Chapter 1: Fire Stone

The figure of a female rose from behind the sand dune. The fine face, slender arms, small but shapely breasts, and the slim, uncovered belly showed that this was a beautiful woman. As she crested over the top of the dune, however, the truth revealed itself. Rather than legs, a long, brown scaled serpent's tail appeared below her waist, with a regular pattern of darker brown spots along the length. Her smallish breasts were covered by a matching snakeskin bandeau. Behind her head flared a cobra-like hood, though some short brunette hair covered her head on the front and sides. Her green eyes had vertically slit irises, and when she opened her mouth it revealed that her upper canine teeth were long, sharp fangs, and her tongue, though normal size, was forked at the tip.

This creature was a naga, or some would call her a lamia, still others would say neither name applied. A dagger in a leather sheath was strapped to her left arm and she carried a knapsack on her back. A round golden medallion hung from her neck, resting high on her chest, between her collarbones. She consulted a map and a compass, and nodded to herself as she slithered down the dune towards the cliff face. As she got closer, she said to herself, "There you are. I've found it at last." Though crumbling from age and worn by many sandstorms, her trained eyes could still discern the once majestic carvings that designated this spot as a crypt of a great king, lost in the desert for ages and thought by many to be only a myth. Though the mountain was one of the few landmarks in the vast expanse of sand, without knowing where to look or what to look for, a great number of travelers had probably gone right past the tomb, unaware of the riches that legend said lay inside.

She searched the rock face for a way inside, the opening secondary to the sealed main doorway, which was a common feature to the architectural designs of the era that built this tomb. It took some climbing up a nearly unrecognizable statue, but she finally located it. The tunnel was low and narrow, an adult human male would have probably become stuck had he attempted passage this way. The snake girl removed her knapsack and pushed it in front of her, lowering her nearly human upper half to the level of her reptilian body, and slithered through. It was still a close fit, but she made it through without incident.

She emerged from the tunnel into total darkness, and lit a torch that she retrieved from her knapsack. As her eyes adjusted to the dim light, she saw two great beasts before her. Her hand went to her dagger, but the creatures did not move. She slowly moved closer and found that they were merely stone statues. One was a griffin, the body of a lion with the head, wings, and front legs of a bird of prey. The other was a manticore, again the body of a lion, but the tail of a scorpion and face with a flattened snout that gave it a more human appearance. She moved past the statues and used her torch to light some braziers that were fortunately still loaded with burnable fuel.

Once there was enough light to see properly by, she was amazed by her surroundings, unseen for untold ages until now. The sarcophagus lay in the center of the large room, the walls were covered in carvings and painted figures, and all around were a variety of treasures. Some were precious metals and jewels outright, others were valuable only for their cultural significance. She removed rolls of cloth from her knapsack and started wrapping the pieces in them for safe transport.

As she gathered the relics into her knapsack, she heard faint growling. She stopped, and turned towards it, drawing her dagger. The growls grew louder, and then was joined by a screech. "Oh, shit," she muttered as she saw that the beastly statues now looked much less like stone and more like living fur. The griffin and manticore turned towards her slowly and then suddenly sprang into action, the griffin launching into the air for a diving attack and the manticore rushing towards her and lashing forwards with its poison tail. The snake girl moved quickly, narrowly avoiding death. "So this is the protection curse. Well, I have a nasty bite too," she said with determination.

The manticore pounced again, its sharp teeth and claws formidable in their own right but nothing compared to the sting of its scorpion barb. She dove to the side as the tail struck, then with a swift bend of her snake tail, reversed her direction and launched herself at the beast. She landed on its back as its tail came up. The beast thrashed, trying to throw her off, but she plunged her dagger deep into its shoulder and hung on to it. As the beast roared in pain, she sank her fangs into its neck, injecting deadly venom.

Just then, she felt the talons of the griffin close around her tail. "Shit!" she shouted as she lost her grip on the manticore and was carried up into the air. The griffin did not in fact have much room to fly, but as it approached the walls it twisted its body around and kicked off of them in the other direction. The momentum caused the snake girl to slam into the wall painfully, before pulling her back away. "Oww! Gods dammit!" she shouted.

She desperately grabbed for a tall stone obelisk as she flew past it. Luckily, she managed to get her arms around it securely, and this time it was the griffin that was betrayed by its momentum as the snake tail pulled tight, sending it crashing straight into the sarcophagus. She let go and dove after it. As the beast rolled to its feet, the snake tail pulled tight around it, pinning its wings to its body. It struggled to escape as the fangs rapidly descended, but to no avail.

The snake girl caught her breath as the griffin and manticore breathed the last of theirs, and then turned to stone once more. "Oh, fuck," she said as she tried unsuccessfully to pull free of the statue corpse that her tail was ensnared in. "Stupid tail. Fine. Fuck it." She pressed her fingers against the snake figure on her medallion. Her body started to glow softly, and the tail faded away, leaving behind two normal human legs clad in loose black trousers and light boots. Her other snake features were also replaced by hazel eyes and wavy, dirty blonde hair that fell several inches past her shoulders. Her breasts were larger now, but the sleeveless white tunic showed only a little cleavage, with the medallion hanging above it.

Kimber stood up on the griffin and jumped down to the floor. "Pain in the ass monsters," she grumbled, retrieved her dagger from the manticore's back, and returned to packing up as much as she could carry back across the desert. The snake form was quite well suited to the arid environment, and she would have to return to it once she got back outside. At least from in here she would be able to release the proper door and simply walk out.

She stopped at the sarcophagus. The impact of the griffin had knocked the lid off onto the floor. Inside lay the decayed corpse of the ancient ruler, wrapped in bandages. It had a red stone clutched in its hands. Not a red gemstone like a ruby, just an ordinary oval-shaped rock, roughly five inches long and three inches wide, that looked like it could merely have been pulled from a river bed and dipped in red paint. A strange symbol that Kimber didn't recognize was marked on its face. "Well, you must be important," Kimber said as she plucked it out of the mummy's loose grip. She noticed something etched on the inside of the lid as well, a list of four locations, one being the very crypt she was inside, the other three were similarly ancient sites, scattered around the known world. She filed the information away in her mind for further consideration at a later time.

"These are amazing! I have not seen the like in many years!" exclaimed the fat, balding man whose name Kimber had already forgotten. She had journeyed back to the desert country's major city, and was showing her discoveries to the local merchant who dealt in such things. They were sitting in the back corner of a seedy tavern filled with thieves and scoundrels, the perfect place for a tomb robber to deal in illicit wares. "I must have all of it. I know the perfect buyers for several of these already. Oh, all except that stone. I do not know why such a thing would be protected along with riches like these, but it is of no value."

"Very well, I could use a memento of the desert anyway," Kimber said. She named a price for the collection.

"Oh, no, no, I could not pay you that. I have mouths to feed, you know. Are you trying to starve my wife and children?" the merchant said, before making his counteroffer. With the boundaries set, the haggling continued as it always does, until a final sum was agreed upon and exchanged. The merchant gathered up his new prizes and said, "Such a pleasure doing business with you, my fine beautiful lady. Be sure to come to me with any other treasures you find. Oh, come to think of it, about that stone. I do seem to recall another northerner like yourself asking around about a simple stone with a strange symbol on it. Such a pedestrian thing to be hunting for, it nearly slipped my mind. I will make some inquiries, see if he is still in the area. Perhaps you have completed his search for him, yes?" He laughed as we walked away.