CHAPTER TEN

Ardeth stayed hidden behind the ruins, watching as the small group of men disappeared into the water, leaving only two men remaining to guard the lake and two more to search for Tilly and the others, presided over by the hated figure of Ankhef-Sem. There were too many for him to handle alone, and he was too far from Jonathan to alert him. He weighed up his options, realising with a grimace that they were very few at this time. He had no choice but to pick his way back to where the others were hidden so that Jonathan could help him fight these men. He only hoped he wasn't spotted.

Accustomed to moving swiftly and covertly, he got the short distance to the fallen chamber in record time, not once having been spotted flitting amongst the ruins by the unobservant guards. He crawled inside the tiny space, making the others gasp and crowd backwards as far as they could.

"What's going on?" Jonathan asked him, when the dark man had caught his breath.

"The Ka-akhet are here, and so is Imhotep. O'Connell has gone into the temple to get to Evy before the creature can, but I do not know if he has been successful." He looked through the murkiness at Tilly, noting the fear written on her shadowed face. "There are four cult members out there and their leader, too many for me to take on my own. I will need your help, Jonathan. Do you think you will be able to take two of them?"

"With this I can, never fear!" he said, holding up a rifle and expertly cocking it. "What about these two?"

Ardeth turned to Tilly and Jackson. "I will have to leave you here, for now, but as soon as we have disposed of these men we will return."

Tilly moved forward and caught his arm. "Please be careful. Don't...don't get yourself hurt, will you?"

He smiled tightly at her concern. "I will do my very best, do not worry. We shall return shortly!"

And with that the two men looked out of the chamber and then darted away, leaving Tilly and Jackson in the smothering heat and darkness. She jumped when she felt the touch on her arm and turned to the shadowy outline of the professor.

"Are you scared, Matilda?" he asked, his voice strange.

"Yeah, a bit. Are you okay? You sound...weird," she said, shivering as his hand tightened. Her mind went into overdrive as his hand squeezed hard and she bit back a cry of pain and panic as she realised what was happening to him.

"Professor Millbrook...please," she gasped, trying to disentangle her arm from his painful grip. "Please let go, you're hurting me. Professor?"

"It is time," he said, his voice grating. With a jerk he pulled her half out of the chamber before she could even begin to think and he bellowed for the guards, his voice not remotely resembling its normal sound.

"No!" Tilly gasped, pulling frantically at him, trying to get away before the guards got to them. She looked around for a weapon, anything she could use to free herself and her eyes fell on the rocks spread liberally around them. She grabbed up a good sized one and hit him hard over the head with it. It made no impact, none at all, except to make him turn his face toward her. Even though she had distinctly heard a crack and could see blood in his hair, the blow did not seem to be affecting him, or perhaps it was not affecting the being within him, she thought. She suddenly got a good look at those dead eyes again and could feel uncontrollable hysteria rising in her. This was it, she thought, this was the end, unless she could do something about it.

She lifted the rock and hit him again, as hard as she could and he staggered, his hold loosening a fraction. She took the opportunity and wrenched her arm away from him, hurting the now tender flesh of her upper arm. Her eyes shot up and judged the distance between her and the fast approaching guards, trying to see Ardeth and Jonathan through the ruins. There was no time to try and locate them, not with the men in blue robes closing in on her so quickly and she had no doubt that the professor...or whatever he now was...would soon recover. She took off as fast as her legs would carry her, running not toward the river but toward the desert, thinking that heat and thirst would be the least of her worries if she didn't get away from these men. But as fast as she could run, she was no match for the large, fit men behind her and within minutes they had caught her and tackled her to the ground. She coughed as sand flew up into her nose and mouth from the impact and tried to squirm away from the man holding her. He had his weight squarely over her legs up to her thighs and his arms were gripped around her hips, pinning her face down into the sand. She threw her head back and shouted in frustration and anger, the sound more of a yell than the expected shrill piercing scream.

