Chapter 12: To Break Free
The trip back to the dig site was conducted in silence, Kaiba the quietest of all. He blamed himself for the whole fiasco involving Katrina, after all, it was his actions that pushed her away. He made a secret promise to himself to apologize to Katrina once they found her.
Unfortunately for Kaiba, he wouldn't get the chance to apologize to her for a while. After searching the entire site, there was still no sign of her. She had officially gone missing. The three were now sitting in the tent, mulling over what little options they had left. The tent was shrouded in silence as their hearts were heavy. Someone entered the tent.
"It's you," Ishizu spoke to the stranger. "The 'Lady of Flame'."
The woman nodded. She was dressed in a robe the shade of fresh blood. She still wore the collar necklace and her spear was still in her hands. "Yes. I heard about your friend going missing. You have my condolences."
"We don't need your stupid words," Kaiba growled. "We need to find her."
"I understand. From what my comrades have provided me, she has been kidnapped by a group that wishes to activate the Third Key."
"The Third Key?" Marik asked.
"It is one of the three Keys needed to open Seth's tomb and retrieve the Dagger of Anubis."
Marik still looked confused until Ishizu whispered, 'later' to him.
"Well if you know who has her, why haven't you gone after her?" Kaiba snarled.
"Because we don't know where she is," she calmly explained. "And unless you have a way of finding her, they will have managed to activate the Third Key and are one step closer to the Dagger."
"This dagger," Marik began. "Why is it so important to this group?"
"Because with the Dagger of Anubis, they can finally release their gods, Apophis and Tiamat."
"The Egyptian and Babylonian gods of chaos," Ishizu said.
"Exactly. So we need to find her as soon as possible to prevent it from happening."
Kaiba furrowed his brow, thinking. His eyes wandered over to his laptop and he suddenly had an idea. He snatched it up and turned it on. "Marik, I need her cell number." he demanded.
"Why?"
"Because nearly all phones nowadays have some sort of tracking device in it. If her phone is one of them and it's on, I can find her location."
"Of her phone, yes. But not her exactly." The priestess explained.
"But it's a risk I'm willing to take.' Marik gave Kaiba the cell number and he furiously began to type away, hacking into a program that would allow him to track her. After a half hour of typing, he managed to get it. "Got it!" he flipped the laptop screen around to show them the map.
"The jeep's still outside!" Marik shouted. The four ran out to the jeep and piled in, each praying it wasn't too late.
"I will inform the others of the location. If they can reach it before we can, then we'll have the advantage," the priestess informed them. "And we'll probably most definitely need it."
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Katrina screamed as the knife cut into the flesh of her jaw, the blood dripping down and mingling with her other wounds, the long thin cut along her collarbone. The scream died down to a whimper. The man laughed. "Looks like I finally got my scream. Now the real fun can begin."
Something inside her came to life as he said those words and she felt renewed. White hot energy ran through her veins as she shouted. "Oh no you don't!" Katrina managed to twist her body away and kick him in the stomach. His breath rushed out of him in a whoosh. He snarled in anger and struck her across the face, into her eye socket, again. She could tell that she was going to have a whooper of a shiner in the morning. The energy surged through her body and she felt something break free, as if a part of her soul broke away. The acolytes who were in the chamber backed away from Katrina, their eyes wide with fear. The man did so as well, but he was laughing in triumph.
Hovering above Katrina was the Blue Eyes White Dragon, its ethereal wings curled protectively around Katrina. Lightning crackled up and down the beast, filling the air with the scent of ozone. It filled a good portion of the chamber with its bulk; it had to have been at least sixty feet long from nose tip to tail tip. The wings were even longer, with a span of about a hundred feet. Its blue eyes glared balefully at those who had kidnapped Katrina, who had fainted on the floor, her energy spent.
"Yes, yes!" the man crowed in triumph. "The Third Key has been activated! The Dagger will soon be mine!"
The dragon roared, angered that its host had been harmed. Many of the acolytes fled the room in fear; a few of them had even wet themselves in the process. Only their leader stayed, basking in the glow of the beast, but even he too began to back away as the beast lunged, white claws flashing.
Bright light filled the chamber as Seto, Marik, Ishizu, the priestess, and her comrades filled the room. Seto's jaw dropped in amazement as he saw the Blues Eyes curled protectively around the now fainted Katrina. "Stop right there! " The priestess shouted. "You'll pay for what you did!"
He cackled in laughter. "Just you and your weak gods try and stop me!" he shouted words of magic and smoke began to swirl around his feet, and eventually obscuring his body from view. "And by the way, it was good to see you again Master Marik," the last two words were in a sneer. He was then gone, literally vanishing into thin air.
Marik looked like he was going to be ill. "No way," he whispered. "No freaking way."
The priestess turned to him. "You know him?"
"Yes. When I ran the Rare Hunters, he was one of my top men, the few that weren't under the power of the Millennium Rod. When the group disbanded after Battle City, those that were under my control pretty much went back to their normal lives, not remembering what they did during that time. The others, like him, had dropped off the radar. I guess now I know what he's doing during this time. His name is Derrick Salazar." Marik felt like a piece of garbage. Even now, his actions from so long ago were still being felt.
Kaiba ran to Katrina, who was lying on the cold stone floor. The gorgeous red dress was ruined, with rips and tears in the satin fabric and blood stains. He noticed the cuts to her face and upper chest. "She needs medical attention right away!" He shouted. The priestess's comrades ran to her, one of them carrying a small first aid kit. They offered to carry her out of the chamber, but Kaiba refused their offer and said, "Let me." He picked her up, bridal style, and carried her out of there, his jacket becoming stained with her blood. She felt light as a feather.
