Chapter 5: The Moon

"Disappointment—False security in no way protects one from hidden danger."—The Egyptian Tarot

She had not been fully truthful with Rebecca, but didn't care that she wasn't. The reason she had not been asleep was because of the fact that she had dreams of the place between life and death, at times anyway, and while there, she saw her sebah...wandering...

It broke her heart, each night, to see him like that, wandering, his cloak torn from the years, his sandals stained with the mud and water of the river he could not cross. The first night out of Egypt she had such a dream and awoke to the sound of her own yell.

Her sebah had spoken to her, telling her that until what was left of his soul remembered his name, then he would walk this way. She had offered her items, her powers, her very soul, if it would give him peace. Instead, he had taken her and hugged her, then said his instruction to her.

"Live for me, that I may see you again in the living world."

Each time, she walked with him along the side, seeing the golden world beyond, and hated that she had never found a way for him to cross, and he never let her.

Where was the person to solve the Puzzle, and free the memories of her sebah? She had waited 3000 years...was that not enough?

The group was preparing, Jules and Phileas doing some training with fencing, so that Jules had a general idea of how to defend himself with a sword just in case. She personally didn't believe it would come down to that: her plan was to have the Foggs follow after him and stay that way, not breaking from him, and protecting him as they could. Passepartout would have to wait and defend the Aurora for the time being. Saim had insisted and thus would follow one of the groups, in the hopes of finding and confronting his sister.

She watched the failed attempt by Jules which sent him near her and nearly spilt her drink. She sighed and placed it down before standing up and quickly taking the small pad that Jules had been writing with. He looked over at her as she also pulled out another rapier and, with a quick flick and move to test it, looked over at Phileas. "If you don't mind...I'd like to try and teach him something."

Phileas looked at her like she was insane, and she said, "I had to train others before. I never hurt them too badly that they couldn't do the same thing the next day, so please don't worry about him."

Phileas lowered his own rapier and moved away while she walked over to Jules and held a starting stance. "Try this."

He did, and she smiled before saying, "What has he taught you already?"

Jules quickly explained what he did, as well as how he knew to take away an opponents weapon if need be. She nodded and then walked over to place his sketchbook to one side, then took her own stance. "If you can get past me, then I'll let you have your book back."

"What?"

"I'll train you, and if you are able to get past me with what you learn and know, then you can have the book back. Ready?"

Jules frowned, then nodded and took his own stance.

She had to admit, she was happy that she wasn't as good with fencing as with just general fighting. There was no point to such an art! At least in her mind...the swords of old were always her favorite; fencing now was just a way to know that you could wield a light-weight sword.

They did a quick round, then Jules pulled back. She frowned at this but said nothing until the second round ended like that, and instead she used the rapier to hit him against his leg. He winced and she said, "Don't leave an opening when retreating. If this is real and they are good, they'll try to cut your leg out from under you."

Jules didn't make the mistake again, which she had to admit she was proud of, and actually got past her in the fourth round to grab his book. She gave him a warm smile. "That's very good. I'm not as good as Fogg when it comes to this, but I am tough, I've heard."

Phileas nodded. "I must admit, you are a good teacher as well."

"Only in combat," she told them, going back to sit down and finish her now-cooled tea, "I'm terrible at teaching anything else."

Saim smiled at her and she gave him a small smile back before she realized it.

They were in her heart...already...

Already, they had worked their way into her heart, into being her friends. She wanted nothing bad to happen to them, noting that might make her lose them as well. She wanted to break her promise and stay with them, stay to protect them all...

I can't. I cannot stay...no more then I can leave so quickly. I can only do what I must to watch over them.

I can ensure they are all safe, in the very least.

-o-

Zalika smelled more then heard the approach of Count Gregory. In her time in this place, she had come to smell the odor of this man's rotting flesh and realized that is was oddly appropriate for him. The man was a living mummy, cut into five and unable to become whole again, kept alive by unnatural means that shouldn't have been around in the time he died.

But he was alive, and all he saw was a way to keep the world under the rule of monarchs, of those chosen by blood to rule.

"How many more of my men are dead because of this 'shadow magic'?" the Count asked, causing Zalika to smile. He didn't care for these men, but their numbers were important.

"Only five today," Zalika told him, "The ones who are Observers and otherwise...altered have no hopes of passing the test of the Items. I am hard-pressed now to find new subjects, and on top of that, the trail of dead League members left by my elder brother is leading them towards us. Just not fast enough."

So, brother, you seek to stop me? I am one not chosen by the Items; you are one who gained them easily! I cannot have my time?

"What worries me is the tale that half-dead member told us," she confessed, "Of the woman bathed in blood with the eyes of a lion, who killed all the men and sunk your flying ship. If she is who I think she is, then she will be a good danger to us."

"And who is that?" Count Gregory asked. Zalika looked at him and tried to decide how best to word this. The man was a Christian, and while Zalika's clan had some ties to Muslim, her own upbringing had caused her to shun them. She and her clan were Egyptian, servants of the Divine Pharaoh. Like these monarchs in Europe, the Pharaoh's rule had been pushed aside, but if she was able to gain all seven Items...

