Queen of the sands (story by the drunken ferret)

[sakura_inverse]

The asp’s fangs sunk deep into Cleopatra’s flesh as lethal venom infused into her blood. Cleopatra’s reaction to the pain was immediate as her adrenaline kicked into high gear for the last time. Her body was in agony but her mind was coming to peace. Her body quickly lost its strength as she collapsed into her bed, where she took her final breath. Cleopatra’s body was given the rites and burial as Egypt’s last Pharaoh before Rome took over the once great empire.

Thousands of years later, an archaeologist named Relena Lenheart pried open a long lost tomb dedicated to Cleopatra’s personal effects. For an archaeologist, Relena was nothing short of stunning. She was 5’10” with a firm slender figure, 34 C breasts, and strawberry blonde hair enriched with the sun’s rays. Following behind her was an old stout man who was seemingly made of circles. With the aid of a walking stick and a paper fan, he pushed his way past Relena and made his way into history as the first person in modern times to gaze upon Cleopatra’s personal effects.

The short man was named Dr. Phillistine Bastion. He was certified by the University of Brisbane as the foremost expert of Egyptian archaeology. With several decades of research under him, he was the natural choice for leading such a pioneering achievement. He could have easily had a team of the sharpest minds chosen for him, but instead he only chose one person to assist him. That person was Relena. Relena was easily in the top of her class and well on her way to a doctorate. However, Dr. Bastion chose her simply for her looks. When the day came that the world’s press would surround them asking details of this magnificent discovery, they’d see him as the dignitary and Relena as a nobody who charmed her way into this expedition.

Relena waited for Dr. Bastion to make his way inside before she allowed herself in. Three thousand year old hieroglyphs surrounded her in such a way that she didn’t know where to begin. While Relena began to photograph and translate the ancient art work, Dr. Bastion sat down on the sand stone floor and fanned cool air over his sweaty face. The whole process of photographing every inch of the tomb’s entrance took Relena several minutes but this all seemed to pass for the old man. As soon as Relena was done, she looked down at him and asked “Can you take a look at some of these hieroglyphs with me?”

Dr. Bastion looked up at her with an expression that would have implied that she just asked him to get naked. In a gruff tone, he snapped “You’re the student here; you should be the one translating all of this nonsense.”

Relena replied “Well, um Mr. Bastion…”

Before Relena could continue, there was a sharp “You should know better by now that it’s Dr. Bastion! Doctor! I was uncovering history while you were thinking about your ABCs!”

Relena stammered as she said “I’m sorry Dr. Bastion, but I’ve translated some of these hieroglyphs and they seem to warn that traps have been laid to ward off grave robbers.”

The look Dr. Bastion had on his remained unchanged. He once again snapped “These Egyptian traps and curses are a bunch of bullocks. Now go explore this tomb some more. I’ll catch up later.”

Relena gracefully pressed down a dark hallway and deeper into the tomb. Despite Dr. Bastion’s ramblings, she still exercised caution in walking down the dark passageways. Her attention was constantly divided between the blank stone walls and the floor. She knew that three thousand years might turn rope and wood into dust, but traps made of stone could be counted on to last thousands of years more. For now, the worst danger of all seemed to be the nothingness that stretched out before her. A weaker mind would surely have gone mad with suspense.

A short time later, the streak of nothingness was finally broken. It wasn’t broken by the discovery of any artifacts, but rather a skeleton half sunk into the dry sand. She froze but not out of fear. On either side of the skeleton lay two piles of dust where connectors for a trip wire must have been. She then also noted that there were two slots on either side of the wall deep enough to hide lethal projectiles. Relena carefully knelt down on her knees and slowly began to unearth the skeleton. Once she had revealed more, she found two spear tips lying where the abdomen should have been.

Relena knew for sure that her cautiousness had paid off. But she had to ask herself who this skeleton was or more importantly, if it had created another way in when it was alive. If this was the skeleton of a grave robber, then many of Cleopatra’s treasures were surely gone. But if it wasn’t a grave robber, then there weren’t too many possibilities on what else it could be. She excavated the skeleton some more and finally found her answer. On its right wrist, a golden servant’s bracelet glimmered under Relena’s flash light. The skeleton could only have logically belonged to an architect who had gone insane and set off one of his own traps. Considering that many architects were buried alive in the tombs they designed, Relena really couldn’t blame him for taking his own life.

