Disclaimer: I don't own any Sly Cooper characters; they belong to Sucker Punch Productions.
Claimer: I own all of my original characters.
I know this chapter's a little shorter than the other two but since I wanted to split chapter 2 in half…this is the second half. But the other chapters should be longer like chapters 1 and 2. And sorry for the delay updates on this story…since these are longer chapters than what I normally write it'll take longer for me to write. But I should have one chapter a week if I'm lucky! Anyway, please read and review and let me know what you think so far. Thanks! And again I want to thank "ForeverFreelancer" for helping me with parts of this story so thanks!
Chapter 3: Thieves in Thebes
Thebes, Egypt 1300 B.C.
"I don't understand." Ramona said slowly as the jackal growled out his breaths. He flexed his bare chest and shook his head.
"You'd better listen," he loomed over Ramona, making her look like a dwarf against his size, "Someone is at work, trying to destroy your family line. You must find out who this is before your can try anything. Then solve my riddle in order to survive. You have until the sands in that glass run our or you won't exist anymore. You will be wiped from history and all of your efforts will have been destroyed. You have five days." He growled again and started backing away; blending in with the shadows. His torch light disappeared and Ramona was alone in the room, obviously concerned. I jumped from my perch and made my way up to her, placing my paw on her shoulder. She jumped at my touch but settled down after glancing to me. I silently ushered her to the opening I had come through, trying to keep from anyone else from noticing us as she grabbed the hourglass and we climbed upwards over the wall, eventually slipping down silently. She placed the hourglass on the ground and glanced to me, a worried look etched on her face. Anyone would be terrified if they were to have a curse like that put upon them and Ramona was no exception. I had heard then entire conversation between the two and I had no idea what the answer to this riddle was and by the look on her face…Ramona didn't know either.
"Sly…" she said slowly as she glanced in my direction. I simply cut her off by closing her jaws with my paws.
"Listen, we'll talk with Bentley and see what he says." She nodded and I released her jaws. She placed the hourglass in her pouch and sighed.
"I knew I had a bad feeling." She muttered silently. She brushed her bangs from her face and I could tell she was nervous. I'd have Bentley see what he could decipher from her riddle and hopefully solve it quickly.
"Look, we'll do our research here and then go see Bentley. Speaking of which, where is that royal ancestor of yours anyway?" She shrugged and as if summoned we both jumped when the solid gold doors down the hall from us burst open forcefully. Slytankhmen III sped through the doorway, using his paw to make us follow him. I took Ramona by the wrist and tugged her forward with me, trying to figure out what my ancestor was trying to tell us.
"We're late for the ceremony. If they've started and we're not there…it'll be our heads."
"Ceremony?" Ramona repeated as we hurried down the halls. The Egyptian nodded and sped up.
"It's the birthday of the princess. It's mandatory that everyone in the palace goes. She hates the attention but her father insists that this one is important." He placed a finger over his mouth and we entered the grand room silently. He pushed us towards the back while he went in another direction. We stood in the back and watched the ceremony begin. Everyone, including us, bowed as the pharaoh entered with his daughter. They sat on their thrones and waited for the people to rise. I glanced to Ramona's family member and noticed her expression. She was not in a good mood and looked like she was ready to hit someone.
"I've done my research," Ramona whispered to where her voice was barely audible, "You have to watch out for her temper."
"Like I have to watch out for yours?" she shot me an annoyed glance as we watched the ceremony unfold. I couldn't understand what was being said, given the language barrier, but I could watch. The pharaoh went on rambling on and on about something, more than likely his daughter, before finally standing and walked down the few steps from his throne to the ground floor. Slytankhmen III came into view with a chest in his grasp.
He stood in front of the pharaoh and bowed, holding the chest up to the pharaoh. The pharaoh started talking again, making gestures with his arms and speaking loudly. His golden robes moved as he did while his jewels sparkled in the torchlight. I was starting to get bored of the ceremony, not really seeing the point in it, and by the looks of it, Ramona was thinking the same thing. She was beyond bored and looked like she was ready to go home…or to another time period and I was ready to get out of here. The pharaoh finally stopped talking and opened the chest Slytankhmen was holding. He removed a rather large necklace and walked to his daughter. Ramona tugged at my arm and leaned towards my ear to talk.
"That's the same necklace my father gave me," before voice was barely a whisper and I had to concentrate to understand what she was saying, "He told me that it was old but I didn't think this old. The chain is obviously different but it's the same sapphire as the one she has there." She lifted the necklace from her neck and I glanced to the gem. It was large and a deep blue. The chain Ramona had was a thin gold on but the one Nefertiti had was huge. Her father placed it around her neck and her shoulders sunk at the weight of the chain. It took up a majority of her chest area with the sapphire in the middle and gold and other small jewels taking up the rest of the space.
