Skull of the Conqueror
Coyotka is © Coyotek
All other Concepts and Characters are the intellectual property of LordNightwinter.
It was dark and relatively dry deep in the recesses of the odd tomb she had been studying that of all places was discovered in the foothills of Pamir Mountains, close to the Gobi desert. Her original dig had placed her looking for dinosaur fossils in the Gobi itself. She figured that it would have been successful seeing as many fossil discoveries had come out of the Gobi, including the first dinosaur egg fossils that had been found. Most people considered the Gobi to be a vast and seemingly endless expanse of sand and heat but a good portion of the desert was made up of several different regions of climate and topography. She had originally experienced a bit of trepidation at being called from his dig site to the mountain range to assist an old colleague with a rare find but the fact that they had been keeping the discovery a secret from the outside world had struck Coyotka as strange to say the least.
The original conversion was as fresh to her now as it was when she had first spoken to her friend. Dr. Rupert Stanley. The entrance, she had been told was discovered by a colliery. The coal mine in question had been using the conventional mining method of breaking a coal seam up with explosives. The mine consisted of a room and pillar timber configuration that served to hold up the roof while miners and engineers worked. The most recent explosion had knocked a hole into one of the seldom-used tunnels in the mine that led down into a series of caverns. While this usually was not an exceedingly rare find the presence of carved steps in the side of this cavern caught the attention of a surveying team. All nearby archeological experts were called in to investigate the first find of its kind. Previously no known tombs existed ether in the mountains or the surrounding area.
She had also been told that since the surveying team found the man-made structure they had called off inspecting the rest of the cavern but the entrance was rumored to be somewhere in the mountains themselves. After what seemed like the walk of a lifetime she finally reached the entrance to the cave to find a team of four other archeologists standing in a circle with the room lit by several halogen lamps. The cave itself was not so large, only about twenty feet high and fifty or more feet wide at the largest points. The decent down on a rickety old ladder was disconcerting but she quickly scaled it and stepped into the cave itself.
Coming into the light she must have looked quite a mess. Coyotka's long void-black hair had been tied back into a messy ponytail, she didn't like an excess of hair falling into her work. She wore a pair of short khaki shorts and a white t-shirt tied at the front to add some ventilation in the excessive heat. She was tall compared to the rest of the room, and shapely for an archeologist. With her athletic-looking body she drew plenty of stares and leers but she didn't care. Her fur was a mess from the long days in the desert. Because of her almost constant exposure to the sun, the brown that covered most of her body felt as if it would bleach the same white that stretched from her chin down across her inner thighs. Completing the furred ensemble was a long covering of white fur on her lower legs and arms, making her look quite regal when she wore something refined. Too bad it wasn't her style.
She did a quick survey of the others present in the cave itself with her brown eyes. That quick glance revealed that she knew two of the men present but lacked in knowing the other one who was a young vixen that had long black hair, pale red fur, a skinny build, and the look of a bookworm.
The most familiar person present turned at the sound of her approach and smiled broadly. He was a portly badger with long matted hair usually kept tied up in a make-shift ponytail. His fur was unkempt as usual with its black-and-white striped coloring. This one had an infectious smile and laugh that could keep anyone going no matter how sour their normal demeanor. His boisterous voice echoed through the cavern and down into the adjoining tunnels. "Ah my dear Coyotka we've been waiting for you!"
Walking toward the group she engaged in a warm handshake with her one-time partner and friend Dr. Stanley. He obviously hadn't changed at all since she had last seen the hefty researcher, that didn't surprise her in the least. "Rupert, dispense with the formalities we're way past that."
"Straight down to business as usual, well then you know Nathan of course and this is Dr. Laura Rosefelt his assistant." Rupert swept a chubby hand out toward the older feline and his assistant. Who both gave a slight incline of their heads. Nathan had been their professor at one time but he had quit mid semester to pursue a life-long dream of finding something ‘unique'. His graying, but still partially orange fur and black stripes were faded with age and his frame seemed frailer than the last time she had seen him. They all wore similar worn and threadbare clothing like she did, favoring things that were disposable because of their hands-on jobs.
After engaging in handshakes and greetings of ‘doctor' all around she turned toward their quarry. The first thing she did was inspect the cavern around them. For the most part the rock-and-water setup of the cavern looked normal. There were several pools of water with algae floating on the surface and the entire place was covered in stalactites and mites.
