Pharaoh’s Curse Pt. 06

"Fear."

"What do you mean fear?" Anta asked, confused.

"I don't know; that's all I could sense..."

"Start from the beginning," Carla spoke, eager to help Andrew come to terms with what he saw.

"Do you know the place you were racing from?" Anta asked the three of them, tried to determine where in the ancient past he was talking about. Yet it wasn't a place she knew about, nor did it appear to her that her Professor knew either, given the curious look on Alex's face. Seeing Andrew shaking his head not voicing his answer.

"Baka^[34]." The name left Andrew's lips, a name she, Alex, and Carla knew very well given their fields of study.

"Andrew?!" Alex sat up straighter when her son whispered that name. "Why did you say, Baka?"

"I haven't a clue; the name is just rattling around in my head?!" Andrew hissed in annoyance as he ruffled his hair with his hands.

"Okay, but what do you know of Baka?" Alex asked, wondering if they could shed light on that mysterious Pharaoh.

"Not a whole lot; I just know how he died," Andrew muttered, his hand instinctively went to his stomach. Remembering how his body was just obliterated without much hassle from whatever it was that killed him in his past life. However, he was unwilling to voice the name of the land that was whispered softly in his mind. Clutching tightly to Anta's hand, knowing how much she wanted to find Punt. Yet if that thing was still there, there was no way in hell they were going anywhere near it.

"Andy, you're scaring me," Anta whispered when she felt how tight his grip had gotten.

"I am scared," Andrew whispered as he peered up at Anta.

"Tell us, tell us what has you frightened?" Carla asked, scooting closer to him. All three sat there listening intently to Andrew as he detailed what he saw in his dream, including what had killed him. Wondering if this was what Bast meant when she told him no Pharaoh had ever returned from Punt alive. Pondering if this was why she warned him not to go anywhere near it, knowing that thing was still protecting it. Peering over at Carla, who was typing hurriedly with her thumb as she held it in her right hand while her left wouldn't let go of his own. "Do any of these look familiar to you?" Carla inquired as she held her phone before her eyes when she did a quick Google search of near-east deities.

"That one?!" Andrew hastily said as he pointed at the image of Ba'al.

"Are you sure, honey?" Alex asked, knowing just who Ba'al was. She wondered what a Canaanite god would be doing in Egypt. She knew Canaanites were living in Egypt at the time, mostly in the delta region where many believe the Hyksos arose from or had help from the local Canaanite populace when they invaded.

"Yeah, I'm so not going to forget that face, Mom," Andrew uttered, blowing out a breath, trying to calm himself from what his mind had shown him. Feeling his mother's hot breath flowing through his hair as she placed a kiss on the side of his head.

"Shh, don't you worry about a thing, baby; whatever it was, it was just a dream, okay?" Alex spoke in a sweet, caring, motherly voice as she squeezed her son into her. "Why don't we try to head back to bed? Tomorrow is going to be a very long day, and we're going to need our rest."

"It's going to be okay, Andy; it was just a dream," Anta said in a loving voice as she gave comfort to her boyfriend.

"Don't you worry, Andy, we'll keep those bad dreams away," Carla uttered in a protective voice as she pressed her breasts into his left side as she snuggled up to him.

******

Andrew was standing at the foot of the left pyramid, his eyes just couldn't look away from the one across from him as his mother, Anta, and Carla surveyed the interior of the monument. Listening to their voices as they spoke in scientific terms as they took detailed notes.

"Morning, Andrew," Ira greeted as he shimmered into view. "I see Professor Sanders and the others are already hard at work." Ira's red burgundy eyes studied Andrew, turning his head to the right wondering why his gaze was so intently focused on that pyramid in particular when it appeared to him that Andrew didn't hear his greeting. Stepping back when he lightly touched Andrew's shoulder as Andrew jumped in startlement. "Sorry, I didn't mean..."

"No, that's my fault," Andrew cut in, ruffling his hair, wondering why he just couldn't take his eyes off of it.

"Can I ask, what has you so transfixed on that one pyramid?" Ira asked, sensing something was deeply troubling him. While he was omniscient in his realm, the tent he had created for Andrew and his cohorts was the only place he couldn't see into. He thought that would be a little too... creepy if he was spying on another couples' private moments.

"Wish I knew," Andrew replied, blowing out a breath.

