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War Among Gods

By Aelora Sinclair




The characters of Ardeth Bay, Rick, Alex and Evelyn O'Connell and Jonathon Caranahan are owned by Stephen Sommers and no infringement is intended. All other characters are the product of my own fanciful and sometimes foolish imagination.

This story is rated R for sexual content and violence


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The thundering waves are calling me home to you
The pounding sea is calling me home to you
On a dark new year's night
On the west coast of Clare
I heard your voice singing
Your eyes danced the song
Your hands played the tune
T'was a vision before me.
We left the music behind and the dance carried on
As we stole away to the seashore
We smelt the brine, felt the wind in our hair
And with sadness you paused.
Suddenly I knew that you'd have to go
My world was not yours, your eyes told me so
Yet it was there I felt the crossroads of time
And I wondered why.
As we cast our gaze on the tumbling sea
A vision came o'er me
Of thundering hooves and beating wings
In clouds above.
As you turned to go I heard you call my name,
You were like a bird in a cage spreading its wings to fly
"The old ways are lost," you sang as you flew
And I wondered why.
The Old Ways – Loreena McKennit


CHAPTER ONE – THE AMULET


      “Now. Isn’t this nice? A quiet meal with the family altogether.” Rick O’Connell looked over his family – wife, Evy, son, Alex and brother-in-law, Jonathon -- all of which looked as if they had just taken a taste of some particularly sour tasting food. He frowned. “We are supposed to be enjoying this.”
      “Oh, Rick.” His wife smiled and leaned over to kiss his cheek. “We appreciate the attempt in trying to make us into a normal family, but you know this will never last. Alex is just itching to run off to the Museum and you know my brother has some blonde waiting for him at a seedy bar!”
      “That’s not true!” Jonathon protested. “She’s a brunette!”
      Evy smiled. “See?”
      “Well I don’t care,” Rick grunted. “We are going to sit here and eat dinner and pretend to be normal, at least for tonight. Understood?”
      The others grumbled their replies and returned to their meals, an ensuing silence pervading over the table. It wasn’t exactly how he had hoped the meal would go. It had been a year since the mummy, Imhotep, had last darkened their lives, almost costing Rick both his wife and his son. Ever since then, he had been determined that they remain a normal family, with no more traipsing all over the world, trying to get themselves killed. At first, Evy seemed to agree. She accepted the position as curator in the British Museum from the Bainbridge scholars. Alex had begun going to school like every other boy his age should be, and Jonathon… well, he wasn’t really Rick’s problem.
      But over the past few months, Rick had seen his family grow restless. Evy began talking about attending an excavation in Thebes, and Alex was found at the Museum almost every day after school. Rick knew it would not be long before his wife was dragging him off on yet another search of ancient history.
      The bell at the door rang and Alex leapt to his feet before his father could say a word. Evy and Jonathon were not far behind, leaving Rick to stare at his empty table, wondering when a stranger at the door had become more exciting than a quiet family meal in the kitchen. Slowly rising to his feet, he took a more sedate walk out to the front hall, ignoring the driving desire to heave a heavy sigh.
      Evy scooted her son out of the way and opened the door to find a tall, striking red haired woman standing before her. She had been twirling a lethal looking pistol in her hand but stopped as the door opened and shoved it into the holster at her hip. She smiled, wide impossibly green eyes sweeping over Evy and Alex.
      “Hi,” she greeted in a soft, slightly husky voice. “Is Rick here?”
      Evy made a face. She had been expecting the woman to ask for Jonathon. Not her husband. And it was Jonathon who hurried forward suddenly, knocking her and Alex out of the way as he casually leaned against the doorframe and flashed a winning smile at the female before him.
      “Unfortunately, Rick – Evy’s husband,” he was quick to point out, “isn’t here. But I am. And I’m single.”
      The woman before him flashed a grin. “I’ll just bet you are. Mind if I come in?”
      Jonathon stepped out of the way to let her pass into the hallway, as Evy was about to make a protest. The woman twirled before them, looking over the entry way and letting out an appreciative whistle.
