In direct contrast, Tanis still had yet to be thoroughly researched by humans. When they did, would they find Zoan? The city fell long before the Petiri arrived, though a temple built to honor Set was rumored to have once reigned supreme alongside the Pharaoh Apepis.
While Amunkha had once used the name Set, he wasn’t really the god in question, so there was nothing in this place for him. Why would he choose ruins for his home?
Ramose spun the wheel, turning the car into the driveway of the Petiri safe house and his main home. The house sat north of Cairo, hidden from tourists in the desert sands. The Petiri had built it to blend in with the background, to look like the home of a sheikh, yet house any Petiri who may be in need of assistance. They rotated who managed the home, and this decade it belonged to him. For three more years, he’d be responsible for seeing to its maintenance, using whatever rooms he had a need for.
He turned his thoughts back to his brother. It didn’t matter why Amunkha would visit the ruins. Not in the long run. Brother or not, Amunkha would have to die. Now. Before he hurt Tamara. The man was more powerful than any Petiri of his age. If they didn’t stop him now, he’d become impossible to defeat.
A dark Mercedes perched at the top of the drive, the cockpit empty. Ramose slammed on the breaks, his BMW bouncing as the wheels came to a stop. The sand settled as he charged up the steps into the main hallway.
“Mereruka,” he bellowed.
“Here,” his friend said from inside the living room.
Ramose joined him, ready for this to end. “Anything from Darius?”
The warrior medic shook his head, his hands resting on his hips, his stance wide. The man was an enigma, but if ever there was a power to be had at your side during battle, it was Mereruka. A descendant of a warrior clan, he’d learned as a child his Kha-Ib would be a healer. Knowing she would have difficulty with a warrior for a mate, he’d squelched his own natural skills and trained himself as a healer. But when they’d found themselves stranded, he’d become dual certified, utilizing his natural skills as a protector and his learned skills as a healer.
“Not yet. I’m worried. It’s unlike him to not answer his cell phone.”
“Unless he’s with a woman,” said Ramose. He loved his friend, but the man had a weakness, and one that would kill him, if he weren’t careful.
Mereruka shook his head. “No, I don’t think so. For the last few hundred years, he’s changed.”
“Right,” said Ramose, disbelieving. Darius had mentioned a time or two his intention to change, but Ramose had noticed no difference. There was always a woman hanging on his friend’s arm, and, thousands of years ago, he’d announced his intention to forget about his Kha-Ib.
Moving toward the maps, Mereruka had strewn across the coffee table. “You got a plan already?”
The larger man grabbed the armless dining room chair he’d drug into the room and flipped it around, sitting on it backwards.
“I got to thinking after you called.” He motioned at the map of the archeological site. “If Tamara is right, and he’s heading to Zoan, it’s going to be difficult to find. Are you sure she said Zoan, not Tanis?”
Ramose dropped to a chair in front of the table and peered at the map. “She said Zoan. I told her the city was long gone, but she was adamant. I remember Ramesses II was born there and tended to visit quite often even after he moved his seat of power. From what I remember, Ramesses II didn’t like Set and, instead, built his own temples to Osiris and Horus on the site which once housed Set’s temple.”
“I heard the same. I’m not sure how it was done, though. Why would Amunkha care? Why not set himself up in some posh estate?”
Ramose shrugged. “I have no idea. In fact, I don’t understand more than half of what he’s doing these days. It’s almost as though he isn’t the same person.” He scrubbed a hand over his face. It wasn’t just the way Amunkha was acting which had Ramose concerned. It was also how he couldn’t sense him anymore. Last night, he hadn’t felt even a twinge from him. He’d heard his breathing, and his laughter, but there was no sense of his brother anywhere in the room. “Okay, so Ramesses built everything over Set’s. There’s a lot of space there.”
“True,” grumbled Mereruka. “But think about it. Ramesses was partial to Horus, Set’s greatest enemy. If I were trying to establish my new gods, would I not cover up the old? What if Ramesses built the temple to Horus on top of Set’s? It’s a slight of sorts, not only choosing Horus above Set, but directly over his temple. Yet he wouldn’t want to anger Set too much, so he wouldn’t have completely destroyed Chaos’s temple. It’s there. And if that’s where Amunkha is, we just have to find the door.”
