Scott's Campaign against The False Priest

Chapter 8: Deity of the Hunt

Buddy managed to land a bite on Colin, allowing Alex to shove the man into a wall, knocking him out cold. Amunphat turned and glared at Alex, "If I must kill you and your mutt for the manacle, then so be it!" Raising his staff, two tailless beasts made of pure flame were summoned. They growled and slowly stalked toward Alex and Buddy, with Buddy trying to put on a brave snarl.

Scott knew they had to distract those fire dogs somehow. "Any ideas?" Scott asked.

"One, but we must hope the scroll is not Osiris's for the plan to work," Imhotep frowned," We must distract them and let Alex handle the scroll." Scott knew this would be risky, but it was the only option they had. Both grabbed a handful of sand, then lunged out and threw it at the fire dogs. The fire dogs were spooked at first, but then quickly changed focus on Scott and Imhotep. "Get the scroll, summon the deity!" Imhotep called to Alex, avoiding a lunge.

Scott kept backing up as the fire dog focused on him snarled. Seeing Amunphat with Set's staff angered him, but Scott knew getting the staff now would be a bad idea. What he hadn't expected was to see a mongoose join Buddy in attacking Amunphat. The fire dog lunged, and Scott leapt out of the way, tossing more sand at the fire dog.

"I call on Mafdet, Deity of the Hunt, to aid myself in this troubling time," Alex spoke, his manacle glowing a bit and a chill forming.

The fire dog attacking Scott managed to land a bite, burning Scott's left leg. Falling to the floor, Scott tried to back away, but the fire dog lunged forward. Only for a large cheetah to suddenly pounce onto the fire dog, easily pinning it down. Scott could easily tell this was no ordinary cheetah, as the white fur on her cheeks and ears was a dead give away.

The fire dog whined and ran, and Scott quickly got up. Buddy managed to pull the staff of Set away from Amunphat, and a quick whistle from Scott brought the staff right to him. "Hear me, and listen to the priest of your master, Amunphat is your foe!" Scott shouted, praying it would work.

His prayers were answered, as both fire dogs paused, then turned to Amunphat with teeth bared. Amunphat looked shocked, then angered, "Not even Setinef could do this?! Who are you?!"

"Scott Major," Scott replied coldly. Just before the fire dogs could attack, Amunphat transformed into a familiar sand bird. He looked around before spotting Colin, grabbing the unconscious man and fleeing the temple.

"I didn't find Osiris's scroll," Alex said as the mongoose and Buddy ran to him, before looking to the cheetah, "You look cool!"

"That's a first," The cheetah spoke, "I haven't heard my name in so long, I thought I had been forgotten."

"I think I heard of you!" Alex said, "You're Mafdet, you protect people from venomous animals, right?"

A smile formed on Mafdet's face, "So mortals do remember me after all. You are correct." Scott didn't know a Mafdet, but he was glad she showed up.

Both fire dogs approached Scott, waiting for a new order. "Dismissed," Scott spoke, and both fire dogs disappeared into sparks of embers.

As they exited the temple, the wind bird was perched nearby while the golems stood still, with Jonathan clearly puzzled as to why they stopped attacking. "YES! Good!" Set called, racing over to Scott, "My staff is safe! And here I thought you would destroy it."

"I wouldn't even think about it," Scott said.

"Well then, I planned to give it to you at some point to see if you could wield it, but it seems my answer has been given," Set smirked, "Ah, Mafdet, enjoy you time with mortals?"

"It wasn't much of a hunt, but it was worth it," Mafdet replied, sitting nearby.

"I must remain here," Ardeth spoke, Horus perched on his shoulder, "But you must continue to follow the path left and find the remaining scrolls."

"My staff will work outside of Egypt," Set added, "My spirits are at your command now, be wise about when you summon them." Scott gave a nod, and both Set and Mafdet moved through a blue veil, possibly returning to Ahm Shere.

"So, where to now then? We need to get back to the zephyr first," Jimmy said, and Scott agreed. The zephyr was a lot faster, and they had to fix the engine soon. A sneeze made Scott look over.

"Dad, I can explain," Alex said as the mongoose perched on his shoulder, "I met him back in India and-"

"So that's why I've been sneezing," Rick sighed.

"Tut even helped! He distracted Amunphat long enough for me to get the scroll!" Alex quickly said.

"I can vouch on that," Scott said.

Rick thought, then sighed, "Alright, fine, I'd say the little guy has earned his keep. But only because your raised Buddy as well as you have." The mongoose, Tut, chittered and hopped onto Buddy's back, who made no objections.

Tut's chittering caused one of Scott's scarabs to poke their head out, and Scott couldn't help but chuckle. "Back to the horses then," Jonathan said.

While Ardeth and Horus parted ways, the rest of the group headed back to the Nile. As they rode, Scott kept thinking about Imhotep. There had been many times the ex-priest could have let him die or even get revenge, and yet he didn't do anything of the sort. It was right then and there that Scott realized that Imhotep had truly turned his life around. Scott hoped this path would continue.

Thankfully, horse back meant it only took a day and a half to return to the zephyr, and the repairs were quick. Leaving the horses with the locals, the group headed for Greece, which was the next stop on the trip. Greece also had a lead on his family, but it was a lead Scott had yet to investigate. Reading the diary, Scott noticed that a warship named Athena possibly had a scroll. He hoped it was Osiris's scroll. The sooner they found his scroll, the sooner they could redo the spell and make it stronger.