Next chapter!
They'll be coming all after the other... pretty much.
Still don't own it.
And away we go!
Ardeth POV
For a moment I thought the Nameless One jested. One look into her eyes and I realized she was very serious. I sat down again, to think. Things had gotten complicated rather quickly. I had no idea what to say or do. I closed my eyes to think, to pray. I was unsure if her staying here was wise, due to the fact that we seemed to argue about many things. That aside, her presence might provoke another attack, and I did not wish for that. My tribe had taken a toll in this last one.
"I will not stay here Ardeth; do not worry yourself about that." She said. I opened my eyes.
"I do not wish for you to open my mind to yourself." I replied.
"I have not entered your mind since we met in the City of the Dead. You think like a leader, therefore the first thing that would obviously be on your mind would be the safety of your tribe, and the persistent watch at Hummnaptra." She said, I nodded slowly. "No need for apologizing Ardeth. I entered your mind without permission before so that I could verify why you meant to me. You are the Warrior I was searching for. It is I who should apologize to you for such an intrusion, there was no excuse for it, and it is one of the reasons your people dislike the Gods that exist still."
"There had been no time for you to ask. I was near death. If I had not been the warrior you were looking for, would you have let me die?" I asked.
"I do not know Ardeth. I would have wanted to. Your God is so kind to me, and my father. But there are laws. I took a great leap of faith to bring you back from death, and may well have sacrificed my immortality and powers. Don't let this sacrifice be in vain. I do not care if I cease to exist. I am nothing, born after the great age of Gods. I would not be missed. But my father deserves better than this scourge on his name. If it takes my death, so be it."
I frowned as I looked at her. She smiled and stood, walking closer. She leaned up and kissed my cheek. She walked outside; I followed her after a moment. She had already ventured to the borders of the tribe. I waved to the guards to let her pass. I would not let her down, and I would not let her be destroyed by this. If she was willing to risk her life for that of her father, than I felt it my duty to do what I could to take away the darkness that haunted his name.
Jasmine approached, looking worriedly at me. I too felt worry. For if the Goddess could be hurt, weakened, then what of my people? What chance did we have?
"Ardeth, what will happen to me?" She asked.
"Judgment will not be passed on you. You saved our lives here, and yours cannot be taken, at least at the moment." I replied.
"Your friends wed soon. Will you not go to them for such a celebration?" She asked.
"How do you know this?" I asked, startled.
"I see things in my sleep. Much chaos, but that was clear. Sometimes I see them in my waking hours as well. As days pass it grows clearer, but much beyond now is unclear. I think even you could have predicted this however. You know them well enough." She said.
I just looked at her for a moment, and then laughed.
"That I could have, now let's tend to the injured." I said.
In the end, we received a letter from Evelyn and O'Connell. They were to wed soon, and the Goddess was prepared to take us, since her powers would be returned, if not in complete strength. I wondered what my English friends would think of the two women. The Goddess insisted on coming with us, because she felt that she had to know more about my friends. She seemed aloof every time she came back to the tribe to help heal the injured. She began teaching sword fighting alongside myself, always silent, only speaking when she was asked a question.
"Nameless One, you should stay among us. You've helped us so much, but every night you walk out into the desert." Jasmine said one evening as the Goddess prepared to leave.
"I do so, so that I do not endanger the people of this tribe young one. I meditate in the desert, and regain my strength out there. I have since been able to return to my former power, and have seen my father enough to question what is happening. He knows little, or won't tell me. It is my path I am walking, and he cannot take my hand and guide me." The Goddess said.
"She is correct Jasmine. She also makes the tribesmen nervous." I said
"When my father is well again, maybe I will visit more often." The Nameless One said, mirth twinkling in her eyes.
I said nothing, and tried to keep the small smile from my lips. I was making sure that we all had what we would need. I was already in traveling clothes, and Jasmine was as well. We would arrive a few days early at the home of O'Connell, and help him to prepare for the wedding. Jasmine and the Goddess intended to help Evelyn as well. The Goddess did not wish to change her clothing, but after some convincing on Jasmine's part, traded her traditional dress for something a little more modern, if not as extravagant.
