stood before us. It did not clear the treetops. Granite slabs made up its architecture. Statues of pegasi adorned the stairs and roof. Minty and I were awestruck.
“You were… right?” Minty asked.
“I was right?” I asked. I was right. This was the temple of the Eyas, and Lord Yarak was entombed here along with the fabled horn. Minty and I started to ascend the steps to the great door.
The door was adorned with pictures of the pegasi race cultivating the surrounding land. They had cleared a large swath of the forest.
“This place must have been clear for miles back then,” Minty noted. I pushed at the door tenderly. It swung open; its hinges well made to survive all these years. We lit torches and continued our way inside. The wall continued with pictures of the Eyas cleaning the land and of tribal life. Shadows stood still in response to the flickering flames, only purged by proximity.
The temple seemed to extend deeper and deeper into the Earth, progressively growing darker and colder as we descended. The stairs and hallways seemed endless.
“It couldn’t be this deep, could it?” I asked.
“Stranger things have happened, I suppose,” Minty answered. I could hear the chattering of her teeth. Far above, something echoed.
“What was that?” I asked helplessly.
“Sounded like… a voice,” Minty said, rubbing her chin.
“Is it Daring?” Minty shrugged. We hurried along the hallways, trying to find the burial chamber. As we descended further into the temple, the walls became darker in hue. The images were no longer visible beneath the darkness.
“This sure is a strange place,” I remarked. Finally we came across a closed door. I pushed at it; it did not budge.
“Got any ideas?” Minty asked. I didn’t. I prodded the torch at it. The stone did not change from its black color.
“Is this obsidian?” Minty took a closer look. Her flank accidently brushed my side, sending the torch toppling. It clattered on the black ground before sputtering out. The hallway filled with darkness.
“Look what you did,” I admonished her.
“Finder, look. The door’s gone.” Confused, I pressed up against the door. It was gone! I grabbed the spent torch and bit onto Minty’s tail as she led me into the room. Once inside, I lit the torch. Looking behind us, the strange door was back.
“That should slow down Daring.” At least I hoped it would. The torch illuminated this hallway. It was a strange mix of dark hues and tones. The murals depicted the Eyas toiling in the heat and inside of mines. It was interesting, but we were too close to stop now. The hallway ended in a large circular room. In the center of the room was a stone coffin; lid still attached firmly. Golden trinket and heirlooms lined the walls.
“And there you have it, another body on the floor surrounded by things that don't mean much to anyone except to the one who can't take any of them along,” I said, quoting a book. It had always felt fitting. We approached the coffin. The lid showed a picture of Lord Yarak. His body was covered in golden jewelry. On his head sat the horn. Minty and I placed at hooves at the edge of the lid and began to push. With a grating sound it began to slide away from its resting place.
After a bit of straining, the other side of the lid slammed against the ground as the contents were opened for the first time in centuries. Lord Yarak’s body lay just as it did on the lid. The horn glowed lightly in the torchlight. A pillar of gold, tapered to a point away from the skull. Carefully I reached in and grabbed it, pulling it free from the ancient lord. I held it in my hooves away from the tomb.
There lay the Horn of Osiris,Eyas treasure, mythical relic. Its secrets ready to be told to me. It was supposed to be a ‘gift from Osiris,’ the god of the underworld.
“Finally, the Horn of Osiris is mine,” I muttered. Minty called me.
“Finder, uh, it’s looking at you,” she moaned. I looked back. Lord Yarak sat up in the tomb, staring at the horn in my grasp. His gaze was no less powerful in his death. “What are you going to doooo?” she cried. I raised the horn to my forehead, point turned to Yarak. His bones seemed to rattle menacingly. I pushed the flat side onto my forehead. The weight felt at home when I pulled my hooves away from my face. The horn stayed in its spot.
I opened my eyes. Minty had stopped whimpering. The entire room was illuminated with what appeared to be sunlight. Behind us, the door was gone. A familiar yellow pegasus flew into the room and landed triumphantly at the base of the coffin.
“It’s time to get this horn and learn of the great past of the pegasss…” she trailed off as she looked around.
“Not you again,” I muttered.
“What are you doing with that?” she asked. “That’s important history.”
“We know, that’s why we are here,” Minty retorted. Daring huffed in response. Minty looked at the horn intently. “Did you break it already?” Minty asked.
“What do you mean?” I looked up; it was hard to see it.
“There are… holes in it,” she said, eyeing it carefully. I ran around the coffin to the lid. There had been a small difference. In Yarak’s picture, the horn had been gemmed. I was missing the gems.
“Well that’s just perfect,” I sighed. Daring put her hoof around my back.
“Don’t worry, Wayfinder. One day you’ll discover something the right way.” I shrugged her off.
“Come on, Minty. We have to find out where the gems went.” Minty started to poke through the coffin for gems. I looked around the room. The heirlooms and treasures were pure gold, not like most jewelry now; which was laden with gems. Daring was looking in a pile in the corner. I heard her let out a small squeak. Turning to her, I saw a smile on her face.
“Looking for one of… these?” she asked as she whipped out a hoof. In it she held a small cut ruby.
“It looks like one of the gems, Finder,” Minty said.
“What do you want for it, Daring?” I asked her, scared of what she’d demand. She tossed the gem to me.
“Consider this a freebie,” she smiled. Minty trotted over and picked up the gem. She looked over the horn and clicked the ruby into place. The horn seemed to heat up.
“This is interesting,” I chimed. I could feel some sort of power inside the horn, but it was so foreign that my body just wouldn’t let me grab for it.
A thorough search revealed no more gems. Daring, Minty, and I returned to the surface.
“I guess that’s it,” I said. Daring nodded.
“Not for me it isn’t. I’m leading a team to get everything we can out of here. What about you two?” she asked.
“We’re going to learn more about the horn,” Minty answered. We said our goodbyes and Minty and I prepared for the trek back home. Once Daring was out of earshot Minty produced a scroll.
“I think this might be a little exciting,” she said.
“What is it?” I asked.
“Well…,” she said, relishing my curiosity, “it might be a map to the gems.”
“Are you sure you can read a map?” I asked her. She laughed.
“At least I can’t get lost on a bridge.” I scowled. Why did she have to bring that up?
End of Chapter 1