As if she weighed nothing at all, she was lifted and thrown over a large shoulder and carried effortlessly back toward the lake. She struggled wildly, kicking and hitting the man anywhere she could reach, shouting insults at him that he didn't seem to understand. She was so scared that she thought she might faint, and she used her fear to try and hurt the man holding her. He grunted a couple of times when a particularly well placed kick connected, but it didn't even slow him down.

As they turned the corner of the large ruins she looked around and saw Ardeth and Jonathan being held by two extremely large guards, ones she hadn't seen when she had been running away. In fact, she noticed several other men in blue robes standing in the background who hadn't been there before either.

When they drew level with the others she was dumped unceremoniously onto the ground at their feet, the breath knocked out of her. She lifted her watering eyes to the only two men in the crowd who meant anything to her and was alarmed to see blood trickling down Ardeth's temple. She stood up and went to move towards him when she was pulled around to face a hideously disfigured man, a look of utter horror distorting her face before she could hide it. The man was dressed in blue like the others, but he had intricate patterning on his robes. His face was smothered in lumps, swellings that were red and angry looking, and she was surprised to see that underneath the repulsive skin he had similar marks to the ones Ardeth bore. Even his hands were covered in them and she felt herself recoiling from his touch.

"Do not worry," he said slowly, smiling down at her mockingly. "This is not contagious, nor will it last very long. But I believe this is not a concern you should have right now. There are other, more pressing, matters that you should be thinking about, are there not?"

Before she could answer him the professor moved up next to her and tilted her chin up to his dull, black gaze and she felt another guard come up behind her and grab her arms.

"Prepare her for the ceremony. We have wasted enough time. Her ability to defy us will soon be gone!" he said roughly and bent to kiss her, pressing hard against her lips as she struggled to move away from him, her eyes wide with revulsion and shock. She could hear Ardeth and Jonathan trying to free themselves behind her and a sharp groan as one of them was subdued roughly. She shuddered as the parody of a kiss went on and suddenly grasped the tiny bit of courage she still possessed and bit down on the professors lip, drawing blood.

He pulled away from her and slapped her hard across the face, knocking her head sideways and back against the chest of the guard who had come up to hold her arms.

"You have courage," he murmured, wiping the blood from his mouth and moving his dead eyes to stare at her. "A pity that it will not help you, or your friends." His eyes narrowed and he smiled evilly at her, reaching out to stroke a hand down the side of her face. "I think I may let you watch one of them die before the priests take away your consciousness, and I think also I shall let you choose which one it is to be. Ankhef-Sem, you will come with me," he said as he turned to the man in the ornate robes, receiving a respectful bow in reply. He motioned for the guards to follow him and walked down into the lake and disappeared beneath the surface, Ankhef-Sem following closely behind. Tilly watched as Jonathan and Ardeth were dragged away, Jonathan hanging limply from the guards hands and she realised it must have been him who she had heard being hit. The man holding her wrenched her arms behind her back as he forced her to enter the water and she groaned in pain, watching as Ardeth's face darkened with rage. She looked at him and shook her head, telling him silently not to try and escape, not to get himself or anyone else killed in a foolish attempt. It was all she had time to do before she was dragged under the water and pulled down the tunnel behind the guard. A few seconds later she found herself being pulled out the other side and picked up, the guard now carrying her as if her struggles were becoming tiresome.

Her panicked eyes looked around as she was taken into the chamber for any sign of Rick and Evy, but they were nowhere to be seen and she breathed a sigh of relief. At least they hadn't been caught. Yet, she added mentally.

She saw Ardeth and Jonathan being dragged in behind her and her eyes swung around to find the professor. He was standing in front of the huge statue, staring up at it with narrowed eyes and a strange smile playing around his lips, a tall, bald headed man standing next to him impassively. She recognised the man from somewhere, but she couldn't grasp where it was from. As one they turned to her as the guard dropped her in front of them, and she found her legs shaking uncontrollably. The bald man smiled at the professor and spoke in a language Tilly didn't recognise. They seemed to be discussing her face and hair, a thought that was backed up when the bald man reached out and touched her fiery tresses. He gave her an almost indulgent smile and waved his hand in front of her face, chanting a few words as he did so.

