Chapter 34
"Could he have wandered outside?" Teddy didn't bother adding that the pharaoh rarely wandered anywhere alone.
"Doubtful, considering what happened last time," the night guard replied. Teddy cringed at the memory. "I'll start in the Hall of Miniatures, you start in the Hall of African Mammals. Ok?"
"Certainly!" The president and the night guard split up, both struggling to conceal their growing panic. Unfortunately, their search revealed what they already knew- the pharaoh was missing.
That was when Teddy smelled smoke. Barely detectable, more like the wisp of a scent than an actual smell, but present nevertheless. Perfect, just what they needed! Those darn Neanderthals! "I'll call 911," Larry yelled, rushing off as the fire alarms sprang to life. Teddy ran to find the fire extinguisher, praying Ahk was no where near the source. Sadly, his prayers fell on deaf ears, as he heard shouting from a storage area.
Ahkmenrah stared, as though hypnotized by the flames engulfing the door and frame. "Help! H-" He felt a hand clamp over his mouth as Joseph pounced on him from behind and began shoving him towards the flames.
"If I must march towards the flames of Hell to end you, so be it!" He shouted into his ear, nearly deafening him. You fool, you may have doomed us all! Ahkmenrah struggled and squirmed, but the preacher was stronger than his skinny frame suggested. He could not break his grip. Closer they drew to the flames...
Fortunately for the pharaoh, a light bulb bursting overhead distracted the preacher long enough for him to smash his head into his nose, enabling him to break free. That still left the problem of an exit, however. He could feel the heat radiating from the door in waves- no way were they leaving through there.
"YOU!" Ahkmenrah turned around to see a seething Joseph, clutching his now squashed nose. He barely dodged around his attacker as the preacher charged. He ran for his life.
The flames were spreading rapidly; he could feel them chasing him. Ahkmenrah shivered as an involuntary itch spread between his shoulder blades, mirroring the flames dancing around the room. He needed to find water- or a fire extinguisher, if he could remember how those worked. Yet he knew instinctively a single bucket or extinguisher wouldn't be enough to quench the fire. For the first time, he wished he had a cell phone- he'd heard of 911. To make matters worse, he could hear pounding footfalls trailing him- Joseph was practically on top of him! Or at least, he thought he was. When he chanced a backwards glance, the preacher was nowhere to be seen. Much more troubling. Had the man really just tried to burn him to death? At the possible destruction of the exhibits and the museum?! Ahkmenrah would never have believed even Joseph was capable of that. Not before tonight. He really wished he knew where he'd disappeared to- no doubt the man would spring from a corner or from behind a box somewhere.
Shaking his unease from his mind like a cobweb, he kept going, knowing he needed to escape. If he didn't make it out, there would be no one to warn the others. As if in answer to a prayer, he heard a distant, inhuman wail- a fire alarm. He'd forgotten that invention! Everyone would know there was an emergency, and Larry would usher them to safety. Thank you Ra, for sparing my friends. Now to discover a side door...
"BRAAH!" Joseph sprang from the shadows he'd blended into, dagger in the air. Ahkmenrah barely brought his arm up in time to block the blow, and cried out as the weapon bit into him. Clutching his arm, the pharaoh sprung away, backing up into some crates.
"Did you honestly think you could run?" Joseph sneered down at him, allowing the blade to glint in the flickering, hazy orange glow. "Like it? Discovered it in one of these lovely boxes; it's much like finding a gift from a secret admirer, wouldn't you agree? Now, back to business, shall we?" Ahkmenrah ducked and pivoted repeatedly as he searched frantically for a weapon. Aha!
"Is that a demon behind you?" Joseph turned long enough for Ahkmenrah to yank the sword out of the suit of armor's fists with a clang. Unfortunately, even with his new weapon, the odds were far from even. By now, the 'house' fire had grown into a mini firestorm, and the heat was unbearable. While Joseph appeared remarkably at ease, Ahkmenrah sweated profusely, the sword's handle sliding in his palms. The stinging cut from the dagger, while superficial, wasn't helping either. His throat felt like it was coated by sandpaper, and every time he made a sound, it ended in a cough. By the Gods, how is he still standing? How is he breathing so easily?
