My body smacked into the stadium wall hard enough to dent the metal, although I’ll admit, my blood made an interesting if ghastly splatter across its surface as I slumped broken to the ground, everything inside of me shattered.
The ape loped toward me, knuckles dragging across the metallic ground as I tried vainly to stand. I don’t know how I got to my feet as she reached me, but I did. One of her immense fists was already flying at my face, which I totally dodged because my legs gave out. Go me!
I crashed to the ground in a heap, and her fist punched into the metal above me hard enough for the gong-like sound to devastate my hearing.
She screamed, but I couldn’t hear it over the ringing in my ears as I surged upward, using what strength I had in my newly healed bones to slam my shoulder into the underside of her chin. The blow snapped her head back and sent her flying backward into the air. Can you say whiplash is a bitch, bitch?
I let out a howl of rage as I popped my shoulder back into place, driving the pain down into the deep dark part of my being. As she crashed onto the metal floor a few yards away, another primal howl tore from my throat as I licked my lips, my tongue dragging along my razor-sharp teeth.
As I bounded forward to sink my fangs into the ape-goddess, I caught sight of Osiris on the very edge of my vision. He was backed into the far corner fighting for his life against Set. The god of chaos’s armor was alight with crimson flames as he struck, a burning khopesh in each blacker than the pit of hell hand. For the moment, it looked like Osiris was holding his own, but even from here, I could tell Set was just feeling out his opponent. In another few moments, he’d stop holding back, and Osiris would be in real trouble, you know, unless he had some kind of godly trick up his sleeve that involved not dying, which he might, given his status as the god of death.
Hoping Osiris could last a few more seconds, I sprinted toward Nephthys and pounced upon the slowly rising ape. I landed with the full force of my weight on her back, driving her chest into the steel and snapping her ribcage like twigs. She roared, somehow rolling over beneath me. Her eyes filled with rage and agony as I reared back and drove one fist into her face… and she bit me. Her monkey jaws latched around my entire fist, her impossibly sharp incisors gripping my flesh and filling my veins with fire.
A howl tore from my throat as I slammed my other fist down right between her beady eyes. The blow was hard enough to dent her skull, but still she didn’t release me. Instead, her long hairy arms reached up and seized my ankles as she rolled backward, snapping my body outward like a towel as she came to her feet. The vertebrae in my spine snapped in a horrific crescendo as she released me, and I tumbled through the air. My vision went blurry as collided with the steel wall once again and slid down in a bloody smear.
The goddess moved toward me, already looking like I hadn’t even hit her when a ragged scream tore through the air. My eyes turned toward it reflexively even though I should have been focused on Nephthys. Osiris staggered backward, one of Set’s flaming khopeshes lodged firmly in his chest. Golden god blood spilled from the wound, flowing down over his gilded armor and pooling at his feet. He clutched at the wound, trying to staunch the flow of ichor flowing through his fingers while also trying to ward off Set’s onslaught of blows one-handed.
Set struck again, and Osiris’s staff went flying while his hand was still attached to it. The death god screamed as blood spewed into the air from the stump of his right hand. I tried to get up, to run over and help when Nephthys seized me by the throat and hauled me up until we were face to face.
“Hello, Thes,” she said, the words sounding jagged and coarse as they left her mouth. “Why have you come here?”
“To rescue Horus,” I wheezed, trying to resist the urge to shut my eyes so I wouldn’t have to stare into her angry, violent eyes. “Isis has Sekhmet…”
“What do I care of Isis and Sekhmet?” she asked, arching one eyebrow, and the expression was weird on her monkey face. “We cannot release Horus. It is not part of the plan.”
“Why?” I asked as my ribs snapped back into place with an audible pop.
“Because we cannot.” She shook her head, not even caring that I was healing before her eyes. “That is not how it should be.”
“That’s not even an answer,” I snarled, bringing around my left hand and slashing her across the face before she could respond. Golden blood sprayed from the wounds as her grip loosened. My toes touched the ground, and I threw myself forward, burying my jaws in her throat. Her blood filled my mouth, and the flavors of honey and cream flowed over my tongue. My throat convulsed like I’d bitten into a live wire as I swallowed. My body suddenly blazed with energy, my fur smoldered and burned, and my bones snapped back into place.