When he opened his mouth and spoke again, she could understand every word and she frowned. Even though she knew what he was saying, she somehow knew that it wasn't English.

"I am Imhotep, high priest of Seti. I shall be performing the ceremony shortly. First, we must prepare you. Come with me," he held his hand out to her and she stared at it numbly.

This was Imhotep? She had expected him to look...decayed...from what Rick had told her. But this man was fairly normal looking, almost handsome, even though his eyes shone with an unholy evil as he stared at her.

Her eyes turned to the professor as his shoulders slumped and she watched in confusion as he slowly fell to the floor, clutching his head. "Oh God, my head, what happened...?" he gasped out and Tilly realised he was back to his normal self again. He looked up at the bald man in front of him and then at Tilly, his expression worried. Then he took in the rest of the chambers occupants and suddenly realised what was happening. "Oh no...Tilly are you alright?" he asked, his eyes taking in her reddened cheek from the stinging blow she had received.

"I...I think so. Is your head alright? I had to hit you, I'm sorry...oh!" she gasped as Imhotep pulled her back to face him. "Why do you ignore me when you know you will suffer for it?"

Tilly gritted her teeth and looked back up at the man in front of her. "I won't help you," she said, gathering her courage again.

He raised one eyebrow and smiled wider still. "You have no choice in this."

"You can't make me do anything...you can't hurt me, you need me alive," she said, hoping that what she said was true.

"It is true that we need you, but do not make the mistake of thinking that we cannot hurt you. All we need are your eyes, and we can avoid harming them. Now come with me," he said, his voice deeper and angrier than before.

She bit her lip and looked over at Jonathan and Ardeth. They stood there helplessly, unable to offer any advice or assistance. Her eyes turned back to Imhotep. "Let my friends go and I'll do whatever you want," she offered, her voice shaking as fear started to overtake her.

"You will do my bidding whether I let them go or not, and I choose not to. I have an old grudge to settle with them." His dark eyes turned to the two men and then he looked to the guards standing near the entrance to the cave. "Have they been found yet?"

One of the guards nodded. "Yes my lord. They were hidden in a side chamber."

Tilly's heart jumped painfully, thinking that Rick and Evy had been discovered, but when he said side chamber she realised it couldn't be them. Then what...?

"Bring them to me," Imhotep ordered. "It is time." He grabbed her wrist and pulled her with him, no longer waiting for her to come of her own accord and her eyes widened as she saw men entering the chamber holding the tablets reverently in their hands.

"No!" Ardeth shouted, his frustration at being held evident in the fierce scowl on his face.

"Quieten him," said Imhotep, not even bothering to turn and look at the outraged Med-jai warrior as he dragged Tilly to the large stone altar table.

She looked round to see one of the large guards hit him round the head with the butt of a rifle, knocking him senseless briefly. Other men filed in and started to tie up both of the men, looping the ropes through metal rings high up on the walls so they were suspended by their tightly bound wrists. Soon the temple held over a dozen men in blue robes, Ankhef-Sem and Imhotep, Ardeth, Jonathan, Tilly and Jackson Millbrook. The professor hadn't moved an inch since realising who the people surrounding him were and, having seen how Ardeth and Jonathan were treated for protesting even mildly, he decided the best course of action was to stay still and quiet. Besides, when he tried to move the pain that shot through his head almost rendered him unconscious.

He watched with slight double vision as Tilly was dragged over to the altar and pushed onto the cold stone, restrained easily by the bald man who he had heard call himself Imhotep. Tilly tried protesting and struggled, sitting up from her prone position and pushing against the hand Imhotep had placed against her neck. He looked amused for a second by her frantic movements, but soon a frown moved across his face and he tightened his hand around her neck, cutting off her air in the space of seconds. She clawed at the hand, breaking his skin, but the scratches healed up before her horrified eyes and he continued squeezing.

