Scott's Campaign against The False Priest

Chapter 5: A Conqueror's Old Diary

The flight to India, the first location Scott suggested, was longer than anyone thought. Imhotep had been nervous leaving Egypt, but so long as Amunphat was around, the ex-priest swore to help how he could. While on the flight, Scott was reading up on the scrolls. He had learned most of the spells were to impower the manacle of Osiris, but a few could weaken its power.

The spell Scott was looking for was a blacklist sort of spell, and there were two. The first was the spell Setinef and Imhotep had carried out, while the second was more of a curse than a spell, killing the named person should they try to wear the Manacle. Scott knew the curse would be tricky to preform, as Setinef wouldn't be here to do the spell himself. Scott hoped he could be a proper substitute.

"We're here!" Rick called. The old ruins came into view. On tome of the pillars, the Major family sigil stood tall and proud: A pair of stags, one with ice and one with fire, reared up with their antlers pointed forward.

As the Zephyr landed, Imhotep made no attempt to disembark, "I think I will stay here for this...I am beginning to understand why the scrolls were separated after my death," Imhotep stated.

"You should stay too," Scott said to Jimmy, "We'll need to go to town after this, but until then you shouldn't move your arm much."

"Yeah yeah I know, just run out here if trouble starts," Jimmy said. Scott gave Jimmy a goodbye kiss before going with the others into the ruins. They were in great condition, but Scott had already searched this place once. What had he missed?

"We need to look for anything odd," Scott said.

"Like that?" Alex asked, approaching a slight crack in the wall too small for any of the adults to fit through.

"We tried to search there, but we only saw what our torches could light up," Scott replied, then thought for a moment, "If there is something I missed, it might be in there."

"I'll check it out! Buddy you ready?" Alex asked, earning a bark from the sha. Alex climbed through, he pushed some rocks out of the way, "Whoa! There's a whole book in here!"

Scott and Evy perked up, "Really?" Evy asked.

"Yeah, and no wonder Scott missed it, some rocks were hiding it!" Alex said, "Give me a minute and I can reach it-" A faint golden glow came from the crack, "Or I have it now, the manacle comes in handy I guess."

As Alex pulled the book out, Scott noticed that it's condition didn't look that bad. And he knew what this was. "This is Alexander the Great's diary."

"I guess Setinef knew him?" Rick theorized.

"No, Setinef would have been long dead by the time Alexander got here," Scott said, carefully opening the book. Looking through the book, Scott finally spotted a reference to two scrolls. The Scroll of Osiris and the Scroll of Mafdet. "He had two scrolls?"

A loud grunt and some shaking got everyone's attention, and Scott saw that Jonathan pulled the emerald from the large head statue. "Jonathan!" Rick snapped. Scott looked up to see the ceiling beginning to collapse. It was time to go. Everyone made a run for it, heading back to the entrance. Rick, Evy, Buddy, Alex, and Scott made it with ease, but Jonathan was struggling.

"I just wanted a keepsake! Why does that deserve a flattening?!" Jonathan questioned before tripping. Scott jumped forward and grabbed Jonathan by his arms, pulling. Just as the ceiling fell, Scott managed to pull Jonathan to safety.

"Well, whatever else I missed is now gone," Scott frowned, and Jonathan gave a nervous chuckle, "Before we do anything, we should head to town to restock on supplies and get Jimmy proper medical help."

"It's getting dark anyways, with how long it took to get here," Rick agreed, "We should try and head to town and see if we can't rent some rooms."

Scott would love to rest on a proper bed for a bit. As they rejoined the zephyr, Rick went ahead and took Jimmy to a nearby hospital on the motorcycle while the rest gathered their things and headed into town. The streets were a bit busy, but navigation was easy. Evy when to find boarding while Jonathan, Alex, and Buddy did some sightseeing.

Scott and Imhotep, meanwhile, decided to wait for Rick and Jimmy to return so they could regroup with Evy, "I had an odd dream last night," Scott spoke up, getting Imhotep's attention, "I saw these odd flashes of events I was in."

"With how Set sees you as his priest, you could be getting vision from him," Imhotep suggested.

"I'm not sure...because after they ended, I saw Setinef," Scott said, "I tried to speak to him...but he just ignored me."

"Was it not a vision of his past?" Imhotep asked, getting more interested.

"I don't think so. I was in Ahm Shere. And his eyes were made of flames<" Scott said, looking to Imhotep.

There was a bit of silence before the ex-priest spoke, "You encounter Setinef's spirit. It seems like he is attempting to reach you, but is so far only partially successful."

"Why would he be trying to speak to me?" Scott asked, but Imhotep shook his head.

"That I cannot tell you. He may be trying to tell you the location of the scrolls, or perhaps he is trying to give you his energy so you may say the spell as if it were him. We can only see what his intentions are if he shows himself to you again in your sleep."

Scott wondered if Imhotep was right, and Setinef wanted to help. But the one thing Scott feared is that Setinef still didn't trust Imhotep and would instead mislead Scott until Imhotep was gone. Scott knew either way, he would have to warily trust his ancestor's words, should he speak. "There you two are," Scott looked up to see Jimmy and Rick walking over, with Jimmy's wound properly patched up.

"The inn is nearby, I need to find Jonathan and Alex," Rick said, moving past the group while Jimmy lead Scott and Imhotep to the place they would rest for the night.