CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE

The Exchange

WE SILENTLY MADE OUR WAY DOWN the underground shaft that mirrored the Avenue of the Sphinxes above. Isis let me carry her exactly halfway before becoming restless and wanting down so she could explore on her own. I knew she would be safe enough, what with her being a bau and all, but I could have used the extra dose of reassurance that holding her always provides.

When we emerged near the Temple of Luxor, all but five of the wedjadeen proceeded to the black market to arrange their ambush. Major Grindle and the other Chosen Keepers were in that group due to their knowledge of the streets of Luxor. Also, they had no shadowy hiding skills like the wedjadeen did and would have stuck out like a handful of sore thumbs at the Luxor Temple.

Major Grindle was not happy about this; he didn't like leaving me. But he also recognized that he might be more of a hindrance than a help. When it was time to part ways, I felt as if we should have a solemn goodbye, just in case something went dreadfully wrong and we never saw each other again. But he was having none of that. "See you on the other side, Miss Throckmorton." He gave me a solid pat on the shoulder, then strode away.

Jadwiga and Rumpf were more circumspect. They shook my hand solemnly, and Jadwiga patted me on the head with his big paw of a hand. I'm sure he meant it as a gesture of affection, but he nearly gave me a concussion.

The underground passageway brought us up to the surface on the west side of the temple, just outside the outer wall near Hypostyle Hall, where the old chapel of Khons used to be. It was nothing but ruins now.

The bulk of the party peeled off and dispersed into all directions, making their way to the streets and alleys surrounding the black market. My five wedjadeen escorts and I stepped over the rubble and entered the temple. "Where will the men hide?" I asked Fenuku. I was still not happy that he was the one in charge of our part of the mission. However, he was the second-most powerful Weret Hekau, next to Khalfani, and Khalfani was the leader of the men, so I got stuck with Fenuku. My only consolation was that he was just as unhappy about it as I was. That and he now had the Orb of Ra. Surely that would give us the upper hand with Chaos, no matter what.

"In here," he said shortly, then led me through the ruined chapel and portico into the second antechamber. A tiny annex opened off the west wall. Fenuku poked his head in to examine it. "Here is where you and the tablet will wait.

"The others," he said, indicating the four trailing wedjadeen, "will hide over here." He led us into the next antechamber, which had once been the sanctuary of the barque but had been plastered over and remade into a shrine of Alexander the Great. Pictures of him dressed as pharaoh decorated the walls. Fenuku stopped and pointed to the lintel over the doorway. I looked at him, a faint flutter of panic stirring in my breast. There was no hiding place here! He was trying to sabotage this, wasn't he? "They'll be spotted, sir."

He gave me a disgusted look, then waved at the men. They leaped forward and removed a series of stone panels from the wall, revealing a rather large hidey-hole. "It was built to hold two men, but four can fit in a pinch, if they won't be there too long."

Without a word of complaint, the men found footholds in the wall and shimmied up to the hiding place. "What is the compartment for?" I asked. Did they really have that many occasions to hide hostages or extra soldiers in the ruins?

Fenuku gave a wry grimace. "It was used for our oracles, once upon a time," he confessed. I wondered if they'd had one of these in the Temple of Horus at Qerert Ihy, where we'd just come from. Was that how the Seer of Maat had spoken to all of us?

"Once the followers of Set have confirmed you and the tablet are here, they will send off a messenger to tell the others to proceed. I will move with the remaining follower of Set to wait out in the vestibule. You will then slip out of the annex and take your place up there in the hidden chamber. The men will come down and wait in the annex with the tablet. The followers of Set will have an unpleasant surprise waiting for them, I think. You"—he speared me with a look—"shall remain hidden until you are told to come out. We do not need you making things more complicated."

I wanted to protest that I never made things more complicated, but I was learning that that wasn't as true as I'd once hoped. "How long do we have until the scheduled rendezvous?"

