Chapter Three: Risen
-*-*-
1934
Giza Port, Cairo
It had been
hours since the group of people (the O'Connell's, Jonathan, Akila, and Ardeth)
had arrived in Cairo. They were all tired
and frustrated, and even Akila was somewhat in the blind. For all the knowledge she had, the journey
she was about to embark upon was one of working as she went. But what she truly wanted at that moment was
for the Medjai to meet up with them so she could get going – and the sooner
that happened, the sooner her body could be in contact with a bed.
"Jasmyne
and the others were supposed to meet us here." Akila stated, as she stared at
the people who passed her, "I knew we should have just met them at the city."
"They will
be here. Jibade was probably leading
them again." Ardeth told her, turning her gaze in his direction.
"Well, that
would be just such a surprise. I knew Jibade
was the right name for him. He's just
like the Jibade he is named after."
Evelyn
looked up curiously, "If I may, I believe I've heard the names Jasmyne, Eshe, Jibade,
and Hasani multiple times. Are they
Medjai?" She asked, her fatigue lightening.
"No. They're my family. Jasmyne is my wife. Jibade,
Hasani, and Eshe are my children. Akila
named all three. Their names are
honoring those who've died for the Princess."
Akila
glared at her keeper, "If you call me a princess again, I'm going to throw you
across the river."
"Yes,
Akila." He replied, seeing Jasmyne come into view. The three children and many Medjai followed her, "There they
are."
Akila
nodded, before walking forward to meet her friends, "I've missed you, Jas."
"As I have
you, Akka." Jasmyne smiled and used Akila's nickname. They hugged for a few moments, before Eshe tugged at Akila's pant
leg. They parted and the immortal
picked up the child. The two talked for
a few minutes – in ancient Egyptian – before returning their attention to the
group.
"I'm sorry
we are late. Hasani decided to scare
his little sister. It took us a fairly
long time to get to her, she ran so far."
"Hasani
Bay!" Ardeth scolded, "I have told you…"
"I know, I
know – teasing my sister is not right.
Medjai don't torment their family.
I don't understand why Akila gets to scare people, but I can't scare
Eshe." He said, fairly irritated, tugging at his button down shirt.
"This is your
son?" Rick asked, raising an eyebrow at his friend.
"Yes. He is more fascinated by the west then his
own heritage."
"He and
Alex will get along very well. Now
let's get going!" Akila told them, as she headed towards the horses.
Ardeth
sighed, "Yallah. Nimishi." The other Medjai did as they were commanded
and headed towards the horses, all unaware of what their destination was.
-*-*-
Late that night
Camp had
been set up hours before, but most of the inhabitants were still awake. Only a few of the Medjai and Jibade, who had
been allowed to know his sister's (as he still regarded her) secret, were
asleep. Everyone else were doing sorted
activities – Evy was writing something down in hieratics, Rick was cleaning one
of his many guns, Jasmyne and Ardeth were busily trying to get their other two
children to bed so the adults could talk to Akila, and Akila herself had her
face buried in a book.
But the
book had caught Alex's attention, and he was studying it from his seat. He could tell it had an ivory cover, and the
pages were old – so old, it appeared they had been sealed in wax to keep them
from falling apart. Finally his
wandering eyes landed on a hieroglyph.
"Little
boys, who stare at something that isn't theirs, used to spend the night with
Imhotep."
"I…ummm…wasn't…I
mean to say…" Alex stuttered.
Akila
smiled as she looked at him from over the top of the book, "I'm joking. I would never have let them do that to you
when I was there. He told me once that
he got to lecture the boy for a long time on why the Gods don't like little
boys who stare at young women." She turned her eyes back to the hieroglyphs of
the book, "Always pitied the poor children."
"Can I ask
you something?" He decided to continue with the conversation – after all she
was privy to three thousand years of history.
"Depends on
what the answer will be."
"What's
that say? I can read the words, but
they make no sense."
She tore
her eyes away again, and smiled once more, "That's because it's in code. If I ever lost this book, it would mean big
trouble for mortality. That's why the
entire thing is in code. Ini-herit and
I wrote it just after I was cursed. He
wanted to make sure that if either victim of the hom-dai was released, I could
help keep it…weakened until Ardeth or someone could return the creature to its
prison."
"Either
victim?" Evy looked up, "There was more then one?"
"Yes." Akila
looked at her strangely, "You did not know that there were two?"
"No. I thought there was only one. I was told the Medjai never had the ritual
preformed after Imhotep."
Akila
sighed, "There was another. His name
was Bomani. He was the one who cursed
me to this life. After he did the
ritual, he added a chant that would make it impossible to break without Seti or
Imhotep. I know a way around that, by
the way. But, Ini-herit was there, as
were Amunet and Nefertiri and my brother.
Bomani then proceeded to curse Amunet.
She has been doomed to sleep for all eternity. Her body, still breathing and her heart still beating, await us
at our destination. As does the
sarcophagus of Bomani."
"You still
haven't said why he was cursed."
"For what
he did. He cursed me and Amunet, and
his last words were a curse upon Ini-herit's…I think you'd call it a soul."
