“Your trick is revealed, witch. Your illusions are dispelled,” it said.
The real Nefertiti was now behind the creature and placed her hand on its head. She reached into what was left of its fragmented mind and pulled memories out. She found the ones she sought and changed her appearance. The creature spun around towards her and then stopped. It started to attack her then hesitated and stopped again. It changed back into the little girl.
“Mommy. I missed you,” said the little girl who was crying even though her eyes could not produce tears.
“They hurt me. The bad men hurt me,” she said to the disguised Nefertiti.
“I’m so sorry. They can’t hurt you anymore and I will protect you. I promise,” Nefertiti told her.
As she held the child, she pulled an enchanted blade from its sheath and drove into the undead child’s back, penetrating its heart.
“Go to sleep my dear,” Nefertiti told the revenant as her blade pierced it.
The undead girl continued to cling to Nefertiti and for a brief moment, the pallor of death was gone, and the girl seemed alive and vibrant.
“Thank you, mommy, I love you.” The little girl looked up at Nefertiti and faded away.
The horde of undead stopped moving and all dropped where they stood as the spirit passed from the world.
Nefertiti, tears in her eyes, made her way back to the temple gates. She walked up the stairs and stood on the wall facing her surviving soldiers. Two large glimmering images appeared above the soldiers and took the form of two men. Her voice echoed loudly across the field in front of her.
“These men caused this plague. Find them and bring them to me. A coffer of gold and an estate on the Nile to the ones who bring them before me. Two coffers if you bring them back alive,” she said, and the soldiers immediately departed.
Akhnaten asked her what that was about, and she told him, “During my fight with the creature, I pulled its memories. The master of the undead was a young girl with magical talent who was raped and murdered by two highwaymen. She became a revenant and created this horde to be her friends because her spirit was afraid. I will find them, and they will pay for their crime. Every moment of pain she suffered will be visited upon them a thousand-fold. They will suffer one additional day of torment for each corpse upon this field. I will see to it personally.”
“We will see to it personally,” said Ra as he walked up behind her.
“I am sorry I have arrived late,” he told her as they embraced, and he held his crying fiancée.
#
Ra was amazed by the new world. Merlin had the benefit of being a ghost and gaining a small bit of peripheral insight into the world, even if it was hazy and sporadic and tainted by the minds of lunatics. Ra did not have that insight and he was like a child in a toy store. Computers, lasers, guns, shuttles, even the buildings filled him with awe. Ra spent most of his time trying foods in the commissary and standing on a deck watching shuttles fly by.
As much as Ra was fascinated with the world, Bethany was fascinated by Ra. She had discovered a natural talent for magical languages and here was a man who helped create Egypt’s own unique runic system of magic. She sat with Ra on a balcony for some time talking about the history of Egyptian necromancy or at least trying to as Ra was continually distracted by the constant shuttle flights in the busy city.
Bruce finished with a debriefing upon the return of the others from Hawaii and came to get Ra to help plan for Karnak. Ra stood to face Bruce. Bruce was a towering man at six foot three and heavily muscled, yet Ra dwarfed him.
“Your Lady Bethany tells me she is with child and you are the sire. I have not had time to thank you for awakening me so allow me to do so. May your lives together be graced with many children, may your sons be strong warriors, may your daughters worthy of marriage to princes and may your fields be filled with fat cattle,” he said.
Bruce gave him an odd look and looked over at Bethany.
“That’s a good thing, he’s wishing us well in his own quaint way,” said Bethany.
“Uh, if you say so. You’re welcome, I guess,” said Bruce.
Ra had agreed to help them, but it was conditional that they go to Karnak first. Bruce led him to the meeting room.
“Thank you all for coming,” Sebastian said.
“We’re still hurting from the loss of Sir Mason and could use more time to mourn but time is something we can’t afford to sacrifice. We’ll be leaving for Karnak as soon as everyone has a chance to rest up. We're just weeks out from a very difficult trip and I am sorry we have to rush out again so soon. With fey activity on the rise, we've had frequent hunts and very little downtime since Giza. I know you're tired and I wish I could give you time to rest. If you’re not familiar with it, Karnak was an ancient temple site. I’m not wasting time on irrelevant details so let’s make this to the point. We know our intelligence is sound. Ra is proof of that. Karnak is a complex so it’s not just going to a single point. The team will consist of myself, Chelsea, Bruce, Xavier, Trish, and Ra. Merlin is sitting this one out to catch up on training. There are a lot of sites at Karnak so Ra, we are hoping you can help us narrow it down,” Sebastian said to the assembled group.
Ra stood and turned to face the group. “There is no question. She is in or near the temple of Akhenaten who you may also know as Amenhotep the Fourth.”
William spoke up. “Are you sure? History says she was married to him and as her second husband, wouldn’t they have considered it insulting to you? They did revere you and Nefertiti after all.”
Ra laughed. “Why would I be insulted? She was a wife of Akhenaten as she was a wife of me and she had several other husbands as I had other wives as did Akhenaten. Akhenaten was a friend and fellow leader of the Priesthood and it was an honor to share a wife with him. I mourned his death as did Nefertiti. I have never understood the obsession with a single wife and husband. Some of my own countrymen had such strange traditions but such nonsense did not impact those of the Priesthood.”
