desert awakening

" i see well i guess that helps a little..." arroe calmly said rolling his eyes, as he followed Ru.

"couldn't they put signs out to lead the way...? but then again knowing me i havent been out in the world for at least five or six years." he said as he was walking at Ru's pace.

arroe still had the thought of " her" running through his dull mind, though he seemed to be a litttle unnerved about crossing the desert for the first time in his life.

as they were walking he noticed strange things in the sand." Ru what are these? "he spouted a queston to break the awkward silence.

Ru grinned. "Sign posts." he said, cryptically. "Hundreds of years ago, when there was a rebel force out here, they had those stones as secret messages leading to their base of operations, pit stops, etcetera. It's a secret known mostly to the Elfin, but since I happen to be quite close to a few Elfin girls, then I know as well."

The wind suddenly began to pick up.
Ru covered his eyes and looked into the wavy, billowing air to the west. If some sort of storm, dust or otherwise, were to come, it would be from the mountainous cliffs to the west of the desert.

"Watch for lizards," said Ru. "If you see them scrambling, we're gonna have to take cover."

"lizards..? Elfin Girls?"arroe questioned. he hadn't heard of such creatures before and was halfly interested to see one.

"uh.. what ever..." he said not really paying attention to Ru. he continued to follow Ru's lead, but as he was not paying attention he tripped over some large stone that was partly covered by sand.as arroe came crashing down into the sand he had oddly twisted is ankle,and scraped his hands when trying to catch his fall.

"ngh.. ..whats this?"he said as he looked beneath him, at the uncovered stone that had carved in ancient lettering.

"You all right?" Asked Ru, holding out a hand to help Arroe up. He then took a closer look at the stone.

"Not sure..." Ru said, looking at it with thought. He did recognize it as the the code used by the ancient Elfin rebels, but he wasn't sure what it said. Under his breath, he thought out loud, "wish you were here, Xyn-lea....." as he tried to decipher it. As far as he could tell, it wasn't like the others in that it didn't say any general direction to head.

"I think I can make out the words, 'shelter' and 'burrow'. And I think.... 'stone'." He said. Perhaps a recent sand storm had unearthed a message of a burrow beneath a large stone? He told Arroe his thought.

arroe pulled himself up with the help of Ru's hand guiding him. " ngh.. yeah im fine..."he said wiping his hands on his pants and dusting them off.

"hmmm... maybe we should investigate abit?" he seemed intrigued by this weird discovery.

Ru nodded. "Might be a good idea, especially if a storm does happen to hit." Which it might..... Ru knew this desert fairly well, and was getting uneasy.

Scanning the horizon, he saw a large rock.

"Maybe it's that?"

"uhh.. are you sure ?... " he rolled his eyes in disbelief.

"fine with me ... i for one don't want to get caught up in a sandstorm " he continued. he continued foward towards the large rock like object.

" i guess she'll have to wait a while longer for me...." arroe said with alittle more emotion in his voice that sounded like he was happy.

they finally reached the rock, and arroe immediatly went over to check it out." hey... Ru!.... come give me a hand over here...." arroe heaved as he was trying to push the rock to see if Ru was right.

Ru walked over to Arroe and helped him give the rock a push. With their combined efforts, it moved! And revealed was an opening that looked like it had stair cases.

Ru looked down.
Then at the sky. It looked like it was gonna storm, after all.

"Better get inside.... You first, I'll try and see if I can get the rock to block the sandstorm, okay?"

arroe went in first .." fine by me... i 'll just see whats down here..." arroe paced himself down the stone stairs making sure he didn't fall since he didn't know where it was leading him.

when he got the bottom he found a large space with skulls everywhere." well isn't this welcoming..." he said with a sarcastic tone.

This must be like a catacomb or something? like i read in the books back home....arroe thought to himself.

" how long are you gonna be up there? .... ah geez now i can't see a thing.."arroe complained whne he walked further into the place where the light was no longer.

Ru Gave the rock a push so it was covering the other side, and as an after thought, took a flat stone large as the opening that had falllen off the larger rock, and put it over the entrance, just as the sand started to blow. He walked down into the catacombs, his night vision quickly kicking in.

He then heard Arroe say something about the dark.

"Hm? Oh, sorry... I guess you're not able to see in the dark?" He asked, scanning the room for something that could be used as a torch. Upon not finding anything quickly, he conjured flames at his hand. They lit the dark room well enough to see by, and stunned Ru for a moment before his eyes adjusted again.

"Can't keep this up forever, so help me look for a torch."