After removing the bracelet from the skeleton, Relena dutifully called out “Dr. Bastion, I found something.”

A few seconds of silence had gone by before Dr. Bastion shouted “If it’s more Hieroglyphs, just take a picture and I’ll examine it later.”

A slight growl took over Relena’s lips before she shouted back “I found an artifact! It’s a servant’s bracelet made of gold!”

A few loud grunts could be heard from the tomb’s entrance. No doubt Dr. Bastion was trying to stand up. He finally shouted “Just bring it to me and I’ll examine it!”

Relena obediently shouted “Yes sir I’m coming” while muttering “you fat fuck” under her breath. The only positive side Relena could put to this was that she didn’t have to watch out for any traps on the way back. She quickly raced back to Dr. Bastion and handed him the bracelet. She did this in utter silence knowing that it would be pointless to tell him about the trap she encountered. As Dr. Bastion carefully looked it over, Relena turned to explore more of the tomb.

Dr. Bastion didn’t seem to notice. All he said in regards to the delivery was “This is certainly a fine discovery I have made.”

Relena ran back down the dark hallway, with her flashlight guiding her. It was all she could do to keep from lashing out at Dr. Bastion. She stopped when she got to the skeleton and resumed her cautious trek. More blank walls and an empty floor greeted her senses. A sudden thought about the length of this hallway raised her spirits just a little. If the hallway was this long, then surely there must be something incredibly valuable at the end.

There was another unexpected surprise that caused Relena to stop. It wasn’t another skeleton, but rather the mass appearance of nothingness. She approached the black mass and tried to shine her light into it, but the darkness simply swallowed the light. Since she wasn’t able to see more than a few feet in front of her, she shone her light elsewhere to gather clues as to what lay before her. Her light couldn’t help her find the answer but it did lead her to something that could.

She found a stone torch mounted to the wall. Quickly taking the hint, she fumbled around her pockets for a lighter and brought a flame to the ancient torch. A small flame started on the torch but soon it grew into an illuminating fireball that gave her a much better range of sight. She quickly spied another torch and carefully made her way towards it. After lighting it, another torch caught her attention.

Five torches had been lit when Relena suddenly got the sense that something was amiss. The sand under her feet suddenly felt softer and it seemed to climb up the sides of her boots with every step she took. She reached down to the sand and felt what she could only describe as a fine powder between her finger tips. While she thought it was strange, she could do nothing more than remain vigilant as she made her way to the other torches.

Her path had taken her around the large room in a rectangular parameter. The large room she was in, while empty, revealed yet another hallway to be traveled down. In the glowing atmosphere, she couldn’t help but notice that this would make an excellent setting for a candle lit dinner. Relena quietly said under her breath “So romantic. Too bad I don’t have anyone worth while to share this with.”

She took one of the lit torches off of the wall and proceeded down the unexplored hallway. Although the sight of an archaeologist carrying a torch down an Egyptian tomb screamed “cliché”, the light it provided saw to the holstering of her once trusty flash light. The ground beneath her feet took a more powdery texture which in turn saw to its softer feel. She was barely aware of the powdery sand as she was more wary of hidden trip wires. Even as the heels of her boots sank beneath the sand, she truly believed that she had better things to worry about.

Relena reached the end of the hallway and entered another rectangular chamber. With the same pattern of torches as before, Relena wasted little time in illuminating the large space. What she found was truly stunning. In each corner of the chamber, giant statues dedicated to the classical Egyptian gods seemed to stand guard as their cold gaze seemingly pierced the center of the large room. The chamber’s core contained a single stone chest covered in ancient colorful hieroglyphs. One of the hieroglyphs was written boldly so that even outsiders could understand what lay before them. The ancient text read “The moat of Osiris guards my treasures. May those who seek my treasures find Osiris instead.”

The message seemed so cryptic that even Relena’s expertise as a student couldn’t comprehend. She considered getting Dr. Bastion’s help, but she concluded that it would be a wasted effort. Plus the added thought of her discovering what was inside that chest before Dr. Bastion even knew about its existence was too good to turn down. Still wary of the message, Relena scanned the sands that lay between her and the chest. Aside from a slight depression that dropped a few centimeters, nothing could possibly stand in her way. She approached the chest with her heart pumping pure adrenaline through her veins.