Ramose nodded. “And we shall. Let’s grab some weapons.”
“It’s late, Ramose. By the time we get there, the sun will be close to rising. We should wait. You wouldn’t want the French to see us when they come to work on the excavations in the morning.”
“No,” growled Ramose. “Now. We’ll get there an hour before sunrise, do what we have to, and get out.”
Mereruka sighed and bent to retrieve the old map. “Chances are he has a few human followers.”
“Very true. Get the throwing stars.”
Mereruka grimaced. “We should sedate them. I don’t want to hurt innocents, Ramose.”
Ramose grimaced. Warrior medic indeed. “Fine. Get the darts.”
Mereruka’s taut face relaxed.
“If Amunkha is planning to resurrect the god, or pretending to be Set himself again, he won’t be alone.”
“Neither will I, my friend. I’ll have you,” said Ramose, clapping his friend on the shoulder.
* * * *
Tamara stepped into the bedroom where Julie lay. Her cousin sat up in bed, reading a newspaper while the TV blared on the other side of the room and Jeff stared at the picture.
Julie looked up and grinned. “Hey! You’re here!”
“I am. And how are you tonight?”
Julie grimaced. “Wide awake. I think in the hospital they must have let me sleep too much because now I can’t seem to relax.”
“Ugh, that’s no fun at all.”
“Come, sit.” Julie patted the bed beside her. “I want to hear all about what has been happening.”
Selket stepped into the room just then, carrying a tray filled with steaming cups of chocolate. “I thought I’d bring us something to help us pass the time while we wait for the guys to get back.”
Jeff perked. “Where did they go?”
Tamara met Selket’s gaze.
“You may as well be honest, Tamara, that way I can take care of Julie’s leg the way we should. I’ve eased her pain, but I need to work harder on it. You aren’t going to be able to keep this secret from your family for long anyway.”
“But—”
“Don’t worry. Ramose does not expect you to leave your family for him. He will expect you to share this information.”
Tamara sighed, staring at Selket. The woman wasn’t so bad after all. Yet, still, she couldn’t seem to fight the twinge of jealousy, knowing this woman had known Ramose for so long.
It would be nice to share this with Julie, but she didn’t want to put her cousin in danger.
“’Fess up,” said Julie. “You know I already see things anyway. It’ll just make it easier to make sense of.”
Tamara nodded at last, taking a deep breath. “All right.”
Selket distributed the hot cocoa and settled into a nearby chair while Tamara told her story. She told them where Ramose and even Selket had come from. Julie and Jeff both stared at her. Julie with excitement. Jeff with horror. Until she got to the story of the kidnapping.
“Oh, Tamara,” cried Julie. “That’s what I was getting. I couldn’t understand what it was, the evil. Something is wrong with him, Tamara. Very wrong.”
“I agree,” she said, nodding. “Something is seriously wrong with him, but I can’t put my finger on what it is.”
They all looked
at Selket. “Don’t look at me! Just because he pretends to be Set, and I have the name of Selket doesn’t put me in league with him. Nope. That was Hathor who liked to hang out with Set. I don’t know a thing.”
Hathor. Well, they hadn’t actually looked into that possibility, but it didn’t ring any notes in Tamara’s mind. As if it wasn’t important. Not like Zoan had.
“Tamara, did Ramose tell you he thought you were descended from Wadjet?” asked Selket.
Tamara jerked in surprise. “No, he didn’t. Why?”
Selket shrugged, stirring her cocoa, the spoon tinkling against the side of the tiny teacup. “It’s possible. You wear her Napshua. We both recognize it. There’s no way she’d let it go except maybe to family. I could probably test your DNA if you want. Yours, too.” She nodded at Julie. “It might answer some questions.”
Tamara glanced at her cousin. Julie’s surprised face she knew mirrored her own. “You mean you think we are part Petiri?”
Selket nodded. “It makes sense. Wadjet disappeared thousands of years ago, but nobody knows where she went. If Kiya was able to find her Kha-Ib, it goes to show that there are some compatible humans. Perhaps Wadjet found her mate on your continent.”
