Full night swept in across the dusty desert and with it the temperature plummeted. By the time they reached the horses, Jade shivered with cold and exhaustion. Inside the safety of the tomb, she dragged coats out of the Hyllion Bagia and they wrapped themselves gratefully in warm furs.
Marcus stood at the door, staring out into the star-strewn night. "We can"t stay here," he finally said.
Jade agreed. "I know. The soldiers might find us. Besides, the horses need food and water and there"s nothing here. We"ll have to get to Memphis tonight and find somewhere to stay." She shivered. Marcus stepped closer and put an extra fur around her.
"You need to rest and eat to replenish your strength. You"re no use to Phoenix and Brynn if you"re exhausted," he ordered.
She leaned her head on his shoulder. "I wasted too much energy trying to stop the sand, but I"ll make it to Memphis. I"ll use some of my herbs for energy. Sleep can wait. I just hope they"re ok."
"How will we find them, though?"
"I can do a "finna" spell on them," Jade a.s.sured him. "It"s a variant on the water-finding one I did, but it works on living things. I got it from that spell book."
"But how will it find Phoenix and Brynn, not just any person?" Marcus seemed determined to iron out all the kinks before going into Memphis.
Jade frowned. "If I use it together with the Binding Spell I should be able to find Phoenix or Brynn fairly easily. I can sense them now but they"re travelling away from us and the connection is weakening."
"Can you ride?"
"I"ll have to." She tried to show a confidence she was far from feeling. "Let me just get something to eat as we go." She fished out dried meat and handed some to Marcus. Next they tied the horses in a caravan and lead them out of the tomb.
As he mounted, Marcus looked over his shoulder at the step pyramid.
"One thing I don"t understand," he murmured, "is how they found us how they even knew to look for us here?"
Jade stared at him for a moment, horrible comprehension dawning. Feeling lightheaded, she clung to the saddle and gripped a fistful of her mare"s mane. Marcus kneed his mount closer, grabbing her arm as she swayed. She gasped as Thor"s iron gloves burned her fair, elven skin. Marcus s.n.a.t.c.hed his hands away with an oath. He stripped one glove off and renewed his grip as she swayed again.
"Marcus," she groaned, "it"s my fault."
"How?" his grasp tightened on her wrist.
"When we were in Asgard, on trial in Gladsheim, we saw Zhudai there, remember?"
"Of course," Marcus nodded, "but he escaped when Phoenix was fighting Loki."
"But Zhudai saw us, too," Jade pointed out. "Once he"d seen us, he could find us by Far-seeing. Remember? He knew you as the son of Governor Agricola in Engl...Albion, but I put a protective spell on you when we were there so he couldn"t use his Farsight. I just didn"t think to put one on the rest of us after Asgard."
Marcus gazed at her for a second before relaxing his fingers. The hard look on his handsome face softened and he smiled slightly. Letting go, he drew the tucked the iron glove into his belt and regathered his reins.
"You"re doing it again," he shook his head. She stared at him in confusion until he continued. "You"re taking all the blame on yourself. We all knew what Zhudai could do once he"d seen us. None of us thought of it."
"But if I had done it and if I hadn"t let Brynn talk me into exploring the tomb.." she began.
"But nothing," he gathered a fistful of her shirt and hauled her upright on her horse. "Stop getting stuck in self-blame and let"s fix this. None of us could stop Brynn if he didn"t want to be stopped. At least now we know how the Romans found us. We can at least put a stop to that."
He paused, frowning again. "You can put the spell on yourself, can"t you?"
Jade nodded, wondering if she had the strength left at the moment. Closing her eyes, she spoke the spell, but the surge of magic that accompanied it was weak at best. She slumped in the saddle, feeling Marcus prop her up again. Pressing her lips together, she kept her eyes closed and shook her head. "I can"t. I"m just too tired."
"You can. You have to, Jade," he commanded.
"I can"t," she hissed through gritted teeth, glaring at him. Tears started in her dust-filled eyes. He laid a hand on her arm again. She shook it off and turned away. "I"m just not strong enough. I"m not good enough. I.. I just can"t." A salty drop ran down to her chin. She brushed it off impatiently.