      “Looks like Rick’s doing well for himself.”
      Meanwhile, Jonathon was allowing his own appreciative gaze to travel over the stranger. She was tall, almost standing eye to eye with him, with a curvaceous build including shapely hips and full breasts that tapered to meet one another at a small waist. Her hair hung past her hips in soft waves, copper highlights gleaming in the lamplight. Her clothing reminded him of his brother-in-law – brown dingos tucked into shiny riding boots, cambric shirt with rolled up sleeves, gun holsters strapped to her hips and a dagger tied at her right thigh. She whirled around as Rick entered the room and immediately ran to him, crying out his name and throwing herself into his arms.
      “Uh oh,” Jonathon commented as he watched his sister’s eyes narrow in displeasure. Beside her, Alex’s mouth dropped open as he watched his father hug the stranger.
      “Oh Rick! I’ve missed you!” She kissed his cheek and pressed herself to him once more.
      “Katy! I can’t believe it’s you!” Rick O’Connell held the woman away from him, his gaze sweeping over her. He could not contain his smile. “How long has it been?”
      “Too long!”
      “Ahem.” Evy cleared her throat, standing beside her husband, flashing him an angry glare.
      “Oh!” Rick realized how the situation must have looked and immediately set about to remedy it. “Katy, hon, I would like you to meet my family. My wife, Evelyn; my son, Alex. That over there is my brother-in-law, Jonathon. Everyone, this is my sister, Katy.”
      Silence. His family all looked at him blankly and then back at his never-before-spoken-of sister. Jonathon rolled his eyes.
      “Oh sure, Rick. I’ve tried that one before. But I don’t think it’s going to work with Evy.”
      Rick shook his head. “No, really. I’m serious. This is my sister, Katy O’Connell.”
      Evy looked up at her husband in confusion. “But you’ve never mentioned a sister before.”
      Katy laughed. “Oh, that’s love. Thanks, Rick!”
      Rick shrugged. “Sorry, hon. You never came up in conversation.”
      “But… but…” Evy began to protest. “You never even invited her to the wedding or any of Alex’s birthdays or –”
      “Oh don’t worry about that,” Katy jumped in, rescuing her brother from the set down he was obviously about to receive from his beautiful wife. “He never would have been able to find me. He knows that.”
      More confused looks from the congregation. Rick sighed. “Why don’t we all go into the parlor and we can explain. Hmmm?”
      “Ooh!” Katy raised her eyebrows. “A parlor? Well, aren’t we among the elite, My Lord O’Connell.”
      Rick grabbed his sister by the hand and pulled her forward before she could make another comment.
      After they all became situated and Jonathon served drinks, claiming he found he needed one at the moment, Katy and Rick began taking turns explaining their very estranged relationship.
      “Katy was born shortly before our parents died in Hong Kong and we were both raised in the orphanage together,” Rick began, sitting next to his wife on the lounger. “Unfortunately, being older than her, I became restless at a much earlier age –”
      “Yeah. So he left me there to rot,” Katy added with a grin, obviously harboring no hard feelings.
      Rick shook his head. “I told her I was leaving but that I would keep in touch and write to her to let her know where I was. I was sixteen when I left there but I kept my promise and wrote to her, letting her know where I was as I began traveling, taking odd jobs where I could to send her money and feed myself. Then, one day when I had been settled in France for a few months, I received word from Katy that she too was planning on leaving the orphanage.”
      “I was fourteen,” Katy took up for him. “And the missionaries who ran the place were beginning to talk about a convent – to protect my virtue, put me into service for the Lord, etc. There was no way I was allowing them to lock me up! Because, unfortunately for Rick and myself, we were both born with the same need for adventure our parents obviously had. Knowing I couldn’t just disappear and scare my brother, I wrote him to let him know I was going to join him in Europe.”
      “And she did.” Rick smiled at the memory. “Two glorious weeks of brother and sister reunited.”
      Evy frowned at that. “Two weeks.”
      Katy laughed, her eyes sparkling as she glanced over at Jonathon. “Any longer and we would have killed each other.”
