((Hello Readers!

A bit of an early update because I felt like writing and it's the weekend!

And a quick shout out to 'AshRain114' and 'inari of the skies' for their amazing obsession over everything Egyptian. I am impressed by how much you know about the real live Imhotep! And now I am feeling the pressure, knowing that I have archeology students and fans reading! I hope that you all continue to enjoy and thanks for all your support!

Don't forget to review once you are finished!

Melanie))


After Imhotep dragged Amunet into the chamber, we have very little options. Rick was shot, Lazarus was dead and the Westings were angry with us – for a very good reason. I still blame myself, I know I shouldn't, but I have known Amunet longer than anyone else in our odd group. And now she is gone. I had hope, but the Westings told us that next time we saw her, it would be Anubis.

The moment the chamber door closed everything started to shake. The Westing leader ordered us to get out as fast as we could. Ardeth's leg was broken but he refused to leave unless we were able to bring Lazarus' body with us. I am not all too familiar with Medjai burials, but I knew that we could not leave Lazarus where he had been murdered. I can't recall exactly how we managed to get out. All I remember was the floor shaking and strange noises. But I do know that we could not have escaped without the Westings help, which is rightly ironic after everything that had happened.

But we managed it. This was the second time that I saw the City of the Dead crumble, granted it was not as dramatic and it was only a small tremor. The next task was to make sure that the Westings did not kill us. The leader was in a rage because of his failure, or rather our interference. From their perspective we had been helping Imhotep bring Amunet to Anubis. It took a long time to explain our situation. Thank goodness that I have a way with words. Rick has a nasty habit of speaking with his guns and Ardeth was not talking due to his grief over Lazarus.

I cannot help but blame myself. I would never confess this out loud, but I wish I had let Rick kill Imhotep when he had the chance. Then perhaps Lazarus would not have died for nothing, and Amunet- poor, dear Amunet would still be with us.

We have been traveling for at least three days now and are due to arrive at the Medjai camp in a few hours. It took a lot of convincing, but I think it best that the Westings join our cause. I only hope that it does not cause more conflict when we arrive. The last time the Westings were at the camp there was a full battle, and I am not sure how many were killed.

Why do I feel as if I am in the middle of a war? Is this what Rick had to endure? I can't imagine living like this. As much as I wish it were possible, there does not seem to be a way to save Amunet. When it really comes down to it, will I be able to allow them to kill her? Even if it isn't Amunet anymore, I am not sure my conscious will allow me to see her be slaughtered. The Westings have already drawn an assassination plan. They are awful. The leader's name is Minos and while he is helping us now, I can tell he would love nothing more than to kill each of us slowly. I will not trust them fully. I learned my lesson from Imhotep. But they know more about all of this than any of us.

I only hope we can stop Anubis before it is too late.

Evy shut her journal and let out a long sigh. That entry had been a number of weeks ago. She had read it repeatedly, forcing herself to remember what had happened in the tunnels. She hadn't the time or the energy to write anymore, something that she regretted. If she learned anything from the ancient Egyptians was that it was very important to keep records, especially when something as dramatic as Anubis rising was occurring. Tucking her journal into her robes, Evy stood from her seated position by the Medjai spring. It was often very quiet, a place where people would come to pray. But no one seemed to be praying anymore, not with Anubis now walking the earth.

It had only been a few weeks since Anubis had rose, and already they were hearing strange and horrible things. The armies of Anubis, tall jackal like creatures armed with gold shields and spears were rumored to be roaming the country, snatching up cities and shepherding people towards Anubis' new palace. Part of Evy wished to see the City of the Dead fully restored to its former glory, but knew that such hopes were foolish. She was surprised that the Medjai had not been attacked by Anubis' forces, but it seemed their previous precaution of blindfolding Imhotep was paying off.

Evy set off through the rocks, heading back to camp. The mountain opened up to revealing the camp that had once been a joyous place. But now, with the Westings present, not only was it over populated but tensions were running high. It was hard to keep the two groups from killing each other, but now each of them had a common goal: killing Anubis. Evy made her way through the crowd of people. All of them looked malnourished and tired, with deep circles under their eyes. While there was plenty of water from the spring, food was spread thin.

