The Imagination Latibule: Moon Knight - The Rise of the Moon

Chapter 18

"Another Heka," she said. "Nothing I couldn't handle." 

Then you clasped your chest. There was a bandage around it, a bloodstain too, but it hadn't spread far. "How am I not dead?" you breathed. "I was... dead." 

"You got knocked out," she said. "Whatever bullet that hit you misfired – shattered – you were hit by shrapnel. You landed in the water; I pulled you out. But Marc and Steven..." She trailed off and you looked around you to see his body. Harrow must have thrown the two of you in the water as you certainly didn't fall in it; you were soaking wet and freezing cold, and their clothes were soaked through. "They're gone." 

"I know," you said, lip trembling as you shuffled over, gently wiping the hair from Marc and Steven's face. "I was in their afterlife. They're ok."

"You were?" Layla asked. "How?" 

"Same way Khonshu managed to heal me I guess," you said. "His theory was we have some psychic connection." You gently touched their cheek. "If I wasn't dead, only on the brink, I guess my own afterlife wasn't ready for me, so I got thrown in theirs." You smiled weakly. "They're in good hands. Taweret's looking after him."

"Taweret? Goddess of childbirth... The hippo?"

"The very same."

Layla smiled. "They'll get to the field of reeds, won't they?" she said and you worried that with Marc's past, it might not be so easy. But you didn't want to worry Layla. 

"Definitely," you answered. You stood, and noticed that Ammit's Ushabti was nowhere to be seen, and your heart sunk. "Harrow?"

"He won't get far, the bastard," Layla said indignantly. "With the two of us on his tail, he's fucked." You grinned at Layla. 

"Monumentally fucked," you agreed, and with her arm around you, the two of you hobbled out of the tomb.

It was evening when you got outside. The sun had set slowly, but you'd travelled slower in fear of the Heka Priests roaming the corridors. Thankfully none were in sight. They'd sensed the loss of their precious ushabti, and withdrawn into the shadows. 

As you held out your hand and hauled Layla out of the tomb, your breathing shallowed. The two of you took off across the sand, and the world was spinning around you by the time you slowed to a stop behind a truck that had no hope of starting. You sank to the ground and Layla shrugged off her bag.

"Here," she said, passing you a bottle of water, and you chugged the contents. "What else do you need?"

You couldn't believe the words escaping your lips. "Khonshu," you said. "But he's gone. Hate to say it, but he's the only one who could've helped us."

"So we kill Harrow," Layla said. "He frees Ammit and it's the end of the world. We kill him and then get you some modern medicine." 

"That son of a bitch is dead." 

Layla nodded. "We're in the middle of nowhere. How are we gonna get to Cairo?" Your eyes wandered about the abandoned dig site. Most vehicles had been taken, but then you saw a familiarly shaped tarp, and pointed to it.

"That." 

***

You and Layla, atop a motorbike that felt like it would fall to pieces if you dared shuffle in the seat, drove across the desert, following what little tracks Harrow and his cult had left behind. After many hours, as the last dribble of light fell behind the mountains, you found them.

"Over there!" you cried, their vans whipping up a dusty storm in their wake. "We join the end of the congregation. Take out Harrow before he knows what hit him." 

Layla was driving, and you held on tight as the two of you sped down a dune, wincing against the dust as you used it to hide yourselves from the group. They hadn't noticed an extra bike join, and everything was going smoothly until you reached a military checkpoint. The two of you raised cloth over your mouths to hide your identities as Layla cut the engine and the two of you jumped from the bike, crouching behind the last van in the brigade. 

A shouting match ensued between a soldier and one of Harrows followers as they refused to let them through. "Show me your papers!" the soldier yelled in Arabic, holding out his gun, but then Harrow appeared and you felt like a bull seeing red as you glared at him. 

"I don't need to show you my papers," he said, firmly taking the mans hand. "You need to show us your soul." You went to lunge at him but Layla grabbed you, pulling you back. 

"Wait," she whispered, and you watched in horror as the man dropped dead. There was more yelling, a flurry of Arabic and English as you watched Harrows powers unfold. The souls of bad men leaving their bodies in a purple mist as they Harrow's followers judged them, leaving them dead and empty shells. If this was only a glimpse of what Ammit could do, then he had to be stopped. You snuck forwards, Layla hot on your heels, and grabbed a knife from a body, twisting it round in your hands. As you got closer to Harrow, your heart beat faster, and you were about to jump out when someone grabbed your ankle.

You cried out, looking down to see a dead man holding your leg.

"Don't do it, y/n," he said, his voice not his own. "It's me, Taweret." 

"Taweret," you breathed. 

"Hi," she said, and then she let out a whistle. "Hate to say it y/n, but you looked better dead. You alright?"

"What the hell?" Layla said, swatting the soldiers hand away as you shook your head. But it persisted.

"Leave us alone Taweret."

"But y/n, Layla, it's Marc who's telling you to stop."

"What the hell is this?" Layla said, freaked out at the clearly dead man you were having a conversation with.

"Oh, he's dead," Taweret answered, pointing to herself. "I'm talking to you through dead people right now. Listen, Harrow is too powerful for you to stop him alone. If Marc... If he can return to life..."

"Wait," you said, breath hitched in your throat. "What do you mean, return to life?" 

"He is going to need Khonshu," Taweret said. "Break his ushabti. It's in the Chamber of the Gods. Oh, and you can be my Avatar!" she cried excitedly. "Marc says wonderful things about you y/n. You too Layla, but --"

"--It's time to go!" Harrow yelled and the body that Taweret was inhabiting went limp. You scowled as Harrow disappeared from your line of sight. You'd missed your chance to kill him. But you'd be damned if there wasn't another.