Passage to Queen Mesentia Page 6

  “Everything,” Ben said, his jaw tight and his eyes mere slits as he glared at Wade. “It had not been a casual affair. I loved Mesentia from the instant I saw her. A love so powerful it has lasted centuries. I understood our deep connection, even then. I found every excuse and opportunity to visit Egypt. Since Unas’ sickness grew everyday, we stole moments alone together as often as possible. Alone in my chambers, we were as any lovers, unaffected by the outside world, happy and mad in love.

  “However, it had become so easy to be together that we had become careless. One day slipped into night without us realizing, and we fell asleep in each other’s arms. I woke to shouting and someone pounding at my door. I heard weapons clanking, grunts, and the dying sounds of my men… defending my honor.

  “‘Get up, Tia.’ My panic woke her from her happy slumber. I scanned the room in vain for a place for her to hide or to escape. She grabbed her clothes and had them against her when the door burst open. Bloody, Ganel tumbled in and fell dead on the floor. I knew he must have been the last to die, because of how quiet it had become. I leapt across the room, going for my dagger, as Unas’ men entered, followed by Unas.

  “Unas stood at the doorway as he said, ‘Kill her,’ and walked out. By that time, I had my weapon in my hands, and I had begun to fight. Down went one man, and then another, but then I heard Mesentia scream my name before she screamed out in pain. I fought my way toward her, but there were too many men. As I fell to the ground, the weight of the men crushing me, I could only watch as they carried her lifeless body out. ‘Tia!’ I cried, and held my hand out to her, hoping she would call out to me again. She said nothing. They had murdered her. I felt the immense pain only for a second as my head was yanked up by my hair and then bashed onto the stone floor.

  “When I opened my eyes, I recognized the painted ceiling, the colors still vivid in the dim light. I lay in Unas’ tomb. The scent of blood, sweat, and death, more foul than I had ever known, immediately invaded my mouth and nose. I caught a glimpse of a shadow to my right and then the creature came into full view: a human-sized jackal with tall ears, Egyptian eyes, and a black face. It startled me, until I saw a man’s eyes peering through two holes below the animal’s chin. When I tried to sit up, I found myself tied down to a table. I struggled with the ropes, but only for a second, because as soon as the masked man took a step back, I saw Mesentia lying on a table next to mine.

  Another one of these costumed beasts had his hands inside of her opened chest. I knew a good deal about Egyptian funeral rituals; we had adopted some over the years, and I knew they were preparing her for the afterlife—removing the heart that I had just felt beat against my chest. I turned my head and vomited, and then cried, ‘Unas! Kill me!’ The man in the mask walked back over to me and blew something from his open palm. I inhaled, sneezed, and gagged. The jackal chanted words that made no sense and held the golden pyramid in his other hand. Wind began to swirl the dust in the room. I felt fire, first on my feet, the pain surging up my legs to my stomach. I felt a swift but tremendous force, as if someone had reached through my skin and pulled out every organ at once. I then watched him drop the small statue in the same canopic jar as Mesentia’s heart had been placed. I cried out in pain and in triumph because I thought they were torturing me to death—and then I succumbed to complete exhaustion, content and ready to see Mesentia again.

  “When I woke the second time, I lay on the floor in the belly of a ship, the undeniable movement of the sea queazing my stomach. As I opened my eyes to darkness, I realized my hands and feet were bound. ‘Tia,’ was the only thing on my mind and the only words out of my mouth. Unas was there and reminded me that she was dead. I asked why he had spared my life but murdered his queen.

  “I will never forget his words. ‘You are a serpent. You poisoned the Queen’s mind. You murdered Mesentia! You left me no choice. What kind of leader would I be if I had allowed such treason? Now she must suffer for her betrayal. Never will anyone speak her name in this life or another. Her grave goes unmarked. No one will ever know she existed, as I will try to forget. As for you, I only spared the next world a false king. I cursed you, from this night forward as Binpanek, the evil serpent, to roam this world in darkness… forever. You will never be able to pass over to the same place as my queen. You will never see her again, and you’ll never escape the curse of the Pyramidion Statuette. ’

  “He went on to tell me how he planned to tell my people about the great battle we fought for Egypt, and how Ganel’s body would be prepared for the afterlife and then presented as me. They would accept the gesture knowing how important it is to preserve the body quickly. He assured me that ‘I’ would be paraded down the streets of Gubla for all to see how I had passed on and become a rightful deity. He said, ‘You see, I put the peace and the welfare of all the people ahead of my own selfish desires… like a true king should.’

