Theodosia and the Last Pharaoh

CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR An Unexpected Detour

WHEN WE FINALLY REACHED THE HORSE, I stopped long enough to grab Gadji's hood and yank it off his head.

But it wasn't Gadji! "Who are you?" I asked.

The terrified boy said something in Arabic. My best guess was he was some peasant child the Serpents of Chaos had snatched off the streets to fool us. I glanced at his scratched hand, appalled that they would injure him in order to maintain the deception.

Before I could decide what to do, two cloaked figures glided from the shadows at the base of the pylon to one of the criosphinxes on either side. "Come on," I told the boy, not caring who he was. We both needed to get to safety before those men saw us.

I grabbed hold of the saddle, got my foot into the stirrup, then hauled myself up. I took the reins from the boy and held my arm down to him. He grabbed hold and scampered up onto the saddle behind me.

Afraid the two men were closing in on us, I glanced up, surprised to see that they weren't paying us any attention. Instead, they had drawn instruments and were doing something to the criosphinxes. They each tapped a ram-headed sphinx on the forehead, the chest, its elbows and hands, then its ears.

The moment they touched the sphinxes' mouths, I knew. It was the Opening of the Mouth ceremony—very similar to the one I had performed on Tetley's mummy just a few months ago! Done in about three and a half seconds, I might add. But the ceremony was designed to reanimate the deceased. I couldn't imagine what possible use it might have on a statue.

No sooner had I formed that thought than the night air shifted and there was a mighty cracking sound, as if one of the temple pillars had fallen. But no. My eyes nearly popped out of my head as one of the ram-headed sphinxes pulled one of its great lion paws from the plinth on which he rested.

My heart began to race. Surely the men hadn't—

Behind me the boy squealed, the terror in his voice perfectly mirroring my own as the sphinx shook its mighty head. It looked directly at the man in front of it, who said something I couldn't hear and then pointed into the temple.

There was another mighty crack, one that shook the very ground, as the second sphinx leaped off the plinth, twitched its long lion tail, lowered its horns, then charged into the Court of Nectanebo.

The boy tugged on my sleeve and I felt his raw panic, but I was loath to leave such a spectacular bit of magic. However, I suspected that even at this distance, we weren't truly safe. Besides, who knew how much control over those creatures the magicians actually had? After all the major had done to save us, it would be wrong to repay him with stupidity.

As I wheeled the horse around, I peered frantically into the shadows, trying to locate Isis and Sefu, but they were nowhere to be seen. They were small, I reminded myself over the thudding of my heart. They could easily get away and hide in small places where those sphinxes couldn't reach them. The boy began slapping at me, wanting me to move. Knowing he was right, I put my heels to the horse.

It bolted forward and I felt the boy tighten his arms around my waist. I bent my head down low over the horse's neck and held on for dear life. The sounds of chaos and fighting receded into the distance. Even so, I kept riding, not slowing down until we reached the Temple of Mut.

As we passed the sacred lake, the horse shied at a shadow in front of us. It checked itself and changed directions, veering left toward the temple.

Two more shadows stepped out in front of us, this time causing the horse to rear up and nearly pitch us out of our seat. "Hang on!" I shouted, praying we wouldn't fall and break our necks. Or be trampled by flailing hooves.

But one of the shadowed figures darted forward and grabbed the horse's bridle. As he quieted the horse, the others closed in on us. With a sinking feeling, I recognized the black robes of the wedjadeen.

A dozen more men mounted on horseback poured out of the darkness, encircling us. With a wedjadeen on either side of my horse, they began leading us toward the Temple of Mut.

My mind was a jumble of panic and potential explanations.

As soon as we reached the temple, they pulled the horse behind one of the remaining walls so it wouldn't be seen from the road. Bother. There went my hope of Major Grindle's spotting us on his way back to Luxor.

But wait—he had the detecting device from Dr. Quillings! He would be able to find me.

Comforted by that thought, I looked down at my wrist and switched the knob to the correct position.

After that realization, my spirits rallied and I slipped my hand into my pocket for the Babel stone. I would learn all I could from the wedjadeen before Major Grindle arrived.

One of the men reached up, gently lifted me from the saddle, and placed me on the ground. I recognized Khalfani from our meeting at the Luxor Temple.

"What are you doing here?" I asked him.

"There is great magic afoot tonight."

"And you thought of me?" I was flattered in spite of the events of the evening.

"We thought of our pharaoh," he corrected. "Of his safety."

I should have thought more, weighed the true implications of my next words, but I was overset. "He's been taken," I blurted out.

Khalfani stared back up at the boy on the horse. "Who is this?" he asked.

"Their decoy," I said. "They used him to trick us."

"And who is this they?"

"The Serpents of Chaos."

He frowned at the name, then turned and spoke to the other men in Arabic, before looking back at me. "Who are these serpents?"

"Honestly, what do you do all day? You've never heard of them?"

He glared at me. "I would watch my tongue if I were you."

"Sorry. They are followers of Seth, very interested in getting all the powerful artifacts they can lay their hands on in order to bring chaos fully into the world, then seize power."

He nodded. "The followers of Set, I know." He turned to the boy. "You are tired," he said. "Very sleepy. All that you have experienced, all that you have heard and seen tonight, is but a very bad dream." Then he made a snatching sign at the boy's forehead and snapped his fingers. The boy blinked, then turned and ran.

"See that he gets home safely," Khalfani told one of the others. "You!" he said to the wedjadeen still mounted. "Go back to the temple. Pick up the trail of Set and collect our pharaoh!"

As one, the men wheeled their horses around and galloped back the way we'd come.

Khalfani turned back to me. "And how did they learn of our pharaoh?" His voice was low, almost a purr, but the purr of a panther rather than a cat.

"I don't know," I whispered. "I certainly didn't tell them. They are my sworn enemy."

He studied me a moment longer. "And my enemy's enemy is my friend, yes? You are in luck, young miss. Our high priest wishes to see you. We will save the harder questioning for him."

"Just so you know, I have to be back before morning. My mother has no idea I'm gone."

Khalfani gave me an unreadable look.

"I won't be back before morning, will I?" I asked in a small voice.

"No, young miss. I do not know when you will come back here." He motioned with his arm, and a phalanx of wedjadeen drew in around me and my horse, boxing me in on all sides.

"My mother is not going to be happy about this," I said. "You've no idea how big a fuss she can raise."

Khalfani ignored my threats and offered a few of his own. "If you try to scream or attempt to escape in any way, we will have to tie you up and silence you. We would prefer not to do this, but we will need your word that you will not hinder our progress."

The stark image of Awi Bubu's assistant and his missing tongue filled my head. "I give my word," I said.

A surge of power bumped up against me, probing to see if I was telling the truth. "I gave my word," I said, annoyed.

Khalfani shrugged. "You cannot blame me for needing to test the strength of that word, young miss. Now come. Hashim will control your horse for you."

"Major Grindle will come for me, you know." I said it as much to reassure myself as to warn them.

Hashim exchanged a weighted glance with Khalfani. "The man with you back at the temple?"

"Yes."

Khalfani shook his head, and a sense of deep foreboding filled me. "No, young miss, your major will not be coming for you. By the time the criosphinxes we have awakened are done, there will be nothing left in the temple."