      Rick grinned at his younger sister. “Unfortunately, I wanted to get a nice little house and set my sister up in it and become her guardian and protector and eventually find her a husband to take care of her. She… wasn’t exactly keen on the idea.”
      “Well, you have to think of all the wondrous things I saw on my way to France from China,” Katy told them. “Adventure was already in my blood and I wanted more. Besides, I didn’t find France pleasant at all. I couldn’t imagine making it my permanent residence. So I told Rick where he could stick his plan and I lit out of there.”
      “And I joined the Foreign Legion,” Rick continued. “And you all know the rest of my story.”
      “I say,” Jonathon leaned over to the redhead that sat next to him. “Where did you go from there? Fourteen years old and on your own? I cannot possibly imagine!”
      “Sounds like fun!” Alex piped up from the floor by Katy’s feet as he looked up at his aunt in wonder.
      “Don’t be giving my son any ideas,” Rick warned, ruffling his son’s hair against his protests.
      Katy looked down at her nephew. “Yes, it was fun sometimes. But also frightening. Half the time I didn’t know if and when I was going to eat, and the other half I was fighting off those who wanted nothing more than to take advantage of an unprotected young girl.”
      Evy frowned, all too able to imagine the situations that Katy was censoring for Alex’s ears. A beautiful young girl, on her own, without a protector, would be prey to any manner of seedy beings, ready to sell her into slavery and prostitution. That it appeared she obviously escaped such a fate was amazing.
      “I don’t see how you could have kept so many at bay,” Evy commented.
      Katy patted her pistols. “Luckily for me, Rick taught me how to shoot at a young age, before leaving the orphanage.”
      “She learns quickly,” Rick added, a touch of brotherly pride in his voice.
      “So what did you see?” Jonathon asked. “Where did you go? How did you make money?”
      “Any way I possibly could and still keep my self-respect intact,” she told them ruefully. “I worked on steamers from time to time, though I usually had to do so disguised as a boy because the captains wouldn’t hire girls. I did make it to America for a short time – exploring my roots I guess – but I left there fairly quickly, since being a woman on her own didn’t seem to go over there well either.
      “I traveled through South America a bit, where I finally met an explorer named Dante LeJaune and convinced him to take me on as his assistant. We traveled all through the forests there, stayed with natives, learned fascinating information regarding the Mayans and the Incas, almost died more than once. Then we moved on.
      “We traveled the Far East for a few months, but I had seen enough of China and Dante was itching to get to Africa, so we left there and went to the southern tip of the African continent and worked our way up.” She paused, a touch of sorrow passing over her face. “I finally lost Dante in Zaire.”
      “Lost?” Evy gave her a sympathetic look. “Was he ill?”
      Katy shook her head. “No. I lost him.” At the blank stares, she explained, “We were out wandering the jungle, after just having spent a few very strange days with a tribe of cannibals,” she gave a quick shudder, “and as we were walking, I guess neither of us were paying much attention and he went one way and I went the other and I haven’t seen him since.”
      Rick rolled his eyes while Jonathon chuckled.
      “That was three years ago.”
      “And where have you been since?” her brother queried. “I doubt I can hope that you married and settled down?”
      Katy waved a hand at the idea. “I don’t have time to coddle to some spoiled man, Rick. I never have. There is too much to see and do. One day… maybe.” She shrugged. “I just haven’t exactly found anywhere yet that I would like to call home.”
      Rick smiled. “You neatly avoided the question, sis. Where have you been since?”
      She grinned. He knew her too well for not knowing her well at all. “I’ve been hanging around the Mediterranean, Egypt, Libya, places like that. Just doing a little prospecting, finding valuables and selling them to the highest bidder.”
      Evy let out a little squeal of indignant protest that made Rick chuckle.
      “You’ll have to excuse my wife, sis. She is curator at the British Museum and has an affinity for these ‘valuables’ of yours not simply being handed over to the highest bidder.”
      Katy smiled at his enraged wife. “Sorry. One has to earn a living somehow. Besides, I usually go to the museums first, but unfortunately, they don’t always offer enough.”