There was a pause, then Marcus" hand dropped onto her shoulder and squeezed. "Phoenix and Brynn are relying on us. If Zhudai sends his men after us and we are captured, then we are all lost. You must protect yourself. You can do this. I have faith in you, Jade. For all our sakes, you will find the strength."
She clenched her teeth and swallowed hard, wanting to believe him; afraid to. He was right, though. She couldn"t let Phoenix down now. There had to be a way. She"d let Phoenix and the others down once, in Svealand. She"d sworn she wouldn"t let it happen again. Perhaps, it was time to borrow some strength.
Her hands shook as she fumbled in her pack. She drew out her herb-bag and pulled out a dried leaf of wolfsbane. It was a powerful plant she would normally hesitate to use but she was desperate.
Marcus" hand gripped her arm as she moved to touch it to her tongue. His eyes were grave.
"What is it?"
"Wolfsbane," she said defensively. "Aconite."
"What does it do?" He didn"t release her.
"Just increases my heartrate and energy levels temporarily." He didn"t say anything, so she added. "It"s not dangerous to me in small doses. I won"t take much. I"m just so tired."
"You don"t need it. You"re strong enough without it," Marcus said levelly, his fingers still firmly restraining her.
"No," she argued. "I"m not. I need these herbs for my magic. You can"t tell me to find the strength then stop me when I try. Let me go, Marcus. I know what I"m doing." Wrenching her arm free, she just touched the leaf to her tongue. Immediately, her heartrate increased, thumping irregularly against her ribs. Sweat beaded on her skin. She closed her eyes again and stilled her mind, blocking out everything except the need for the strength to perform this difficult spell. With the other hand she held the yin-yang amulet at her throat.
Deliberately summoning up her doubts and fears, she sought within herself to find what was weakening her. It couldn"t just be a matter of missing the forests. Surely she wasn"t that pathetic? Sinking into her own mind, she searched for the source of her uncertainties and confronted it. Could it be just her own fear of failure; her fear of not being good enough? Were those worries holding her back, making her scared to try because she was afraid to fail; afraid to hear people she loved say she really was useless? If so, then she had to face the real Truth. Her fear could cause the only real failure the worst one of all: the failure of not trying.
As if triggered by the realisation, a new strength and power flooded through her fingers from the amulet. Like a purple-blue flame it leapt, lighting her up inside like a torch. Opening her eyes, she uttered the incantation that would shield her from Zhudai"s Sight. Comforting warmth and the bitter taste of wolfsbane surrounded and filled her whole body.
"Jade," Marcus sounded shocked. He stared at her. "Your...your eyes were purple."
The bitter taste subsided, leaving an inner heat that Jade hoped would never completely vanish. She smiled, feeling at peace with herself.
"I"m fine now." She a.s.sured him. "I"ve got all the power I need for now. We can go to Memphis and get the others tonight."
"But..." he protested.
"I can and I have to," she gave his words back to him. Without further discussion, she kicked her horse into motion and set off east, toward Memphis.
"Brynn? You ok?" Phoenix twisted around, struggling to pull his feet through his bound hands. He swore, angry that he hadn"t antic.i.p.ated the capture; that he hadn"t been strong enough or smart enough to put up a good fight; that they"d been captured so easily. Most of all, he was angry that Blodbal had been taken. The sword had become an integral part of him. He felt lost and weakened without it.
It had been a long, rough trip. After the soldiers captured them, they had been force-marched through any number of twists and turns and up an endless flight of stairs into the open air. Then they had been dumped onto the back of a cart and hauled into what sounded like a large town. Phoenix a.s.sumed it was Memphis. He"d heard a couple of the soldiers planning a meeting with their centurion and with the Proconsul of Egypt"s advisor in Memphis. After arriving, the bags were removed and their hands tied behind their backs. Thrown unceremoniously into a stone room, they were left lying on the floor.
The room was unlit, but enough moonlight shone through a high, narrow window for Phoenix to see. Brynn lay on his side a few feet away, groaning which probably meant he was alright. The boy had put up a decent fight every step of the way and got kicked several times for his troubles.