Jasmine POV
We were gone in a moment, and arrived in a strange looking house of stone. The Goddess and Ardeth were already moving around the house. I stood there until the Goddess came back and took my hand in hers. Something felt horribly wrong, but I couldn't think of what.
Flash!
"Book of the Dead, gives life. Book of the living… takes life away." A woman said.
"I thought that was my job."
She smiles, touching the books as if they were precious to her, like the caress of a lover. She hears something, and smiles. They found him. It was a dig. Hers was an old body, in a manner. A reincarnation. Pure malice and evil.
Then I was suddenly standing in an Oasis, watching the face of another try to kill people familiar to me. Water, a child. I smiled, it was a grim omen, a grim vision. I didn't know why I kept having these visions.
"Jasmine!"
Never before had my visions spoken my name, but I heard it being shouted again and again. I was watching the visions flash by. Soon they stopped and everything was black, I felt someone shaking my shoulders. Suddenly I was gasping, on my knees. Someone had their arms around my shoulders and was shouting something to someone else. I was holding my head, which was pounding with screams of pain and worry.
"Jasmine! Are you alright?" Ardeth asked.
"I'm fine, what happened?" I asked.
"We were about to ask you the same thing. Then some friends dropped in." A man said. He held a club that looked like it was rather dusty. "You've got an interesting new girlfriend Ardeth, starting a harem?"
Ardeth gave the man a look of pure poison, but he only laughed, helping me to my feet and looking past Ardeth to someone else. I turned to see the Goddess dispatching what looked like a mummy with ease. She turned around and smiled, dusting her hands off and looked at the outfit she was wearing, sighing she bent down to repair the rip that had no doubt occurred when she began fighting.
"She's quite a woman Ardeth. And I wondered if you'd always be single."
"O'Connell. This is Jasmine, and this is…" Ardeth started.
"Let me guess, she's some sort of sorceress. I didn't think you fell in with that kind of crowd, I mean, since we just defeated Imhotep and all." O'Connell said.
"I am not in league with that man. He has done enough to my father, and until he receives retribution, I will warn you to never mention that man's name in my presence." The Nameless One said, walking forward.
"Then what is your name, sweetheart?"
"Watch it Rick, Evelyn may not like your choice of words. And I might just let her know about the belly dancer, and a few other women you haven't told her about. Oh, they were before her time, but I just think it would be a wonderful idea to let her know." The Goddess said with a sneer.
"How do you know that? What are you?" O'Connell asked, raising a sword.
"I doubt that would do much damage to me Rick. Especially since I could remove your life in more ways than there are stars."
Ardeth turned and looked at her, and she shrugged, her clothes morphing back into what they had been before Ardeth had ordered her to look like the people of his tribe. O'Connell jumped at the sudden change, but the sword he had grabbed flew into the wall, leaving him staring at her, and then swinging his head around to find the sword.
"I suggest you hold off on your prejudices Rick. We're going to have more company, and I think you might want to alert your wife to be, since it's her they are after." The Goddess said, walking down the stairs.
"Just who the hell are you lady?" O'Connell asked.
"I'm the daughter of Anubis, a Goddess, much like those you hear about in Egyptian myth. Except, we're REAL. And you don't have to believe me, Rick. Believe him." She said, pointing beyond his head.
She made a motion, and the sword flipped out of the wall and skewered the thing that was behind O'Connell. He spun, ripped the sword from the creature, and threw the sword at Ardeth. Ardeth caught it with an expert spin, his robes flaring out as he spun to attack the next wave of creatures.
"Where is Evelyn?" Ardeth shouted over the screeching.
"She's out with some friends, and she's going to be VERY angry if we wreck the house." O'Connell shouted back.
"Fair enough." The Goddess said, and we disappeared from the home, reappearing outside, in some sort of courtyard.
Ardeth POV
I had been calling Jasmine's name, and shaking her to get her attention. Upon entering O'Connell's she had stopped, frozen at the step, and looking into the distance as if she wasn't even in the same room. She fell to her knees, holding her head as if she were in an amount of great pain. Then we were attacked. By the time we had gotten rid of the creatures, Jasmine was blinking, as if she had just come from a dim room.