Rupert lit an extra lamp and carried it forward as she walked. Her eyes adjusted to the extra light quickly and from the contrast of the previous tunnel, a rough-hewn stretch versus a water-carved cave system she could spot easily the set of stairs that led from the cave floor up to a door that seemed to be carved from the very stone around them. The surface of the stairs had been worn down from exposure but the door itself seemed strangely intact. A series of carved symbols and strange characters greeted her immediately and though she was educated in several forms of communication and languages she had absolutely no clue from the first glance what all of the languages were.
The door itself was shaped roughly like a coffin and the surface of it was recessed with a lip around the edges all carved from a single block of stone. "Okay, my curiosity is peaked."
"You're not the only one. This door defies all of our attempts at dating. It's been perfectly preserved." Rupert said excitedly, clapping his hands together then rubbing those chubby paws as if he was trying to make a fire. "The locals have been whispering rumors about a curse but that's always what they do, you know that."
"Yes I do, but you and I both know that sometimes it's true." She said in a slightly strained voice while inspecting the door closely. It smelled of something odd, her nose couldn't identify it. "What's that smell?"
"What smell?" Rupert walked up next to her and took a big whiff of the door itself. "I detect a hint of something yes but I don't know what it is."
Rupert stretched out his hand toward the door but she quickly grabbed his wrist and pulled it away, shaking her head. Something didn't seem right about the door, it was too clean too perfect. Taking one last sniff she inspected it again, including the edges trying to identify what her senses where trying to tell her. After a moment she shook her head and turned back to them. "It's coated in something, I don't know what. You haven't touched it yet have you?"
"Well no but nothing could have lasted this long Coyo." Rupert jibed at her, giving her a jab in the ribs with his elbow. "This cavern hasn't had visitors for hundreds of years."
"If it were going to wear off or wash away it would have taken the smell with it. There's still something on the door I know it. Call it instinct, whether you count it to a woman's instinct or an archeologist's instinct I don't care." Coyotka turned her gaze toward the other two in the cavern who had been quiet up until this point, wondering if they had anything to contribute.
Taking the initiative she pulled a pocket knife out of her pocket and scraped it against one side of the door gently. A thin transparent gel lifted off onto her blade as she slid it downward. Pulling the knife free she was amazed to see the clear substance flow back into place over the affected area. "Sample bag please."
Nathan pulled a small plastic bag from his pocket and handed it over to Coyotka. After taking it she slid the blade into the plastic bag and wiped it carefully onto the side. Once she was satisfied she had enough she closed the bag carefully with one hand and held the blade away from herself. "We need some equipment down here. Tables, a microscope, you know the drill Rupert."
"Indeed." He replied, shaking his head lightly. "Now you see why we needed you."
"Yeah because you're sloppy old man." She jested, smiling broadly as they walked down the stairs back toward the entrance. Reaching into her pocket she wrapped the knife in a handkerchief she kept in her pocket and locked the blade in place again. "Got another of those bags?"
"It's wrapped." Nathan replied as he pulled another one out of his pocket.
"True but I don't take chances with stuff like this. Who knows what we've been exposed to already let alone accidentally cutting myself with a dirty blade." She shrugged her shapely shoulders and set the knife down into the bag following close behind the trio. In the back of her mind her instincts told her that some things were better left buried, she hoped that this find wasn't one of them.
**
"So I've taken the liberty of photographing the door." Nathan's thick British accent sometimes annoyed Coyo but she dealt with it because he was a nice guy. "I recognize the hieroglyphics but they're not Egyptian in origin. They seem to be from a period before the Egyptians developed the Hieratic style of hieroglyphics."
"Well the one beneath that is Uighur which was adopted by the Mongolians about the 12th century. And the one below that is Aztec." Coyotka noted as she pointed at the line she was referring to on the laptop they were running via a generator. "I've never seen such a collection of languages all in the same place."
"Astounding." Rupert agreed, wobbling his head up and down with his massive jowls waving about like a drowning man crying for help. "What are the others below?"
"Nothing we've ever seen before." Coyotka spoke for the three of them since they had already did as much digging as they could on the remaining carvings on the door. The others were a combination of pictographs and what seemed to be letters. "The message doesn't translate well from each language because of the obligatory language barriers but loosely it equates to a warning."
"What kind of warning?"
