2. The Sphinx
Jaco walked as fast as he could without making a sound. Gidi bounced and slid through the sand, making all kinds of noise.
He sighed. But he had made a choice. In his new life, there was only one thing that mattered: he had to protect her.
Jaco sped up even more, as the hills around them cast longer shadows. Behind him, he heard sand shift.
“We’re at the Pearl Pyramid, Osiris’s final resting place. Hopefully this one isn’t such a disappointment. You have no idea how difficult it is to get inside one of those things! First you have to get past that annoying Sphinx, then you have to—”
“Who calls me annoying?”
A low, slow voice pierced their ears, as if the Sphinx had just woken up. The human Sphinx face stood there, unchanged.
“Apologies, Mister Sphinx, I wasn’t talking about you. I was talking about—uh—your brother, who guards the Temple of Horus. He was in quite a foul mood for sure. Must have gotten up on the wrong side of the—uh—sand bed.”
Gidi shuffled aside. Though its face was human, it had the body of a lion and wings of an eagle.
“Yes.” After each word, the Sphinx seemed to yawn. “My brother can be very annoying sometimes.”
“Mister Sphinx, I ask your permission to pass.”
“You are known to us, Jaco the Youthful. You know the procedure.”
“Of course, of course. The thing is, Mister Sphinx, evening is falling and I don’t want to stand in the middle of the desert at night.”
“Then I suggest …” The Sphinx laughed, loud and annoyingly slow, a combination Gidi had never heard before. “… that you hurry up!”
“Very well. Gidi, pay close attention, we’ll need our brains for this.”
“First question. Rira riddle me this.”
The Sphinx paused once more, as if he had to research the question in some book—which it had lost. Gidi noticed a slight twinkle in his eyes: two tiny fireballs that darted between her and Jaco.
“When the bearded man wanted to brave the billows, he forgot to keep the waving farewells.”
“Huh? What?” Gidi squeaked.
“Oh no, please don’t.”
Jaco sighed as the Sphinx repeated the riddle, taking up even more of their time.
Once done, Jaco gave his answer: “The burning letters in his silken pouch, he read the hostile bottled posts with ease.”
“That is correct. Second question.”
The lights in the eyes extinguished once more. Gidi tapped Jaco and coughed. “What was that?”
“It’s a famous sailor’s poem. About a spy who reads all the letters from enemies, even those about personal issues, but forgets to read the letters from his dying wife. Very tragic. Never travel over sea.”
“Oh. I like it. You should tell the whole poem—”
Fire returned in the Sphinx’ eyes. “Rara riddle me this. The man no one can defeat, kills six foes with one blow. Who is he and what day?”
“Phew, that’s a tough one. I’ll use my multiple choice.”
“Multiple choice activated. Answer A, the cloud god Wo. Answer B, the supreme god Ra. Answer C, the dinosaur Donte.”
The entire desert turned red. The sun barely peeked above the horizon. The Sphinx’s shadow dunked Gidi and Jaco in complete darkness, but was somehow shaped like a pack of foxes.
“What do you think?” she said.
“I know Wednesday is named after Wo. But he’s a cloud, so he can’t defeat enemies at all.”
“I’ve never heard of Donte before.”
“Really? He did some pretty important stuff.”
“I’d go with Ra. At least I know him.”
“That’s because you don’t know what happens if we get it wrong. Hm, the name Donte has changed into Thunder after all these years, so that could stand for Thursday. I’m afraid I’ll have to use my second lifeline.”
He addressed the Sphinx. “I want to use my eraser.”
“Eraser successfully used. We’ll cross out answer C.”
“Aha, then it’s Ra! Sun god, worshipped on Sunday, defeats the six days before him.”
“That is correct. Third question.”
While the Sphinx pondered deeply again, Gidi looked behind her. She didn’t see anything, but kept hearing shifting sand. She crept closer to Jaco.
“How many of those things can you use anyway?”
“I have one left, but I can’t use it now. Unless you happen to know a way to send post from here to friends in Traferia.”
The eyes glowed again. Brighter than before, amplified by the darkening night sky.
“Rira riddle me this. A beautiful woman was worshipped, two suitors fought for her hand. But the father of the gorgeous maid, found worthy neither man. A camel race was started: the camel that arrived last would win his daughter’s heart. The men realized the race would never end, until they devised a clever plan to swiftly win the woman’s affections.”
Jaco’s mouth fell open. He looked at Gidi, who bounced back the same look.
“It’s getting harder. I don’t even know what the question is!”
“He wants us to guess their clever plan. Think, think, think. How can they have a fast race, while the men want their own camel to end last?”
Gidi swore she saw two glowing eyes behind a dune, but when she tapped Jaco there was only darkness. The sun was gone. A strong wind picked up. Sand swirled around their paws, and they moved closer to the Sphinx for protection from the dust storms.
“I’ve got it! They switch camels! Each man rides the other’s camel.”
“That is correct. Final question.”
Hurry up, there’s a sandstorm coming, she thought. She learned, however, not to say anything out loud when facing a Sphinx.
The temperature dropped significantly. Even pressed against Jaco’s warm belly, she shivered. Sand was terrible at retaining heat—and in the barren deserts of Floria, there was nothing else.
Fortunately, the eyes came back to life quickly.
“Rara riddle me this. A merchant laden with fine wares, walked whistling over stone streets, but saw there, a woman in front of an old building, displaying the same in her tent. She sold her objects for one coin each. He sold his merchandise for two coins each. She was the cheapest and got a hundred visitors. He caught only forty customers. Whose coffers grew the fattest?”
“Okay, Jaco, now it feels that our sleepy sand lion is just saying random words!”
“It’s a math question. What’s bigger, a hundred times one, or forty times two?”
It was quiet for a moment. Gidi surveyed the ground, until she realized Jaco stared at her.
“Oh, that question was for me?”
“Yes! I never learned math!”
The sound of footsteps swelled. Jaco looked back anxiously. He narrowed his eyes and his pupils danced back and forth. “Four Shadowshifters,” he whispered. “I can handle them. Answer the question!”
“Um—well—you see Mister Sphinx, that is a very interesting question you’re asking there.”
“More tempo,” Jaco snapped.
From the left, a small, light orange beast shot out of the shadow. Its wide head and eyes looked feline, but its gigantic ears gave away what it truly was. A fennec fox, native to the desert.
Jaco grabbed the black tip of his attacker’s tail and flung it the other way.
“A hundred times one is … a hundred. Forty times two is … eighty. So … a hundred is more than eighty!”
A second fennec jumped from the right, but didn’t get far. With his tail, Jaco batted it over the hills like a golf ball.
The final two Shadowshifters ran at him simultaneously from the front. He put his nose to the ground and blew as hard as he could. Two sand dunes on both sides collapsed and buried his assailants.
“The woman!” Gidi shrieked. “The woman earns the most!”