Here's chapter three, fresh for Amouthea's and my minds. Thank you for all of the support and reviews for this story! Hope you like the chapter! This one is by both me and Amouthea!

Predator: Ancient World

Chapter 3: Awakenings

When Du'gret awoke the pain had almost disappeared. His leg still ached, but it was not as bad as it had been. He opened his eyes to see that he was in a closed room. The whole room was blue in color, so he tapped the control on his wrist gauntlet, changing his eyes to see color.

The room he was in was rather large. Colorful painting decorated the walls showing creatures making offerings to even stranger creatures. He was lying on a small, but comfortable couch. A bandage was wrapped around his leg, and his armor and weapons were gone. Du'gret pulled himself into a sitting position.

'Where the pauk am I?' Du'gret thought. Last time he remembered, he had passed out in the desert, on the outskirts of the strange alien city.

His head spun at the sound of water. His throat was dry and scratchy. He stood slowly, but no dizziness overtook him. His slowly put weight on his leg, which managed to hold it quite well. He walked slowly around crimson curtains until he saw a small, pale creature with a jar of water it was filling from a large basin filled with water.

The creature turned. When it saw him, it let out a high pitched squeak and dropped the clay jar which shattered on the ground. It stared at him warily, as he stared back at it. It spoke to him, which his mask promptly translated.

"Hello."

Du'gret looked the creature up and down. If he had to guess, he thought it was a female. Not wanting to frighten it, he approached slowly and gently rested his hand on the creature's shoulder, the Yautja symbol of greeting.

The creature relaxed and began to speak again.

"Would you like a drink?" The human got a small cup and filled it with water from the basin and held it out to Du'gret. Du'gret accepted it hesitantly, but his thirst overwhelmed him. He reached up to his mask, disconnected the cords, and removed it.

The little creature gasped and fell to the ground when it saw his face. Du'gret ignored it. Many creatures did that when they saw the Yautja's fierce appearance. Du'gret drank the water the creature had given him as he waited for it to awaken.

After a few minutes the creature awoke. Du'gret had put his mask back on. The creature stood up and pointed to itself, saying a word.

"Neferti"

Du'gret repeated the word and the creature clapped its hand together. Du'gret pointed to himself and said his name. The creature tried to pronounce it, but was not very successful. The creature paused then pointed at him and said a word.

"Anubis."

Hmmm. Du'gret liked that name, and at least the creature could pronounce it. The creature moved towards him and lead him to a small doorway covered with crimson curtains. The creature pulled back the curtains and Du'gret was greeted with an amazing sight.

He was in the middle of the creature's city. Huge monuments were everywhere as the creatures went upon their daily business. Du'gret was amazed that such inferior creatures could make structures like these.

With a little persuasion, he followed the little creature in a hesitant, albeit captivated manner through its golden-splendor city of sand, heat, and a vastly growing crowd of onlookers.

I wonder what these creatures are called?

King Seti I gazed up at the near-finished jewel-bedecked emblem of Set with a small smile. The crimson of the God-statue's head gleamed brilliantly beneath the sun's piercing rays, stood out among the dusky-dull backdrop of sand dunes.

Nodding to the man who had insisted upon his royal approval before adding more such delightful hues to the stone-folds of the monument's apparel, Seti I lowered himself back into the fine-soft linen seat of his chariot. The pristine horses began trotting at a pleasant pace back to the only-just completed temple of Osiris. With much luck and only, hopefully, a small amount of persuasion on his part, Egypt would once again recognize these "old Gods" as the entities truly deserving of their worshippers.

After all, he, along with his son Ramses II were both growing tired of red-haired (and furred) discrimination. According to popular belief, all those endowed with blood-hued locks or fur were automatically considered accomplices to the ancient God Set. Which was not a good thing. It meant bad luck. Bad seeds. Better off dead. Another untidy shadow-muck superstition associated with his personal favorite God. One that would be put to an end.

He hoped.

