Chapter Eight
The passenger train rattled every now and then on its tracks, jolting its occupants roughly in their seats. Despite the distractions, one table was distinctly anxious, as foretold on their faces and mannerisms. Rick held his hands together tightly on top of the table, beside him his wife, Evelyn wrung her hands together underneath the table, but her face was visibly awash with worry. Alex stared at the other passengers, obviously bored and completely unworried. Across the table sat Ardeth, the fierce warrior who did not let an inkling of fear escape him, but instead let his stern concentration show. Mi-Aset, dressed in a loose white cotton shirt care of Rick, and English horseback riding pants care of Evy, stared unemotionally out the window of the train.
"Okay, explain this to me Ardeth. How does reading from a book grant a man power of the gods?" Rick asked.
"This wasn't just some book. This book was written by Thoth himself. It contained every secret of Thoth's wisdom and powers. Reading from the book grants the viewer Thoth's very own power."
Rick shrugged indifferently. "So he becomes a bookworm, what's the big deal?"
Ardeth sighed impatiently. "Think, O'Connell. He can control the land, the sea, mortal men, the animals of the earth, bring the dead back to life, and cause mass destruction, and he can never die."
Rick rolled his eyes. "Nothing like Imhotep." He muttered under his breath. Mi-Aset glanced at him. Evy whacked him on the knee underneath the table. "So, how will she stop him?" Rick pointed at Mi-Aset.
"Her blood is the one thing on this earth that can revert Neferkaptah to an immobile state. He will still be alive, but powerless while she watches over him."
Rick nodded. "Oh."
"Here we are, just what the doctor prescribed." Jonathan announced his presence to the world loudly, followed by a steward rolling a cart of food. Jonathan directed the steward to place the plates of food appropriately.
Mi-Aset looked on avidly, feeling thousands of years of hunger aching in her stomach. Before her was placed a bowl of milk.
"And for the kitty." Jonathan smiled kindly down at Mi-Aset, who glared back at him, and faintly growled. Jonathan became nervous.
"Um, here, why don't you try mine." He quickly switched the bowl of milk with his own plate of food, sumptuous steak and roasted baby potatoes. Jonathan sat next to Ardeth, mumbling incoherently about having to have milk.
As everyone unfolded their napkins and started to dig in, Mi-Aset looked around unsuredly. Copying everyone else, she clumsily unfolded her napkin, spilling utensils on her lap.
"Ardeth, how do you know if Neferkaptah is even a danger at this moment?" Evelyn asked.
Ardeth quickly swallowed his bite. "He will most asuredly try to form an army. Neferkaptah is very ambitious." Ardeth paused. "He's killed three people. And two Med-Jai. My men."
Rick stopped chewing for a moment to look Ardeth in the eye. But Ardeth would not meet his gaze, but kept his firmly on the linen table top.
Jonathan nodded. "So that's how you got your shiner." Evelyn stared blankly at her brother, who at times she had to wonder if they were actually related.
They heard a loud clang, and faced Mi-Aset who was wrestling with her fork and knife.
"How will she bleed on him?" Alex asked innocently.
Ardeth glanced at Mi-Aset, who was now chewing with her mouth opened widely on a piece of lemon.
"Her blood must run dry upon his flesh."
Evelyn put her fork down loudly on her china plate. "Her blood must run dry? She has to bleed to death?"
Ardeth nodded slowly.
Evelyn's eyebrows furrowed. "Does she know that?"
Mi-Aset threw her fork down onto the plate, a half chewed mangled piece of lemon still pierced by the fork. She swore at the plate in Egyptian, and then noticed that people were watching her. She looked at Ardeth, whose gaze seemed somewhat pained.
"I hope so." He answered.
Mi-Aset looked up suddenly, distracted by something no one else could hear. They followed her intense gaze up to the roof of the train, where she appeared to be following the sound of something. Mi-Aset looked out the window. Everyone held their breath.
Jonathan shrugged. "Maybe it's a bird or something."
Evelyn screamed as a decayed hand suddenly smashed through the glass window and clutched Mi-Aset's throat tightly, dragging her entire body through the window. Rick reached for his gun, as Ardeth climbed atop the table and reached for Mi-Aset's body, flailing from the one arm of a gray mummy, perched on top of the train.
A loud clunk from behind Ardeth's back told him that he wasn't alone.
"Get down!" Rick commanded. Ardeth immediately lay flat on the table as two shots were fired just above him. Jonathan, who was slinking ever further into his seat, looked down at the victim of Rick's deadly aim.
"Hey," Jonathan started, instantly recognizing the dress of the man. He was swathed in bright crimson red robes, and with a crimson turban, layered in black. The man still clutched in his right hand a deadly looking scimitar.
Ardeth strained to reach Mi-Aset, dangling from the decaying arm of the mummy. With her arms flailing desperately, she grazed the broken shards of the window's edge, instantly producing a long trickle of blood across her palm. She slapped the mummy's arm with her bloodied palm, and the arm disintegrated, and Mi-Aset fell.
Only to be caught at the last moment by Ardeth. Hauling her exhausted body into the train's confinements, he pushed her roughly onto the floor. Rick clambered over Evy, pushing both her and Alex underneath the table. He tossed Jonathan a hand gun, who juggled it a few moments before finally cocking it and shakingly pointed it about him. With a high swishing sound, Ardeth produced his scimitar, and readied himself for battle.