Chapter Nineteen
The warriors of Anubis all turned toward their leader; they growled and bowed their heads in respect. Anubis shouted commands in Ancient Egyptian to his warriors.
Evelyn quickly translated for those that couldn't understand the jackal-man. "Go my warriors! Kill all foolish humans and conquer all! Kill!" Evelyn translated.
Anubis, however, spoke something else in Ancient Egyptian to the mirror images. "Bring the brown-haired one to me. Do not kill her but kill all others! Kill!" Evelyn translated.
Jennifer slightly gasped, hoping no one noticed. Without thinking twice, Jennifer knew that Anubis was talking about her.
As the warriors of Anubis readied themselves for battle, Ardeth-Bay began shouting commands to the Medji as well. The Medji all drew their swords and readied their horses.
The O'Connells began to wonder what they could do to help the Medji battle against the warriors of Anubis. Ardeth-Bay gave Rick one of his swords; Rick commanded his wife, son and daughter-in-law to stay back.
Jennifer began to protest. "It's me Anubis wants, he said so himself. I should be able to help, at least." Jennifer protested.
"No." Rick said simply.
Anubis shouted a command to his warriors; Evelyn didn't need to translate what the jackal said, it was all too clear. The jackals began charging; they charged past their leader and toward the Medji warriors.
Ardeth-Bay also gave the command to charge. Some of the Medji charged on horses, some on foot but the clash of the warriors was coming all too soon. Evelyn, Alex and Jennifer went to the lee of the charging warriors; Evelyn quickly lost sight of her husband in the mass of others. Jennifer, Evelyn and Alex crouched on the grounds, their knees resting in the sand; Alex held tightly to his mother.
Sword met sword, warrior met warrior as the Hell-beasts met the humans. The clash of metal echoed across the desert and rung in the three that were left out of the fight to the death. The humans seemed to be no much to the jackals; one of the demon creatures sliced a Medji in half with his double-bladed axe. Another beast impaled a Medji with his scythe. The Medji warriors were hitting the sand, dead from wounds that never should be inflicted upon a living person; for every ten Medji that fell, one Anubis warrior disappeared in a cloud of sand, victim to a sly Medji warrior. That is, one fell for every ten if the Medji were lucky.
Jennifer had quickly had enough of the blood-battle that was taking place in front of them. Alex had buried his face in his mother's side; he was a tough kid but there was only some much a sane person could take.
Jennifer turned her eyes away from battle to attempt to find Anubis and Sahure. Anubis and Sahure -still clutching her shoulder- were sneaking off to one side of the ravine, away from the battle. Jennifer stood up, bent on following Anubis and stopping the battle. "Where are you going?" Evelyn asked, her voice tinged with fear.
"To stop Anubis once and for all." Jennifer answered, no doubt in her voice.
"Are you crazy? You can't even defend yourself." Evelyn said but the protests were useless since Jennifer was already heading toward the ravine.
Jennifer stopped and turned around; Evelyn thought that maybe Jennifer had changed her mind but instead she spoke to Alex. "Alex, I you to stay here, okay, no matter what happens." Jennifer began, the look in her eye -Evelyn thought- suggested that she knew (or thought) she might not return. "I need you to watch Horus, okay so he doesn't get hurt. All right." Jennifer handed Horus over to Alex.
Alex looked up at Jennifer and nodded. "Be careful Jenny." He said.
Jennifer blinked; no one had called her Jenny since she was six or seven when she had made it public that she hated that nickname. Now, however, hearing Alex call her 'Jenny' made her like the nickname.
Jennifer forced a brave smile. "Don't worry about me." She said and with that, turned around and continued toward the ravine.
Evelyn watched her sister stop by the lifeless, near decapitated corpse of one of the Medji. She pulled the sword from his life-less hands and backed away from the man. Clutching the sword, Jennifer disappeared behind the ravine; about to enter her own life or death battle with Anubis.
