Chapter Ten
After the commotion had settled and the panicked train engineer squealed the brakes to a grinding stop, the party collected themselves, shaking and painfully regaining their sea legs.
"Dad! Did you see that one guy, and then the mummy? And then how mum shot at it? And then you pelted it? And then that other guy, and Uncle Jon shot it?" Alex excitedly jumped up and down trying to keep up with Rick's strides across the sandy dunes, stolen shotgun slung over his shoulder. Evy kept a firm grip on her hyper child's hand, knowing all too well what could happen if you let him out of your sight for a moment.
Jonathan looked around despairingly, the scenery desolate except for a few ancient pillars dotting the landscape. He wiped his sweaty brow with his handkerchief and looked back towards the train, where Ardeth Bay was holstering his scimitar.
"So um, Ardeth my good man. You know this place pretty well, where's the nearest watering hole?" Jonathan chuckled at his remark, but Ardeth obviously didn't get it, or didn't care to. Ardeth strode past Jonathan, beckoning him to follow with one tattooed hand. Rick stopped and he too now faced Ardeth questioningly. Mi-Aset was lagging behind, pausing to have a good look at the train, which had bewildered her.
Ardeth led the group over several sand dunes, before stopping on top of one, just out of eyesight of the train. The rest of the group caught up, and Alex let a "wow!" escape when he got to the top.
There waiting at the bottom of the sand dune were ten Med-Jai, all on black horses, bridled with black tasseled ropes, and laden with black leather saddles. Behind them were five other horses.
"Oh. Isn't that convenient?" Jonathan quipped.
~~~
As the cool night fell upon Egypt's desert, the camp was well alive. Brown canvas tents surrounded a roaring fire, where most of the people, save a few Med-Jai keeping watch, were huddled. Alex roared a monstrous yawn, obviously exhausted from the day's adventure. Jonathan was already curled up at the fire's edge, snoring loudly and oblivious to anyone else in the world. Evy too look tired, sleep begging at her eyelids. Alex nestled himself in her arms, and Evy kissed the top of his forehead.
Mi-Aset looked sadly at the pair. She winced as Ardeth tightened a bandage on her bloody palms.
Rick looked at Ardeth's work. "Will those heal?" He said, motioning with a nod of his head to her hands.
Ardeth shrugged. "With time they should."
Rick looked Ardeth in the eyes. "I thought we didn't have much time."
Ardeth shook his head, still concentrating on his bandaging.
"Hey, does she know? I mean, you know, how to get rid of her, you know, husband?" With the 'husband' he bent the two fingers on each hand as an expression of quotation marks.
Ardeth looked at Mi-Aset who was studying her bandaged hands. "Mi-Aset, do you know how to stop Neferkaptah?" He asked in Egyptian.
Mi-Aset nodded. "I have done it before."
Ardeth studied her face, but she did not meet his gaze. "But do you know what must be done?"
Mi-Aset looked up into the tattooed face of the warrior. "I know I must die."
Rick looked questioningly at Ardeth for a translation. Ardeth nodded. "She says she knows she will die."
Rick furrowed his eyebrows. "Well, isn't there a way she could maybe just bleed on him and be done with it?"
Ardeth hadn't considered this thought. "Mi-Aset, what if there was a way…"
Mi-Aset held up a bandaged hand to his face, as if knowing what he were about to say. "This is the way. It is the only way. And even if there were another way…" She stopped, collecting her thoughts. She swallowed hard before continuing. "My husband is a demon. My language is dead. My country is dead, and…" She sadly motioned to where Evy was sleepily resting her head on top of Alex's, cuddled up in her arms. "My son is dead. What would there be to live for? I was not meant for this time, and neither is Neferkaptah. We had our chance."
Ardeth nodded slowly, and Rick, though he could not understand a word she had just said, knew the answer was no. Feelings slightly dampened by the thought of what had to be done to stop this new threat, he picked off a dangling thread from his shirt and defeatedly threw it into the fire. He picked up a piece of smoked meat, some the Med-Jai had given him, and gnawed on it roughly.
A rumbling in the distance caught everyone's attention. Rick stared up into the black night, confused. "Is that a storm coming?"
Ardeth chuckled. "My friend, it has not rained here for centuries."
As if answering Ardeth's statement with an ironic one of its own, the sky quickly and suddenly clouded over dramatically. Thunder shook awake both Alex and Jonathan, and lightning flashed across the sky, giving an eerie strobe light effect across everyone's face. Minutes later, the sky opened up in a torrent of rain. It took mere seconds for everyone to be drenched.
Mi-Aset, looking very much like the cat that hates to get wet, held her arms out to her sides in disgust. "Damn you Neferkaptah!" She screamed at the heavens.
The thunder took on a laughing effect that sent shivers down the spine of Rick and Evy. A lightning strike flashed down in a brilliance of white-hot light, and struck with perfect explosive precision onto one of the tents, immediately setting it ablaze. The horses whinnied and reared where they were tied, spooked.
The wind picked up, throwing tents from their tethers like they were made of cards. The constant downfall of rain was turning the dry sand into thick, sticky mud. The Med-Jai hustled around gathering the horses, who immediately tried to take off the second they were untied.
Rick grabbed Evy by one hand and Alex with the other, attempting to lead the two through the torrent, having to shield his face with his shoulder from the devastating winds. He felt something whip his face and squinted up into the grimacing face of Ardeth, trying to push a bridle towards him. Rick hauled both Evy and Alex on top of the horse, and then hopped on his own. Ardeth got on his horse, then extended a hand for Mi-Aset to hop up behind him. Jonathan, who was stumbling aimlessly in the storm, was suddenly scooped up by a Med-Jai trying to both haul up Jonathan and control his spooked horse.
It was many hours before they finally outran the storm.