"Egyptian"
"English"
Chapter Seven
On the balloon the group were sitting down talking about Evy's experience. "Evy, I know you haven't exactly been yourself lately with all these dreams and visions-" Rick began worriedly.
"-No, no, they're memories from my previous life. Honestly, I'm not losing my mind, it makes perfect sense now." Evy reassured.
"And that's the reason we found the bracelet?"
"Exactly, I was its protector not long after Akila was killed." Evy said with a nod.
Ardeth turned to Rick, "now do you believe my friend, clearly you were destined to protect this woman."
Rick nodded once in a disbelieving way. "Right. She's a reincarnated princess and I'm a warrior for God."
"And her son is the way to Ahm Shere. Three sides to the pyramid. It explains why Akila chose now to reincarnate herself, she must have known her father would be resurrected nine years ago and knew she had to stop it. The fact that she chose the form of Evelyn's adopted sister makes it all the better. This was all preordained thousands of years ago." Ardeth explained.
"And how does the story end?" Evy asked biting her lower lip in nervousness.
"Ah, only the journey is written, not the destination." Ardeth replied cryptically.
Rick rolled his eyes, "convenient."
The balloon finally landed at Karnak and Rick and Ardeth raced across the sand to the nearby train. They jumped on; pointing their guns but the train was empty. "We've lost them." Ardeth said when they both jumped off the train.
"Rick!" They heard Evy shout from the ruins of the temple. The two men ran off in the direction of the shout and found Evy crouched by a chain on the floor, she was clutching a tie in her hand as she pointed down at a little sandcastle. "Alex left us his tie and he made a little sandcastle. It's the temple of Aida Philae."
"'Atta boy, Alex." Rick said proudly. They raced off to the balloon again.
The balloon landed on the island and Evy found Alex's coat in the sand, she removed it to reveal another sandcastle. "The great temple of Abu Simbal." Evy said. Ardeth wrote on a small scroll before attaching it to Horus and releasing him.
The camel ride had been a long one and Grace was glad for a break when they reached Abu Simbal. Alex had been leaving sandcastles for his parents to find and was making another one as Grace watched Imhotep who stood in a lake of water. She spun around at Alex's cry and saw Lock-nah holding Alex up, he had been caught making the castle. "Lock-nah, put the boy down." Imhotep ordered as he too turned to see what was going on.
Lock-nah obeyed him and placed Alex down who ran to Grace. She pulled him in close as Imhotep turned to Alex. "I hope your parents enjoyed the journey." He said before turning back to the water.
Imhotep raised his hands and the water lifted up into a wall. Everyone stumbled backwards as Imhotep threw his arms forward causing the water to move at a rapid pace towards a dirigible balloon.
The balloon was quiet as they all stood still listening, then Izzy turned around and saw the wall of water coming towards them. "We're in trouble!" He shouted.
The rest of the group spun around to see Imhotep's face appear in the water. Ardeth pushed Horus up, "Horus, up!" He commanded and the bird took flight out of the waters path.
Imhotep controlled the water and opened his mouth about to swallow the balloon. "Izzy! Turn right! Starboard! Starboard!" Rick commanded.
Izzy started up the engine and the balloon raced forward as Imhotep's mouth closed, just missing them. The balloon flew round the rocks with the water following after them, the water crashed into some rocks, soaking them all as the balloon went through a small gap in the rock. "Something, someone forgot to mention?" Izzy said out of breath as he straightened himself.
"Ah, people." Jonathan called as he noticed the large oasis beneath them.
They all looked down and gasped at the beautiful sight. "Ahm Shere." Ardeth told them.
Rick picked up his binoculars and through them he saw a gold pyramid in the distance. "He's back! Hang on!" Izzy cried as he noticed the wall of water had caught up to them. The balloon shuddered slightly and then the engine cut out, making the balloon stop. "Well that's not good." Izzy muttered before shrinking down as the wall came closer.
"Hang on." Rick said as the wall of water crashed around them. The balloon went down, water still coming at them, and then they crashed into the ground, the water going back to where it came from. The group clambered out of the wreckage, shaken but alive. "We're gonna get my son and Grace and we're gonna want to get out of here fast. So make this thing work Izzy." Rick ordered after they had grabbed a few bits from the wreck.
Izzy looked at him in disbelief. "This thing is filled with gas, not hot air, gas, to get this thing off the ground, where am I going to get gas from? Maybe I could use hot air but d'you know how many cubic meters I'd need? It's too big!" He cried.
Rick patted him on the shoulder. "If anyone can fill this thing up with hot air, it's you." He reassured. Ardeth called Horus and gave him a message as Jonathan grabbed his golden stick and hid it in his jacket.
Evy, Ardeth, Rick, and Jonathan headed out to the jungle, leaving Izzy with the wreckage. "So, Rick, what's the plan?" Jonathan asked.
"Let's find some higher ground."
A gun shot rang out and Ardeth swung round, his face shocked. "Horus! I must go." He cried seeing his faithful bird fall from the sky.
"Wait a sec!" Rick called.
"I must let the commanders know where we are. If the Army of Anubis arises-"
"-I need your help to find my son." Rick cut off desperately.
Ardeth looked at him for a moment, debating with himself internally before he nodded. "Then first I shall help you."
"Thank you." Rick said gratefully. The group continued into the jungle.