      The conversation soon turned to how Rick met up with Evy and Jonathon, and though they did not go into the whole story – the waking mummy and whole end of the world stuff happening not once, but twice – not seeming as the best story to treat their guest to, they did catch her up on the past few years. Soon, Katy and Jonathon began discussing those invariable valuables that ‘got away’ and Evy turned to her husband, whispering:
      “I can’t believe you never told me about her!”
      Rick shrugged, gave his wife a quick squeeze. “Sorry. We’ve never been like you and Jonathon. I don’t even think we would have been that way had our parents lived. Katy has always been… well, hard to keep down or keep track of. She’s never happy unless she is being challenged and sometimes being challenged means challenging those around her. She wasn’t joking when she said those two weeks we spent together we almost killed each other. I could never lay down the law with her because I was her brother and she wouldn’t stand for it. And she has never allowed anyone else to get close enough to do so.” He shrugged. “She’s a free spirit.”
      Evy made a face. “You spoiled her when she was young. She’s gotten away with it all of her life and now it is all she knows.”
      “You could have a point there.”
      No matter that Evy did not agree with how her newly discovered sister-in-law was raised, she was family and Evy planned on treating her as such. Declaring that it was late, much to protests from both Jonathon and Alex, she invited Katy to stay at the manor for as long as she wished, hoping that her husband and his sibling would get to know one another again. Katy agreed, pleased that she would have a soft bed to sleep in again, at least for a few nights. She promised Jonathon that they would spend the next day going over her travels in Africa and some of the more bizarre tribal customs she had learned, then followed her nephew up to bed where she promised she would read him a book. The book idea was quickly nixed though, due to her nephew’s begging, and Alex was sent to bed with visions of poison darts and shrinking heads in the Congo.
      Katy finally retreated to the bedroom allotted to her, an enormous three-room suite complete with canopy bed, walk-in closet and full bathroom. Opening her knapsack that contained an extra change of clothes, a nightgown and a spare set of riding boots, she withdrew the nightgown, slipping it on and then hesitated before the mirror, staring at the newly acquired amulet she wore around her neck.
      Though it hung suspended from a thin chain, the jewel itself was a ruby the size of a robin’s egg, surrounded by hundreds of tiny emeralds that spread up around it in the shape of two bullhorns. The chain was long and hung just between her breasts, where she could hide it beneath her shirt. She had only recently acquired it, while exploring around a private dig outside near the island of Philae, outside Aswan. She had been following a private organization by the name of Zion for the past few months as they made their way around Egypt. Late at night, when their workers had gone to sleep, she would sneak into the tunnels they had opened and begin her own exploration, taking what valuables she could before they awakened.
      One night near the dig outside Aswan, she had decided to do the same, only once she had entered the corridors, Katy discovered that she felt as if she had been inside those tombs before. Allowing her instincts to guide her, she dug through a collapsed archway of rocks that lead through another tunnel and finally into a tiny room, where an enormous statue of the god Ra presided. It was in there that she had discovered the necklace, and though she never kept her findings for herself, there was something about the amulet that spoke to her. She found she did not want to let it go. Slipping it around her neck, she had continued her search, finding nothing more than an elaborate urn covered in hieroglyphs. She had taken it, preparing to search other chambers, when the workers had awakened and Katy was left to fight her way out of Aswan and back to Giza, the owners of Zion hot on her tail. She sold the urn to a man in Giza, who fortunately knew of her brother and informed her that Rick now lived in England. With her money, she purchased her tickets and left quickly left Egypt.
      Tucking the amulet back into her gown, Katy moved over to the tall bed, climbing upon it and laid down, closing her eyes. She was instantly asleep, the long flight from France and subsequent train to her brother’s estate taking their toll…
      She walked down a long hallway, her bare feet scraping silently against the sandstone. On either side guards dressed in dark loincloths and elaborate headdresses, carrying seven-foot long pikes in their hands, flanked her. She did not fear these guards but rather felt safe in their company.
      Her gown was made of the sheerest cotton, trailing to her ankles in a comfortable fit. The straps kept her long, tanned arms free and cool in the heat, and around her waist she wore a slim gold belt with tiny bells that jingled as she moved.
