The Valley of Kings and a Queen

Chapter 14

Bam my head hits the concentrate.

"Look who decided to show up," Grey remarks. I shake my head trying to relieve the pain that I experienced from my downward fall.

"What were you dreaming about that made you land so hard," Finley asks curiously. My mind has finally gained consciousness. I must have dreamt that causing my rough landing into the duat. I was sitting with my head against the wall of the labyrinth, the boys staring at me waiting for me to get head up so we can trek onwards on our journey.

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"We're close to the Hall of Judgment, I can just feel it," Grey confidently leads the way down the hall. A chill feeling runs down my back, and I'm not really feeling too good about this. Plus, what was I doing dreaming about Finley? I try to separate my dreams from reality. We went to Hyde park. That was real. We took a visit to the Long Water. Finley opened up about his parents. He showed me the Sunken Garden, but we couldn't go inside. It was locked, so I admired it from the outside. He drove me home, and I crashed shortly after dinner. So why did my mind let me dream of dancing with Finley. Of his hand in mine. Of falling so graciously into his arms. Of his warmth and familiarity beyond comparison.

I slowly stand up from my daze realizing that I needed to be fully awake for what's to come. We stalk down the labyrinth that has become an endless maze of lefts and rights that I've begun to lose track of how much time has passed until we finally reach the end of a corridor where there are these two huge double doors.

Finley pulls the door open with a creak to reveal a throne room. The boys' hands reach straight for the weapons fastened to their waist belts prepared for a fight, alert and ready for anything that could possibly go wrong.

"Look who's finally decided to return," says a stern voice coming from the back of the room.

"Sorry, I have been busy," a voice not quite Grey's pours forth out of his mouth well it's more sort of a muzzle now that he has fully transformed into Anubis. His jackal head now rests at the top of his shirtless midsection. His abdomen is toned and glowing a beautiful bronze, while a skirt held up by a belt covers his waist and lower body.

"I think they're referring to me," Finley's voice is stern and brooding now completely transformed into Osiris. He's quite regal looking dressed in white long robe, sandals, and a golden crown while holding a crook and flail all symbols of his kingship.

"Oh, shire we have had much need of you," an older gentleman comes toward Finley wearing priestly garments. "it's been quite chaotic and of course there's been a few disputes over rulings of cases and the fairness without you on throne and not to mention the fact that-"

"Silence!" Finley cuts the nobleman off. He heads to the end of the hall walking up a small set of stairs unto an altar. He takes his rightful position on his throne easing back in the seat. To the right of his throne sits a set of scale - for the weighing of the heart. Grey as Anubis sits down and kneels next to the scales giving a pat on the head to this mythological creature – Ammuet. He looks exactly as Grey depicted him in his sketches. His snout and mouth was that of a crocodile's, but it had the front legs and mane of a lion. Then, the rear of the creature was a hippo though it kept the lion's bushy tail. I wonder if Grey had ever been to this part of the duat before and that's how he was able to draw his sketches so perfectly.

"Who's next in line." Finley asks impatiently.

"Finley, I was hoping," I interject.

"Who is speaking?" he responds with an edge in his voice that's not quite his. Olivier grabs the corner of my shirt pulling me backwards and closer to him, Henri, and Aiden.