Shards of Ankh

Chapter Twenty-Two

"Thank you for coming so quickly."

Ahmed's dark eyes grew into globes, the rest of his features taught. Besides that, his disposition remained calm. Thea moved aside, letting her co-worker in. She was a little surprised when he showed up in a suit. It was quickly forgotten, mind befuddled with her fever.

"Are you alright?"

Thea lurched forward then, pulling Ahmed into the threshold where she held him. She shook her head. "Ahmed--I've been shot."

His brow furrowed as deep as the Nile. "Shot? What do you mean? Why did you call me and not an ambulance?" 

Thea shook her head, clinging to his upper arms for stability. She was absolutely frantic. "No--in my dream. There was an assassination attempt on my friend, Lapis, with poison arrows, and I was grazed on the arm, and I don't think all the poison got out of me, and I woke up sick, and--"

Ahmed gently removed himself from her clutches. Even so, he quickly looked about them, seeing if anyone was around. Once he was sure they were alone, he gently maneuvered her into the apartment and shut the door behind them.

"Thea--that doesn't make sense," Ahmed told her gently, though his face showed something all together different.

Thea was crushed. "Ahmed--you have to believe me! Look, look here, at my arm, this scratch here--"

Ahmed glanced at her arm and pursed his lips. "I see nothing, Thea."

"Are you blind?" she snapped. "It's right here--"

"You have a flu," Ahmed said, gently leading her further into the apartment. "Lets get you into bed. Where is your room? I'll get you medicine and make you some soup." 

"No--Ahmed. My life is in danger, and so is Ankh's--"

"Thea," the man insisted, still guiding her to where her room was. "Lets get you into bed, my dear."

The next few hours were a confusing, hazy, scary blur. Thea was sure of a few things. Ahmed led her to her bed, and tucked her in tight. When she tried to get up, he forced her to stay. She was sure he had brought her a bowl of some sort of soup (which he claimed was chicken noodle, but it didn't taste like it, at all, and it was lacking noodles). Also, she knew he was putting a cold rag to her forehead repeatedly.

Then there were disturbing images. She found herself transported back in time, somehow, in a similar sick room that Lapis had been treated in. But there were no medics, just her and Ahmed. Sometimes Ahmed was dressed as he was, while other times he was dressed in the ancient Egyptian garb. This image seemed to shift and change, mercurial before Thea's eyes. 

For a long while Thea resisted Ahmeds help, but he always spoke soothingly to her. He spoke in the ancient language, reciting beautiful poems and chants of healing. All at once she realized she was looking at Aqen, the perfect visage of the statue she had seen in town with Ankh. When she realized this, she saw flashes of Ahmed, in his suit, standing at the bow of a papyrus boat. This melted into an image of him, as Aqen, standing before her. He opened his mouth, just like in her nightmare, and swallowed her whole. 

Darkness. Darkness, and Ahmed's voice in prayer:

Sister, my sister, hear my plea. I beg of you, patron of healing, averter of plague and disease, all knowing, and all kind. Please bestow your hospitality.

I am the flame that shineth in the sanctuary. I am Sekhmet. O Sekhmet, Eye of Ra, Great of Flame, Lady of protection who surrounds her creator! Come toward the King of Upper and Lower Egypt, the Master of the Double Land, the Son of Ra, the Lord of crowns, the Living Image!