Trey Roberts and the Ancient Relics

by Lee Magnus

  “We must be leaving,” said Alex. “Is twelve mile to lake. I arranged passage to boarder for you two but we no leave til morning.

  “Ok,” replied Nick.

  Clievan busted into the room, “Hey come look!”

  They all rushed outside to find three trucks of armed men in black turbans barreling after a woman and a teenager in a very expensive, damaged white convertible Rolls Royce.

  “That Jessie’s Rolls! Who would dare steal from Jessie?” said Alex excitedly in Arabic. He took a closer look at the driver, then said with a large smile, “Ah yes, it is her.”

  Alex ran back into the house.

  The masked men were aggressively firing on the car with automatic weapons.

  Alex emerged from the house with a large weapon which drew frightened looks from the others. He loaded a rocket-propelled grenade then launched it with a deafening boom. The rocket ignited a second later, propelling the explosive warhead into the leading vehicle sending it into a fiery somersault.

  Nick, hit the ground, then shouted, “Where the heck did that come from!”

  “A birthday gift from cousin,” Alex said smiling. “I wait many year to play with.”

  He fired off another at the second vehicle narrowly missing. Chunks of asphalt and dirt rained onto the assailants.

  As the car passed, Nick’s mouth dropped. “Trey? It can’t be.” “Let’s go! Get in!” Nick yelled furiously.

  Seth tossed the sword into the trunk. They all piled in with Seth at the wheel, then sped off toward the chase.

  “What’s going on, Nick? Why are we chasing them?” Seth asked as he raced down an alternate dusty road avoiding street vendors and onlookers.

  Crunch, crunch.

  “The boy! I know him. We have to help!” Nick said worriedly following the caravan with his eyes.

  Crunch, crunch, crunch.

  Nick turned to Clievan. “Chips! You thought to grab a bag of chips on your way out?”

  Clievan shrugged with his hands near his shoulders – a bag of tortilla chips dangled from thick fingers.

  Seth entered a drift in a round-a-bout sliding precisely onto the third exit. The tires threw a thick mixture of sand and pebbles into vacant storefronts. Seth took a hard-right to squeeze the car in between the two pursuing trucks and the convertible.

  Nick climbed out of the window, onto the hood. Bullets pinged off the sedan causing Nick to reflexively duck. He balanced on his feet in a crouch with a hand on the hood for added stability and signaled for Seth to get closer to the Rolls. Just as he readied himself to jump into the convertible, Seth’s vehicle was rear ended. Nick awkwardly flopped onto the trunk of the Rolls and barely grasped the convertible roof housing. He pulled himself up into the narrow back seat.

  Seth made a slow turn left drawing the following truck with him. He led the truck back through the round-a-bout. The trailing truck plowed through the center without attempting the circle, shattered a statue in many pieces and just missed several palm trees. Shots rang off the car.

  “Can’t this thing go any faster?” Clievan yelled as he shoveled chips in as if it were popcorn and he were at a movie. Chomp, crunch, crunch.

  “I don’t need to go faster,” Seth said calmly. He quickly locked the brakes skidding the car sideways before thrusting it down a narrow alley. The truck completely missed the turn, smashing into a building. Seth gave Clievan a self-satisfied smile.

  Clievan said, “Don’t get too cocky speed racer. Let’s get back to Nick!”

  Nick took a deep sigh of relief when he laid back in the seat. He sat up with his head between the front seats. “What are you doing here!” said Nick to Trey.

  “Mr. H! You’re here!”

  “Yeah! Now tell me what’s going on?” he said angrily.

  “Don’t look at me!” he replied.

  “You!” Nick said recognizing Lyza. “You’re the woman from the airport! Why are you following me!?” “What a bunch of crap you were giving me with your big boots and suggestive sexy dress. You tried to get me arrested! Why?”

  “What do you mean sexy dress!” said Lyza. Nick would later remember that angry voice to be romantic and soothing. “That was traditional attire for Egyptian women,” she said in a matter of fact manner.

  “Don’t play coy with me. You knew exactly what you were doing,” he said crossly.