      Turning to her left, she entered a rectangular courtyard where others moved about in the sunlight, some sitting beside the enormous reflecting pools, while others talked in small groups or played with the various cats that laid around in the sun. As she entered, they all grew hushed, bowing low as she passed. She trailed her fingers along the cool water as she moved past the pool, then with an arching flick of her wrist a sleeping white tiger rose to its feet and trotted over to her where it fell in line beside her. Holding up her hand, the guards at her side stopped, allowing her to continue on alone to the door before her…
       Katy sat up in bed, blinking against the moonlight that flowed in from her window. There was that dream again. Ever since she could remember, she had dreamed the exact same sequence, over and over again. Sometimes it would be night after night and at others times it would remain away for years before returning. It never made any sense to her, and it never changed, though over the years she had learned to look more deeply at it, concentrating less on herself and her feelings and more on her surroundings. Since it was inside some sort of structure, she could never figure out exactly where it was. And she had never made it inside the door she approached. She usually woke up feeling frustrated and confused. Since her adventure into Egypt, it had returned with more frequency and an even greater urgency.
      Swinging her feet over the side of the bed, Katy knew she would not sleep for quite some time so decided to do some exploring. Evy had mentioned their extensive library on Ancient Egypt, and Katy found herself wondering if she might find some information on the amulet she wore. Sneaking out of her room and down the hallway, she made her way to the second floor library. Moving past the parlor doors, Katy paused for a moment, listening to the low, muffled snoring of Jonathon, who had protested that he was nowhere near tired and would have a few more drinks while the others went on to bed. She shook her head with a rueful smile and hurried on to her destination.
      Once she found a book that she could understand – most of them were in Egyptian and she had only the most minuscule understanding of the language – she curled up in an overstuffed leather chair and began reading. Not far into it though, she found it referenced her to many other books, so she set it down and went looking through the library for more. It took over an hour of choosing one, flipping through pages, putting it back in disappointment and grabbing another until she came across one she believed might be able to help her out. It was devoted to the jewelry of the Egyptian dynasties. Opening it, she flipped to the section on necklaces and began reading on her way back to her chair, becoming instantly absorbed by the information it held. It did not take long to find a drawing of the exact shape the amulet was in – an ancient hieroglyph that stood for Isis, goddess of funeral rites. Katy frowned at the thought, paying little to no attention to her surroundings, when she rammed the book into an immobile object. Thinking she had simply walked into a wall, she looked up –
      And emitted a loud squeal before tripping backwards on her nightgown and falling onto the hardwood floor behind her, the book dropping loudly onto the floor beside her.
      Before her stood the most beautiful man she had ever seen – and during her travels around the world she believed she had seen quite a few. He stood tall and proudly before her, thick, black hair falling to his shoulders in waves. His face spoke of strength, from defined cheekbones, tattooed with what appeared to be Egyptian hieroglyphs, to a long, straight nose, full lips beneath a dark mustache and chiseled jaw line framed by a neatly trimmed dark beard. His hooded, dark eyes hinted at a sharp intellect, a person who noticed everything that went on around him. More tattoos ran in a line across his high forehead. He was dressed in black robes from head to foot, trimmed in silver braid, the tunic open at the neck, exposing a tanned, smooth chest. He watched her with an almost arrogant expression, as if sizing her up much as she was he, and Katy felt her face turning red at his perusal.
      Allah be praised! Ardeth Bay exclaimed to himself as he stared at the woman who lay sprawled on the floor in front of him. He had never seen hair that color in his life! It was impossible that it could be real! He found himself wondering that if he touched it, would it burn him as the color suggested? Or would it simply feel much like silk against his fingers? The rest of the woman was no less impressive, from her brilliant green eyes to the long, shapely legs that were exposed to his gaze by her nightgown that now rose high on her thighs. He quickly chided his rudeness as she scrambled to her knees, covering the exposed skin, her cheeks turning a telltale red.
      Katy jumped when he reached his hand out to her, saying in a heavily accented tone, “Forgive me, miss. I did not mean to startle you. And forgive my rudeness. Please.”