"well .. easy for you to say .. i can't see a damn thing in my way..." arroe argued while trying to feel his way around in the dark.

after a moment of walking into walls, he bent down to feel if anything was on the ground . and sure enough he felt something there. " I think i just found something .. but you have to come over here since i can't see.." he yelled around to try and locate Ru.

Ru walked over to Arroe, lighting what he was looking at. It was......

arroe picked the object up. " it.. looks like a stone tablet..... but god knows I can't read it..." he tossed it to Ru.

"here do what you want with it i have use for it anyways..." he said slinking away to a corner. "i might as well get some sleep if we're gonna be stormstayed..."with arroe's remark he drifted into a sleep.

Ru took the tablet and nodded at Arroe's statement of sleep. With that, he let the small flame die and his eyes adjust again.

Studying the tablet, he figured he had no idea what it meant. He then, also decided it was time to sleep.


About an hour after sleeping, footsteps were heard in the cave.

arroe slightly heard the footsteps, and awoke screaming" WHo's there! Stand where you are! ...." arroe feeling threatened tried to flee. felt hlike his body was numb and couldn't move.

Xyn-lea walked down the dark pathway, a shortcut between the hidden city outpost and another mid point in the desert. She was getting close to the catacombs like exit when she heard a yell of "Who's there! Stand where you are!"

Not having a torch, as she had learned years ago how to enchant her eyes to temporarily see in the dark, she went further without making a noise.

Inside, she saw a man with dark hair and silver in it. He was laying down, as was.... Ru?! she thought. What's he doing here? I thought he knew I was supposed to meet him.... She went closer to him, ignoring the nuisance person. Bandage? she thought, looking at him. He was injured? What was going on. She walked over to the stranger, taking out her blade and holding at his throat maliciously, blaming him with her short tempered ways.

"What happened?"

" where are you?...!!"he questoned randomly into the darkness.
arroe didn't know what was going on, since he couldnt see who was there but in his mind he halfly thought it could be 'her'.

somehow he overpowed his will and got up ,though despite not being able to see he sensed a blade had been close to him. "could it really be you...?... afte all this time..I " arroe stopped himself in midsentence, as the only thing he could do was move to hug the unkown being. "I've waited for so long...." he wispered.

This only made Xyn-lea more irritated. She pushed Arroe off of her and pushed him to the ground, holding knives at both sides of his throat, the blades crossing.

"What do you think you're doing? And what happened to him?"

" what...? i don't remember you like this..."arroe was now on the ground sensing the blades at his throat. "and .. what do you mean by that...?... i don't know what your talking about...." arroe shot out the words as he was immobile by the blades.

" you musn't be 'Her' then..." arroe sighed heavily with dissappointment, making sure he did'nt cut himself on the blades, still laying there peering at the dark figure.

Ru heard a shuffling sound, and some talking, and woke up slowly. Wonder what's going on? he thought, letting his eyes adjust to the lack of light.

Looking around, he saw Arroe pinned to the ground by.....

"Xyn-lea?!" He got up quickly, "What are you doing?! And wasn't I supposed to be.... oh, nevermind, what are you doing?"
He looked at Arroe. "Did you attack her or something?"

arroe stayed pinned to the ground." uhh.. I didn't do anything....all I know is she attacked me for no reason.... now you have to tell me whats going on....."
arroe backed away from xyn-lea.

" who are you?... and if you don't mind telling me why you attacked me in the first place....?"" he asked.

Xyn-lea let him back away. "You threatened me," she said, pointing accusingly at Arroe. "And I thought, since he seemed so snappy, he was responsible for your injuries!"

Ru paused. "Well..... he was, but," he said, stopping her from doing anything in anger. "Don't blame him!"

She crossed her arms and glared coldly at Arroe as Ru explained what had happened.

"So yeah... now we're here, trapped by a sand storm."

"..... Oh," was all she said. "Sorry, then. Misunderstanding." Xyn-lea held out her hand for Arroe to shake it. "I'm Xyn-lea, dark elf assassin extrordinaire."

arroe stared at xyn-lea's hand. what... does she think i'll trust her after what she just did... hmph yeah right.....he thought to himself.

" you can call me Arroe......and I'm a vampire...well half anyways..."he stated wearily shaking her hand.

She shook his hand friendily. "Half vampire? So I don't have to waste a torch and light this area?"

" i guess you could say that..." he said halfly sarcastic.
" sooo Xyn-lea....are ..you ... and Ru.. kinda...?" arroe asked as hinting he had feeling they had a relationship between each other.

arroe felt a slight pulse inside him,as his vision became clear in the darkness and he could now see xyn-lea, and Ru .