Rick ran over to the horse where Ardeth was gasping a bit for air.
"Will you be okay?" asked Rick.
Ardeth nodded, glancing around to see where Catlanda was. He found her nearby, taking care of her items
"Well, let's go then. We've got some work to do," Rick said.
They climbed onto the camels after helping Ardeth onto Geb and started to travel south towards Luxor. They travelled until it was almost dark and everybody appeared to be very tired. As Rick gave the camels something to eat, Jonathan and Evie sat down by Ardeth, who was sitting a few feet away from the fire and Catlanda quietly looked on.
"Ardeth, what's the connection between the jewel and Ramses II? What would happen if they got it all?" asked Evie.
"Everything Evie. They can raise Ramses II with the Book of the Dead if these men have it, which I'm assuming they have. They're probably trying to get as much of his jewel before reawakening him. They already have half of it. If they ever got the complete jewel, the whole world is in danger. The piece they probably need is the bigger one. When it was cut thousands of years ago, one was big and two were smaller, these two equaling the size of the other," Ardeth explained.
"So this last piece is more powerful than the two smaller ones separately," Evie quietly mused.
"Then we either have to find this piece first or find him, try to stop him, get what he has and then go find the third," Rick said.
"It would take a long time Rick. Not even the Medjai remember where this last piece is hidden. It could take years. Also, Ramses' temple is several miles outside of Luxor. That's why we're heading there. That's where he'll probably be resurrected," Ardeth told him.
"This jewel...how big is it?" wondered Jonathan, lifting up a hand.
"Jonathan! That's not an appropriate question to ask!" Evie sharply reprimanded.
"Come on, I had to ask. If I didn't, you'd think I was sick or something," Jonathan replied.
He climbed to his feet and headed in Rick's direction where the two talked for a minute before Rick walked over to Evie.
"Listen, I want you to stay here. Jonathan and I are going to scout around for any possible threats from those jerks. Keep an eye out for everybody for me," Rick told her quietly.
She nodded and watched them walk away.
"Now that's amazing. Jonathan left without as much as a whimper," she said to herself, shaking her head as she walked over to Catlanda.
Isis was sleeping next to her and the young woman held tightly onto the rod. Evie looked at it closely. Her memory scanned the books she ever remembered reading. She had a nagging feeling that she had seen the rod somewhere before.
"Catlanda, isn't that the...?" she started.
"No, it's not," Catlanda interrupted.
"Be nice now. She may be a stranger to you but she's helped the others and myself stop the Creature twice," Ardeth reprimanded in Arabic.
She said nothing more as Evie wondered what just occured between the two.
00000
At the temple, Laron looked through the pages of the Book of the Dead. A sarcophagus stood in front of him with several men kneeling before it. Laron spoke the incantation from the book and the sarcophagus started to shake and move. The lid was slowly moved off from and a mummy arose from the inside.
"Where am I? Where's my jewel?" he demanded, climbing out from his tomb.
"In your temple outside Luxor. We have found two pieces of your jewel but we cannot locate the third. Here is the one piece we managed to retrieve. My men are getting the other as we speak," Laron replied.
He handing the Pharaoh the one piece he had in his possession. Ramses evilly smiled as he looked at it, the light bouncing off of it.
"Now I can regain my physical form with the help from this piece. Only with the last piece, will I have my full power," Ramses smiled. "We have to find it! I need to regain my power."
"It may not be easy. Nobody knows where it is and I heard my men say they've seen the Spire," Laron told him.
The group leader ran into the room, gasping for air as he stepped up to Laron.
"Laron," he said, kneeling. "We managed to obtain the second piece though the people who previously had it are on their way here as we speak."
He handed Ramses the second piece before joining a few of his men out the door. Ramses put the two pieces together and they started to glow a bit. Ramses showed it to Laron.
"The power is strong with just half but only with the last piece I can have absolute power and I can regain my physical form. I will take over this planet for my own. I will be invincible!" he cried, lifting it into the air above his head.
"Where do we begin my Lord?" asked Laron, kneeling.
"Not where, how. We let these people come here and we use the Spire to lead us to the third piece. They will give the Spire to me once they see it my way," Ramses explained, walking away from him.
Laron widely grinned at this new information.
TBC...