| STORY 2 Page 36 |
| rubbing the sleep from his eyes. Evelyn took a few more steps to the cradle and laid Asyria on her side, then covered her with a blanket before going to her husband. "Rick?" she asked, not sure what Kit had done this time. "He's gone Evie. I give him a break, thinking he realizes he can't take on Alan Skarzinski on his own, and he betrays my trust. I'm going after him, and when I get my hands on him," Rick said as he marched over to their supplies, and began gathering things up for his journey. "I say what is all the yelling for," Jonathan asked as he walked into their hut with Gabrielle behind him. He watched as Rick stuffed things haphazardly into his Rucksack, and realized they were short a person. "I see Kit has done another vanishing act," Jonathan said as both Evelyn and Rick glared at him. He turned and looked at Gabrielle. "I think we should give them time to sort things out. What say you and I find something to eat?" he asked as he took her hand and pulled her away, knowing that right now being around his brother-in-law could be harmful to his health. Once Jonathan was away, Evelyn walked over to her son. "Will you go help them?" she asked, needing to be alone with her husband, so she could try and cool him down, and get him to see things more clearly. Like Jonathan, Alex knew when to leave his parents alone, and after allowing his mum to give him a hug and kiss, and even returning it, he walked out of the hut, in hot pursuit of his uncle and Gabrielle. "Rick, we need to think this through..." He cut her off. "No, we don't. Kit is heading to his funeral, and I owe it to my sister to keep him on this earth. You help our friends here, and I will be just fine," he said as he finished packing and zipped up his bag before slinging it over his shoulder. Evelyn's hand taking his and pulling on him knocked Rick off balance, and he stumbled, hitting his head against the edge of the table before going down, saying a stream of other cuss words before it was all over with. His hand went to the bump forming on his forehead as he looked at his wife, amazed that she had been able to do all of that. "Well, you got me off my feet," he finally said as he let his anger pass. Embarrassed that she had done such a thing, Evelyn was at his side in an instant. "I am so very sorry, but sometimes you don't stop to think," she said as she sat down next to him. "I know, that boy has a way of making all of my rational thought fly out my ears. We do need to get to him before Alan does, but we also need to get Nefret and the baby to a place that will help them," he said as he put his left arm around her shoulder, pulling her to lean against him. "I need to take them back to my village," Ardeth said, coming to see what all of the commotion was about. Rick thought for a moment then came up with a plan. He sent Ardeth after the rest of their group, then after getting back to his feet, and helping Evelyn to her�s, he told her what he was thinking. ~*~*~*~*~ Far away from the portal, and from his Uncle's fury, Kit road O'Connell the Camel in the hot desert sun, whistling the tune to the song which he had sung to the baby that morning, thinking about his parents. He felt angry at himself for getting even a little bit attached to them, knowing that he was better off alone, and yet he couldn't shake the feeling that maybe he somehow belonged with them. "Ahh, that's hogs swallow, I belong with no one but me," he said as he gave his ride a pat. "So O'Connell, why don't you and I take a break, I don't know about you, but I'm so hungry I could eat a gallon of sand. When given the command, O'Connell the Camel lowered to the ground, allowing his rider to step off. He laid still as Kit put up a small tent, so that he could escape the heat of the sun, then accepted the little bit of water Kit gave to him. "Yeah, you and me. All I need is this," Kit said as he looked out at the land ahead of him. It all looked the same, nothing but sun and sand as far as the eye could see. "I'll tell you something, after I get done with that bastard, I'm going to dance on his grave," Kit said as he took a bite of dried beef, then chased it down with a swallow of water. His rest only lasted twenty minutes, then once again they were on their way to finding and fulfilling Kit's destiny. ~*~*~*~*~ On the other side of the portal, two groups went their separate ways. Ardeth, on camel with Nefret more or less cradled against his chest, heading for the Med-jai Village. Behind him, Evelyn had fashioned a harness to hold the baby, and was on a camel of her own. On his left side Alex road on his own camel, wearing an angry expression on his face, not pleased that he wasn't going with his father and Uncle to help