Author's Note: A HUGE thank you to all those wonderful people who reviewed. To those of you who didn't: shame! Sorry this is late; I was a bit busy with other things. Here it is!
The Rise of the Dead
A Kane Chronicles fanfiction
Chapter Three: We Meet an Old Friend
Or I Learn that Goodbyes are Harder the Second Time Around
Z
I
A
Standing in front of the splintered stairwell was Iskandar. He looked younger and healthier than I remembered, and I narrowed my eyes, instantly suspicious, then horrified at my thinking. But I had been the gods' pawn once before, and it wasn't about to happen again. It looked like Iskandar, it sounded like Iskandar, but I knew the gods were skilled in the magic of deception. Carter put a hand on my shoulder, and I leaned into the steady warmth of his chest. "You okay, Zia?" he whispered in my ear. I nodded, inwardly unsure of myself, outwardly composed. At least, I hoped so.
I wanted it to be Iskandar so much it hurt, but the opposing side of me, the side that so vividly remembered being locked in a tomb for months (that he had put me in), said that I should be careful. Keep your friends close, but keep your enemies closer. Ra had told me that once, and had told me about how failing to do so had nearly cost him his life, and taken his job and his throne. Not a very good combination, if you ask me. I had never trusted the gods before, and I wasn't sure if I should now. But if it meant that I would get my only- no, Iskandar was no longer my only family; now I had the Kanes, and Khufu, and the initiate godlings- if it meant that I would get part of my family back…. I was saved from that decision by the ominous rumble of a collapsing balcony. To be precise, the Kanes' collapsing balcony.
Everyone looked up, except Sadie, who, acting on a split-second decision, snatched the wand from Carter's startled hand, raised it, and yelled, "Hewat!" Protect! A glowing orb of semi-transparent glass-like light flowed from the tip, circling us and solidifying in time to break the fall of the serpapods. The globe bucked where it had been hit, and broke. Sadie swore under her breath, and gripped the wand harder.
Walt set a steadying hand on her shoulder. "I-you'll- you'll be fine, Sadie. Last time you weren't prepared. This time you'll be ready."
Sadie was quiet for a moment. "But last time we had Bast," she whispered, and blinked several times, while everyone around her pretended not to notice. I knew what she meant. For a few months last year, Ra had been part of my daily life, annoying and headache-inducing as he was. I had joined him for one day, known every one of his memories, his ideas, and his emotions. Then, just as suddenly, he had left. Bast, as well, had become a part of the Nome in that year, and had been central to our lives. One day she was here, the next, gone.
I shook my head. No time for this now. Maybe later. Maybe never. I suppressed the feelings, and glanced at the others out of the corner of my eye. We had grouped around the younger initiates, forming a ring; Carter, Sadie, Walt, Cleo, Julian, Jaz, Alyssa, and I. Carter reached for his wand in the Duat, remembered his sister had stolen it, cursed, and pulled out his khepesh. Sadie grinned slightly, nodding to Walt, who had summoned a pile of mummy wrappings. Cleo drew in a deep breath, preparing to yell a word of power like "Burps!", then was elbowed by Julian, and dissolved in to coughs. Jaz and Alyssa exchanged a look, then glanced at me. I shrugged and looked back at the two serpapods. We were ready. Depending on your definition of ready.
The two serpapods extracted themselves from the ruins of the second floor and advanced towards us, leering, drool dripping to the carpet from impossibly large fangs. Actually, never mind. I've met the Set animal. No teeth can be impossibly big anymore. Walt breathed a sigh of relief from to my right. "At least there're only two of them- ow! What was that for?"
Sadie glared as he rubbed his shoulder. "You jinxed us, now there'll be more." She cut off his protests. "And yes, I do believe in luck and superstition. I believe in the Egyptian gods hanging around for a couple of millennia, don't I?" She had a point there.
"Um, people?" muttered Jaz. "I think we have company.…" She was right. Two more serpapods filed into the room, tails lashing vigorously from side to side, blasting the doorframe to smithereens. Another two followed.
"Gods," muttered Julian. "I thought you said there were only two!" he turned to Carter, who shrugged helplessly.
"I…guess they've been busy since the last time we saw them…?"
I kicked him. So did Sadie. Cleo looked nervously at the six advancing beasts. "Now what- Dust!" she shrieked, her voice an octave high from fear. A serpapod that was about to eat Carter snarled as its paws fell to ashes at her feet. I finished it off with a cry of "Ha-di!" Destroy! Not my favorite spell, but it did the job as the thing exploded, splattering us with serpapod guts and sand. Behind us, the initiates squealed with excitement. You know what? I'll start calling them the ankle-biters. On reflection, it suits them.
