Set
Quick godly intermission:
The second scroll of the Book of Ra had been given to the High Priest of his main temple. The priesthood kept it for years, then became a part of the House of Life. After Menshikov's little accident with the scroll some centuries ago, Iskandar must have put it away in the Archive. He must have.
Time for a trip to First Nome! Unfortunately, I wasn't alone.
"This is so illegible, it is pretty much useless." Isis said, squinting at the map I drew before we entered Iunu.
"You can always just blindly trust my lead, sister."
"Yeah, right."
She had to, anyway. Iunu was riddled with secret passages, usually known only to the Chief Lector. Iskandar had been nice enough to tell Amos about them and I had been nasty enough to steal the information. The only way to the Archive was through those passages.
Isis had been adamant I make her a map of the tunnels, so she wasn't fully relying on me. She never said the map had to be good.
We reached what at first looked like a dead-end. After I had been called a 'directionless idiot', I pointed out the word, carved in the stone.
"A seal," Isis murmured. "Well that's easy, isn't it?"
An explosion shook the tunnel. When the dust cleared out, we stood before a huge hole, leading into an enormous room.
I dusted off my suit. "Your pyromaniac tendencies could actually be fun. You know, if you weren't such a-" She glared at me before entering the Archive. "Got it, you have my secret name, shutting up."
5000 years of documentation surrounded us as we walked through the aisles, looking for the Priesthood of Amun-Ra.
"Here!" Isis waved the scroll she had been scanning.
"You found the Book?"
"No. But I found Iskandar's notes on it. He must have mentioned the new location!" As she read further, her smile dimmed. "It's still with Menshikov."
There are moments when your brain quickly adds two and two together. I had been forcefully summoned to Menshikov's office one too many times. Now the memory of a specific sealed drawer was lightning up in my head. I left Isis in the Archive (what? She walked to there, she can find her way back) and materialized at the river bank, confused.
I knew the exact location of the second scroll. Good. But who was I supposed to tell? The Kanes would not hear it from me. Horus takes way too long to reach out. And I still didn't trust Isis to not sabotage Ra's return for the sake of her family. I had to find someone who would be willing to listen to me and is on good terms with the younglings. But who?
My gaze lingered over the Nile, the water peacefully gleaming in the moonlight. The smell of salty water filled the air. I couldn't stop myself quickly enough, my mind drifted to another night, another town, same river though.
And a laugh. Her head thrown back, her lips forming the gentlest of smiles. I wished remembering her betrayal was enough to stop her running through my brain… Betrayal… The kid!
Anubis would help the Kanes, I'm sure of it! Meanwhile the rest of us could prepare for war.