Pharaoh’s Curse

Pharaoh's Curse part 8

The Rise of the Pharaoh part 2

By

Soul71

There's no sex in this story.

Thanks to WAA01 and Killerarmyguy for the edits

******

Chapter five

It had been a month since Alex (Alexandra, her given name) and her team had arrived to expand their survey of the ancient sight. A month since her son disappeared to where Alex couldn't even begin to imagine. Her sky-blue eyes glanced slyly over to Anta, who had mysteriously reappeared one morning about a week and a half ago, wearing a white linen dress with not much underneath, a golden head dress, and a particular necklace. Alex and Carla rushed to embrace her when Anta was standing in their tent that morning, bombarding her with questions about where she had been all that time. Anta would only give them vague answers if she answered at all, and when they pestered her about Andrew, all Anta would do was look over at Bast, who had reappeared at the same time as Anta, and say he was fine. It irked her to no end; that was all Anta would give them. It seemed that even Anta didn't fully know where Andrew had gone, just that he was safe. Still, Alex wished Anta didn't seem so happy as she hummed a tune Alex couldn't place as they went over the eastern wing walls to ensure they had transcribed the hieroglyphics correctly. She had even been pestering Bast

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about her son's whereabouts, and every time she did, all Bast would do was bop her on her nose with her paw telling her to wait. It was infuriating to her and Carla that neither one of them would tell them where Andrew was.

Then there was Dr. Rose, who had increased his arrogance every day that Andrew remained gone. Strutting around like a rooster thinking he had taken over the barnyard. How she just wanted to walk over and punch his lights out, yet she couldn't do that since she was a professional and Professors don't knock their colleague's blocks off. Even Bill and Haas, who once had been on his side, grew tired of the know-it-all in the camp. It seemed to her that even his students only put up with the man for the prospect of having hands-on fieldwork on their resumes when they entered the workforce. Alex knew that would put them in front of everyone else when whoever would be looking to hire them. The Medjay were still around, waiting patiently for Andrew's return; honestly, Alex just wanted them out of her dig site. She couldn't deny they weren't pleasant people; just how they set her son on edge before he went off to who knows where didn't sit well with her.

Her pencil fell from her grip as she studied one of the graph paper panels and what was on the wall. Looking over at the bag of tools Anta had been carrying around with her since she's been back, only to see Bast sticking her head out of the bag and yawning at her as she plucked her pencil that had landed eraser side up in the sand. Her eyes glanced up at Anta, who blushed before Bast jumped out of the bag. Looking oddly at her when Anta started to collect her tools to follow after Bast.

"But why... yes, Bast," Anta muttered, setting her bag back down.

"What's that about?" Alex asked, her dark red hair bouncing against her chest as she peered at Anta.

"I don't know; she didn't tell me," Anta grumbled.

"So... you're saying Bast has been talking to you?" Alex inquired, trying to understand what Anta's and Bast's relationship was like now. "I mean, like, really talk to you like she does with Andy?" To this, Anta simply nodded. "How?"

"I'm her priestess," Anta said proudly, knowing now that she was, she would be closer to Andrew when he returned from wherever the Gods took him.

"You're her... what?!" Alex muttered, surprised by the news. She knew Bast and Anta were close before, but that was due to Anta's love of cats, and she had noticed how Bast would follow Anta or vice versa. She did not once think Anta would become a priestess of all things.

"I'm her priestess," Anta repeated, "it lets me be closer to Andy," she said dreamily.

"Who is where, by the way?" Alex asked for the thousandth time.

"No clue," Anta said, shrugging her shoulders.

"What's going on out there?!" Alex said as a commotion could be heard from the other side of the site. Dropping her pad and pencil into the sand, as did Anta when they heard Carla's angry shout. Their hair whipped behind them as they raced out of the east wing of the complex only to find Haas and Bill holding a snarling Carla back while Dr. Rose's own students kept him from getting near Carla.

"If you ever fucking touch me again, I will rip your fucking dick off!" Carla shouted as her foot kicked sand into the air as she thrashed in Bill's and Haas' arms.

"Oh, come off of it, you're giving it out to that snake oil salesman; why not upgrade to a man who's going places, eh?" Dr. Rose uttered in a cocky tone.

