Ardeth had not been happy when he learned of Seth's task. Even less so when he learned that the man had accidentally spawned the current head of the Tomb Keepers. Only a few things kept him from dismissing the mage.
The first of which was the letter penned by his own hand complete with his seal. The second was the fact that he had spoken the greeting and response of the desert tribe's closest allies when they first met. But the one thing that stayed his hand when he was told that the group would have to be lead to Hamunaptra was this.
Seth had a tattoo on his left shoulder. Bakura hadn't known was it was until recently, and Seth had preferred to keep it hidden, mostly because of the Dark Marks that Lord Voldemort placed on his troops. It was the sacred mark of the Medjai.
Seth had been very surprised to learn what it actually meant from Ardeth when he had shown it to the man. It was a proof that he had not turned evil against his will.
Looking back on it, Seth realized that he had always followed the light in his own way. And he had inadvertently kept his brother from turning evil.
And he recognized evil whenever he saw Dumbledore. The man had created something akin to what the pharaohs had in Egypt, and he didn't plan on allowing anyone to remove him from power. Plus he simply didn't like the man.
Horus (he had decided to go by his own name instead of the one he used to give) walked up to the group, introducing himself with the letter the curator had given him when asked.
As far as the four knew, the two were bodyguards hired by the curator in exchange for a chance to look at the treasure of Hamunaptra.
In reality they were to keep the wizards from getting their hands on the twin books of the Gods. The Book of the Dead and the Book of Amun Ra should never be in the hands of wizards.
It was bad enough he had to let a mundane reincarnation of Nefertiti get her hands on it and read it aloud. He couldn't wait to see Ardeth's reaction to that particular news.
Akefia picked up the bags and helped them with the rest of the luggage.
Once the boat was on its way, Horus struck up a conversation with Rick about weapons. The man perked up and soon there was a three-way chat about the efficacy of guns over knives.
Akefia grimaced when asked about how good a shot he was, claiming his aim was piss poor and he preferred throwing knives for a reason. Horus had a decent shot (he was a very good sniper, as Kaiba had discovered) but he hated the noise. Plus the problem with buying ammunition and reloading the damn things took too much time for his taste.
With knives he could simply summon them back if they weren't damaged and use them immediately.
Rick, apparently, had contact with wizards before and they had seen an odd tattoo on the man's arm and turned into complete assholes. When he showed the tattoo to Horus, the boy grimaced.
"I see why they became assholes. This is the symbol of the Medjai, those who were chosen at a young age to protect the secrets of the desert, or to stop the darkness within the sands from arising should they wake up and cause trouble. Having this means any Medjai will give you aid within reason, since you have the mark but no formal training. It also means that magic that seeks to force you to do evil things will have more trouble, since only the gods can give these out."
Rick blinked.
"You mean a god slapped this on me in an orphanage in Cairo?"
"Or one of their messengers. Either way, it does grant you protection from quite a bit of the more unpleasant magic. For example the British Imperio spell would have great difficulty being placed on you, and it wouldn't work at all if used by a low-level wizard. A mage, on the other hand, would have moderate difficulty since generally they are three times stronger than most wizards. So long as this is on you, it means you will never willingly walk the path of evil."
"You got one of these too?"
Horus showed him his tattoo.
"It was placed on my by Bast directly when I became her chosen. I don't walk the side of good, but rather that of Neutrality. Because of my status as a thief, I am allowed that particular quirk."
"You're a thief?"
"We both are. You wouldn't believe how much gold we got in our hiding spot. By the way, if you see any blueish looking scarabs on the walls, let me know. I have a habit of collecting those things," said Horus.
"Bluish scarabs? I didn't know they could be blue. And why on the wall?"
"Long story short, they are extremely rare and dangerous magical creatures who can go into hibernation for thousands of years at a time and when they wake up are voraciously hungry. If you were foolish enough to get close without some sort of solid barrier the things would quite literally eat your heart out. They have the ability to burrow under the skin and move through muscles to get to the heart."
"And you have a habit of collecting these things?" said Rick incredulous.
"Jewel Scarabs are excellent deterrents to fellow thieves. And they are relatively harmless so long as you have the spell that keeps them in their shells. You wouldn't believe how many idiots have found our base and tried to steal from us only to die by a scarab. Sometimes we would listen to the fool's death screams while watching the night sky before dumping them in the desert," said Horus with a straight face.