  “I was shipped to Atlantis Island and sold as a slave. It wasn’t until the great volcano erupted and I found myself adrift in the sea for weeks without water or food that I realized I didn’t need any. I also realized that since the entire population had become extinct, except for me, that Unas’ curse had been true. I had been so wrapped in grief, guilt, and despair that I had not even noticed a millennium had passed while on the island.

  Chapter 9

  The memories of what had happened in the park faded a little more with each passing minute. Now that they sat in a normal setting—no darkness, no guns being pointed at them, and their lives no longer in danger—thinking Ben an actual vampire seemed absurd. Wade had no doubt that Ben believed it; he had the fake accent, the long dark coat, he only went places at night, and he went around biting people… Wade couldn’t believe he’d bought into what this lunatic had said. Worse, since the beginning of the crazy conversation, Wade had watched Lilly’s reactions. Obviously, she thought Ben was the best thing since King Tut.

  Ben appeared larger than normal in the tiny booth. He leaned forward, his bent arms the length of the table, holding eye contact with Lilly. “I realize what this must sound like,” Ben said.

  “He’s delusional,” Wade said. “He’s probably some mental patient who—” he stopped because Ben had his knife. He hadn’t seen him take it. “Hey, watch it there!” Wade instinctively put his arm in front of Lilly.

  Ben paid no mind, but proceeded to open the knife and then slice his own wrist. Both Wade and Lilly gasped and sat back in the seat. Wade waited for the blood to pour out of the large open wound but none came, and it completely healed in less than five seconds.

  “Whoa,” Wade said. “Let’s go… now!” He grabbed Lilly’s arm and started moving out of the booth, but she sat firm.

  Ben said, “I apologize for having to use such crude measures to demonstrate my truth. It is important to me that you believe what I have said. I assure you, Lillian, you are not in any danger from me.” He closed the knife and slid it across the table to Wade.

  Wade hesitated for a second but then grabbed the knife and put it in his pants pocket before Ben got any more bright ideas. “Why should we think that, you blood-sucker?”

  “I am not a vampire. I do not need blood to survive.”

  “So that guy in woods?” Wade asked. “Just for fun?”

  “I am cursed. I do not feed on human blood. I do grow sharp teeth like a serpent, and I can deliver a deadly poison straight to the blood stream. I did not drink that man’s blood. I only poisoned it. I need nothing to exist. I am not so simple that I can stop feeding and die. If so, I would have ended this torture centuries ago. My curse is immortality, and therefore I can not die.”

  “Well what about the sunlight and going everywhere at night?” Wade asked. “If you want to die so bad, how come you don’t just step out into the sun and get it over with.”

  “I am extremely nocturnal. During the day, I lose all energy and then consciousness. However, I won’t burst into flames.”

  “What if I chopped you up into little pieces? Would that d
o it?”

  “Wade!” Lilly looked at him with her mouth wide open.

  “I’m sorry! He’s really freaking me out! I’ll tell you what, Ben, give me your address, and I’ll write down what was on that letter and mail it to you.” Wade grabbed Lilly by the arm. “Come on, I’ve heard and seen enough for a lifetime… a normal person’s lifetime.”

  Lilly pulled her arm out of Wade’s grip. “I want to know the rest,” she whispered to Wade. “If you want to go on, I’ll understand.

  Wade shook his head at her casualness. Why didn’t she feel the danger, too?

  “What happened next?” Lilly asked Ben. “Did you go back to Egypt?”

  “I did. By that time, the Hikau Khausut had invaded and war spread from Memphis to the sea. For years, I did my best to search for Mesentia’s tomb. However, in my younger years, I proved careless and rumors had begun to spread about me. I refused to be chained again. Reluctantly, I had to leave without finding her, but vowed I would return.”