"Professor?! Look! The cartouche of Pharaoh Userkaf^[35]?!" Anta said excitedly.

"Who?" Ira asked softly.

"The first Pharaoh of the fifth dynasty," Andrew answered without conscious thought.

"Can you show me how it's written?" Ira asked, knowing if he was going to be Alyda's student; he wanted to earn the title of teacher's pet. Which as you can imagine brought a smile to his lips at the lewd things that were dancing in his mind at what she would be having him do to her. Things Ira was more than willing to do to her.

"You have a pen or paper?" Andrew asked, peering over at Ira.

Ira kept his amusement from his face as Andrew waved the yellow legal pad through the air, just to insure himself that it was indeed real. Along with clicking the pen's top several times. Watching how Andrew's hand moved across the pad while his eyes couldn't tear themselves away from the monument before him. Tilting his head to the side when Andrew's hand kept moving as his eyes remained focused on the pyramid. It reminded Ira of what automatic writing looked like as Andrew flipped the page and continued on. Ira just watched on, mystified as Andrew was working on his twelfth page. That was until he heard Andrew's voice on the air.

"What the hell have I been doing?!" Andrew muttered low as he peered down at the hieratic^[36] writing. Flipping to the front of the pad, seeing pages filled with his handwriting in a dead language before he came to the first page. "Here, that's how you write his name," he stated, pointing to the hieroglyphics he had printed.

"I see," Ira muttered, unable to read a word of it. "And the rest of it?"

"I haven't a clue," Andrew lied when he stared down at the hieratic symbols for the word Punt^[37]. Pondering if that was the land he had seen in his dream and why now, of all times, he would be so transfixed on the myth.

"Andrew, you have to come see this?!" Alex said excitedly from the top step that led into the interior of the pyramid. Her breasts bounced wildly beneath her shirt as she quickly descended the stairs. She ignored how Ira's eyes were following how they bounced, however, given the look she had seen on her son's face. The leer Ira was giving her didn't matter to her when she noted the troubled look in her son's eyes. "Baby, what's wrong?" Alex asked in a worried tone when she reached his side, hearing Carla and Anta bounding down the stairs. Looking down when her son held out the pad to her. Her eyes glanced up to Andrew, noting the hieratic script her son had written.

"See if you can make sense of this," Andrew intoned when his own mind wouldn't give him the answers he sought.

"Professor? What are..." Anta's voice died away as her eyes read the script as she peered over Alex's right arm as Carla mirrored her on the other side of Alex.

"Punt?!" Anta gasped, her eyes cutting to Andrew.

"But I thought Punt was a myth?!" Carla mused, yet not taking her eyes off the paper as Alex turned the page.

"What's a Punt?" Ira asked, confused.

"Mythical land, written on many tomb walls detailing the trade the two countries had at the time," Alex muttered in a teacherly voice, never taking her eyes off her son's writing. Her eyes flickered up, seeing how uneasy her son was before she went back to reading his text. "Andrew, just how did you know all this?"

"I haven't a fucking clue, one minute I was writing out Userkaf's name for him," pointing to the right of him where Ira stood, "then the next thing I know, I'm looking at that?!" Andrew spoke in an agitated tone as he gestured to the pad in his mother's hands.

"We'll talk more about this over lunch, okay? I promise we will get to the bottom of this," Alex said in a firm tone, one of determination to help her son as much as she could, given what she had seen in Andrew's eyes. Seeing Anta and Carla nodding along as she pressed the pad to her chest. She was going to keep it with her until they all could sit down and go over everything together. Looking up when someone uttered the word 'Father.'

"Yes, Anael, what is it?" Ira asked, turning and peering up at his daughter.

"Mother wishes to speak with you," Anael said, her gold-ruby eyes gazed at only one person -- her father.

"I'll be back; I'm very eager to hear your thoughts on these two pyramids when I return," Ira stated, peering over at Alex, who nodded in understanding. Unfurling his six wings, seeing how Anael's eyes quivered as he took to the air and hovered a foot away from his daughter. Who wasted no time in filling his outstretched arms. Lightly stroking Anael's hair as she rubbed her left cheek against his chest. Her smile of happiness stretched from ear to ear as Ira's wings folded around her, and in a blink of an eye they were gone.