Her grip tightened, and as I worried at the wound, she ripped me free in a spray of gore and flung me sideways. My claws tore at her arm, shredding her flesh as she released me so I didn’t go far, and hey, I even managed to land on my feet.
My ankle rolled as I hit the ground and agony lanced through me. Nephthys wobbled, one hand grasping her ruined neck as blood gushed from between her fingers. She took a step toward me, leaving a bloody footprint in her wake as I turned and, ignoring my throbbing ankle, sprinted for the battling gods in the corner.
Osiris was on his knees, and Set stood over him, flaming sword raised high to deliver the coup de grâce. I slammed into the storm god from behind, knocking him forward into the wall. His sword went flying. As it clattered across the floor, Osiris looked up at me, blood dripping down his face.
“You’re right in the nick of time, Thes. Another moment and I was going to try to put out his sword with the blood spewing from my neck.” He tried to smile as his wounds slowly began to close. “It wasn’t the best plan, I’ll admit.”
“Stop making jokes and release Horus! I’ll keep them occupied!” I cried as Set started getting to his feet. Without waiting for an answer, I bounded toward the downed storm god and kicked him square in the stomach. The blow lifted him into the air, and I drove my elbow down on his back with all my weight. We slammed into the metal so hard my teeth rattled. Set’s back sort of folded inward at an awkward angle as Nephthys kneed me in the face.
Everything in me broke, and I flew backward in a spray of blood and shattered teeth. I landed hard on my shoulder and rolled to my feet even as the bones in my torso snapped, crackled, and popped. Her chest heaved, and while her throat had closed, she seemed less interested in closing the distance between us than she had before. Though that may have been because she was watching Osiris use his staff like a cane as he hobbled toward the cage.
She took off toward him, and without thinking, I flung Khufu’s khopesh at her with all my strength before sprinting toward them. The hilt crashed into her back just as Osiris reached the cage, and the force of the impact threw her off balance as she tried to whirl and take me down with her. Nephthys fingers tightened around my arms as we fell. I let her pull me down along with her and used our combined momentum to roll us across the floor.
We slammed into the super-heated bars of Horus’s prison and fire blazed across my flesh. Screams filled my ears as we fell to the ground aflame. Osiris raised his staff and pushed the end of it into a lock made from living flame. The cage shuddered as crimson light spilled forth from the lock, casting sanguine shadows flickering across us. The bars started to thin, slowly dying away, and I could just make out the falcon god within. His charred body was nearly unrecognizable.
I gripped the hilt of Khufu’s khopesh as she wrapped her long arms around me and squeezed. I cried out and drove the weapon down through her shoulder slicing off her left arm. Blood fountained everywhere as I grabbed her by the throat and raised the khopesh to take off her head. Maybe that would slow her down for a while.
Osiris’s scream stopped me, and I glanced toward him to see the forked end of the Was-staff burst through his chest, spraying me with golden ichor. His own staff dropped from his fingers, and the cage flared brighter than ever a
s the god of death’s hands went reflexively to his chest. He touched the forked prongs of the weapon and tried to turn toward his attacker who ripped the staff free in a spray of gore.
Anubis stepped forward, pointing the crimson weapon at me as Osiris slumped sideways, his life leaking onto the cold, metal floor. “I’ll thank you to release my parental unit,” Anubis said, eyes so cold and hard, I lost the ability to speak, you know, before crimson fire exploded from the weapon and engulfed me in an endless stream of agony and chaos.
Chapter 14
“Wake up, Thes!” said the thing shaking me violently from my slumber. The last thin wisps of dream left me before I could grasp even the faintest tendrils of its memory. My eyes fluttered open revealing Khufu floating before me. He was faded and washed out looking and had no legs. Instead, his lower half sort of tapered off into a wispy gasp of smoke, reminding me of a genie freshly conjured from a lamp.
