CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

Docklands area, early October, afternoon


Ardeth was digging through the remains of a house near the destroyed Docklands, the last house on the street. Nothing much remained of the dwellings nearest the heavily industrial Docklands, and even less remained of the homes' contents as a result of the conflagration.

"Hey, there, friend, you've been quiet all afternoon," Rick told Ardeth as he came up behind the Medjai. "Would it help if I told you there's a hot dinner waiting at home?"

"Dinner is always appreciated," Ardeth responded, dodging what he knew Rick was trying to ask.

Picking up on Ardeth's reluctance to relay the details of his trip, Rick commented, "This street is pretty well destroyed. Imhotep at his worst didn't match the destruction wrought here. We've recovered a set of partially melted silverware and one painting that had been protected by the sofa when the painting fell behind the sofa."

"The Dark One's forces were pretty thorough," Ardeth agreed. Then he cocked his head, listening. "Do you hear that?"

"Planes? Wouldn't Nuit warn us if the planes were coming?" Rick grew instantly wary.

"It is not the whine of a bomber plane. It is the whine of a dog," Ardeth replied. He answered the faint whine with a high pitched whine of his own.

Two barks, weak, sounded to the right of where Rick was standing. Rick and Ardeth both went towards the sound of the barks. Rick whined, then Ardeth whined. More barks came from underneath a pile of wood which used to comprise the roof of a house. Rick and Ardeth started moving the rubble, accompanied by happy, though weak, barks.

Ardeth kneeled down and peered in the hole he and Rick had made in the rubble. Two bright eyes peered back at him and a pink tongue came out a dark mouth and tried to lick his face. Ardeth moved away, a smile on his face despite his sadness, and started to clear more rubble.

A scraggly, hungry-thin retriever wriggled out of the hole. Getting up on shaky feet, the dog shook its tail and put a wet nose into Ardeth's hand. "Well, who do we have here?" he asked the dog, petting the dog's matted, dirty coat.

"There we go! Life appears from the rubble," Rick commented as Alex came up beside the two men and the dog.

"Dad! Where did he come from?" Alex asked his father as he knelt down to pet the dog. "Hey there, boy! You okay? You want some food? Some water?"

Rick took note of the address the dog was found in while Alex led the dog over to the lorry the O'Connell's were using. Reaching into the front seat of the lorry, Alex pulled out some leftover meat.

"Alex? Don't give him too much at first. Just a tad, or else he'll throw it up," Rick called out to his son. The dog sniffed the meat, then accepted the meat and wolfed it down.

"Slow down there, fella! Don't want you to get sick!" Alex said, petting the dog. "Want some water?" Alex asked as he rummaged around and pulled out a bowl. He poured some water into the bowl and set the bowl down on the ground. The dog drank thirstily.

Rick and Ardeth made their way over to the lorry. "We're finished up on this street, Alex. Let's move on to the next street."

The dog barked for more water and Rick bent down to pet the dog. "Not too much at first, boy. We'll give you more later on. Want to go for a ride?" he asked the dog, who barked and jumped into the lorry.

Ardeth smiled. "He's happy to see people again. I wonder how long he's been down in the rubble. Part of the roof collapsed quite recently."

"The Docklands were destroyed on the 7th, so it's nearly a month," Alex said, reaching in and petting the dog.

"How can you tell the roof collasped recently?" Rick asked of Ardeth.

"The wood splinters were fresh and yellow. Time in the elements would have discolored the wood," Ardeth replied. The dog barked happily at the attention from Alex and rolled over against the back of the seat, asking Alex to rub its stomach.

"Can we keep him? Please?" Alex inquired, looking at the dog. "Ooops. He's a she. "We're already stabling Thunder Sky until he can be returned to his owner."

"Of course, but only until we can locate her owners."

"Can we go to the Times and place an ad?" Alex asked his father.

"Speaking of the Times, Ardeth, how did you know to place an ad in the newspaper?"

"It was not I who placed the ad. It was Martha Dunlop, from Land's End. I asked her to try and contact you here in London."

"That's why you didn't send a telegram!" Rick exclaimed.

"I had asked her to send a telegram. She must have placed the ad as well or instead of the telegram. Anyways, I am here. And I need to find Martin," Ardeth's voice sounded melancholy.

The dog whined and tried to get Ardeth's attention. He responded without thinking and petted the dog. He remained silent as he petted the dog.

"Dad, let's go check for the mail that's come through. Maybe another letter came from Jonathan."