Evy made her way to her tent, pulling back the curtain door to see her husband cursing at a Westing medicine man who was spreading a green paste on his gunshot wound. They had managed to remove the bullet, but his arm was still sore. He looked up to see Evy and his mouth twitched in an attempt at a smile, which quickly vanished so he could curse at the Westing again.

"God damn it!" he roared, "Can't you be a little more careful?!" he demanded. The Westing, whose face was masked by the red robes pulled across their nose and mouth, seemed to be laughing.

"It will hurt either way," he said, smoothing the green paste over his skin.

"Why don't I give it a try?" Evy said, kneeling down next to the Westing.

"Do you think you can do better than a Westing healing?"

Evy, Rick, and the Westing looked up to see Minos, leader of the Westings, standing in the entrance to their tent. His arm was also bandaged from the gunshot Rick had given him, but it did not seem to faze him. His red hood was pulled back, showing the patch that covered one of his eyes, his thick white beard, and his tanned face. Evy straightened her back.

"No," she said coolly, "I just think he was whine less if I do it."

"I'm not whining," Rick muttered, trying to get into a more comfortable position. Evy took the paste from the Westing healer who did nothing to stop her, slowly dabbing more on to Rick's wound.

"We are going to be meeting in five minutes to discuss our plan," Minos said dryly. "Make sure the Medjai leader is there."

"His name is Ardeth," Evy pointed out, not looking at Minos and continued to attend to her husband. "And when do you actually plan to put these 'plans' of yours into action?" she asked, sitting on the back of her heels. "It has been at least two weeks since Anubis has risen and you and your people have done nothing but talk." Minos made a hissing noise with his teeth, glaring down at Evy.

"We are acting now," he said, not fully answering Evy question. Evy guessed that the Westings had no real idea as what to do. Their sole purpose had been to kill Vessels, not Gods. "Make sure Ardeth," he spat out his name, "is present." With that he turned, the Westing healer following him out. Evy sighed, closing the jar that held the green paste and looking up at Rick. Rolling his shoulder, Rick looked at her, eyes softening.

"Are you alright?" he asked. Evy reached up and gripped the necklace around her throat, eyes growing wet.

"I keep thinking about Alex," she confessed. Rick took her hand and pulled her up so that she was sitting next to him.

"I know," he whispered. "But he is safer where he is."

"With my brother?" Evy laughed, brushing away a few tears that had slipped free. Rick turned her head and gazed into her eyes.

"Yes," he said, no joking in his voice. "Just knowing that he is safe offers us more comfort than anyone else right now." Evy lip quivered lightly but her nodded, knowing that he was right.

"I just haven't seen or talked to him in over a month," she whispered, resting her head against his chest." Rick ran his hand over her head and down the length of her hair, resting his chin on top of her head.

"Perhaps you could write to him." Evy laughed, pulling back and looking up at him, shaking her head.

"And who on earth would deliver it?" she asked. "We can't go back, not now. We are already in too deep." Rick pressed his lips together, not able to offer her an answer. Evy stood up, squeezing his hand. "We should go find Ardeth," she said, clearing her throat and making sure her cheeks were no longer wet. "Were is he?"

"Where he always is," Rick sad sadly.

They exited the tent and squeezed their way through the crowds to the farthest edge of the clearing. Near the far wall was where the Medjai buried their fallen members. There were countless graves, the oldest ones in the back and the newer ones in the front. Ardeth was standing over the freshest grave, two crafted crutches keeping him up. His leg was still very badly injured, not offering him much role in righting. Rick and Evy walked up behind him as he stood over Lazarus' grave. They had buried him as soon as they had returned. Lazarus' death brought much mourning to the Medjai; to see someone so young and who had just had their 'coming of age' ceremony die was shattering.

"Ardeth," Evy said gently. Ardeth stood over the grave for a little while longer before turning, awkwardly wobbling on his crutches. It was awful to see how much he had changed in only a matter of weeks due to the death of his apprentice. His beard had grown out much more, his eyes were surrounded by rims of red and black from grief and lack of sleep. He looked as if he had aged many years, something that unnerved the O'Connells' greatly. "Minos wants you to come," Evy continued. "They have a plan they wish to discuss." Ardeth grimaced, using his crutches to move towards the camp.