Phoenix finally managed to get his hands in front of him and scrambled over to his friends" side. "You alright?"
He flipped Brynn onto his back and flinched at the sight of bruises and a black eye. The boy spat blood and struggled into a sitting position.
"I"m fine mostly." With a grunt of pain, he folded himself up and jerked his feet through his arms so his hands were in front of him. Wiping his b.l.o.o.d.y nose and mouth on his sleeve, he squinted up at Phoenix. "Where are we?"
"Somewhere in Memphis, I think. I heard one of the soldiers mention the Temple of Set, so that"s probably where we are. We"re supposed to be brought before the Proconsul"s advisor in the morning." Phoenix wrapped his bound wrists around his knees with a sigh. How the heck were they supposed to escape now? Where were Jade and Marcus? Had they been taken, too? So much for Jade"s theory on taking opportunities. This one had sure backfired. Depression and fatigue seized him and he dropped his head onto his knees.
Brynn was silent awhile, rotating his neck and prodding himself apparently in search of more injuries.
"Sixth." His cryptic uttering broke the silence.
Phoenix stared at him, bewildered.
"This is the fourth time I"ve been imprisoned and the sixth time for you," the boy elaborated, his grin widening as he ticked them off on his fingers. "You were in the prison-tent in Agricola"s camp and the cell in Gladsheim; we were both inside the Hyllion Bagia in the Dryad realm; in the hut in Olshammar; underneath the Step-pyramid and now this. Six."
Phoenix blinked in surprise, unable to stop the slow smile that crept across his mouth. The kid was irrepressible. He shook his head, chuckling.
"I"m not sure you can count the Bag as prison, since we were in there voluntarily - sort of; so we"ll call it five-three."
"And we"ve got out each time, haven"t we?"
"So far," Phoenix agreed.
"And we"ll do it again, this time," Brynn shrugged, sounding confident.
"If you do," a plaintive voice interrupted, "would you kindly take me with you?"
Phoenix and Brynn gasped and twisted awkwardly toward the sound.
"Who"s there?" Phoenix demanded.
Out of the shadows limped an elderly man, smiling at them in a tired, sad kind of way. His white hair and beard were matted and he wore a filthy Roman tunic and toga that might once have been white. His aged face showed traces of past happiness and blue eyes sparkled with keen intelligence from beneath bushy white brows.
"I am Heron," he bowed. "I come from Alexandria and I"d much rather be there than here." He waved a hand about. "Unfortunately I had a misunderstanding with the High-Priest of Set and he tossed me in here two weeks ago. At least, I think it was about two weeks ago. One loses track of time so easily in a dungeon, doesn"t one? Hmmm. That gives me an idea..." Pulling a small piece of white stone out of a hidden pocket, the old man sat down in a patch of moonlight and began to draw complex diagrams on the stone floor, muttering to himself from time to time.
The boys exchanged bemused looks. Brynn mouthed the word "mad" to Phoenix, who smothered a laugh and nodded. Scrambling over, they peered at the drawings. Phoenix started as he recognised some of the images.
"That"s a clock!" He blurted, pointing to a clear image of a clock-face, accompanied by some complicated sketches of a water-powered cog-and-gear wheel arrangement.
"A what, my boy?" Heron asked vaguely, continuing to draw.
"It"s for telling time, isn"t it?"
Heron looked up, surprise and disappointment on his face. "Why yes, have you seen one already then? Bother, I thought I"d come up with something new. Oh well." With a sigh of regret, he used a grubby corner of his robe to erase the images, leaving a white smear on the dark stone.
Phoenix winced, feeling sorry for the old guy. He probably had just invented something new to this world, but Phoenix had ruined it by recognising it from his own. Regretting his outburst, he sat down cross-legged next to the older man.
"So what was your misunderstanding with the High Priest about?" He asked, more to be polite than out of interest.
Heron dusted off his fingers. "I merely showed him plans for my new machine for dispensing holy-water to Christians and the man took mighty offence to it. It seems he dislikes Romans, Christians and machines of any sort. So he threw me in here for a month. Quite frankly, though, I"ve had enough of the food here and I"d like to go home to Alexandria now."
