Chapter 12

Rivalry

It was an hour later when the gang got back to the safe house. On the way, Blain had explained the rivalry between his family and the Leo Blitz family. It was a long time ago, back before the families were rivals, that something was stolen from the Shadow Walkers. It was the most powerful mystical sword Blain's family had ever forged, the Half-breed. It was a sword constructed of equal parts good and dark magic. The sword itself looked like two swords had been put together. One side of the sword had a black blade that had sharp frills all around its edge. The other side was a pure white blade, like a freshly fallen snow. That side had no sharp edge, but could heal any wound. The sword was meant to be the ultimate balance point of good and evil, until it was stolen.

After the sword had gone missing, someone outside the family said it had been stolen by a Leo Blitz. When the Shadow Walkers confronted them about it, the Leo Blitz clan denied ever seeing the sword. It was a lie, for Blain's great, great, great, grandfather had found the sword inside the Leo Blitz's house. After that, the families became bitter rivals. The Half-breed sword was never recovered. Many of Blain's family believing the Leo Blitzs had destroyed it.

When the gang arrived back at the safe house, Bentley began planning their next move. While Bentley kept working, the others decided to get some sleep. The next morning, Bentley had finished the plan, but was too tired to tell the other about it. Sadie was the first one up in the morning, and she had found Bentley asleep at his computer. With Murray's help, she moved Bentley to his bed and let the brains of the Cooper Gang get some sleep.

As the sun began to rise higher into the sky, the rest of the gang came awake. Blain, who was still a little on edge about last night, went to the roof. He then began work on a very complex mystical symbol. He said it would be the best defense should that deceptive lioness, Rachel, decide to show her face around the safe house.

While Sly, Murray, and Blain decided to stay at the safe house, Sadie went out into the city. Thanks to Sly, she was wearing some clothes that were more common in Egypt then her normal, Texan style wardrobe. Still, no force on earth could stop her from wearing her favorite hat, especial as hot as it was out that day.

Sadie found her way to a nearby market place where several venders had set up their set up their stalls and wagons. Many were holding their goods out, calling to the people in the street in hopes of getting a sale. Sadie smiled, amazed at how much the merchants were willing to do for a single sale. After walking around for a few hours, Sadie moved over a fountain in the center of the market place and took a seat. She slowly worked her tail around to the fountain, and let out a sigh as the water slowly soothed her soar tail. As Sadie sat there, she was amazed at the number of people that were in the market place.

One person caught her eye in particular. It was a lioness. She was struggling with several large boxes, the top of the stack constantly threatening to fall to the ground. She was dressed a little different then the other people walking the market. She was wearing a pair of jean shorts with a royal blue blouse. The blouse had very short sleeves, and combined with her pants it exposed a lot of the lioness's legs and arms. Sadie smiled. She had to admit the lioness was a fairly beautiful woman.

As Sadie sat and watched, the lioness continued to struggle with the boxes. Finally, Sadie couldn't stand it anymore. She slowly stood up, pulling her tail out of the fountain before she moved over to the lioness. Just as the boxes were about to spill all over the market place, Sadie managed to get a hand on the boxes and stop the tower of cardboard from tumbling.

The lioness moved her head out from behind the box, smiling at Sadie as she said, "Thank you so much."

Sadie, "It's not a problem dear. Now, where are you headed with all these boxes? Did you just rob a train or something?"

The lioness shook her head a bit, catching the humor in Sadie's voice, "No, I didn't rob a train, or anything for that matter. Second, I am headed back to my house. It's just a couple blocks away."

Sadie smiled, reaching up as she took a few boxes off the top of the pile. She then turned towards the lioness and said, "Why don't you lead the way. After all, I have no idea where we are going."

The lioness nodded her head, and began to walk down the street with Sadie just a few feet behind. A few minutes later, they reached the small building that was the lioness's house. As Sadie slithered in, and looked about the room, she was amazed at just how much stuff was in the room. Every wall was lined with about eight shelves, each one filled to the brim with different things. Most of the objects seemed to be either bottles, jars, small boxes, or small metal trinkets. Sadie set her stack of boxes down in the middle of the room, and slither over to one of the shelves to pick up a strange, metal sphere.