"Well we're not one hundred percent sure. Some of the text is stylized in an odd manner." Coyotka pointed out the hieroglyphics on top and ran her finger across the screen as she translated. "A rough translation would be, Death awaits any who open this door. I'm not sure about the second part here; it says something about someone walking the earth."
"It looks like Anubis." Laura chimed in, tracing the lines with her finger.
"It does, but there's something different here. Anubis was a god but this symbol seems to represent something other than Anubis himself." Coyo scratched her chin thoughtfully and turned to Nathan. "Have you ever seen it before?"
"It seems to be familiar but I just can't put my finger on it." Nathan sat back in his chair and put his hands behind his head, looking up at the roof of the tent they had erected just beyond the entrance of the mine itself. "Wait, yes now I remember. I was on a dig in Egypt and I saw something similar on in a tomb, it was referencing the son of Anubis himself, his child."
"The son of death shall walk the earth." Coyo snapped her fingers and a grin spread across her lips. "That has to be it."
"What about the rest?" Rupert pressed, turning from the screen back to them.
"It's the same thing, every message mentions death and destruction awaiting the world if the door is opened." Coyo shook her head and eyed each of them individually trying to get a feel for their positions. "I'm not entirely sure we want to open this door, I have a bad feeling about this."
"You always say that; don't be such a worry wart." Rupert laughed at her dire tone and shook his finger at her. "Curse or not we've discovered something big here, what about the slime you carved off of the door itself?"
"That's another strange thing, it seems to be some sort of microbe or bacteria but it's different from anything else I've seen before. In the short time it was in the bag it seems to have bonded with the molecules of the plastic." Laura answered before anyone else could. "I'm not exactly an expert on the subject but I've never heard of anything that can do that."
"Have a look at the knife." Coyo suggested, sliding the bag toward the microscope where Laura was standing. She crossed her arms under her ample breasts and sighed, knowing that this discovery was going to be nothing but trouble. She watched Laura unwrap the blade while wearing a pair of thick latex gloves and slide it underneath the microscope.
"Amazing, come here and have a look at this Coyotka and tell me what you see." Laura stepped away from the scope and removed the latex gloves, putting them away into another collection bag. "I suggest we quarantine everything that has come in contact with this substance."
"Why?" Coyo stepped over to the microscope and looked into the eyepiece. The bacteria could be seen clearly but the strange thing about it was the fact that the individual cells were attaching themselves to the metal of the pocket knife. Drawing back she pulled the knife away from the scope and checked again to make sure that none of it had transferred to the scope itself. "I've never seen anything do that before."
"Well whatever it is I think it was put on the door as some sort of deterrent or defense." Laura cleaned off the scope with a rag and put all of the items in a steel box they had set aside for storage. "So at least three different empires that we know of carved a warning into the door, and that's not counting the other two lines on the door. They both seem similar but there's slight differences in the characters that would suggest otherwise."
"There's no way to find out what this is all about unless we just go ahead and open the door. There has to be a way right?" Rupert sounded like a child who had been denied a prize; his whining was something Coyotka hadn't missed. "I say we open it tomorrow."
"I second that actually." Nathan chirped as Rupert's enthusiasm jumped from one person to another. "Prudence would say otherwise but this find is unlike anything else we've ever encountered. It could be the pinnacle of our careers!"
"Same here." Laura said with a shrug.
"Well majority rules I suppose." Coyo shrugged as well but sighed audibly. "Although I'd like to voice my vehement opposition to this course of action."
"Ever the cautious one." Rupert put a hand on her shoulder. "Don't worry sweet cheeks, we'll make sure nothing from the bad old curse will hurt you."
Shaking her head she exited the tent and headed for her own, letting the three of them discuss their best course of action. Once she was inside the spacious but lacking accommodations she sat down on her cot and put her chin in her palm, resting her elbow on her knee. Nothing made sense to her. Their findings, if legitimate would be the first of its kind. Her sneaking suspicion about this being a bad idea had turned into a light burning in her stomach. The usual water and antacids didn't do her any good so she sat staring at the canvas ceiling above her head until she heard someone approaching.
"Coyo?" Came the feminine call, signifying that it was Laura standing outside. Her first instinct was to play possum and hope that she would go away but that would be rude of her.
"Yeah come on in." She replied after a moment of deliberation.
"I didn't wake you up did I?" Their eyes met briefly but Laura turned her head away.