“For my first wish, I want to go back to sleep,” I mumbled, trying to turn away, but found I couldn’t move a muscle. Pain welled up in me as I struggled and twisted to no avail.
“Yeah, you do that,” the mummy replied, crossing his insubstantial arms over his chest. That was when I noticed a thin golden thread trailing from his belly button off into the distance like a metallic umbilical cord. “I’ll just leave you to be slowly devoured by the nether beast.” He turned away from me and made like he was going to walk off, which was quite a trick since he had no legs.
“Nether beast?” I asked stupidly. “What’s a nether beast?”
“It’s a name I made up to describe the monster currently eating you. It sounds cool, eh?” Khufu asked, turning back around and gesturing at me with one hand. “Besides, things are so much scarier when they don’t have names at all. You’re welcome.”
My gaze followed his gesture, and I realized I was wrapped up in a thin pink membrane with blue veins pulsing across its surface. I shrieked in fright and tried to flail and tear myself free, but I was stuck fast.
“Um, how do I get out?” I asked, almost keeping the high-pitched whine of terror out of my voice.
“You don’t. You slowly dissolve over the next millennia or so.” The mummy shrugged. “Unless you have some Egyptian fire. They don’t like that.”
“I don’t know what that is, but do you have any?” I cried, still struggling uselessly within the fleshy confines of the nether beast. It was like trying to break free of super stretchy, super sticky silly putty.
“It’s like Greek fire but way cooler.” He grinned and pointed what looked like a silver watering can at me. He shook it once and droplets of clear fluid spattered across the pink flesh of the creature trying to slowly digest me.
It shrieked loudly enough to make me wish I couldn’t hear so well because I was pretty sure that nails on a chalkboard wasn’t supposed to cross that many spectrums of sound. The scent of burning flesh filled my nose as it spat me across the pink cavern like an unwanted wad of chewing gum. I hit the spongy earth with a wet thwap and lay there for a moment, all sorts of discombobulated as the mouth of the nether beast slowly retreated beneath the surface.
I lay there, trying to brush sticky saliva off my body and failing miserably as a horrible thought struck me. I was in a dimly lit cavern made from a pink, glistening substance and something had been trying to digest me.
“I’m in the belly of a monster, huh?” I asked, swallowing down my fear as I reached out and touched the ground beneath me. It was warm and spongy. Awesome. Totally swallowed.
“Uh, yeah, which is why you were being digested.” Khufu shrugged and floated toward me. A look of pain flashed across his ghostly face, but vanished almost instantly. Something had definitely hurt him, but what? And why was he in some weird ghost form? “It’s why I came to rescue you. Now drink this.” He held the watering can out toward me.
“You expect me to drink Egyptian fire? Didn’t it just immolate the nether beast?” I asked, getting to my feet, and testing my weight on the surface of the creature’s massive stomach.
“It’s just water, Thes.” Khufu smirked. “I was making a joke. The reason the creature dissolved is because it’s made of magical substance, and it has a hard time holding up when wet.” He shrugged and the gesture told me I wouldn’t get a better explanation even if I asked.
“So why are you all Casper the friendly ghost?” I asked, taking the can and taking a sip. It did taste like water and as I gulped it down, strength filled me.
“I had to leave my body and journey into the Duat to find you. Bast is keeping an eye on my body right now to make sure nothing takes it over.” He paused, looking like he was going to continue, but instead shook his head. “Give me your hand, and I’ll send you back.”
“Why didn’t you come in your own body?” I asked as a look of agony flashed across his features. This time it took a lot longer for him to force away the pain and look at me normally.
“Because my body is slowly turning to stone,” he stated so pointedly it took me off guard.
“You’re turning to stone?” I replied, confusion and horror filling my voice. “How can that be? I thought Bast was going to save you?”
“It will pass, I think, but the more important thing is for you to rescue Osiris. You need to hurry.” Khufu seized my wrist, his hand strangely substantial despite its ethereal nature.
“Wait, I got this,” I said, reaching down for his khopesh. Amazingly, it was stuck to my leg, and as I pulled it away, strings of saliva clung to it. “Here you go.”
