At a small oasis less than ten kilometers from the market, the group met the Elder the Nomad girl had mentioned.
He was a very old Wyverian, his back long since bent by age. His eyesight appeared poor, and his speech was slightly indistinct.
Yet every Nomad in the oasis treated him with heartfelt respect.
Altaïr understood that respect well.
Almost every Nomad tribe, including the one he had once belonged to, was led by an aged Wyverian Elder like this. More accurately, the tribes had been built around their elders in the first place.
Only they could reliably locate oases and water sources in the barren Desert. Their lifetime of accumulated experience and understanding of nature lay far beyond the reach of ordinary people.
After he and his companions had paid their respects to the old man with great deference, Altaïr stepped aside and left the negotiations to Francesca.
Francesca came straight to the point. She briefly introduced herself as a "member of the Royal Academy," then concisely relayed what the girl had told them.
Altaïr noticed the Elder's long white eyebrows twitch twice.
The Nomad girl bolted from the tent with a whoosh. The middle-aged man seated behind the Elder, the same man who had previously "sold" the pendant to Lady Lania, glared fiercely, grabbed a wooden club, and chased after her.
The girl's shrill wails soon rang out from outside the tent.
She was clearly in for a harsh beating.
Inside the tent, Francesca continued chatting with the Elder, smiling as if she had not heard the commotion outside.
The Wyverian Elder's tone was gentle, even slightly deferential, but he never mentioned the location of the ruins. Whenever Francesca raised the subject, he smoothly steered the conversation elsewhere.
If Isis or even Altaïr had been handling this, the old man would have run them in circles long ago. Francesca, however, kept smiling and followed him through every digression.
Isis's head had begun to bob, and she looked ready to doze off.
At last, recognizing Francesca's determination, the Elder sighed softly. "I have no desire to claim those ruins for myself. It is just that... the ominous thing inside awakened a fear I had not felt in a very long time.
"It should never see the light of day again. The best choice would be to let the yellow sands of the Great Desert bury it beneath layer after layer of sand."
Francesca's expression grew serious. "What exactly did you see inside?"
The Elder fell silent again, seemingly still unwilling to reveal the truth.
Francesca frowned. "I understand your caution. If you had the means to erase those ruins and make them truly disappear from this world, I would have no objection.
"The problem is that you cannot. The most you and your people can do is block the entrance with stones and pray that a great sandstorm will someday bury it deep, but events may not unfold as you hope.
"Even setting aside incidents like today's, when someone in your tribe lets something slip, your people are not the only ones traveling through this Desert.
"Other Nomad tribes, travelers, merchants, Sand Raiders... any of them could discover those ruins.
"Which do you think is safer, telling us where the ruins are so the Guild and the Royal Academy can inspect, study, and seal them off, or letting someone else discover that dangerous 'treasure'?"
After another long silence, the Elder raised his eyes and studied the young woman before him.
Her argument had convinced him.
"I do not know what it was, nor have I ever seen anything like it... The thing appeared to be made of metal. It was a machine, but it could speak."
"A machine that can talk, meow?" As the member of the group most knowledgeable about machinery, Sajji pricked up his ears. "Could it have been a recording, meow? Like a music box or a phonograph, meow?"
"No. I have seen the things you mention, and this felt different. It was alive. I could feel its... scrutiny."
Francesca frowned deeply.
The Wyverian Elder's account sounded mystical and rather rambling, but she did not think he was speaking nonsense.
She knew quite a few Wyverians and was aware that their senses far surpassed those of ordinary humans. In some cases, that heightened perception could even manifest as a supernatural phenomenon such as telepathy. It made sense that they might detect dangers imperceptible to ordinary people.
"How did you know it was speaking? Was it using the modern common language, or an ancient tongue such as Wyverian?" Altaïr pressed.
A man seated beside the Elder spoke up. "At first, it... that thing was sitting silently in a corner of the tomb. We paid it no attention and simply searched the tomb for valuables.
"Later, Old Ba... ah, the man who sold you the pendant, found it inside the tomb owner's coffin. When he carried the pendant close to that thing, it began making strange noises.
"We were curious, so Old Ba casually set the pendant on top of it. The thing suddenly lit up, a beam swept over us, and it abruptly began to speak.
"It even spoke in our Nomad dialect, can you believe it? It was bizarre!"
Everyone exchanged uneasy glances. The man's account sent chills down their spines.
"Mr. Alva examined that pendant, meow. He said it appeared to be some kind of energy crystal, meow." Sajji folded his arms. "That means the pendant's energy may have activated the machine, meow.
"But an ancient machine could not possibly contain recordings in the modern common language, much less one of its dialects, meow. Could it really have been 'speaking,' meow? Or did it somehow learn the modern language, meow?"
"What exactly did it say?" Francesca asked sternly.
The man scratched his head. "Something about scanning and connecting?"
The Wyverian Elder took over. "Its speech came in fragments. As best I can remember, it kept repeating things like, 'Scanning... connecting to host... connection failed... reconnecting...' over and over.
"After we moved the pendant farther away, its voice grew fainter and fainter, and it began saying things like 'insufficient energy.'
"I was certain something terrible would happen if we continued, so I had everyone take the pendant and leave the tomb. Then we sealed the entrance with stones."
The Wyverian Elder paused, then added as if speaking to himself, "When Old Ba told me someone had bought the pendant, I was relieved. I had a feeling those two objects should be kept as far apart as possible. But I never imagined you would come looking for us. Could this be fate?"
"We were not the ones who came looking for you, meow. The girl came looking for us, meow," Sajji reminded him.
"..." The Elder was silent for a few seconds before sighing again. "That child needs a proper lesson."
"This is beyond our ability to handle. We should report it to the Guild," Altaïr said, turning to Francesca.
"Of course." After a moment's thought, Francesca turned to the Wyverian Elder. "Can you take us to see those ruins? Preferably right now.
"As you know, every region has its share of bizarre rumors. The Guild may not take a secondhand account seriously.
"We will not try to activate that thing, but we should at least obtain a visual record.
"Then we will head straight to Sun Worship Town, use the Wingdrake post there to send an urgent message to Guild headquarters, and have them dispatch specialists to deal with the ruins."
"The Guild can be trusted." The Wyverian Elder leaned on his cane and rose unsteadily. "I will take you there."
No one wasted any time or paid any mind to the darkening sky. The group boarded the Sandship and, guided by the Elder, sped toward the ruins.
* * *
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