CHAPTER ELEVEN

Rick was just groggily coming round from the blow he had received and the first thing he saw was the evil face of Imhotep, his hand holding a dagger at his throat. It took him only a split second to realise what was happening and he looked at his wife, tied up next to him.

"I love you, Evy," he whispered, determined that she should hear him say it one last time. He watched as tears ran down her face.

"I love you too. I'm so sorry I made you come here..."

"You didn't make me do anything. This is nobody's fault, okay?" he said reassuringly, trying to swallow down his own fear and resentment at the position they now found themselves in. He noticed Ardeth raise his head, wincing as the movement obviously sent a wave of pain through him. He, too, took in the situation at a glance and his eyes swung to Imhotep as the creature spoke to Tilly.

"It is your choice. Would you see your cousin's blood flow into the sands or will you do as I request?"

Evy worked out what was being said and translated it for the others. "He's going to kill us, one by one, until she does as he asks!"

"Tilly!" Ardeth shouted. "Do not do what he wants, it will mean the end for every person in this world, do you understand? Whatever happens, do not..." he stopped abruptly as a guard punched him, whipping his head back against the wall. He shook his head to clear it and spat in the face of the man who had hit him, a man he recognised as formerly being a Med-jai. Expecting to be hit again, he was surprised when the man merely wiped the spittle from his face and gave him a mocking smile.

Tilly found her voice, but it was shaking when she spoke. "I won't do it," she said, her voice barely above a whisper.

"Will you not?" Imhotep asked and pressed the dagger tighter against Rick's throat, the razor sharp point puncturing his skin and causing a bead of blood to well up and run down his neck. "Would you rather see this man suffer? To see them all suffer?"

Tilly remained resolutely silent, trying not to let the sight of the drop of blood affect her too much, an almost impossible task. She would spare them all this if she could, she thought, but how? There didn't seem to be any way.

Imhotep could see her determination, but he could also see the underlying fear, hear all the thoughts running through her head, and he smiled again, looking at her as one would look at a child. His hand pressed harder and Rick hissed in air through his teeth as he felt the blade slowly cut into his flesh. The cut was not deep enough to kill, not long enough to cut right across his throat and it seemed that the creature was going to slowly torture him.

Tilly had to grit her teeth at the sound of Rick's pain, knowing he would do his best not to make any noise, but also knowing that he may not be able to help it. She watched as the creature turned to look at her again. "Would you like me to sever his head from his body in front of his woman?" He waited for her answer and looked pleased when she shook her head. "Then you are ready to submit?" His expression changed to anger as she once again shook her head.

He made a sound of rage and turned to Rick once again, lengthening the gash in his throat until it was bleeding freely down his shirt, making him grunt with the sudden pain. "This is not enough to kill him, my lady, not quite yet. But another stroke of the blade and I can sever the arteries and also then stop him breathing." He looked toward Tilly and watched as tears rolled down her face, pleased that he could make her react, but angry that she still seemed determined to thwart him. "Or perhaps one with softer skin will convince you!"

He moved over to Evy, signalling the guards to stop Rick's angry protests. The tip of the blade touched her neck and Evy closed her eyes and willed herself to remain calm, feeling the first stab into her skin and breathing in sharply at the stinging pain. She could hear Tilly crying openly now, distraught to be made to watch the torture and possibly the death of her friends. Evy's eyes shot open when she heard Tilly shout for Imhotep to stop and she felt the blade removed.

"You will now do as I ask?" Imhotep asked her, his eyes sparkling with the beginnings of triumph.

"Yes, oh God yes, please just don't hurt them anymore!" she sobbed, no longer able to stand the sight of their pain.

"Tilly no!" Rick shouted at the same time as Ardeth, their voices almost deafening as they echoed across to her.

"I'm sorry, I'm so sorry!" she said brokenly and lowered her eyes, not wanting to see the condemnation on their faces, the looks of accusation she was sure would be there at her cowardice. She felt her chin grasped and looked into Imhotep's face, seeing his exultation at her defeat. The professor, or whatever he now was, calmly walked over to the altar and lay down on it, positioning himself like a sacrificial victim.

The guards pushed her against the statue again, and Imhotep once again held her head, moving her so that her eyes lined up with the holes, this time encountering no resistance to his plans. "Open your eyes and look, my lady, and the world will be yours," he said softly, watching as she looked through the small holes.