"Not when I get through with you; you won't be," Alex said; her hard tone caused everything to instantly stop. "You'll be lucky if you're not run out of Egypt by the time I'm done with you. Assaulting a student is grounds for termination, and it appears there are enough witnesses here to back up Carla's story," she spoke, placing her hands on her hips and getting nods out of Bill and Haas. Pulling off her walkie-talkie from her belt, and brought it up to her lips. "Halima, could you bring two strong men down to the temple? We have someone that needs removing from the site."

"You can't..."

"You seem to forget your place here, Professor Rose; I'm in charge of this site, not you," Alex said, narrowing her eyes at the man. Ever since Andrew's been gone, the man has gotten cockier each and every day. She just didn't think he would stoop so low to assault Carla or anyone else for that matter. "The safety and wellbeing of every person on this site is my business, and when I inform the council of your conduct, I don't think you'll be teaching here or anywhere for the foreseeable future."

"

We're on our way

," Halima's voice came over the speaker. Alex's eyes widened as Dr. Rose charged at her, only to watch Anta move in front of her. She was so shocked by what Anta had done so quickly it left her mind rather befuddled as she stared blankly at Anta as Dr. Rose laid on the ground moaning in pain at the beat down Anta had swiftly given the man.

"You do not put your lowly hands on the Queens of Egypt," Anta spat down at the man, arching an eyebrow as she watched a red

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substance ooze out of the man's mouth, forming into a snake once it was fully freed from it. Instantly the Blade of Bast formed in her right hand, materializing from the bracelet she had worn on her right wrist since she had returned from her training under Bast's care. "Apophis

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," she sneered the name as the aspect of the Great Snake writhed in pain as her blade pierced the construct's body.

"Anta?!" Alex's voice carried hints of worry and fright within it as she stared down at her student as black inky ooze dripped off the tip of her blade as Anta rose to her feet. Blinking quickly and stupefied, she watched how that blade returned to being a simple bracelet.

"What? I did tell you I was her priestess," Anta said, feeling rather embarrassed as she felt everyone's eyes on her.

"But you just..." Alex's voice trailed off, unable to finish her sentence.

"Bast trained me," Anta said, giving Alex a vague response. Kicking Dr. Rose in the gut when he started to stir only to curl into a ball. "Carla?!" she called out as she raced over to her friend's side. "Are you okay?" Anta asked, taking Carla by the shoulders, noting how Bill and Haas were edging away from her.

"Me?! What about you!" Carla exclaimed, forgetting all about her woes and focusing on her friend.

"Perfectly fine," Anta said, smiling warmly at her friend.

"But how did..."

"I'm the high priestess of Bast; I can do lots of things now," Anta said with a sneaky smile.

"You have to tell me everything!" Carla said, pulling Anta towards the western wing.

"Dr. Sanders, you said you needed someone removed from the site?" Halima spoke as she walked up to Alex from behind her with two of her more muscled-bound peers in tow.

"Yes, thank you for coming so quickly. See that Dr. Rose is taken to his tent and watch him as he packs his things, then take him back to Cairo, where he'll face the consequences of assaulting a student," Alex instructed, taking on the pose of a Queen. "I'll call ahead and inform them of your arrival."

"Of course," Halima nodded, gesturing for the two men behind her to pick Dr. Rose off the ground.

"You can't do this to me! I'm a tenured Professor!" Rose screamed out as he was roughly hauled out of the complex.

"Not for long," Alex muttered, returning to the others who were just watching on. "The rest of you get back to what you were doing," she ordered, rubbing her forehead, knowing she's never had this much trouble on any other dig site before.

Once again, Alex was back in the eastern wing finishing up her work that had been interrupted after seeing Dr. Rose and his belongings removed from the site. Also, calling Cairo and reporting Dr. Rose's behavior to the council. Hoping that they took the man's actions seriously and did not simply brush it under the rug. There was no telling what the man would do next time if there wasn't anyone to stop him. Biting her lip, wondering if the thing that crawled out of his mouth was the cause of it... shaking her head at the notion the man was still responsible for his actions. Actions that were not one of a Professor in her view.

"What are you humming anyway?" Alex asked, peering over at Anta, who was back at her original spot beside her.

"Oh, just a little hymn I learned when I was in Bubastis

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," Anta stated offhandedly as she peered up at the top of the wall and back down to her pad.

"But... wait, isn't Bubastis a ruin now?!"

"Now it is, yes," Anta said with a sneaky smile.

