Whoop, hope you enjoy this chapter guys- word of warning if there's any change in my update schedule it will be because I have covid but currently it doesn't seem to be hitting to hard so fingers crossed.
Replies:
Rage2091: Eh, he's pretty senile still, and I mean, technically Percy has kinda already threatened to eat him, she just wasn't in control.
Undeath9087: Yeah, deffo not an overnight thing, even Percy isn't that badass.
Unknownloser097: He's has to do some very quick changing of how he thinks.
Batmanuchiha: Uh, yes? :)
Sadie clutched the rails of the sun boat, her eyes wide as the uraei stopped spitting fire, much to Freak's surprise, and immediately flew to the sun boat. They began circling the boat like an honor guard, and Sadie remember what Carter ad to her, Menshikov had said about them originally being creatures of Ra. Apparently they recognized their old master.
And most of the enemies below them scattered as the boat came down, but the slowest of the demons said, "Ra?" and looked up just as the sun boat landed on top of him with a satisfying crunch.
Sadie and Carter exchanged looks, and a smile played across Sadie's lips as they vaulted out of the sun boat- Sadie felt a thousand times better now, rising with the sun had done her a world of good, she'd never felt stronger- not including the times when she'd been the eye of Isis.
And together they plunged into the battle- Sadie zapped one demon into a tiger and unleashed him on his brethren. Carter popped into avatar form—the glowing golden kind, thank goodness; the three-meter-tall birdman had been a bit too much in Sadie's opinion. He smashed his way through the terrified enemy magicians, and with a sweep of his hand sent them sailing into the East River. Zia and Walt came out from the stairwell and helped them mop up the stragglers.
Then they ran to them with big grins on their faces. They looked battered and bruised but still very much alive.
"FREEEEK!" said the griffin. He swooped down and landed next to Carter, head-butting his combat avatar, which Sadie hoped was a sign of affection. "Hey, buddy." Carter rubbed his head, careful to avoid the monster's chain-saw wings.
"What's happening, guys?"
"Talking didn't work," Zia said drily.
"The enemy's been trying to break in all night," Walt said. "Amos and Bast have held them off, but—" He glanced at the sun boat, and his voice faltered. "Is that—that isn't—"
"Zebra!" Ra called, tottering toward them with a big toothless grin.
He walked straight up to Zia and pulled something out of his mouth—the glowing gold scarab, now quite wet but undigested. He offered it to her. "I like zebras."
Zia backed up. "This is—this is Ra, the Lord of the Sun? Why is he offering me a bug?"
"And what does he mean about zebras?" Walt asked.
Ra looked at Walt and clucked disapprovingly. "Weasels are sick."
Sadie felt dizzy with the sudden realisation.
Zebras…Zia. Weasels… Walt.
Before she could think about that any more, a large BOOM! shook the building. Chunks of limestone flew from the side of the mansion and rained down on the warehouse yard.
"They've breached the walls again!" Walt said. "Hurry!"
And everything that happened next was chaos. Ra absolutely refused to be parted from Zia and Walt, so Carter and Sadie left him in the care of them, with orders to get him back to the sun boat- and Sadie was sure that Desjardins would stay with Percy, he'd taken over that responsibility when Cart and Sadie had rushed into the battle, Freak lowering them onto the deck below. They dropped from his claws onto the buffet table and found Bast whirling around with her knives in hand, slicing demons to sand and kicking magicians into the swimming pool, where our albino crocodile, Philip of Macedonia, was only too happy to entertain them.
"Sadie!" she cried with relief. She seemed to be having a great deal of fun, but her tone was urgent. "They've breached the east wall. Get inside!"
They ran through the doorway, dodging a random wombat that went flying over their heads—possibly someone's spell gone awry—and stepped into complete pandemonium.
"Holy Horus," Carter said.
In fact, Horus was about the only thing not doing battle in the Great Room. Khufu was riding an old magician around the room, choking him with his own wand and steering him into walls as the mage turned blue. Felix had unleashed a squad of penguins on another magician, who cowered in a magic circle with some sort of posttraumatic stress, screaming, "Not Antarctica again! Anything but that!"
Alyssa was summoning the powers of Geb to repair a massive hole the enemy had blasted in the far wall. Julian had summoned a combat avatar for the first time, and was slicing demons with his glowing sword. Even bookish Cleo was dashing about the room, pulling scrolls from her pouch and reading random words of power like "Blind!" "Horizontal!" and "Gassy!" Everywhere Sadie looked, their initiates were ruling the day. They fought as if they'd been waiting all night for the chance to strike, which she suppose was exactly the case. And there was Jaz knocking an enemy shabti straight into the fireplace, where it broke into a thousand pieces.
Sadie felt a rush of pride at the sight- their trainees were kicking ass against the other magicians.
And most impressive of all was Amos.
Sadie had seen him use magic before but never like this. He stood at the base of Thoth's statue, swirling his staff and summoning lightning and thunder, blasting enemy magicians, and flinging them away in miniature storm clouds. A woman magician charged at him, her staff glowing with red flames, but Amos simply tapped the floor. The marble tiles turned to sand at her feet, and the woman sank up to her neck, which Sadie couldn't help but notice made Carter flinch, undoubtedly from memories of how he'd felt being sucked deep into the sand.
But he managed to force that away quickly, and he glanced at Sadie, giving a small nod, and they both joined in the fight.
It was a complete rout. Soon the demons had been reduced to sand piles, and the enemy magicians began scattering in panic. No doubt they'd been expecting to fight a band of untrained children. They hadn't counted on the full Kane treatment.
One of the women managed to open a portal in the far wall.
