"The way to get started is to quit talking and begin doing." -Walt Disney
꧁𓁿꧂
BEK LANDED ON the outside of Osiris and his Queens tomb and stumbled silently inside with Zaya's body in her arms; her bloodstained dress dragging in the sand.
Bek laid Zaya down gently on the sandstone floor. She then walked down the steps, sniffing occasionally for any potential threats. But she could only smell wine, Gods' blood, and tears of grief.
"I don't need any more worshippers," spoke a bitter, croaky voice and Bek frowned. Horus. "Tributes that rot and stink." There was a pause. "Unless you brought more wine, get out."
"I'm no worshipper." Her tail slithered and moved lightly against the cracked marble floor, her wings drooping and brushing the ground.
"What are you, then? Some kind of thief?" He asked with disgust.
"Yes, a thief," Bek replied, confidently, green eyes twinkling. "And I have something Set took from you."
The eye she was holding flashed and Horus gasped, looking to the side. She sensed a threatening aura coming from him and she put the eye back in her pocket.
Horus forced himself to his feet with a slight struggle. "No mortal can rob Set's vault. You pilfered one of my followers' corpses."
"I'm not any normal mortal, that's for sure. They never even got close," Bek replied, slightly proud of herself, but she also felt threatened by the God who was ten times taller than she was.
"Give them to me," Horus commanded.
"Not yet," Bek said, looking behind her at Zaya's peaceful corpse, blood pooling on the stone beaneath her.
"Give me my eyes," Horus growled, intimidatingly.
"I have a proposition," she began, which made him snap out of anger and impatience. "You dare bargain with me!?"
He brought out his spear from his cloak and lunged at her. Bek effortlessly leaped backwards and tripped him with her thick, black tail. With a grunt he got back up and stabbed at her again, but she flew up with a bellow of wind from her wings and pushed Horus' back with her feet from behind him.
"You're lucky I'm willing to," she snarled. "You can't strike a three-legged elephant!"
She hid behind the tomb where he was resting before. "You want a reward I suppose," he said. "Gold?"
"Gold I can steal-!" she was cut off by a spear near her head, she flipped backwards on the ground and was rolling away from Horus' spear that drew closer.
Bek fell from the edge of the platform and spread her wings, soaring over to the front of the tomb at the bottom of the entrance's stairs. She kicked a piece of sandstone and he came running, spear in hand.
"There is someone I want saved." She dodged a flying spear, which lodged itself in a pillar behind her
"From what?" Horus asked.
"From Death."
Horus scoffed.
"Didn't your father teach you that death isn't the end?" Bek questioned, wings bristling into a defensive position. "Well, figure it out, your Horus! Lord of the Air!"
After a moment she scowled. "Or maybe I will just toss what I have in the Nile." She turned around began to make her way towards the entrance of the tomb.
"Wait," Horus called.
Bek stopped and turned to look at him, and Horus nodded, accepting her terms.
Bek smiled, relieved and flew down swiftly to get Zaya's body. She grabbed her sister and flew over to Horus, laying Zaya on the cold marble step.
Horus placed his hands on Zaya's stomach and prayed. "Stay with the living, stay with the living, stay with the living..." Horus' frown deepened, and he slipped his hands away. "She's gone beyond where I can reach her..."
"But... But you're a God..." Bek's voice cracked, her hope fading fast.
"Gods may live thousands of your years, but we cannot cure mortality..." He grabbed a bowl of ashes. "Its time for her to walk the path."
Bek's tail lashed and her wings drooped in grief. "There must be something you can do!" she wailed desperately.
"I've done all I can." Horus said and Bek's eyes tried to fight back the tears.
He grabbed a pinch of the ashes and sprinkled it down into the bowl again, red smoke emitted from the ashes in the bowl.
Horus stood. "Anubis, come forth."
The wind howled and a burst of sandy wind came from the other side of Zaya's body. A man in the form of a jackal came from the wind, wearing gold and blue silks, he also held a golden staff in his right hand.
The god kneeled beside Zaya's body. "You are released."
