Kahmunrah growled as he got to his feet. His hat was on the clay ground near his feet. Picking it up, he brushed it off and replaced it, seething. "'Let's go play in the black sand', the stupid knight said. 'It's a great idea' they all said. I said it wasn't safe, but do any of them listen to what I say? No. Now look what's happened. We're stuck in some," he squinted in the darkness, "tomb of some sort. Given the black sand is over it, this Zalaam must have created it. A bit conceited if you ask me, making yourself a...who am I talking to?"
Shaking off whatever that was, he started to walk in the dark down a hallway. "Mother? Ahkmenrah? Father?" If that moronic knight stays down here, I'll be thankful. Perhaps the annoying cowboy as well. That's assuming Mr. Daley is trapped down here, of course. But I've got to find my family. "Ahkmenrah? If you can hear me, stop looking for your stupid monkey and help me find Mother and Father!"
He walked down hall after hall not hearing so much as a scarab break the silence. This is not good. I don't even have a way to defend myself if something should happen. Zalaam's soul could be anywhere down here. It must be down here, after all. Why else would the sand change right over this tomb? I knew I should have insisted on holding the Mirror.
Love of Osiris, how big is this tomb? Makes me wonder if Zalaam was compensating for something. He couldn't help but snicker at his own mental joke when a new sound pierced the quiet. He glared down at the shape of a capuchin running up to him, high pitched noises coming from it.
Kahmunrah grumbled as it finally got in front of him, jumping around. "You were the least of my concerns, but I suppose if you weren't found, Ahkmenrah would have another fit like with those accursed miniatures. What has gotten your tail in such a twist?" The animal kept jumping and looking very excited. For once, I wish this thing knew how to speak. "Have you found someone?" he asked, hopefully.
The capuchin seemed to give up on whatever it was doing and started tugging at the end of his tunic, trying to pull him back to where he'd just come from. "Stop that!" he ordered, yanking it out of the monkey's hands. "I know no one is back there, I just came that way. What in the world is-" The sound of approaching footsteps made him pause. He looked away from the animal to see the shape of a crown, the crown he once thought would be his. "There you are. Why didn't you answer when I called you? Control your pet; it is having some sort of panic attack."
As Ahkmenrah got closer, Kahmunrah could see more of him in the darkness. For some reason, a proud smirk was on his lips. "What are you so happy about?" Kahmunrah snapped. "And where are Mother and Father?"
It wasn't until he was close did Kahmunrah see it. The cold, dark, menacing look in his eyes. His body tensed and he took a step back automatically.
"How sweet. " Ahkmenrah's mouth was moving but it was not him. Zalaam's voice was calm, yet chilling. Like a cat who had cornered a mouse and now wished to play with it. "You show such concern for your foolish parents. But it is not needed, Kahmunrah. I don't want to hurt them, you see. At least, not physically."
Before Kahmunrah could even think of making a move, Ahkmenrah's hand stretched straight out and black sand shot out from his palm, hitting him square in the chest. His feet left the floor as he flew farther and farther back. Finally, his back collided with the wall of the room he'd fallen into. The sand stopped suddenly, and he fell onto his stomach, groaning as he hit the floor. The capuchin seemed to have run down another hall, not that he would have been much help anyhow.
"No, I have a much better plan in mind," the sand sorcerer said, walking into the room before Kahmunrah could even get back up. "Tell me, son of Merenkahre, how will you parents feel? To know that their youngest son will be used as a vessel for my domination," he paused to bring his hands up again, "and to see their other child die at my hands."
The sand grabbed him again before he was ready, pinning his arms to his sides and lifting him off the floor. It was coarse against his skin and strong enough to hold his struggling body. "This must be a change of pace for you, hmm? Being beaten by your brother? Or at least, his form. According to Ahkmenrah, you were usually the one bringing him pain, not just physically either."
Kahmunrah froze for a moment, shocked by his statement. "How do you-"
"I know everything about your family," Zalaam interrupted. "You see, I am in your brother's mind. I have all of his memories. I know about your family, the museum, all of it. It's quite interesting really. He was just starting to hope again."
Before Kahmunrah could even process that sentence fully, Zalaam's magic threw him down another hallway as carelessly as a boy with a ball. His body collided with someone and both of them fell to the ground, hard. Though he was now in a lot of pain, panic took over and he got up quickly, barely acknowledging the man on the floor. Larry Daley got up, groaning, and inspected the Mirror in his hands.