"Their first scouts should be here shortly. It would be wise to get you and the tablet in position, in case they are early."

I tried not to feel claustrophobic in the small room, but it was hard. The walls were thick, crumbling stone and there were no windows. The only light came from the narrow doorway. I felt like a sitting duck with no avenue of escape should things go wrong.

Sensing my distress, Isis returned from exploring parts unknown and came to sit in my lap. Her warm presence calmed me somewhat. As I petted her soft black fur, I told myself that it wasn't that I didn't trust the wedjadeen. It's just that in my experience, things invariably go wrong.

I pushed that thought from my mind and concentrated on petting my cat and praying it would all be over soon.

***

The verification scouts were indeed early and arrived not ten minutes after we'd all taken our positions. I heard their voices out in the vestibule. "Where is the tablet? And the girl?"

"Right this way," Fenuku said politely.

A moment later, Fenuku ushered two men into the annex. One of them was Carruthers, from the museum. "Hello," I said, trying to look scared and defeated. It wasn't difficult, to be honest.

Carruthers sneered. "You are not so very precious, then, are you?"

"No, sir," I said in a meek voice, wishing I could slap that smile off his face.

He glanced at Isis, curled up on my lap. "Your cat will not be coming with us. Best say your goodbyes while you can." He jerked his head and the second man came forward and knelt by the tablet. He took a small knife from his pocket and scraped the surface of the Emerald Tablet. I winced, both worried that the magic would give way and insulted that he would risk defacing such a priceless artifact.

Apparently satisfied, Carruthers sent the other man back to von Braggenschnott with a message that all was as agreed upon. The idea of coming face-to-face with von Braggenschnott again made me feel ill. I had to remind myself that it was all a ruse. He wouldn't even make it to the temple, not with scores of wedjadeen waiting to ambush him in the streets of Luxor.

Fenuku was able to convince Carruthers to wait out in the vestibule so they could watch for the rest of his men. Carruthers seemed perfectly content with this as he knew as well as we did that there was no way out of the temple except through the vestibule where he'd be waiting.

As soon as their voices receded, I set Isis on the ground, jumped to my feet, and hurried to the doorway.

Silent as shadows, the wedjadeen slipped out of their hidden chamber. Three of them moved noiselessly toward me. One hung back, waiting to assist me into my hiding place.

I hurried over to the wall, and the fourth remaining wedjadeen gave me a boost up. Using the subtle hand- and footholds that had been carved into the wall, I worked my way up to the space over the lintel. I nodded at the man to let him know I was ready, and he quietly replaced the slabs of stone. I was completely hidden from view.

I was heartily glad to see there was a peephole; I wouldn't be completely in the dark up here. I peered around until I found Isis, sitting so still and silently against the far wall that she looked like little more than a shadow herself.

Have I mentioned that I think waiting is the hardest part? It seems we are forever rushing, then waiting. Rushing, then waiting. I tried to entertain myself with imagining the look of surprise on von Braggenschnott's face when he found four wedjadeen instead of me, but the vision kept being interrupted by worries for Mother and Gadji. What would he do to them when he saw I wasn't there?

Calm down, I told myself. Surely there was nothing I could do that four wedjadeen couldn't? Not to mention that things shouldn't even get that far.

Just when I had finally managed to convince myself of that, I heard Fenuku's voice speaking loudly from the vestibule. "Here come your followers of Set," he said.

"I can see that," Carruthers replied, somewhat nastily. But of course, Fenuku hadn't said it for Carruthers's benefit. He'd said it to warn me and the four hidden wedjadeen. If Chaos was coming, it meant the ambush had failed.

"Who are all those people with them?" Fenuku asked.

"Did you not hear?" Carruthers answered. "There was another nationalist demonstration this morning. We thought it best to keep the streets crowded today, in case you planned any surprises for us. We find it pays to stay involved in politics."

My heart sank like a stone. The wedjadeen had not been able to pull off the ambush. Now what? How was von Braggenschnott going to react when he didn't find what he wanted?