"What did you say these things look like again?"
Horus grinned, then went into his room. In reality he went into the shadow realm to retrieve a loose sealed scarab, which was used to demonstrate what they looked like to his students. It was put under a permanent seal, so the scarab inside would never escape unless he removed it.
He returned to find Rick cleaning his gun and Akefia sharpening the knives for him. It didn't surprise him in the least that the two got along.
"Anything interesting happen?"
"Jonathan blabbed about where we're going. And unfortunately it seems my old 'friend' Benny is leading them."
"Coward?"
"Highly. Little bastard locked me out of the only safe place when the raiders came and only some weird sand storm by a statue of Anubis saved my ass. Took me weeks to get to civilization without a damn horse."
Akefia chuckled.
"I like him. Think anyone would protest if we keep him?"
"Doubtful, but since that's the case at least we'll have an excuse to help them," said Horus.
"Any chance of cluing me in?" asked Rick.
"Not just yet, but long story short we weren't hired as your bodyguards. Some wizards got their hands on something they shouldn't, and we were sent to keep them from really screwing up what is about to happen. The bodyguard bit is just our cover."
"Don't forget robbing Hamunaptra!" said Akefia cheerfully.
Rick choked.
"How the hell do you plan to do that when even we couldn't find it the first time?"
"We can read," the brothers chirped.
'Plus from what we have heard of Imhotep, he would be willing to give us directions if only to have the two who outdate him out of the way for a while,' thought Horus amused.
It wasn't until halfway through dinner that the Medjai finally showed up. Since Horus didn't sense Ardeth, they mostly helped the others get off the boat. Though he did do Evy a favor and snag the suitcase with her clothes.
"How is it that you got horses when we were lucky to find camels?" complained Rick with good nature.
"Easy. We prepared before this excursion, and among them was a set of enchanted horse statues. All the mobility of a horse without the fuss and mess," said Akefia happily.
"I hate you two right now. You understand that right?"
"About as much as my brother hated me for tricking him into that dress. How long did it take that guard to figure out you were a guy again?"
"Fuck you! He didn't figure it out until he copped a feel!" snapped Akefia.
"Which part? Bottom or top?"
Akefia growled and threw a knife at his brother, who ducked before it could land on him. The two entertained the group with stories of thefts and pranks. None of them noticed him summon the knife Akefia had thrown at him, or the fact that they were being watched.
Unseen by everyone (mostly out of exhaustion) Horus sent an enchanted owl statue to Ardeth. He saw the man raise an eyebrow when he read the note, but they kept their distance for the most part.
He couldn't wait to run into the man again and give him the letter.
"What are we waiting for again?" asked Akefia bored.
"We're about to be shown the way," said Rick.
"And that means?"
"Hamunaptra doesn't show itself unless you happen to be there at dawn, otherwise it stays hidden," explained Rick.
"And if you happen to be there during the night?"
"It stays there until you leave, but after that it hides again. Took us weeks to figure that out and to leave a patrol there while we went hunting for water."
Akefia blinked.
"Wouldn't there be water in there?"
Rick shook his head.
"Not the kind you want to drink. I don't know what is in that water, but when we drew it up it looked pretty bad," he said.
"Probably corpses," said Horus.
"Remember what happened after we dumped that damn Pharaoh in the river? They got him out pretty quick but a few of the river horses died from something."
"Dumped a pharaoh?" asked Evy.
"We had a grudge against a certain pharaoh, so when the bastard died and we raided his tomb we poked a few holes in the sarcophagus and dumped it in the river. His son retrieved it and returned him to the tomb, but the damage was already done. I heard the corpse became pretty moldy," answered Horus with a sharp toothed grin.
Evy wisely shut up, as Hamunaptra came into view. True to what Rick said, it had been invisible up till that point and it shimmered into view.
"Whoohoo! I can't wait to raid this place!" cheered Akefia as he got his horse to run faster.
"Weren't they still building this place after we did a string of tomb thefts?" asked Horus amused.
Akefia cackled. The only reason he had paid any attention to the word Hamunaptra when Ryou mentioned it was because they had started construction before he was sealed. Since he didn't have a reason to go to it before the treasure was loaded into it, he had never gotten the location. And the reason why he had even cared about it was because of a string of thefts that forced the pharaohs to construct it in the hopes that it would trap him.
