The third day was equally frustrating and it was Marc who fronted and scowled at their moon god.
"Can't you call Apophis?" he demanded.
"It is not that easy."
"You need to bring about another eclipse?" he snapped.
Khonshu huffed, clearly amused. "Only if we want to annoy Osiris."
Layla chuckled and shook her head. "Nope. Please don't. Once was enough."
"Yeah, quite," Marc agreed with a sigh. "So there's no call button for a demon-god?"
"No."
"How do you get in contact with one of your old buddies then?"
"I don't." Khonshu sounded a little brisk.
"But if you wanted to…"
"I do not," came the immediate interruption. Sharper this time.
Marc rolled his eyes. "Work with me, okay? How does any of your kin get in contact with another if you need to talk to someone who isn't living next door in the Overvoid?"
Khonshu rumbled, gaze roaming the nearly abandoned site. "Our avatars can find one another."
Layla gave Marc the raised eyebrows. He answered with a scowl, which was then directed at Khonshu.
"Not that I ever knew about that…"
"I did not want to talk to those who had banished me!"
Ouch. Okay. Sore spot. Eternally sore.
"Yatzil found us…"
The rags flared and Khonshu briefly looked away, clearly not comfortable with the topic. Marc felt those fluctuating emotions. He understood how torn the deity was over his past relationship with Hathor. There had been emotions, but none that came close to what humans might call 'more than friends'. It had been a relationship closer to friends than allies, but with Khonshu's disgrace and banishment, that had dwindled and disappeared.
At least on Khonshu's side.
Hathor had been in contact a few times, had offered, but the other deity was too stubborn, too hurt, and still so angry, mixed with the unending feeling of betrayal.
"Hathor isn't needed," Khonshu stated coolly.
"I wasn't suggesting we recruit Yatzil somehow!" he groaned, mentally kicking his soul-bound god into his bony shins. "How do I contact Apophis' avatar?"
Khonshu sighed. Marc gave him a little shove along the bond just for good measure. He was getting a lot better and had a lot more routine bringing very physical reactions across a purely psychic connection.
"Do we need another ritual? An amulet? Do I call a number?" he asked. "How, Khonshu? I know you don't like it, but we agreed on this, damnit!"
"You do not call upon Apophis!" Khonshu stated loudly, the wind whipping wildly thought his cape. "You cannot call upon him. Or his avatar! They are outside the Ennead, the Overvoid… like all of his kin."
Steven fronted, looked thoughtful. "You can't contact your… uhm… distant kin? Re, Maat… They might be helpful?"
"We don't," Khonshu repeated. "They were always removed from the other gods. They are different, even though they are what you like to call 'kin'. We never needed to actively talk to any of the ancient elements, to the concepts of chaos, the eternal light, or justice." He scoffed a little. "Especially to the chaos."
"Which means… we look around and make ourselves known until she pops up somewhere?" Layla demanded. "Be a nuisance?"
"Apophis knows we are here," Khonshu rumbled, surveying the ruins again. "He has known since we arrived two days ago."
"So he's just an asshole," she stated, arms crossed in front of her chest as she faced the deity.
Steven chuckled. He felt Khonshu's amusement.
"Probably."
"Like someone else I know," she added a little jab. "Well, demon-god or god, you are quite alike."
"I'm nothing like him!" came the indignant hiss.
"Debatable, but hey." She turned away, ignoring the angry glare.
Steven shook his head, looking over the breathtaking scenery. "Should we continue?"
"I'd say we call it a day. You wanted to visit Memphis…" she reminded him.
"Oh! Splendid! Yes! Of course!"
It didn't change the fact that for close to two weeks they didn't find a single scale of either Apophis or his avatar.
"If he really knows we're here, he's the biggest asshole out there," Marc growled. "Bigger than our own asshole." He slanted a look at Khonshu, the teasing clear to hear.
Layla smiled around a mouthful of prickly pear fruit. They were sitting in the shade, eating and drinking. They had found a good place, a little away from the crowds, and Layla enjoyed the downtime. Marc stole one of her sliced mangos, paying with a brief kiss.