"You're not inferring that you went back to a time when Bubastis was a bustling town, are you?" Alex asked in mystified wonder.

"I have no idea what you mean," Anta said; the light of her mirth played out in her brown eyes as she peered over at Alex. "You're not saying that time travel is real, are you, Professor? What would your peers say if they heard that?"

"Don't you sass me!" Alex said, shaking her finger at Anta with a smile on her lips. "So... I take it you can't talk about what you were doing there, can you?" To this, Anta simply nodded. "But you can talk about what Bubastis was like; surely you can, right?" Alex watched as Anta tilted her head back and closed her eyes, wondering what was going through Anta's head at that moment. Glancing down when Anta's pad dropped from her hands, and her head turned towards her with a big smile on her face.

"I've been dying to tell someone about it!" Anta squealed, causing Carla to rush into the wing when heading to refill her water jug.

"You best not leave me out!" Carla said, joining them.

"Then don't let us stop you; tell us all about it," Alex said, handing Carla her water bottle when she noted how hers was empty. Looking down, Anta took hold of her and Carla's arms and led them to the far corner of the room.

"Come on, girl, spill," Carla said excitedly as they sat down in the sand.

Alex and Carla listened intently, nodding along as the hour grew long as Anta detailed every little thing she could speak about her time away. She answered their questions the best she could without breaking her vow to Bast. When they noticed how tight-lipped Anta was about life in the temple, they focused their questions on the town itself and how life was in what appeared to be a time before the unification of Egypt to Alex's thinking. Their jaws dropped when Anta told them she had pretty much lived in Bubastis for six months before Bast was sure she had the skills she needed before bringing her back.

"Oh, no, when the men knew I was from the temple, they did not bother me," Anta answered when Carla asked if she had been harassed by the men of that era. "They knew better than to mess with a priestess of Bast," she said proudly.

"So, how was the food from that time?" Carla asked in a scientific voice.

"Don't get me started on the food!" Anta groaned, tossing her head back. "Sure, we might have had better food than what the towns people did, but not by much. Why do you think I pigged out the moment I was back? The food was so bland most of the time I would have killed for some pepper! And don't get me started on their lack of hygiene. It was worse than what we smelled in Punt," she said, shivering.

"But didn't the priests have to be ritually cleansed daily?" Alex asked, remembering what she had read about the priests of Karnak's bathing practices.

"Yeah, but it was just water, no soap within sight," Anta answered, giving Alex a look. "They used dried flower petals to mask the scent of their BO, and that hardly worked most of the time."

"But you didn't smell like a month-old sock when you returned," Carla stated.

"Yeah, because I begged Bast to give me a bar of soap and a razor so I wouldn't look or smell like a wild woman when I saw Andy again," Anta replied, feeling her body heat as his image appeared in her head.

"And you don't know where Andrew is?" Alex asked for the millionth time.

"Nope," Anta shook her head, "Bast wouldn't tell me, and trust me, I asked a lot," she said seriously. "I'm just as worried about him as you are, Alex," Anta said, reaching over and resting her hand over Alex's.

"Help me to understand, Anta; why did you do it?" Carla asked, arching an eyebrow when she watched her friend's face rapidly ripen to a nice red hue.

"To be closer to Andy," Anta said in a soft voice as she peered down at her lap. "I thought if I was apart of this," waving to their surroundings, "then I might be able to understand what Andrew is going through and maybe help him if I can," she said, fidgeting with her cargo shorts.

"Did it?" Alex asked, keeping her smile to herself when Anta looked rather cute when she got bashful when she thought about her son.

"A little, I mean, I've only scratched the surface, and I don't think I've seen half the things Andrew probably has or will in his life time. Yet I do understand some of what he's going through, I think," Anta nodded.

"Good, then you can fill us in when Andrew starts doing some crazy stuff again," Carla said, casting her friend a warm smile.

"Count on it," Anta said with a warm smile. However, their three heads jolted up when the sounds of trumpet horns blared down on the land from the sky. "Andy." His name left Anta's lips in a soft whisper.