She didn't know what she might see and at first it seemed as if there wasn't anything to see, but after a second she caught a small glimmer of light from what seemed miles back and squinted so as to see it better. She could hear Ankhef-Sem reading from the tablets once more and her head started to feel fuzzy as the light grew brighter until it seemed like two glowing green eyes were staring back at her from out of the darkness. As the chants behind her grew in volume so the light glowed brighter until, with a sudden flash, it connected with her eyes and knocked her back from the statue, the scream of shock frozen on her lips.

Rick and the others watched in consternation as she dropped to the floor, the guards holding her obviously expecting it and letting her go. Imhotep moved to the altar and began invoking the spells from the tablets again, raising his hands over the professor's still form. Jackson seemed to get more agitated as the spells went on, until the last one was chanted and his body raised up from the altar, floating a few feet above the hard surface, his muscles twitching spasmodically as an ancient and unholy power started to course through him.

Evy turned her head to look at her husband, grimacing at the sight of his blood soaked shirt, the wound in his neck only now slowing to a slight trickle. "Are you alright?" she whispered, almost afraid to make any noise, although every pair of eyes in the room was transfixed by what was taking place near Imhotep and Ankhef-Sem.

Rick turned his head painfully to look at Evy. "I'm okay, it's not as bad as it looks, I think. What about you?"

"I'm alright. Rick, is she dead?" Evy voiced the question that had plagued her since Tilly had collapsed.

"She is not dead, Evelyn, she is to be his Queen, you remember?" Ardeth interjected, trying his best to comfort the other people. Only Jonathan remained silent, having given up long ago, thinking that in all the things that had happened in the past, this was how it was going to end.

"What are we going to do?" Evy said helplessly, her eyes taking in the small figure Tilly made as she lay at the feet of the statue, barely breathing it seemed.

"I don't know honey, I really don't know. Unless we can get free..." he left the words hanging in the air and shrugged as best he could with his arms tied above his head. They had been in bad situations before, really bad situations, but there had always been some hope, some glimmer of light. He hated that this time, he felt as if there was no hope at all. His head jerked around as he heard Tilly groan, moving about on the floor as she came round. She sat up and put a hand to her head and then her eyes, rubbing them as if she had just come out of a deep sleep, standing up seconds later and emphasising it with a stretch. Then she raised her head and Rick finally got a good look at the girl who had been his cousin...and who was now something very different. Her face was serene, her eyes calm, but the smile that played around her lips was pure evil and, when she turned to look in their direction, he could see that Tilly was gone. There was no longer any warmth in her expression, only a deep seated hatred that she did nothing to disguise, especially when she looked at Ardeth.

"Med-jai!" she spat out, turning enquiringly to Ankhef-Sem. "What is a Med-jai doing here at this time?"

"My princess, my Queen," he muttered, bowing down and grovelling at her feet. "He is of no matter, he shall be a gift to you to do with as you please!"

She placed a hand beneath his chin and raised his face to look at her. "That does not answer my question, priest!"

"Forgive me, my Queen. His presence here was unavoidable. He and the others were attempting to sabotage the ceremony..."

"Then why were they not killed?" she hissed at him.

"The body you now occupy, she is affiliated with these non-believers. The high priest Imhotep used them as persuasion to make her obey him."

She lifted her eyes to Imhotep and stared hard at him, her attention slowly drifting to the body suspended above the altar. "My lord Seth," she whispered reverently and moved toward him, her smile widening as she neared him. She watched patiently as Imhotep finished chanting and opened his eyes, watching as the figure glowed brightly, then fell gently back onto the stone surface, laying still for a few seconds.

"Meketaten," he whispered as his eyes slowly opened and he looked up at her face. His eyes had no whites, every tiny bit completely black. She took his hand and clasped it in both of hers.

"Yes, my lord, it is I. Are you yet strong enough to sit up?"

He didn't answer her, merely sitting straight up and looking from Ankhef-Sem to Imhotep. "You have served me well, Imhotep, and you shall be rewarded. When this transference is complete you may name your price and it shall be yours."

The creature nodded gratefully at this, not looking too deeply into Seth's eyes lest the dark God should see that his true loyalty lay with himself and no-one else. He looked up to study Ankhef-Sem's expression as the God turned toward him and spoke, seeing the eager way with which he accepted the attention from his master, sickened by the subservient manner with which he acted. Perhaps he should ask that Ankhef-Sem be made his slave, to always do his bidding for time eternal, because he could think of such horrors to bestow upon him.

"Ankhef-Sem, my priest, you too have served me well. What would you ask of me as adequate payment? Immortality? Riches beyond measure?"

Imhotep turned his attention to Seth as he spoke, realising that he, too, was aware of the other man's weaknesses and was toying with him.