She shot him a warm smile.
Marc turned to their looming moon god.
"How long do we have to trudge around this place until he deigns us worthy of his presence?" he asked with a sarcastic edge.
Khonshu sat down on a crumbled wall. "Only he would know."
"Maybe he moved on?" Layla hazarded a guess. "Since you guys know where the entrance to his temple or pocket dimension is. He might have moved it. Maybe they even went outside of the central Saqqara area into the outskirts?"
Khonshu didn't look convinced, but he also didn't argue.
"How about going to the pyramid of Sesostris III.?" Steven asked excitedly, switching to the front. "Or Pepi II.? Maybe even as far away as the Red or Black Pyramids?"
We're not here to go sightseeing!
"Well, isn't that our cover? And it's what we've been doing for a while now."
Marc blinked. Uhm, yeah, he muttered.
"I'll drive. We can make it a private tour." Layla gave him an encouraging smile and Steven returned with a bright one of his own.
Marc rolled his eyes.
Almost into their second month in this place, Apophis' lady knight finally made an appearance.
By now Marc had been to every museum, tourist place and dig site more than once. Actually, more than twice. Well, he had been a backseat passenger when Steven had haunted the museums or revisited the tourist stops. Sometimes he had just sunk to the deeper levels of the mind-space, the echoes of Steven's happiness making him smile as he rested in the background.
And now, at Dashur, Steven was in his element as he regarded the Bent Pyramid of King Sneferu. It was their second time here, too, but this time with barely another visitor around.
"The Dahshur pyramids were an extremely important learning experience for the Egyptians," Steven told them, eyes alight with the wonder of seeing what he had only ever read about. "They transitioned from step-sided pyramids to smooth-sided pyramids. The Bent Pyramid was their first attempt to build a smooth-sided pyramid, but as you can see it proved to be unsuccessful. They miscalculated. Too much weight was being placed onto the soft ground. And the weight distribution did the rest, causing the angle of the pyramid to be off. Hence the name."
Layla was listening to him attentively, with interest while also surveying the area. No one was around but them. At this time of the day the tours were already through.
Suddenly, there was a shift in the air.
Steven stopped his narration, frozen, when the fully armored knight of Apophis appeared. She hadn't been there one second, but she was there now.
As if she had stepped out of thin air.
Maybe she had. Maybe Apophis had the ability to come and go wherever he pleased. Maybe it was her ability while wearing the armor.
No matter what, she was here. Unseen by anyone but them.
Layla tensed.
And Marc pushed forward, fronting without any resistance from his alter. Steven fell back almost the very second Marc stepped closer in the mind-space, and it was Marc who faced the woman, face hard, eyes cold.
"Nice of you to show up," he greeted her.
"Tact thy name is not Marc Spector," Layla muttered.
"I'm past niceties." He shot his wife a brief look, then glared at the lady knight gain. "You were the one who offered. We came here to talk and you ghosted us."
She tilted her head. "You declined our offer, Knight of Khonshu."
"Well, I'm here now."
"You reconsidered?"
Marc stared at her, trying to get a read on the fully masked and suited-up woman. "In a way. You said you wanted to help us find the Unholies. The Forbidden?"
"Yes."
"And you have a list?"
She inclined her head.
"Where?" Marc demanded.
The lady knight cocked her head, regarding him curiously. "The list is unimportant. You wouldn't have come here simply to ask for a few item names."
"You didn't leave a business card," he said sarcastically. "I would have called otherwise."
"You would be interested in a joined hunt?"
"I work alone."
She looked at Layla.
"I work alone," Marc repeated, teeth clenched.
"But you are no longer alone, Moon Knight. You are the soul-bound of Khonshu, his equal, his host, his bond-mate."
"I am not his bond-mate!" Marc snapped, eyes cold and dark, his voice relaying a warning.
There was a surge coming from their god, coupled with Marc's growing anger, and Steven quickly stepped forward. He raised his hands, a disarming smile on his softer features.
