by Jonas, Gary
Winslow leaned over and whispered in her ear. She nodded and her eyes narrowed as she spoke to me. “Do you presume to lecture me?”
Based on her tone of voice, I knew I was already driving a tractor trailer on thin ice. “No,” I said. “I was simply thinking out loud to make sure I understood that you have a different perspective on how things work. My apologies.”
“Evidently you have a great deal for which to apologize.”
“I do?”
“Hani,” she said.
“Yes, my queen,” Hani said.
“Please tell me again what you saw during the battle.”
This ought to be good, I thought.
“This one,” he said, pointing at Kelly, “was protecting Zannanza but decided to abandon him to protect this one.” He pointed at me. “Then these two ran like cowards and disappeared into the hills, leaving everyone else to die.”
Or maybe not so good.
“Is this true?” Ankhesenamun asked.
Kelly nudged me. “Let me take this one,” she said.
“Be my guest,” I said.
Kelly stepped forward. “It is true to a point. We were outnumbered by thousands, and I had to make a choice. I could protect Zannanza, a man you would have despised, or I could protect my friend. General Horemheb was preparing to kill Jonathan, so I did what I felt was appropriate and I got Jonathan out of there. Once I had Jonathan safe, I looked over the battlefield and felt it was better to let Zannanza die rather than kill your entire army.”
Horemheb laughed. “You think you could kill an army all by yourself?”
Kelly calmly turned to look at him. “Yes,” she said.
He stared into her eyes, and I know he saw nothing but confidence. His smile vanished and he didn’t try to argue.
Winslow clapped his hands. “Bravo,” he said. “I believe she probably could.”
“As long as she didn’t have to protect anyone, she definitely could,” I said.
“So in essence, you’re saying you did the queen a favor,” Winslow said with a grin.
“We failed in our mission to protect the prince,” I said. “But to be fair, we weren’t expecting to face the Egyptian army.”
“Always expect the unexpected,” Winslow said.
Ankhesenamun placed a hand on Winslow’s shoulder. “Thoth speaks truth and wisdom,” she said.
I glanced at Kelly and mouthed the words, Thoth speaks?
She shrugged.
What the hell happened in our absence?
Aye rose and approached the dais. “I grow weary of this meeting, and there are still preparations to make for the burial. Shall we execute them or send them to work the mines?”
Again, Winslow leaned toward her and whispered in her ear. She grinned and nodded. Then she faced Aye. “Is my husband’s tomb prepared?”
“It is.”
“We shall lay my former husband to rest, and when we seal the tomb, Jonathan and Kelly will be with him to be his servants in the west.”
The vizier smiled and nodded. He shared a look with Horemheb.
The general turned to me. “It would seem your days in this world are few.”
“They always were,” I said.
“You realize you’ll be dead within a week once we seal you into the tomb. The gods will suffocate you.”
“At least I won’t have to look at your ugly face anymore,” I said.
Kelly stepped close to me. “I think it’s time to end this,” she said and pulled a dagger from her belt. “Grab hold of me.”
I took hold of her left hand. She whipped the dagger up and let it fly at Winslow.
The dagger flew straight and true.
Until it slowed and stopped five inches from Winslow’s heart.
“Good aim,” he said. He reached out, plucked the dagger from the air, and tucked it into his own belt. He held out his hands with his palms together, thumbs toward the ceiling as if he were in prayer. He let his hands drift downward until they aimed at me and Kelly.
Kelly stiffened.
“Are you all right?” I whispered.
“He’s using magic,” she said.
“I’m not ready to go yet, so I think you two should have separate rooms for the time being,” he said. He spread his hands.
Kelly flew to the side, and the motion was so sudden, it pulled her from my grasp. She crashed into a group of servants then fell to the floor.
Winslow looked at me and raised an eyebrow. “How odd. You’re still standing.”
“His magic is strong,” Ankhesenamun said. “Our best wizards could do nothing to him.”
I walked toward the dais.
“Winslow, Winslow, Winslow,” I said. “Your magic sucks.”
Winslow switched to English. I could tell because the words were clear. “If you kill me now, you’ll be stuck here in Egypt.”
Ankhesenamun pointed at me. “Guards, seize him!”
My plan was to grab him, drag him over to Kelly, then break his neck. I could have killed him before the guards reached me, but he was right that I’d be stuck here while Kelly would disappear. The guards grabbed me. I could tell they were nervous, but I didn’t try to fight them. I just gazed into Winslow’s eyes.
“I’m going to kill you,” I said with a smile.
The guards started to pull me away. I struggled to hold myself in place a moment longer so I could turn to Ankhesenamun. “Kelly trusted you.”
The guards started to pull me away, but Ankhesenamun held up a hand. They kept hold of me but allowed me to stay where I was.
“I really do like her,” Ankhesenamun said.
I shook my head. “You’re missing the point, Ankhesenamun. You upset her.”
“That’s not important.” She motioned for the guards to take me away.
I held my place long enough to say one more thing before the guards dragged me away from the dais. “Oh, it’s important,” I said, “because before the day is out, she’s going to kill you.”
CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
JONATHAN SHADE
Winslow and Horemheb came to see me in the room where I’d been detained. They had an entourage of soldiers and servants with them. My hands were tied with leather thongs. I clenched and unclenched my fists over and over, but the thongs had zero give to them. Winslow carried my backpack, which held my cell phone and some extra magazines for the Beretta as well as a few for the Glock.
“I believe this is yours,” Winslow said and dropped the pack on the floor. “Perhaps it will be useful in the afterlife.”
Horemheb motioned to the soldiers, and they moved over to pull me to my feet. They held me still while the general got in my face. His breath could have killed a rhino at twenty paces.
“I don’t think you’ll have much use for your possessions as Ammit will eat your heart.”
It took me a moment to realize what he meant. Kelly had explained to me that in the Egyptian view of the afterlife, Anubis would weigh a heart against the feather of Maat, and if the heart weighed more, a monster named Ammit would devour said heart. As the Egyptians believed the mind and soul resided in the heart, Horemheb was telling me that I would be judged unworthy and would not be granted eternal life.
I didn’t have a snappy comeback, so I just grinned at him. The truth was that I was afraid. I couldn’t kill Winslow while I was separated from Kelly, or I’d be trapped in ancient Egypt. And I knew I wouldn’t be able to get close to her before they locked us in Tut’s tomb. While I didn’t remember Howard Carter finding extra skeletons in the tomb in any of the accounts I’d read about the discovery of Tut’s treasures, it was entirely possible that by failing here, time would be changed. Maybe the ripple effect wouldn’t be terrible, but maybe it would.
A butterfly flaps its wings in Africa, I thought. Of course, I was in Africa, so maybe it should be “A modern man dies in ancient Egypt, and civilizations never rise.”
Horemheb looked as if he wanted to punch me, but instead he simply stepped back and al
lowed Winslow to approach.
“How are you feeling, Jonathan?” Winslow asked.
“Like I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
“Why didn’t you?”
“I’ve been asking myself that exact question for the past thirty minutes. So why haven’t you killed me yet?” I asked.
“Because unlike you, I’m not a murderer.”
“Unlike me?”
“I can see into your soul, Jonathan. I translated the Emerald Tablets. The power there is truly incredible. In any case, I can look in your eyes, and I can tell you’ve taken lives. You’ve considered yourself judge, jury, and executioner on more than one occasion. If I were you, I wouldn’t want Anubis to perform the weighing of the heart ritual. All that guilt against a single feather? Surely the scales will tip.”
“Thanks for the vote of confidence. Where’s Curly?” I asked.
“Curly?”
“If Horemheb is Larry, you’re Moe, then Aye has to be Curly.”
He looked at me as if I were insane. “What the hell are you talking about?”
“The Three Stooges. I guess they weren’t around in your time, but I thought you Underworld people kept up a bit more with the changing times. Charon sure did.”
“Perhaps in some areas, the people were afforded such luxuries.”
“But not in Tartarus,” I said.
He laughed. “You really think I was destined for Tartarus? In that vernacular, I was in the Asphodel Meadows. Unlike many, I didn’t drink from the Lethe, so I never forgot my former life. That’s how I was able to sneak away and find the Stacks so I could access the Forbidden Texts. In my view, I simply held fast to my True Will. Reality, my dear Jonathan, is a blend of belief systems that flow into the Truth.”
“Sounds like bullshit to me. Where is Aye?”
“Ankhesenamun’s husband is preparing for the burial ceremony.”
“Tut was her husband.”
“Yes, and Aye is her husband now. Did you not notice that he wears a crown with a cobra on it?”
“Not really.”
He shrugged. “Oh well. I suppose not all detectives are as quick on the uptake as Sherlock Holmes. It’s a shame, really, because that crown should have been a bright shiny clue to the situation you were walking into. Are you prepared to meet your fate?”
“Not especially, but I am bored with your small talk. Go ahead and tell me to kiss my ass good-bye and I’ll see you at the ceremony.”
KELLY CHAN
I hate wizards.
My wrists were bound by light, and while I could focus and pull my hands about six inches apart, they snapped back after that and the spell grew stronger for a time.
My ankles were also bound by light, but I had more leeway there, so I could walk. Before several servants led me out of the Great Hall, I tried to kick one of them, but I couldn’t pull my leg up to chamber it in preparation for a side kick. Without the coil, there wouldn’t be any power in the kick, and as I couldn’t raise my leg high enough for a roundhouse, I would be stuck kicking someone in the shins. It was a situation unfit for a Sekutar warrior.
Here I was, nearly back to full strength, but that goddamn Winslow had to go and mess it all up. I made a mental to-do list, and killing him was right at the top.
I started counting off the body parts I could tear away from him one by one, but before I’d reached the knees, Ankhesenamun entered the room where I was being detained. She had a handful of servants with her.
“I hope you’re proud of yourself,” I said and spit on the floor. She was lucky I didn’t spit in her face.
She glanced down at the spittle then met my gaze. “You understand nothing of our ways.”
“You were afraid and you asked us for help. We agreed to help you, and you repaid us by betraying us. What’s to understand?”
“Our king must be Egyptian.”