      Funny how it was not so much a request as a demand. Katy tentatively put her hand in his and allowed him to pull her to her feet. She was pleasantly surprised when she found her head came just below his chin, something that rarely happened when it came to her and men. She was usually as tall as them and it always came as a blow to the male ego. Not that she had ever rarely cared what any male thought of her but still…
      “Ummm.” She licked her lips, searching for something to respond with. “No problem,” was all she could think to say.
      She smelled of cinnamon and jasmine, a strange mixture yet incredibly enticing all the same. Ardeth found he did not want to let go of her hand.
      “Are you a friend of Rick’s?” Katy finally asked, glancing down at the dark hand that held hers. It seemed very strong and capable. More hieroglyph tattoos, which held her gaze for a long moment. Then she looked back up into dark eyes that watched her unguardedly. “Or enemy? Rick has a lot of enemies.”
      “O’Connell?” The man before her frowned. “I do not know how I should answer that.”
      “Just what in the hell –” Rick burst into the room at that moment, dressed in trousers and bare feet, holding his ever-present gun before him, prepared to rescue his sister. When he saw that she was unscathed he relaxed… until he saw who stood beside her. “Oh no!” he bellowed, waving his gun in Ardeth’s face. “Get the hell outta my house! And get your hands off of my sister!”
      Both Ardeth and Katy jumped apart at that and Evy hurried into the room, quickly moving between their new guest and her husband in a placating manner.
      “Now, Rick,” she assured him in a gentle manner. “I am sure that Ardeth is here for a good reason.”
      “Yeah? His last good reason got you killed and almost killed our son!”
      Katy frowned at the reference to Evy being “killed” but said nothing, her interest in the man named Ardeth increasing.
      “Please, O’Connell, I am here on very urgent business –” Ardeth began, only to be cut off by Rick.
      “Of course you are! You certainly never stop by for tea or a friendly chat! It’s always ‘Hey the world is about to end! Man’s worst enemy is now alive and well and it’s your job, O’Connell, to save humanity!’ Thanks but no thanks, Ardeth. We’ve done our share.”
      Ardeth frowned, turning his gaze to Evy, who he knew was much easier to talk to than her husband. “Please, I must know if you have recently come from Egypt.”
      Evy shook her head. “No, Ardeth. We haven’t been to Egypt since our last… ummm, misadventure.”
      “No?” Ardeth looked from one to the other as if in panic. At least, it seemed that way to Katy, though she doubted he would ever truly show an expression of panic. “But how is this possible? The man I spoke with said there was a male and a female and that had been digging around Aswan and I figured –”
      “Something went wrong in the desert so it must be our fault?” Rick snapped, cutting him off.
      Ardeth simply shrugged.
      Evy was more concerned with what had Ardeth worried, than his immediate accusation toward them. “What is it? What has happened?”
      “The Amulet of Isis has been removed from its resting place, waking the avenging spirit of Seth. He is now roaming Egypt, gathering his forces and his strength, in search of the woman whose love he could not have. It is written –”
      “Oh here we go again!” Rick threw his hands up in the air in exasperation. “I’m with Jonathon on this one. Where the hell is all of this written anyway?”
      “Rick.” Evy laid a calming hand on his arm then turned back to Ardeth. “I don’t understand. Where was it kept? How was it found?”
      As Ardeth began speaking, Rick noticed his sister slowly backing out of the room, her face suddenly a pale shade of white. His brow furrowed as he considered her overt behavior and then realization dawned. Cutting Ardeth off yet again, Rick called out, “Er…Katy?”
      She jumped guiltily at the sound of her name, her eyes wide as she turned to him. “Yes, Rick?”
      Her voice was high, a telltale sign of nerves. His frown deepened. “Where do you think you are going?”
      “I…er…I…” She looked around for help, noticing that she had now drawn the attention of Evy and the dark stranger. Her mouth felt dry, and yet her palms were sweating. She took a deep breath. “I thought I would get dressed into something a little more…ah, appropriate…for company.”
      “What’re you wearing around your neck?”
      “My neck?”