"Right," he muttered. "I wonder if it will be as good as the last one." Evy glanced at Rick who just shook his head. The three of them walked back into the camp and found the tent that Minos and a few other lead Westings resided in. They looked up from the table they were surrounding as they entered. Evy's eyes moved to the table and saw the familiar sight of papers scattered about.

"Those are Amunet's father's papers!" she exclaimed. Her eyes flashed to Minos in anger. "Those were in my bag," she snapped. "What were you doing going through my things?"

"Simply what was necessary in order to stop Anubis," Minos replied coldly.

"Seems suspicious to me," Rick said. Minos ignored him and leaned over the papers.

"You should have turned these over to us as soon as we joined forces," he said.

"And why is that?" Evy asked, still not over the fact that the Westings had been through her private things.

"Because it would have saved us a lot of time," Minos snapped, silencing Evy.

"What exactly are you getting at Minos?" Ardeth asked, sighing and sounding bored. Minos picked up one of the papers and flourished it in the air.

"The Vessel's father was researching how to separate the Vessel from Anubis." Evy blinked, glancing down at the papers, brow creasing lightly.

"We thought we might be able to find a way to do that," Evy said, stepping up to the table and looking down at the papers. "But all of these were just about Anubis. We couldn't find anything regarding the Vessel. That's why we went to Huminaptra in the hopes of-" Evy stopped, the journal in her pocket feeling heavier all of a sudden.

"It isn't a wonder that you did not find anything," Minos said, pouring over the papers. "To the untrained eye these all seem like notes on Anubis. But I, who have lived and breathed everything about the Vessel, can see what this one was up to."

"Well, what does it say?" Rick asked, also moving forward to look down at the papers.

"Not as much as I would like," he said, glaring down at the papers. "My people and I were trained to remove the Vessels from the earth, not separate them from Anubis once they were bound."

"And yet the Vessel line has survived for centuries!" Evy said, looking up at Minos. "The Vessels are born into the same family, correct? So why did you not remove the source from the very beginning?" Minos flushed, glaring at Evy.

"The Vessels are a resourceful line of people," he muttered. "They are crafty and managed to evade us for many years. Tracking their offspring has been difficult."

"Of course it has!" Evy exclaimed. "Because they are people scared for their lives! You hunted them like animals!" The Westings in the tent all stiffened at this, the tension mounting.

"That is enough," Ardeth said, earning everyone's attention. He looked tired as well as irritated, looking around at all of them. "We shouldn't care about what we have done in the past," he said, voice hoarse from underuse. "Right now we need to focus on how to stop Anubis." Everyone was silent for a moment before Minos continued.

"While these are his notes on separating the Vessel," he said, sifting through the papers, "He does not explain how to do it. Probably because he never discovered it before-"

"Before your people killed him," Evy offered. Minos said nothing in response but rather picked up another paper.

"He did however, discover how to block Anubis by the way of something called 'written magic'." Evy jolted at this, her ears straining as Minos spoke on. The paper he placed on top of all the others was covered in thousands of 'Eyes of Horus', all starring up at them in a disturbing manner. "He discovered a small amount of written magic that could prevent Anubis from inhabiting the Vessel if it was grafted onto the skin."

"Amunet's tattoo!" Evy gasped, looking up at Rick. "She said that her father had the same one!"

"Didn't do them much good though," Rick pointed out. Minos nodded in agreement.

"But I still believe this is what will stop Anubis."

"Good to hear that you are resorting to something else besides slaughter," Evy said breathlessly, fishing in her robes to find her journal. The tent's occupants watched as she frantically riffled through the papers until she found a loose leaf page and set it down onto the table, eyes bright with hope. "I got this off the wall near the Vessell chamber before…well, before we combined forces," she said. The paper was rubbed with charcoal, leaving white impressions of hieroglyphics behind. "It talks about 'written magic'." Evy explained and Minos picked it up to scan over it. "I noticed the Eye of Horus and read on to discover the line of Vessels were revolutionary masters of written magic because it allowed them to protect themselves against Anubis. Obviously the trade vanished over the years, but they were able to remember the Eye of Horus as a repellent for Anubis. It says here," Evy said, pointing at the paper, "That 'written magic', with the right words, could expel Anubis while he is already possessing a body. Surely if we find those right words, we can expel Anubis from Amunet as well as graft another spell to utterly break the bond." Minos looked up at the paper, eyes narrowing in on Evy.

