Theodosia and the Last Pharoah

by R. L. LaFevers

  Fenuku was able to convince Carruthers to wait out in the vestibule so they could watch for the rest of his men. Carruthers seemed perfectly content with this as he knew as well as we did that there was no way out of the temple except through the vestibule where he'd be waiting.

  As soon as their voices receded, I set Isis on the ground, jumped to my feet, and hurried to the doorway.

  Silent as shadows, the wedjadeen slipped out of their hidden chamber. Three of them moved noiselessly toward me. One hung back, waiting to assist me into my hiding place.

  I hurried over to the wall, and the fourth remaining wedjadeen gave me a boost up. Using the subtle hand- and footholds that had been carved into the wall, I worked my way up to the space over the lintel. I nodded at the man to let him know I was ready, and he quietly replaced the slabs of stone. I was completely hidden from view.

  I was heartily glad to see there was a peephole; I wouldn't be completely in the dark up here. I peered around until I found Isis, sitting so still and silently against the far wall that she looked like little more than a shadow herself.

  Have I mentioned that I think waiting is the hardest part? It seems we are forever rushing, then waiting. Rushing, then waiting. I tried to entertain myself with imagining the look of surprise on von Braggenschnott's face when he found four wedjadeen instead of me, but the vision kept being interrupted by worries for Mother and Gadji. What would he do to them when he saw I wasn't there?

  Calm down, I told myself. Surely there was nothing I could do that four wedjadeen couldn't? Not to mention that things shouldn't even get that far.

  Just when I had finally managed to convince myself of that, I heard Fenuku's voice speaking loudly from the vestibule. "Here come your followers of Set," he said.

  "I can see that," Carruthers replied, somewhat nastily. But of course, Fenuku hadn't said it for Carruthers's benefit. He'd said it to warn me and the four hidden wedjadeen. If Chaos was coming, it meant the ambush had failed.

  "Who are all those people with them?" Fenuku asked.

  "Did you not hear?" Carruthers answered. "There was another nationalist demonstration this morning. We thought it best to keep the streets crowded today, in case you planned any surprises for us. We find it pays to stay involved in politics."

  My heart sank like a stone. The wedjadeen had not been able to pull off the ambush. Now what? How was von Braggenschnott going to react when he didn't find what he wanted?

  Minutes later, I heard the sound of dozens of footsteps outside in the vestibule. Von Braggenschnott's voice rang out. "Where are they?"

  "First I must see the woman and the boy," Fenuku reminded him.

  "Bring them," von Braggenschnott called out.

  There was a pause, and then Fenuku spoke again. "I see that they are unharmed. Good. Let us make the exchange in here where the girl and the tablet are waiting."

  "You saw them yourself, Carruthers?" von Braggenschnott asked.

  "Yes, sir. I did."

  "Very well. Bring the woman and the boy."

  "They can't all come with us," Fenuku protested. "For one, the room is too small. And as you requested, there is only one of me here in the temple."

  There was a pause as von Braggenschnott considered whether to honor his original agreement or not. "You six, come with Carruthers and me. The rest of you wait here."

  "But that was not the agreement," Fenuku protested.

  There was another pause. When von Braggenschnott spoke again, his voice had taken on a reasonable tone. "This is not your argument. Give me the tablet, take the boy, and be gone. The rest does not concern you."

  There was a surprised silence—at least, I was surprised—before Fenuku spoke. "You are right, follower of Set. This is not our fight to win or lose. Come, let me show you the tablet and I will take the boy and leave. You may do what you want with the woman and the girl."

  I nearly gasped in outrage at his treachery. Had he tricked the other wedjadeen into believing he would go along with this plan, when all along he had intended to hand me over to Chaos? What betrayal did he have planned to get rid of Major Grindle, I wondered? And would the other wedjadeen go along with his decision?

  Seething, I shoved my eye into the peephole, desperate to catch a glimpse of Gadji and Mother, to see with my own eyes that they were safe and unharmed. And there they were. Bedraggled, but alive and safe. Joy at the sight of them surged through me and it was all I could do to bite back a shout of happiness.

