Chapter 13: A full 10,000

Without any jewellery left on his body, Ramses entered the tent.

Inside sat a small, wrinkled woman, who was an unbelievably ugly sight. Ramses was sure that no Egyptian woman would ever look this ugly.

"How can I help you?" She asked, her voice horribly croaky. So croaky, that she reminded him of his mother.

"I...was sent here by a vampire."

"Password?"

He rolled his eyes. "Ugh, madhouse."

The woman nodded. "What is it that you want?"

"Anything you can give to a former pharaoh. The greatest one, by far."

"There is only one thing I can give to you," the woman said. Then, she disappeared in a side room.

The witch - or whatever she was - came outside again, with a scroll in her hand. "Read this out," she said, when handing it to him.

Ramses' eyes widened as he read over the words. They were written in Ancient Egyptian, yet, made no sense at all. "What...is this?"

"This will show how influential you really were," she said in an almost arrogant tone.

Angrily, Ramses looked back at the papyrus. Quietly, he spoke out the words. This took more than a minute.

After the last one, Ramses looked up, back at the woman. Right when he wanted to ask what this had been for, he heard a poof.

Next to him stood... Anubis himself!

Ramses couldn't believe his eyes. He wanted to bow down to his god, when there was another poof.

Suddenly, another one, looking exactly as the other, stood by his side.

"This is...incredible," Ramses mumbled, barely hearable.

Another poof was heard. Then, another one. This happened again, and again, even simultaneously, until Ramses looked around, to see... Nothing. The whole room was filled with Anubises.

"It seems," the woman said, "you were really quite influential."

"Are those...servants?"

"They are Anubis servants, that will from now on be yours. Those creatures are not really gods, and they do not have a mind on their own...yet. Experiences will make them learn, and they will one day know your tastes. I will let you know that Anubis servants are unkillable, and will live forever, until the household they have been assigned to dies for whatever reason. In this case, they will simply disappear. Anubis servants cannot be bought or gotten in any way again. You have to be happy with what you got. In this case, a full 10,000."

"...Thank you?"

"There is nothing else I can do for you or your daughters."

His eyes widened another time. "How did you-"

"Get outside, Ramses de Nile, and do not return."

"Can you tell me where my wife is?"

"No."

"Why not?"

She smirked darkly. "I do not want to change destiny's course."

He looked at her in anger.

"Leave."

"You know where she is, but you will not say it?! How dare you! I will have my servants-"

Another poof was heard, and, suddenly, Ramses found himself outside. He turned around, but her tent was gone.

Ramses, and several buildings all around the area, were crowded by Anubises.

The former pharaoh turned to one next to him, to order, "I want you to go back to my family's old tomb, and get the treasures out. Bring them to me. Also, look for more rooms underground. They were secret ones, but contain more treasures. Look for anything that is valuable in them, and bring it to me."

"Yes, Sire."

"Take... 9,989 servants with you. That should be enough to look everywhere and bring everything here."

"Yes, Sire."

It was shocking to see when 9,990 servants started walking. The rest, 10 of them, stood in the sand and stared holes into the air, in a really mindless way.

It was afternoon when Ramses returned to Nefera and Cleo.

They were definitely surprised to see 10 Anubises by their father's side!

"Daughters, there is no need to pray," Ramses told them. "Those are servants."

Cleo's yes widened. "How did you-"

"It was a spell of some kind. Anyway, I sent the rest of them to look for our treasures. They will bring all of them here, as soon as everything is found."

"And how many is 'the rest of them'?" Nefera asked.

Her father couldn't hold back a smirk. "Oh, just 9,990."