Jeff bolted to his feet. “I need a walk.” He stormed from the room.
Tamara looked at her cousin’s shocked face. Oh, no, he didn’t! “I’ll handle this,” she said and ran to catch him.
When she caught up to him, he was already at the front door. “Just where do you think you’re going?”
“Out,” he growled. Of all the times she’d been around Jeff, he’d ignored her, but he’d always been pleasant. But, now, he looked at her as though she as the epitome of evil.
“Not until you go back in there and kiss your wife, and let her know you aren’t upset.”
“Why? I am upset.”
“Because it’s possible your wife is related to another race?”
“Because it’s possible she’s not even human,” he growled.
“Oh, right. And that changes your entire opinion of her. You’re ready to run out of here and find the closest lawyer, is that it?”
“I didn’t say that.”
“But you meant it. Jeff, I don’t know you well, but you don’t appear the type to be so judgmental. What’s the problem? Are you telling me you can handle your wife’s injuries, but you can’t handle her bloodline?”
He stuffed his hands in his back pockets and stared at her. “I don’t know what’s bothering me. All I know is none of this makes any sense.”
“Why?”
“Because, if she’s not human, Tamara, who’s to say I’m really the soul mate she claimed I was. How do I know she’s not going to run off with one of them?”
The confession sent a bolt of shock through her spine. “Are you insane? Have you seen the way your wife looks at you? The sun and moon rise in your eyes for her.”
Rises and sets.
Eyes.
Wadjet. She was the Eye of Horus. The protector of Ra. She’d dreamed of the Eye of Horus many times in her life. Who was this Wadjet to her? And why did she dream about her so much?
“What?”
She shook off the memory. “Nothing. Anyway, get back in there, kiss your wife, and you tell her you love her, no matter what.”
He grimaced. “Just like that.”
“Just like that.”
“And, here, I thought you didn’t like me.”
“I never said I didn’t like you,” she muttered, “but if you hurt my cousin, I swear, when we get back to the States, I’m going to set fire to every single one of your cards in your baseball card collection.”
“Gee, it’s nice to be loved,” he grumbled then headed back to Julie’s bedroom.
Tamara sighed. How had life become so complicated? She shook her head and followed him back in the room.
Selket sat on the side of the bed with the covers pulled back and her hands on Julie’s calves. Light seeped from the joining of their flesh, and Julie gasped. Her cheeks flushed, and her eyes sparkled.
Jeff held Julie’s hands in both of his. Tamara relaxed. At least the man wasn’t ready to run out on his wife this instant. It would destroy Julie if he left her because she was more than human.
At long last, Selket slumped, her hands resting on her own thighs. “That’s enough for now. I’ll work on you more, later.”
Julie let out a slow, heavy sigh. “Thank you,” she whispered.
“I’ve been working on your legs when you slept. It takes a lot out of you because all I’ve done is speed up the knitting process. It’s why you’ve been so tired. You should rest now.”
Julie nodded as Selket stood and left the room, gathering up the cups as she departed.
“Wow,” said Jeff.
“Wow,” repeated Tamara, with a grin. “How do you feel?”
“Better.” She moved as though to readjust, then her head jerked up. Her eyes glazed over. Tamara knew her cousin well enough to know Julie had lapsed into a vision.
“Tamara, come here,” her cousin demanded, her voice raspy.
Tamara stepped to the side of the bed, and Julie grabbed her hand. In an instant, she was dragged into the darkened world of the future.
The room was dark, lit only by the flame of a small, oil lantern. Tamara peered through the inky blackness. Walls of pink granite met her eyes. Aged and scarred through time, the color had faded to a dull grey. Was this a tomb? A large table-like slab was on one wall, a small stone table before it. Chains hung from the slab, a bleak reminder of pain and torture. A large statue filled the left corner. She moved closer to examine it in more detail. The hard cold stone was carved into the shape of a man, wearing ancient garb and holding a spear. But the head wasn’t a man. It was a snake. She knew this statue. Apophis, close associate of Set, God of Chaos. Drawn with curiosity, she ran her hands over the weapon. The cold edge of metal was sharp against her fingers. Deadly, real. The stone hand balanced the weapon loosely, waiting for that one deadly moment to strike home.