  “I had to be sure of where you were going,” she replied defensively.

  “Why do you need to know where I’m going and why did you try to stop me?”

  “You don’t belong here. You must go home as soon as possible.”

  “Well, let’s just get through this ordeal and I’ll see what I can do about it. Why’d you bring Trey!?”

  “Mr. H! You should have seen the things that attacked us! They had this gnarly face, creepy eyes and Oh My Gosh What’s that!” Trey said pointing at the car that pulled up next to Lyza.

  Nick quickly looked in the direction. “That’s just Clievan eating a bag of chips. Don’t worry about him.”

  Clievan waived with a big toothy smile.

  Lyza gave Clievan an I can’t believe it’s you look. She took a better look at Seth, then immediately remembered when they last met. Seth bowed his head humbly with a fist raised to his forehead when her eyes met his.

  The road widened as they headed out of the small town.

  Alex tossed the RPG launcher into the convertible, then said, “Use this on the truck!”

  Nick acknowledged Alex, then turned back to Trey, ”Let’s get you out of here.”

  But Trey was no longer in the passenger seat. One of the men yanked him out of the car when the truck pulled alongside during Nick’s conversation with Lyza. Trey struggled with the man in a choke hold in the bed of the truck.

  The driver of the truck pelleted the side of the Rolls with a submachine gun. Seth swerved behind the car, then pulled along the far side of the truck of which Clievan and Alex climbed into. Clievan disappeared, threw a guy overboard and then reappeared.

  “Holy crap you can go invisible!” Trey screamed in excitement at Clievan. Clievan grinned and nodded just before taking a punch to his wide jaw. Alex took a roundhouse to the right temple and went down hard. Trey elbowed the guy in the ribs then pushed him off the truck onto Nick in the convertible.

  “Sorry, Mr. H!” Trey said apologetically.

  The man in the turban and Nick gave each other surprised expressions. Nick punched Turban Man in the face.

  Trey leapt onto the top of Seth’s car and grasped tightly.

  Nick yelled to Seth as he held Turban Man down who was grasping wildly at Nick’s arms, ”Get him out of here!”

  Seth nodded, then pulled away from the chase.

  Nick took a fist to the jaw then fell into the narrow floorboard. Turban Man rose with a knife intending to flop on top of him. Nick quickly tucked his knees to his chest so that Turban Man would land on them rather give him access to do real damage. Nick propelled Turban Man out of the car with a rapid extension of his legs as if the two were performing an acrobatic demonstration.

  Clievan cleared his assailant then easily tossed Alex’s large unconscious body into the Rolls before following him in. Lyza turned, away from the truck which matched their direction a distance behind.

  After making a few more well-timed turns, Lyza said, “I think we lost them” as she continued to speed back toward the small town. Alex awoke and said, ”Did we win?”

  Suddenly, the truck appeared on a perpendicular street ahead of them – it blocked the exit.

  “No Alex. Not yet,” Lyza said as she slammed the breaks navigating the car into a 180-degree skid just avoiding buildings on either side of the narrow road. More shots rang off the car, with several piercing the front window.

  “They’re still behind us!” Nick shouted.

  “You ready Alex?” said Lyza. “

  “Yeah. Yeah, I’m ready,” he replied unsteadily.

  “Ready for what?” asked Clievan in an anxiou
s tone.

  “She gave Alex a nod, then spun the elegant car around facing the oncoming truck. She stomped the gas targeting the approaching vehicle. Bullets from automatic weapons peppered the car.

  “Anytime now!” said Lyza.

  “Just a second,” Alex replied.

  “Holy roses, you aren’t doing what I think you’re doing!” shouted Clievan.

  “Now, Alex! Now!” screamed Lyza.

  Clievan disappeared.

  “Just a second!” he said. “This is not as easy as it looks!”

  Alex glanced to insure no one was in the rear blast radius. He released the last RPG. The launch explosion shattered the remnants of the front windshield. The ordinance found its mark. The truck blasted skyward as the convertible skirted underneath. The car bounced roughly in the newly made crater. Several confused black turbaned eyes met theirs as they flew above upside down. The truck slammed onto the road putting an end to the chase. She drove as far as she could before the car died amid heavy smoke just on the other side of town.

