Solar Knight: Shifting Sands (book 6)

chapter 24: preparation for departure

Upon entering the barracks area, where they keep the stables, weapons, supplies, and so forth, i was greeted by a large, open area. There was a sparring arena, for soldiers to train. Weapons racks full⁰ of swords, spears, and such, cleaned and sharpened to their finest. Storage buildings abundant with food, drink, and whatever else they keep in them.

Seth and Simon would be conversing with several soldiers, before said soldiers departed in several directions.

We would then walk up to the two, who looked a bit stressed, but composed.

"The journey will be long and tough, but i have a feeling as to where serpentine, which is Tia that's working for a deity of chaos, has gone." Seth said, arms crossed.

"Aaaand where would that be?" I asked.

"The cursed tomb of the five....." seth said ominously.

"Five?" Nezu said, clinging onto my back.

"Why are you on my back?" I asked, turning my head to look at her.

"Cats...." she uttered.

"Oh, you're a mouse. Ah, gotcha." I said simply.

"When sailor mau, the queen when she was much younger, she and the senshi defeated five youma that was causing destruction and mayhem across the two planets. Their spirits though, would haunt the lands, as they didn't have a place to go and lingered. So, to keep them at peace, we built the accursed tombs to keep them contained and content. Knowing Serp- no, Tia, she is going to use the pharaoh's power to resurrect those monsters, or at least try." Simon explained.

"Those lamia aren't very suitable for a full scaled attack. If she revives those monsters, she'll have a force strong enough to take over this kingdom. She's conniving as she is cunning, she'll find a way to make my brother break and succumb to her will eventually." Seth said.

"Do we have a heading?" Akira asked.

Seth pulled out a roll of papyrus from his sash and shook it a bit with a smirk.

"Indeed we do, and it's a straight shot there!" He said as he placed it on a table and rolled it out.

It wasn't the best drawn map, but it shown what we needed to know. Where we were, where some of the landmarks are on the planet, where some of the villages were in case we needed to resupply, and where the cursed tomb of the five were. However, i felt as though the map was only showing a portion of the world and that there was more to the dust ball of a world.

"So, we are here.....there are a few villages on the way to the tomb, we can rest and resupply at them, if need be." Seth said as he looked at the map.

"We need to be wary of bandits and thief clans while we're out." Simon pointed out.

"Simon says, look for bandits and thieves, got it." Sven said with a smirk.

"Yes.....he just said that." Seth said, with a raised brow.

"Will simon say to pick out our rides?" I said, snickering.

"I'm sorry, i fail to see the humor in this."  Seth said, with seriousness.

It took simon a moment, before he snickered and chuckled a bit.

"Hahaha, it's a joke, Seth! On earth, there's a game called Simon says. One person is simon, and they tell the other players what to do, if one messes up, they're out of the game. I suppose my ordering around my troops on earth caught on and made into a game or something. You earthlings are strange." He said, rubbing the back of his neck.

"Anyways, we do not have time for games!" Seth exclaimed.

"Right, right, so let's get our mounts ready to go!" Simon said.