Watching her sister disappear made Evelyn very uneasy. She couldn't just leave her sister alone; she turned her son. "I want you to do what Jennifer said and stay here no matter what." Evelyn began, already making up her mind to help her sister.
Alex's eyes grew wide with fear. "Where are you going?" Cried the boy, clutching onto his mother's hand.
"To help Jennifer. I want you to stay here with Horus and don't move." Evelyn commanded.
The sternness in his mother's voice made Alex agree. The young boy nodded; Evelyn smiled and then turned to follow Jennifer. Taking Jennifer's example, Evelyn made herself take a sword from one of the dead warriors.
Alex watched his mother disappear behind the ravine just like Jennifer. Alex began stroking Horus, his hand was shaking.
Anubis and Sahure had disappeared from battle; to Anubis, the battle could go either way. Not that his warriors would lose but it could go either way and just in case his warriors did lose then he didn't want to be around when that happened. The two were now in on a bank that dropped over 100 feet below into the Blue Nile; from where he stood, Anubis could see the crystal clear, deep water.
The sun shimmered on the water but the longer Anubis looked at the sun's reflection, the more it seemed to disappear. Anubis looked up toward the "real" sun and saw that clouds were rolling in from somewhere past Cairo. It really rained in the desert but when it did, it rained for a long period with really heavy rains. Anubis looked away from the clouds -which were gradually covering the sun- and back down at the water.
Jennifer was having trouble finding Anubis and Sahure; she was sure they hadn't gotten too far a head of her. If they had, there was really nowhere to. Jennifer sighed and stopped to think of what she was going to do next. She couldn't very well leave and let Anubis escape, he had to be stopped. Jennifer tightly clutched the sword in her hand until her knuckles were white and continued on.
The sound of voices reached the girl's ear as she began to go walk up a semi-steep of some sort. Those voices were unmistakable: the gruff, growl of Anubis and the normal, yet evil, human voice of Sahure. Jennifer stopped and listened to what they were saying; the two were very an argument. Jennifer couldn't make out the words clearly enough to understand what they were arguing about.
Behind her, Jennifer was slightly aware of the sound of footsteps in the soft sound. The sound was soft and barely there but Jennifer could hear it when she listened hard enough. Jennifer pressed herself as close to the sandy, stonewall as she could. If the footsteps belonged to one of the Anubis warriors, Jennifer would surprise it and kill it before it ever knew what had happened. The footsteps came closer.
As her follower entered her view, Jennifer swung the sword at her follower and stopped the blade a few centimeters away from her follower's thought. Jennifer blinked when she saw who her follower really was, it was Evelyn. Jennifer quickly drew the blade away from her sister's throat and muttered apologizes.
"Sorry that I snuck up on you like that. I didn't want you to have to fight Anubis alone." Evelyn said, showing sisterly concern.
"Where's Alex?" Jennifer asked, hiding her happiness that her sister had joined her.
Evelyn motioned with her head, a slight look of concern appeared on her face when she told Jennifer that she had left him.
"He'll be alright." Jennifer said, knowing that her nephew was brave and would stay there until they returned.
Together, the sisters continued toward the voices of Anubis and Sahure. Jennifer's grip tightened around her sword as they neared closer; the girl heard labored breathing and it took her awhile to realize that it was her own scared breathing she was hearing.
Jennifer and Evelyn neared the end of the stone-wall type thing and were only a few feet away from a large clearing that was really a dirt bank that hung over the Blue Nile. It didn't taking looking to tell Jennifer that a fall from the bank would not be a good thing.
Peering from behind the safety of the wall, Jennifer and Evelyn could see Anubis and Sahure. Anubis was studying the clouds that now fully covered the sun and Sahure was tending to her shoulder wound. Not that she was doing any good to it because she didn't have anything to dress the wound with.
The sisters were unaware of the best way to attack their ex-captors. Jennifer and Evelyn pressed themselves against the wall so they wouldn't be seen while they thinking about getting what could best be called revenge on their former captors.