“And that’s a reason to execute a foreign prince, alienate the entire Hittite nation, and try to have your emissaries killed?”
“As I said, you don’t understand. The Hittites are our sworn enemies. Aye and Horemheb both explained to me how they would send a worthless son to slay me while I slept. Then we would be ruled by a Hittite.”
“Aye and Horemheb crave power.”
“You met the prince, Kelly. Do you believe he would have made a good king?”
“I believe you could have controlled him and run Egypt yourself, using him as a figurehead.”
“Yes, I considered that as a possibility, but I learned from Winslow that Suppiluliumas selected Zannanza.”
“You learned that from Winslow?”
She nodded. “He has powerful magic. He created a vision in the air before me that allowed me to see what was happening as it occurred. You met Zannanza and I know you did not like him. I could see your expression when you turned away from him. But did you know he’s an expert with a dagger? Did you know he’s slain many men and women while they slept?”
“You sent the army to kill us.”
“And yet you and Jonathan are both alive. My orders were to slay the Hittite prince and his entourage but not to harm you, Jonathan, or Hani.”
“Horemheb tried to kill Jonathan.”
“Only because you both killed many Egyptian soldiers.”
“So you want me to believe you’re a good person.”
“I am trying to do what’s best for Egypt.”
“Then set us free.”
“You are now enemies of Egypt. I cannot change that. You killed too many men.”
I shook my head. “We didn’t have a choice.”
“You could have broken away from the battle sooner.”
“You sent us to protect the prince.”
“I must do what is right for Egypt,” she said again. “Toward that end, I have married Aye.”
“You married that dried-up old man?”
“Egypt needs a king.”
“You don’t even like Aye.”
“Egypt needs a king, and the king must be Egyptian. However, I am doing you a great honor by allowing you to serve Tutankhamun in the afterlife. You should appreciate the gesture.”
“I don’t.”
Ankhesenamun shrugged. “History will remember you as friends of Egypt because of my actions.”
“I don’t care how history remembers me,” I said. “My purpose is to live and to protect the man I love.”
“Your husband. His magic is strong too. But he has many weaknesses.”
“Everyone has weaknesses. What do you plan to do after you’ve sent us to the afterlife with your husband?”
Ankhesenamun took a deep breath. “I will do what I must for Egypt. I will do my duty as a Great Royal Wife with Aye and conceive a son.”
I shook my head. “You disappoint me.”
“What you think of me is less important than what the people of Egypt think.”
With that, she turned and left.
JONATHAN SHADE
Prelude to a showdown.
There have been times in my life when I witnessed great magic. The wizards at Dragon Gate Industries wielded some powerful magic, but those guys and gals were amateurs. I’ve seen powerful sorcerers, and I’ve seen the destruction they’ve wrought, destroying entire city blocks. I’ve seen dragons. Hell, I rode a dragon named Clara, and my semigirlfriend Rayna is from another dimension and is not quite human.
I’ve also met gods. Persephone is an obvious example here, though some claim she wasn’t really a god. Sorry, if you can take over the Underworld and keep Hades pussy-whipped for millennia, you can consider yourself a god. I’ve certainly met demigods of various types and magical beings such as Charon, even though that’s more of a job than a real demigod situation. The magic bleeds into the worker over the centuries.
Chronos probably qualifies to some extent too, and like most gods, demigods, and powerful beings I’ve met, he was a dick. That old saying about absolute power might need a slight amendment. The more power someone has,
the more likely they are to be a complete asshat. Your mileage may vary.
I should probably talk a bit about ghosts here too. I never had a weekly ghost-hunting TV show, but that’s because I don’t like to advertise that I can see spirits. Besides, you don’t normally find ghosts in dark houses as those stupid shows want you to believe. Ghosts like to be around people because it reminds them of life. Ghosts stick around for a few reasons. Sometimes they have unfinished business, and once they feel they’ve completed that business, they go away. Most fall into that category, but it has to involve some powerful emotion if they keep hanging around. Most of the time, when someone dies, they don’t feel the need to stay. They just move on to whatever it is that comes after.
Some ghosts will stick because of magic, of course. A magical slaying combined with a spell to keep the ghost on the earthly plane isn’t that strange, and sometimes a ghost will remain because of the power of love. Sorry if that gets a Huey Lewis song stuck in your head. Most of the ghosts wandering the world are suicides. If someone hates their life so much that they violently kill themselves, there’s a good chance the ghost will stick. There are ways to get them unstuck, of course.
In any case, up to this point, I had not encountered any ghosts in Egypt. That’s not strange. Other than Esther, I rarely see ghosts in Denver. Every now and then when someone dies in front of me, I can see the spirit, but that often means there’s magic involved.
When Tutankhamun died, I didn’t see his spirit rise up or anything. He was just dead.
So that’s a late chat about magic, gods, and ghosts to clarify a few things before I move forward. The reasons will be clear soon enough.
CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
JONATHAN SHADE
The sun began its descent as ten guards escorted me to a long procession of people. My wrists were still bound, but my ankles were free, so I could walk. They had me wear white sandals and a white headband, but otherwise I remained in my blue jeans and button-down shirt. I had my pack strapped to my back.