"No, I was just thinking." She said with a smile, sitting up in the cot and swinging her legs out so she could sit comfortably. "What's up?"
"I was wondering if I could bunk with you tonight. We've only got the two tents and Rupert snores like a bear." Smiling shyly Laura looked back up at Coyo. "If you don't mind that is."
"Not at all." Coyo watched her go with interest. She had a nice body and a pretty face, something about the bookworm with glasses look was appealing to her. "Not at all."
Coyotka helped her settle her belongings down and set up her cot, it didn't take long. She sat down and watched as Laura fiddled with a few items in her pack. Her interest wasn't in the contents of the bag but the fact that Laura was bent over with her tail swishing in the air. She licked her lips lightly, trying to relieve the dryness that was plaguing her.
Her bunkmate pulled a rolled up sleeping bag out of her belongings and spread it across the cot, opening it and inspecting the insides for critters both dangerous and not. Once she was satisfied she slid her shorts down her slender legs and pulled her shirt over her head. Because the desert was so hot neither of them wore a bra. Coyo stood up and walked over to the vixen, wrapping one arm around her slim waist. Her free hand cupped Laura's mouth, holding her lips tight together. "Not a sound."
She struggled futilely for a moment; she wasn't as muscular as Coyo so holding her was easy. Her hand trailed southward while the rest of her arm kept the whimpering woman still. Coyo danced her fingers lightly across her cotton panties. They were cute, white with pink horizontal stripes and she could see the outline of Laura's slit and she could feel the slight dampness growing under her fingertips. "Your body doesn't seem to mind."
"You knew this was going to happen you teased me." A slight groan of either pleasure or despair, perhaps a hint of both escaped Laura's throat and filtered through Coyo's fingers. The vixen's hands pushed feebly at her arms and she giggled lightly into the squirming woman's ear. Teasingly she put her fingers into the waistband of her panties and moved them downward slowly. She reached the wet lips of Laura's pussy and spread them just a bit, using her middle finger to trace a line up and down barely touching the sensitive bundle of nerves at the hood of her vagina.
She was gentle as she pushed a single finger into the pulsating, begging little hole and began raining little kisses and bites down on her neck. Coyo moaned a little and moved her hand back and forth, placing a second finger inside with the first. She was satisfied when she got a muffled moan in return. "Not too loud, we wouldn't want the boys finding out what we're doing now would we?"
"Please stop." Laura begged from behind her slightly loosened fingers. "I don't want this."
"Don't lie." Coyo teased her ears with the tip of her tongue and increased the speed of her fingers. She looked down and watched her hand move back and forth straining against the elastic band, her fingers were soaking wet to the palm. Coyo pushed her forward into the cot and put her knee lightly on her captive's shoulder to keep her there. She was face up and panting hard but she made no further move to struggle. As she moved her head closer to the Laura's womanhood she took in the strong aroma for a moment before riding the tip of her tongue from the top all the way to the bottom. With her hands free now she spread it just a little and suckled on her clit.
An involuntary jump and gasp followed and she smiled, straddling the woman's body. Without any prompting Laura shot her head forward and prodded Coyo's soft lips with her tongue. She could tell that the vixen had never done this before, she was sloppy but the attention was still welcome. To reward the action she pushed a single finger inside and wiggled her tongue up and down rapidly.
Laura's body tensed and she grunted hard, clenching the muscles inside of her cunt with involuntary force hard enough to make Coyo's finger hurt. "My goodness you were mighty pent up."
Coyo smiled when she turned her head to the side and didn't answer. She wasn't done though, her needs hadn't been satisfied. Kneeling between Laura's legs she straddled one and turned her body to the side, pulling the other around her waist.
"No!" She said softly, curling her leg around Coyo's waist instinctively.
"It's my turn honey." She thrust her hips forward and leaned forward, holding Laura down by her wrists. Again she struggled and Coyotka loved it, the wiggling little body beneath her caused friction as she rubbed her pussy up and down across Laura's still-dripping womanhood. She pinned her hands above her head and put another hand across the vixen's mouth as she began getting louder. Her hips were almost moving on their own and as an afterthought she arched her back a little and bit down on Laura's nipple hard enough make her cry out but not enough to break the skin. Pulling her head back she held on to the delicate lump of skin and then let go, scraping her teeth across it just a little.