The warriors of Anubis all turned toward their leader; they growled and bowed their heads in respect. Anubis shouted commands in Ancient Egyptian to his warriors.
Evelyn quickly translated for those that couldn't understand the jackal-man. "Go my warriors! Kill all foolish humans and conquer all! Kill!" Evelyn translated.
Anubis, however, spoke something else in Ancient Egyptian to the mirror images. "Bring the brown-haired one to me. Do not kill her but kill all others! Kill!" Evelyn translated.
Jennifer slightly gasped, hoping no one noticed. Without thinking twice, Jennifer knew that Anubis was talking about her.
As the warriors of Anubis readied themselves for battle, Ardeth-Bay began shouting commands to the Medji as well. The Medji all drew their swords and readied their horses.
The O'Connells began to wonder what they could do to help the Medji battle against the warriors of Anubis. Ardeth-Bay gave Rick one of his swords; Rick commanded his wife, son and daughter-in-law to stay back.
Jennifer began to protest. "It's me Anubis wants, he said so himself. I should be able to help, at least." Jennifer protested.
"No." Rick said simply.
Anubis shouted a command to his warriors; Evelyn didn't need to translate what the jackal said, it was all too clear. The jackals began charging; they charged past their leader and toward the Medji warriors.
Ardeth-Bay also gave the command to charge. Some of the Medji charged on horses, some on foot but the clash of the warriors was coming all too soon. Evelyn, Alex and Jennifer went to the lee of the charging warriors; Evelyn quickly lost sight of her husband in the mass of others. Jennifer, Evelyn and Alex crouched on the grounds, their knees resting in the sand; Alex held tightly to his mother.
Sword met sword, warrior met warrior as the Hell-beasts met the humans. The clash of metal echoed across the desert and rung in the three that were left out of the fight to the death. The humans seemed to be no much to the jackals; one of the demon creatures sliced a Medji in half with his double-bladed axe. Another beast impaled a Medji with his scythe. The Medji warriors were hitting the sand, dead from wounds that never should be inflicted upon a living person; for every ten Medji that fell, one Anubis warrior disappeared in a cloud of sand, victim to a sly Medji warrior. That is, one fell for every ten if the Medji were lucky.
Jennifer had quickly had enough of the blood-battle that was taking place in front of them. Alex had buried his face in his mother's side; he was a tough kid but there was only some much a sane person could take.
Jennifer turned her eyes away from battle to attempt to find Anubis and Sahure. Anubis and Sahure -still clutching her shoulder- were sneaking off to one side of the ravine, away from the battle. Jennifer stood up, bent on following Anubis and stopping the battle. "Where are you going?" Evelyn asked, her voice tinged with fear.
"To stop Anubis once and for all." Jennifer answered, no doubt in her voice.
"Are you crazy? You can't even defend yourself." Evelyn said but the protests were useless since Jennifer was already heading toward the ravine.
Jennifer stopped and turned around; Evelyn thought that maybe Jennifer had changed her mind but instead she spoke to Alex. "Alex, I you to stay here, okay, no matter what happens." Jennifer began, the look in her eye -Evelyn thought- suggested that she knew (or thought) she might not return. "I need you to watch Horus, okay so he doesn't get hurt. All right." Jennifer handed Horus over to Alex.
Alex looked up at Jennifer and nodded. "Be careful Jenny." He said.
Jennifer blinked; no one had called her Jenny since she was six or seven when she had made it public that she hated that nickname. Now, however, hearing Alex call her 'Jenny' made her like the nickname.
Jennifer forced a brave smile. "Don't worry about me." She said and with that, turned around and continued toward the ravine.
Evelyn watched her sister stop by the lifeless, near decapitated corpse of one of the Medji. She pulled the sword from his life-less hands and backed away from the man. Clutching the sword, Jennifer disappeared behind the ravine; about to enter her own life or death battle with Anubis.