Khufu appraised it before shaking his head. “You keep it, Thes. What am I going to do with it? Hold it while I turn into a statue?”
“But what if I lose it?” I asked, staring down at the blade, surprised I still had it after the battle with Nephthys. I remembered having it in my hand when Anubis blasted me, but nothing after that. Still, it would have been easy to have dropped it in the moment.
“I trust you, Thes. You won’t lose it.” Khufu grinned at me and clapped me on the shoulder hard enough to make me wince. “Now go kick some godly ass.”
“Okay,” I said, gripping the hilt tightly. “I’ll do my best.”
“Don’t do your best, Thes. Do the best of someone better than you,” he replied as golden light spilled from his palm, blinding me. “Do the best of someone like me. I’d say better than me, but that doesn’t seem possible.” His last words echoed in my ears, reverberating across my brain like a slow strummed bass guitar. He shoved me backwards, and the surroundings lurched violently sideways.
I fell, my arms flying out to try to grab onto something to keep me from crashing into the belly of the beast. My back hit the spongey pink ground, but instead of feeling the impact, I plunged downward into its depths as the world in front of my face twisted into a mishmash of colors and shapes. My stomach leapt into my throat as I struggled to orient myself in a freefalling tumble.
The scenery around me snapped back into focus, leaving me standing in the shadowy corner of a darkened room. Torches flickered in gold sconces on the walls, casting leaping shadows across the stone floor. I crept forward, using the immense stone statue of Anubis to keep me from being seen as rhythmic chanting filled my ears. I leaned in close to the statue and peered out into the center of the room.
Osiris lay on a golden altar, his body strapped to its surface with gold chains. Blood leaked from numerous cuts and scrapes along his torso, and his severed wrist was wrapped in sticky-looking papyrus. His eyes were far off and distant as he stared up at the smoky black cloud pulsating a few feet above his head.
I was about to step out of my hidey hole and go to his side when I caught movement out of the corner of my eye. I threw myself backward into the shadows as Anubis stepped out of a tiny alcove with a tray full of canopic jars in his hands. Without a word, he set the tray down next to Osiris and reached out to stroke the god’s face with one dark hand.
“You don’t need to do this, Anubis,” Osiris said, his words ragged and hoarse. It reminded m
e of the confessions I’d heard from the lips of torture victims.
Horror filled me as Anubis turned toward the tray and extracted a bone-handled knife with a three inch blade of gleaming gold. Was he going to cut open Osiris while he was still alive? There was no way that would be good. I knew from experience, gods were pretty durable, but then again maybe gods had ways of enacting permanent damage. If that was true, I couldn’t let him kill Osiris.
Anubis’s eyes narrowed as he plunged the blade into Osiris’s chest. The death god screamed, and the sound made my stomach fall into my toes and panic fill my veins. He wrenched the blade downward, splitting Osiris’s torso like a cassava melon as I leapt from my hiding place, transforming in midair. My clawed feet slammed into Anubis’s back, slicing him open as I crashed into him. We smashed into the altar with all the force my huge body combined with gravity could muster. Things snapped within Anubis as I reared back and drove one fist into the back of his skull. The impact reverberated through my arm as his head shot forward and cracked the gilded altar.
Golden god blood flowed out across the altar as Anubis struggled to throw me off while I drove hammer blows into the back of his head with my fists. The cloud above us throbbed, and a horrible keening escaped it as rivulets of golden blood began to flow up toward it like gravity-reversed rain. As each drop struck the cloud, arcs of silver lightning exploded from it, striking me in the chest and hurtling me backward.
I smacked the wall hard enough for my vision to go blurry. I slumped forward, somehow managing to stay on my feet as I stumbled back toward Anubis. The god was on his feet, one hand gripping his knife as he hobbled toward me, pain flashing across his jackal face.
“What are you doing here, Thes?” he snarled, brandishing the knife in front of himself and letting the torchlight play off the blade. “You’re supposed to be getting digested over the course of a couple millennia.”
Unwrapped: An Urban Fantasy Adventure (Werewolves vs. Mummies Book 3) Page 10