And no one said a word when they saw a tear form in his cold blue eyes.
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Kaiba sat in silence as Katrina rested, her chest rising and falling gently. Despite the outward appearance, the wounds were not as horrific as they had first thought; only the long cut across the collarbone required stitches. Her face was bruised and her wrists were raw where the manacles rubbed. It had been over eight hours since the rescue and she was still unconscious, though the site's doctor had determined that she was now sleeping.
Meanwhile Ishizu and Marik were talking. Ishizu was going to spend the night with the boys, to give Kaiba and Katrina privacy. She suspected that a lot needed to be said between them.
"So let me get this straight, this Dagger has the power to sever the soul from the body, and Derrick is trying to get the Dagger so he can summon Apophis and Tiamat," Marik was saying. Ishizu nodded.
Then Marik made a connection. "Wait a sec, remember the guy that attacked you, asking about the Dagger? That must have been Derrick then."
"Or one of his acolytes."
"Either way, he was behind your attack. But if this Dagger is so important to him, why hasn't he gone after it by now?"
"Because he needed the Third Key," Ishizu explained. "Katrina was his Third Key, and since she summoned the Blue Eyes, he now has what he had been wanting the whole time."
"Which isn't good for us," The priestess interrupted, walking in them.
"Well duh." Marik said. Ishizu elbowed him in the side, reprimanding him without the use of words. "Sorry about that," he apologized, chagrined.
"It's fine, I understand."
"By the way, what's your name? Ishizu said that you were known as the 'Lady of Flame', but that can't be your real name."
"My name is Aria, but my fellow members call me by my title."
"Oh."
"I must be going now. Preparations must be made," The priestess left, her red robes brushing on the sand.
"She has the weirdest timing," Marik remarked.
"No kidding," Ishizu agreed.
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Derrick was in the sanctuary of his complex, a series of underground chambers under the streets of Cairo. The blasted priestess and her companions had only found a few of the chambers, not all of them. He leaned back in his chair, feeling triumphant. The girl had activated her ka and now, the tomb should open to him. Unfortunately, he couldn't get the Dagger himself. Only the 'two lovers' from the verse could get it. He would have to wait a while. Either that or he'll have to force them too.
He murmured an incantation under his breath, a spell designed to reveal what he wanted to see. The image of the tomb's door was in his mind's eye, the rough-hewn stone standing out against the sandstone cliffs. In the center of the door were three markings, one of a wadjet eye, the second was the double crown of ancient Egypt, the third was a roughly carved image of a the Blue Eyes, the smooth contours of its head giving it away. The Wadjet eye was glowing, as was the double crown-
-But not the dragon.
"What!" he gasped. "It cannot be! I saw the dragon! I know I saw it!" Yet the image was as dull as the surrounding stone. But then it hit him; not all the requirements were fulfilled. The dance didn't go as planned. Even the drunkard he had there didn't work. He groaned, his face in his hands. His plan had failed. He paused as he thought that. Maybe it didn't. The events that had occurred affected the two's dynamics with each drastically; perhaps there was still a chance. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time. The were only two more weeks until the Eclipse, the time when the boundaries were the weakest. It was the best chance he had.
Only two weeks for the two to fall in love.
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Aria, High Priestess of Sekhmet, knelt before the shrine dedicated to her goddess. She had failed her, failed to prevent the activation of the Third Key. The tomb was now open. "I'm am so sorry Sekhmet," she whispered in the dimly lit room. "I have failed you. I failed to prevent the Keys from activating. The tomb is now open, exposing the Dagger to the world."
"Sometimes my child," a voice told her. "There are some things you cannot prevent." Aria turned to find Sekhmet, her goddess, standing behind her, hands behind her back. Her leonine eyes shone concern for the young girl. Sekhmet was dressed in a crisp linen dress. A gold belt studded with carnelian and turquoise held the dress closely around the goddess's waist.
Aria knelt before her. "Lady of Slaughter," she said reverently.
"Do not bow before me, I do not have time for begging forgiveness. What's done is done. The tomb may be open, but there's enough time to prevent the world from becoming cloaked in eternal darkness.
"Lord Anubis has informed me that it it time to get his Dagger back. After not having it for five thousand years, he finally has decided that he wants it again, took him long enough. Ra has ordered for the Dagger to be returned to the gods; it is the only safe place it can be, away from mortals who desire the power. The Eclipse is the best time for us to retrieve it, when the boundaries between man and god are at their thinnest, when we'll have the easiest time retrieving it."
"But we were commanded to protect it, along with the treasures of the Valley," Aria protested. "And besides, they'll have an easier time to get it as well."
"Sometimes, it's best to just step aside and let the gods take over. It is for the best anyway. Plus, we have safeguards in place to prevent to worst form happening."
Aria bowed her head. "Yes."
Sekhmet placed a hand on her priestess's shoulder. "Do not feel ashamed in any way. You have done your duty well in my eyes and that should be the only thing that matters. You have been one of my most faithful and powerful priestesses I've had. You should be proud."
"Yes ma'am."
" But now we must face the challenge of retrieving the Dagger, and they will need your guidance. Do you understand?"
"Yes."
"Good. When the time comes, you will know what to do." Sekhmet turned and walked away, leaving Aria alone at the shrine. Her goddess was right; while the tomb may now be open, but the Dagger must still be protected at all costs. Even if it meant giving up her own life.