Chapter 3: Does it take your breath away, and you feel yourself suffocating?
"Come on, come on. With everything falling down around me. I'd like to believe in all the possibilities." - Come On by Panic! at the Disco ft. fun
As they began to move forward, it became painfully obvious that Natalie was worried about Ahkmenrah. As she led them towards the Egypt exhibit, she hovered very close to him. They came upon a door, and she turned towards the ragtag group. "The Xiangliu is just beyond these doors. She is most likely rather agitated, and likely sleeping off her disorientation. Be very quiet." she said.
"Do we need to be 'vewy quiet because we'we hunting wabbits'?" Nicky said with a hint of humor in his voice.
"I do not appreciate your ill attempt at humor, youngling." Natalie snarled at him.
Stiffly, she pivoted on her heel and gently opened the doors. As they walked through the artifacts of the Chinese culture, it became evident that Natalie was scanning the room for the safest passage around the Xiangliu (or as Larry called it 'THE GIANT FREAKING NINE
HEADED SNAKE IN THE MIDDLE OF THE ROOM!'). She slowly edged around the side of the siheyuan, motioning for the others to do the same. About halfway through the courtyard, the tablet began to glow. Sacagawea immediately became wax, Attila started acting like a scared little girl, Teddy began shouting random quotes from the original Theodore Roosevelt, and Ahkmenrah began having difficulties. His eyes widened as he began to gasp for air, clutching at his throat. Immediately, she caught him and carefully placed him on the ground. The Xangliu awoke and began attacking them. "Lawrence! Watch the Pharaoh!" she shouted.
Before waiting for an answer, she pulled a sword out of who knows where and attacked the snake demon. With a flurry of movement, that made it difficult to discern who was winning, she swung her sword at the mighty beast. Lancelot, in all of his chivilrous crappy ways, leaped in front of Natalie. He pushed her behind his back shouting "Stand back fair maiden! I shall protect you from this villainous creature!"
Jumping in front of Lancelot and parrying a blow, she shouted in annoyance "I have been slaying monsters and fighting miscreants since before your grandarents were even thought of!"
Finally landing a lucky blow on it's back, the Xiangliu limply collapsed to the ground in a heap. Turning back to face Ahk and the others, Natalie worriedly hurried to Ahkmenrah. He continued to gasp for breath as the others went back to normal. "It is alright my old friend. Kahmunrah is far away from us. He no longer can harm you." she gently coaxed.
Gently, she pried Ahk's hands from his throat. She held his hands in her own, quietly whispering to him in Egyptian. He calmed down, his breathing deepening, when the thought occured to Larry. 'Were they just friends in Egypt? Or was there something more there?' For a moment they sat in sience, holding each other's hands. After making sure that he was breathing regularly, Natalie helped Ahk stand. "We had best be on our way. Before it happens again." she muttered.