"Excellent idea. Ardeth?"

Ardeth nodded and the three men climbed into the lorry. The dog sat on Ardeth's lap, with its nose out the window, sniffing the air as Rick carefully drove the lorry around the debris. The men were silent, looking on in horror as the lorry wended its way around the destruction the Luftwaffe had wrought with their incendiary bombs over London.

Once at the temporary post office, Rick and Alex went to inquire about their mail while Ardeth waited outside next to the lorry. The dog was taking short runs away from Ardeth, then coming back and jumping up on Ardeth's chest. He couldn't help but smile at the dog's antics.

"Friendly girl, aren't you?" he asked her, petting her (much to her delight!) "What's your name? I'll call you, what shall I call you? Khuta? Would you like that name?"

The newly renamed Khuta merely barked as Rick and Alex came out carrying heavy boxes.

"Can I help?" Ardeth asked.

"There's more inside. Most of them are for you," Alex replied.

Ardeth looked surprised.

"Here, take a look," Rick told him, showing him a box addressed to King Arthur, c/o Rick O'Connell, London. "It's from your friends in Cornwall," Rick continued and smiled at Ardeth. "You certainly were popular during your stay in Cornwall."

"Apparently so," Ardeth replied and went inside to help load the boxes. Khuta followed him, barking happily at her new-found master. Ardeth soon emerged from the postall office laden with two heavy boxes.

"Ardeth! This letter's from the Dunlops," Alex said as he began to read a letter from David and Martha Dunlop. Ardeth put the two boxes down then went to stand beside Alex as he read the letter.

_________________


Dear King Arthur,
Mummy says that I am to write and say thank you once again for telling me a bedtime story. I really enjoyed hearing Siosire and the Magician of Nubia! Mummy's been reading to me stories about Egypt.

I drew this picture of you on our stallion. Here it is! I hope you enjoy it.

Love,
David

(transcribed by his mum)

ps from Martha: The Town of Land's End is sending along the enclosed items for the Red Cross. A Canadian warship passed off the western coast. Thomas Wheaton had wired to the ship's crew and they gathered these things for those made homeless in London by the Nasty Man. Thomas and David went out on the boat to pick up the supplies.

Your obedient servants,
Martha Dunlop and David


__________________

Ardeth's eyes teared up as he looked at the surprisingly well drawn picture of himself on the back of a black stallion. In the moonlight, the stallion was rearing up and two swords were crossed in an 'X" shape on Ardeth's back.
"Quite the artist, being just four," Rick commented, looking at the drawing.

"Exceptionally well drawn. Art school is in his future," Ardeth replied, quite impressed and touched by David's letter. He put the letter and drawing into a pocket in his black robes.

"Dad!" Alex exclaimed. "Take a look at the Dunlops sent!" He had opened one of the boxes from Martha Dunlop. Inside were dozens of pairs of knitted socks, blankets, sweaters, tinned food, sweets, magazines.

"We'll take these down to the school's bomb shelter," Rick softly said, "then we'll pass them out."

"Agreed," Ardeth and Alex said together as they tried to hoist the boxes into the lorry, but Khuta kept twining herself amongst the men, wanting to be a part of the action and barking happily.

"Come on, girl. Let's go for a ride to the school bomb shelter. I bet the kids there will love to see you!" Alex told the retriever when the men finally had loaded the lorry with the boxes. Khuta obeyed, and jumped into the lorry when she settled down on Ardeth's lap.


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After dinner that same day...a pot of water is on the stove...


"So, can we see the Bracelet?" Evie asked Ardeth, who was sitting in the chair closest to the fire in the kitchen's fireplace. Khuta was curled up at Ardeth's feet and except for greeting the children at the school's bomb shelter, she had scarcely left Ardeth's side since she had been rescued. The remaining villagers were asleep in the O'Connell's basement.

All of the village's young men and women had left to sign on with the Red Cross, the village children were evacuated to Ireland and the villagers remaining were staunchly determined to show Hitler London would not fall.

Although blackout restrictions were in heavy effect for London (and the rest of England), and the windows of the Carnahan O'Connell estate were covered with two layers of thick blackout curtains, the kitchen was in a central part of the ancient home, and the light from the fire was not visible from the outside.

The O'Connell's had decided to risk building a fire during blackout mainly as a result of the central kitchen fireplace having served in times past as the central heating unit for most of the house. Rick had reasoned that building a fire would cut down on the cost of heating the rather large house.