The lioness came back from the other room, smiling at Sadie as she said, "Why don't you come in the kitchen and have some lunch." Sadie nodded her head, setting the metal sphere down before she followed the lioness through a door on the other side of the room. Unlike the first room, the kitchen was not nearly as cluttered. As Sadie took a seat at the table, the lioness got a couple bowls and filled them with a soup that had been cooking on the over a small fire.

The lioness set one of the bowls and a spoon in front of Sadie before she took a seat herself. Sadie tasted the soup and said, "This is very good."

The lioness bowed her head once, "Thank you. It's an old family recipe. I am sorry, but I don't seem to know your name?"

Sadie blinked a few times, and then set down her spoon before stretching her hand across the table, "Sadie."

The lioness took Sadie's hand, giving it a gently shake, "Rachel. Now, what are you doing in Cairo? I don't remember seeing your face in the market place before."

Sadie shrugged a bit, eating a bit of the soup before she said, "I am just in town for a few days with some friends. We came here to get a very special medallion. What about you?"

"I have been in Cairo for probably three months now, maybe four. I have been trying to get a hold of a certain someone."

"Who?"

Rachel sighed, "Her name is Nephthys. She is a powerful Egyptian sorceress. You see, I come for a family of people who use many different types of magic. Recently, my father was asked by the Egyptian government to do something about Nephthys. Apparently, she had been attacking some soldiers, citizens, tourists, or anyone that set foot into the ruins she calls home. It is actually a temple to Osiris, but she took everything that paid tribute to him and replaced it with her own things."

Sadie blinked a few times. Why was Rachel mixed up with Nephthys? As Sadie tried to figure things out, Rachel continued by saying, "Well, my father brought me, my brother, and my mother down here. He confronted Nephthys, and was devastated. She actually used a spell that shorted out my fathers. He became powerless, and put at the mercy of Nephthys. She killed him, but what was worse is he came for the rest of us. I was out of the house at the time, getting some things from the market. When I got back to the house, my whole family was dead. They had been turned to ash, there bodies burnt to nothing but cinders. The only thing I had left is this." Rachel lifted her hand up to her face, and brushed the long strand of beaded hair back.

As Sadie looked at the crescent shaped scar on Rachel's face, she asked, "Did your father do that to you?"

Rachel nodded her head, "It is the tradition of my family. One child from each family must be raised in the family tradition, and become a powerful mystic. You see, I once had two brothers. One older then me, and then another who was just a new born at the time. A war broke out and my older brother was called to duty. We never saw him again. Since my younger brother was still just a baby, it fell on me to become the families newest mystic. That is why I have this crescent shaped scar on my face. My father had been devastated by the loss of my elder brother. He had been so angry, when I tried to comfort him he lashed out at me. His magic cut my face, leaving this mark. He never forgave himself for that day. Still, it is a least something of his I can always carry with me."

Rachel fell silent, long buried memories starting to resurface. Sadie reached out, gently setting her hand on Rachel's, "Are you okay?"

Rachel nodded her head, "Yeah, I'm fine. I should know better then to think about that day. I just ran into another blast from my past though, and it kind of drudged up those memories."

Sadie lifted an eyebrow, finishing the last of her soup, "Who are you talking about?"

Rachel's eyes flashed with a bit of anger, gritting her teeth a bit before she said, "Shadow Walker, Blain Shadow Walker."

Sadie coughed a bit, spitting out a bit of her soup. Rachel leaned for a bit, a little worried about her new acquaintance, "What's the matter?"

Sadie just shook her head, clearing her throat a bit, "I'm…cough…fine. So…cough…who is this Walker guy."

Rachel crossed her arms, leaning back in her chair, "He is from a family that rivals my own. Many years ago, long before either one of us were born, his family forged a powerful sword called Half-breed. Then, the sword went missing. At that time, the families were pretty close, and my family tried to help the Shadow Walkers. We actually found the sword, but before we returned it the Shadow Walkers came and accused my family of stealing the sword. Then, what made it worse was the fact they found the sword in my families possession. They then took their sword back, and also the one that one of my ancestors had forged. It was called Crossroads. It was a sword that contained the four strongest element forces in the world; fire, water, air, and earth. Science has proved that those forces do not make up the world, but they cannot deny each one plays a major role in our world."

