Unseen Realm
Emily faced the apkallu.
It moved closer to her, curiously menacing. "You are not like the other women that I've had. They bow before me."
"They were afraid. I'm not." Her hands were sweating. It was getting difficult to breathe.
"Your trembling feeble human body betrays you, Miss Jones," the apkallu came forward, and began to methodically pace around her.
Emily was quiet as it circled. She pressed her feet into the floor and steadied her breathing. She wasn't going to track the apkallu. It would make her dizzy. Dizziness would disorient her, making her vulnerable.
Her eyes searched the walls trying to find something to anchor on. "Something's missing. The palace Dad and I excavated had a message written on the walls."
"A message?" the apkallu asked. "How quaint... Do share it with me. I love that you know so much ancient lore."
Emily smiled as the apkallu came into her field of vision. "You'll hate it."
The apkallu waited.
Emily looked up waiting.
"Well? What is this fearsome message?"
Emily answered with her father's defying growl. "Mene. Mene. Tekel. Upharsin." She uttered each ancient word with a steady breath barely containing her fury. "It means: Your days are numbered. You have been weighed in the balance and found lacking. Your kingdom is divided."
The apkallu's head pivoted in fury. It's clawed arm rose to strike her. "How did you know that?"
She grinned from under her fedora hat's brim, the full extent of her facial scars revealed. "You kidnapped an archaeologist. I was trapped in a tomb when I was four - You can't make me afraid."