And with the smoke from the destroyed areas of London still rising day and night, Rick had thought the smoke from the kitchen fire shouldn't raise the sights of a Messerschmidt.

"Yeah, Ardeth, can we see the Bracelet? You were so haggard looking last night when you arrived that we didn't want to ask more of you than was necessary," Alex inquired of Ardeth, who nodded and pulled out from beneath his black robes a leather pouch.

"Your arrival was rather quiet," Rick observed, watching Ardeth intently.

"Nuit came to me last night and told me she sent her apologies for not giving me a welcome upon my arrival in London, but she and the rest of the Gods were trying to prevent her wayward son from learning of my arrival in London. Any more action on her part would have served to inform Seth of my arrival. It seems that Seth's Chosen One is bent on destroying more than just London," Ardeth said as he opened the pouch and pulled out the Bracelet.

"Wow! That is some workmanship!" Rick and Alex breathed as his wife asked, "What do you mean, destroying more than just London?"

Ardeth glanced at Evie as he held the Bracelet of Lostris up. The thick bands of electrum gleamed in the firelight and the emeralds glinted as if lit from within with a supernatural power.

"Ardeth! Tell me what you meant!" Evie demanded. Her eyes wide, her mouth open, she was reaching out for the Bracelet. Glimmers of golden light shot forth from the Bracelet and enveloped Ardeth. Evie waited for something else to happen, but the light seemed content to swirl around Ardeth. He seemed to relax when the golden threads swirled around him.

"You are a Daughter of Egypt and you, Rick," Ardeth indicated with a nod of his head, "have made a friend of my people. I will tell you that Hitler plans on destroying the Egyptian Gods and the Afterlife by destroying all tombs, stele, temples and artifacts. This much the Gods informed me."

Evie gasped, putting her hand to her mouth. Alex wanted to know, "Can Hitler do that? Destroy the Egyptian afterlife?" he asked of his parents, and of Ardeth.

Ardeth nodded. "If he's given enough power, he can destroy anything."

"Is that why you were so reluctant to tell us about your journey here?" Evie asked, hearing the teapot begin to whistle. She got up from her seat to attend to another pot of tea as Alex muttered, "We drink a lot of tea nowadays."

"I heard that, Alex!" his mother said as she took the whistling teapot, perhaps the only object in the O'Connell household that appeared unaffected by the destruction of London, off the stove. Dumping some loose tea into the pot, she carried the pot to the table next to the chairs by the fire.

"No. No, that is not the reason why I was reluctant to tell you about my journey," Ardeth replied as the firelight glinted off the large emeralds in the Bracelet--the Eyes of Lostris. He was wanting to sidestep Evie's question.

"You said that Taita fashioned the Bracelet. Did it prevent you from drowning?" Evie asked, taking a tea strainer and straining the tea out before starting to pour it. "I've been having nightmares about you drowning at Seth's hand."

"Yes. Taita, Lostris and Imhotep helped me and Martin to survive the two times Seth tried to drown us," Ardeth replied, opening the leather pouch again to put the Bracelet back in. "The first time was in a wadi in Libya and the next time, although I choose to believe it to be a freak wave, was when we were crossing the English Channel towards Portsmouth."

"Imhotep!" Alex exclaimed. "But he's in the Underworld! We saw him dive into the Underworld after Ancksunamum betrayed him!"

Ardeth held up his hand. "With so much going on, your history isn't up to par, Alex. I am referring to the Great Imhotep, Architect of the Step Pyramid."

Alex looked skeptical and he looked at his mother. "It's true, Alex. Imhotep built the Step Pyramid and is the first named physician. There's still an underground cult which worships Imhotep."

"Twice? Seth tried to drown you twice? He didn't try to drown you on your trip across the Med?" Rick asked Ardeth.

"Strangely, no, he did not try any tricks while Martin and I were crossing the Med on the Eye of Horus."

"Apty named," Evie noted. "Horus and Seth had battled for ages over the Throne of Osiris with Horus finally winning. Where did she hail from?"

"A supply ship with a home port of Alexandria, with a stop at Tripoli and then onto the port of Nice," Ardeth replied.

"Can I have a closer look at the Bracelet?" Evie asked and Ardeth nodded. Evie held out her hand and Ardeth slipped the Bracelet onto her slender wrist. The golden tendrils of light were momentarily confused and turned all sorts of colors as the tendrils tried to figure out to where Ardeth had disappeared.