She was two meters from the chest when her right foot was suddenly swallowed by the powdery sand. She stumbled and just managed to keep her balance. But in the confusion, her left foot was also swallowed. She was only ankle deep in the sand, but the fine grains made sure that she had to struggle just to pull her right foot out. In doing so, she buried her left leg to her shin, making it all but impossible to ever extract that limb without someone’s help.

The meaning of the word “moat” became clearer to Relena as she struggled to free her leg. Her haste to escape proved that she was willing to gamble the safety of her right leg in order to free the left. The gamble failed to pay off as her right leg became trapped once again. In one final desperate attempt, she placed all of her leverage on her right leg to pull her left free. She should have suspected that her right leg would have sunk on par with her left, but her desperation left her stuck up to her knees.

Her only hope was for Dr. Bastion to somehow hear her cry for help and she was seconds away from calling for it. Relena took a deep breath and the fates dictated that she would scream. A shrilling cry erupted from her lips but it wasn’t a plea for help. The cry came as a result of a tunneling line slithering underneath the sand. Relena struggled with a new urgency, but the sand around her knees braced itself for her struggles. An urge of futility caused her arms to raise in her defense.

The object that tunneled through the sand stopped when it was inches away from Relena. It didn’t stop for long as the sand parted to reveal what had advanced towards her. The result was too terrifying for Relena to muster another scream. The head of a white asp positioned itself within striking distance from her defenseless being. As more of its body emerged, its neck bent like a bed spring to lengthen its lethal strike. Relena was beyond fear. She knew that even if Dr. Bastion showed up, he’d cower at the serpent. Tears began to flow as a feeling of surrender overtook her body. The asp reared back and with a single strike, a deadly concoction of venom fused with Relena’s blood.

Thanks to the sudden rush of pain, Relena’s pulse quickened. Toxic blood rushed through her vessels and exploited every chamber of her heart. Every artery responsible for her life now carried the seed to her destruction. The venom flooded her mind and soaked into her cerebral cortex. The effects for her downfall were in place. All she had was precious time measured in mere minutes. The venom clouded her vision. Everything around her ceased to be real, leaving only what her subconscious permitted.

A warm feeling began to burn in her soul, like she just had a stiff glass of southern comfort. Her sense of balance felt like it was locked in a steady gyroscope steadily spinning nowhere. The serpent that sentenced her to death withdrew its fangs and flicked its tongue once again. Relena’s eyes struggled to focus on the asp, but even if they could focus, they’d only serve to deceive her.

The white scales of the asp slowly turned to the color of the sand before it melted away into thousands of fine grains. Relena’s intoxication refused to allow her any type of shock even though she was still well aware this was far from normal. Her vision wasn’t the only thing affected. Her ears also meant to deceive her as a faint voice seemed to come from below the sand. She wasn’t quite sure, but any intelligence she had that was unaffected by the venom said that it spoke Latin. The words “raptor vestri vita mos terminus hic” pinged around in her brain like a bad nightmare. From what little Latin Relena knew, it sounded like “Thief…life ends...”

She tried to contemplate what the voice meant. As she put the pieces together, a hand rose from her sandy trap. As her thighs began to sink, she barely sensed what was rising in front of her. A mere second passed and a figure that resembled an Egyptian pharaoh had risen above her. The pharaoh looked down and with a voice rasp with anger, hissed “Quisnam praesumo perago meus tumbus de torqueo?”

Relena could do little more than to stare back with a blank expression. She was able to understand the words “tomb” and “torment” but little else. The venom was rapidly attacking her basic motor skills and all she could say was “Wait…God?”

The pharaoh grabbed the sides of Relena’s head and stared deeply into Relena’s empty eyes. The pharaoh’s eyes turned a sickening green color that was plagued with dark memories. A sharp rasp once again took the pharaoh’s voice as it said “forsitan ego adsuesco assuesco nimium virus.”

Before Relena could even begin to translate, the pharaoh’s eyes suddenly plunged deep into Relena’s. Like two long needles, the pharaoh’s gaze saw deep into Relena’s soul. At first, Relena could only stare blankly back as if she was unaware of what was happening. But over the course of a few seconds, her mind began to clear. She quickly noticed that she was able to rationalize her thoughts as well. The only down side was that the pain from her bite was still burning and she still had the warm feeling from before.

