Misunderstandings

Chapter Thirteen

When he first woke up Jedediah had no memory of what had happened, just a massive headache and a sore leg.

"Wha' the hell happened Octy?" He asked, looking around for his companion.

After a few minutes it dawned on him that he was alone in the cage and all his memories came flooding back. He flinched as his hand touched something cold and metal, lying on the floor next to him. The small golden dagger glinted slightly, as if mocking him.

"Hold on a second..." Jed muttered to himself, realising that for the dagger to glint there would have to be a light source in the usually pitch black room.

Looking up he saw that not only was the heavy door to the room open a crack, but the cell door was also been left open. Someone had come in and removed the dagger, then left everything unlocked so he could escape.

"I love you Jedediah, you know that right?"

Jed quickly blinked away the tears forming in his eyes as he remembered what Octavius had done.

"Why?"

"Cause he's a rotten traitor, that's why!" He suddenly exclaimed out loud, punching the stone floor in anger, "I dunno what Kahmunrah said to make Octy do that, but there ain't nothing that woulda made me do the same!"

Dragging himself up off the floor, Jedediah pocketed the dagger and slowly limped out of the room.

***

Kahmunrah looked at the steadily growing pile of treasures with an undisguised expression of delight. It had made things so much easier to have his new slaves do all of the hard work for him. After all, they couldn't exactly fight back when, with a few chanted words and a random point of his staff, he could easily kill any of the more pathetic members of their group. They would all die eventually, there was no way he would allow them to live after the way they fought against him at the Smithsonian. But as long as they thought they would survive if they did what he said, he could get them to do whatever he wanted.

Larry, on the other hand, knew that Kahmunrah had no intentions on allowing anyone to leave the museum in one piece. Luckily it hadn't been one of the nights that Nicky came to work with him, because there was no way he wanted his son anywhere near this mess. They needed to come up with a plan, but as long as Kahmunrah had the Staff, the Tablet and his army of Egyptian soldiers, there really was no way for them to fight back.

***

"At this rate I'll never find my way outta this dang place!" Jed huffed as he ran down yet another dark tunnel, "Why'd these stupid Egyptians have to make things so complicated?"

He grinned as he spotted a bright light up ahead. Finally, after entire minutes of running around looking for the exit, he burst forth and happily breathed in the recirculated, stale air and basked in the artificial light of the museums Hall of Miniatures.

"Ahhh, it's good to be free."

Quickly glancing around he noticed some rope and, after securing it, he lowered himself over the edge of the Egyptian display and made his way to the floor. He felt like years had passed since the night when Octavius had asked to speak to him. It had probably just been another trick; to pretend he was in love with Jedediah, get close to him, then stab him in the back and invade his territory.

But that couldn't be right... could it?

If that had been Octavius' plan then did that make all the time they'd spent together as friends a lie? No, Jedediah couldn't believe that. But why had Octavius turned on him? Perhaps Kahmunrah had offered to spare the roman's life if he killed his lover?

"Octavius is more honourable than that." Jedediah whispered to himself, more confused than ever, "It must be a power thing... I'll bet Kahmunrah offered Octavius and Rome power if Octy sided with him. Yeah, that's gotta be it..."

Somewhere deep inside his heart Jed knew that wasn't the case, but he was confused and hurt, and so he convinced himself that Octavius had betrayed him. It made things so much simpler to just write his ex-lover off as a traitor and to hate him.

***

Octavius watched half-heartedly as Kahmunrah had his friends gather anything of value from the museum. He knew that the Pharaoh planned to lock everyone outside just before the sun rose, thus killing them all. Except Larry, of course, and himself; Larry would be killed the old fashioned way and Octavius was going to be kept alive for a while, no doubt so he could be tortured.

The staff hadn't just given Kahmunrah and his soldier's size, it had also given them permanent life. The only way to destroy them now was to shatter the small crystal embedded in the head of the staff, but there was no way anyone was going to get their hands on it.

None of this mattered to Octavius though. Kahmunrah could kill all his friends, could torture him for all eternity, and even take over the world. But he'd already done the worst thing imaginable, the thing that broke the little roman's spirit; he'd made him kill the person Octavius loved most. Nothing could hurt more than that.

***

Speaking quietly so that the soldiers nearby wouldn't overhear them; Larry, Teddy, Ahkmenrah and Sacagawea discussed their next move. It wouldn't do to just start attacking at random. Perhaps they could win in a fair fight, but as long as Kahmunrah had the staff they had no chance. Though all four of them had noticed that the crystal on top of the staff was glowing with a light similar to the one that had engulfed the Egyptians earlier. Obviously it was the source of the staff's power. Ahkmenrah suggested that they try to figure out a way to get the staff away from Kahmunrah long enough for someone to smash the crystal. It was a long shot, but it just might work and at this point they were running out of time.