"They are confused," Ardeth noted and not knowing why, he held out his hand towards the Bracelet. The multi-colored tendrils of light, sensing his pulse, quickly enveloped Ardeth again, and once again turned golden as they settled down, protecting Ardeth.

"They seem to like you," Rick observed drily.

"The Bracelet confers an invisibility spell when it becomes necessary," Ardeth commented, further explaining how the Bracelet worked.

"Invisibility?" Alex asked, surprised. "Think of what you could do if you were invisible! You could go inside the SS headquarters, and kidnap Hitler!" he finished emphatically.

"Alex, I don't think the Bracelet would allow one to do that," his mother told him as she finished pouring the tea for everyone.

"Now hold on, Evie. Ardeth?" Rick said, quite interested in hearing Ardeth's answer. If only Hitler could have be killed in action early on in the war!

"The Bracelet confers invisibility when the enemy is near and needs no incantation to activate the spell," he replied. "That is how Martin and I traveled across France without the SS knowing we were passing right by them. Many times we passed less than a dozen yards from an encampment and the guards neither heard us nor saw us."

"Then it would be possible to use the Bracelet to get to Hitler," Alex said a bit forcefully, picking up his tea mug and taking a sip, proud of himself.

"It probably would be possible to use it for that purpose," Ardeth agreed, taking up his cup and copied Alex by taking a sip. "But the forces of the Dark One are strong around Hitler and I do not know the strength of the spell that Taita used. One must be careful of Egyptian spells."

"Don't we know that!" Rick noted as he too copied the other men and sipped his tea, then made a bit of a face. "Honey? I do have to agree with Alex that we're up to our ears in tea. Is there any coffee? I am American you know."

"We will start rationing the tea next week in case the war goes on for years, although Tallulah stored enough tea to supply the army. But no coffee," Evie replied crisply, then said, "I agree with Ardeth. Egyptian spells can backfire. Look what happened when I read the protective spell on the sarcophagus sheltering Imhotep's remains. Plagues, khamsin winds and other nasties came out of that spell."

"It would be nice if we could use the Bracelet of Lostris to kidnap Hitler and bring him to justice early on," said Alex, who took a larger sip of his hot tea.

"I would have to agree with that statement, Alex. But there is one more spell that needs to be read, and read by Martin," Rick said, and Ardeth nodded.

"I do not know what that spell is. Perhaps it is one from the Book of Thoth," Ardeth replied, taking a sip of his tea.

"What's the Book of Thoth?" Alex asked, leaning forward in his chair. Egyptian magic highly interested him.

Ardeth glanced sharply at Alex. "It is a very powerful book of ancient magic. The Greeks re-wrote the Book and called it the Hermetica. The forty two papryus scrolls are said to contain a very powerful magical spell which confers power over every living thing, including the Gods themselves."

"And you suspect that particular spell is needed?" Evie asked Ardeth, the Bracelet still gleaming on her slender wrist.

In reply, Ardeth nodded.

"What else does the Book contain?" Alex inquired of Ardeth.

"The accumulated ancient knowledge of Egypt," he told the youngster. "But the original scrolls were lost in antiquity and no copy has ever been found, although the Hermetica survives, as do numerous references to the Book in other scrolls."

"Do we have a copy of the Hermetica?" Alex asked his mother, who shook her head.

"Can we get a copy?" Rick asked.

"Perhaps we could check the Antiquities Museum," Evie noted, sitting back in the leather chair and finally taking a sip of her own tea.

"The last time we were at the Museum we had lots of nasty demons chasing us before chasing us through London," Rick reminded his wife. "I'm not that keen on going there again."

"At least we need to check, dad. I can go tomorrow," Alex said.

"No!" the three adults said in unison. Alex looked suprised.

"I will go," Ardeth told the O'Connells.

"Why can't I go?" Alex wanted to know.

"The Book of Thoth is very powerful, even if the book has been re-written by the Greeks. Just reciting the spells could cause catastrophe and I know you can read ancient Greek," Ardeth told a miffed Alex, who responded by taking a sip of his tea.

Alex swallowed his tea, then muttered, "That's what I get for learning ancient languages."

"He's right, Alex. Remember what I did to loose the High Priest Imhotep on Egypt when I read the spell on Imhotep's sarcophagus," Evie said, well remembering the day when she unwittingly loosed Imhotep and his formidable powers.