"I have no problem with hurting you, my lady, so perhaps you would be wise to remain passive." His eyes stared down into hers from a space of inches and he smiled again, enjoying her discomfort. Her starved lungs felt ready to explode, the lack of oxygen causing her face to darken and spots appear before her eyes. Just when she thought she would pass out, he released her and shoved her roughly back down onto the altar, where she lay gasping for breath like a fish out of water. She felt something soft and light thrown at her and she looked down to find a blue and gold garment laying across her body, one of the guards holding gold accessories in his hands.

"You will dress in these robes," Imhotep instructed her and stood back, waiting for her to comply.

"I...I won't..." she began and cringed back when he raised his hand toward her. "I won't get undressed in front of all these people!" she finished quickly, before he could strike her.

He seemed to contemplate what she had said for a second and then dragged her off the table and thrust her towards the cave. "Very well, you will dress out there, but a guard will be with you all the time."

"I don't want to be watched," she said quietly, feeling almost ridiculous for saying such a thing when, in truth, they could do whatever they wanted to her and she would be able to do nothing about it.

Imhotep reached out and took her chin in his hand, his touch almost gentle. "Many centuries ago you would have been prized for your beauty and your innocence," he said, his expression warming briefly before the icy coldness took it over again. "The guard will not observe you dressing or I will remove his eyes." He turned away from her and motioned for the guard to escort her whilst she changed, not needing to order the guard not to observe her as the large blue robed man had obviously understood what had previously been said.

She changed quickly, aware of the man standing behind her with his head slightly averted. There was no possible way to get out of this place without him seeing her and stopping her. She sighed and turned her attention back to what she was doing. The robes she had been given were at least well fitting, draping her from her neck down to the floor, the soft sheer material looped around her neck, halter style, and flowed in elegant folds down her body, pulled in at the waist with the gold chain that had been handed to her. Also on her body she had to wear golden jewellery, a large heavy band on her upper arm, a green and gold ring and a similar band to go round her head, a large green gem resting on her forehead.

The overall effect, with her hair loosened down her back, was breathtaking. She walked back into the chamber, unaware of the stunned looks she attracted from the men within, her eyes dropping to the ground near where Ardeth and Jonathan were tied and she bit back a gasp of surprise. Ardeth's swords had been taken from him and flung on the ground near his feet, probably as a taunt so that he could see them but be unable to use them to free anyone. She measured the distance from herself to the nearest guards and wondered if she could possibly get away with what she was thinking.

Ardeth and Jonathan both saw what she was contemplating and Jonathan tried to attract her attention without making too much noise, his eyes constantly darting to where Imhotep was standing in case he looked in their direction.

"Tilly, don't even think about it. Do as he tells you..." he broke off as Imhotep turned his head at the sound of his voice.

"I can't just sit back and do nothing!" she whispered harshly and bent quickly, evading the sudden onrush of her guard at her unexpected movement. Her hands fumbled for one of the scimitars and grabbed it awkwardly, bringing it up as hard as she could and swinging at the large man behind her. The razor sharp blade cut a deep straight line from below his navel up to his chest, disembowelling him with seemingly no effort at all. She almost passed out at the hideous sight of his innards spilling out of the ever widening gash, his blood staining the sand covered stone beneath him as he slid to the floor, dead before he even hit it. She swallowed hard and spun again, taking in the sight of the other guards coming toward her. Before she could lose her nerve she swung the sword again, slashing at the ropes holding Ardeth and Jonathan, the loose bonds almost hanging from the wall, and was elated to see them break cleanly, releasing the two men.

Ardeth wasted no time in picking up the other scimitar and lunging into the group of men who were now upon them. Tilly joined him with more enthusiasm than skill, swinging the scimitar wildly at the men who had surrounded her and catching two of them off guard, causing near fatal injuries to one and death for the other. She knew that it wouldn't be long before they got her and she promised herself she would cause as much damage as she could before that happened.

