Scott's Campaign against The False Priest

Chapter 3: Rise of Amunphat

Amunphat shoved Imhotep back with a wave of his hand, "I expected better from you. It appears you have gotten weaker over your years as a mortal," Amunphat sneered.

Imhotep stumbled, but managed to recover, "You should have stayed dead," Imhotep said terrifyingly calmly, before charging.

Amunphat was able to avoid the blow, but not the one that came from behind. Amunphat gasped and tried to reach for his back, but Scott was quicker and landed another stab in his back. "Pest! Stop that!" Amunphat snapped, managing to grab Scott by this wrist and throw him over himself and onto the ground, Scott letting out a groan of pain while Amunphat removed the sword, "Do you really think mortal weapons can stop me?"

"No, but they're a good distraction!" Scott said. A shot rang out and Amunphat stumbled forward. Amunphat turned towards his attacker, only to be shot in the head by Jimmy. Amunphat snarled as the new wound quickly regenerated.

"You cannot stop me! If I must find the scrolls before the manacle, then so be it!" Amunphat snapped, transforming into a large bird made of sand before snatching the man that had tied Scott up and flying away.

Both Scott and Imhotep rose, looking to where Amunphat was heading, "Can we beat him to it?" Scott asked.

"No, but we won't need to," Imhotep stated.

Scott turned and saw Ardeth walking their way. "Do you remember where the scrolls of Thebes are kept?" Ardeth asked Imhotep.

"Waset, and Setinef and Ramses separated the scrolls. I only know where Set's scroll is," Imhotep replied.

"Tell me it's here," Jimmy begged, and Imhotep nodded, motioning for the three to follow. Within the ritual chambers, Imhotep pressed on a small brick. A false door gave way, and revealed a small compartment with a scroll inside.

Scott carefully took the scroll. "Right, one down, which ones do we absolutely need?"

"I will need Osiris's scroll," Imhotep stated, "You and I must redo the ritual, this time to insure Amunphat will be rejected by the manacle and sent back to the underworld."

"So where do we start?" Evy asked as she, Rick, Alex, and Buddy walked over, "Alexandria is close, maybe we will have luck finding a scroll there?"

"Zephyr can take us quickly, we should hurry," Rick said, then turned to Imhotep, "You coming with us, or staying here?"

"It's best I go with you," Imhotep said, "The sooner we get the scroll, the sooner the ritual can be done."

"Let's hope Set's scroll listens to me," Scott said. As the zephyr took to the air, Ardeth got onto his horse, heading off to warn the other Medjai of Amunphat's return. As they flew, Scott kept an eye outside in case something showed up on the way.

"You should have seen them!" Alex said, "As soon as that mummy guy grabbed me, they just ran out of the pouch and started attacking. He was cursing and everything!"

"Glad they could help you," Scott hummed, looking over at Alex, "I'm guessing Buddy was of help?"

"You kidding? That mummy guy was practically terrified of him!" Alex said, which surprised Scott.

"Terrified how?" Scott asked.

"He did everything he could to keep away from Buddy," Alex said, "For an immortal guy, he's not very tough." Scott made a mental note of this. Despite being fully regenerated, Amunphat feared something. As Alexandria came into view, dusk had long since turned to night, and there was no sign of the mummy or his new lackey.

The zephyr landed just a bit away from the ruined city, with Evy, Rick, and Imhotep being the ones to leave for the library of Alexandria while Jonathan, Scott, and Jimmy made camp. "Does anyone know who that was?" Scott asked, "The man that brought Amunphat back."

"Yeah, he's Colin Weasler," Alex said, "Apparently mum 'took his job', but we never heard of him being guaranteed that role."

"Saving a spot for promotion isn't that common," Jimmy said, "Seems like the boss has some fault in all this mess."

"Something tells me he would have done this even if he got the promotion," Scott grumbled slightly, still a bit ticked off over having Colin get the jump on him. As soon as the camp was finished with being set up, Scott grabbed the scarab pouch and placed a slice of meat into it.

Most of the night was spent resting, but Scott wasn't able to rest peacefully. His dreams and nightmares were haunted by a vision of Amunphat, the manacle, and the scrolls. At one point, his dreams changed into himself fending off a three headed dragon, slaying a giant scarab, and two harpies screeching in anger. Then, his dream morphed once more.

This time, Scott could move around freely, the place he was in a landscape of white sand. It wasn't long before he felt himself being watched, and Scott turned to face who it was. The man looked like him...no, it looked like Setinef. He simply stared at Scott, where his eyes should be instead were a burning flame of cyan. "Why did you show me that?" Scott asked, but Setinef stayed silent. Then, Setinef turned away. "Wait!" Scott called, trying to approach his ancestor.

But something was waking him up, "Scott!" Jimmy said, and Scott startled awake, "You alright? You slept for so long that it's nearly noon."

"Yeah, just a weird dream," Scott replied, getting up from his makeshift bed, "Any luck?"

"Nope, but Jonathan went to town. I woke you up because Alex and Buddy aren't here," Jimmy said.

That got Scott's attention, and he quickly looked up, "What?!"

"I had my back turned for one second, and all I heard was him and Jonathan talking before I heard the motorcycle take off!" Jimmy huffed, "I swear if that idiot did something-"

"We just need to wait and see," Scott frowned. As much as he wanted to try and find Alex, the zephyr only had a single motorcycle. And camels were nowhere near as fast as an actual vehicle. As Scott left his tent, he noticed that Imhotep was looking over what seemed to be a map while Rick and Evy were talking to each other. Sure enough, Jonathan, Buddy, and Alex were missing. Scott held back an annoyed sigh, knowing he could have a proper chat with Jonathan later.