Laura's body was so responsive to the attention that Coyo was sure she'd never had an orgasm in her life. Her pussy was on fire; Coyo could feel the heat pouring off of her body as she fought against her restraints futilely. Their bodies were so close, undulating and flowing together faster with each passing second. She could feel her body coming close to a big orgasm and with a swift motion she removed her hand from Laura's mouth and grabbed her head, forcing her into a deep kiss. As their tongues twined and danced together Coyo's body stiffened and she grinded her hips hard into the vixen's body.
She let her body go limp on top of the red-furred girl and stopped the kiss, burying her face into Laura's sweet-smelling neck fur. For a long time they were both quiet save the sounds of heavy breathing and gasping. It was Coyo that broke the silence first. "Never been with another woman before?"
"No." Laura looked away from her and sighed a little, closing her eyes. Being violated was one thing but being violated and enjoying it was a different story, it had indeed been a while for her to say the least. "Well I'm glad you enjoyed yourself then."
"You raped me." She said softly as if she was trying to deny it. "I didn't initiate this."
"No but you finished it quite well." Coyo put a hand on the side of her face and touched their lips together again, this time a little more gently. "You can't rape the willing."
"True enough I guess." She replied while trying not to smile. "I want more."
**
Morning came soon enough and Coyo had to don sunglasses to curb the slight headache she had developed. She was quite sure it was because she had stayed up through a good part of the night pleasing an insatiable vixen that seemed to have a penchant for being dominated. Her tongue felt as if it was going to fall off. She grinned broadly though; it felt good to relieve some of that sexual tension that had built up from the long months on digs with unattractive men.
She and Laura had gotten a late start and when she exited their tent she was surprised to find a tall man hunched over their table with Rupert and Nathan. As she approached he turned around to her and smiled. He was tall and built for a wolf. He had a short muzzle with a chiseled jaw and soft brown fur. His eyes were brown as well although they were a few shades darker, matching his hair perfectly. He wore an open white shirt tucked into a pair of khaki shorts, both looked brand new. What she was more interested in was his body, his chest and what she could see of his abs were so well defined he looked as if he was chiseled from stone. As he moved he had a certain amount of grace that did not escape her gaze or her loins, from his muscular legs all the way to the wave of hair he had combed to the side he was a handsome man.
"Coyotka." She said with an extended hand. When he grabbed her hand gently and kissed her knuckles Coyo could have blushed like a schoolgirl, fortunately for her she was more composed than that.
"Kumar." He replied in a deep bass voice laced with a strong Australian accent. "It's a pleasure to finally meet you."
"Oh? You've heard of me?" She queried, looking from him to Rupert and Nathan.
He laughed jovially and his face split into another grin. "How could I not since I work under Rupert."
"Oh, he never mentioned having an assistant." She eyed Rupert who shrugged and shot her a smile before turning back to his work. "It's nice to meet you too."
As he turned around and went back to what he was doing she eyed his ass for a long moment until she felt a feminine hand slide around her waist. Coyo turned her head to the side and smiled as she kissed Laura's thin lips and returned the gesture. Rupert and Nathan both cleared their throats and pretended not to see but Kumar merely smiled and shifted his gaze from one female to the other. "So what's on the agenda first boys?"
"Nathan and Rupert wanted to gather some samples from the nearby cave. I was hoping you would help me catch up on your recent findings." Kumar elaborated, causing an arched eyebrow from both Rupert and Nathan but no protest. "Right?"
"Sounds like a plan to me." Rupert agreed while standing and simultaneously grabbing Nathan by the arm. He silenced the coming protest and gathered their tools on the way out of the tent. "You know one day you'll get hair in funny places and start thinking about girls like him."
"Oh that's a laugh, you're a right comedian." They heard Nathan say as the two of them entered the coal mine bickering back and forth.
"Coyo I think I should just go with them I guess." Laura said softly, reverting back to her original shy self.
"Oh no, you're not going anywhere." She gripped Laura tight around the waist and fixed a wicked grin across her features. "You'll miss out on the fun."
Coyo pushed her toward Kumar and followed right behind her, swaying her hips from side to side with her tail swishing around excitedly. She was hungry still even after her escapade last night. Without waiting for permission she grabbed his shirt and tore it open, casting it to the side her hands explored his body. The curves and hard muscles under her fingers excited her, his scent was as powerful as his body as he walked in close to her and grabbed her around the waist and lifted her off of the ground.