“Ra, if I may ask, you’ve mentioned the Priesthood before. Can you elaborate on the significance of that?” asked Xavier.
“The Priesthood is sacred, and I am not at liberty to divulge its secrets but seeing as it has been dead for thousands of years, those secrets seem no longer worth protecting. The Priesthood of the Necromancers started at Giza. Centuries before the pyramids, before Karnak, before any of the monuments, myself, my family and a few select others learned the secrets of magic. We worked from scant traces in stories handed down through many generations. We found pieces of spells in various ancient works. It was a complex chore but one we relished. We created the art of Necromancy from the ancient dead magic that we revived and reshaped. We formed a secret society within our region that manipulated and controlled the path of the Egyptians for thousands of years. We built and tore down faiths, installed and removed pharaohs and whatever else we felt was needed to maintain our power. We thought ourselves alone in our master of magic. Then we discovered we were not alone in our mastery of magic and Masters from around the world started becoming aware of each other. We were the strength behind Egypt, but we rotted from within and time wore away our bonds. We slowly fell from our grand station to scattered cults and eventually only me and Nefertiti remained of the Priesthood. We alone carried its secrets and shared them with a precious few, among those few were some of the members of Merlin’s Council.”
“The temple of Akhenaten it is then,” said Sebastian.
“Ra, is there anything we should know about the temple or the grounds? Any hidden dangers, any more monsters, anything you feel should be mentioned?” said Chelsea.
Ra thought for a moment. “Necromancy is often considered the magic of death but it’s also the magic of life. At Karnak, we experimented with life the same as we experimented with death at the Necropolis. We created things glorious and dreadful. Nefertiti and I returned to Karnak when we made the great Sphinx to guard the surface of the Necropolis. The great sphinx was
beautiful and horrifying and her loss is what made me realize how powerful Mordred was. There were many other things there, smaller versions of my pet for example. There are no secrets on par with Neith though,” he said.
“Will your presence give us any protection should they be awake?” asked Sebastian.
“I fear not. I thought it was my spirit that gave me that protection but now I know it was my magic, mother is proof of that. She would have killed me if not for you and your lover. I fear without my full power it will be the same at Karnak,” Ra said.
“Okay then, we have our team. We have our objective. We have twelve hours until we leave. Use it to rest friends, we’ve earned it though I wish I could offer you more. Dismissed,” said Sebastian.
“Ra, if you don’t mind taking a few minutes from your exploration of the new world, could I talk to you?” said Sebastian.
“I was wondering when we would speak. We both have things unsaid after Giza and with your quick departure to the west, we have not had time to say those things,” said Ra.
“Arthur and Guinevere, Merlin told me of your rebirths. I am pleased to see you found a way to cheat death. But, from the looks of your faces and furrowing of your brow, you do not wish to speak of pleasant things. I can understand your anger and I know how it feels to lose. I do not blame you for the death of Neith and I spoke rashly at Giza. That thing you killed was not my mother. I killed her thousands of years ago when I created that creature. I took the best parts of her and threw them away and left only the hideous. I was young and angry and impetuous when I created that monstrosity and it cost your friend his life. He was there to save me, and I killed him, and this cannot be forgiven. I wish I could convey how much I regret his death. He did not know me and gave his life willingly to save mine. Mortals have changed,” said Ra.
“I've had time to think on things as well and I also spoke rashly, but we didn’t change Ra, you just never saw it. That’s why we’re here, not to talk about Neith or our reincarnations. This world is not the one you left. We do things differently. We have a unified global government now and our leaders are chosen by the people, not noble heritage or magical strength. We need to know that you will either work with us in this new world or stay out of our way. We will not allow the Masters to try to take control of anything again. You have agreed to help us with some research once we rescue Nefertiti and we will hold you to that. Once our bargain is completed, you have no further obligation to us,” Sebastian told him.
“It doesn’t have to end there,” said Chelsea.
“Merlin speaks highly of you. He said the Ra who ruled Egypt and demanded worship as a god was not the man who joined the Council. He said you changed and were a man who wanted to make the world a better place. Is that true?” she added.
“It is. We saw Mordred’s actions and were appalled. Even at the height of our power in the old dynasties, we would not have conceived of such evil. We agreed that the world needed to be protected and agreed to join Master Merlin’s council. We were hesitant to form the Seal but after Mordred sacked Giza we had no choice. Did you know it was beautiful once, not the waste you saw? My magic held back the desert and it was lush, and plants and animals thrived. We created the Sphinx to guard it and Mordred laid waste to it. We fought him but failed and we fled. He destroyed the magic that held back the desert and left nothing. It would seem only Neith survived, a creature as dark as him. We could not allow him to do that to another nation.”