      “Yeah. You know. That thing that holds your sometimes empty head on your shoulders.”
      She reached up a nervous hand to the V of her neckline, touching the chain that dipped past the material of the gown. “Ummm…just a necklace.”
      “You own no necklace that I know of.”
      Katy raised her chin triumphantly. She had him now! “Well, you haven’t seen me in over twelve years, either!”
      He gave her a look. “Come here. Now.”
      She really didn’t have to listen to him. He was only her brother. But they were all staring at her now, especially the dark stranger whose very gaze seemed to be able to see right through her gown. “I really should change --”
      “Katera Lane.” It was that no argument tone. The one Rick had perfected while they had grown up in the orphanage together. The one she absolutely hated because it made her feel six years old all over again.
      She sighed and moved up to stand before him. “Now Rick, before you blow a gasket there are a few things you should know –” she started as he reached for the chain and lifted the amulet free from its hiding place.
      The gasp of the stranger said it all. “The Amulet of Isis!”
      Oh hell! Katy thought, immediately turning a pleading gaze to her brother. “Rick, look, it wasn’t as if I went in that tomb with any intention of – Wait a minute!” She settled her hands on her hips and turned to face Ardeth. “What do you mean ‘awakened the avenging spirit’? There’s no such thing!” She turned back to her brother. “Is this a set up? Are you trying to scare me into settling down or something?”
      Rick rubbed his temples, feeling a headache coming on. “Katy, I guarantee you -- if this man says there is an avenging spirit terrorizing Egypt, you had better believe him.” He grabbed his sister’s arm, pulling her toward the parlor against her protests while he spoke over his shoulder to Ardeth and Evy. “Let’s adjourn to the parlor, shall we? Katy can fill us in on her side of the whole story and Ardeth, you can frighten my sister a little more if you would like.”
      Katy spat that she was not in the least frightened as her brother dragged her into the parlor where Jonathon slept in his chair, an empty bottle in his hand. He came awake at the noise, took one look at Ardeth and said, “Ah hell. Who’s out to kill us this time, old chap? Not that damned mummy again, I hope. Hiccup.”
      “A mummy?” Katy turned a disbelieving expression to her brother. “Really, Rick –”
      “Not another word.” He pushed her into a chair. Then he turned to Ardeth. “You. Talk.”
      He nodded, turning his gaze back to the redheaded woman who wore the Amulet of Isis.
      “Osiris was the son of Geb and Nut and was born in Thebes in Upper Egypt. Upon his birth, his grandfather, Ra, pronounced him heir to his throne, and when Geb retired, Osiris assumed this role and took his sister, Isis, as queen. His first deed was to abolish cannibalism and teach the arts of agriculture. He built the first temples and laid down fair laws for his people. He was given another name at this point, Onnophris, meaning the ‘good one’. In his role as the fourth divine pharaoh, this was Osiris’s name.
      “He left Isis to rule Egypt when he decided to spread his rule around the world. He returned only after civilizing the entire earth. He found that Isis ruled wisely and his kingdom was still in perfect order. However, it was at this point that his brother, Seth, began plotting against him. There are many stories of how Osiris was killed. The most common is that Seth held an extravagant banquet and invited Osiris. After the festivities were over, Seth produced a magnificent coffin and offered it as a gift to whomever it fitted best. Of course, it had been built for Osiris’s form and when he got in it, Seth shut the lid and threw it in the Nile River.
      “Seth took Osiris’s place as king while the grieving Isis searched for Osiris’s remains. She found the body in a far away place called Byblos, brought it back to Egypt, and hid it in the marsh. Seth found it, unfortunately, and tore the body to pieces, throwing them again into the river. Isis and her sister, Nephthys, gathered the pieces and were stricken with grief, crying until Ra, the father god, had pity on them and sent Anubis and Thoth to aid them. Osiris was mummified and put into a lion-headed pier. Isis transformed into a kite and fanned breath into Osiris. He was banished from the land of the living, and was sent to reign over the underworld and judge the souls of the dead.