She kissed him forcefully until he grabbed her long hair and pulled her head back, resting his lips between her breasts. She grabbed his hands and tried to force him away, knowing she couldn't resist him if she wanted to. Using only a fraction of his strength he lifted her arms up and put both of her wrists into his huge hand and growled low, dragging her shirt up and using it to tie her hands together. Coyo kicked her legs against his back and ass and struggled lightly.
When he opened her shorts and his own in two deft motions she struggled harder against him and groaned, looking over at Laura. She found the slender vixen sitting on a table with her hands down the front of her shorts with her legs spread wide. Coyo smiled at her and put her tied arms around Kumar's neck, dragging him in closer to her body. As he leaned his large form against her she bit down on his neck and struggled harder. She could feel his cock pressing against her body; she made it harder for him just to enhance the feeling.
Using a free hand he pushed his manhood down against her glistening wetness and forced his way inside. She gasped and wrapped her legs tight around his body, her hips moved on their own. His hands gripped her ass tight and he lifted her up into his arms, bouncing her up and down on his rock solid member burying it deep inside. Her head fell backwards and she opened her mouth wide, moaning with each thrust of his hips. An orgasm ripped through her system like an explosion causing her whole body to go nearly limp. Still he continued on.
"Ah! Oh my god!" Laura cried out suddenly and kicked her legs involuntarily. "I need it, I need it now."
Coyo let out a soft sigh of relief as he tossed her down onto the table and walked over to Laura. Not waiting for an invitation he yanked her down and bent her over the table. After pulling her clothes off forcibly Kumar grabbed her hips and steadied her as he crammed himself inside her warm, wet, little pussy. Her cry of passion made Coyotka grin from ear to ear, the quiet ones were always the most wild in bed.
From her position she could see him and she was surprised she had been able to take everything he had. Even considering he was a large man his endowment was huge. She watched the glistening, angry dick go in and out over and over. Laura's face was screwed up into a mask of pain and pleasure, it was obvious she wasn't used to his size yet but she was enjoying herself none-the-less. The spot of wet sand growing beneath them was a testament to that.
Unable to contain herself she slid down off of her perch and walked up beside him. She grabbed his balls and massaged them lightly and wrapped her hand around Laura's neck, holding her down against the table forcibly. Her voice was silky and seductive with her lips just barely a fraction of an inch away from his ear, she whispered loudly. It was more an order than a suggestion. "Come inside."
"No!" Laura cried out and wiggled against her captors, lifting her legs up in an attempt to scurry away from him.
He held her fast and smiled down at her. He knew she could see his face from her position but he bent down closer to her and licked the side of her face. "My pleasure."
As he grunted loudly and Laura cried out a final protest Coyo dropped down to her knees and used her tongue to clean him off as he pulled himself out of her slowly. She couldn't take his entire length into his mouth but she cleaned him off well then turned to Laura, smiling when a large gob of his sticky love honey dripped down into her mouth. "Delicious."
**
"Let me ask you a question Rupert." Nathan said after a long moment of silence. "The rest of these tunnels lead somewhere right? Where exactly do they go?"
"Well most of them actually end up underneath the Gobi itself. The survey team didn't go very far to tell you the truth so I don't know how deep they run or how far." Rupert gathered another sample of water from a nearby pool and sealed the bottle, putting it into his satchel. "I say we open it Nathan, just the two of us."
"What about the others?" He asked, looking toward the entrance to the cavern.
"They'll be along when they're done doing what young people do." Rupert threw him a wink and began waddling toward the steps. Once he reached the door he put a pair of thick leather gloves on his hands and grinned broadly. "This will be the experience of a lifetime!"
**
Laura was still angry at them but it was fast wearing down. Her sexual frustration had outweighed their blatant disregard for her body. Coyo giggled a little and slipped her arm around the pouting vixen's waist and snuggled up next to her as they walked down into the mine. "You're so cute when you're angry. Don't you agree?"
"Too right." He said simply, inclining his head.
Their grins were wiped clean as a scream echoed around them coming from deeper within the earth. After looking at each other for a moment in confusion they took off into a run with Kumar in the lead and Coyotka following close behind. The walk down there had never seemed so long; they rounded the final corner and stopped at the entrance. Silence was all they found.
"Where are they?" Laura asked out loud to no one in particular.
"Oh no." Coyo answered by pointing a finger out at the doorway across the cavern. It was open, the door had been pushed inside a few feet, and she could see it resting in an alcove carved into the wall. "They opened the door."