Minutes later, I heard the sound of dozens of footsteps outside in the vestibule. Von Braggenschnott's voice rang out. "Where are they?"

"First I must see the woman and the boy," Fenuku reminded him.

"Bring them," von Braggenschnott called out.

There was a pause, and then Fenuku spoke again. "I see that they are unharmed. Good. Let us make the exchange in here where the girl and the tablet are waiting."

"You saw them yourself, Carruthers?" von Braggenschnott asked.

"Yes, sir. I did."

"Very well. Bring the woman and the boy."

"They can't all come with us," Fenuku protested. "For one, the room is too small. And as you requested, there is only one of me here in the temple."

There was a pause as von Braggenschnott considered whether to honor his original agreement or not. "You six, come with Carruthers and me. The rest of you wait here."

"But that was not the agreement," Fenuku protested.

There was another pause. When von Braggenschnott spoke again, his voice had taken on a reasonable tone. "This is not your argument. Give me the tablet, take the boy, and be gone. The rest does not concern you."

There was a surprised silence—at least, I was surprised—before Fenuku spoke. "You are right, follower of Set. This is not our fight to win or lose. Come, let me show you the tablet and I will take the boy and leave. You may do what you want with the woman and the girl."

I nearly gasped in outrage at his treachery. Had he tricked the other wedjadeen into believing he would go along with this plan, when all along he had intended to hand me over to Chaos? What betrayal did he have planned to get rid of Major Grindle, I wondered? And would the other wedjadeen go along with his decision?

Seething, I shoved my eye into the peephole, desperate to catch a glimpse of Gadji and Mother, to see with my own eyes that they were safe and unharmed. And there they were. Bedraggled, but alive and safe. Joy at the sight of them surged through me and it was all I could do to bite back a shout of happiness.

Carruthers held Gadji, and von Braggenschnott had a tight grip on Mother. Fenuku stepped aside. "Your tablet, gentlemen. And the girl," he lied.

Still holding on to Mother, von Braggenschnott disappeared into the annex, while Carruthers crowded at the doorway. "Where is sh—"

A shout went up as Fenuku pulled out a club hidden in his sleeve and cracked Carruthers on the skull. He yanked Gadji well away from the crumpling Serpent of Chaos and shoved him toward the door. At the same time, muffled shouting came from the annex as the hidden wedjadeen tried to subdue von Braggenschnott without hurting Mother. Fenuku reached in, grabbed Mother's arm, and pulled her out of the fray. "Run!" he told Mother and Gadji.

Confused, they took three faltering steps toward the vestibule, stopping as more Serpents of Chaos began pouring through the door.

"The other way!" Fenuku called out. "Rekhet! Come get them to safety! If our gods were foolish enough to bestow you with gifts, show they weren't wasted and use them!"

Still stunned that he hadn't betrayed us, I kicked the slabs from my hiding place and dropped to the ground. The shock of the impact jolted through my legs, but I bit back the pain.

"Theodosia?" Mother blinked, her mouth dropping open. "Wh-what are you doing here?"

"Rescuing you two. Come on." As I reached out for Mother and Gadji, I looked up to see von Braggenschnott straining to get past the wedjadeen, trying to get to me. Our gazes met, and unspeakable threats shone in his eyes.

Isis darted from her corner and disappeared through the small door immediately to our right. I didn't know where she was taking us, but it was away from Chaos and that was enough for me. "Come on." I tugged at Mother and Gadji.

"Where are we going?"

"We need to get away. Fenuku is buying us some time and we need to use it. We might not get another chance." I grabbed her arm, confident that Gadji knew enough to follow along without being pulled. Isis was just disappearing through a second doorway that led deeper into the temple. Without thinking about it, I followed.

It was a birthing room, I realized, and I immediately began searching for another doorway. There! Isis had found one. Just as I took a step to follow her, an explosion rocked the temple and knocked us to our feet.