Evy and Rick had watched from the shadowy confines of the tunnel as Tilly and the others were dragged from the water into the cave and then unceremoniously bundled into the temple.

They saw Tilly come back out into the cave and disappear into the shadows, re-emerging a short time later dressed in a flowing outfit of some sort, gold glinting from her indicating jewellery of some kind.

"Rick, what are we going to do?" Evy whispered urgently, grasping his arm for comfort. "They've got all of them, even Ardeth!" She could feel the tension humming through her husbands large, taut body.

"I'm not sure...it won't be long before they come looking for us, of that I am sure," he shrugged.

"We can't leave them in there!" she whispered furiously, hitting his arm.

"I have no intention of leaving them in there, honey, I just have to try and work out what to do. At the moment my brain doesn't seem to be coming up with any ideas!"

"Well, we haven't got time to waste standing here doing nothing! We have to help them!" Evy continued, pulling him along as she moved toward the dimly lit cave.

"Wait, here, take this," he said, stopping her briefly and handing her a gun from his belt. "Don't take too many risks and just shoot anything that moves, okay?"

She took the heavy hand gun and put a hand on his chest. "I remember how to use it. Don't you take any risks either. Let's just try and get them out of there."

He bent and kissed her softly, pulling away almost reluctantly and leading the way down the tunnel to the cave. He poked his head out from the doorway and then jerked himself back inside.

"There aren't any guards at the temple doorway, I couldn't see clearly to tell how many were inside the temple itself, but it looked like quite a crowd and there's a commotion going on. Are you ready?"

Evy nodded and positioned herself at the opposite side from him, looking at him and waiting for the signal.

"Now!" he said and charged out of the tunnel, his shotgun coming up as they entered the temple and blasting into the chest of one of the guards, causing another one to turn his head in time to see his colleague collapse to the ground with a gaping wound in his chest. Before he had time to react he felt his own chest explode inwards with the impact of the next shotgun blast and he knew no more.

Evy had taken in the situation as soon as they had entered the temple, seeing Ardeth fighting madly against a bunch of cult members with Jonathan by his side, using a sword from one of the fallen men. She was as shocked as Rick to see Tilly valiantly trying to hold off a small group of large men, her small frame straining with the effort of swinging the heavy sword.

Tilly had managed to cut down three men in total, but the others were now familiar with her movements and she couldn't get near them, half of her apparent success had been the surprise element. Rick had taken care of two, but had missed some of them and was now forced to reload. Evy hadn't fatally wounded anyone as yet and Ardeth and Jonathan had only had minimum luck with their strikes, only one having died from Ardeth's skilled fighting. He looked around and realised that where there should only have been six or so men left, instead they seemed to be multiplying, and he knew that they couldn't possibly win against this many without help.

Things turned against them so suddenly that they had barely any chance to react as the blue robed men swarmed around them and subdued the revolt, knocking Rick and Ardeth unconscious and restraining the others.

Evy watched as Tilly slumped in the hold of one of the men, her face giving away her utter despair. No matter how brave she had been, she now knew that there was nothing they could do to prevent what was about to happen. She looked up as she was dragged over to Imhotep and noticed the professor standing next to him, smiling calmly at her. No wonder he hadn't joined in, she thought, he had been taken over again. Her eyes swung to the creature and saw the cold fury with which he regarded her. His eyes roamed over her in a dismissive manner before he turned away and told the men to tie the others up, adding a warning that the consequences would be dire if they should escape again.

Tilly watched helplessly as her new friends and family were attached to the wall like so much cattle, her last hope of rescue seemingly at an end. She put up a brief struggle as she was once again laid on the altar, her arms and legs held firmly against the cold stone by four guards. It seemed that Imhotep would take no chances with her anymore.

