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Startled, Osiris put his hand into his pocket again, digging around for the necklace … and again the hand emerged from his pocket empty.
A bellow of rage practically shook the room when he realized what must have happened, and he turned toward Jonathan. "Where is it?!"
"I don't know what you're talking about, old fellow. I gave you what you asked for." Jonathan could look very innocent when he put his mind to it. But Osiris was smarter than that, and he continued advancing.
Evelyn had managed to make it to Rick's side, and he quickly cut the cord that held her arms behind her back, rage surging through him as he saw how tight it was. She rubbed her hands and moved her arms around a little, trying to restore the blood flow.
Ardeth had moved adroitly so that he stood between Osiris and Jonathan and Rick and Evie. He held his hand behind his back, nearly hidden in his robes, so that Rick barely caught the wink of shiny metal in his palm. The necklace! Jonathan must have slipped it to him. With a quick shift forward, Rick took it from Ardeth and handed it in turn to Evelyn in a single smooth movement. She and Rana would have to be ready.
Osiris had a tight hold on the missing piece. Jonathan would have his work cut out for him extracting it while dodging the blows Osiris was trying to rain down on him. Well, if Jonathan was good at anything, it was avoiding being hit and stealing things, so Rick didn't worry about him too much.
All this time, Alex had stood immobile, as if frozen to the spot, watching the activity. Rick could see that she was poised to move, but completely unable to decide which direction to go. She was torn between her belief that she owed Osiris her life and thus her fealty, and her yearning for friendship, a normal life, even love. He saw her eyes connect with Ardeth's, something unspoken passing between them, and she was galvanized, launching herself as if from a spring and landing squarely on Osiris's back. He gave a shout, his grasp on the missing piece of the necklace slipping as he staggered forward under the sudden weight on his back.
The piece of the necklace flew up into the air, all of their eyes tracing the twinkle of gold as it arced above their heads. Alex reached out for it, overbalancing herself, and Osiris twisted even as her weight carried him toward the open entrance to the tomb. He reached out for the piece and missed it.
Ardeth plucked it from the air, tossing it immediately to Rick, who handed it to Evelyn. She lost no time fitting it back in with the rest of the necklace and beginning the incantation etched into the gold. She squinted at it in the dim light, her voice soft so as not to attract Osiris's attention, but Rick could hear every syllable of the ancient language clear and sharp as she pronounced it.
Osiris teetered on the edge of the open tomb, Alex still on his back. He clawed at her arms, drawing blood, trying to remove them from around his neck, but she refused to be dislodged. She was crying as she held on.
He regained his balance, stepping back from the open mouth of the tomb, and reached once more into the pocket of his robes, fumbling for something, coming out with a sharp, gleaming dagger. He turned it in the direction of Alex's arms while Ardeth leaped for him, calling her name. Alex let go, wisely, because Osiris was about to slash her arms open in multiple places, and tumbled off onto her back. Jonathan rushed to her side while Ardeth faced off against Osiris, his arms wide, poised to grab for the dagger if he was given the slightest opening.
Osiris feinted with it, the torchlight glancing off the blade, and then stabbed at Ardeth's face, the medjai twisting out of the way at the last second.
"Hurry!" Rick whispered over his shoulder.
Evelyn didn't bother to respond. She was translating as she read, and Rick recognized how very good at this she was—very few people could do what she was doing right now at all, much less under pressure and on very little sleep or food in the past two days. He reminded herself to let her know, once this was all over and they'd had a chance to catch their breath, how much he admired her for everything she was.
In the meantime, he shut his mouth and didn't distract her any further, turning his attention back to the others. He wanted to get in the middle of the fight between Ardeth and Osiris, put this situation to rest once and for all, but this wasn't his battle to win; his place was with Evelyn, protecting her and Rana in case that protection was needed. Ardeth could handle Osiris, Rick was sure.
Although Osiris was better with the knife than Rick had expected him to be. He had Ardeth backed up nearly to the wall.
Behind them, Jonathan knelt next to Alex, who had her hands to her head as if she had struck it in the fall. She looked up just as Osiris made a final leap, one that Ardeth didn't quite manage to evade. The dagger embedded itself in his shoulder.
"No!" Alex screamed. She got to her feet, throwing off Jonathan's attempt to hold her back, and rushed Osiris again, grasping the back of his robes and pulling him off Ardeth before he could do any further damage to the medjai.
The dagger came loose from Ardeth's shoulder, tearing jaggedly through his robes and leaving a bright line of red blood behind it. True medjai that he was, Ardeth pushed himself off the wall with only a grimace of pain, but Alex had pulled Osiris out of his reach.
"You are never going to hurt anyone again!" she said valiantly, but there were tears still streaming down her face, her strength wavering as she fought her training, her long-held belief that she owed Osiris her life.
Even as Jonathan and Ardeth closed in on either side, both determined to pull Alex and Osiris apart before he could overpower her, the dagger flashed in the light.