  The car looked like it had been at the forefront of a military assault or contestant in a demolition derby. The hood and bumpers were gone. The windshield panel dragged the ground on the passenger side. Scrapes, scratches and a multitude of dents scarred the previously flawless paint.

  This is as far as we go,” she said kicking one of the three flat tires.

  ~~

  Seth gently stopped the car to let Trey in.

  “Hey. Thanks for getting me out of there. You think they’ll be okay?” Trey said looking back periodically as they drove away.

  “Yeah. They’ll be fine. They just had the one truck and most of the men were thrown off in the chase.”

  “I don’t know about that. Trouble seems to follow Lyza.”

  He looked at Trey as if he’d misspoken. “Lyza, huh?”

  “Yeah.”

  “Are you sure the trouble is following her?” he said with a glance.

  “I don’t know. She said they may be after me. After something I – “

  “You what?”

  “Nothing. Something about my family has them mad at me…I guess.”

  “Your family does business with Jessie? Maybe you’re the trouble?”

  “No. No. Not Jessie. We’ve been having all sorts of trouble since yesterday.” He looked out the window at the passing desert. “Crazy stuff.”

  “Sounds interesting. We have a few minutes. Tell me about it,” he said excitedly. “I do love a good story.”

  “I better not.”

  “Really? Okay. Fair enough.” Trey thought he was genuinely disappointed.

  Seth and Trey drove along a beautifully calm Lake surrounded by palm trees with a serene Great Sand Sea backdrop.

  “I’m Seth, by the way.”

  “Trey.”

  “Good to meet you, Trey.”

  “How do you know Mr. H?”

  “You mean Mr. Nick?”

  “Yeah.”

  “I’m his driver. He hired me to get him here.”

  “What’s he doing here?” asked Trey.

  “Says he is looking for a geode to power a teleportation device.” Seth expected a reaction.

  “Really? He said teleportation device?”

  “Yep.”

  The Eye. That must be what he’s building at school, Trey thought to himself. I can’t wait to tell him. A smile crept upon his face.

  “How do you know the…um, Lyza?” asked Seth.

  “I don’t. She showed up at my house yesterday and we were attacked by, well, I don’t know what they were. And now we’re here running from a guy that wants her dead.”

  Seth was quiet for a moment as he drove them along a placid waterway. His expression became serious.

  “Can you tell me what exactly attacked you?”

  “No. I shouldn’t.”

  “They were rogglets. Right? Lyza told you they were rogglets didn’t she?”

  Trey was startled. His eyes lit up as he stared at the stranger driving the car.

  “How’d you know?”

  “There’s only one reason she would bring you with her.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Because you’re safer with her than without.”

  “It sure doesn’t feel that way.”

  “Listen carefully, Trey. If you are who she thinks you are, there’s significantly more danger to come.”

  “Who does she think I am?”

  “I can’t say. You’ll have to talk to her about it because I’m not sure why she brought you. That’s just the only logical reason I can think of.”

  “Believe me. None of this is logical.”

  Seth laughed heavily at Trey’s bewildered expression.

  “Can you tell me why she came back to Jessie?”

  “She thought he had a sword of some sort and she wanted to find Mr. H. We snuck in early this morning and looked all over for the sword. One of his guards discovered us, so we stole the car to escape.”

  “A sword huh? You’re lucky to be alive.”

  “Tell me about it,” replied Trey. “That was the fourth time I almost died in twenty-four hours.”

  “Third for me,” he replied.

  “Really?” Trey said with a surprised look.

  They looked at each other and laughed. Not a ha ha funny joke laugh, but more of an I can’t believe we’re in this situation sort of uncomfortable laugh.

  The road turned northwest a few miles before Seth turned southward through rows of date palms, olive trees and pastures of alfalfa. Seth stopped near the shore of a large lake and took an extra moment to exit the vehicle. He met Trey at the front of the car then walked out onto a small salty peninsula.

  “This is where they’ll meet us,” said Seth.

