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The Next Day

Sumeria hand-signalled a host of amazons, both on foot and on horses, into the surrounding area. They were going to methodically go over the area. Sumeria had spent all of yesterday and much of the night arranging to hunt, and speaking with the trackers and cartographers in the tribe she had everything sorted. Eumache was keeping the tribe in Sumeria's absence, as was the usual way of things.

Things slowly progressed over the day, eventually finding suspicious looking tracks, left behind things, burn marks, as they made their way towards a place marked out on the scrap of leather Sumeria carried.

The day was almost gone when Sumeria ran towards the sound of an owl - the sign that something was found. She skidded her way to a halt beside the tracker.

?: This is the place my queen.

Sumeria studied the scene. A simple hole in the ground, no bigger than a small animals burrow beneath a log.

S: Help me remove this log please?

A few amazons came to her aid and it was soon pushed aside. The hole was apparently a subterranean cave. A waft of hot air flew out into the amazons face. An amazon standing too close hissed and moved her arm away, a long burn covering her left hand. After sending this amazon to a healer, Sumeria tested the opening and found the heat, though surprising for the Hyrcanian area, was bearable.

S: *removing unnecessary items* I'm going in.

?: I don't think that's a good idea.

S: *smiles slightly* We haven't come all this way for nothing, have we?

The women warriors eyed the pit curiously as one would be entranced by a deadly animal's approach - Sumeria included. Nobody there was too keen to be going into that heat.

S: I do not ask you to come with me, neither will I send any down against their will. I will go down alone. *strangely cheerful and excited* Please throw a rope down for my return?

?: Of course.

Sumeria moved to the edge of the pit, feeling the surge of hot air about her - being an Egyptian, she didn't mind so much as another might. She breathed deeply, and jumped down into the pit.

She fell for longer than expected, and landed solidly on her feet. Catching a torch thrown down by above, Sumeria looked around in the darkness.

?: Leona, what do you see??

S: Nothing so far ... Everything seems safe so far ... except for the smell ...

Sumeria tied the rope thrown down around her wrist so that she'd know her way back to the exit, and slowly made her way around the area. The stench grew as she went deeper.

The walls were caked in blood. Cave paintings of hideous monsters and disgusting mutilations surrounded the Amazon Queen, who stopped a moment and breathed to remove the nausea. Dreadful things Sumeria saw, far from anything she'd ever witnessed. She knew instantly she was going to remember such things for the rest of her existance.

Sumeria felt extreme pain. Not in her body, but sensed it from others, a feeling of immense suffering and evil of others. Her breath began to quicken. The heat was getting worse to handle, and the quality of the air was useless. The images of torment flooded her no matter how hard she shook them out of her head.

The Amazons on the surface were getting concerned of lack of Sumeria's speech.

?: Sumeria, are you still there? Keep talking to us.

S: *whispers* Dear Gods ... what devilry is this place? *lying through her teeth* Oh, this place is boring! Nothing interesting in sight. Are you sure this is the right place?

A cloud of steam swept around her and she coughed from its influence, forcing herself to take in all of the information she could muster. She could see symbols that reminded her of the map on the leather scrap. But surely there must be more than just a hot smelly bloody room? There's got to be more to it?

?: Any creatures like the tracks we had?

S: *honestly* There seems to be nothing dangerous down here-AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Sumeria fell back as the earth dropped away below and she tripped back. She began to fall into the searingly hot hole beneath her, and in an instant she began to see images of her life before her eyes ...

I'm going to die! she thought, and the finality swept over her horribly.












She stopped falling - she was at the end of her rope, and the amazons held her tight. Sumeria choked a breath of horrified relief, and looked down.

She should not have looked down.

She saw an enormous chasm beneath her, with seemingly no end, fire and ash flickering and burning beneath her, with the most revolting stenches of charred flesh and bones around her. Hideous creatures tore at her dangling legs and scratched at her flesh. Down, down, down it went.

S: *holding on tightly* PULL ME UP!!! PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!! PULL ME UP!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

She felt herself being hoisted up, and in seconds she was on firm ground. Petrified, the Lioness of Philae cried out every single prayer to her goddess she could muster, along with the most creative curses she could come up with in all the languages she spoke.

?: *Panicking* What happened!!!!!!!!!

S: I - it - we - it ...

She found her way to her feet, and for a few seconds stood in silence. She was alive!

S: Ugh!!!!

Something knocked her across the room, making her hit her head against the blood-soaked cave walls. Dizzily she looked up. A beast stood there, the most incredible she'd ever seen. It was like a collage of all different sorts of animals and two human forms - one had fangs the size of Sumeria's legs.

S: *blinks* Hello there!

The beast moved forward slowly, and raised a sword - that was surprising, considering the fangs. Then it sprang for Sumeria. The Amazon, gripping to her life with both hands, rolled away out of the way of the sword and the enormous razor teeth, and took the offensive. A wild battle against this ... thing ... took all the strength from her as she hacked away at it in a way that Kalasin could never have accomplished. It went by in a blur of horrible images. Sumeria took hit after hit from this thing, her head swimming, but both were weakening together.

And then it happened.

Sumeria took off the heads with a massive jump, nimbly climbed up onto its back and stabbed it deeply again and again and again until it moved around wobbling like a horrid parody of a drunk at the Turbulent Tavern. Sumeria backwards jumped off the beast and kicked it into the abyss.

S: PULL ME UP!!!!!!!

Sumeria sprinted to the exit and held on as her sisters pulled her out. The light of day blinded her painfully, and she fell back in exhaustion, crying quietly. She was covered head to foot in black soot the same colour as her raven hair. The Amazons quickly gave her water, and asked what happened in the dark but Sumeria insisted that they return to Hyrcania at once. She then went unconscious.

_~*~_

She opened her eyes just as they entered Hyrcania. She was in the back of a wagon, and Amazons were all around her. The turns took her to Rhiannon's hut, she knew that. Painfully she took a ragged breath - all that had happened down there was a blur of frightful images and senses, like a horrible dream one cannot quite remember.

Sumeria Leona, Queen of the Amazons, Lioness of Philae, was the first to see the gaping abyss of Hell.

She chuckled bitterly.

S: So it begins.

~Sumeria