Cherie slowed as Kyle approached the run-down building, he called home, her eyes looking over the peeling sills and grubby frontage. It reminded her of a seedy half-way house, a haven for thieves and other ill-bred occupants.
The carpet on the stairs was tacky underfoot and it was impossible to tell what colour it had been, clearly the fibres had not been cleaned since it was laid down, maybe even before, she assumed the sickly shaded matting had been second hand to begin with.
She dared not even touch the breaking handrail, Lord knew what germs and filth bred on it.
"How can you live like this?" She asked with genuine intrigue as she stumbled in the gloom. "No offence but I'm not surprised the scarabs didn't touch here."
The smell of cannabis reached her nose as she turned the bend for the final steps, leaking from the room opposite and home to a former student. Kyle never believed he had ever been at college; the man rarely left the room except to open it for a delivery or a dealer.
"All I can afford," he answered snippily, glancing to the gap under the door and relieved to see no blood had seeped through. The scarabs had infiltrated, just not in his room. "It's a roof and I can go out for most of the day and just use it as a base camp." He narrowed his eyes. "Unlike you I'm no socialite and I didn't get born with a silver spoon. My mommy and daddy weren't there to give me everything my little heart wanted."
"OK! Gee, I only asked," Cherie held her hands up. "And if you must know I do actually work for my cash as well. Although," she stopped in her tracks, shoulders slumping. "I suppose I've been lucky."
"Understatement of the century."
Kyle pushed past her and opened his door. He rarely locked it, there was little point, even burglars didn't bother with this area. They just lived there.
He stepped aside and allowed Cherie to pass him with a sarcastic 'ladies first' before he followed, shutting the door with a sharp click, the noise sounding like the clang of a prison cell closing to her.
"You have an... interesting style," she said as her eyes scanned around the room, settling for a time on the chest in the corner, an odd sensation flowing from it. "I would say I'm sorry you have to live like this but..."
"You've already said it," Kyle snorted and retrieved a bottle of vodka from under a pile of papers. "And don't be, I'm used to it and like I said, it's all I can damned well afford." His eyes burned into her as he took a long gulp from the bottle. "Perhaps its people didn't keep getting me the sack then I might be nearer to being on easy street."
Cherie cringed and turned to gaze out the window, keeping her senses on high alert as she heard him pacing and rummaging behind her. She shuddered at the mass of birds that spanned the sky, gruesome titbits hooked in their beaks and beady eyes scouring below for more.
Kyle kept a furtive gaze on her as he opened the cupboard, feeling a wave of dread and arousal wash over him as the figure came into view.
'Blood for the bull.'
The words repeated in his mind as he reached for the switchblade, he kept under his bed just in case. There was little chance of purposeful intrusion but drunks and drug addicts had little sense when they were addled.
He placed it on top of the chest nonchalantly as Cherie turned around, her eyes fixated on the blade. Kyle smiled at her sickened silence and shook his head.
"Precaution. These doors aren't exactly top quality, I don't want anyone trying to get in." He chuckled lightly, flashing an overly gleeful smile. "I don't want to hurt anyone either but I'm not being thrown out my own place! Maybe you ought to keep something close by as well, there's stuff in the box over there."
He gestured to a haggard cardboard box near his kitchen area where he kept a variety of utensils, the side punctured where the knives had been dropped back in after rinsing. He hadn't time put them in order and whatever he pulled out normally worked for the purpose.
"I suppose." Cherie backed towards the box, her legs barely holding her upright as her muscles spasmed with tight fear.
She relaxed slightly as Kyle held up his hands and moved towards the window, listening to the cruel choir of crows that rocked the air.
A single feather floated down, getting caught in the sticky residue of an abandoned cobweb outside. It rocked slowly with the breeze, reflecting a teal shimmer from the glossy surface.
He seemed so taken with the sight that Cherie turned her back to sift through the items, taking care not to pierce her fingers at the precarious angles some lay at.
She didn't hear him move; she didn't see object he picked up.