At night, she sometimes woke up with a dry cough in conjunction with a nightmare about being blown halfway across the Egyptian Sahara in a windstorm Imhotep had created. Then she continued, "Well, that settles it. Ardeth will go to the antiquities museum tomorrow and see about the Hermetica. I'm not sure if there's anything we can do about locating Martin. Are you sure he's still alive?"

"Yes. The Bracelet thrums. You can not feel it?" Ardeth asked of Evie, who was still wearing the Bracelet.

"It only feels a little warm," she replied, and, without knowing why, she flung her arms out. The Bracelet slipped off Evie's slender wrist and flew through the air towards the opposite wall, the firelight gleaming on the emeralds.

"Noooooo!" Rick said as he dropped his tea cup and ran after the Bracelet, trying to catch it before the Bracelet fell to the kitchen's stone floor.

He missed, and the Bracelet bounced off the wall and fell to the floor and bounced three times before breaking into three parts. The Bracelet lay on the stone floor, gleaming in the firelight.

"Honey!" Rick said as he, Evie and Alex looked horrified, their faces pale in the firelight. The tendrils of golden light flared brighter momentarily and a faint male voice came from the golden light: "Hail! Do you need..." before fading out.

Ardeth, however, was undisturbed by the Bracelet's seemingly horrid fate. Still surrounded by threads of golden light, Ardeth rose from his chair to inspect the Bracelet. "It looks like Taita had fashioned the Bracelet to be broken into three parts," Ardeth explained, showing Evie how the parts of the electrum and emerald studded bracelet fit together.

"It looks like nothing's happened!" Evie gasped, relief showing on her face. Rick came over to inspect the Bracelet, taking it apart and fitting it together again.

"I think he is right. Taita fashioned the Bracelet to be broken into three parts. He's clever, that Taita, obviously a puzzle lover. But why?" Rick asked of the group.

"We shall have to ask Martin when he arrives if the Bracelet has lost some of its power," Alex said wanly.

"Do not underestimate the power of three," Ardeth told the young man. "The golden light still surrounds me."

The foursome sat down in their chairs, then grew quiet, the argument won in Ardeth's favor. Each was lost in their own thoughts until Ardeth began to speak in a soft voice.



"They were a family on their way home, to Oxford: a mother, son and daughter getting a heads up on their journey home as soon the day grew bright enough to see the roadway clearly.

"It was two days ago. The night had been cold, and ice had formed on the roadway and the bridges across the Thames by the early morning. Thunder Sky had needed rest, so I stopped to rest him and had dozed off for some hours.

I had woken with the dawn--the Gods had given me a soft dream and I had found I had slept a few hours. I was riding hard towards London when I heard the mother's scream and pushed Thunder Sky to his limits. When I came over the crest of the hill and looked down, I saw the mother treading the waters of the Thames, screaming frantically, "Help my children!"

I rode down the hill and took a flying leap off Thunder Sky, for the auto was submerged in the water and if they were still alive, the children didn't have much time. I dove down into the freezing water and tried to get the children out."



Ardeth grew quiet for a moment, his eyes distant, then he continued his narrative.



"I got a hold of the younger child first, Hildred, pulled her out and swam to the surface where I handed her to her mother. I went back for Ewan, did the same, then swam to the Thames' banks with the child.

But Hildred and Ewan were limp, very cold and their lips were blue."



His throat closing up, Ardeth reached for the cup of tea and took a sip. Swishing the hot liquid around his mouth, he tried to wash out the taste of fear from his memory. Nothing in his training, nothing in his upbringing, nothing that the mind of Imhotep could dredge up to scare him, nothing could compare with the memory he was reliving.

The O'Connells listened in silence. When Ardeth felt ready, he continued.



"We were trying to resuscitate the children for an hour. It was then I realized the meaning of their limp limbs and blue lips when they were trapped under the waters of the Thames: the children were already dead. The water was too cold for their hearts to withstand and their hearts had stopped before I had dived into the water.

I sat with Iolanthe for some time and she told me about Hildred and Ewan until a government lorry drove by carrying uniforms for new recruits. The soldiers wrapped the childrens' bodies in blankets and carried them and their mother to the hospital--their mother for medical treatment and the children went to the morgue."



Ardeth grew quiet and stared in the distance for a long time. Evie quietly got up and put her hand on his shoulder. Ardeth didn't acknowledge her but continued to stare into the distance. Evie nodded at Alex and silently asked him to refill Ardeth's tea mug.

Alex knelt in front of Ardeth and held the mug until Ardeth was ready to accept it.