Author's Note: I hope you like. Please read and review. And I'm really sorry, I'm starting to run out of chapter titles, so this one's kinda lame, but it's better than "No title cause I can't think of any more" which is what I've felt like doing the past 10 chapters, LOL. Anyway, enjoy!
Oh, and again, thanks to my lovely beta, BluCrayons! *hold for applause*
Chapter 67: Even More Trouble
Davy groaned a little from the pain coursing through his body. He wasn't sure what had happened; the last thing he remembered was a scythe on the ground glowing and then being hit with some sort of shockwave like an explosion had gone off next to him. He slowly pushed himself up and realized his hands were no longer tied behind his back. The explosion must have hit him with enough force to tear the ropes. But if it could do that, what had it done to his friends?
Davy immediately opened his eyes and was greeted by the glare of a bright sun. He felt hot, really hot. And he felt sand beneath him. He looked around quickly at the realization there was sand underneath him instead of cold stone. He was surrounded by nothing but sand for miles. A few palm trees here and there, but mostly sand. And it was hot. Really hot. He blinked against the bright sun as he scanned for his friends.
Peter was lying a few yards away from him, half buried in the sand, but starting to come to as well. Micky was lying a few yards away from him, out cold and, from what Davy could see, barely breathing. Mike and Piper were lying behind Davy and the Devil was lying a few yards next to them. Piper was stirring and looking around, dazed and confused, but the Devil was recovering a bit quicker. He seemed to realize the situation they were in fairly quickly and started scanning the sand for something. It only took Davy a second to realize he was looking for the scythe. He wasn't sure what it was, but he knew the Devil couldn't get his hands on it. He jumped up and started looking around for it as well.
He finally spotted something metallic in the ground between him and the Devil next to Mike and darted towards it. The Devil seemed to see it at the same time and ran for it as well. Davy reached it first, luckily, and as he dropped to the ground, he kicked his leg out to land a kick to the Devil's leg. The Devil cried out in pain and dropped to the ground as Davy's hand found the scythe and grabbed it. He spun around and held it out at arms length threatening the Devil with it.
He didn't think it was a good idea to actually attack the Devil with the scythe since it had seemed to have somehow brought them here, wherever here was, but he had to defend himself and his friends and he couldn't let the Devil get his hands on it. So he stood there eyes locked with the Devil waiting to see if he'd make a move toward it. The Devil smiled a little and seemed to start lunging toward him, but a sudden wind kicked up and made the Devil stop. Sand flew all over the place, in Davy's eyes and obscuring his vision slightly. The Devil took off the other way and Davy decided to check on his friends.
Peter and Piper were up and both rushed toward Micky, still lying unconscious in the sand. Davy rushed to Mike to try and wake him up and grew worried when he saw his arm was still bleeding. Back at the underground bunker they'd been in, Davy had seen it when they were first brought in and feared what had happened to his friend.
"Mike?" Davy yelled over the sound of the wind and sand whipping at his face. "Mike, are you ok? Wake up."
"Davy!" Peter called. "Micky's out cold! We need to get him out of this sandstorm!"
"I'm trying to wake up Mike!" Davy yelled back.
"I'm awake," Mike mumbled, barely audible over the now roaring wind. "What happened? Where are we?"
"I don't know," Davy answered. "But we have to go. Let me help you up." Davy extended his hand to help Mike up when suddenly the wind stopped. The dust and sand settled around them and the silence was almost deafening. Davy looked around in confusion and saw a caravan coming towards them. On either side of them, the dust was still whipping around. Davy held the scythe tightly in his hand as the caravan pulled up beside them.
In the lead were a pair of chariots made of wood and appearing to be straight out of an ancient Egyptian painting. Behind the chariots was a large boat, only it was being pulled through the sand by oxen and it had wheels. Bringing up the rear were two more chariots that looked just like the ones in the front. Each chariot was driven by a large, bald, dark skinned male wearing a white linen cloth around their waists with a large bow and arrow set slung around their backs. The boat like structure was draped in a large cloth, obscuring the view of what was on the inside.
After only a moment, a woman stepped out of the boat and was followed by two other women. All three women were dressed in a long white linen dress made of the same material as the chariot drivers, but the first woman wore a jewel around her forehead and had long black hair that was braided tightly. She wore two golden bracelets around each wrist, a gold necklace with a bright blue jewel, and had a gold string wrapped around her waist acting as a belt. Her eyes were dark brown and were heavily laden with make-up. The other two women were much more plain wearing just the white linen dresses.
"We have awaited your arrival," the woman said in perfect english, which surprised Davy because they seemed to be in Ancient Egypt.
"What?" Davy asked still holding out the scythe.
"There isn't much time," the woman said. "You must come with us. Or else this storm will be your end."
"Uhh," Davy said glancing over at Peter and Piper to see what they thought.
"Who are you?" Piper asked. "Did you do this?"
"Yes," the woman answered. "I do not have time to explain. You must come with us. I cannot hold back the sand much longer. I know you are worried and distrusting, but you really don't have much time. Your friend is in dire need of my help and I promise you I can help him, but you have to come inside before the spell breaks and the dust comes back."
"Piper?" Peter asked. "What do we do?"
"I say we don't have much of a choice," Piper said.
"Agreed," Mike said getting up with Davy's help. He was a little woozy and kinda fell over a little. Davy shoved the scythe in his waistband carefully and caught Mike before he could fall. He helped carry Mike toward the boat carefully and nervously. The woman nodded toward Micky and the two women behind her crossed over to help Peter lift Micky off the ground. Davy climbed inside and saw two other women sitting inside waiting for them. They directed Mike and Davy to one of four straw beds lining the inside of the boat towards the back. Towards the front were several seats where Davy assumed the women had been sitting.