Unbidden, a voice answered. He's not human, fool! Unlike you, he will not suffer human weakness to heat, such as vulnerability to smoke. He doesn't need to breathe! Wonderful! Now he was becoming delusional.
Sensing that the pharaoh was weakening, Joseph erupted into a fresh series of parries and thrusts, a windmill of limbs. For a supposedly peaceful man of the church, the preacher was proving to be an excellent swordsman.
"Ready to die?" He grinned, having just knocked the sword from Ahkmenrah's hands. Yet instead of cowering away, the pharaoh merely gawked at him, his mouth agape. Turns out the preacher wasn't completely invulnerable to fire. "What? You're unnerving me, what?"
"N-nothing."
"You were staring, so there must be something!"
"Your face..."
"Yes, what of it?"
"It is slightly askew..."
"What?!"
"It is melting!" The pharaoh sputtered through a cough fit.
Cautiously, Joseph touched a cheek- and barely kept the wherewithal not to drop his knife when he realized it wasn't sweat on his fingertips, but wax. Melting, dripping wax. Screaming, he began clawing at his features, somehow not dropping his blade in the process. When Ahkmenrah rose and reached towards him, he pointed the knife at him threateningly. "I loathe to ask this of you, but how bad is it?"
"Uhh, it was better before you clawed it up," Ahkmenrah replied. True- now there were finger prints and lines running amock across Joseph's cheeks. "I could probably remold it for you..."
"Do. Not. Touch. Me." Joseph slashed out with his knife with each punctuation. "The very idea of your cursed hands on my pure, God-blessed skin!.."
Despite the direness of their situation, a mild guffaw bubbled from Ahkmenrah's mouth, resulting in more coughing. For such an unpleasant, scrawny fellow, Joseph was extremely vain about his appearance. Plus, the whole cursed rant was getting old. Sadly he wasn't left much time to ponder this when Joseph sprang at him more vehemently than ever. Instinctively, Ahkmenrah did the only thing he could think of- he rubbed at his foe's eyelids.
"AAAARGH!" Joseph's cry echoed along the walls, more intimidating than the being they came from now. The preacher was now effectively blinded, his eyes sealed shut by his lids. As he struggled to unseal his eyelids, Ahkmenrah nabbed the opportunity to flee once more. Shuddering at the wax now stuck to his fingers, he ran on, squinting through the fumes as he searched for an exit. He was forced to stop as he stooped over, succumbing to another coughing fit.
Teddy heard shouting- the pharaoh! How the devil had he found the old storage area? Nobody used it anymore- generally, the more obscure or broken artifacts were kept there, out of everyone's way. He tried not to think about how many wooden boxes were down there as he ran on, calling Ahkmenrah's name.
You are not going to last much longer. Not in this heat.
Silence, please, Ahkmenrah hissed internally. He didn't need a false voice in his mind to forewarn of his eminent demise; his lungs were doing an adequate job of that. It felt like he was inflaming the flames, not just the smoke. He nearly jumped to the ceiling when a stack of crates crashed two isles behind him. "Oh, pharaoooohh!" Shit, he thought. (Hanging out with a cowboy rubs off on you after a while.) He risked a quick peek around his shelf's corner.
The preacher was still melting, his face oozing into a lopsided mask of flesh and horror. He barely resembled a human being, for at last, the monstrosity withing was revealed. His permanently shut eyes mocked the pharaoh. Despite his blindness, he was still deadly, still a beast from his nightmares.
Naturally, he would be in front of the only available door in sight. Gently, Ahkmenrah started to tiptoe, but the floor' creaks almost betrayed him. Joseph instantly cocked an ear in Ahkmenrah's direction, keen as a bat. Silent as dust, the pharaoh picked up a stone arrowhead, knowing that if he so much as hiccuped, he was dead. With careful aim, he threw it at a distant shelf, causing a few crates to tumble down. This would have been enough of a distraction if not for what happened next.