  Wade said, “All right, fine. Tell me what all this grandeur has to do with us? Why should we give a shit if you get this thing back or not? Lilly’s parents already found that queen you had an affair with.”

  “The fate of the world depends on it.”

  “The fate of the world…” Wade mocked. “Really? Are you serious? I’m willing to bet that this thing is worth a pretty penny and you conned her parents into believing this ridiculous story.”

  “You’re right,” Lilly said. “My parents did believe him. I want to know why. Wade, can we please let him finish?”

  Wade said, “For the record, this is against my better judgment. All right, Mr. Sneaky Snake, what happened next? You and Cleopatra get it on, too?” Wade caught anger in Ben’s eyes as he slowly turned from Lilly and glanced his way. He also could have sworn he glimpsed the corner of one of his canines. Right… harmless.

  “I lived in West Germany in the 1950’s,” Ben said, his expression mellowing as he talked only to Lilly. “I met a man named Roland Schelsteder. We worked together for many years, and over the hours we began to talk. I trusted him and thought of him as my friend. I would go to his house for dinners with his family; he had two sons.

  “One day I shared my story with him. He sympathized with me and kept my secret. So I thought. He was killed some months later. His wife blamed me and called me a monster.”

  “At least she got it right,” Wade said.

  “I had to flee,” Ben said. “She had threatened to turn me in as a spy. I left Germany and came here to the States. All remained quiet until years later; one of Roland’s sons arrived at my doorstep. Roland had told his wife about me, and then she had told their sons. He wanted answers. I felt a little hesitant, but for his father’s memory, I told him completely about myself and about what happened to his father. He believed me. ”

  “We kept in touch; I knew he had made his fortune there in New York with some good investments, until one day—nothing. Years later, he came to call again. He told me he had a proposition and thought perhaps we could retrieve the statuette. I immediately noticed something different. Something in his eyes had changed. When you’ve existed as long as I have, you learn to read people. I knew what he wanted, he wanted to become an immortal like me. When I called him on it, acting interested, I learned his intentions were worse than I had thought. Not only did he want to become like me, he wanted to make others. He wanted to produce an army of immortals.”

  “That Pyramidion Statuette can do that?” Lilly asked.

  “It is the source of my immortality,” Ben said.

  Wade hated that he began to consider all of what Ben had said as possible. He found himself wondering if he actually held the information in his head that could ultimately save the world from doom. He smacked his lips and exhaled before saying, “So… So how did the Stewards end up with it and not Schelsteder?”

  Both Lilly and Ben snapped their attention toward Wade. He didn’t want to acknowledge the satisfaction in Ben’s eyes nor the gleam on Lilly’s face, so he looked out into the dining room, like he hadn’t asked.

  “I told Schelsteder I wanted no part in his plans. My curse is personal, not a weapon. In the year 2000 I read of Schelsteder’s investments in Egypt. I knew then he searched for Mesentia. I followed him there and learned he had found someone to dig for him in Saqqara, your parents’ university. I met with your parents and told them my story, as I have told you. They assured me that they would return the statuette to me.

  “I was so pleased when they found Mesentia, nevertheless, apprehensive at the same time. When your parents found the Pyramidion Statuette in the canopic jar, exactly like I had told them it would be, it erased any doubt they may have had about me.”

  Lilly said, “So they didn’t put the statuette with the rest of the find. They put it back for you?” Her eyes grew with excitement. “Schelsteder knew it was supposed to be there, so when it wasn’t…”

  “He will stop at nothing to build this army of invincible men. Time is of the utmost importance. I must find it, before he does.”

  Lilly turned to Wade. “Will you tell us now? Will you tell us what was in that letter? Did it say where it was?”

  “Yeah,” Wade growled. He knew Lilly wouldn’t say goodbye to Ben and let him be on his way to find the little pyramid statue all by his lonesome. She would go off alone with this freak with no one to protect her. “Yeah, it said.” He sighed. “Looks like we’re all going to Egypt.”

