Chapter Thirteen
Mer-Ib had straight black thick hair, and black eyes like his father. Mi-Aset had cut it short to the nape of his neck, just above his ears, and just above his eyebrows. His teeth were still very small, being that he had not yet lost any to receive his adult ones. Today, Mer-Ib was clothed in a small white linen skirt tied around his waist, and though it was tiny compared to Neferkaptah's, it still reached his knees, and sometimes when he would run too fast it would come off altogether and Mi-Aset would have to chase after her naked son with his skirt in her hand. But right now he was not running, he was standing beside his kneeling mother, watching the Nile's calm endeavors. Mi-Aset swept a strand of hair away from his eyes, admiring the way the sun was glinting off his black eyes, the way his small lips were drawn back in a casual smile, showing off his baby teeth. He pointed at the water with an unsteady chubby arm.
"Horus?"
Mi-Aset looked to where he was pointing, at a crocodile sunning itself on a flat rock jutting out of the Nile.
"Horus lives in the sky, Mer-Ib. It is Sobek that lives in the Nile."
Mer-Ib repeated with his mouth, forming the words soundlessly.
Mi-Aset wrapped her arm around her son's tiny waist, patting his slightly robust tummy. She kissed his cheek while he continued to study his new god, unbeknownst to him that it was the very one that would be his undoing.
Mi-Aset was distracted by something off in the distance. A sharp reflective light, so harsh she had to squeeze her eyes shut against it. But Mer-Ib did not seem to notice it. Assuming it was some kind of metallic substance, she was surprised to see that it was not. Indeed it was a woman, dressed in such a brilliant white dress that it seemed to glow in the daylight, and perhaps did in fact. Mi-Aset was awestruck as the figure approached, for she was not walking but rather floating in a shimmering air, and her face was not that of a woman but of a cat, with human hair sprouting between her sharp cat ears, trailing down her back. Mi-Aset was scared, but could not resist standing to greet this visage of a goddess.
Bastet outstretched a human hand, decorated at the wrist with several slim gold bracelets. Mi-Aset touched it.
~~~
Ardeth Bay was getting his ass kicked as Mr. O'Connell might say. He had just been thrown harshly into a stone pillar, crumpling at its bottom in a heap of exhausted black robes. He coughed, and spat blood onto the sandy floor. Neferkaptah's sandal foot came to rest inches from his face.
"You should not have interfered, Med-Jai. But I suppose it is in your nature."
Ardeth painfully raised his head to meet Neferkaptah's smirking gaze. "Go to hell."
Neferkaptah cocked his head. "I am not familiar with the phrase."
"Get used to it."
Neferkaptah kicked him hard in the face. Ardeth fell on his back.
~~~
"This…is…not…working!" Rick gasped for air as he furtively dodged the quick strikes being made by the 20-foot behemoth of a snake which was attempting to take his head off. Ducking and rolling, Rick came to a stance in the corner, both guns cocked and aimed at the serpent. Except they clicked.
Rick's eyes widened. The snake seemed to sense imminent victory, as it uprighted itself to its fullest extent, fanning out flaps of skin on its head. "Uh, a little help here."
"Rick!" Jonathan yelled for his brother-in-law's attention, as he upholstered a scimitar from one of the guard's belts, and slid it on the floor towards Rick's boots. Rick had a split second to reach for it as the snake darted, Rick somersaulted out of the way and in one swift move brought the scimitar up in a diagonal swipe against the snake's head, cleanly severing it from its body.
Rick heaved air into his chest, then turned to face his family, obviously pleased with himself. Evy was blushing with pride at her husband's achievement, as was Alex. Rick turned back around to the headless snake, and gave it a hard boot for good measure. To say he was shocked is an understatement when the headless snake's tail whipped him across the room on its own accord. Rick pushed himself up into a sitting position, Evelyn and Alex having run over to him, Evy's arms tightly wound around his neck.
Before them, the snake was forming a new head out of the stump of its neck. Rick sighed. "This is going to be a long day."