  “Why this lake?” asked Trey.

  “We all agreed to meet here just before we rescued you from Jessie’s men,” Seth said as he stared at the mound of barren land protruding from the water.

  “I figured that part out, but why did you all agree to meet here?”

  “Oh. Yeah. Jessie tried to steal an ancient stone from Lyza several years ago and afterward someone saw her at this lake. I would very much like to recover the stone.”

  “And you think she swam to that island to hide the stone?” Trey said observing the lapping ripples in the tranquil water.

  “Maybe. Plus, it’s on the way to the Western Oasis. Let’s check it out.”

  “Shouldn’t we wait on the others?”

  “We can’t wait on the others,” urged Seth.

  “Can’t wait for what? Why are we in a hurry? Maybe she hid it there for a reason.” replied Trey.

  Disregarding Trey’s comments, Seth removed the sword from the trunk, then said to Trey, “Put this on.”

  “Is this the sword we were looking for at Jessie’s?”

  “I believe so,” replied Seth.

  Trey strapped the sheath containing the sword Seth handed him to his back. He looked out at the island in the lake and said, “How will we get out there? Should we swim?”

  Seth seized Trey around the waist, then swiftly lifted them both off the ground.

  ”Whoooaaaa! You can fly!”

  He gave Trey a smile knowing the kid was awestruck. Moments later, they set down on the tiny island.

  “How’d you do that?” Trey asked excitedly.

  “Take a look through this.”

  Seth handed Trey a round object. It had a hole in the center and was smooth and black. It was larger than a ring but smaller than a monocle. Trey looked around through the loop. Seth slowly crossed into site. Trey jumped back with a yelp, nearly tumbling into the water.

  He pushed himself to the edge of the island and said shakily, “Wwha, wha, what are you?”

  Seth remained steady as Trey looked again. Standing in front of him was a furry creature with a body of a man, head of a cat and a mostly white face with black accents. Broad golden tipped black dragon wings opened wide then tucked neatly behi
nd his back.

  Trey stood and said, “Your wings are beautiful.”

  Trey moved the ring away from his eye and back several times.

  “Thank you for the complement. What you see through the ring is my true form. I can disguise myself as nearly anything.”

  “So, you are some sort of shapeshifter?”

  “No. I can only disguise my true form as I’m doing now.”

  Trey lowered the ring and looked at Seth like Seth just asked him to solve a complicated equation.

  “You’re telling me you can disguise yourself to look like anyone and a fat, balding man is what you chose?”

  “What? I’m not fat,” he said looking down at his sizable gut.

  “Okay. Whatever. I’m just saying, I might would have chosen something a little different.”

  “Like what? Like this?” Seth’s facial features began to move unnaturally. His hair lengthened then faded to a sandy blonde that hung just below his ears. His stomach slimmed as his chest swelled. His traditional work clothes were replaced with jeans and a tight-fitting t-shirt that accented muscular arms.

  Seth spun around slowly and pushed thick wavy hair behind an ear and said, “Is this more of what you would go with.”

  Trey’s eyes widened as he said, “You are honestly the most beautiful man I have ever seen. Seriously. Oh my god I can’t believe I just said that.”

  “Ha Ha!” Seth chuckled. “This gets too much attention. I need to stay incognito. I’d never be able to leave the house like this.”

  “Yeah. I can see why. Girls would fall all over you.”

  “As you saw through the loop, my kind don’t mix well with your women.”

  “I guess you’re right. It would just cause problems.”

  “Exactly.”

  “Where‘d you come from? Are there more like you?”

  “Do you know the story about…”

  “About the evil king and banishment? Yeah.”

  ”Great! That makes this easier. We were created in secret by the seven sorcerers before the temple ceremony that banished Khaitu. We fought along-side the humans disguised as humans. Olerand didn’t take any chances. He ensured we looked like everyone else just in case we weren’t successful. Afterward, we dispersed across the world when Queen Raferti, Ronodan’s daughter, took over. She didn’t even know we existed. Many of us remain in Egypt and surrounding countries. You’re one of the few humans that know we exist.”