Sadie raised her hand up to her chin, her eyes reflecting the many thought that were running through her head. She then asked, "I have heard something about that, from a friend of mine. Though, my understanding is that the Half-breed was destroyed."

Rachel shook her head, "No, Half-breed and Crossroads were not destroyed. They just disappeared. One of my ancestors, a powerful oracle, said that the two swords of power would reappear when there is peace between their forgers. That is the thing about mystical swords. They can be very particular of just who wields them. I think it means there has to be peace between the Shadow Walkers and the Leo Blitzs, but the rivalry has gone on far too long. It would take a miracle to end the hatred now."

Sadie nodded her head, and then glanced over at the clock, "Well, I have to get going. Thank you for lunch."

Rachel smiled and watched as Sadie slowly got up and slithered out of the kitchen. Sadie left the house, and began to make her way back to the safe house. As she made her way down the street, her mind was running a hundred miles an hour. It sounded like the so call rivalry was a misunderstanding that had gone horribly out of control. Still Sadie wondered, was there anyway to fix it, or had the rivalry gone on for far too long.

When Sadie got back to the safe house, Bentley was awake and about to start his planning meeting. He dimmed the lights, and took the lens cap off his slide show projector. The bright light from the projector hit a screen that hung from the ceiling, and Bentley took the small remote control in hand.

Bentley pressed a button, and while the slide projector moved to the first slide he said, "All right gang, we have an interesting problem in front of us. To get Carmelita's medallion of conscience, we will have to get it away from Nephthys. This is where we hit our first problem. From my hacking and Sly's recon photos, I have discovered the only time Nephthys takes the medallion of is when she is asleep."

Sly smiled, "So we'll just go in when she's asleep and grab it before she can wake up."

Bentley shook his head, "It's not that simple Sly. When ever the medallion isn't around her neck, it is in a small pocket dimension. Basically, it is a tiny universe Nephthys created to hold the medallion. Now, according to Blain, there are only two ways to get the medallion out of that pocket dimension. The first, we would have to get Nephthys to take it out for us. Since I doubt Nepthys is in a helping mood, we will have to go with the second way. According to my research, a pocket dimension spell requires a mystical symbol. Also, if any mystic was to find that symbol, he could access the pocket dimension by taking over the symbol."

Bentley paused, making sure everyone understood before he said, "In essence, here is our plan. Sly and Murray, you two will search the temple compound and the surrounding buildings. Try and find the mystical symbol that creates the pocket dimension. Blain will remain here as our coordinator. Sadie, you and I will head and speak with Nephthys. We will be posing as a pair of archeologists, and we will ask her about the history of the temple. At the same time, we will try to find out her connection to Mz. Ruby. For everyone except me and Sadie, keep your distance from Nephthys. She knows somebody saved that lionesses life, and she has every member of her cult out in force, searching for anyone that could have done the deed. Also, Blain says to steer clear of the lioness. He does not know why she is at the temple, but he would rather not worry about her until we have the medallion of conscience in our hands.

Everyone nodded their heads, the slide projector turning off as they all stood up. Less then an hour later, the gang arrived at the temple. Sly and Murray were the first out, heading for the southeastern corner of the city. Sadie and Bentley were next. Both were dressed in a very convincing set of clothes. Bentley had even dug out his old safari hat for the occasion. Blain was the last to leave the van, but that was only to get up onto the van's roof. Since every member of Nephthys's cult used some sort of magic, he could easily locate them all with his own power. The only technology he had was a headset with a microphone coming out the right hand earpiece.

While Sadie and Bentley made their way to the main temple, Murray and Sly began going to every building that surrounded it. Most of them were empty, but a few held weapons, explosives, and a few seemed to be barracks for the cult members. Still, they could not find any sign of the mystic symbol Bentley had showed them. Murray had gone off to check a row of buildings while Sly kept watch from the roof tops. Sly was leaning on his cane, look around a bit. He then saw a shadow move across a rooftop a few blocks away. He slowly stood up straight, and brought out his binocucom. He slowly focused in on the shadow, and smiled a bit as he saw it was Rachel.