She was about to jump through it when a commanding voice called; "Stop!" and Sadie turned her head.
It was Desjardins, he had taken of his leopard-skin cloak and- Sadie's breath caught. He'd wrapped it around Percy, not an inch of skin or hair could be seen, she was bundled up like a newborn babe, her face hidden away against his shoulder- not even the shock of white of her hair poked out.
The woman froze-all of them did, turning to face Desjardins- and Sadie was impressed that he was holding himself and Percy so well, she was very aware that he was exhausted and weak despite the sunrise- there was some damage even rebirth couldn't fix so easily, and whatever Menshikov had been doing to him coupled with the attempt to stop Apophis, but he was stood tall and proud, not showing any weakness despite the gauntness of his face. "You will all stop and listen." and just like that the fighting ceased, everyone fell silent, and Sadie swallowed hard before she took a small step forward.
"He's right. We aren't your enemies. Whatever happened before- it doesn't matter anymore. The world has changed and you need to hear what's happened."
And so Sadie and Carter told them their story- how they'd travelled through the Duat, how they'd restored Ra- of how Menshikov had been waiting for them at the end- and they faltered slightly at that point and Desjardins took over- and Sadie kind of wanted to hug him when he lied- when he told everyone that Menshikov had been taken as Apophis' host- the truth wouldn't help anyone at this stage- all it would do was harm Percy.
He told of their battle with Apophis, mixing the truth with the small lie well- and he told them that Carter had saved his life- not explaining how, and that Apophis had been forced back deep into the Duat for a time- again with only the vaguest details, though no one knew how long it would last.
Once the story was over an Asian man in charred blue robes stepped forward, Sadie assumed that he had to be Kwai, and spoke up. "Lies! They've corrupted you!"
"He's not corrupted." Carter's voice was frustrated- his avatar no longer surrounded him. His clothes had reverted to the normal mortal ones we'd bought him in Cairo, but somehow he still looked quite imposing, quite confident. "Menshikov has been making Lord Desjardins weak but he came to our aid and fought at our side when the time came. Without him Apophis would have devoured Ra."
"And without the Kanes I would have been overcome and died." Desjardins added, shifting his grip on Percy. "I have fought against this- I was a fool to spend so long trying to fight it. We most restore the path of the gods- we must work together if we wish to truly defeat Apophis.
The woman who had summoned the portal spat on the floor- Sadie decided she didn't like her. She had white robes and spiky black hair. She shouted to her comrades, "What are you waiting for?! They've brainwashed the Chief Lector, they killed Menshikov-"
Amos's voice boomed across the Great Room: "Sarah Jacobi! You of all people know that isn't true. You've devoted your life to studying the ways of Chaos. You can sense the unleashing of Apophis, can't you? And the return of Ra."
Amos pointed out through the glass doors leading to the deck. Sadie don't wasn't sure how he sensed it without looking, but the sun boat was just floating down, coming to rest in Philip's swimming pool. It was quite an impressive landing. Zia and Walt stood on either side of the throne of fire. They'd managed to prop up Ra so that he looked a bit more regal with his crook and flail in his hands, though he still had a goofy grin on his face.
Bast, who'd been standing on the deck frozen in shock, fell to her knees. "My king!"
"Hel-llo-o-o-o-o," Ra warbled. "Goood-bye!"
Sadie wasn't sure what he meant, but Bast shot to her feet, suddenly alarmed.
"He's going to rise into the heavens!" she said. "Walt, Zia, jump off!"
They did, just in time. The sun boat began to glow. Bast turned to me and called, "I'll escort him to the other gods! Don't worry. Back soon!" She jumped on board, and the sun boat floated into the sky, turning into a ball of fire. Then it blended with the sunlight and was gone.
"There is your proof," Amos announced. "The gods and the House of Life must work together. Sadie and Carter are right. The Serpent will not stay down for long, now that he has broken his chains. Who will join us?"
Several enemy magicians threw down their staffs and wands.
The woman in white, Sarah Jacobi, snarled, "The other nomes will never agree to this! You Kanes have corrupted the Chief Lector! Look at him! We will spread the word. We will tell them what you've done. They'll never follow you!"
She leaped through the portal. The man in blue, Kwai, studied them with contempt, then followed Jacobi. Three others did as well, but they let them leave in peace.
Then Desjardins spoke, his voice still strong, though Sadie could see the exhaustion in his eyes. "Leave us. You can discuss the battle in a moment."
"But-" Felix started to speak but Carter shook his head.
"He's right. Zia, Walt, you can stay. And you Amos."
There was some discontented murmuring but everyone left the Great Room quickly- and as Sadie watched them go she realised how badly the Great Room had been damaged. Walls had been cracked, windows broken, relics smashed, and Amos's musical instruments half melted. For the second time in three months, they'd almost destroyed Brooklyn House.
That had to be a record.
And then they were alone and Amos frowned. "Michel what-" and Desjardins shoulders slumped- and Sadie and Carter rushed to his side, helping him stay straight.
"Zia, Walt!" Carter called, "Turn the couch back up!"
They did quickly, and together Sadie and Carter managed to get Desjardins and Percy to the couch, and Desjardins carefully set Percy down before he sunk to his knees next to the couch, breathing heavily as he closed his eyes.
"Amos- I came close to dying today. I am weakened. I cannot rule the House now- cannot protect it. I know it's against all protocol but I cannot keep my position." he opened his eyes, gaze focusing on Amos. "I will support your claim and assist in whatever way I can. It is time for you to take my place as I step back."
And Sadie's eyes widened, she let out a soft gasp, as did Zia, because there was no way to misunderstand what Desjardins was saying.
Amos Kane would take his place as the Chief Lector.