Watching her sister disappear made Evelyn very uneasy. She couldn't just leave her sister alone; she turned her son. "I want you to do what Jennifer said and stay here no matter what." Evelyn began, already making up her mind to help her sister.
Alex's eyes grew wide with fear. "Where are you going?" Cried the boy, clutching onto his mother's hand.
"To help Jennifer. I want you to stay here with Horus and don't move." Evelyn commanded.
The sternness in his mother's voice made Alex agree. The young boy nodded; Evelyn smiled and then turned to follow Jennifer. Taking Jennifer's example, Evelyn made herself take a sword from one of the dead warriors.
Alex watched his mother disappear behind the ravine just like Jennifer. Alex began stroking Horus, his hand was shaking.
Anubis and Sahure had disappeared from battle; to Anubis, the battle could go either way. Not that his warriors would lose but it could go either way and just in case his warriors did lose then he didn't want to be around when that happened. The two were now in on a bank that dropped over 100 feet below into the Blue Nile; from where he stood, Anubis could see the crystal clear, deep water.
The sun shimmered on the water but the longer Anubis looked at the sun's reflection, the more it seemed to disappear. Anubis looked up toward the "real" sun and saw that clouds were rolling in from somewhere past Cairo. It really rained in the desert but when it did, it rained for a long period with really heavy rains. Anubis looked away from the clouds -which were gradually covering the sun- and back down at the water.
Jennifer was having trouble finding Anubis and Sahure; she was sure they hadn't gotten too far a head of her. If they had, there was really nowhere to. Jennifer sighed and stopped to think of what she was going to do next. She couldn't very well leave and let Anubis escape, he had to be stopped. Jennifer tightly clutched the sword in her hand until her knuckles were white and continued on.
The sound of voices reached the girl's ear as she began to go walk up a semi-steep of some sort. Those voices were unmistakable: the gruff, growl of Anubis and the normal, yet evil, human voice of Sahure. Jennifer stopped and listened to what they were saying; the two were very an argument. Jennifer couldn't make out the words clearly enough to understand what they were arguing about.
Behind her, Jennifer was slightly aware of the sound of footsteps in the soft sound. The sound was soft and barely there but Jennifer could hear it when she listened hard enough. Jennifer pressed herself as close to the sandy, stonewall as she could. If the footsteps belonged to one of the Anubis warriors, Jennifer would surprise it and kill it before it ever knew what had happened. The footsteps came closer.
As her follower entered her view, Jennifer swung the sword at her follower and stopped the blade a few centimeters away from her follower's thought. Jennifer blinked when she saw who her follower really was, it was Evelyn. Jennifer quickly drew the blade away from her sister's throat and muttered apologizes.
"Sorry that I snuck up on you like that. I didn't want you to have to fight Anubis alone." Evelyn said, showing sisterly concern.
"Where's Alex?" Jennifer asked, hiding her happiness that her sister had joined her.
Evelyn motioned with her head, a slight look of concern appeared on her face when she told Jennifer that she had left him.
"He'll be alright." Jennifer said, knowing that her nephew was brave and would stay there until they returned.
Together, the sisters continued toward the voices of Anubis and Sahure. Jennifer's grip tightened around her sword as they neared closer; the girl heard labored breathing and it took her awhile to realize that it was her own scared breathing she was hearing.
Jennifer and Evelyn neared the end of the stone-wall type thing and were only a few feet away from a large clearing that was really a dirt bank that hung over the Blue Nile. It didn't taking looking to tell Jennifer that a fall from the bank would not be a good thing.
Peering from behind the safety of the wall, Jennifer and Evelyn could see Anubis and Sahure. Anubis was studying the clouds that now fully covered the sun and Sahure was tending to her shoulder wound. Not that she was doing any good to it because she didn't have anything to dress the wound with.
The sisters were unaware of the best way to attack their ex-captors. Jennifer and Evelyn pressed themselves against the wall so they wouldn't be seen while they thinking about getting what could best be called revenge on their former captors.