~~~
Neferkaptah was looking over his wife's prone form, chest no longer rising with air. "You see Med-Jai, it was all for nothing. My wife no longer lives. Your army is defeated. Your friends are dead. And although it has been a pleasure, I'm afraid you are about to join them."
Ardeth had brought himself to a standing position, wavering on shaky legs, left arm clutching broken shards of ribs. "I would hate to disappoint you."
Neferkaptah laughed. "You have failed Med-Jai. Just like your ancestors before you, the Med-Jai could never hold their own. And now you will be helpless to stop me in my pursuits."
Neferkaptah was completely unprepared for the stinging right fist that crashed into his cheek from Ardeth. Ardeth followed it with a left uppercut and then a knee to the abdomen. When Neferkaptah had lost his balance and fallen onto his hands and knees, Ardeth swiped his cheek with a hard kick, returning the favor to Neferkaptah as had been done earlier to him. Neferkaptah rolled, then quickly got to his feet, the blood that had been trickling down his jaw from a split lip already ebbing. Neferkaptah touched his now healing lip and smiled.
"Such determination Med-Jai. But enough of this foolishness. Let's end this now."
Mentally, Ardeth prepared himself for the worst beating of his life.
~~~
Jonathan, Evelyn, and even Alex were frantically trying to decipher the hieroglyphics on the crumbling walls while Rick kept the beast busy, distracted.
"You might want to do that faster!" Rick yelled, barely rolling out of the way when the snake struck the ground, shaking loose sand from its fangs.
"You're not helping." Evelyn countered.
Suddenly Alex was jumping up and down. "Dad, dad, throw sand on it! Throw sand on it!"
As odd as this advice might seem, Rick nonetheless scooped up a handful of sand and threw it at the snake's head. The snake, now just as confused as Rick, shook its head and blinked as sand got in its eyes. It stared at Rick while Rick stared back, both waiting for something to happen that never did.
Alex sighed, disgruntled. "No, throw sand on it after you've cut its head off!"
Rick rolled his eyes. "Now you tell me." Quickly, with one swipe the snake's head plopped off as before, only this time, Rick threw sand onto the bloody stump. Everyone held their breath.
But it did nothing. Exhaling deeply, Rick led the troupe out of the cursed room.
And just in time to see Neferkaptah's hands wound tightly around Ardeth's neck, choking the life out of him.
Rick steadied his scimitar with his right hand, outstretched his left and threw the scimitar between Neferkaptah's shoulder blades. Neferkaptah's back arched, his hands automatically setting Ardeth free, who slunk to his knees. Neferkaptah turned and faced Rick, anger seething in his eyes, mixed with pain. He reached back and pulled the scimitar out of his back, glaring at Rick the whole time.
But then he turned, and plunged it deep into Ardeth's abdomen. Ardeth's mouth opened wide in disbelieving shock, as Evelyn and Jonathan both screamed. Neferkaptah violently pulled the blade out, Ardeth covering the seeping wound with both hands but unable to contain the gushing blood. He fell onto his back, blood dripping through his fingers.
Neferkaptah raised the blade high, preparing to throw it right back at Rick.
Two bloody hands suddenly caught his face, and he froze. Evelyn gasped. It was Mi-Aset, but it wasn't her. Her eyes were completely white, her face a deathly pale and shirt completely soaking red. But she was kneeling upright on the slab, catching Neferkaptah in a grip so sound; he could not free himself. The scimitar dropped from his grasp, and he began to howl something so unnatural Alex shielded his ears. Loose sand began to fall from the pillars, as they too shook under the encompassing sound.
Outside the battle that was now showing definite signs of fatigue, everyone stopped, fearful of the animal like howl that was ringing loudly in their ears.
Evelyn made her way over to Ardeth, weakly clutching his abdomen, but also engrossed in what was happening. Evelyn added her own hand to his; putting more pressure on it and making him grimace with pain.