"The Mirror!" Kahmunrah shouted, reaching out to grab it from him. "Give that to me, we have to-" The sentence came to a stop when he remembered what his father had said back at the British Museum. It won't know which soul to trap. It might not take Zalaam's, it could-
"Whoa, whoa, where's the fire, Rahmenoodle?" the cowboy asked.
"Yeah, and what just happened?" Larry asked in a bit of an annoyed tone.
Before he could even begin to think of how to explain what was going on, he heard his mother from the other room. "What is all this noise? Ahkmen, is that you? Are you alright, dear?"
Kahmunrah broke into a run back into the room he'd just been tossed out of, Larry behind him, clearly confused. "Mother, no!" He raced up to his parents and got between them and Zalaam. "Don't go near him! He's not himself! I mean he isn't, or he is using Ahkmenrah to-"
"Will you take a breath and speak a clearer sentence?" his father snapped. "We've got no idea what you're saying."
"I would listen to your son, Merenkahre," Zalaam said from behind.
The light of Larry's flashlight illuminated his father's face as it flushed to white and his eyes got larger. Kahmunrah couldn't remember ever seeing his father look fearful before. He turned to face the man again, putting his arm across his parents to shield them.
"No," his mother said breathlessly.
"Zalaam," Merenkahre began. "Let my son go." There was no force in his voice. "Leave him and take me instead. It is I who you want revenge against, not him."
"You would like that, wouldn't you?" Zalaam teased, smirking.
"Please," the Queen begged. "Please." That seemed to be all she could say.
"I told you," the man said icily. "I told you when I came back, I would destroy everything you loved. You should have taken the opportunity to ally yourself with me when I gave it to you. With Egypt's help, we could have made the world our empire. But you were fools," he snapped. "And I've grown so much stronger. With my power, I can accomplish my goal before the moon sets this very night."
The sound of footsteps and a monkey's chattering filled a nearby hall as the capuchin, Lancelot, and Theodore Roosevelt entered the room. "What in the world is going on here?" the mustachioed man asked.
"Ahkmenrah, are you...you aren't…" Lancelot's hand went to his sword.
"Oh, please, even you aren't dumb enough to do that." Zalaam chuckled. "No one in your little rag tag bunch would want to hurt a friend of yours, now would you? That's why poor Merenkahre hasn't come at me with that khopesh on his side. Why Kahmunrah hasn't tried to attack me while my back is turned. And why Mr. Daley hasn't used that precious Mirror on me. Isn't that right?"
Kahmunrah looked at Larry, who was standing across from him with Mirror and flashlight in his hands. He seemed paralyzed. "Care to take the gamble?" Zalaam challenged. "How much is Ahkmenrah's soul worth to you, hmm? What would you do if you ended up trapping him in that Mirror for eternity?"
Everyone was frozen. Kahmunrah watched him, but Larry made no move to use the magical Mirror.
The dark chuckle filled the room again. "It's almost too easy." Zalaam turned to him and his parents again. Kahmunrah could hear his mother's shaking breath behind him. "I told you you would regret your decision. Now you shall lose everything. Now you shall see just how powerful I've become as the world bows before me! And I know just where to begin."
Black sand seeped from Ahkmenrah's bare feet, consuming the floor beneath them. Kahmunrah couldn't even move an inch before it pulled him down. It felt like forever before he could breathe freely again, but just as quick as the sand came, it left. Gasping, he looked around frantically to ensure his parents were still with him. It seemed that everyone had come along for the journey to...Where has he taken us?
Tall buildings that seemed to touch the night sky were all around him and the quiet room was replaced by shouting and large, foreign carriages traveling down a black road. With the sand gone, he got up and stood on the firm cement under his sandals, looking back at Zalaam, who seemed very proud.
"Ahkmenrah seems so fond of your New York, Mr. Daley," he told the man. "I wanted to see it for myself."
"Please, let my son go free!" Merenkahre pleaded. "Do what you want to me but leave him out of this. He's done nothing!"
"You see, now you beg," Zalaam sneered. "Because you know you will lose. You were wrong to think you could handle me as an enemy, Merenkahre! And now, thanks to your son, I get to show you just how wrong you were."