The princess still didn't look like she was in a good mood even after hugging her father and descending the stairs to leave. There was something she was unhappy about and wasn't afraid to show it. She turned her head away from where Ramona and I stood and she glanced to someone on the opposite wall. According to what Ramona as found out, I had a good idea on who it was. Eventually, the crowd dispersed and Ramona and I exited, following Slytankhmen III through the palace. He said he'd try to get us a chance to talk with Nefertiti and get as much information as we could get. I'd probably let Ramona talk with her about…whatever she wanted…and I'd talk with Slytankhmen III about his history and see if I could get any information about his mysterious jackal that had 'cursed' Ramona. I personally didn't believe in curses and figured it could only be someone trying to freak her out. But then again…time travel is supposed to be impossible yet we're in ancient Egypt. But despite that, there was no such thing as curses. I snapped out of my thoughts when we were told to stay put in some sort of 'royal' room. Or at least what I thought was royal. This entire palace was made out of gold and decorative bricks and I couldn't tell the pharaohs living quarters from the servants'. Ramona and I slunk to the floor, allowing our feet to rest after standing for most of the day, and her worried face returned.
"Don't worry about what that man told you, Ramona," I told her quietly, "I'll talk to Slytankhmen and see if he knows anything about him. Than I'll call into Bentley and see what he says about this 'curse'." She nodded, but she still wasn't convinced. She simply stayed quiet and rested her head on my shoulder. I sighed and got ready to speak again, but we ended up jerking up from our seats when a rather flustered princess stormed through the double doors along with Slytankhmen III and her father. Ramona and I stuck to the wall, still in sight but stayed completely silent. The princess was absolutely enraged and not wanting to be bothered. However, her father behind her wasn't going to let that happen.
"Nefertiti!" he shouted while he clenched his fists. He was still dressed in royal clothing, adorned in gold and jewels, and he wasn't too pleased with his daughter, "Nefertiti, you will not walk away from me! You will marry Akhenaten within the following month! You will not disgrace this family because of your stubbornness!" the young woman whirled around and growled, her long hair brushing against her shoulders and the bangles on her wrists clanging together.
"I'm not marrying him father! My life isn't something you can simply throw away because of your greed for power! Akhenaten has already been married and I will not marry someone who has been married. Just like I won't marry someone who has a wife! I won't play second wife to another woman and I won't have someone play second wife around me! I will not marry him and you cannot make me!"
"I guess I was right about the anger issues," Ramona whispered softly. I chuckled and nodded.
"Now I know where you get it from." She scoffed quietly and punched my side. We turned back to the argument in front of us and stayed quiet.
"Are you willing to let all my efforts go to waste because of your stubbornness? You will marry Akhenaten and that's the end of things!" she pharaoh shouted before reaching the door, his golden robes swaying behind him. He opened the doors forcefully and slammed them behind him. Things were quiet for a moment until the pharaoh's daughter started an uproar. She flung a cat figurine off a nearby table and growled.
"I'm not marring Akhenaten. I won't do it, Cooper, I won't do it," She sat in a chair and turned to Ramona, "You must be the other Bandicoot." She smiled and patted the seat beside her. Ramona was a little hesitant and eventually sat next to the temperamental raccoon. Then, with a flick of her paw, ushered Slytankhmen and I away into the other room. We did what we were told and walked away to leave the two women to talk amongst each other. I wanted until we were out of range from overhearing ears to start talking.
"Is she always that…angry?" the other Cooper laughed and nodded as we continued walking.
"Just about every day," she laughed again, "but, I don't think I'd be too happy if I had my wife chosen for me. So, it can't be too fun for a princess to have her father choose her husband simply for a political arrangement. And I guess that's what makes her unique and different from other women around here."
"I take it you're fond of her." He nodded and stayed silent. It was obvious he wasn't going to admit being involved with Ramona's ancestor, so, now would have been the right time to ask him about the mysterious jackal.
"Let me ask you something," I scratched the back of my neck as I thought of how to word this without sounding stupid, "Have you seen a black jackal around here?" he stopped walking and furred his eyebrows.
"No, what did it look like?" I didn't like the expression on his face and I was getting more and more worried about that jackal.
"Like a jackal…I guess…big, tall, muscular, solid black, deep voice. Is that bad?" he nodded and pointed to the wall. There was a tall statue of the same jackal that had bullied Ramona.
"Was it him?" I nodded and he shook his head, "This isn't good. Did someone see him?" I nodded again.
"Ramona did. She saw him a little over an hour ago." He shook his head again and stroked his chin.
"She saw that god of death, Anubis. This is really bad, really bad. If he gave her a riddle, then she has a death wish." I felt my stomach drop.
"How so?" he sighed again and continued.
"Anubis is the god of death and the afterlife. If she came into contact with him, she'll be dead in a matter of days. I'm sure he gave her a riddle?" I nodded, "Then she has until the end of her time span to solve that riddle. If she doesn't, she'll die." I sighed, thinking about how to fix this. I needed to talk with Bentley to see what we would do. I branched away from my ancestor momentarily to talk with Bentley. I quickly explained to him what had happened with the jackal and what Slytankhmen III had told me.
"Well, if this is a common trait through her family, we'll have to meet her ancestors and see what they have in common. There's no way around it." Bentley said through my earpiece. I ended the conversation when I noticed Ramona coming down the hallway.
"So," I said after she stopped near me, "how did you like your ancestor?"
"She's okay when she's not mad. Did you find anything out about that man." I nodded and rubbed the back of my neck.
"You have to solve that riddle, Ramona. Bentley says you'll need to meet your ancestors to figure it out."
"Alright," she was still nervous but willing to give it a try, "So where are we going next?"
"Medieval England." I said proudly.
I know I didn't go into much detail into this ancestor but this was mainly focused on the curse from chapter 2. I'll go into more detail in the next chapters and the next chapter will be longer I promise!