rid the world of Alan Skarzinski. Gabriel and Senbi were staying behind, to wait for everyone's return, and for the battle to end. Going the way Kit was traveling, toward the East, Rick and Jonathan road on horseback, hoping to catch up to the youth, though both knowing that he would likely reach Hamunaptra and Alan before them. Neither of them had much to say, both knowing what needed to be done, and so it seemed a storm was coming, and how it would all end, was the only uncertainty which plagued Rick's mind. Penny ([email protected]) October 8, 2003 Kit blinked, realizing he was starting to doze off on top of O'Connell. He had ridden the better part of the day and he was starting to get sore now. Hopefully that blowing wind that came out of the east, had helped put enough distance between his so-called uncle, and wipe out his tracks long enough, that he could find a place to camp for the night. With real luck, O'Connell wouldn't find him at all. When refuge finally presented itself he was grateful. A rocky outcropping with an overhang that seemed to lead into a small cave and from the size of the opening, he could even stash his riding partner in side. "BUDDY," he hollered in the blowing wind. "YOU BETTER DO YOUR BUSINESS NOW AND NOT INSIDE THAT DAMNED CAVE!" Kit realized he only had one problem with the stubborn, obnoxious animal. He wouldn't go inside. "FINE HAVE IT YOUR WAY!" he'd yelled as the wind got stronger. "BE AS DUMB AS HE IS!" He slung his right leg over the camel, grabbing his rucksack and dropped from the camel's back, landing on both feet. "It's your funeral, Dipshit!" Kit left him standing there and headed toward the opening, while fighting the wind every step of the way. Before he went inside he said a silent prayer to the powers that be, that he didn't have to share his new digs with any asps or scorpions. It wasn't that he was afraid of them, he just didn't want company in his bed roll. It had a tendency to put a crimp in his plans, especially scorpions, since he was allergic to the bites. Just inside the opening he pulled out a small candle and a box of wood matches, crossed his fingers and moved away from the opening and out of the wind. He struck the match and lit the candle, and as the light illuminated everything, his mouth dropped open and he stared in awe at the painted wall of the small obscure temple. "Sonuvabitch," he whispered, recognizing a great number of symbols. His heart pounded against his spine, as he reached out to touch the inscription above the small alter. A heart of black I do possess, Show me the light in the color of red He looked around taking in his surroundings and remembering what he'd read in the book. The walls of the temple depicted two different scenes. One of a man holding the scepter with what appears to be a red glow coming from the top. Seth is standing in front of the man, offering him the symbol for eternal life; the ankh. The other, a man holding the same scepter, but with what appears to be a white glow coming out of the top. This man is being observed by many of the other Egyptian gods; Osiris, Isis, and Horus, just to name a few, but these gods do not interfere or offer temptations. He almost whimpered, biting his lip to keep the tears at bay. This was the temple to that bloody bastard Seth! This was where they'd found the damned scepter! His hand shook so hard he almost dropped the candle and he cursed the ancient god, for being the cause of his parents and Papere's death. "I'll send you and Skarzinski to Hell you sumbitch! YOU WATCH AND SEE IF I DON'T! I'LL KILL YOU BOTH!" He reached up scrubbing hot tears that started to fall. Somewhere in his head he heard laughing, only there wasn't nothing happy about it. It was an evil from the beginning of time and he shivered. "Yeah? Keep yuckin' it up, Joy Boy!" he screamed at the laughter in his head. "I can laugh too. We'll see who's got the last laugh when you and Skarzinski is roastin' y'all's asses in Hell!" The pain that went through his skull brought him to his knees, half blinding him and caused his stomach to roll. Before he passed out, he heard the voice, like a thousand snakes hissing inside his head, speaking in it's ancient tongue. "We ssshall sssee, Little One." Heidi Rittner ([email protected]) October 11, 2003 Ardeth�s astute gaze fell upon Evelyn and Alex once again. Alex watched his mother with a worried expression. Evelyn was lost in such deep thought that Ardeth doubted she would notice if the ground suddenly opened and swallowed them up. He slowed his camel�s pace until he was side to side with Evelyn. He was not good with communication on personal levels as it was still a very new thing to him, but he was learning. �Evelyn, what troubles you?� |