"My lord Seth, my needs are few, I would not want to ask much of you..." he began, almost grovelling.

"I am not interested in your needs, Ankhef-Sem. I will help you once and once only. Name your price!" Seth broke in, his voice harsh.

"I would ask that I have the Med-jai, that I may finish his life," he began eagerly, his small piggy eyes darting to Ardeth Bay, a smile of malice playing around his lips.

"No!" Meketaten said, her hand laying over Seth's as if to persuade him to her way of thinking. "I want the Med-jai for myself. He will suffer far more at my hands than he ever could at yours, priest, and you have already said that he may be mine. You will have to think of something else."

Seth took her hand, and brought it to his lips, kissing the back of her fingers softly, belying the fact that he was a monster. "Whatever you wish my Queen." He turned back to Ankhef-Sem, noting the quick anger that touched his eyes when he looked at Meketaten at having been denied his prize. "You would wish my Queen harm, Ankhef-Sem?" Seth asked sharply, moving off the altar to stand in front of the shocked man.

"No, my lord Seth, never!" he said abruptly, kneeling in front of him.

"That is good to hear, priest, because if you ever tried to harm this lady I would make you suffer in a way that would be spoken of for millennia! Meketaten shall have the Med-jai." His words had the ring of finality about them and Ankhef-Sem knew better than to argue, knowing that this dark god of chaos could do whatever he liked, whenever he liked. Seth turned to Meketaten once more, holding her in front of him. "And what of the others?"

Evy watched as Tilly, now Meketaten, turned her head and stared at them all slowly. "This body knows them and has affection for them and they all care about one another. Perhaps it would be...amusing...for them to watch the Med-jai die, and then each one of them in turn. They would be able to see what awaits them," she said, smiling coldly at Evy.

Seth threw back his head and laughed at this. "You are truly evil, my love. I have chosen well, it seems. Would you allow the priests to assist you?"

"I would prefer that you assist me, my lord," she said, glancing coyly up at him and moving closer.

He pulled her against him and smiled. "Ah, I had forgotten how it was to have a mortal form. I am sure there are pleasures we can explore together that will please you. As for these other mortals, I will not assist you in their destruction, my love. Their deaths would come too quick at my hands and I know how much you like to see suffering. Take care of them yourself and I shall be content to watch. It will make the coming time pass much faster that way," he said and released her, turning her toward Rick and the others. "Enjoy yourself."

Rick, in no time at all, found himself staring into a pair of unnerving green eyes that seemed to glow at him with some unearthly light. If it hadn't been Tilly's face in front of him he would never have been able to detect any humanity at all. He tried not to tense as she ran her hand over his blood-soaked shirt, her lips curving up into a catty smile. She raised an eyebrow at him and traced the cut on his neck, dipping her finger into it and then raising it to her lips, sucking the blood from the tip. A small laugh escaped her at the look of disgust on his face and she went along to Evy, running a finger down her cheek, the laugh escaping once again as Evy turned her head sharply away from the touch. When she paused in front of Jonathan, she seemed to stop and contemplate him seriously for a second, as if searching for a memory. Then the smile returned and she placed her hands on his chest and leaned in toward him, planting a kiss full on his lips. Jonathan did his best to pull away from her, but with his arms held over his head with the ropes and his back flat against the wall, there wasn't really anywhere for him to go. She pulled back from him and gave another cold smile. "You like this female, I can tell. What a shame you'll never have her," she said softly and abruptly turned from him and moved toward Ardeth, leaving Jonathan breathing a brief sigh of relief.

It was Ardeth's turn to gaze into the cold, beautiful, green eyes now and he had the same problem as Rick in trying not to noticeably tense up. So this was to be his fate? he thought. After all the undead creatures he had fought, all the perilous times he had led his men into battle, his death would now fall to this delicate creature in front of him. But delicate or not, she now had another life force living within her and her strength would probably far exceed his, especially after the hard blows he had received to his head. He took time to briefly glance at Rick with an apology in his eyes, knowing that if there was any possible way of defeating her, he would take it. That she was O'Connells cousin made no difference any more. She had become something infinitely more deadly.

His eyes swivelled back to her as she touched his face, her fingers tracing the tattoos on his cheeks, her mouth turned down in a sneer. "The signs of bravery, of skill, of loyalty!" she spat at him and he was surprised to hear her speak in his own tongue. "But loyalty to whom, Med-jai? Where were you when my father's city was destroyed by Seti?"

"My ancestors served Seti, they would not have gone against him or his wishes," he replied calmly.