"AHKMENRAH!"
Ahkmenrah froze. No! No, Teddy, retreat to safety! The preacher froze likewise, listening. Slowly, he turned his head towards the pharaoh, as if drawn to a magnet; a ghoulish grin spread across his ruined face. Then, unsheaving his blade, Joseph ran towards the sound of the president's voice. Cursing in his native tongue, Ahkmenrah bolted towards danger and his friend.
While Teddy wasn't as debilitated by the carbon dioxide as a normal human would have been, he still despised the acrid taste of fire in his mouth. Sputtering, he waved his hand about in a futile effort to clear his vision. The main entrance had been hotter than a radiator; luckily, one didn't spend several decades in a magical museum without knowing some secret passageways, and he was able to slip in through an old side door. However, the fire was spreading- it would reach this opening in a few minutes at most. If he didn't find the pharaoh soon... "Ahk, where are you? AHKMENRAH!" Wiping the end of his nose, he knew he was on severely borrowed time; unlike a certain baddie, he remembered wax's annoying vulnerability to extreme temperature. He had to rescue Ahkmenrah. Preferably before he became a puddle on the floor.
Finally, a silhouette! "Where in... What in God's name were you doing down here?! How did you even?.." He stopped cold in his tracks as the figure drew nearer. That wasn't the pharaoh...
"Good evening, president," Joseph smiled. "Lovely evening, wouldn't you say?"
"Can't say I agree."
"Upset about the fire? A mere triviality."
"A triviality you created, I presume?"
The preacher said nothing.
"You're insane."
"On the contrary, I alone can see the truth! I did what had to be done."
"Where is Ahkmenrah?"
The preacher merely chuckled, finally emerging from the smoke and ash. Teddy stood rooted to the spot. "God Lord, man, what happened to your eyes?" Not that he was feeling particularly sympathetic at the moment.
"This? Your beloved pharaoh did this to me! Nevertheless, I overcame him, in the end."
"What did you do to him?" Teddy growled.
"It did not take much to lure him here- a note from a dear friend was enough," Joseph replied steadily. "Afterwards, it was a mere contest of brute strength, which-"
He failed to finish before the president lunged. Sadly, this was exactly what Joseph had been expecting; he'd been plotting his revenge ever since Teddy had beaten him up. What Teddy failed to notice was the dagger the preacher had been hiding behind his back. It would have been over for him, if not for-
"Oomf!" Was all the preacher managed to utter as Ahkmenrah tackled him, knocking him into a metal shelf. While the villain was distracted by falling debris, he grabbed Teddy's hand. "Come on!"
"Now, this way! I came in through a door-" Teddy didn't complete the sentence, for he saw that the entryway he'd used was blocked by fallen crates.
"I saw another door. This way!"
He half-dragged Teddy after him, zigging through the isles while dodging the flames. He could feel the president's hand softening a bit- they were running out of time. Hold on, Teddy, Ahkmenrah prayed. The preacher's footsteps also spurred them onward. Mercifully, the door Ahk had discovered was still unblocked.
"GRAAH!" Joseph sprang just in time to grab Ahkmenrah's wrist, yanking him backwards. Teddy barely caught the king in time.
"You demon! Prepare to-" In a final burst of strength, Ahkmenrah cut him off by kicking him in the groin, sending him flying into a mountain of heavy old chests. Teddy pulled him from the room as they heard the chests fall. Neither stayed long enough to see the molten wax oozing from underneath.
Only when they were finally out of harm's way did the pharaoh collapse.
Hello, ladies and gentlemen!
Sorry I was late again, it's been an insane couple of weeks! Plus, I was on vacation, so there was basically no time or energy for writing. I hope this chapter makes up for it!
Yes, this is a horrible situation. I apologize for any nightmares I might have caused.