She shuddered as his hand grabbed her chin and forced her face round to his, bending over her as he spoke. "You cannot escape this time, my lady. Very soon you will not even want to. Now we begin," he said, pulling a long curved dagger from his waist. The blade was made of gold and the handle was intricately covered with precious stones interspersed with ancient symbols of some sort. He ordered the men to move her hands so that they were placed either side of her head, right next to two grooves that ran the length of the altar and went over the end towards the large imposing statue of Seth. The professor moved in and placed the tablets of Amun-Ra along the head of the altar, directly in front of the creature and then Ankhef-Sem came and stood next to him, his hands holding the book of the dead. To Tilly's eyes the man seemed to be recovering rapidly, his skin becoming smoother by the hour and his body quite obviously regaining some strength, judging by the way he was standing tall.

"Good," Imhotep nodded, one hand reverently touching the dark book. "This will be needed after the transference."

Tilly watched with horror as he raised the dagger and chanted from one of the tablets, Ankhef-Sem chanting along with him, their voices resonating deeply in the large chamber. The blade suddenly sliced through the air and she felt a stinging pain as it hit first one wrist and then the other, her eyes widening as she watched her blood flow freely from the deep wounds to pool into the grooves and begin to run along them. The two priests continued chanting from each tablet until they finally reached the last one and raised their hands toward the statue as they spoke the final words. By this time, Tilly felt her body weaken from the blood loss, the lines of red fluid having reached the end of the altar. She couldn't see what happened to it after that as she could no longer raise her head, but she could faintly hear it dripping down into something, almost like it was being collected.

Imhotep and Ankhef-Sem took three tablets each and placed them either side of the statue in the niches reserved for them and then returned to the table and looked down on her.

"Do not fear, my lady, you are not going to die," Imhotep said and, reaching out, he ran his fingers over the wounds on her wrists, closing them up, before her disbelieving eyes. "You remember, we said that your eyes were needed."

He motioned to the men that she was to be moved and she felt herself lifted and carried over to the golden statue, where she was made to kneel on the large stone at the base. She lifted her head, finding the movement difficult in her weakened state, and sent a glare of hatred at Imhotep, a last hint of defiance before they finished her off. He merely smiled and took the large golden bowl that Ankhef-Sem offered him, and she finally saw what had happened to her blood. The bowl was half full of the deep red fluid. Imhotep placed his fingers into it, stirring it around almost absently, then he lifted his hand and placed some blood onto the first stone tablet. Tilly watched agape as the blood settled onto the stone and took on a life of its own, running onto the strange cuneiform writing and filling in all the small grooves until the stone almost glowed a bright, luminescent scarlet, the blood covering the inlaid gold with a thin red film. He continued this way until all the stones were covered and the bowl was almost empty, then he emptied the last of the contents onto the feet of the statue. She felt small tremors running through the stone at her knees. When Imhotep had finished chanting some strange prayer he walked over to her and took hold of her head on either side, directing her gaze to two holes at the base of the statue, holes that she hadn't even noticed before now. She realised, belatedly, that they were going to make her look through them and she felt a brief spurt of adrenaline as fear shot through her. Two guards pulled her arms straight out at the shoulder and back, forcing her head closer to the holes and she couldn't contain her screams at what might happen next.

"No! No!" she yelled, trying desperately to fight them, but she didn't have the strength and her face, with the help of Imhotep, was placed directly in line with the holes. She closed her eyes in a last ditch attempt to stop whatever was happening. and felt the grip on her head grow until she thought her head would explode.

"If you do not open your eyes I will peel your eyelids back so that they will remain open until you die!" he threatened in that strange language. Nothing could be worse than the end of the world, she decided and she kept her eyes tightly squeezed shut.

"This does not make you fear for your safety, I see. Perhaps you care more for your friends?" he said, letting go of her head suddenly, moving away from her.

She reluctantly opened her eyes a tiny bit, until she saw what he was about to do and then they widened. He had that same golden dagger, and he was holding it up against Rick's throat, ignoring Evy's cries of terror and rage. He looked toward Tilly and raised an eyebrow in question. "What is it to be?" he asked her, his voice deceptively soft.