"Your ancestors were supposed to serve all the pharaohs! My father was a great leader, and yet the Med-jai allowed his memory and his city to be desecrated! Where was your loyalty then Med-jai? And now, where does your loyalty lie now? The pharaohs are no more!" She seemed happy to belittle him and his existence.

"My loyalty still lies with the pharaohs of old, and I will serve them until the day I die. You, as a dissenter, would not have an idea of true loyalty, and this is why it is so hard for you to understand," he said, his voice still calm, but cold.

Her eyes widened. "I am not a dissenter, I have always been true to my beliefs!" she said through gritted teeth, her eyes flashing fire at him.

"But not true to your father's beliefs. That being so, I cannot understand why the destruction of his city means so much to you!" He looked her up and down as if she was the lowest form of life, pleased to see the angry sparkle of her eyes as she watched him.

She gave a laugh of incredulity. "What is wrong with you Med-jai? Why do you speak in such a manner when you must know that I will make your death even slower?"

"I do not fear death, nor the manner in which it arrives. Can you say the same?"

"You may think you do not fear death, Med-jai, but you will soon learn to. For where I will send you is a place of eternal suffering, not the wondrous place you are thinking to travel to. And shortly after I have disposed of you, your friends will join you there!" Her face took on a look of utter fury when he laughed loudly at her statement.

"Do you think you have the power to decide where souls go? You are weak and delusional if you believe it to be so!" he said, and laughed again, not stopping even when she slapped his face as hard as she could, which was very hard. Stars exploded behind his eyes at the blow and he had to force himself to keep laughing at her. Goading her may be the only way to make her release him, he thought. To make this a fair fight, to make her think she could only defeat him if he was shackled, that was all that mattered at that moment. If she felt goaded enough to just untie him.…

"How brave you are, princess, to be strong enough to beat a man who is unable to defend himself!" he said, and continued to chuckle, tasting the blood on the inside of his cheek where her blow had pressed the flesh against his teeth. He made the word princess sound like the worst swear word.

"Silence!" she hissed, striking him again and splitting his lip open. His head whipped sideways again and the taste of blood intensified. His eyes fell on Rick and the others, seeing the concern and confusion that lay on their faces. He tried to give them an encouraging smile, but his mouth hurt too much. When he turned his head back to her he found she was holding a dagger, the same golden one that had been used to cut her wrists. Only this time, it was going to be used on him. He felt a brief flash of hope that she would cut his ropes, but she trailed it slowly over his chest instead, slowly slicing through the material of his robes, but otherwise causing no damage. Yet, he added silently.

"You think to defy me, Med-jai?" she asked, her voice becoming almost hoarse in her anger and she dug the knife into his skin, the blade penetrating between his ribs, the cut only shallow, but painful. He sucked in his breath through his teeth as she dragged the blade from his side to his stomach, her eyes watching his reaction. It took all his willpower and strength not to show how much this hurt. He made his mind think of more pleasant things, to see if this would actually work as Rick had once told him it could make you forget what was actually taking place at a certain moment. It didn't lessen the pain any and so he thought about some of his past injuries and how much worse they had been. That helped a little bit and he stared at her defiantly.

"Coward," he said softly, pinning her with a contemptuous glare. She shrieked in fury at him and jabbed the knife into the muscle of his chest, wrenching the blade through the hard flesh and giving it a twist. The blade only went in about an inch, but the blood that poured from the wound made him think that perhaps she had cut a vein. Already feeling weak, he was now weakened further by the blood pumping from his body. But he couldn't show his weakness. He must remain strong, no matter what.

"Your actions are those of a spoiled child, a child who knows they cannot possibly win in any other way! Were I not tied you would have no chance against my superior strength, and you are well aware of that fact!" He hoped this gamble would pay off, because if she cut him again he was going to pass out, he knew it. A smile almost formed on his face before he managed to stop it when she reached up and began slicing through the strong ropes that held him.

"I am not afraid of you Med-jai, and it will be you who are surprised when you are free. You do not have greater strength than I, and I will soon prove that fact to you!" She finished cutting through his bonds and the sudden loss of the supporting ties made him drop to his knees, causing her much amusement. "You see how truly strong you are? A new-born baby has more might than you!" She laughed loudly and he heard echoing laughter from across the temple as Seth and Imhotep joined in with her mirth. He raised himself with some difficulty and stood facing her, his eyes going to his scimitars which lay across the chamber from him. If he could only get to his weapons, he thought, and then all other thoughts fled as he doubled over in pain, her fist hitting him squarely in the solar plexus and forcing the air from his body. He fell back down to his knees and struggled to draw breath, his eyes watering from the blow. He cursed himself for being so stupid. He should have been more aware of her movements and he was betraying his training by acting in this manner.