He pulled out the spirit from Zaya's body with a cold, dead hand. Zaya greeted him with a small smile, and Anubis led her to the portal from where he emerged from.
Anubis turned to Zaya's spirit. "The doors of Earth are open to you. You must begin your journey."
"No, she died a slave!" Bek wailed in fear, panic evident in her green eyes. "Without treasure she won't be allowed through the final gate!"
Anubis glanced at her before turning back to Zaya. "What do you offer?"
"She can't pass into the afterlife!"
"For you, Lord Anubis... Governor of the bows, who is upon his mountain... I can only offer my smile..." Zaya said with a small grin.
Anubis blinked, surprised, but then smirked. "So be it." He lifted up his staff and slammed it on the sandstone floor then started sinking into the sand portal along with Zaya.
"Zaya!" Bek yelled with grief, "Zaya!"
"The dead don't speak to the living. Now, give them to me." Horus commanded, reaching out his hand for his eyes.
Bek blinked and shook her head angrily, stepping away. "You've done nothing!"
"My eyes," Horus persisted, ignored her outburst.
"Spend the rest of your days wandering around, sightless!" she spat. "I have nothing to lose, do you understand?"
"Give. Me. My. Eyes." He snatched her arm with a snarl and she winced in pain. "You want to hide from me? Talk less."
He reached out one hand for the eyes.
Bek narrowed her eyes and handed him the one crystal blue eye she had. "Here," she hissed.
He snarled and threw her down to the hard, cold floor. She slipped off the edge and started falling. When she flew back up, he had his eye in his right socket and was wide-eyed at her form.
"You." He said, recognising her. "You were the one who flew away with that girl."
"Yes." She answered, tail lashing dangerously. "That same girl who is now dead."
He looked solemn before he pointed to his left socket. "Where is the other?"
Bek stammered and he furrowed his brows.
"Where is the other," he repeated, dangerously inching closer to her.
She took a step back, wings drooping slightly. "Well, I'm not exactly sure, but I-!"
He grabbed her throat and lifted her up, and she choked for air, clawing at his hand.
"I'll snap your neck," He threatened, and she grabbed at his wrist. Her tail lashing around, her wings flapping harshly in panic. He was incredibly strong!
"You must hate Set for what he did to your father..." She choked out, wings flapping violently and tail slamming on the ground, she struggled to breathe.
"The pyramid!" She rasped, her windpipe burning. "I know how to get into Set's pyramid."
"How?" He asked with narrowed eyes and she choked, her wings and tail slowing.
"How?"
Bek choked more, she could feel the blood rushing to her head and he seemed to realise.
"Oh."
Horus slowly placed her down and she coughed and sputtered, rubbing her sore neck. Her wings flapping slightly, her tail resting on the ground.
"It's where he keeps his source of power, right?" She asked, regaining her composure. "If I could get you inside, could you kill him?"
She could sense that Horus wanted to throw her off the edge of the platform with how his arm tensed. He must have not because she was a woman. "How would you do that?"
She investigated his green gaze. "I saw the plans."
"Tell me."
"I'll show you--"
"Go on." Horus cut her off, and she narrowed her eyes, tail lashing dangerously. "If you bring Zaya back."
"There may be a way." He said after some consideration, and her green eyes shone with hope.
After a few minutes, they put Zaya in empty space underneath a slate and Horus spoke, "no-one will enter the afterlife once entered, but the journey to the nine gates will take seven days to complete, and the king can make Anubis turn back. If I kill Set and take back the crown before your friend reaches the final gate, I might just be able to save her."
He finished tying on his eye-patch and closed the slate over Zaya.
"She is my sister." Bek corrected and he got up, ignoring her, and started walking towards the entrance of the tomb they were in.
"Better keep up," he said.
Bek looked at the marble slate and closed her eyes for a moment before opening them again and spreading her wings, zooming past Horus, stopping in mid-air before him, looking down on the god. "Right back at you," she teased, flying through the entryway.
I'll save you, Zaya!