Shaking his crown-adorned head, the Pharaoh turned his thoughts to his wife Tuya.

Now there was a pleasant thought...

Du'gret paused at a make-shift structure lining the large and popular pathway the small creature called 'Neferti' was escorting him through. The ragged-thin drape of a roof lifted lightly with the tiny breeze that was currently skipping past the city. It caused a soft ruffle of a sound, which was soon muffled with a loud hiss of steam.

Curious at the strong smell of a smoldering substance, the young hunter approached the bent-over creature from behind, soundlessly looking over the already much-lower shoulders. A trough filled with the planet's water was rolling with bubbles as they sped to the disrupted surface. The scent of a heated substance melted away. Du'gret stepped back as the creature bending over the water stood up straight, pulling something long and dark out of the trough.

The blacksmith raised the sword-blade from the cooling vat to eye its edges carefully. One had to be careful of uneven thicknesses within the metal, especially when preparing a weapon. A balance had to be found so that the blade itself could glide through the air without even a sound-swerve detection. Thin-sharp and deadly-swift. Especially when it would be going into the hands of prince Ramses II...

Amun turned around cradling the sleek blade in both palms, still testing the evenness of its weight with masterful hands. Eyes locked upon the dim-reflection surface, he smirked, unconsciously walking over to scrutinize the gems that were to be embedded in the hilt. Yes. Perfect! He raised his eyes.

And dropped the blade.

Du'gret watched the creature (far larger than Neferti) pull a long pointed strip of metallic substance from the water once it had calmed somewhat. He noted that the creature seemed to know about this particular metal's properties as it tested both durability and thickness with its hands. Stepping back, he watched the creature turn, rolling the primitive blade in its palms to feel for imperfections in its weight. The creature seemed to reach a satisfactory conclusion because it finally raised its eyes and saw the Yautja standing before him.

Ignoring the creature's personal symphony of gasps and mumbles and grunts, none of which his mask was deciphering as legible words, Du'gret bent down to pick up the surprise-discarded blade from the dust. With one hand he lifted it, giving it a faint toss in the air and letting it roll back into the niche of his large palm. His elongated nails made crisp clinks against its surface.

With a practiced ease, the predator twirled the blade over the back of his hand, rolling it through the air in one mute-swift motion. He watched the silver-spin arc of movement closely, the glint of sunlight passing as a mere line over the surface. Then, grasping the blunt end, he brought it to a halt and lowered it so that the tip was gleaming fearfully at the sand beside his feet. It was a decent-forged blade, despite its alien clunkiness...

He motioned for the creature to take it, and held it out to it. Afraid or confused, or both, the creature hesitated, but seeing the blatant gesture for what it was, it retrieved the blade from Du'gret with a rapid incline of its head. It pulled the metal-strip to its chest, staring at the towering young hunter for quite a while before finally letting its eyes fall to something beside the warrior. Du'gret looked down at his right shoulder to see Neferti. She was smiling at the other creature, perhaps a soothing gesture for uneasiness. The man seemed to recognize her and began to speak.

"Neferti. What...who is that?"

"A friend, Amun."

"Where did it..."

"He."

"...He come from?"

Neferti smiled. She was enjoying explaining the God's arrival. "The sky, of course."

"The sky? How do you know?"

A tiny wind-chime chuckle. "Isn't that where all Gods come from?"

"God?"

"His appearance has misled you? Would you like me to introduce you to him?"

"O...Of course!"

She placed a delicate hand on Du'gret's arm. He looked down at her again. "Anubis, this is another friend of mine. His name is Amun." She pointed to the larger creature holding the blade. Du'gret nodded to the other creature, in both acknowledgment and respect for its skill with metal.

Amun bowed by folding himself in half. His eyes never left the living God who had swung his very own blade. He hoped that the ancient God of Death had found no faults in it. He asked the Queen's handmaiden of their destination without looking at her.

"To see the Pharaoh."

Did you like it? I hope so! Please Review and we'll post chapter 4 soon!