Alex was on her feet and racing out of the wing before Carla or Anta moved an inch. Her hair whipped wildly behind her as another blast of the horns vibrated the air as it announced his approach. Hearing Carla's and Anta's shouts to wait for them as they raced to catch up to Alex as she climbed the embankment. Alex was panting hard as she came to a stop, feeling Carla's and Anta's hands on her back as they looked frantically around for her son. They weren't the only ones that were gathered out on the sand in front of their little camp. All the others, too, rushed out to find what was causing that sound, yet they saw nothing. Again, the horns blared, causing Alex to cover her ears due to how loud it was. Looking down at the ground oddly when it appeared something was pulling the granules of sand towards a certain spot. Planting her feet in the sand as the wind threatened to pull her along with the sand. Throwing up her arm as a sand tornado suddenly sprung to life forty yards out from them.

"Really?! You know how sand just gets into everything! Couldn't you just like bring me back normally!" Alex's eyes flew wide at the sound of her son's voice. Her legs moved independently before her mind caught up as she raced towards her son.

"Andy!" Alex screamed out as she saw a shadowy image within the depths of that pillar of sand. Throwing up her arms to embrace her son after missing him for so long only to stop dead in her tracks at the image of her son grew more clearer. There her son stood, his tan, bronzed skin gleaming in the sunlight. Her eyes moved up and down his body, rapidly noting the definition his muscles now had when he never did. His beard undulated in the breeze as he peered down at Bast, who was walking beside him. However, none of that was what stopped her mind cold; no, it was the crown, the crown she knew oh so well, given her years in the field. The Crown of Egypt. Yet she'd never heard of it looking like a gem as it refracted the light as the rays struck it. Her heart raced; her mound grew hot as her son's blue-green eyes centered on her as he looked up. "Andy," she whispered as her eyes quivered in joy.

"Hiya," Andrew greeted, feeling rather exposed in only wearing an Egyptian kilt.

"Andy!" Alex cried out as tears reamed her eyes as she resumed her race towards her son. "I was so worried about you?!" she muttered, holding her son tight as her hand softly brushed the back of his head. "Don't you ever do that to me again!" Alex threatened, squeezing him tighter to her body, just to make sure her son was real and this wasn't all a dream. Wiping her eyes as she backed away as Carla and Anta came screaming in. Hearing his huff as Carla leapt into his arms, kissing him madly to sear the month-long wait she had to endure onto his lips.

"Andrew," Anta cooed, wrapping her hand around the back of his neck, pulling him down to her lips, and planting a toe-curling kiss upon them. Her eyes lustered as she noted the blankness of his own as he savored her taste on his lips. "Hey, baby." Grinning like mad when Andrew cleared his throat.

"Hello, Anta, I see..." Pulling up her necklace, giving Anta a look when he knew who's symbol it belonged to, "you're safe from your trip; did you enjoy it?" Andrew asked, tucking it back into her shirt.

"The knowledge, yes, the food, smells... not so much," Anta said, bending down and picking Bast up. "I'm glad your back," she uttered sweetly as she lightly bumped her shoulder into his.

"Me too," Andrew agreed.

"Andy, where did you go?" Carla asked, snuggling up to his left side. She never wanted to be apart from him for that long ever again.

"Duat, had to go get my crown," pointing up to it, "a King without a crown isn't much of a King, now is he?" Andrew asked with a lopsided smirk.

"Will you tell us about it?" Alex asked, stepping up to her son, her hand lingering on his chest, feeling his muscles beneath her touch.

"Sure, but first I need a bath, food," his stomach seconded the motion, "and something less airy," Andrew said, looking down at his kilt.

"Why? It gives us better access to your manhood," Anta purred in a wanton whisper.

"True, it does, but you don't want to know where or what I've walked through, so a sponge bath is in order," Andrew replied, peering around his mother as he heard sounds of knees hitting the sand, causing his mother to move out of the way.

"Pharaoh, it's good to see you're safe from your travels," Halima said, speaking for her group as they knelt on the sand with their heads bowed. "It does us well to see the true crown of Egypt return to the land," she spoke in reverence, getting 'Mmmhmms' out of the others that knelt in a single row to the right and left of her. "If you allow it, my lord, we will escort you back to the camp."

"Then rise," Andrew commanded. Noting how his mother was staring at him, namely his eyes. Since his time in the Duat and having to use his divinity greatly while traversing the realm, Andrew had yet to slip back into his former self. It seemed his time in the land of the Gods had harmonized his two halves, his mortal and divine.

"If you follow us, lord Pharaoh, we will see you safely back to camp," Halima said, taking up point position as the others flanked his side, protecting him and the women that were with him.