The wind whipped fiercely over the shifting dunes, which shone white in the moonlight. Standing at the foot of one large dune, Briar waited patiently, huddled in thick white robes that covered her head to toe and left only her eyes revealed--which was a pain in the arse, because she could barely see anyway with all the squinting she was doing as the sand pelted her. Tapping her foot as she waited, she pulled a folded up piece of parchment from within her robes, turned so her back was to the wind, and checked the paper, then glanced skyward, even though she had already done that at least ten times since getting here.
Yup. This had to be the place. The twin satyrs constellation was directly above her, shining brightly, the moon was full, and the wind was strong. According to all she'd researched (AKA, eavesdropped from other explorers), and according to this map (which she'd stolen from one such explorer), this was the right spot. From here on, it was all a waiting game and she knew it.
But she couldn't help but feel uneasy and impatient, and paranoid that she'd been followed, even though she felt she'd been careful. Gods be damned weather! Couldn't it speed it up a little?!
Pocketing the paper, she turned back to the dune and shifted her feet to keep her boots from getting buried in the sand. The dune was rapidly shrinking, at least half the size it had been since she'd arrived, and--ah! Wait! Was that...?
There, dark against the face of the dune, she spotted something solid and black, at first just a speck, and then growing as the sand was whipped away. Heart leaping, Briar toook a quick glance around her to make sure she was alone before she jogged as best as she could through the sand to it, and by the time she was there it was no longer a black speck but the face of a wall--or rather, a structure, built from basalt long ago. It was still almost completely covered, but as more sand was sifted away, Briar sucked in a breath at what she saw.
There was a slight indentation in the wall that she soon realized was a sealed door. Well, that was convenient! Now it was just a matter of getting in and out, and doing it quickly.
But first...getting in.
Briar didn't bother to test the give of the door. Experience told her it wouldn't be that easy, because these old dead people really protected their junk. Instead, she slipped the glove off one hand and felt along the door, eyes closed, focusing inward. Glimpses and feelings came to her, faint and feeble; it had been a long time since anyone had been here, but she latched onto them as best as she could, ignoring the roar of wind in her ears and concentrating on what she saw. There were glyphs on the door, pictures of animals and other abstract symbols. She let herself get lost in a memory and her hand moved as though on its own, pressing the same symbols an Essyrni trader had pressed years ago and feeling them recede into the stone, feeling his anxiety as the thudding of hooves on packed sand filled her ears, growing nearer, and then the whoosh of something arcing through the air. She pressed the final symbol and heard the sucking sound of the door opening right as something struck her with a hard thud in the back--
Briar's eyes snapped open with a gasp just as the pain exploded through her, but it was gone as quickly as it came and she was left panting for breath. Dear gods. Too far. She'd done it again and gone too far.
Sucking in a deep breath, she pressed her hand to her temple, and then blinked blearily at the door in front of her when she saw it had opened.
Okay. Right. Focus. Reorient yourself. You're on a time limit here, mate.
Tugging her glove back on and pushing the strange memories away, she stepped inside the temple and pushed her hood back, lowered the cloth that covered her mouth.
Well, she was in. Now it was time to get down to business. From what she'd heard, many had failed in extracting the treasure, but she wasn't worried. They didn't have her gift, after all.
For her? This should be like taking sweets from a dead person. Which is pretty much what she was doing, only replace sweets with awesome loot.