Fractured

Chapter 14

It took a few minutes for the river to start churning ominously. Khufu barked from the gangplank.

 A giant figure erupted from the river. Gemini could see him only from the waist up, but he towered several meters over the boat. His body was humanoid—bare-chested and hairy with purplish skin. A rope belt was tied around his waist, festooned with leather pouches, severed demon heads, and other charming bits and bobs. His head was a strange combination of lion and human, with gold eyes and a black mane done in dreadlocks. His blood-splattered mouth was feline, with bristly whiskers and razor-sharp fangs. He roared, scaring Khufu right off the gangplank. The poor baboon did a flying leap into Carter's arms, which knocked them both to the deck.

"Oh." Gemini wasn't able to say anything smart. They weren't exactly horrified, if anything they were just startled.

"I assume this is a relative of yours?" Sadie asked Bast weakly.

Bast shook her head. "I cannot help you with this, Sadie. This is your challenge."

Gemini watched in silence, deciding to sit the challenge out. After all, Captain Bloodstained Blade had wished Sadie luck, not them.

"Good luck!" They gave her a thumbs up.

Sadie scowled. 

"I am Shezmu," the giant figure bellowed. "I smell the blood of the pharaohs, and something a little special..." Shezmu turned his golden gaze to Sadie and Carter, his eyes then turning to Gemini and lingering on them. 

"I'm merely a mortal," Gemini said as genuinely as they could manage. 

Shezmu narrowed his eyes. "A special treat... Unless you dare to name me?" 

"N-name you?" Carter spluttered. "Do you mean your secret name?" 

Shezmu laughed in glee. Carter's confusion apparently brought him satisfaction. It was possible that they were all going to be eaten by a demon.

"Check the Book of the Dead, Carter!" Gemini whispered urgently. "Sadie, keep him busy." 

The Kane siblings nodded, eager to follow any plan.

"Do you give up?" Shezmu grinned, his very sharp teeth somehow stained with blood.

"No!" Sadie yelled out. She took a deep breath, as if steeling herself. Gemini couldn't blame her. They did believe she could talk the demon into destroying itself, but Shezmu was a sight to behold. "We will name you! It's just, well, you're really quite muscled, aren't you? Do you work out?"

Gemini glanced at Bast, pleased to see she was nodding approval.

When they turned to gauge Shezmu's reaction, they found him flexing and posturing. Gemini wasn't surprised.

"I am Shezmu!" he bellowed again.

"Yes, you might've mentioned that already," Sadie said. "I'm wondering, um, what sort of titles you've earned over the years, eh? Lord of this and that?"

"I am Osiris's royal executioner!" he yelled, smashing a fist into the water and rocking our boat. "I am the Lord of Blood and Wine!"

Gemini grimaced. What an interesting combination of liquids. "Um, how are wine and blood connected?" They couldn't help the question

"Garrr!" He leaned forward and bared his fangs, which were not any prettier up close. His mane was matted with nasty bits of dead fish and river moss. "Lord Osiris lets me behead the wicked! I crush them in my wine press, and make wine for the dead!"

Sadie looked a little green, but her eyes were calculating. "And what are your other duties?"

"I am Lord of..." He flexed his muscles for maximum effect. "Perfume!"

"And, um...perfume is part of your job because...wait, I've got it, you squeeze it out of plants, like you squeeze wine..."

"Or blood!" Shezmu added.

"Well, naturally," Sadie said. "The blood goes without saying."

"Blood!" he said.

"So you serve Osiris?" Gemini asked the demon.

"Yes! At least..." He hesitated, snarling in doubt. "I did. Osiris's throne is empty. But he will return. He will!"

"Of course," Sadie said. "And so your friends call you what...Shezzy? Bloodsiekins?" Her face held no emotion, but the way she held herself suggested that she had potentially found a way to get out of danger.

"I have no friends! But if I did, they would call me Slaughterer of Souls, Fierce of Face! But I don't have any friends, so my name is not in danger!"

Gemini was shocked into silence. If everything added up, then Shezmu had just offered up his secret name for free. They looked at Sadie, waiting to see what she would do next.

Sadie smirked. "I name you!" She shouted. "Shezmu, Slaughterer of Souls, Fierce of Face!"

Shezmu snarled and writhed in pain. He began to sink back into the river.

Just then Carter stumbled back to them, the Book of the Dead in his arms. "I can't read this part, but it might be-"

"One more thing!" Sadie yelled, calling Shezmu back. "My brother would like a sample of your perfume." 

Everyone but Carter collectively stepped back as Shezmu blew yellow powder from a clay pot all over Carter. He finally then sank into the waves. Gemini sighed in relief.

Carter spluttered, trying to spit out perfume. 

"You smell lovely," Sadie said. She grinned at Gemini.

Carter grumbled something incoherent.

Gemini was feeling relatively fine, until suddenly they could see up ahead the river turned into literal flames. The river flowed in rapids towards what looked like a volcanic crater.

"The Lake of Fire. This is where it gets interesting." Bast said grimly.

"Delightful." Gemini loved the thought of drowning in a lake of fire. They looked at the banks of the river and saw giant statues of baboons facing what looked like a bronze disk half submerged in the fiery river. 

"What is that?" Sadie asked

"The Gates of the West," Bast responded. "Ra's sunboat would pass through and be renewed in the fires of the lake, then pass through to the other side and rise through the Gates of the East for a new day."

"Okay, that's all interesting and stuff, but how do we get through?" Gemini was more concerned with getting through to Anubis and acquiring the Feather of Truth.

"Perhaps you should ask me," a disembodied voice said.

Bast hissed, and Carter backed up quickly.

Standing in front of them all was a strange specter with the head of a human and the body of some kind of bird. Gemini knew somehow that they were staring at a ba, or an aspect of the human soul. It represented your personality and identity, and it was how many existed after death. 

Upon further inspection, Gemini realized they recognized the ba's face.

"Iskandar?" Sadie called out weakly.

The ba smiled. "Hello, my dear."