It never had a chance to, mostly because he was sealed by the time it was complete. Afterwards he had forgotten about it completely until Horus mentioned it.
What use would it had been to raid the place when Shaadi lived in the same country and didn't want the same person who lived to anger his Pharaoh getting his hands on the book of the gods?
Once Evy beat everyone into the tombs (and in the process won a bet Rick had made with the Americans) they set up camp. Horus found the perfect spot which had enough warding magic to keep the bugs away. Specifically the scarabs which he had seen running across the tops of a tomb nearby.
He had an affinity for the things, but he wasn't an idiot. Once that was done, he went exploring with his brother standing guard.
An hour later he came back looking rather irritated.
"Ooooh...what has you so pissed off?" asked Akefia eagerly. When Horus got pissed, he tended to get stab happy with anyone who annoyed him.
"Someone...has been raiding my collection," he said annoyed.
Akefia blinked.
"Not...that one?"
"The one that I scoured the tombs for every time we hit a pharaoh."
Akefia actually winced.
"How the hell did they pry them off without getting killed? I mean some of those damn things breed while we were gone for weeks at a time and they only left us alone because of that spell you use."
"I don't know, but if I find their descendants they are toast," growled Horus.
"What are you two talking about? What collection?" asked Evy.
"My collection of Jeweled Scarabs. I have a habit of collected the ones that are still hibernating and putting them on walls around our treasure hoard. Someone...has managed to find my collection and used them in this place."
Evy blinked.
"How can you tell?"
"Because I felt residual magic on them. And as far as I know I am the only one who collects them in any capacity. If you see a mound of sand show up without warning, run for it. They eat anything and leave only bones left."
"I've heard of scarabs, but I didn't know they could be collected."
"...Miss Evelyn, are you a witch, or related to one?"
"My mother was one, and my father was a muggleborn. Jonathan just doesn't have the knack like I do. Why?"
"Just curious how you knew about scarabs, since they are an exclusively magical creature," said Horus. It also explained how she was even able to wake Imhotep and not some minor mummy.
Imhotep was under some serious suppression spells, and even if the coffin was open he should have stayed asleep if the book had been read. If Evy had magic it explained why she was able to wake him up even if accidentally. And why she had been originally chosen to be a sacrifice to bring back his lover.
"Well, that and I've heard of a few archaeologists who've run across them. There's actually a warning in some of the classes about them, claiming they are extremely poisonous."
"So do you agree with the British when they claim the less magical or 'muggles' are fools?"
Evy snorted.
"Hardly. The British wizards are a pack of idiots, which is why I moved to Egypt and learned magic outside. Hogwarts is half assed at best, especially with that fool Tom stirring up a hornet's nest about blood purity."
Horus made a face.
"Tom, as in Tom Riddle? Dear lord, I've heard of him. And to be frank the Egyptians aren't much better."
"How so?"
"They've been using phoenixes to kidnap children from a sect in the desert simply because they didn't want the young ones being brainwashed by people outside the clan. They are called the Medjai, and they have had trouble with the government for at least a few decades now."
"Brainwashed?" she asked faintly.
"Tell me this. Out of all the muggleborns you know, how many have bothered to keep up their education outside magic and have gone on to college?"
"About five or six," she answered. They were her friends and among the few she still spoke to.
"And among the others, how many have adopted the blood prejudice towards non magicals?"
"Too many to count. I see your point."
"It's not just England. Quite a few of the countries bordering it on this side of the pond have fallen prey to it, with a few exceptions being China, Japan, and the Americas. If things don't change soon, the magical world will fall, and hard."
"How do you know that?"
"Chosen of Bastet. According to her and a few others, the gods of all the pantheons are displeased with how isolated and arrogant the magicals are getting, and within the next century or so they are considering a plague on Europe for those of magical blood."
Evy winced, as she knew full well a plague would do some serious damage to the inbreed society.
"Of course we'll mostly be targeting those who have far too many ancestors in common with each other. It's mostly the inbreed ones that are causing the problem, not the muggleborns. We'll have to get them out of the countries for a while, but afterwords they can clean up the mess their supposed superiors caused by allowing such a foolish ideal to continue."