Chapter Fourteen

"What just happened?" Brunden asked, looking around at the now-silent Smithsonian Castle. "Why aren't they up anymore?"

"Kahmunrah must've restored the rhythm," Larry replied. "Actually makes our job of keeping this place secure easier."

"Wait, we're trusting a lunatic now?"

"There's a bigger fish."

"Bigger than Kahmunrah? You said he was tough."

"He is, but he can't mummify people alive, fracture water manes, or disrupt the surface of the earth itself."

"What?" Larry told his story, and as Brunden listened, his eyes opened wider and wider. If it could, his jaw would've hit the floor by the time Larry finished. "You're serious?"

"Yeah. Serious as a heart attack."

"You were right. I couldn't even imagine this."

"Neither could I, and I promise, it's not usually this bad."

"Usually? You mean, exhibits don't try to kill you on a daily basis?"

"That hasn't happened since my first few days on the job, and by the end of that, I got the exhibits to get along with each other. And yes, it can be done."

"Wow. So, you get by okay?"

"Yeah."

Brunden nodded. His face had gone blank. "I, um, think I'll go now." Larry nodded and watched him walk away.

NATM

Ahkmenrah stepped backward, instinctively moving closer to his brother. "Now what?" Kahmunrah asked.

"This is not the time for panicking," Ahkmenrah replied, facing Kahmunrah.

"Who says I'm panicking?"

"On top of your lisp, you're starting to stutter." Kahmunrah's brows drew together. "You're a pretty easy read, brother."

"So, if we're in Ammit's killing field, then we're close to the end of the journey of normal dead people, of which we obviously are not."

"That means we're closer to finding Karahe and stopping him. And I thought I was wandering around aimlessly for all this time."

"Have you even figured out how to do that?"

Ahkmenrah paused, then said, "No. You?"

"Actually this was a half-baked scheme to get around needing to use the gate."

"Then we need another half-baked scheme."

"I better start working on it, then."

"Me, too." He tilted his head to their path. "We should go, before we're found."

"I thought that was our purpose, to be found."

"Not by Ammit, and certainly not by-" Ahkmenrah's voice was choked by sudden fear, and he was convinced that Karahe, his master, or both were close or launching an attack. He was about to say, "Run," but when he opened his mouth for the word, he had the impression that they were surrounded.

"Ahkmenrah?" Kahmunrah asked. Watching his brother being overcome by abject terror was becoming very unnerving very quickly, but he had no idea where to even begin to do something about it. A movement behind Ahkmenrah attracted Kahmunrah's attention. "Brother." Ahkmenrah noticed the change in his brother's voice and eye, and then he turned. The bones of slain sinners were rising out of the desert sands in as many complete skeletons as possible. Ahkmenrah cried out and moved back. Kahmunrah wrapped an arm around his chest. "What is so unholy..." he began. Slight panic had faded into Kahmunrah's own version of fear.

Ahkmenrah took his brother's hand in his own and began to whisper a prayer for the both of them. The skeletons moved toward them in a way reminiscent of movie monsters that Larry had shown Ahkmenrah at some point, before he left for good. The brothers moved back, and then Kahmunrah pushed Ahkmenrah behind him and tried to push him away. "I am not for a second leaving you, especially since you're unarmed," Ahkmenrah snapped.

"If you don't get out of here, you could die."

"I already did that."

"Exactly, and you're not going to do it again."

"And neither are you, unless we both fall together. We're brothers first, Kahmunrah, and royal second." Kahmunrah turned and extended his hand, which Ahkmenrah grasped fervently. "Now, what are our options?"

Kahmunrah turned to the skeletons, inching closer and moving to surround them. "Keep a path open to us. Objective is survival, not victory." Ahkmenrah nodded and turned to the skeletons.

NATM

Teddy looked around at the other exhibits. Despite this being paradise, he was getting antsy, and he could tell others were, too. They weren't supposed to know about this in this capacity, he could tell. But serve a purpose this did. Kahmunrah's actions got the brothers and a small army of exhibits into the underworld to stand against Karahe and extract Ahkmenrah. Kahmunrah had gone to find his brother, and while this may have contributed to Teddy's unease, the somewhat crazy pharaoh had proven himself more than competent under the circumstances.

But there was another unknown to account for: Where was Karahe? When an enemy could literally be anywhere, was as unknown and unpredictable as a force of nature (as he had been so described), and for this and other reasons extremely dangerous, he had to be found as soon as possible, or the fight was surely lost.

He could only be found by those who knew where to look for them, of which there were presently two, and even then, it would take a while. Ahkmenrah and Kahmunrah were alone in a dangerous world.