"He did a
lot of cursing." Rick said, adding humor to the words.
"Bomani was
evil. He believed that my father was
more powerful then any god, that his death would bring about the decline of my
homeland. It would take until Cleopatra
to do that."
"Cleopatra
was the downfall?"
"Not
really. It was Octavian, Marc Antony's
first wife's brother, who attacked our land.
The Romans sank our ships very fast.
The two managed to get past the blockade, but were separated. Antony believed the Queen to be dead and
fell on his sword. He soon found out
that she was not dead, and ordered to be taken to her, where he died in her
arms. She killed herself soon
after. There was no one to take the
throne after that. Her children were
taken by my people for their safety, and I would have gone up to rule, but I
did not know if the people would have accepted who I am, what I am."
The others
stared at her as they digested what they just heard. It was fact that Cleopatra was the last ruler of Egypt. Much was known about her, but now all of it
had just been proven.
"I would
tell you about Napoleon or the English kings, but I think that would cause your
eyes to pop out of their homes." She said, once again returning to her book.
And not
another word was uttered.
-*-*-
The next day
Where Hamunaptra is beneath the sand
"You know,
trouble always comes from this place." Rick stated, as they all sat on the
horses and looked at Akila, "Whether it's above the sand or beneath it."
"Well, this
time. I expect all of you to stay
here. I am only going to raise it and
retrieve one thing from inside. Then we
will go." She said, as she dismounted.
"This isn't
our destination?" Evy asked.
"No." Akila
started walking away, "Our destination is Thebes. The only way to do this is to return to the place of my birth."
About to
ask why they were at Hamunaptra, Ardeth's hand stopped Evy's question, "She
needs something from here." He explained, as the immortal came to a stop in the
middle of the sand. Her lips began to
move, as though she were casting her own spell. The ground began to shake, and the city began to rise slowly.
"What the…"
Rick murmured, as the group moved their horses back.
Akila began
to rise into the air, her feet treading air.
Beneath her, the dust cloud that enveloped Hamunaptra was settling –
revealing the city to the daylight once more.
But instead of coming down, Akila kept her eyes shut, kept her lips moving. And the pillars that had fallen began to
replace themselves, paint reappear as it had been in her time. Walls seemed to be built from the sands, and
torches formed from nowhere.
The work
finished, Akila began to descend from her spot in the air, while the others –
even Ardeth – stared open mouthed at what had just been resurrected. Finally, Rick regained his composure, "Let's
go." He ordered, and took off for the city.
The other people followed, still quite amazed at what they had just seen
– Eshe and Hasani more so then the others as they had no idea who Akila truly
was.
"How did
you do that?" Evy asked, when they had stopped and dismounted.
Akila
smiled, "You searched for many years for the book of Amun-Ra. I am the living version of it. I am also the living version of the Book of
the Dead and the Book of Truth. And the
Book of Secrets, for what it's worth." She picked Eshe, and spoke to her again
in Egyptian, as she had the day before, and Eshe nodded.
As they
started walking, Evelyn couldn't control herself, "Did all the books have a
counterpart?"
"No. Just the texts that contained our knowledge,
our secrets. The incantations were kept
in two books – one that could revive, one that could kill. The truth was kept in one book, the secrets
few knew where kept in the other. There
were more books, but I can only memorize so much before I lose sight of what is
what." She said, as they walked in the door that lead to the temple.
"Where are
we going?" Jasmyne asked, picking up Hasani.
"To get my
key." She replied, walking through the sar-netjer.
"Your key?"
Rick asked.
She nodded,
"It's much like the one your wife used to open the books the first time Imhotep
rose. Only it's made of ivory and
silver. And it's hidden in the room
with things that I have collected over time."
"Must be
one big room." Jibade said, walking forward to take Akila's free hand in his.
"It is."
She smiled at him, and continued her walking until she reached the steps in the
treasure room. She once again spoke an
incantation, and the broken mirror was replaced by a new one. The light filtered into the room, and
displayed for human eyes once again, the riches of the ancient land.
"Wow!" Jibade
let go of Akila's hand and ran down the steps.
He picked up a gold statuette, "Anubis.
He was the God of the sky, right?"
"You're a
little off there, Bade. Anpu was the
God of embalming."
"Anpu?"
"Anubis is
Anpu's name in Greek." She replied, running her fingers along the gold, before
removing her cloak. She had changed
that morning out of her pants and shirt and back into her dress. She still wore very little jewelry, and as
usual, no sandals.
"Three
thousand years and you still will not dress like the others." Ardeth stated.
Akila
smiled, and looked around, "There you are." She whispered, before walking over
to where her key laid. She picked it up
and blew off the dust. As she had said,
it was made of ivory and accent with silver.
"If that's
all we're here for," Rick said, "Can we go now? The faster we're out of here, the less likely we'll wake the
dead."
Smiling,
the immortal picked up her cloak, "We can go." She guided them out the way they
had come, and, with but a glance back, they all departed.
-*-*-
Cassie Jamie
noahXfiles@aol.com