"Since we're alone, why don't we go to the tent and fix us a meal and go over this," Alex said, lightly patting the pad. Feeling the impressions of her son's writing beneath the pads of her fingers.

Andrew sat at the table as his mother, Anta, and Carla dissected his words line by line as they enjoyed their meal. He was having chili with Texas toast while the three of them were enjoying their favorite Arabic meal that Andrew couldn't possibly pronounce. Looking down at his bowl, debating with himself if this was the best chili he's ever had or if it was second to his stepmother's chili. Which, to his mind, was out of this world, yet he wasn't about to voice that with his mother sitting across from him.

"See, here it is again," Anta stated, pointing to the pad, her finger tapping the hieratic symbol for Punt.

"Andrew, are you saying Punt is or was real?" Alex asked, glancing up from the pad as her fork hung in the air.

"Yes." Was Andrew's only answer before he took a bite of his toast.

"Then why can't anyone find traces of it?" Carla asked, not to accuse him of lying but to access his memories of a time they knew very little about.

"Told you in the store^[38]. It's cursed," Andrew stated truthfully.

"What do you mean it's cursed?" Alex asked in a disbelieving tone. While yes, her son has shown her things that she once thought couldn't be real, yet the idea of a curse was just something her scientific mind couldn't accept.

"I don't fucking know, Mom, I just know it's cursed, not why it's cursed," Andrew muttered down into his bowl.

"Andrew, do you think we can find Punt?" Anta asked, keeping her excitement from her voice.

"You're going to be the death of me, you know that?" Andrew teased as he pointed his chili-covered fork at her.

"I will not," Anta uttered with blushing cheeks before taking a bite of her meal that lined her own fork.

"Andrew, I know this must be very troubling for you right now, and I'm not trying to demean it in any way, but can't we find the labyrinth?" Carla asked with hope in her voice.

"Do you mean the Great Labyrinth?" Alex asked, perking up at the news.

"Mmmhmm," Carla nodded. "Andy knows where it's located."

"It's dangerous," Andrew retorted, not voicing he was already going there with Ira.

"Honey," dabbing the corners of her cheeks before continuing, "every dig we go on is dangerous," Alex said in a scholarly voice. "What could be so dangerous that has you worried."

"Oh, you know, poison darts, pitfalls, the roof collapsing in on us," Andrew said, listing off traps that were within the labyrinth.

"Yet, don't you have the knowledge to keep us out of harm's way?" Alex asked, fighting back her smile as Andrew tilted his head back and groaned loudly. "So then, you shouldn't have a problem in leading us through that maze, now would you?"

"Do you have any idea what you're asking?" Andrew bemoaned.

"I do. I'm asking that you lead us three on a quest to find the labyrinth," Alex said, smiling impishly at her son. Chuckling to herself when Andrew's forehead hit the table and the 'Ow' that followed afterwards. "Just think of it, baby, you, me, Anta, and Carla all together rediscovering history. Won't it be fun?!" Smiling at Anta and Carla when Andrew just groaned once again. "So Andrew, do enlighten us where the labyrinth lies," Alex mused, noting how she was about done with her lunch.

"South of the pyramid of Amenemhet III at Hawara," Andrew sighed.

"Really?" Alex perked up at the news. She knew of the ground radar survey that the Belgian-Egyptian expedition team had done and how Dr. Zahi Hawass, Secretary General of the Supreme Council of Antiquities, had stopped all communications with the team. She knew many of her colleagues were just as frustrated as the team was when the good doctor tried to keep the results hidden. When the team went ahead and published the findings on their own, Alex knew many of her counterparts poured over the results, as did she. So she knew of what appeared to be standing walls on the printout. However, it was too obscure to truly tell if it was natural or manmade. "Andrew, you're not messing with us, are you?"

Andrew leaned back when three pairs of hard eyes gazed at him. Feeling their eyes burning into his hide. "Why would I do that?" Andrew asked, knowing they would rip his jewels off if he was messing with them about some ancient Egyptian site.

"It would be very hurtful to the women in your life if you were just messing with our field of study," Alex uttered in a little pout.

"You wouldn't do that to us, would you, Andy?" Carla asked, batting her soft brown eyes at him.

"No, of course not," Andrew scoffed at the accusation.