"She is the embodiment of Divine Wraith, Count," she said, "she is called the Mighty One by those who do not want to speak her name. Her namesake is the goddess of war and plagues, who rode with my Pharaohs into battle and who scared away the invaders. She is also a traitor, leaving the palace when she was needed most to wander." Her smile was full of contempt. "If Judas was as strong as her, perhaps he would not have hung himself for carrion to eat, but taken his fate and wandered the world, shameful and alone."

The Count let out a growl, as he always did when she showed her contempt for his religion, and finally asked, "What of the men I recommended we find?"

"You mean the visionary Verne, and his protectors?" She laughed. "The Englishmen who angered the Cult of Osiris and killed a Spider Queen, and a Frenchman who knows nothing? I would only test them so I could watch them burn for the sins of their ancestors and countrymen. Your visionary I would hesitate on, but that is because even with the Shadow Games, one needs to advance as well, in case a tragedy should occur and you are faced with thieves that have powers beyond yours."

Zalika paused and then said, "But you should worry more, Count. How was it that the Mighty One knew where the Ankh was? If she knows where one is, she'll find us. And when she does..." Zalika's smile grew cruel and sadistic, "...when she does, you would beg for the horses and Turks to split you again before she was done with you."

"I doubt that."

"I do not. Take care, Count. I am here because you and I have the same goal; to put those who are supposed to be in power back into power. When you are done with my plan, you will toss me away, or try to keep me for later use. Do not think that when I am done with you, I will not hesitate to throw you away as well, and take the Items with me."

-o-

A tall tower was before him, a pyramid of old but with something new inside. The tower changed, then before it was Typhone cut into five, and Zalika, raising her hands, the Eye and the Rod above her. She smiled down upon him and yelled for a storm to blow away those who would betray the laws of Ma'at.

Lightning struck, and Typhone cut into five fell to one side, the man Phileas, now the agent of Ermanubi 1, falling as well, but holding onto the griffin he rode on when the chariot had headed for this now-broken tower. Zalika fell to the other side, screaming like a harpy of myths, and the ground opened beneath her. From there a pillar of blue-white light came up, lightning striking from the ground.

And out of the hole, holding the Rod, was the shadow of the man who was the White Beast Tamer, the one who held the Rod during the time of the Nameless Pharaoh.

The Eye spun downward and was caught by the Mighty One, who looked over and handed the Item to Jules, who also held a thick tome in his hand. Rebecca looked over to where Phileas agent of Ermanubi was coming back with the griffin.

"This is the divine law," the shadow of the White Beast Tamer said, handing the Rod to Jules as well while the beast above him melted into that of a woman with long blue hair and a plain dress, her hands clapped forever in prayer 2. "Man has forever built up a way to the heavens, and forever will it be brought down when hubris overtakes this. The Great Books are meant to be double-edged swords. Beware of that, and the Darkness that will be drawn to those which hold the creations from such books."

"Saim?"

His eyes refocused and he shook his head clear of the vision. The light touch on his shoulder was the Mighty One, though Phileas, Rebecca, and Jules looked just as worried.

"It was a vision," he said, "an odd one, but I believe this could be good for us."

"What did you see?" Jules asked. Saim frowned.

"It is hard to describe after seeing it. I saw my sister and the man she is working with, and their defeat. I heard a warning for the one with one of the Great Books within him; a warning of how the Great Books cut both ways, and to beware of the Darkness which is drawn to them."

Jules seemed to look concerned, as did Phileas, but Rebecca looked at the Mighty One with almost a silent communication going between them.

Saim sighed. The visions were always simply symbols for what might happen, not what would. He had seen a vision that Rebecca and the Mighty One would fight, and while a few arguments had come up between the two, it main concerned the safety of the others. When it came to fighting the League or to anything else of any matter, neither seemed to want to fight, or even argue with the other, but instead shared what they could think of.

Both feel strongly about us, he considered as Passepartout quickly replaced the tea that, during his sudden vision, he had accidentally spilt on the table.

"How close are we?" he asked, wanting to change the subject.

"Tomorrow we are getting there," Passepartout told him, "and then we are being ready for them."

Saim nodded, hoping that they were. Vision of victory or not, he had a feeling that not all of the visions would come true. At one point, a vision given by the Tauk would be proven wrong.

Saim hoped it would not be the one he just had.

1—Ermanubi is part of the Wheel in my Egyptian Tarot deck, representing goodness as Typhon represents evil. I looked him up, couldn't find any references for a real deity...

2—From the Yugioh series, this is Kisara, the woman who originally held the Blue Eyes White Dragon ka in her. As far as we know, Kisara didn't live a nice life: she was a foreigner with pale skin, blue eyes, and was very weak. She often lived out in the desert, only chancing going into towns if she needed water. When she did once, she was stoned by the villagers but save by Priest Seto. After he saved her, he found out she had a powerful ka in her, and took her back to the palace to treat her and later to see if he could release her power.

This involved putting her into an arena with two others who were fighting. Instead of fighting, the woman seemed to give up and Seto, just suddenly, went in to save her.

Cue the 'awwww' moment.

But their like/love/whatever didn't last, as she couldn't call forth the Dragon without being unconscious or in a coma. The main evil guy wanted her dead, so he tried to get Seto to kill her. When Seto didn't, main evil guy did.

So now Seto has a dragon and not a girlfriend.

Cue the sad 'awww' moment.