Eve stared at the headless corpse of Sekhmet as she followed her mother to Gabrielle's side. Xena regarded the body of the dead God coolly.
"Couldn't have happened to a nicer gal…"
She brushed past Ares to find Aphrodite; her pink gown stained with blood and cradling Gabrielle's head on her lap. It was a familiar image. Aphrodite glanced up as Xena knelt down beside her and the warrior recognised the devastation in her eyes.
"I did this…" The Goddess murmured. "She's so mortal."
Xena reached a hand to trace the lines of Gabrielle's pale face. She had aged; a couple of years at least, an extra wrinkle or two. Xena knew the contours of her soul mates skin like she knew her own. Her fingertips slid away to Gabrielle's neck and checked her pulse; it throbbed steady and even against her palm. She let out a sigh of relief.
"She's alive…and so are you. That's what Gabrielle wanted. Aphrodite there's no blame here."
"Yes there is," The Goddess said shaking her head. "There is."
Aphrodite and Xena gazed at each other for the longest time.
"Touching," Ares commented and kicked a hissing viper nonchalantly away with his boot. "Um, Xena. Haven't you forgotten someone? Cambyses?"
"It's all in hand," Xena replied; her eyes returning to her slumbering love.
"Are you sure?" Eve urged softly.
"I'm sure."
. . . . . .
Kadin knelt loosely by the entrance to Ptah's tomb; his head bowed in silent and intense prayer. In the darkness of the corridor the sounds of steel striking steel had echoed faintly. Now there was nothing save for a thick dark stillness that settled across the priests' shoulders like a cloak. He raised his head as a booted step sounded against the flagstones. Xena had warned him to expect company but he had been expecting a monster God, not a man.
It was a Persian of some rank given the cresting on his now battered armour. This must be Cambyses. He had been wounded; blood running freely down his chest. The healer in Kadin wanted to offer his assistance but the oppressiveness he felt seemed to have a source and as the man came closer he recognised that there was nothing human shining behind his dark brown eyes.
Cambyses opened his mouth and spoke fluently in ancient Egyptian. It was a dialect Kadin had only studied because of his priesthood. This was not a man before him. It was Apophis in a new host.
He stilled his courage and bowed his head.
"My lord…"
"Open the door," Apophis commanded; pleased by the deference shown just as Xena had counselled Kadin to expect.
The priest stood and turned to face the black granite door; placing his palm flat against it. A dull rumbling sounded and the heavy obsidian slab rose slowly to reveal Ptah's sarcophagus; drenched in the thick venom of his own making. Apophis seemed to hesitate slightly but then strode in and started turning over treasure chests; hands sifting frantically through coins and gems before tossing them aside with disgust.
"Where is it?" Apophis turned his eyes toward Kadin who had wisely not followed him into the chamber. "Where is the Shabaka stone?"
Kadin tried not to look pleased. The God didn't know what form it was in. He was looking for something small; perhaps a stone tablet he could hold in his hand. It was all as Xena had anticipated. Apophis was no fool and sensed the relief in the man before him. He strode up to him; large fists clutching at Kadin's robes and lifting him from his feet.
"Tell me now or when I kill you I will condemn your soul to walk the earth for eternity."
Kadin glanced at both the door and the sceptre but did not speak.
"You betray yourself fool," Apophis gloated and threw the priest outside the tomb. "Hidden in plain sight." He wrenched the sceptre to activate the door and it curiously snapped in his hand. He examined the shaft of the weapon; it had been deliberately damaged with some kind of circular blade. Kadin picked himself up slowly as the obsidian door rumbled downwards. Apophis let out a laugh.
"You seek to trap me here priest? I am a God. One of the ancients. I will destroy the necropolis with a mere thought now I have the Shabaka stone."
The black granite door sealed shut; the mechanism for re-opening it destroyed. The lit sconce flickered as the oxygen began to burn low in the air tight chamber. Apophis laboured as he leant forwards to examine the back of the door in the fading torch light; his human body struggling to maintain itself. It would not matter with the secrets of creation at his fingertips.
He narrowed his eyes. The ancient hieroglyphics had been sheared piece by piece by the same miracle weapon that had sabotaged the sceptre. What had they called that weapon the legendary warrior princess had wielded? A chakram?
Apophis eyes travelled desperately across the door. The ancient texts were gone; all of them and in the centre of the door where a large circular sun emblem remained golden paint had been smeared. The sun had been turned into a smiling face and beneath it was daubed a message in Greek.
"Xena was here," Apophis read aloud. "XENA!"
The warrior would pay for this insult. Apophis prepared to reach out his powers beyond the tomb when he suddenly hit an impenetrable mental wall. His powers were doused instantly. That damn priest had erected his containment spells. As long as the prayers were maintained he would be trapped in this tomb in this pathetic mortal body. His hands brushed at the blood on his chest and a wave of dizziness passed through him. No, not forever. Already Cambyses body was dying from the wound he had inflicted in his snake form. He raged impotently against the sealed door.
Kadin heard the muted cry from the other side and smiled with grim satisfaction. It was done and somehow fitting that Apophis would spend eternity with the God he had murdered. Ptah would have approved. He let out a shaking breath and for the first time since he entered Sekhmet's service finally stood as a tall and proud servant of Egypt.