Cy stumbled forwards through the crumbling ruins, the lash marks across his back stinging in the salty air.

"Keep moving scum!" Came the voice of the slave driver from atop his boar, his long barbed whip curled at his side, the beady red eyes of his mount scanning the ragged line of slaves.

Cy couldn't understand how this had occurred. Normally slaves were meant to be fit in body and strong of muscle... the men who stood around him were for the most part weedy and stringy, some appearing barely able to march let along lift things. What possible use could this scraggy band of men be to this band of slavers.

"You'll get to halt soon enough if you keep marching, the faster you move the faster you get to rest! We're close to our destination now, and we shall not stop until we are there!"

The whip cracked menacingly, but no-one felt its sting this time.

The blisters on Cy's feet were almost unbearable, but the lash of the whip was far worse, so he forced himself to press on. He wasn't even watching where they were going now, his eyes were downcast facing the ground, making sure he didn't trip and fall.

So, naturally it came as a surprise when he crashed headlong into the slave in front of him, sending the man sprawling onto the ground, to Cy's horror.

"What's the hold up maggots!?" The chief slaver rode up, the clunking of his snorting boar filling the air as he made his way to the front of the line, where a satisfied grin crossed his face.

"Alright slaves, no more walking for today - break open your brain boxes."

The slaves had all seen it... Cy's mouth was wide open.

Towering above them was a titanic creature, its lower half seemed almost feline, with long sleek blue fur covering its form, but its upper half was that of a beautiful woman, with flowing blue hair and bronzed skin...

And she was at least one hundred and twenty feet tall to Cy's eyes. Even kneeling down on her four animal legs she still easily filled the gap onward into the main burial chamber. Cy expected to be running any second, but neither the slavers nor the creature made a move... and then it dawned on him. A sphinx? A real life sphinx? But not an ordinary Sphinx... No... He scanned his mind for the books he had read... this was a blue colored sphinx... they were different to the normal kind, but he couldn't remember how...

"Do you wish to pass?" Came the seductive voice of the sphinx, addressing the group as a whole.

The slave driver produced his whip and cracked it loudly next to the slaves.

"Answer!"

"Yes?" Came the startled voice of one of the slaves.

"Then you must answer this riddle correctly to pass." She knelt down in front of the slaves, her huge bronze colored face mere feet away from them, her breath washing over the group like wind.

"Hot as an oven... darker than soot... and not very nice when stuck on your foot... what is it?"

There was a long pause, as one of the slaves blustered.

"How much time do we have?"

"You may take as long as you wish... but you may not leave until you have provided an answer."

"And if we get it right we can go past?"

"Correct."

"And if we get it wrong?" Asked Cy.

"Then you do Not go past." Said the Sphinx slyly.

"Is it oil?" Asked one slave. The sphinx smiled broadly.

"No it is not... you will not be passing this place." And with a lightning fast motion, her long blue clawed fore-paw slammed down beside the slaves, knocking them onto their backs. With a clang of snapping metal, the sphinx effortlessly severed the manacles of the slave.

The man didn't have time to scream as the sphinx casually snatched him off the ground between two fingers, her eyes holding no trace of malice or cruelty, but merely gazing at him like some kind of delicious mouthful she was about to treat herself too.

"No! You didn't say anything about being eaten!?"

"Look on the bright side, you won't have to suffer." The Sphinx said simply.

"Oh... will it be quick?" The man said, dangling mere inches from the sphinx's long dark lips.

"Hmm? Oh the eating - no the digestion takes hours, I can't imagine it'll be very pleasant... no, I mean I'll keep you in my human stomach long enough to hear the answer to the riddle so you won't have to suffer the mental anguish of not knowing the answer."

"WHAT!? Thats not -" but before he had time to utter the word 'fair', he had been casually popped into the steamy dripping maw. There was the briefest flutter of the sphinx's eyelashes as she savored the taste, before she tilted back her head and batted the tiny helpless man into her gaping throat. There was the briefest sound of a swallow, and Cy watched in fascinated horror as the man-shaped bulge disappeared down the sphinx's throat.

Her breasts rose and fell for a moment as she enjoyed the sensation before she turned back to the slaves.

"Next."

None of the slaves spoke, they seemed reluctant to make a move.

"Speak up slugs!" The crack of the slavers whip caught Jennings on the back and he cried out. Cringing slightly, the man called out.

"Is it hot coals?"

It was not... and seconds later Jennings too was being stuffed between the sphinx's hungry lips, and then being given a one way ticket to the depths of her stomach.

The horrific game went on, with each consecutive slave presenting an answer, and each one failing to get it right... with each mistaken answer the Sphinx's shapely stomach bulged, filling with the screaming slaves. It made sense to Cy, as he realized he was the last one left... the slavers wanted intelligent people to try and answer the sphinx's riddle... but he knew something they didn't.

"I know the answer..."

"Oh do you? Your compatriots thought they did to... think carefully, are you sure you're right?"

"Yes... very."

"Then make your guess..." The sphinx's eyes sparkled... he couldn't know the answer, the substance didn't even exist in Felarya, so he would be wrong...

But he was not from Felarya... so he had the advantage.

"Tar. Used for roadworks... the answer is Tar."

The sphinx was surprised that he knew the answer, and slightly disappointed... but as was her duty, she raised her fore-paw from the entrance and allowed Cy to proceed.

"You may continue on... I wish you good fortune." She smiled warmly, her shining skin reflecting the light of the setting sun as Cy stumbled forwards...

A moment later he was smashed to the ground by the boot of the slaver.

"Well done slave, your service is no longer needed... you can go." And with that he began to ride his boar through the gap. However, a gigantic blue paw slammed down in his way, and he found himself blocked.

"What's this? We answered the damn riddle, move your foot!"

"No - He answered the riddle... you did not, you must answer a riddle if you wish to proceed."

"What?!"

"What cannot exist while you stand before me?"

"I don't know!" The slaver answered angrily.

"You chose... poorly." The sphinx grinned widely, and in a flash her human fingers had seized the slave chief - boar and all - and begun to shovel him into her mouth. However, the slaver had one last trick up his sleeve. Unfurling the whip, he lashed out with his one free hand at the Sphinx's tongue, and - seeing the barbed end catch hold, ignited the whips built in spell discharge...

A bolt of lightning arced from the whip into the sphinx, and for a moment the surprised creature shook madly, electricity brimming on every surface, until finally it fell still...

"Ha!" The slaver began in triumph, but a moment later his face fell, as the sphinx sighed deeply.

"That was Heavenly... thank you. Most of my food isn't that kind..." And with those words, the slaver was forced screaming and wriggling into the sphinx's mouth... and a moment later he was just one of the unidentifiable mass in the belly of the beast.

The Sphinx looked down at Cy, and Cy looked up at the sphinx... and then they both looked at the remaining slavers. The boar mounted group was shuffling their hooves nervously, looking at one another.

"Answer the riddle... or do you give up?" She licked her lips.

The sound of galloping boars filled the labyrinth as the slavers turned tail and run.

"FOOLS! You cannot run from me!" The sphinx laughed, and she dug in her heels, ready to give chase... she turned and smiled wickedly down at Cy.

"Run now little slave... run into the temple and escape... because if you get back, I'll ask another riddle, and you might not be so lucky..." She grinned and bared her teeth before running off after the fleeing slavers.

Cy didn't need telling twice, and, casting one last look back at the retreating Sphinx, turned his gaze to the decrepit temple, and ran quickly inside...