  Carruthers held Gadji, and von Braggenschnott had a tight grip on Mother. Fenuku stepped aside. "Your tablet, gentlemen. And the girl," he lied.

  Still holding on to Mother, von Braggenschnott disappeared into the annex, while Carruthers crowded at the doorway. "Where is sh—"

  A shout went up as Fenuku pulled out a club hidden in his sleeve and cracked Carruthers on the skull. He yanked Gadji well away from the crumpling Serpent of Chaos and shoved him toward the door. At the same time, muffled shouting came from the annex as the hidden wedjadeen tried to subdue von Braggenschnott without hurting Mother. Fenuku reached in, grabbed Mother's arm, and pulled her out of the fray. "Run!" he told Mother and Gadji.

  Confused, they took three faltering steps toward the vestibule, stopping as more Serpents of Chaos began pouring through the door.

  "The other way!" Fenuku called out. "Rekhet! Come get them to safety! If our gods were foolish enough to bestow you with gifts, show they weren't wasted and use them!"

  Still stunned that he hadn't betrayed us, I kicked the slabs from my hiding place and dropped to the ground. The shock of the impact jolted through my legs, but I bit back the pain.

  "Theodosia?" Mother blinked, her mouth dropping open. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

  "Rescuing you two. Come on." As I reached out for Mother and Gadji, I looked up to see von Braggenschnott straining to get past the wedjadeen, trying to get to me. Our gazes met, and unspeakable threats shone in his eyes.

  Isis darted from her corner and disappeared through the small door immediately to our right. I didn't know where she was taking us, but it was away from Chaos and that was enough for me. "Come on." I tugged at Mother and Gadji.

  "Where are we going?"

  "We need to get away. Fenuku is buying us some time and we need to use it. We might not get another chance." I grabbed her arm, confident that Gadji knew enough to follow along without being pulled. Isis was just disappearing through a second doorway that led deeper into the temple. Without thinking about it, I followed.

  It was a birthing room, I realized, and I immediately began searching for another doorway. There! Isis had found one. Just as I took a step to follow her, an explosion rocked the temple and knocked us to our feet.

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX

  The Mighty Isis

  "WHAT IS THAT?" Gadji cried out, throwing his arms over his head to protect it from a chunk of rubble.

  "The Orb of Ra," I told him.

  "The orb of what?" Mother asked. "Theodosia, I demand you tell me what is going on, right this minute."

  "Mother, I'm just trying to find a place where we can hide until help arrives." My mind worked furiously. I paused, listening. Had that blast killed every living thing in the vicinity?

  From far away, I heard a groan, then a rumbling and scraping noise as if someone was pulling himself out of the rubble and dragging himself across the floor. A muffled German curse rang out.

  Oh dear heavens, no. Don't let him have survived!

  I took Mother's arm again (she seemed to be a bit stunned) and pulled her along. Isis waited for us in the next room, a small chamber lined with four alcoves. When she saw that we had followed, she took an immediate right into the next vestibule, the Hall of Hours.

  I peered through the twelve columns in the room. "Where'd she go?"

  "Through there!" Gadji pointed to yet another doorway. Honestly, this was as bad as a labyrinth!

  "Go!" I said, and Gadji disappeared into the heart of the temple, with me and my mother right
on his heels. Once inside, we stumbled to a stop. The room was small and dark, and there were only narrow slits up high to let the faintest bit of light in.

  "The Holy of Holies," Mother whispered. She glanced fearfully over her shoulder. "A dead end."

  "There is no way out, Mother. Not on this side of the temple. Chaos—Borscht's men—are blocking our only exit." But if Isis brought us here, there must be a reason.

  "But we'll be trapped like—"

  "Shh!" I poked my ear outside the door, trying to hear if von Braggenschnott was following us. And if so, how close behind he was. I heard nothing, which was good. Just how far away were the wedjadeen, anyway? "Gadji, you take the door. Tell me if you hear anyone coming."

  "Yes, effendi miss."

  Fenuku had told me to make use of being a Rekhet, but I had no practice being one. I'd really only removed curses and nursed Sefu back to health. But as we'd run through the temple, a plan had formed in my mind. It was a long shot, but it was all I could come up with. I glanced down. "I'll need you," I told Isis.