"Whoa, wait, let's start this over again," he quickly intervened. "Uhm, hi, Steven here." He waved.
Layla was now at his side, glaring at the lady knight.
"Can we just leave it at soul-bound?" Steven requested. "Yes? We are Khonshu's, but I'd rather not you call us his mate or anything like that."
"I… see…"
"Now that that's cleared up… what we are asking is just to compare notes."
"The Forbidden are black magic. Infinitely dangerous, even in those hands that created them. There are no true wielders, no rightful owners," the lady knight said evenly. "To destroy them means to make the realms safer. To do it alone will lead you to tearing yourself apart, Moon Knight."
"You never looked for them until Marc stumbled into your territory," Layla stated. "Why now?"
"As I said, it destroys you to look for them on your own. Apophis decided to guard the one we found first. The seal is not neutralized, but it is under guard by Apophis himself."
"Which is all well and good," Steven threw in, "but we will destroy the ones we find. You broke the bracelet into pieces; the one you gave us."
She inclined her head. "We did."
"You still didn't answer my question," Layla interjected with a scowl. "Why now?"
"Your mate is an interesting avatar, Layla El-Faouly. A soul-bound avatar. A soul-bound is of great importance to a god of any power or origin. Apophis is fascinated by the bond of trust and love between him and his bonded."
"Why?" Layla repeated. "It's the same you two have."
"No. I am just one. I grew from avatar to bond-mate." She looked at Marc. "You, Moon Knight, are two. You have become three. It is difficult to maintain equal balance within a system of three, but you are a perfect ternion. Yet, you lack the most basic understanding what this bond and the connection to the essence of your god involves."
Marc's lips were a thin, tight line as he stared at her from within the mind-space. Khonshu was a dark, foreboding presence all around them.
"Apophis and I understand the intimacy of the soul bond. We understand more than anyone. Despite all that has transpired in the past, between the Ennead and the god whose avatar I am, Apophis was never an enemy. He, we, would offer our alliance out of respect."
"And because you think the Moon Knight might be dangerous to you one day?" Layla challenged.
The black eyes flared a little. "No. Because we believe in the strength of allies. Beyond the petty little relationships the gods nurture. Without trust, without love. Apophis is my own soul-bound. My love belongs to him alone. We are powerful due to this emotional connection. I am proud to be called his bond-mate."
Marc's annoyance surged, but Steven carefully kept a lid on it.
"You hold a different emotion for your god, Steven Grant." She cocked her head a fraction. "As we as Marc Spector. You love him, but differently than my love is for my bonded. It is a different, very unique emotion. A connection so strong in just a few months, it is unbreakable already and deeply settled within your souls. You need to learn how to handle the power you have access to. All of you have much to learn. About who and what you are, what you can be. Both of you. As would your patron god."
She suddenly raised her eyes and Steven knew that Khonshu had appeared behind them. She very briefly inclined her head for just a fraction in greeting.
"Could you really help us?"
"There is nothing either Apophis or I can teach you about specific powers. We do not know which of your abilities have been enhanced or will grow, and only your god knows his own, true essence."
"But you would probably our best option to learn," Steven argued.
"Very likely indeed. You could not hurt me should you go out of control."
Marc's snarl was clear to hear inside the mind-space. So full of herself!
Well, she had repeatedly shown that she could wipe the floor with them, Steven thought, projecting that at the other.
"Which is why you two might be our best bet," he said out loud. "You might give us some pointers. You've been in this bond for how many centuries? You know more about it than any of us." The moon god included, was the unspoken addition.
She looked past him, meeting Khonshu's endless sockets. "Will you accept an alliance, god of the moon?"
"I will accept a truce."
"We were never at war."
"You attacked mine!" he snapped furiously, leaning forward in a menacing matter.
"A truce then," she acquiesced.
"A truce," he echoed.
Steven stepped back and made room for Marc.
"A truce," he repeated.
Khonshu's wary presence didn't change, but he wasn't attack-happy either.
It was a truce.
They would have to wait and see where it went.