  Chapter 10

  Wednesday May 4, 2005

  Since Wade Roberts didn’t do idle very well, the journey had not proven pleasant so far. They had left France, a miserable five-hour layover at the airport after a torturous nine-hour flight, and had another five hours confinement in the airplane to look forward to.

  He smiled at his cleverness in keeping most of the contents of the letter to himself. It kept Ben in line, and it kept him in control. Too shook up to rely entirely on his photographic memory, as soon as he had stepped into his brother’s house that night, he’d scribbled down the contents of the note. Wade revealed to Lilly and Ben only that they had to go to Cairo, nothing else. He knew he had made the right move because they already had their passports… he didn’t. He figured if he had spilled the entire letter, they probably would’ve left him standing with his mouth open. Somehow—he didn’t ask how—two days later, Ben handed him a passport.

  And he had spent those two days debating if he really did believe that the fate of the world relied on them finding a little statue before the bad guys. However, he’d always come to the same conclusion; it didn’t matter because Lilly believed. So his goal was not the fate of the world, it was keeping Lilly safe.

  He didn’t like the idea of having to leave his knife behind, even though he would never be able to cut and eat an apple with it again. His new distraction had become gum, which he now pushed to the inside of his bottom lip like chewing tobacco, before closing his eyes. He was ready to sleep for the length of the flight but then felt Lilly’s hand on his. His eyes popped open, and he slowly looked down to their hands and then up to Lilly’s face.

  “I appreciate you doing this,” she said in a whisper.

  He nodded.

  “I know how you hate to fly, especially at night. I can’t believe you quit your job.”

  “Well, my job’s not like yours. I can’t get a substitute like you can. I didn’t have a choice.”

  “You did and that’s why I’m grateful. Hey, Wade. Umm…”

  “What’s on your mind?” He asked after a few seconds.

  He felt her hand lightly squeeze his wrist. “The letter.”

  “You have got to be shitting me.” He waved her hand off of his. “I can’t believe you, Lilly. You’re all cozying up to me to get information, for him.”

  In a hushed voice and bowed head she said, “It’s not for him; it’s for me. That note was from my parents, or have you forgotten?”

  Wade looked around Lilly to Ben; he was flipping
through a flight magazine. Wade sat back in his seat as he pointed to his head. “This information may be the only thing that is keeping us alive.”

  “I really need to know what it said. It’s driving me crazy. Besides, even if you don’t trust him, you can trust me.”

  “I do! I trust you to go straight to that creature and tell him everything.”

  Lilly huffed, crossed her arms, and looked straight ahead.

  “I have to think about this for awhile. All right? Give me till Cairo.”

  She kept her eyes forward, an ugly scowl on her beautiful face, and Wade knew saying anything else, except what she wanted to hear, wouldn’t do any good now that she had gone into her silent mode. He scooted down a bit in the seat, pulled his cowboy hat over his eyes, and took his nap.

  ***

  It had been six years since Lilly had traveled to Egypt, but she had visited so many times in her youth that it still felt familiar. However, she had never seen her parents’ fifth-floor apartment in Giza—her apartment now— except in the pictures her mom had sent to her over the years.

  A cozy yet modern kitchen greeted them as they opened the front door. The dining room sat to the right, and they had to walk through it to get to the main reception room. It had a white sofa, two maroon upholstered chairs, and an earthy mulberry scent. Lilly knew from the pictures that if she stepped out onto the balcony, she would be able to see the pyramids of Giza on the horizon.

  “How many bedrooms does this place have?” Wade asked as he dropped his bag on the floor.

  “My parents’ room and one guestroom.”

  “I’ll take the couch,” he said, plopping down on it.

  Lilly didn’t know if he was being generous because he was too tired to fight for the guestroom or if he wanted to keep an eye on all the activity in the house. Whatever the reason, she was happy he hadn’t made a fuss. She had her small duffle bag and her purse over her shoulder and searched behind doors until she located her parents’ room. “I’ll be out in a few minutes.” After being on the plane with so many people and dealing with Wade while in the presence of Ben, she needed some alone-time.