Relena had now just become aware that the fine powdery sand had locked around her hips. She was only able to tell from touch alone as her eyes were fixed onto the pharaoh. She instantly recognized the head dress as well as the black eye liner painted in a classical Egyptian pattern. She noticed that the pharaoh’s skin was made out of the powdery quicksand that held her tight. Despite being made out of sand, the pharaoh had a humanly figure with curves that resembled a woman’s body. Relena also noticed that aside from the headdress, the pharaoh was wearing nothing else. This stunning representation of the female body left Relena with only one word. She quietly stuttered “Cl…Cleopatra?”

The green light left Cleopatra’s eyes and in its place took the complex circles that resembled the windows into one’s soul. The gaze from Cleopatra never softened as she said “Vos es rectus , ego sum Cleopatra.”

Relena stayed silent for a few seconds as she contemplated what she just heard. She heard Cleopatra say it in latin, but at the same time she heard “You are correct, I am Cleopatra.” Relena’s comprehension was so sudden it was almost as if she was born knowing how to translate Latin. Relena’s time to marvel at herself was cut short when Cleopatra said “You look like no descendant of Egypt. Tell me what land you have come from to plunder my tomb.”

The quicksand drew Relena even deeper by the second. The tops of her hips now belonged to the sand and her midriff descended to meet the surface. She couldn’t focus on her peril as she knew Cleopatra wouldn’t be kept waiting. Relena quietly said “I’m from Australia, but you can’t be real.”

Cleopatra’s scowl never disappeared, although the disbelief was evident in her eyes. Her disbelief was short lived as she shouted “You dare lie to me? You’re a descendant of Rome!”

Relena quickly uttered “No actually, you see...”

Before Relena could get the truth out, Cleopatra said “Your complexion betrays you. I vowed that whenever I saw a Roman, I’d make them suffer. Luckily for me, I didn’t extract all of the poison. Whether you sink under my sands or the bite takes your strength, you’ll feel every single minute of your torture.”

As soon as the words “poison” entered her mind, her sense of balance began to take a slight spin. The sensation was like being drunk except the pain from her bite began to grow even more. Over time she knew the pain would once again be unbearable. While Relena still had her wits about her, she asked “But I thought you loved Marc Antony.

Cleopatra’s eyes seemed to blaze with vexation. Her voice matched her eyes as she said “Marc Antony…Just the sound of that name brings back memories of Osiris. I thought I’d live amongst the gods. But…” Suddenly Cleopatra’s voice took a softer tone as she said “I had allowed Egypt to fall to Octavian and Anubis wanted me to suffer. He made sure that Marc’s heart would fail Maat’s scales. The very man that died in my arms was fed to Ammit, but Anubis had a worse fate for me.” Cleopatra’s voice suddenly switched again to anger as if she could switch the two emotions at will. She rasped “Anubis knew that my scarab would take me through the weighing of the heart ceremony. He trapped my soul inside of this tomb until I heard news of Rome’s downfall. Even he must know that Rome is too mighty to fall.”

Relena’s throat began to dry out as the Egyptian air robbed any feeling of hydration. The asp’s venom was once again giving her the feeling of intoxication. Her eyes looked like empty gem stones carved only out of the purest desperation. They met with the piercing cold gaze of Egypt’s last pharaoh and for one minute not a word was said. The longer Cleopatra gazed into Relena’s eyes, the colder towards her captive she became. Cleopatra broke the silence by saying “Speak your final words before I leave you to suffer.”

Relena choked as she tried to speak. The sands had her stuck firmly up to her chest which made inhaling nearly impossible. In a dry voice even her closest friends couldn’t recognize, she weakly said “The Roman Empire fell long after your death. All that is left of Octavian and the Roman Emperors are memories and books. Rome’s just a city ruled by an even greater power. You have to believe me.”

It took all of Relena’s strength just to say three sentences. But as incredulous as Cleopatra was, she never let the coldness escape her eyes. She stared into Relena’s eyes as if she was searching for any sign of deceit. In Cleopatra’s mind, nobody would dare lie to a queen. Not unless they wanted to suffer an agonizing fate. In Relena’s eyes, Cleopatra saw the pain from the asp’s bite spreading through Relena’s immobilized body. She also saw the dehydration brought by the asp’s venom and the dry Egyptian air. Most importantly she saw desperation. Cleopatra saw a submissive desperation that could only tell her that she was Relena’s last hope. The look of desperation only lasted for a second as Relena’s life essence began to fade away. As hard as she tried, Cleopatra could find no signs of deceit.