      “It is written that through this all, Seth was obsessed with obtaining Isis’ love, though she continued to scorn his advances. He killed Osiris, thinking it was to him she was devoted, though in truth her devotion to her husband was that of a faithful sister to her brother. There are myths regarding her love of a soldier but there is no evidence to prove this. When she died, Seth vowed that she would become his in the afterlife or be fated to walk the Earth eternally, forever condemned from joining with her true love. It is believed that Seth gave Isis the amulet as a token of his love but that she refused to wear it. Upon her death, he swore that someday, somehow, she would wear it of her own choice, and that when that occurred they would be united.
      “After Seth died, the priests locked the Amulet away, knowing it was cursed -- that any woman who took to wearing the necklace would awaken Seth’s spirit to claim her, in his quest to claim Isis for his own. His spirit is to roam Egypt, searching every woman until he finds the one who wears the amulet. When he found his true love, his power would culminate and he would avenge her perfidy by sending her soul to the Underworld while he kept her body imprisoned at his side, to rule with him for eternity with his army of Undead.”
      Ardeth cast a last long look at O’Connell’s sister. “It appears that this has now come to pass.”
      Katy rolled her eyes heavenward. “Look, if you really want this necklace back that badly…” She stood, moving toward Ardeth. “All you had to do was ask for it. Or do your people not know how to do that?” She reached for it, prepared to pull it off.
      “No!” Ardeth warned. “Do not!”
      Too late. As Katy went to pull it over her head, tendrils of white fire shot out of the jewel, crackling up her arms and around her hands. Katy screamed from the pain, dropping the amulet back to her neck as the fire faded away. Ardeth was there to catch her as her legs collapsed beneath her. Rick joined the warrior at her side.
      “Sis!” Rick perused her with a worried look. “Are you alright?”
      “Wha…what…” She licked her lips, tried again. “What the hell was that?” She turned an accusing gaze at Ardeth who still held her.
      “Once the amulet is worn, it cannot be removed, except by Seth himself. Or…”
      “Or what?” Rick asked, knowing they were not going to wish to hear the answer.
      “Or by beheading.”
      “Ah hell,” Katy muttered. “Wait! What about the urn I sold? Was it cursed, too?”
      Ardeth glanced down at her with a frown. “No… But it did have the ritual words that must be spoken to end this all written upon it.”
      “Wow,” Jonathon exclaimed. “I thought we had bad luck.”
      “I think I’m gonna be sick,” Katy wailed as Rick helped her to her feet.
      “Now, there’s always an answer to everything,” her brother assured her, glancing over at Ardeth. “Isn’t there?”
      “Of course.” He shrugged. “We must travel to the tomb where the amulet was found, perform the ritual and bring Osiris back to send his brother to the Underworld. Then the spell will be broken.”
      “Sounds simple enough,” Katy replied, less than enthusiastically. “I don’t see what I need to worry about. So I stole the necklace. Big deal! As long as I stay away from Egypt –”
      “You do not understand!” Ardeth rounded on her, his tone angered. “The spirit will continue to search for his love, through every woman he encounters, until he finds the one with the amulet!”
      Katy wasn’t so lost in the whole beheading comment not to realize that he was obviously leaving something out. She hesitated just a moment before asking, “What exactly do you mean ‘through every woman he encounters’?”
      Their gazes met. “His soul enters theirs, where he searches to discover if it is Isis or not.”
      “And then?”
      “And then when he discovers that it is not her, he leaves. The worst of it is, he will never truly find Isis, for the wearer of the amulet does not obtain Isis’ soul simply by placing the necklace around her neck. So he will continue to search for her until she is found.”
      “You’re not telling us everything,” she commented, fascinated by the intensity of his gaze. She did not care if he were to look at her that way for the rest of her life.
      He glanced at the others for a moment, hesitating, before he turned back to her. “As his soul leaves the body he has inhabited, he effectively rips theirs out as well, killing his victim in the process. Already dozens of women in the region have been found dead in their homes or the marketplace, their bodies empty husks.”
      “Oh,” Katy replied, blinking for a moment as she processed this new tidbit of information. “Is that all?” She promptly passed out.


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War Among Gods - Chapter 2