  She meowed and flicked her tail, as if that announcement was not news to her. And if she was truly a bau, like Baruti had claimed, then it probably wasn't.

  "Mother, do you have a pencil or a pen nib? Even a hairpin will do." I reached into my pocket for the compact of sandstone from the inside of a pharaoh's tomb. "Isis, up here." I patted the plinth where the statues of the gods once sat. The power was greatest there, and if I was going to call on them for help, I needed to get as close as I could.

  "Here." Mother handed me a hairpin. When I took it from her, our eyes met. Her gaze held fear and confusion. I could only hope the fear wasn't directed at me. Best not to think about that now. "Thank you, Mother. Now please go stand on the other side of Gadji, away from the door."

  "Theo..." Her eyes pleaded with me, and I couldn't tell if they were pleading for me to make this all go away or to go back to being only slightly peculiar rather than downright scary.

  "We don't have time, Mother. Please trust me on this." Our gazes held and I tried to open my soul to her, to let her see that while I was about to do some very strange things, I was still her (hopefully beloved!) daughter. She nodded, and I let out my breath and turned to my cat.

  "Are you up for this?" I asked Isis as I set the silver compact on the stone plinth next to her. She purred, which I took as a very good sign.

  Rituals and rubrics, spells and mysteries, swirled in my head—all the wonders I had seen and experienced for the past five days. I closed my eyes and breathed deeply. I could do this. I could. I opened my eyes again and faltered.

  But maybe not with Mother watching. "Mother, would you mind facing the wall?"

  With an impatient sigh, she did as I asked and I turned back to Isis.

  "I hears footsteps, miss!"

  My heart stuttered. "One set or many?"

  He listened more closely. "Only one set, miss."

  Bother. It most likely wasn't the cavalry, then. We were being pursued.

  Shutting all visions of von Braggenschnott out of my mind, I did my best to focus.

  I licked the hairpin to wet it, then dipped it into the tomb dust. As quickly as I could, I began to sketch a figure along Isis's back. It was difficult, because fur is a tricky writing surface at best, but I kept dipping and drawing, dipping and drawing, replenishing the pin with dust so that a faint, shadowy outline of the great goddess Sekhmet began to take shape on Isis's back.

  It was the only thing I could think of, trying to tap into the gods' heka, just like Baruti had done when he'd prepared the wedjadeen for battle.

  "Footsteps is being closer, miss!"

  "Almost done, Gadji. And when I say so, throw yourself back against the wall with Mother."

  I dipped the pin one last time into the dust and traced an Eye of Ra over Isis's heart, then enclosed it with a shen symbol, the rope with no beginning and no end that would contain Sekhmet's fierceness. There. That was all I could do.

  I had no sistrum, no drum, no incense. Only my hands and fervent pleas. I clapped three times very loudly, the small chamber causing the noise to amplify.

  "Theo," Mother hissed. "You'll give away our hiding place."

  I should have reassured her, but I was too enthralled with what was happening on the plinth before me. Isis was writhing and hissing, her body pulsating, growing larger.

  "Uh-ohs," Gadji said.

  Unable to stand not knowing what was happening, Mother turned away from the wall and bit back a scream.

  Isis spilled onto the floor, power running along her fur in ripples. She was now the size of a small dog. "H-has she gone rabid?" Mother asked, plastering herself against the wall in an effort to avoid touching my cat.

  "No, she's just protecting us." My voice was a little high and breathless, either from all the magic in the air or because I was just the teensiest bit worried.

  "Footsteps is being in the next chamber, miss!" Gadji shouted, then darted onto the other side of Mother.

  "Fräulein?" The ragged whisper was more chilling than any shout. "Fräulein, there is no way out. You cannot escape me this time."

  Just then, a lion-size Isis gave a snarling scream that had the others cowering against the wall. I looked at her, her eyes no longer familiar or recognizable. They were filled with destruction. "Go," I whispered. "Keep us safe."

  With a throaty roar, the giant Isis bounded out of the chamber.