The last thing she felt before blackness closed about her was the blunt force connecting with the back of her head.
____________________________
"Tell Thoth I shall need his help." Atum looked solemnly to Shu as he held the paper. "I feel this mortal might be of more importance than first thought, perhaps not just a shield to deter any interference on our part."
"Yes, great one," Shu bowed his head, rising from where he had been seated for some time, the untouched wine glass still in his hand. "What is it you require?"
Atum drained his own glass and set it aside, his face set with determination shaded with nerves as his eyes read over and over the scrawled message, searching for anything that would change his interpretation or his thoughts.
"Tell him I need him to send the spell that will open up lost memories, to give those lucid dreams that reveal the lost part of the psyche. I don't want him to suffer any side effects but I need it to be thorough, every atom of his mind must be purged and brought to the fore."
"Yes, great one. You think...?"
"I think," Atum interrupted calmly "that Am Heh is not completely without heart, that, while he prided himself on my error as he put it, he simply hides it well and I did not make such a mistake in his creation." He gave a wry smile. "Old I might be, but I have never been past my best!"
Shu smiled, to him and the others, Atum had never been any less than perfect.
As if reading his mind Atum shook his head. "I am prone to errors, Shu. I am proud of all my children but they also have their faults. Faults which I hoped they would learn from, sometimes what they do is most displeasing. Set and Horus would be a good example."
Shu chuckled as he prepared himself to head back to Thoth. "They have settled to a strange truce of being fickle friends with benefits. Let's be honest, Horus is his mother’s son and Isis was headstrong and would do anything to get what she wanted. Since Set seems to think with his lower half much of the time then it works, just don't provoke the warlord in him."
"Yes," Atum wrinkled his nose is distaste, scouring his bookshelf. "I wouldn't mind if they weren't related. That, dear Shu, was an error of mine. I forgot to order them not to promote inbreeding to humans, as Gods it was the only way. Humans ended up suffering for it."
"Their error also," Shu replied airily "humans seldom learn either. I shall return shortly."
Without waiting for a rebuttal, he vanished into the air, leaving only a cool chill in his wake.
Thoth was sat in the wicker chair outside, watching his beloved Ibises with a glass of ruby wine at his side. A small smile was cemented on his face, the adoration for the creatures clear.He barely looked away as Shu arrived, creating a flurry of sand as he did so."Wine?" Thoth gestured to a covered pitcher on the window sill. "It's homemade, rather more potent than most." He gave a sheepish chuckle. "Truthfully I really ought to keep to tea or water but I thought in such circumstances I've earned it.""I'd best not, flying and alcohol rarely mix," Shu smiled. "I've done it once before and I ended up marooned on some island in the pacific. Nice area, but not when you've somewhere to be or when you've a shocking headache."Thoth laughed softly. "Indeed, but anyway, enough of the idle chitter chatter. What is it you've come for? I take it Atum is in need of my help?" He pressed his hands together with subdued exci
Pain throbbed through Cherie's skull, reverberating down her neck and into her upper spine. The blow had been hard and blood coagulated on the back of her head.Her vision was skewed. The world around her was hazy and rocking as if she was a baby in its arms but it was not comforting, instead it was terrifying.Trying to move her arms and legs she found them bound, the wire tight and wickedly sharp. Struggling too much meant it would pierce her flesh with the ease of cutting through butter. Already it was digging in menacingly and creating scarlet ditches.The room was dark, the blinds concealing the outside world, and a smell of burning wax highlighted the air. The only light was coming from behind her, a warm glow from three candles stood on the cabinet.In the centre sat the strange statue, seeming more sinister as the glow highlighted the vacant eyes and illuminated the malign grin on its apish face.&n
The moon was high outside and casting its cold glow on the exotic gardens and fountains of marble and stone.Peacocks had finished their nightly preening and had settled for the night near the high walls built to prevent intruders from breaching the rich interiors. Marble and sandstone and without flaw.Behind the grandeur, guarded by two large hounds, was an entirely different view.A small path from a less kempt area led to landscape of fire when the blooms were tongues of flame and the waters were molten lava.Even the grass seemed to hiss with infernal fury as heat rose through the charred earth into a rufescent sky. Only if one walked with the Gods or their guardians was is possible to bear such a vista.