“Then join us, join the Wardens. As we’ve already said, we’re not going to allow the Council to reform. No Master will stand above his fellow man again. The Wardens are all equal and you can be one of us. Our order was created to protect all of humanity. We have stood for two thousand years and survived wars, plagues, disasters, yet we’re here today doing the same thing we did on day one after the Seal. We have new technology but we’re still the Wardens. We still give everything we are for the betterment of humanity. Remember why you joined Merlin in the beginning and join us now. In a past life, I called you friend and I hope I always can. Now let me call you brother,” said Sebastian.
“Your words are powerful Arthur, or rather Sebastian. You always had a gift for oration and could inspire an unarmed knight to take on a horde of dragons. Your words speak to me but like with you and Guinevere, there is no me, there is only we. I can promise you nothing except this. I will never be your enemy and I will never be an enemy of my fellow man. I cannot promise you more until I am reunited with Nefertiti. She is as precious to me as Guinev...I mean Chelsea is to you and we act like one in all things.”
Sebastian looked at him through snow-white eyes and saw the truth of his words. “I can ask for no more than that,” said Sebastian.
#
Ra barely slept. He was still amazed by the new world he found when he awoke. He returned often throughout the night to the deck not only to watch the shuttles but to think. Nefertiti was foremost on his mind but so was Sebastian. Nefertiti would come first then he would discuss the offer with her and see what their future held. He spent a lot of time in the commissary trying nearly every food they had. But he came to the commissary this time not to eat exotic foods, as much as he did enjoy it, but to speak with his old friend.
“Merlin, this world is strange and wondrous all at once. Exotic foods worthy of a pharaoh are commonplace. Women walk in society as equals in all nations now, something that few other than Egypt allowed in the past. They have weapons that channel the power of the gods and can be carried in one’s hand and chariots that fly. I was asleep a long time,” said Ra.
“I know. We knew each other a thousand years before...before the Seal. Now twice that span has passed in the blink of an eye for you and as a half-remembered dream whispered on the lips of the touched for me. Things are different now...better I think,” Merlin told him.
“You really bowed to Arthur? Your student, a mere guard in our time,” said Ra.
“It was necessary at the time. He can speak the geas and it took me a moment to resist it. It has been a long time since someone had a geas strong enough to challenge my mind and it took some effort to break,” Merlin told him.
The old man paused a moment to take a bit of food then continued. “He was always more than a mere guard and we both know it. He would have been a Master as would his wife had I team to finish their training and you know this as well as I. You’ve had your share of apprentices and can judge their strength. What makes him different though is his spirit, not his skill. He is a true leader. He was born to be a king and I suspected it then, but he wasn’t ready. Had he been, I would have installed him on the throne of Britannia. The actions of our Council, the formation of the Seal, it forced him into a role he didn’t want. He became their king after we were gone but from what I’ve seen of his past, he wore the crown with a heavy heart because he wasn’t ready. He is now,” said Merlin.
“I have placed many men and women upon the throne of Egypt during the height of my power and I often found the best leaders were the ones who did not want to lead. A desire to lead is often a mark of the power hungry. Those who do not want power, those who take it only when there is no other option, they are the ones who care most for their people and those are the ones the people love and follow the most. I sought that trait whenever possible,” Ra told him.
Ra finished his drink and refilled it then continued. “I do not have the luxury of the time you have had with him. I have known him, the new him, barely a day before he left, and he only just returned yet in that time he has made an impression I cannot deny. I will seriously consider his offer, but I will wait for some time. I want to judge him further and see this new Arthur for myself. As much as I have faith in your word my dear friend, I must see it myself,” Ra told him.
“You will. I promise you Ra, you will. Give him his platitude of belief in your loyalty. You'll have more control that way,” said Merlin.
“Something I find curious Merlin. You have been awake since the instant the Seal was brok
en but you seem to be regaining power more slowly than Sebastian and Chelsea. Even my own power is returning yet yours is oddly stalled,” said Ra.
“Ah, you noticed that. Ra, this must be between us. I am nearly at my full power, but they must not know,” said Merlin.
“Why? What is the point in hiding it? You could help so much more effectively,” said Ra.
“True, but I have seen something strange happening. You saw the spell with the sunlight. I know you haven’t regained your full power and couldn’t feel the energy they produced but I trust you know what they did?” said Merlin.
“I do. They conjured a solar orb,” said Ra.
“That and more and I don’t know how they did it. I trained them both in the beginning. I know what they were capable of and it took years to get them to the proficiency level they were at. They have trained very little since I arrived in this life compared to their old lives. They have great natural talent, that we always knew but that was advanced magic they used, and they held it together for a very long time, possibly longer than the two of us could do had we joined our strength as they did. I have not, in this lifetime or their first, trained them to use that kind of magic and they used it at a strength that was enough to make Neith afraid. You saw how she reacted and the impact on her webs around the room. They summoned an orb that not just generated sunlight to drive away the darkness, but they created a weapon against that darkness. Neith was an immortal of great power and they made her afraid. Then, when they fought her, did you see how fast they moved and how they moved perfectly in concert with each other? Neith feared them and tried to run away. Something strange is going on with those two and I’m inclined to play the weak old man and see where it goes,” Merlin told him.
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