Sly put away his binocucom, and began to chase after the lioness. It did not take long for Sly to catch up with, and then get in front of the lioness. He watched her carefully, waiting for her to stop. When she finally did, it was nearly ten blocks away from where he had first seen her.

Rachel moved over to the edge of the building, looking around the streets below at the guards. She was about to continue one when she heard someone say, "A beautiful night for a run, wouldn't you say."

Rachel turned around and saw Sly, smiling at her with his cane resting gently on his shoulder. Rachel eyes narrowed a bit, "I remember you. You were with that Shadow Walker."

Sly shrugged, "Why not just call him Blain. After all, it so much shorter."

Rachel growled a bit, "What do you want?"

"Can't I just want to have a conversation?"

"Nice try, but I have dealt with people like you before. You want something, so just spit it out."

Sly raised his hand to his chest, and acted like he had been stabbed, "Oh, that hurts Miss Blitz. Still, you are correct. I was hoping you could help me find something. I need to find the mystical symbol of Nephthys's that creates a pocket dimension."

Rachel raised an eyebrow, a little curious why a thief would be looking for something like that. When she asked, Sly told her about Carmelita and the fact Nephthys had her medallion of conscience hung around her neck. When Sly finished, Rachel sighed and said, "That is so terrible. I have heard of Mz. Ruby, but never dealt with her. Still, to use such a dark potion tells just the kind of person she is."

Sly smiled, "So, does that mean you'll help."

Rachel paused for a second, and then nodded her head, "All right, but I better not have to deal with that Shadow…I mean Blain."

"Don't worry. He is back at the van. Now, do you know where the symbol is?"

Rachel nodded her head, "It's on the wall, hidden behind Nephthys's throne. Thought, I don't know how you plan to get her out of the main hall."

Sly brought out his binocucom, winking at Rachel as he said, "Oh, I don't think that will be a big problem." Ten minutes later, Rachel and Sly met up with Murray and headed for the main temple. At the same time, Sly called into Blain and explained the plan. Though Blain was happy about working with Rachel, he agreed. Blain then contacted Bentley and Sadie. The plan was risky, but it was the best they could think of. Bentley and Sadie distracted Nephthys by asking her to show them around the temple. Nephthys agreed, enjoying the fact she could show off the many rooms and treasures in the temple to such prestigious people. Just as Nephthys began lead Bentley and Sadie out of the main hall, the others snuck in through a light vent in the roof.

While Murray stood guard at the door, Rachel and Sly made their way to Nephthys's throne. With a bit of strength, they managed to move the heavy stone throne away from the wall. Rachel peaked in-between the crack and smiled as she saw the mystic symbol, glowing with a soft, deep red, color. She looked over at Sly and said, "All right, here is the symbol generating the spell. Now, if we destroy it the dimension disappears and anything inside it as well. That is why we have to take control of it. They way this will work is I will be able to reach into the dimension, and get the medallion out."

Sly smiled, "Yeah, I forgot to mention something. Nephthys only puts the medallion in the dimension when she is asleep. I would imagine it's around her neck right now."

Rachel blinked a few times, and then scowled at Sly, "Then why did we come here now?"

"That is what I was wondering?" Sly and Rachel turned quickly, and their eyes widened as they saw Nephthys standing a few feet away. Her arms were crossed, and she was tapping her right foot lightly. Sly and Rachel tried to turn and run away, but they were to slow. In one quick motion Nephthys brought her hand up, and used her magic to send Sly and Rachel flying across the room. They struck the far wall with a resounding thud, and then fell to the floor.

Nephthys smiled, walking up to Rachel and Sly. As she walked past the row of columns that held up the temple's roof, she reached out and pulled something from the stone pillar. It was the dagger from the night before, and the blade was still a pitch black. Rachel's eyes widened, but before she could do anything Nephthys threw the dagger, and it became wedged in Rachel's shoulder. Rachel cringed in pain, pulling the dagger out before she began to hold her shoulder. Sly looked at Rachel, and then at Nephthys as he asked, "What is happening."

