For Love or Gold

CHAPTER 5

The morning Egyptian sun raised itself from the shadows of the night, illuminating the barren landscape in its light and warm. Kayla was up early, she had taken a walk with Reaper down to the tomb and retrieved a few of the artifacts from the just discovered Temple of Isis and Anubis. The two girls had not gone and explored the second room, but stayed in the main chamber and looked over the treasure that was buried there.

She was right now gently cleaning off the century old dust from a gold statue of what she guessed was Anubis, it intrigued her that this god would be displayed at an equal standing with Isis in this temple. She wondered why it had never been discovered, there was nothing she could find in any Egyptian book about any connection between Isis and Anubis.

She sat at the table outside the hut, under the cover of a tarp. The sun grew rather hot in this area, Reaper had stayed inside the cooled hut, magic kept the interior temperature at a comfortable temperature.

"You're up early…" Kay heard Emma say as she walked out of the hut.

Kay smiled, "No, you're getting up late. Had a good time last night.?"

Emma flopped on the chair next to Kayla and picked up one of the amulets they had brought back the night before, "I had a grand time, that James is quite a dancer."

Kay giggle, "You still smell like a cheep drunk."

Emma laughed and slapped Kay's shoulder, "At least I am enjoying myself while we're here. Come on Kay, the boys there are really nice. You study way too much! I remember you when we were younger at the Manor, There would be dances in the hall and you would rather stay in the library! No wonder you've never shagged."

Kay looked at her in surprise, "Not that it's any of your business, but I've shagged before, just not as often as you have!"

Emma crossed her arms on the table and rested her head on them as she looked at her best friend, "I hate to see you become an old Betty, dear. There is plenty of eye candy and yet you haven't even looked!"

Kay looked back at the statue of Anubis in her hand and smiled, "I don't need to."

"You do have a chap back home! Oh! Do tell me who he is! It's Mark, isn't it?" Emma grinned.

'We are just friends…" Kay put down the statue quickly and grabbed a long beaded necklace with a few gold carvings attached.

"I know that look, Kay! I've seen it before when you were dating Jeremy. You like Mark, don't you?"

Kay tried to hid her grin, but couldn't, "Fine, yes I like him and no there's not going to be anything between us. It wouldn't work out." She gave her long time friend a squinted look, "Shouldn't you be translating those scriptures from the main room or something?"

Emma stood up and grabbed the parchment papers on the table that she had drew a few of the significant glyphs for translation later. She sat back down and looked back at Kay.

"You know, it's going to come out, one way or another." She said with a smile.

Kay looked back at her and stuck her tong out, "Just do your job…"

"Fine…" Emma looked over the glyphs and began to sound them out, "This one reads that the Goddess Isis had walked the earth at this time, I cannot date it yet until we get it in the lab.

"That's twice I've heard a goddess walked the earth, once in Africa, and now here." Kay voiced up.

"But here, it says that Anubis walked at her side during her time here. It also shows that this Goddess' symbol is a little different than the one for Isis we've all seen before. Perhaps it's to separate her time in heaven and her time here?"

"That would be my guess," Kay starred at Emma for a moment, "Does it say anything about her using all four elements of power?"

"Not really, just that she had called forth rain, and made the crops grow ...there's talks of her sending the four winds to carry their sailors down the Nile River. I would take a guess that she would have."

Kay pulled out her African amulet and looked closely at it, "This one only has a skull…but I'm confused. If the Raven represents Isis, and the skull Anubis…how does the Raven still represent death?"

Emma grinned, "Or does it?"

"You think it doesn't?"

"Not as you think, it seems that we're making it too complicated. Perhaps the reason that we today believe that the Raven means Death because we have seen it here…" Emma pointed to Kayla pendant, "So we would just assume that the Raven means death. But here, it is evident that they are written as two separate entities. The Raven is not death, but shown accompanied by Death."

"So, that's why the Raven and Death are so close. That makes sense." Kay grabbed a hold of the Anubis statue again and looked at it.

"I wonder why they believed that Anubis was Isis' consort." Emma touched the statue, "They believed that Anubis' parents were Ra and Isis. And Isis never wore a headdress with a raven on it, usually she would have cow like horns on her headdress."

"So, we have two fashions of one goddess…" Kay popped up, "One that everyone knows and this one."

Emma read some more of her sheets, "It seems that the raven represents her as walking the earth, but that still leaves why Anubis would escort her down here."

"Maybe Anubis isn't Isis' child." Kay replied.

"Then it would explain the stories that Nephthys was his mother." Emma looked over the papers again and grinned, "I bet he was shagging her…"

Kay busted out laughing, "Is that all you think about?"

"If men can think about it all the time, why can't I?"

Their conversation was interrupted by the beeping of the satellite phone, Emma jumped off her seat and ran inside the hut to retrieve it. Kay looked back at the artifact in her hand, there was something familiar about this little god of Death. She knew now that the Goddess Isis walked on the earth, like the woman Madam Sheer had descried in her story. But before she could think some more, Emma ran out with a gin ear to ear on her face, the phone was clutched tightly against her chest.

"It's that magnificent beast, your brother on the line." Emma handed her the phone.

Kay couldn't help but giggle as she took the phone, "Hey hey big brother, what's up!"

"Hey Kay…" She heard over the distance, the phone had lousy reception, "…how'd your trip?"

"Having a blast, we're in the middle of no where, nice and quite."

"Kay…you have to come home." The sound of his voice sent a chill up her spine and her stomach began to turn.

"What's wrong, Dave?"

"Kay, dad and your mom have been in an accident…they didn't make it."

Kayla froze, Emma became concerned for her friend, she had never seen that look of fear and dread on her face before.

"When?" Kay was able to make out.

"This morning. They were on their way to see your family. I'll…tell you more when you get here. Just come home."

"Ok, I'm on my way…" Kayla shut the phone off and looked up at her friend, "I have to go home..." She said quietly, "…my parents just died…"

To be continued…