"Why did you not show us this earlier?" he demanded. Evy was a little taken aback at his unenthusiastic response. Rick quickly placed a hand on Evy's shoulder in a protective manner.

"Because we were all going through a lot," he said. "The timing wasn't right." Minos looked as if he would yell but stopped, pinching the bridge of his nose.

"No matter," he said gruffly," We will need to begin right away if we wish to find these 'words'. I shall have my best men working on it."

"You are not serious are you?"

Everyone in the tent turned to look at Ardeth, whose tired expression had turned into one of fury. Evy and Rick gave each other nervous glances. "What do you mean?" Evy asked.

"You aren't going to try and kill her?" Ardeth demanded, glaring not at Evy, but at Minos. "Since when have you and your people become so bent on saving this girl rather than ridding the world of this danger?" Minos' eyes narrowed on Ardeth, a sliver of understanding in his eyes.

"We cannot kill a God," he said.

"You haven't even tried!" Ardeth roared.

"Ardeth," Evy whispered in shock. "This is Amunet we are talking about! We could save her." It was then than Ardeth turned on Evy, looking wild.

"I don't want her saved! I want her dead!" Evy blinked back in shock at his words. "It is because of her that Lazarus is dead!" he continued, his entire body shaking.

"Adreth," Evy said, trying to reach out and touch him. "It was Imhotep that killed Lazarus, not Amunet." Ardeth jerked away from her touch, eyes on fire.

"As far as I am concerned, she is the one that did it. He did not listen to me. I knew she was dangerous. I knew he would end up dead if he was around her! And look at him now! A fresh grave! He fell for that siren and now he is dead and Anubis is tearing apart the land! The only way I will feel that justice is served is when she is dead as well!" With that, Ardeth turned and stormed out of the tent as well as he could on crutches. Evy stood stunned at his outburst, her heart beating rapidly. Rick squeezed her shoulder.

"I will talk to him," he whispered, following Ardeth out of the tent. Turning back to the Westings, Evy tried to collect herself.

"While we work on the proper words," Minos continued, as if Ardeth's outburst had never happened, "I think it best we send a few people out to scout what Anubis is doing. We are blind if we just stay here."

"Rick and I can go," Evy said. Minos glanced at her for a moment. It seemed that he had given up of trying to avoid interaction with the Medjai and the O'Connells.

"Very well," he said. "I will send some of my Westings with you. You had best take a few members of the Medjai as well, or else they will throw a fit on not being invited." A few Westings chuckled, but Evy did not crack a smile. The meeting was dismissed and Evy trudged back to her tent, feeling the stress and pressure tenfold. She fell down on her bed, the sun setting over the ridge, casting the entire camp into a cool shade as night fell. Just when she was about to fall asleep she heard Rick enter the tent and crawl beside her, cursing under his breath about his arm.

"Is Ardeth alright?" Evy murmured.

"As well as anyone would be with what he has gone through." He replied.

"Do you think he meant what he said? About Amunet?" Evy felt Rick move an arm around her, pulling her close to him.

"I don't know." He whispered, kissing her cheek. "But he and I agreed it best for him not to take part in what is going on. His leg wouldn't allow it anyway. So I am sending him on a separate mission." Evy rolled over, looking at Rick questioningly. "He has agreed to travel to England and deliver a letter to Alex for you," he said. Evy's eyes widened, tears suddenly appearing in the corner of her eyes.

"Really?" she whispered. Rick smiled, nodding his head. Evy sat up and crawled to the edge of her bed and ripped a piece of paper out of her journal and began to write to her son; the one constant thing in her crazy world.


Go and check out my profile for my 'Up Coming Stories' list for anything you might be interested in eventually reading!

((This Chapter's Question: Any guesses on what the 'words' are that they might need? If you make up a good enough one I might just use it, and give you credit of course!))