Another pool of black sand formed under his feet and he vanished into it with a proud grin on his lips. The second he was gone, taking the sand with him, the Queen broke. Kahmunrah was snapped out of his shocked trance as his mother crumbled to her knees next to him, her body shuddering with each sob. He got down next to her and held her shaking form in his arms but had no idea what to say. No one around him seemed to know what to do either. They started to talk loudly about what to do next, but none listened to what any of the others had to say. Kahmunrah looked to his father, who seemed frozen. Paralyzed. The one time I want you to say something, he thought. He looked back to where Ahkmenrah's body had just been. Where did he go? What will he do?
Is he really gone?
The second Zalaam vanished, it all went crazy. The Queen was sobbing, the group was shouting, Lancelot was swearing revenge for his friend, yet in the midst of it all stood Larry. His mind was going so quick, his body didn't know how to react. There were so many thoughts, so much confusion, too much on his brain! So, he stood, frozen in the middle of chaos. Car horns were blaring with the New York traffic - Zalaam had thankfully magicked them away from the road - everyone was yelling, the miniatures were asking him what to do, until it all just became too much. "Alright, everyone stop!"
He was shocked by how loud his voice was. It sounded like something that would've come from the Easter Island Head back at the Museum. But he'd gotten everyone's attention. Even Kahmunrah, who was kneeled down next to his obviously distraught mother, waited to see what he would say. The only thing was, he had no idea what to say at all. We can't go after Ahk, we don't even know where Zalaam went. He could be anywhere in the city! In the state even! "Okay, let's just...I know this is a real emergency, but standing here shouting isn't going to do anything for anyone. First things first, is everyone here? Did everyone get here through Zalaam's magic?" He looked around and did a quick head count. Lance, Teddy, Kahmunrah, his parents, Jed, Octavi - wait. "Dexter? Guys, does anyone see Dexter?"
"I don't see him," Lancelot said.
"I dare say he might've been left behind," Teddy told him in a grim tone.
Oh God, Ahkmenrah's being controlled by a madman, Dexter's halfway across the world, can anything else go- His thought came to a screeching halt as he reached around to touch his back. "My backpack. What happened to my backpack?"
"Is this really the most pressing matter right now?" Kahmunrah snapped
"It must've fallen off when I got sucked in the sand! Damn it, the Tablet was in there!"
"So Dex and the Tablet are back in Egypt?" Jed asked.
Conversations started to bubble back up. Thankfully, Teddy regained control. "The worst thing we can do right now is panic!" he yelled. "As crazy as everything has gotten, if we lose our heads, we'll lose it all. As for Dexter and the Tablet, we cannot focus on them right now. Zalaam is out there somewhere with Ahkmenrah, and with his powers, there might not be another sunrise, if you know what I mean."
With that settled, he looked back to Larry, who had to take a slow, deep breath. "Okay. We need to...to find somewhere to go so we can think of what to do next. Alright?" That was met with silence and a few nods.
Larry moved like a zombie down the streets of New York, not even acknowledging the strange looks he got from people walking by. He didn't recall getting to his apartment, nor putting the key into his door. It was like he was on autopilot until he got them all inside his house. Once inside, he directed Kahmunrah and Merenkahre to his bedroom so they could attempt to comfort the crying Queen. The rest of them stood around the apartment. Silent. Thinking. Waiting.
He didn't know how long it stayed that way. How long they just stood and tried to think of what to say. It was Jed who finally broke the silence. "Look, the longer we stand 'round here, the more time we're givin' Zalaam. We gotta figure out how to get Ahk back!"
"I think we all know there's only one way to do that, my friend," Teddy said solemnly. Reluctantly, Larry met his eyes and he was forced to admit he was right. He looked down at the Mirror of Wadjet, the only thing beyond the miniatures that he'd managed to bring back with him.
Lancelot seemed to catch on and got a panicked look to him. "Hold on, wait a moment. We cannot...no! You heard what Pharaoh Merenkahre said back at the museum! If we try to use the Mirror now, it could trap Ahkmenrah instead of Zalaam! We don't know what will happen if we try that."
"But what will happen if we don't?" Teddy countered. "Somewhere out there is a very powerful man, threatening the entire world as we know it. Thousands of innocent people could get hurt or killed! We don't have time to-"
"To what? To save our friend?! And here I thought he was important to you, a part of your family," the knight spat. "Or is it that you just don't care if he's trapped in that Mirror? After all, you locked him up once, who's to say-"
"Don't you dare finish that sentence!" Teddy's yell echoed throughout the small room. "Don't you dare say we don't care about him! You're damn right he's family, and we were wrong to leave him in that sarcophagus, wrong to listen to those guards who told us to never let him out! We made a mistake, and we've been doing everything we can to try to make it up to him. That's why we left him in Britain to be with his family all that time ago."