  Von Braggenschnott's shout of surprise was cut off with a snarl and a gurgle. Low growls were followed by a loud thud as something connected with one of the columns. Von Braggenschnott, perhaps? Isis let loose with a roar that shook the roof, and then we heard the soft pad of her paws as she bounded away. I closed my eyes and said a silent thank-you.

  After a few seconds, more roars and screams erupted from somewhere near the front of the temple. I poked my head out. "It looks clear," I told the others. "Let's get out of here before we're trapped again." I grabbed Gadji's hand, then held my other out to Mother. She stared at it, and for one horrid moment, I was afraid she wasn't going to take it. Just when I started to wilt inside, she grabbed it, and I savored the feel of her hand in mine. We ran.

  We tore out of the small room into the Hall of Hours and raced back the way we'd come. I could hear the sound of fighting far off—in the main courtyard, perhaps—but steered well clear of that. We finally made it to yet another wretched vestibule, then out into the open air. I paused for a moment, trying to catch my breath.

  Another loud roar came from deep inside the temple, followed by shouts and yelling. I was relatively certain that Isis wouldn't hurt me, not even in her Sekhmet incarnation, but I wasn't sure about Mother and Gadji. "Come on," I said.

  "Where are we going?" Mother asked.

  "There." I pointed with my elbow.

  "Where?" Her voice wobbled a bit.

  "There, Mother, into the crowd."

  "Theo, I really don't think—"

  "Mother. Trust me. We are far safer with those angry demonstrating Egyptians than we are with the men back in the temple."

  "Right." She nodded once, then began hurrying alongside me.

  "And you," I said to Gadji, "should be right at home!"

  He gave me one of those cocky grins I'd missed so much. "Just like old times, eh, miss?"

  And then we reached the fringes of the crowd. I plunged into the masses, bumping into one body, then another, murmuring, "Excuse me," every ten seconds as I wormed my way farther and farther into the crowd. No one seemed to pay us any mind at first, and then slowly, space began opening up between us and the other demonstrators as they realized there were two English women in their midst.

  I stared at the puzzled, angry faces, and I could not fault them a bit. Not only had we come into their country and plundered their treasure for our own museums, they were the first we blamed when one of our own went missing. We had done them a great disservice. I could only hope that by restoring Gadji to the wedjadeen, they would be able to put h
im on Egypt's throne one day and give their country its own ruler, one they deserved.

  As the voices around us died down, however, I began to feel extremely uncomfortable. In the sea of white and black robes, there was an occasional black veil. And then I had a great big wonderful idea. Surely our housekeeper would not miss a demonstration such as this.

  "Habiba!" I called out. "Habiba?" I turned around, searching the other side of the crowd. "Habiba, are you out there?"

  There was stunned silence, and people began to look at one another, shaking their heads. "Habiba!" I tried one more time, dead tired and wanting nothing more than for all of this to be over and for me to be back in our little bungalow. "Habiba!"

  Slowly the crowd parted and a hesitant black-swathed figure crept forward, glancing at those beside her and shrugging her shoulders, as if she could not account for the craziness of the Inglaize. As she drew closer, her hand flew to her mouth. "Young miss? Madams?"

  "Oh, Habiba!" I pulled my elbow from Mother's grip, hurried over to the stunned Egyptian woman, and threw my arms around her neck. "Thank you for finding us!"

  CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN

  Explanations and Goodbyes

  THE DEMONSTRATION QUICKLY DIED DOWN as word spread that one of their own had found the English ladies. The sea of people parted as Habiba led us to the nearby police station, where we could explain what had happened. Or parts of it, anyway.

  They were rather overwhelmed by our somewhat hysterical tale of a German national who'd been impersonating a member of the Antiquities Service by the name of Borscht. It wasn't until Major Grindle's name was mentioned that they began taking us seriously.

  Word was sent round to Father at his hotel, but Major Grindle arrived before he did, with a rather battered-looking Jadwiga and Rumpf. When Jadwiga spied me, a slow grin spread over his face, the first I had ever seen.

  Before we could greet each other properly, we were distracted by the police's seizing of Rumpf, thinking he was the German national who'd kidnapped us. Honestly, did they really think he'd just waltz right into the police station and make their life that easy? Chaos didn't work that way.