Am Heh barely looked up when he heard the knock, continuing to read over the scroll with even less interest. It was the pause before entry that caused him to lower the papyrus,his dark eyes observing the meek entrance of the young man. The face was not one he recognised but, unlike the others, the aura emanating from the mortal was calmer, perhaps nerves.He gestured to the table nearby, half judging each movement the new slave made."Put it there," he instructed placidly, unable to look back to the papers he was reading, the mortal having piqued his curiosity. "And wait for a moment, there may be other things I need you to do..."Ishaq opened his mouth to reply, snapping it shut quickly as he remembered his instructions. He gave an awkward bow instead, faltering under the weight of the jug again before making his way over and relieving himself of the burden. Automatically he rolled his shoulders, cramped from tens
Am-Heh kept to his word and, as the sun started to sink into its wearing bed, he entered the stone courtyard that housed the dogs overnight.The cobblestones were delightfully chill against his bare feet and the high walls gave shelter from both heat and wind should it ever blight the realm.A slim mist rose up from behind, the mighty structure built to hide the lakes that were beyond them. Hidden from view, they were not erased from the ear or other senses. The dull scent of brimstone flowed like a dying river about them and the hiss as the flames fought each other was often heard.The dogs were a fine sight.Elegant and athletic, their large upright ears heard every minute sound about them. They romped playfully, delighting in each other's company and few rounded stones that had been placed for their amusement.Eight pairs of amber eyes turned on Ishaq as he slipped through the gate, looking him up and down
As Isaac continued to dream, the world below continued to move. The shadow of Am Heh's anger was spreading further, his crow had given him a wide range of ideas and options.The ground shook, shattering any windows that still remained and cracks splintered weaker buildings, opening the earth beneath them. The lower storeys subsided, sinking dangerously and leaving the structures weak; impelling people to face the outside.The cemetery earth opened, and the scent of death and decay flowed freely. The groan of the tombs as they were forced apart resembling the cries and moans of those beneath them. It would be easy for any nearby to think that, as the newly deceased were exposed to the world, jaws slack and gaping in silent screams.A bolt of crimson lightening tore the sky, shredding the clouds and scattering fiery pebbles down below.Cowering in the shade of the skip a hapless vagrant moved as the co
The deluge had receded. The drains bloated with the copious liquid they had swallowed. Puddles lingered, the lasting remains that they couldn't digest.Kyle stayed some way behind Babi as they ascended out on the streets, feeling strangely self-conscious at the possibility of being seen with the dwarfish, misshapen brute.His own fair-weather friends had always pulled the eyes with their numerous tattoos and piercings, not the mention the coarse vocabulary they weren't afraid of using. But he had always blended well, it was a way of life and none of them were strange enough to belong to a sideshow, whatever his grandmother might have said.The humiliation of being put down was still strong also, slowing his step as he seethed.Babi didn't notice. His slaves always remained behind him on at his feet, the latter he made some allowances for considering his diminutive size. To tell someone they were not to be higher w
"Where are you going?"Marie sighed and hurried down the corridor as Mr Montford strode down. The tiles were cracked and the lights hanging dangerously from weak wires but he wasn't fazed."You wanted to move, didn't you?" He said bluntly, focused on avoiding the pits and on the concaved door at the end. "Well, I decided you were right and I shall take a few matters into my own hands. The papyrus might not have given much away but it has enough imagery for me to form some conclusions.""What conclusions?" Ash huffed. For a man who was so much older and whose injuries should have rendered him incapable of moving, he had an amazing endurance."Hieroglyphics can be interpreted many was," Mr Montford answered with a smile. "Sometimes just one picture can give you a lot of information. A picture does speak a thousand words after all. And why risk remaining like sitting ducks when we can perhaps help our d