"Laura, go back up to the camp and use the radio to get help out here. There's a town not far from our camp. Coyotka you come with me." Kumar ordered, and without missing a beat he climbed down the ladder leaving the two of them standing at the entrance astounded for a moment or two. Coyo finally climbed down after him, motioning for Laura to head down the tunnel and follow his orders. "Go quickly, we might need a medic."
Once they set foot down on the light colored stone around them they both proceeded cautiously forward, inspecting the cavern as if anything could jump out at them any time. Kumar's large form was deceptively silent; in fact she was making more noise than he was when she was walking. As such she redoubled her efforts to remain silent. They crested the stairway and glanced inside the dark alcove. Inside was a broken halogen lamp but no sign of either men. Coyo walked back down the steps quickly and retrieved a pair of lamps, handing one to Kumar and holding another herself. The entrance to was wide enough for him to walk through comfortably so she had no problems following
close behind.
Within they found the walls chiseled smooth and filled with rows and rows of hieroglyphics. With care she stepped over to the wall and inspected the markings. They were surprisingly well preserved and instead of being painted on the wall they were carved like the door was. It was strange considering their possible origins. "It's a story, a history really but it can wait, lets go."
They pressed onward, walking into the next chamber through a narrow passageway. The hall was smooth stone and angular like the first room. Once they hit the next chamber Coyo's breath caught before she could let it out. Scattered around the floor were the remains. The astounding part was the differences in their garb and possessions. Every corpse had no flesh, only white bone but their clothing was left intact. Her eyes fell upon the group closest to the door; they were wearing vintage German uniforms. She had heard stories about the Germans searching out supernatural artifacts to aid them in their conquest but she had never seen the evidence first hand.
The rest of them were from various eras including some Egyptian style clothing that seemed to be a few decades off kilter, maybe some time before the known Egyptian civilization. Once she was over that display she looked up at Kumar. His eyes were locked on an object across the room.
A pylon of pure crystal stood from the floor of the cavern stretching upward a few feet. A circular platter-shaped indentation had been carved in the top and resting in that slight indentation was a skull. Not just any skull, this item seemed to be a cross between metallic and crystalline. It was shaped strangely, it didn't look like any animal she had ever seen. It was round at the top and the face had high cheek bones and teeth that fell straight in line with the facial structure. Its eyes were set apart a little with a nose just between. The jaw was connected though there was no flesh on the artifact. The most amazing thing was the fact that the skull was carved with symbols and pictures from the back of the oval-shaped object all the way to the front. Every tooth and every inch of the jaw was carved and inside the recesses were different colors of some sort of crystals or gemstones crushed up into shards and powder. In the eye sockets Coyotka swore she saw two white pinpricks of light but when she glanced back up they disappeared.
"What the hell is that?" Kumar said first, watching the metallic object as if he expected it to fly off the pillar toward them. "And where are the professor and Doctor Rupert?"
"I don't know." Coyo said softly, knowing that the answer was true for both questions. "We should go search for them."
Kumar turned and walked out of the room, Coyo followed suit but as she reached the doorway she felt a presence unlike any she had felt before. It was faint and vaguely malefic in nature, she knew that much. It gave her pause enough that she turned her gaze back to the skull and found it staring at her with the two white points of light. Something about it beckoned her but she backed her way toward the door slowly, shutting out of her mind with ease. "Kumar."
"What?" He was already across the room when he turned back around to look at her. "Come on, let's get out of here. That thing is giving me the creeps."
Coyo shook out the cobwebs that had been growing between her ears and followed him out of the room. As the descended the steps she caught of Rupert stumbling back into the cavern, carrying Nathan. "Nathan, Rupert! What happened?"
"That thing, it's alive. I almost..." Rupert held his head and sobbed lightly, dropping to his knees. "We almost tore each other apart. I came to my senses and pushed Nathan out of the room and down the stairs. Once we were out of its range we felt fear, intense fear. Nathan collapsed but I don't know why."
"I felt the presence too." Coyo said softly as she turned and walked back into the room boldly. "But it couldn't take me."
"No!" Rupert shouted, holding his hands out to her.
"You all stay out." She held her hand up and walked back into the room wondering what had possessed her to do such a stupid thing. "I know you're there, show yourself, what did you do to Nathan?"
