Anubis's Crest
Chapter 1
Zedux sat in front of Cleopatra, queen of Egypt, and fitted her with a pair of scarab beetle shoes. Zedux was Cleopatra's maiden, a fine thirteen-year-old with long black hair and gorgeous dark eyes. Yet as Zedux dreamed of life out of the palace, her time would come to experience a danger unlike any other.
Zedux walked into the palace with a fresh load of laundry. As she headed toward the queen's royal chamber, she heard a cry that could only belong to one person, Cleopatra. Zedux dropped her laundry and raced into the chamber. When she opened the door, the first thing she saw was a bloody Cleopatra, lying on the floor with fear in her eyes. Cleopatra got up shakily and handed a note to Zedux. It read:
Dear Zedux,
I hope you like the present I got you,
it was of the finest.
Zedux looked up just in time to see Cleopatra throw a black scarab at the wall. She shivered and kept on reading.
Why you see your beloved queen on the floor,
all bloody, is because I tried to murder her.
Why, you ask? To get rid of her. That's
why. I am Anubis's royal assassin, and if you
want to save your queen, you are going to
have to steal Anubis's crest. You will never be
able to do this, but I will have the
pleasure of watching you die painfully, knowing you failed.
Good Luck,
Necessitio
P.S. to get to Anubis's pyramid, follow the Nile in the scorpion king's oasis.
Zedux felt scared. Very scared. Incredibly scared. Everyone knew that Anubis was the god of darkness. Anyone who faced him surely hadn't a chance.
" I must go", Zedux whispered." Cleopatra, I may never come back, so please do not be sad".
Cleopatra nodded, to petrified with fear to speak. And with that, off Zedux went, on the journey of her life.
Anubis's Crest
Chapter 2
Zedux felt exhausted. Ever since she left the palace, her feet had urged her to go back. Now, here in the burning desert, with nothing to see but rows upon rows of sand, Zedux wished she had gone back. Why had this mysterious Necessitio tell me the way to Anubis's pyramid if he is only to kill me? She thought. Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of running water. She smiled and ran toward the sweet, glorious sound.
As Zedux ran toward the sound of water, she found herself in a beautiful oasis. The trees were thick with hanging mangoes. Zedux plucked one off and sank her teeth in vigorously. The fuzzy peel tickled her lip.
Next she found a small pool of water. Zedux tasted it and spit it out quickly.
Saltwater, she thought angrily, and kept on walking. She found a trickling freshwater stream and drank the water.
Zedux found more saltwater pools along her way. She even stepped in a long saltwater river. "Where is this saltwater coming from!" Zedux screamed. Then she stopped dead and remembered the note she got from Necessitio. Follow the Nile in the scorpion king's oasis, it had said.
Wow, one of the most important rivers in Egypt and I forget that it runs through an oasis. THIS oasis. Just shows you how well the rest of this trip is going to go, if I keep forgetting important life sources like that, Zedux thought.
She grabbed a big leaf and 3 mangoes. She put the mangoes in the leaf and tied it with a vine. Then she grabbed 7 long, strong, hollow branches and tied them together with vines. This would make a raft. She grabbed another stick and put the mango pouch on the raft. Then, Zedux pushed the raft into the water and climbed on. She started to row with the stick.
"I'm coming, Anubis!" Zedux screamed into the sky. "And there is nothing you can do to stop me."
Anubis's Crest
Chapter 3
Zedux blinked sleep from her eyes as she drifted along the Nile river, in search of Anubis's pyramid. It was noon, and she couldn't believe that she had slept so long.
"I must have something to eat," Zedux mumbled. It had been days since she ate her last mango.
When Zedux was fully awake, she dipped her feet in the cool river…and jerked back, with tiny fish nibbling on her toes. She frowned, and flicked them off, one by one, into the Nile. Just as she finished, she heard laughter, lots of it. Zedux looked over her shoulder and saw a small Egyptian village. Children were looking at her.
"Come!" they called.
At last Zedux relented, and pulled onto the sand. One girl, the same age as her, held back whenever Zedux came near. One day the girl came up to Zedux.
"Hylifimata," the girl said.
Zedux cocked her head and they both burst out laughing.
"That means hello," the girl said.
"Okay, my name is Zedux, what is yours?"
"Hymeelinia."
Hymeelinia had short black hair and the same dark eyes as Zedux.
The two instantly became friends. Then Zedux remembered that she had to go.
"Bye," they said to each other. Zedux thought that this was a very lame friendship, if they had only known each other for about 5 seconds.
It was night. Zedux was sleeping, until she woke up to a disturbance next to her. She sat up and screamed when she found Hymeelinia lying next to her.
"Wha…?" mumbled a confused Hymeelinia.
"What are you doing here?" said Zedux.
"I…I…I found out what you were doing and couldn't let you go alone!" confessed Hymeelinia.
By then, Zedux was staring at something, mouth dropped open in disbelief.
"HELLO?" Hymeelinia screamed. Then she saw it too. A massive, strong pyramid with skulls of all kinds decorating it.
"We have arrived…" whispered Zedux.
"Arrived where?" asked Hymeelinia.
"We have arrived….to the pyramid of Anubis"
Anubis's Crest
Chapter 4
"Whoa, big scary doors of death, and we're supposed to venture IN THEM? ON PURPOSE?" Hymeleemia yelped.
Zedux gave her this look that said, Be quiet. Hymeleemia read her eyes and reluctantly obeyed. Zedux quietly stepped off of the raft and tiptoed toward the pyramid. Almost immediately something went wrong. Zedux just reached the door when she felt something bite her hand.
"YAAAAAAH!" she screamed. Hymaleemia rushed over with a stick and started whacking the wound.
"THIS….IS….NOT….HELPING!" Zedux said loudly through gritted teeth between whacks.
"give it time!" Hymaleemia said.
Zedux had no idea how hitting the wound would help, but she soon forgot about her hand when something about a million times worse appeared in front of them.
"RAAAAAHHHHGGGG!" the ugly beast screamed. It was nothing more than a snake, except the fact that it was about 30 feet tall and had eyes that smoldered like coal.
"FEAR ME, FOR I AM APEP! THE SCOURAGE OF THE SANDS, GUARDER TO ANUBIS!" Apep roared to the sky.
Hymaleemia, of course, had to make things a lot worse. This is when Zedux realized how violent and brave her friend was. Hymaleemia marched right up to Apep and started nagging him like she was his mom.
"listen here, I don't know who you think you are, but you better move out of the way, or I'll-"
"Hymaleemia?" Zedux said.
"yeah?"
"shut up, please."
"fine," Hymaleemia growled and made the I'm watching you so don't do anything stupid or I'll have to kill you motion with her hands.
Apep sneered at her. "DROP YOUR BAG," he said.
Hymaleemia wasn't a bit afraid of a giant evil snake bearing down on her, but she did it anyways, just to keep peace. Zedux hadn't even noticed she was holding a bag until that moment. It was brown leather, with-what did it look like, books?-sticking out of it.
"Mr. Apep, sir, please do not kill us. We only seek Anubis' Crest, so could we please-"
"RAAAAAAWR!" the giant snake growled. "THAT'S WHAT I'M PROTECTING!"
"Riiiiiiiiiiiiight…" Zedux said