Amunkha strode into the room, his face cold and calculating, his eyes flickered hard as shards of ice. He moved toward her, ripping the front of her blouse.
“Soon, my dear, the time for me to have you is coming soon.”
She stood straight and tall, too proud to cover herself, gritting her teeth in anger. “No. I told you before, the answer was ‘No.’”
Before he could respond, Ramose was there.
“The lady is not interested,” he said.
Amunkha stepped to one side, and, with a flick of his hand, the spear flew across the room, targeting Ramose’s heart, striking with deadly accuracy.
“NO!” she screamed as his body toppled to the floor. She ran to him, checked for a pulse, any signs of life. There were none. He was dead.
Tamara screamed, yanking her hand from Julie’s, tears trickling down her cheeks. “No,” she whispered, backing way, tucking her hands behind her. “It can’t be. I won’t let it.”
Julie’s eyes filled with sympathy while the others looked on in confusion.
“You know how it works, Tamara. If it can be seen, it can be changed.”
Tamara nodded, swallowing the terror building in her throat. Ramose would not die. He would not.
* * * *
Hours later, darkness hid the shadowy figures of Egyptian men guarding the entrance to the necropolis of Tanis. Ramose could see them posted at various intervals throughout the ruins, their bodies leaning against the massive toppled stone statues. A graveyard of stone. Heads, bodies, and even legs lay strewn about the site. Huge granite figures offering protection from prying eyes in the night, allowing the dark-robed figures to fold into the shadows.
“I count seven,” he whispered to Mereruka.
The large man nodded. A light breeze kicked up the sand around their feet and off the stone wall surrounding the dig site. The fine grains stung his face. Ramose was glad the other warrior had tied back the massive locks of hair and tuc
ked it beneath the black robes he’d worn for tonight’s attack. That damned long hair seemed at such odds with the Mereruka’s warrior clan.
“You circle left; I’ll go right. We can’t leave any standing, or else we’ll have to fight our way out as well as in.”
“Unless they give up once they realize Amunkha is dead,” responded Mereruka.
Dead. His own brother. Ramose tried to ignore the hollow ache in the pit of his stomach. He’d hoped it would never come to this. He gave Mereruka a curt shake of his head. “Let’s not get too far ahead of ourselves.”
The two separated, crouching low, moving across the darkened sands. The moon was out, shining bright, but was locked by the trees, already on its way to setting, or their path would be emblazoned for all to see. Ramose ducked behind a granite head the size of a small car. The rustling of cloth against stone whispered into the night from the other side.
He fingered the first blow dart hooked to his leather belt. The injector would do no good at this close range, so he closed his fingers about the metal projectile, positioning it in his fist. He crept around the broken neck of the massive statue. With a quick twist of his wrist, he slammed the needle into the man’s shoulder, pressing the manual plunger, his other hand clamped about his victim’s mouth.
Muscles stiffened then relaxed. Easing the body to the ground, he scanned for his next target. One by one, each man fell into a dreamless sleep on the desert floor, as silent and secretive as the faces on the monuments surrounding them.
Ramose and Mereruka met up close to the east wall. Their first task was done, yet Ramose couldn’t kick the unease running through his mind. Had it been too easy? Or had they just come prepared?
They stood in Horus’s temple, or the remnants thereof. Nothing seemed to be left. At least, not enough to hide another temple. Perhaps their ideas were too farfetched, and Set’s temple lay in another direction. Like beneath Mut’s or even Osiris’s.
Ramose scanned the flattened ruins. Rows of rock had been laid out by excavators, outlining the outer wall of the temple. They were in what would have been the great hall, just inside the main entrance. Ramose had never visited this particular temple, but the layout would be similar to the one in Edfu, They needed to find the offering hall. If the design of the temple was to also keep Set in his place, the entrance to his temple would be hidden there, beneath the gifts offered to the god Horus.
Visions of Fire and Ice (The Petiri) Page 22
