Alycia slowly rose from her tent and eyed the jungle far below her.  She was far from her home along the northern plains.  A tip from a Disquiqui tribesman had led to a lead on a discovery that could easily put her name in every oral history and written history alike.  The Serpents Claw.  According to legend it guarded the passageway to the ancient buried city.  The old city, the first city.  So here she was far to the south in the lowlands.  Aboard the great Mesa's upper levels.  There before her sat half the claw.  Four Deinonycus statues held their claws high as if to suport something.  their tails lay down between their legs and their heads lay low.  On the outside stood 4 massive statues of the mythical Kotl.  The ancient serpentine race that once ruled the world, their black staves imbeded in the ground, with saphire shields aimed at the pedistal which once held the great city's key.<br/><br/>Alycia sighed, there would be no sucess upon this journey.  The gem had been taken, and without it the city's gates would remain closed to all.  Even the ancient one the last of the Kotl could not return to the city without the gem's power.  She looked down upon the plaza of the gods.  on the jungle far below her.  From that plaza all corners of the world could be reached, with a thought.  It was one of the great wonders of the Kotl empire, before it came to an end.  Before the other races were let free from their enternal slavery, and the great tribe wars began.  Wars that were still waging between some tribes.    Without that gem she would have no great tale.  It was a shame but the truth.<br/><br/>Slowly she turned from the pedistal upon which the gem once rested.  Her eyes scanned the dense jungle before her.  She was not alone, for these forests were wild with many beasts.  But for now none stalked her.  She quickly cleaned up the camp and disposed of her wastes over the edge of thet cliffside.  The eggs she had stolen earlier from the pheradon nests would only attract attention she did not wish.  They had served there purpose and provided great nurishment.  Now she must return to her people and admit her failure.  there would not be great punishment but it would be the source of much verbal harrassment.  the elders thought ill of her even if the young were more open minded.