Dreams & Nightmares
Chapter 9
Rating: R
Disclaimer: No characters appearing herein are mine.
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Scarab appeared in his living room with nary a sound, scaring Heka so badly it sounded as though the golden cobra had swallowed her tongue. The sorcerer merely cocked a brow at her wide-eyed shock as he moved off to the bedroom for some clothes and sleep. For as much as he revelled in his new body, it was cold and he found himself oddly tired.
Blast it all, he inwardly grumbled upon finding nothing that properly fit him. Had he really been so much shorter as an old man? And had he been blind as well? These clothes were absolutely horrid! I need to go shopping, he realized in disgust.
A peculiar wave of weakness passed over him with enough abruptness to buckle his legs. Staggering to a nearby chair, he sat down heavily not long before he would undoubtedly have collapsed. Long moments passed before his strength returned and he could stand once more.
What is wrong with me? After the amount of power he took from the girl, he should be flushed with it, nigh invincible. Nor, he realized upon careful thought, should he be as tired as he currently felt…
Was there a part of the spell unfinished? Could something have gone wrong?
Suddenly anxious, fatigue shoved to the back of his mind, Scarab sprang up from his seat and raced to his office. The ancient leaf of yellowed and brittle goatskin parchment lay where he left it; innocent seeming with it faded writing in a long forgotten symbol-script and its simple but colourful flat images.
Running his eyes over the ancient words for any step he may have missed, the wizard focused on the more garbled and timeworn passages at the bottom of the sheaf. Before, he thought it the beginnings of a different spell, now he found himself unsure and struggling to decipher the faded, cryptic language.
It was past noon before full understanding made him seethe with fury. Had the hunter not shown up, he would now be bloated with power, an indestructible force the mummies would be impotent to fight against and survive. When he gained that power, Jakal would be the first to feel it for causing its delay.
He chuckled then, a dark sound echoing in the silent room, the answer was so simple. It never ceased to amaze him how such potent sorcery could be sealed so easily…
The girl had to die.
Her death had to come before the full moon however. That gave him just less than three weeks to see it done. Finding her would be nearly impossible if she did not leave wherever it was the mummies hid from him. Six years he looked for them, six years he fought them, and still he had never discovered where they were, what place they called home. The protection and shielding spells cast by the bothersome Rath were strong, much more so than first anticipated.
But, he thought with a frightening death-grin as he felt the low thrum of the charioteer's energy flow through him, I now have the means to find her, find them all. Shields or no.
Leaving the day-lightened modernity of his office as lightning arced across the threatening sky, he made his way to the centremost of his rooms. There were no window here, no electric lights; no electricity of any sort could enter this room. Only flame was used to lift the darkness, and several thick candles burned always, reflecting off the many mirrors adorning the black draped wall of the nonagon room.
In the relative darkness, he could see with distraction. Away from the constant, intrusive buzz of the modern world, he could hear and focus once more.
The centre of the room held a large, shallow bowl made of blackest obsidian atop a tall altar-like table. It was to this empty vessel he strode, reaching under the cloth-draped table for a silver flagon and a corked glass bottle.
From the flagon, he filled the bowl with water and from the bottle came three small drops of rose oil.
As he waited now for the scrying pool to settle, Scarab concentrated on the vigorous life soaring through his veins and dancing along his nerves. Yes, this was it. He and the girl were linked, that link would lead him to her, the other mummies, and the brat, but only if he could successfully focus on the energy he took from her.
Upon opening his violet eyes, he found that the liquid had stilled and already a vague half-image swirled into being. He furrowed his smooth brow and stared further into the bowl, waiting for the indistinct blur to clarify.
It came quickly, solidifying into a lion with the head of a man…
A sphinx?
Surely, it isn't the one by the museum, he thought with a frown as the smoky little image expanded to show more. As many times as I've been there… What a fool I've been!
His destination known, the pool became nothing more than a bowl of lukewarm water again. He cleansed it, putting everything back the way it was and left the windowless chamber, his mind churning.
The sphinx… it seemed so obvious now. Where else could four mummies hide in this city and still be in such close proximity to magical talismans and spells? And they were always in that area, as was the boy. He was such a blind fool!
Unfortunately, he realized as a minor wave of weakness washed over him once again, in his current state it would be suicide to invade his enemies' sanctuary. He needed help. He needed an ally.
But who?
He thought of his past allies. None had a very high success rate and most now wanted his head for one reason or another. The gods were too mercurial and chaotic as a force to use with any reliability, and there was little wish in him to call on Chontra simply because she threatened to castrate him when he last saw her three years ago.
Whom could he call upon for aid? Who hated the guardians enough to agree to keep the three men distracted while he grabbed the girl, and the boy if his luck was good?
Slouching in an overstuffed, leather recliner, the young sorcerer ran his hands through his thick black hair and huffed out a sigh. What was he to do?
Heka had turned her attention from the television to him, and at his noticing her, she cocked her golden head in silent question. Her surprise of earlier was gone, she was merely curious now. Whether about his mood or what he was thinking about, he did not overly care at the moment.
"Do you know any allies who would make a suitable distraction for the mummies?" He asked on the chance she might remember someone he had not.
Her head cocked the other way as she fell into silent thought, undoubtedly going over the long list of the past just as he had earlier. She glanced back at the television for a moment as the gears of her mind turned.
Waiting for her response, he looked to the images as well out of curiosity of what she found so fascinating. It looked to be a nature programme, one on arachnids… As the little creatures fought bitterly, the perfect choice came to him. A large grin split his face.
Him.
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End chapter 9
Thank you to everyone who reads this and reviews. What do ya'll think of Scarab's spin on things? Is he suitably evil?