Her mind exploded in a torrent of images, feelings, and emotions none of which were her own. Awash with these foreign feelings she felt herself drifting aimlessly, falling through a timeline of jumbled events all stepped in antiquity. A face appeared before her, dark features and barely discernable as a jackal-like visage and a flash of light temporarily blinded her. When her vision cleared she was standing in the midst of a desert facing a sort of valley with a winding river and fertile fields nearby. By the water stood a man, familiar but not and in his hands he held a strange body. It had no hair save on its head but it was built like them, arms, legs, everything matched. Its facial features matched the pattern of the skull.
Coyo gasped as another flash hit her and this same man sat on a throne made of stone with servants and worshippers all around. It was a pharaoh by the look of him. Drunk in his power he had become sedentary; she didn't know how she knew that. The next image was this man dead on the floor. The next was his son and another, and so on the list of wielders scrolled on. Genghis Khan, Alexander the Great, Julius Caesar, so many faces and names she recognized. All of them tied to blood and destruction.
Her eyes fluttered open suddenly and she gasped, holding her head with one hand and propping up on the other so she could look around the room. "Get out of my head!"
"You have a strong will my lady," A deep, resonating but wavering voice issued from the general direction of the artifact. "And a keen intellect."
"You were the force behind these madmen?" She demanded, looking around the room. "Hitler, you helped Adolf Hitler?"
"He was a strange one." The skull agreed without moving its lower jaw. "Wield me, use me. Together we can carve a new era of peace and prosperity for your world. Think of the possibilities."
"No." She said as she began regaining her strength. "These men around me, they are the ones that couldn't handle your intrusion, you killed them?"
"I didn't do it on purpose. All who enter my chamber must be tested and tried. Few survive." It said after a moment of silence. "I give myself to those who are worthy of the power I offer. You are worthy, with our mind as my conduit we could rule this world with an iron fist."
"What did you do to Nathan?" She asked again, looking back to the doorway. Just beyond it she could see Kumar and Rupert pushing against some sort of invisible barrier.
"I did not do anything to him. On his way out he touched the door; the defense my last wielder placed on the door is potent and quite deadly if not treated." It teased.
"What do you want in return for his life?" Her voice was stern and she could feel it testing her mind again and with a bit of effort she pushed it back. Her defense was her family, sex, anything that would keep her mind working. "Stop that."
"To the matter at hand then? A quality I admire." It paused for a moment and she felt it recede for a moment. "I will tell you how to save his life in return for the life of another."
"No deal." She shook her head and squinted angrily at the skull's white eyes. "Tell me now or I seal this chamber forever with a good quantity of dynamite."
"Threats do not become you Coyotka."
"Something else." She said in reply, trying to get it talking. "There has to be something else I can do."
"Oh there may be but I don't think you're strong enough for such a thing." The distinctly male voice chided, apparently trying to goad her into action. "You can use my power to heal the man Nathan. If you do not, he dies."
"What happens to me?" She asked softly, looking back to the two men banging away at thin air making absolutely no noise.
"You are strong enough, you should be fine. You'll gain a boon companion to travel with." A sinister laugh echoed throughout the chamber. "If you do not agree to this the door closes and you will be trapped down here with me until your mind wears away to nothing or you expire. Whichever happens first."
Coyo looked back at them and then at the metallic sentient artifact and then back. Taking that first step toward the dais was the hardest thing she had ever done in her life. She had a feeling that would change soon enough.
**
Her footfalls left a trail in the shifting sands of the Gobi and the heat of the sun pounded down on the ground relentlessly. Enshrouded in a long robe she walked on seemingly unaffected by the harsh environment. Upon her back she carried a nondescript pack, the same one she had brought to the camp site that day. Her mind wandered back in that direction often.
Nathan had survived his ordeal with her help; subsequently he had returned to teaching and had no memory of the events that had occurred in the forgotten tomb. Rupert, Laura, and Kumar were at her destination. It was a new dig just on the outskirts of the same mountain that had changed her destiny forever. They had all agreed to help her with her burden, to try and find a way to rid her of the heavy weight that rode on her shoulders.
Wrapped in old linens deep within the pack rested a familiar metal object. She was reminded of its presence not only by the whispers she had ignored day in and out but because it was cold and hard against her back. She trudged on through the hot sun and looked up from below the hood of her robe, hoping that beyond the next few dunes would be her salvation.