Nephthys smiled, turning to Sly, "Why, her body is being cursed. The spell will seep through her veins like a poison. Everything it passes by becomes filled with an excruciating pain. That is until it reaches her heart. Then, the pain goes away, and so does she. Still, I wouldn't worry about her. After all, you were her accomplice."

Sly's eyes widened, and he leapt out of the way just as Nephthys cast a powerful spell in his direction. Sly began to run, first along the wall and then out into the center of the room. He pulled out his binocucom, pressing the call button. However, before he could talk to Blain or Bentley, Nephthys launched a spell and blew the binocucom to pieces. Sly dropped what remained of the communication tool, and turned to face Nephthys. He would have to be careful. A single spell could be lethal. He would have to be very careful.

Nephthys grinned, her power beginning to lift her just off the floor. She held out her hand, and a long wooden pole appeared in her grasp. At one end of the staff was a spear tip while the other had the gently curving form of an Arabian sword. The staff was decorated with many designs, beads, and pieces of gold. Nephthys slowly began to twirl the weapon above her head, and then lung it forward. From the tip of the spear came a fire ball. Sly dodged out of the way, holding tightly to his cane as he tried to think of something to do.

For a few minutes Sly continued to dodge the fireballs, and then finally made his move. He leapt up at Nephthys, and was able to strike her across the face with his cane. Nephthys fell to the floor, and laid there for a few seconds. She then slowly looked up at Sly, her eyes filled with rage as a tiny trickle of blood escaped the cut on her cheek. She then stood up, taking a tight hold on her weapon. She hen charged forward, and began to fight Sly head on. Sly dodged most of the attacks, but it only took one to send him sprawling onto the ground. Sly slowly got up, and continued to dodge Nephthys attacks. At one point Murray came in from outside the temple, but he had no better luck against the Egyptian Mau. He had charged at her, but just before he could land a punch she had sent him crashing into the palace gates. At another time during the fight, Sadie and Bentley came rushing in from another part of the temple. Still, they could do nothing but dodge what attacks came their way. After some time, they managed to get to the temple's exit, and ran out. They were going to get Blain, and hopefully he could hold Nephthys of long enough Sly and Murray to get out.

It was fifteen minutes later, when Nephthys had managed to land to more hits. That's when Sly's luck ran out. He was knelt down on the floor, breathing hard as Nephthys floated over him. She smiled, a hungry look in her eyes, "I thank you, whoever you are. I have not had a fight like that in ages. Now, however, I'm afraid its time I took your life."

Nephthys raised her staff up, the end with the long sword pointed at Sly's neck. Just before she was about to drive the blade into his flesh, something came hurtling through the air. It struck Nephthys in the gut, and sent her crashing back onto her throne. What ever hit her spun in the air a few seconds before it began to head towards the temples main entrance. Standing in the doorway was Blain, who took hold of the weapon, the mystical sword Oathkeeper, when it returned to him.

Nephthys growled a bit, and tried to stand up from her throne. She then found she could not, and looked down at her wrist. White rings of light had formed around them, and they bound her to the throne. While Nephthys struggled against the ties, Blain rushed forward and helped Sly up. With a quick spell, he gave Sly enough energy to get out to the team van. He had already gotten Murray out to the van, and Bentley waited to drive them back to the safe house.

Just before Sly left, he turned to Blain and said, "You have to go get Rachel."

Blain's eyes widened and his face filled with surprise, "What, are you insane. I can't…"

Sly shook his head, "Yes, you can. If you won't do it for her, do it as a favor for me. She helped us find the mystic symbol, one it would have taken us days to find otherwise. "

Blain growled a bit, but then nodded his head, "Fine, but you owe me one." Blain then turned, and rushed over to where Rachel laid slumped against the wall. Blain gently picked her up into his arms. He smiled a bit, she was much lighter then he would have suspected. Then, with Nephthys yelling and screaming at them in Egyptian, Blain and Sly made their escape.