He forced himself back up and spat on the ground at her feet, absently noting the amount of blood in the spittle. "You disgust me, you are no warrior, just a mere woman!"

She reached for him and grabbed him around the throat, pulling his face to within an inch of hers. "I may be a mere woman, Med-jai, but I am as strong and well trained as any warrior!"

He raised an eyebrow. "Truly? I doubt that you have enough proficiency with the sword to beat even one of my lower ranked men!"

She flung him away from her and swirled toward his swords, picking them up and throwing one at him. It landed at his feet and she watched him, nodding toward it to signify that he should pick it up. "Are you afraid to face me Med-jai? Perhaps your words had no truth at all and it is you who is not truly proficient in swordplay?"

She advanced toward him a couple of steps and he bent to pick up the scimitar at his feet, his eyes never once leaving hers. With his peripheral vision he could see where each guard was and how far they were from his friends. They had all been lulled into a false sense of security, it seemed, now that the people who threatened them were a threat no more. Ardeth planned to change that as quickly as he possibly could. It made him furious that half of those guards were former Med-jai, traitors to his people, and that they had obviously so quickly forgotten their lifelong training in the art of battle. A warrior should never let his guard down, should never think that he has won until every enemy is destroyed.

He pushed his mind past the pain that ripped through his chest and ribs with every movement, and calmed his feelings, becoming once again the impassive and indomitable warrior that his people trusted. His eyes narrowed as Meketaten started swinging the scimitar in twisting swipes in front of her, expertly manoeuvring the heavy weapon, giving him a floor show on her obvious fighting skills. No matter how good she was, though, she was nowhere near as skilled as he himself was, he thought, watching her with pursed lips. In his current state he was going to have a real battle on his hands with her, no matter what her level of accomplishment. She stopped the graceful movement of the sword and swung it towards him with a suddenness that made Evy shout out a warning to him. But it was a warning he didn't need, he had been aware of the move before she had even made it, his keen eyes taking in the delicate play of muscles beneath the skin of her arms and what each muscular movement meant. He had trained enough young boys and men to know how a warrior moved when they were about to attack.

His sword came up and blocked the move deftly, metal grating against metal with a piercing whine that echoed off the walls. She spun around and brought the sword round with her in a deadly arc, aiming for his neck. Again he blocked the blow, but this time he pretended he had found it more difficult to do, purposely putting one arm to his ribs and giving a small groan. The next few strikes were equally as easy to deflect as the first and he made himself seem weaker with each one, moving back a few steps every time until he was nearly within reach of the others.

He rolled away from her next blow and her sword hit the wall near Jonathan's head, making him gulp and nearly faint at the thought of what may have happened if she had been a few inches to the right. He watched with relief as she spun quickly away, his sigh turning into a gasp at the sight of Ardeth Bay rushing toward him with his sword raised, a battle cry on his lips. Jonathan yelled briefly when the sword swung toward his head...then suddenly he was free. He looked at the others in confusion and noticed that Ardeth had cut them all free with no more than two strokes of his scimitar.

Rick wasted no time, he scuffled with one of the guards and sent the man flying before tumbling under the arm of another one like an acrobat, moving swiftly toward a weapon. Evy had done the same and Jonathan realised that he was the only one standing doing nothing at all. He spotted a gun laying in the dust on the other side of the temple and made a dive for it, surprised by the fact that nobody tried to stop him, as if he was inconsequential. He bristled at that thought and checked the gun, nodding when he found it loaded. Good. He'd show them who was inconsequential here, he thought, and leapt up, aiming with precision at one guard, then another, picking them off with only one shot apiece.

Rick had found his shotgun, glad that the men had been too stupid to dispose of the weapons and he also found the spare ammo, laying a few feet away from the gun itself, partially hidden by a rock. Before long he, too, was picking off the guards. His pride in his wife knew no bounds when he saw how well Evy was fighting. She had found another sword and was using her reincarnated skill with the blade to slice the men open, her lips set in a tight line of determination.

Ardeth had managed to cut their ropes and turn back to Meketaten just as her sword came whistling through the air and made contact with his chest, criss-crossing the wound she had made earlier. The blow knocked him back and he stumbled, tripping over some loose rocks that scattered the floor. The next thing he knew he was laying on his back staring up at the ceiling and she was leaning over him, the tip of the sword pressing him under the chin, a light of triumph in her eyes.