Teddy paused for a moment, trying to collect himself. Larry wasn't certain, but for a moment it looked like tears were forming past his glasses. "We love Ahkmenrah...but the fact is that it would be extremely selfish of us to let Zalaam take over and hurt innocent people because we won't risk losing him. The fate of the world is in our hands. It's a horrible decision, no doubt of that...but we have to make it."
For a minute, the quiet returned before Lancelot spoke up again. "So, what, the only thing we can do is use that Mirror? Risk his soul? We should try to fight Zalaam!"
"We can't." Larry felt like he could barely speak, his throat was tight with emotion. "He's too strong. You saw him, he can be anywhere he wants to be with that sand. He, he threw Kahmunrah at me like he was a ragdoll. There is no way we can take him without using the Mirror."
"And if it takes Ahkmenrah instead?" Octavius asked. "Even then, Zalaam still has power. There wouldn't be anything stopping him. What if the Mirror no longer works if Ahkmenrah is inside it?"
"Guys, I don't even know how we're gonna get close enough to Zalaam for one shot at this, there's no way we'll get a second try," Larry admitted.
"So, our only shot to save everything is a fifty-fifty chance that it traps Zalaam on the first try?"
No one answered. But they all knew.
"...I'll do it," Teddy told him, suddenly. He walked over, hand stretched out. "Give me the Mirror."
"Teddy, no, I can't let you be the one to use it on-"
"Lawrence." Again, Larry had to look into his eyes, his all-too-wise eyes. "I heard him," the man said quietly. "I heard him scream in that sarcophagus every night for fifty some years. And every night I walked past him. I left him trapped."
"I know. That's why I'm not letting you do it. You can't have this guilt on you if it goes wrong. I'm doing it." Larry's tone was as firm as it could get. Teddy's mouth opened, but the sound of the Queen's crying filled the room for a moment before a door closed. Kahmunrah and his father entered the room with stone-cold faces. Larry cleared his throat. "How is she-"
"Horrible," Kahmunrah told him, staring down at the brown carpet. "She's horrible."
"Thank you for allowing us to use your home," Merenkahre said without emotion.
Larry nodded and looked away from them, not wanting to say it but knowing it had to be said. "The, um...the only way to stop Zalaam is to-"
"We are well aware of what must be done, Mr. Daley," Merenkahre told him.
For some reason, that felt worse than telling them. Larry swallowed hard. "Alright then. It's settled."
He waited, looking around, actually hoping for an objection. For someone to think of a better plan. It was wishful thinking.
"You both should stay here," Larry told the Egyptians, "with the Queen. Lance, you can stay behind if you-"
"No," the knight told him quickly. "If I cannot rescue my friend -" He drew his sword in a blink, and it glistened in the light of the room. "Then I will avenge him."
Larry knew better than to argue with that. "Okay, if you're sure, then...just give me a minute, okay?" Without waiting for a response, he went into his kitchen and took his cell phone out of his pocket. Finally getting reception, he dialed the number automatically and held it to his ear. One ring. Two rings. Three. Four.
"Hey, this is Nick. Sorry I can't answer right now, but I'll call back when I can. You know what to do."
"Hey, Nicky, it...it's me. Look, I can't explain it now, but whenever you get this message, go right home and stay there. Everything's about to get really dangerous and I don't want you to be out on the road when it does. And if something happens, I'm sorry about fighting with you. I really am...I love you. "
Hanging up, he replaced the phone. "That was real nice, Gigantor," Jed told him.
"Thanks." He walked back into the room and gently got them out of his pocket, placing them on the arm of his sofa. "I think you both know it's too dangerous for you guys." For once, the cowboy didn't try to argue that.
Teddy and Lancelot looked at him, anxiously. "Alright," Larry began. "Let's go find Zalaam."
With the Mirror in hand, he walked them out to his car. As the engine came to life, only one thought replayed in Larry's mind: I said I wasn't going to lose any of them again. I promised he'd never have to worry about being locked up again.
Some "Guardian of Brooklyn" I turned out to be.
A/N: So, um...Happy Valentine's Day!