Phoenix suppressed a smile. It was hard not to like the guy, mad or not. "What were you doing in Memphis, anyway?"
Heron turned to him eagerly, rubbing chalky hands together. "Ah, that"s a fascinating tale. I was here to investigate rumours that the Phoenix is about to arrive."
"What?" "The what?" Brynn and Phoenix both spoke at the same time.
Heron didn"t seem to think their astonishment at all unusual. He merely nodded and smiled in apparent delight. "Yes, yes. Wonderful news isn"t it? Let me tell you how I discovered it. But first let me get you out of those ropes."
The old man drew a broken stone out from under his robe, talking as he proceeded to saw through their bonds, oblivious to their dumbfounded gazes.
"It seems the Egyptian people believe that, once every 500 years, the Phoenix bird will return to Egypt. It will carry the ashes of its dead father in an egg made of myrrh - which it will offer at the temple of the Sun G.o.d, Ra. Then it will build a nest and burn itself up. As the bird and nest burn, a new baby bird will emerge from the ashes." Heron turned to cut Brynn"s ropes. "Of course, Phoenix is a Greek name. The Egyptians call it the Bennu bird and use it to symbolise Ra. Anyway, it"s also linked to rebirth and life through the inundation flood of the Nile and that"s why I"m researching it."
Phoenix rubbed his wrists, feeling a little overwhelmed. "Errr.... and the flood is so important because...?"
Heron raised his brows. "Dear boy, where have you been? The Nile hasn"t flooded for three years. The peasants are starving. I heard rumours amongst the peasants that the Phoenix was due and had been seen near here. I came here hoping to bring good news back to the Proconsul to say that the flood would come this year." He sat with his back against the wall. "Unfortunately, it appears they were just rumours. The Phoenix has not yet returned to restore balance and harmony to the land."
Phoenix jumped. The Phoenix of this legend was meant to somehow restore harmony to the land of Egypt? Why did that sound familiar? What was it the Druids had said in England? He searched his memory. Yes - that sending the Jewel of Asgard back to Thor would restore the balance of power in their land. Then it had turned out that Truda, who was the Jewel, had been needed in her role as a G.o.ddess of spring to restore the balance of the seasons to the land of Midgard. Was it all connected somehow?
Phoenix frowned, struggling to tie the threads together. Was he on to something with this? After all, the amulets that had drawn him and Jade into this game were the very symbols of balance and harmony yin-yang. Could it be that, in each level of the game, their true goal was to provide that balance? Was there more to this game than just heroic kill or be killed, as Jade had said?
CHAPTER NINE.
"Heron!" Phoenix interrupted the old man"s verbal wanderings.
"Yes, son?"
"What does the G.o.ddess Anuket do?" Phoenix leaned forward staring intently through the half-light. Behind him Brynn caught his breath.
Heron tugged on his beard. "Well, I"m no expert in Egyptian G.o.ds, you understand, but I think Anuket is the daughter of Ra. I believe she"s a.s.sociated with childbirth and is responsible for the fertility of the fields through the flooding of the Nile each year. Hmmm, just like the Phoenix bird," he seemed surprised, "that"s a co-incidence, isn"t it? Why do you ask about her?"
"Oh, nothing," Phoenix murmured.
There had to be a link. In each level of the game so far, they had been needed to somehow restore the balance of power or the balance of nature. In each level they gained what they needed to do the same in the next level. It all fit too neatly to be wrong! Elated with his discovery, he could barely stop himself from grinning like an idiot. Brynn must have noticed something, because he raised an eyebrow at him in silent query. Phoenix shook his head and mouthed, "later". The boy nodded, yawning.
"What about the G.o.d, Set?" Phoenix wanted to know how they had come to be thrown into the temple of that particular G.o.d.
Heron wagged a finger and shook his head. "Ah, now he"s a nasty one, is old Set. He represents everything that threatens the harmony of Egypt. He is the G.o.d of disease, violence and chaos. Most unpleasant."
Phoenix and Brynn looked at each other and spoke in unison, "Just like Loki."