[ Sadie just congratulated me on my sense of logic. Thanks, Sadie.]
Carter nodded at me then at Sadie, then met the eyes of everyone not being hypnotized by the death glare of a serpapod. "On my count!" he cried. "Run!"
We didn't get a chance to run anywhere. Well, we got a chance, but we were all to busy watching flaming furry serpapods. The entire left wall of the house, which supported half the second floor exploded suddenly in a- I'm not sure what to call it. Whatever you would get if you mixed pencil shavings and gasoline and mouse guts in the blender then set it on fire, magnified fifty times. And no, I'm not kidding. The serpapods were instantly consumed, being slightly closer to that wall than us, and I was suddenly grateful to whatever god that got us into this that we were ambushed as soon as we entered the building, not when we were, say, in the kitchen, which was already in flames. Oh, right, that was Anubis, also called Walt.
Then, just as suddenly as the magical- by now I had guessed the source, but was still in shock- fire appeared, it disappeared, leaving charred wood, ashes, and the smell of burnt serpapods. Sadie gagged, and behind me, I could hear someone throwing up, Cleo, perhaps. I knew we shouldn't have gone to the yogurt shop.
From the collapsed building came the groan of shifting wood, and Iskandar emerged, looking tired and worried, but more alive than I'd seen him in months. (Pun not intended!) He hurried to us, skirting the Thoth statue just as the head fell off and rolled off the roof of the warehouse. I wondered where the mortals would think it was from. This one couldn't be explained off by gas line stopped in front of our group, looking at us. Then he spotted me, Carter, and Sadie. He embraced us, then drew back.
"If you say anything, anything at all about how I've grown, I'll strangle you," muttered Sadie, and with that, the awkwardness was broken. Cleo jumped up, nausea gone, excited to meet the famed Chief Lector Iskandar. Iskandar smiled at her fondly, but raised a hand to stall her questions.
"Carter," he said. "You know this group better than I do. I don't want to upset whatever hierarchy you've set up-" Sadie snorted in desertion, but quickly disguised it as a snort. "-but we really should get going. I mean you. The serpapods are gone, but I don't know how long they will be held off." He fixed his gaze on Walt, who looked nervous. "You have accidentally disrupted the flow of Ma'at. I will not- how do you call it today? sugarpaint? the truth." Sadie whispered in his ear. "Ah, thank you, sugarcoat the truth. I no longer know if humans can die. I no longer know if monsters can be dismissed to the depths of the Duat." He turned his gaze to include all of us. "You must leave, and quickly. Never stay too long in one place, the servants of Chaos can find you too easily with your magic, especially those with stronger magic." His gaze grew stern. "You must find the way to solve this, ah, problem, and bring balance to the world. I will stay and hold them off or confuse them. You must go. Now."
Sadie nodded, blinking back tears. I closed my eyes, feeling a tear escape from beneath my eyelid, trickling down onto my cheek before dripping off my chin onto the cement. A solitary splotch of sadness amidst the bleak grey. Carter embraced Iskandar again, as the older initiates led them across the lot. I stepped to Iskandar's side.
"Hello again, my little light," he whispered, embracing me.
"Goodbye was hard enough the first time," I murmured. "Now…"
"It's twice as hard," he completed gravely. "You must be brave, little light. Even in the darkest of times, there will be somebody that needs you to guide them. Farewell, little light." He pulled back, and I could see the glimmer of tears in his eyes, shining by the light of the stars. I nodded, and composed my face, setting my jaw and blinking away my tears.
"Zia!" Carter's voice from the edge of the lot.
I turned, and ran towards the group, not looking back. I nodded to Sadie's unspoken question, then shook my head at Carter's. "I'm fine." Then I added silently, I think.
Maybe someday I'd see Iskandar again, but for now, we were homeless, chaperone-less, moneyless, and on the streets of New York after dark. I would just have to deal with that later. If there was a later.
Author's Note: For anybody wondering about Iskandar's nickname for Zia: He already calls Sadie 'my dear', so I think he'd have another name for Zia. Zia means 'light', and there you have it. I trust you can follow my line of thinking. :)
I'm so happy! This fic currently has the most reviews out of all of my fics! How about we make it to 30 before I post chapter 4? Thanks! And also, multiple reviews from the same person only count as one review.
-Tolemac
