Cursed Times - Only Yesterday! Sequel to Wattys 2015 winner!

Chapter 54: Trueth - Dungeons and Demons Part 1

'What...' Pharaoh sputtered.

'As to you, Your Majesty,' Metjen snarled at the boy king who took a few steps backwards. 'I believe you might indeed be the ruling king of Kemet, so if you wish to risk your royal hide, it's your problem. I just warn you - if you endanger my job in the slightest, you are on your own. I will not risk anybody's life for you. You should not be here. Do you understand me?'

Trueth saw Pharaoh swallow once and nod briefly.

'I will give you one last chance. If you want to follow Rani-Ra back to Cairo, tell me. I will not mention this to anybody so that you can keep up appearances.' Metjen had gone into full stone-pharaoh mode, his face rigid, the eyes blazing with anger while sparks were raining from his fingers. The living regent opposite him looked like a quivering bundle of nerves by comparison. But Khy stood his ground and shook his head.

'Fine. Your choice. Let's go.' Without another word Metjen waved at Trueth and Seisi, strode towards the stairway and started his descent.

Seisi invited the king to follow. 'We will stay behind you. Though I don't think there is anything up here, we need to worry about. And Your Majesty... .'

'Yes?' Khy asked in a small voice.

'Let me carry your scimitar, it is...eh...interfering with your progress.'

The king opened the knot of his sash, unlooped it and handed his precious over. Seisi wound the cloth around his hip twice and thrust the scimitar through this makeshift scabbard.

'We thank you!'Pharaoh said.

Trueth nudged the king towards the stairs. 'I'll walk in front of you, but we better speed up a bit before His Peevishness gets even more pissed off. But quite honestly, you really should not have come,' she said as she stepped into the gloom ahead of their royal charge. His footfall sounded behind her as they were picking their way down the broken steps of the shaft.

When Khy spoke, his voice seemed to float straight from the eerie gloom. 'You want to protect me...us, because we have not reached full manhood yet? Lady Thueris, we are still the ruler of Kemet.'

Trueth heard Seisi echo her sigh.

'Yes, we...you are,' she said soothingly and added some calming waves to her words. 'And your people need you, so you should not risk your life.'

Her shoes kicked some loose stones that clattered towards the landing. From Metjen she heard nothing, maybe he was venting his fury in another dimension. Preferably in the same dimension that Iseret seemed to have vanished into. The trio reached the end of the shaft together and faced an empty landing as well as another open and dark doorway.

'Metjen? Iseret?' Trueth's voice caused more spooky echoes in the confined space. Still no response.  Seisi made a movement behind her and a golden sheen wavered around them into the opening they were facing. Following the light, Seisi darted past them through the doorway, into the room beyond. All Trueth could discern was the glowing flicker of whatever magical scan he was conducting. Pharaoh wanted to follow, but Trueth held on to his royal sleeve and put her finger over her lips.

'Sei?' This time, she got a response.

'You can come. There is nobody here. And I mean nobody.'

Gently, Trueth pushed the king aside and entered the room ahead of him. She knew it would be safe, given that Seisi was in there, but she wanted Khy to get accustomed to taking orders. As well as maintaining rank and file. Down here, discipline could well mean the difference between life and death.

Iseret's old chamber still bore the scars of that memorable moment when Metjen forced the truth out of her. Sheets of plaster covered with cracked hieroglyphic curses had parted with the walls and now lay as rubble on the floor. Those that remained in situ bore the traces of earlier destruction when the dark priests had come through 5000 years ago to foul Imhotep's plans. The stones from the plinth Iseret had been resting on had mingled with the other remains of their explosive last encounter. Whatever her baskets had contained lay crushed under the weight of fallen masonry. The chamber was as icy as the rest of the place, the warmth Iseret had once conjured up vanished long since. Above it floated the dusty damp smell of an abandoned construction site. Trueth was pleased to note there was not the slightest tinge of sulphur mixed with the stink.

Seisi had crossed the room and was checking out the long shaft leading towards the second landing and the underground hall where the demons had found them last time.

Pharaoh asked the obvious question. 'Where is His Wisdom?'

Seisi raised his hands and dropped them again.

'And Iseret?' Trueth asked.

This time, Seisi shook his head. 'We might want to wait,' he suggested. 'Or better even, return to where we came from.'

Trueth scanned first the room, and then the upper part of the shaft for messages.

'I did that,' Seisi said. 'There is nothing. They both have just vanished.'

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This chapter is dedicated to @spirit1010 Thank you for reading and voting on my novels!

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