That was when the Nameless One and O'Connell began their little spat. It made me almost glad that she had chosen another outlet for her argumentative side. I also felt something else, but I shook it off as the creatures we were fighting began to press harder. The Goddess seemed to be enjoying herself, and I wasn't surprised. I was surprised when she hurled the sword towards O'Connell, slamming it into a creature. O'Connell tore the sword out and threw it to me, using his club to finish the job.
We began the fight anew, and the Goddess even removed the fight to the courtyard. If she wasn't happy arguing, she was when she was fighting something. It was amazing to watch the movements, and I began to ponder what I knew of her, and how I could give her the name she so ardently sought. She turned to me and smiled, then spun around, the gold on the end of her braids slashing into the creature she fought. It screamed as its head was removed. A Goddess that could do what she did should not want for a name like all others. But I knew she had a great destiny and that with that destiny she should have a name to be remembered with.
The Goddess spun around, bringing her saber to bear, stopping a mere sliver away from Evelyn's throat. She winked, and disappeared, reappearing next to me in the clothing I had ordered her to wear. She was closer to me than I was used to, and it made me rather uncomfortable. Jasmine was dusting her hands off, and making sure that her robes were closed properly. She stood beside me, and we faced the young couple.
"Well Ardeth, it is good to see you again. Who are you friends?" Evelyn asked after clearing her throat nervously.
"Jasmine, and… the Nameless One." I said, unsure what to say.
"Nameless One? I'm not sure I get what you mean Ardeth. It sounds like your referring to a God of some sort." Evelyn said.
"He is. Well, a Goddess anyway. We're here for your wedding Evelyn. I'm sure you wouldn't mind some assistance, I mean you are part Egyptian aren't you?" The Goddess said. I sighed.
"You are to keep yourself from entering the minds of humans; you do remember this, do you not?" I asked.
"I know, I know. But you know as well as I how hard it is to make people like them believe us. You were hard enough to convince, and you deal with my kind constantly." She said.
"Yes, but we've dealt with your kind as well, if you'll excuse the impertinence. We called upon your father to remove..." Evelyn started
"I'm very aware of what you did, Miss Canrahan. But if you care to remember, it was all a 'Hodge podge' and 'hocus pocus' if I am correct." The Goddess retorted.
"Well, yes, that's what I thought before, but not now that I've faced…" Evelyn said. O'Connell held up his hand.
"The point is, we woke up the bad guy, and called for your dad's help to kill him. We thank your dad for the help; just don't get upset at us." He said.
"Your… father? Do you mean…Anubis? The Egyptian God of Death? Lord of the armies of Ahm- Sher?" Evelyn asked.
I winced as thunder and lightning split the skies. They all jumped, except for the Goddess. The fury on her face could have incinerated everyone there. I stepped in front of her, grabbing her shoulders. She looked up at me, a pain in her eyes I hadn't thought that would be there. She was a Goddess after all, and they had no need to portray human emotions.
"My father is NOT the dark God. He is not the one that gave that man an army or the powers of the scorpion. My father is Anubis, he brings the dead to the Underworld to have their souls weighed by Osiris. He is like Hermes of the Greek world. Only a messenger to the Underworld, not it's ruler." The Goddess said.
"That's not what some of the history I've been following says." Evelyn said. The Goddess was at her throat in an instant.
"What do you know of history, you little ant! I am older than you could even fathom, and yet too young to join the pantheon of the Gods of Egypt. I've watched civilizations fall, only to be replaced by another. And you DARE to tell ME that YOUR history is correct!" She screamed.
"Lay off alright!" O'Connell shouted, going after the Goddess.
"I wouldn't Rick. She is a Goddess, through and through. You've seen what she can do without trying. She has not even begun to get angry." I whispered to him harshly, catching his arm.
"She's attacking my wife!"
"No she isn't. If she wanted to attack your wife, she would be dead." I replied. "Stay your hand, or you will feel her wrath, and she is not a kindly Goddess when insulted."
"You are lucky your destiny runs in the line of Ardeth's, or I would teach you to say such things to even a Goddess such as myself." The Nameless One growled, and in a thunderclap, she was gone.
"That went well." O'Connell said, holding Evelyn close.
And the epilogue is next!