The icy glare of Cleopatra’s eyes turned into a warm look of sorrowful compassion. Cleopatra suddenly allowed her body to be consumed by the very sand she was made out of. As she began to dissolve into the sand, she walked towards Relena’s dying form. Cleopatra stopped when she was standing inches in front of Relena. Like Relena, Cleopatra was now up to her chest and slowly sinking into the very trap meant for thieves and bandits. Cleopatra’s eyes searched Relena’s once again, this time not for deceit but for life. Thankfully there was a slight glimmer left, which was all that Cleopatra needed.

Cleopatra’s hands glided effortlessly through the sand and around Relena’s body. She wrapped Relena in a warm embrace as if to cradle her into death. Cleopatra thought back to the moment where she lay on her death bed. If only someone was there to hold her maybe she’d be in Osiris right now. As she moved to pull Relena in closer, an alarming thought asked her “If Rome had fallen so long ago, how come nobody told me?” For the answer, all Cleopatra had to do was think back to her earlier conversation with Relena. Immediately she remembered “Until I hear of Rome’s downfall.” For the first time in many centuries, Cleopatra smiled. She looked into Relena’s eyes and said “You’re the one who has freed me from my torment. How could I be so cruel to do this to you?”

Nothing could separate the queen and her guest as Cleopatra’s lips met Relena’s. Cleopatra wished she could cure the pain left by the asp. She wished she could purify the venom that was infused into Relena’s blood. She wished above all she could find a way to turn pain into pleasure. In the days of Egypt’s reign, someone who would have performed such a service as Relena had would have been revered as an honored guest. Cleopatra would have made sure that Relena had indulged herself in every pleasure the Egyptian empire would have had to offer. She would have slept in the pharaoh’s palace and truly lived like royalty.

Relena and Cleopatra sank to their shoulders. It was impossible for Relena to breathe and Cleopatra could do nothing more than to keep her kiss in place. Although Cleopatra could move freely in the sand, she chose to remain by Relena’s side at least until they were deep underneath the surface. Deep inside of herself, Cleopatra felt something for Relena she hadn’t felt since she was with Marc. For reasons she couldn’t figure out, she felt it would be wrong to go to Osiris after having tortured Relena the way she did. Thoughts of leaving Relena behind for Osiris weighed heavily on her until Cleopatra broke the kiss and said “Come with me to Osiris. There we can melt into each other’s arms and you’ll receive the hospitality I should have greeted you with.” With the end of Cleopatra’s words came another kiss. This time the kiss was held in place until the two were drawn under the sand’s surface. With Relena gone, nobody was left to dispute Dr. Bastion’s claims that he had found Cleopatra’s lost tomb. He would receive all of the fame and glory while Relena’s whereabouts would forever be unknown.

Relena’s eyes fluttered open. She tried to sit up but she had a pounding headache as if she had been drunk the night before. She looked around her and saw a dark room lit by torches and covered in freshly painted hieroglyphs. She quietly whispered to herself “Did I hit my head or something? What just happened?” She found the strength to sit up and the results shocked her. She found that she was sitting in a bed lined with rich sheets of silk. A canopy loomed overhead covered with translucent sheet. Her hands instinctively searched her body and while the fact that she was naked shocked her, something else would leave her entirely speechless.

She pulled her covers back and found that she was sharing the bed with someone else. In the soft firelight, she could see the bronzed skin of a female figure lying peacefully next to her. Relena was sure that there was something familiar about the woman sleeping next to her but she couldn’t quite figure it out. She pulled the covers back some more and revealed that the woman was naked as well. The woman responded to the sudden exposure by shivering and curling up. Eventually the woman realized she wasn’t covered anymore and opened her eyes. That’s when Relena realized who she was staring at. There was no mistake that this was Cleopatra in the flesh but her eyes were filled with much more warmth than Relena could have ever imagined. Relena may have been speechless but her mind raced with a thousand questions that demanded to be answered at once. Indeed they were all answered when Cleopatra said “My dear, you have awakened to Osiris. But it’s much too early, you should rest with me some more.”

[onesixthsinker]

Great Job I love all things Egyptian, and this was a great story. Nice sensual ending.

[PM2K]

Wow!

Love it! Give the ferret another drink on me. This is definitely a keeper. Nice one!

[T-elos]

Nice job Sakura and thanks for doing such a good job on a story including relena and it was very well thought of.