The House of Life

Chapter 13

For as long as I could remember, I had always been dragged into other people's messes. But did anyone once ask what I wanted? Maybe all that I wanted was to bring justice to those who deserve it the most. After learning of the men responsible for my mother's death, I knew this was a path that I would never be able to return from. Well, maybe this was what I wanted all along. If that be the case, I will get justice, if not for my friends, then at least for my mother. She was too innocent, too kind to have this happen to her. I may have escaped the Great God Thoth, but there are far worse things to fear than the wrath of a God. I gasped for air as I returned to the mortal realm. I coughed up water as it filled my lungs and my body was shaking from the cold. Ardeth grabbed a hold of me as he repeated, "Breathe, Anna. Breathe. You're back."

My breathing slowed down, as my vision came to, seeing the ritual room before me with Ardeth and Qasim staring at me. I looked down to see my hands covered in blood as I remembered myself cutting my wrists in order to see the Great God Thoth. My body shivered from the loss of blood, when I heard a murmur of voices outside. I looked towards that direction when Ardeth said, "Anna, we have to be quiet, those scavengers from earlier are drawing near." I winced at the pain in my wrists, realizing that I can't use my hands to defend myself. "You lost a lot of blood," He tore a piece of his clothing to make a pressure wrap for my wounds. "Here." He pressed down as I winced in pain. "Anna, you have to follow everything that I say if we're going to make it out alive okay." I nodded in agreement. I asked in a low voice, "How long was I out?"

Ardeth kept wrapping my wrist while answering my question, "Just a few minutes." he replied. How is that possible? It felt like I was in that realm for what seemed an eternity. I started thinking aloud as I said, "It felt like I was in there for hours." As Ardeth finished wrapping my wrists, he continued to whisper, "We'll talk about this later, right now, I need you to pull through for just a bit longer."

I nodded, barely interpreting what he was asking of me. He grabs my arm to lean against his body as we both make our way to the entrance. Until we heard the scavengers just at the entrance. We paused as we realized we were probably surrounded. Ardeth led us to another room as he was looking for a place for us to hide, in hopes that the scavengers would leave. He saw a narrow corridor behind a pile of broken pots as he wedged Qasim and I into the small opening. Once we were in, Ardeth then wedged himself in as well, but his rather large body proved to be a challenge as he barely fit the opening. I looked to Ardeth as I was reminded of his prior injury from the first encounter with the scavengers. I realized at that moment that neither Ardeth and I were in any condition to defend ourselves. I tried to stay awake, but my eyes were starting to get heavy. Ardeth must have taken notice as he asked, "Anna, wake up. Don't fall asleep. " Ardeth asked quietly. When the loud crash of a pot dropped to the ground. Ardeth looked over to see that there was a scavenger in our room. Ardeth pushed his index finger to his lips to signal to keep quiet. I nodded as he pulled my dagger from his belt. He kneeled down to grab a small rock that was adjacent to us as he threw it to the end of the other room. When the rock met with the wall, the scavenger paused as he obviously heard the noise. He wandered into the other end of the room as he tried to find what caused the noise. Ardeth peeking around the corner to see where the scavenger was, he took the opportunity of the man with his back turned against us. Ardeth was light on his feet and with a swift stab to the neck, he used his injured arm to cover the man's mouth. The man was drowning in his own blood, struggling to get Ardeth off of him. I turned away as I couldn't bear to see how this man was going to die. Once the sound of struggling stopped, Ardeth whispered to us, "okay, come out."

Qasim and I emerged from our hiding place as I saw Ardeth covered in the man's blood. Ardeth then grabbed my arm and guided us through the tomb. I was starting to become weak and my legs were giving out. "Ardeth..."