Draiks and Angels: Deity

11 - Cobra

Close was relative. It took an hour and a half to walk to the temple of Wadjet. It was near some popular shops, so there were many people outside, but they were intent on their shopping and no one was in the temple. There were no Priestesses in this temple, either. The interior was shadowy, but there was enough light to see by, so Satiya didn't light any flames.

The chamber was smaller than the other temples', with the altar in the middle of the room. There were carved images of winged snakes on the walls. Other than that, the room was empty. Amisi understood why no one was visiting the temple: there was nothing to see.

Satiya scanned for magically hidden doorways and found nothing. Khait crossed his arms and thought hard about what he knew about Wadjet, hoping to come up with something that would lead them. Amisi examined the only other object in the room: the altar.

With an eye for tricks, she soon found something of interest: a stone button under the stone lip of one of the trims around the stone structure. She pushed it and a panel dropped open with a click next to her in the altar.

"I got something!"

Satiya and Khait rushed over and they looked in the small opening. It looked like a metal handle pointing out toward them. They looked at each other, then Khait grabbed the handle and pulled on it. It came out a little ways, enough that they could see it was attached to an old chain, and stopped.

"It's stuck," Khait grunted, pulling hard.

Amisi grabbed part of the exposed chain and heaved along with Khait. It came out a little farther, and they heard a scraping noise behind them. They turned and saw a gap in the wall at about head height.

"A doorway! Probably!" Satiya called. She grabbed some of the newly exposed chain and pulled with the humans.

They were only able to get the doorway open to about their ankles, but that was good enough to enter the hidden room. Inside were three pedestals with items on top. The left held some sandals that Khait said were made of papyrus. The center held a collar-piece made of bone. The right held a head piece that was red and stuck up in the back. There was a flat piece of gold sticking forward that curled at the end attached to the top. The rest of the room was empty.

"What now?" Amisi asked.

"Seems like we have to choose one," Satiya reasoned.

Khait looked over the items, then pointed to each in turn, "Papyrus sandals were meant for Priests. Everyone wore jewelry, but bone is not very valuable. This is called a Deshret crown."

The women waited for Khait to continue.

"Wadjet was said to be the protector of kings. I think the crown is the one."

"Go for it," Satiya urged.

Khait looked at the other two, unsure, but picked up the crown and placed it on his head. After a moment he squeezed his eyes shut, and moved as if to take the crown off, but after a second more, he relaxed.

"Khait?" Satiya whispered.

"Haa..." he breathed, "That was weird. But I'm okay."

Amisi pointed into the corner of the room, "Look! Another doorway!"

"The key! Khait, go get it!"

Khait walked into the new doorway and returned with the stone disc in his palm. He handed it to Satiya.

"You gonna take that off?" Amisi gestured to the crown on his head with her chin.

"Oh, right."

He took the Deshret crown carefully off his head and placed it reverently back on the pedestal it came from. He turned around and saw the women frowning at him.

"What?"

"Uh, there's something still there," Satya answered.

Khait reached up and felt around his head. He felt a metal band. Satiya conjured some magic that was reflective enough that he could see himself. Around his head was a gold circlet that looked like a snake, head meeting tail in the middle of his forehead. He tried to remove it, but it wouldn't budge.

"Um, I guess Wadjet has claimed you hers?" Satiya suggested.

"That doesn't make sense! Wadjet has Priestesses, not Priests. And I'm already a disciple of Thoth!"

Satiya shrugged, "I have no idea, I was just thinking out loud."

Khait frowned. He tugged at the circlet again.

"We should move on," Amisi suggested.

"But-!" Khait objected, "What do I do about this?!"

"It looks nice!" Satiya smiled, elbowing Amisi.

"Oh, yeah, very regal!" Amisi agreed, laughing.

Khait frowned at them as they walked toward the exit, giggling, but all he could do was follow. They walked out of the temple and winced at how much brighter it was outside. There were still people everywhere, but no one seemed to notice them exiting the building.

Suddenly Amisi leaned over and hissed, "We are being watched. No! Don't look! Act normal."

Amisi walked casually forward and Satiya and Khait hurried to follow.

"It must be the society," she continued. "But they must not want to do anything around all these people. We will use that to get away."

Amisi led them down busy roads, obviously going out of their way to stick to the more populated routes. Even Satiya began to notice the people following them. There were a lot of them. They walked for fifteen minutes before Amisi suddenly pulled the other two into a building. It was a busy bar, even in the middle of the day.

"What are you having?" the bartender asked.

"I'll have a Duat with gin and coke," Amisi replied.

"Cash or card?"

"Put it on my tab. The owner knows my face."

"And these two?"

"The same. I'm in a hurry, if you please."

The bartender nodded and walked into the back. Khait and Satiya looked at each other, confused, but followed Amisi as she walked to the end of the bar nearest the kitchen.

"Shh!" she whispered before they could ask her anything.

A hand stuck out from the curtain covering the kitchen door and beckoned to them, and Amisi led them into the back. The bartender led them into the storage room, flipped up a rug on the floor, and revealed a trap door. He opened it and Amisi motioned for Khait and Satiya to take the ladder inside. She came last and the door closed above them, leaving only a flashlight in Amisi's hand for light.

"These tunnels are part of the spy network," Amisi whispered. "Sound carries, so we need to be quiet."

"Tunnels plural? How many are there?" Khait asked quietly.

"There is a pretty good network in the city, though they don't reach out into the suburbs very far. We can get close to the safehouse with them."

"It isn't that late, shouldn't we be getting the next key?" Khait wondered.

"We should probably lay low for the rest of the day to give the society a chance to give up for today." Amisi explained.

The ceiling was low, and they had to bend over as they walked, even though none of them were particularly tall. It took them another two hours to get to the exit near the safehouse. It was in the back room of a small tailor shop. Making sure no one saw them, they returned to the safehouse.