Mi-Aset lowered her mouth onto his screaming one, his eyes now wide and fearful. It was a kiss that under any other circumstance would have been seen as passionate, but this one was literally sucking the life from her husband. He was degenerating; muscle seemingly disappearing, skin shrinking and taking a brown leathery look to it. He could no longer scream, and his eyes were sinking further and further into his hollowing head.
And then it stopped. She dropped his mummified body ungracefully to the ground, and slumped back onto the slab, white eyes closing. Her hand fell to the side, falling over the edge.
Rick carefully stepped around the mummy, while Jonathan did the same, screwing his mouth and nose up as if it smelt terrible, which it did not. Evelyn looked up at Rick, her expression saying it all. Rick looked down on his fallen companion, sorrow overtaking his face. Ardeth knew. But he no longer had the strength to even speak. His eyes closed slowly, his hands limply falling from his abdomen to rest on the ground.
Tears welled in Evelyn's eyes. Alex was tugging on Rick's sleeve. Rick held a hand up to him. "Not now buddy."
Alex persisted. "But dad, look!" He pointed to the hand of Mi-Aset, blood dripping from the palm, and onto Ardeth's abdomen. Rick furrowed his eyebrows. Something was happening to Ardeth's stomach, there was steam rising from it, as if it were on fire.
Jonathan now definitely smelt something and even held a hand up to his nose to shield it from the offending scent.
Evelyn ripped open the robes, gasping at the sight of a gaping wound, bubbling before her. It was rising, the entire skin as more blood dripped onto it, but it was healing too. Where there was a gaping hole was now a dark rope-like scar.
The blood from Mi-Aset's palm stopped dripping.
Ardeth awoke with a start, sucking air in fervently, eyes opened wide. The room around them began to shake, old walls moaning under distress.
Jonathan looked about nervously. "I think, it's uh, time to go old chaps."
Evelyn nodded in agreement. "I think you're right."
Rick shook his head. "Not yet." He picked up Mi-Aset's body from the slab, laying her gently on the ground. He heaved the slab's top slightly to the side, groaning under its weight. Then screwing his entire face up with disgust, he picked the mummy up and unceremoniously dumped it into the slab. He picked up Mi-Aset's body again, placing it on top of the slab. Then he reached down, picked up one of Ardeth's arms, and slung his entire body over his shoulder.
"Now we go."
The family ran quickly from the crumbling temple, Rick leading the way even with the added weight of Ardeth. They did not look back, but had they, they might have seen the body of Mi-Aset magically transform into a stone cat, lounging casually atop the coffin of her husband.
~~~
The battle outside was complete, bodies lay this way and that, and blood had made parts of the sand wet like mud. But the Med-Jai were once again victorious. Upon seeing them, Farah Mahad dismounted, running over to check on his cousin. Ardeth was now functioning, tapping Rick to let him down. Rick lowered him to the ground, offering a hand to the still shaky warrior. Ardeth inspected his completely healed wound, touching it gingerly.
The rumbling from deep inside the temple caught everyone's attention, as dust spewed out through the entrance, but the temple itself held its ground.
"Well Ardeth, old man. Looks like that's another spot you guys will have to watch." Rick said with a smile.
Ardeth nodded, but did not look entirely happy about the prospect. "Perhaps a holiday is in order first."
Evelyn smiled deeply at her friend. Farah tapped Ardeth on the shoulder, passing a bridle to him. Ardeth leapt onto the steed, smiling down on his friends. "We shall meet again, hopefully under different circumstances. May Allah smile upon you." With a small click, he led his horse away from the troupe, towards the Nile.
"Why does he always leave us like that?" Jonathan wondered out loud. "You'd think he might leave us some train tickets or something."
"Maybe he's just trying to get rid of you." Rick reasoned.
Jonathan thought for a moment. "You know I think you're onto something chap."
Rick chuckled, then grabbed the bridle of one of the horses left behind, offering Evelyn his hand to help her up. She smiled gratefully, tired limbs begging for a good night's sleep. She leaned down as if to kiss him, but stopped and whispered in his ear. "Next time, lets vacation in America."
THE END
*This story was inspired by the myth "Khaemwaset and the Mummies." Thanks for reading.