"Lie him down," one of the women inside the boat said. "He needs healing."
"You can heal him?" Davy asked carrying Mike over to one of the beds.
"Yes," the woman said, "please, just lie him down and sit. Let us take care of him." Davy did as he was told, but sat on the end of the bed by Mike's feet just in case. The other women climbed into the boat with Micky and set him down on the other bed. Now that he saw Micky up close, he could see Micky was bleeding pretty profusely; his stitches must have torn again.
"You can help him, too, right?" Davy asked noticing how pale Micky looked again.
"Yes," the first woman with all the jewelry said. "Please make yourselves comfortable, but I must ask for your silence while I work."
"Then you'll explain who you are?" Piper asked climbing onto the bed next to Micky and gripping his hand. Davy felt the boat begin to move again and heard the sound of the wind whip around outside them as Peter sat down next to Davy.
"Yes," the woman answered. One of the women who'd been in the boat handed her a bowl full of a powdery substance that glittered a little. She lifted up Micky's shirt to reveal that all the stitches had indeed torn and blood was nearly pouring from his wound. She took a pinch of the powder, said a few words under her breath and sprinkled the powder over Micky's wound. In a matter of seconds, the gaping hole in Micky's stomach glowed a bright white and closed itself. Micky sat upright, snapped his eyes open and gasped for air as though he'd just been able to breathe for the first time.
"Micky!" Peter exclaimed happily.
"Relax, my child," the jeweled woman said and pushed Micky back down gently. "You still need your rest."
"Ok, who are you?" Piper asked stroking Micky's hair gently.
"First, your other friend," the woman said moving to Mike and sprinkling the dust over his arm which also healed. "And your hand."
"I'm fine," Piper insisted.
"Please let her help you," Micky mumbled softly. Piper kissed his forehead softly and held her hand out for the powder.
"My name is Irisi," the jeweled woman said. "I am a servant to Isis."
"The goddess?" Peter asked.
"Yes," Irisi answered. "She foretold of your coming and gave me the gift to help you. In exchange for your help."
"Our help?" Piper asked.
"More specifically yours," Irisi answered. "Isis saw you are also a powerful woman. You've been given gifts like me, but you are stronger."
"Ok, but what does she need me for?" Piper asked.
"She foresaw this day and foresaw that she will be captured by Seth," Irisi answered. "She told us the only person who can help her is you."
"We can't get involved in your lives," Piper said.
"You're time travellers," Irisi said. "I understand that. And so did she. But it is because of the scythe that you are here. The scythe was infused by the power of the gods. It wouldn't have brought you here if you were not meant to help."
"We can't change history," Piper said.
"But you won't," Irisi said. "You were meant to be here. If not, we wouldn't have known about your coming and we wouldn't have been able meet you there. You would have died in that sandstorm."
"Quick question," Peter interrupted. "How can we understand you? We speak different languages."
"Another gift from Isis," Irisi answered. "She knew you would have different tongues so she cast a spell over us to allow us to speak with the same tongue as you."
"I know you will need to think it over, and we intend to give you that time," Irisi said. "And in that time, you need to rest. I have healed your wounds, but your spirits are still in need of healing."
"Where are we going?" Mike asked.
"To a place of healing," Irisi answered. "My temple. The ride is quite long, so please, ask me whatever questions you want now."
"If you knew we were coming, could you tell us what happened?" Piper asked. "We don't really know. We know the scythe can open a time portal, but we didn't activate it."
"Not willingly, no," Irisi said. "I don't know much, but from what Isis shared with me, you opened a broken portal. The scythe works with spilt magical blood."
"Right, it has to be coated in blood of someone...gifted, as you say," Piper said. "But it wasn't."
"It had a little blood on it," Peter said. "Maybe it got just enough to open a portal, but not all the way. Hence a broken portal."
"So what does that mean?" Mike asked. "We got sent through a broken portal. Does that mean we can't go home?"
"Isis will be able to answer these questions when she has been rescued," Irisi said.
"Ok, if we decide to help you," Piper said. "Tell us what happened to Isis."
"There is a war between the gods for power," Irisi started. "Seth wants the power that Osiris and Isis have, so he murdered Osiris, but the control was passed to his son Horus. Now Isis and Horus have domain over us, but Seth thinks if he forces her into marrying him, he can get control. He kidnapped her late last night and is holding her in one of his temples. We don't know which one."
"Isis didn't tell you that?" Piper asked.
"She didn't know either," Irisi answered. "She only foresaw her being saved by 4 men and a woman out of time. She said you would need healing and she said you would be able to find her and save her. You've been given more gifts than Isis can give me."
"Will she be able to help us get home if we save her?" Mike asked.
"Perhaps," Irisi said. "She doesn't have control over time. It took all the gods to make that scythe."
"Why would they do that?" Mike asked. "It seems a pretty brutal thing. You have to kill someone to make it work."
"Sometimes sacrifices must be made to do what needs to be done," Irisi said. "I would gladly sacrifice myself if it meant saving the world. With the turmoil between the gods right now, who knows if a tool like that can change the tide for the better. They made it because they never knew if they'd need it. And at a time before all the fighting started. But they knew fighting would one day start; they just didn't know it would be between them."
"If she marries him, that's the end of the world, right?" Davy asked.
"Yes," Irisi answered. "The entire world will be thrown into chaos and destruction."
"Well, then, do we have much of a choice?" Davy asked.
"And we kind of owe her for saving Micky and Mike," Peter said.
"And if she can get us home…" Mike agreed
"Alright," Piper said. "I'll help you."