"Good. Then you won't have a problem with taking us there," Anta stated with a devious grin. The three of them giggled away when Andrew just dropped his head.

*****

Once again, Andrew McCain was thrown back into his memories. The sound of the horses' tails swishing resounded in his mind as they pulled his chariot through the main lane of the city he was in, a city that he knew was the capital of Punt. Why he was seeing Punt, he had no idea. Hearing the battalion of men behind him as they marched in pace with his chariot. Their bronze breastplates gleamed in the sun as they traveled along that avenue. Seeing the palace of the Queen of Punt looming before him.

Peering around him as the chariot bounced and jostled, Andrew could hear the inhabitants of the city speaking in ancient Egyptian. Pondering on how intertwined the two kingdoms truly were. Looking about, arching an eyebrow at the wares, the spices, and the odd items he's never seen or heard about that lined the stalls as he passed. Glancing down at his chest, feeling how different Baka's body felt from his own. He didn't feel that divine spark like he felt in his own self. Knowing it was the reason why he was so easily dispatched by whatever he had seen the night before. His head snapped up when something boomed; the concussion of the sound shook the very ground beneath him, causing his horses to rear up in fright. Bringing up his arm, using his forearm to shield his eyes as whatever it was impacted in the very center of the palace complex.

Turning his head as the chunks of stone that were blasted out from the impact came in like speeding wrecking balls, destroying the stalls, the houses, animals, and the people, along with his own soldiers. Wheeling his chariot around, flicking the reins urging the horses to go faster, which wasn't necessary given their fright. They were all the more willing to race all the way back to Buhen^[39] , even if it meant dying from exhaustion to do it. He knew what was coming. He could feel it in his bones even if Baka couldn't at the time.

******

Andrew gasped as his eyes shot open. The blue ring of light played along his eyes. Lifting his hand, seeing his ankh ring burning in its purple light as he lifted his hand from his mother's bare back, causing her to snuggle closer to him as he just laid there pondering on what to do. Peering down his chest, noting how Anta was rubbing her cheek against his stomach in her sleep as she rested on his stomach, then glancing over at Carla, her pink nipple taunting him to pluck at it in her slumber. Laying his head back onto the pillow, his life could be worse; who doesn't love having three hot, soft, vivacious women resting on you? Wondering if the Pharaohs of the past ever slept like this with their Queens and Royal Harem, or was he starting a new trend for the future dynasties.

Chapter Four

Two days later...

Andrew stood staring up at the pyramid that had held his attention for far too long for his liking. Ever since the dreams had started, he's had this nagging suspicion that the pyramid that loomed over him held some key to what he had been seeing. Hearing his mother, Carla, and Anta speaking to Ira as they detailed their findings to him as they walked around the first pyramid that greeted them. Blowing out a breath, lifting his leg, the ground rumbled and shook as Andrew placed his foot on the first step.

"Andrew, what are you doing?!" Alex called out, trying to stay upright through the shaking.

"Freeing the people of Punt." Why he said that, he had no clue, nor why he had said it in the first place, it just came out.

"What do you mean freeing the people of Punt?" Anta asked as she ambled over to the stairs that led to the pyramid's interior. Staring up at Andrew as that same glow surrounded his body as he continued his climb. Swallowing hard as she watched how his Nemes^[40] just shimmered into existence as that gold and blue striped cloth, covering the whole crown and back of the head and nape of the neck, as her eyes ran down the lappets, two large flaps which hung down behind the ears and in front of both shoulders, shone in the Atlantean sun.

"As Pharaoh, it's my duty to save those that are left after the attack by Ba'al," Andrew spoke in an alien voice.

"Where have I heard that name before?" Ira mused to himself as he stroked his chin.

"But why you? Why can't some other Pharaoh do that?" Alex asked as she approached the pyramid on unsteady legs. She had no wish for her son to put himself in danger as it sounded like he was preparing to do.

"This is the only way left to enter the land of Punt. There is no longer a means to reach it in the mortal world," Andrew spoke in that same alien tone as he continued to climb.

Alex and Anta looked at one another and nodded. They were not about to allow Andrew to go off alone in this. They both peered into the gap between them when Carla filled the space. Their legs quickly carried them up the stairs, only to see Ira's shadow flowing over them as he flew to the top of the pyramid. Their eyes crested the last step only to see Andrew walking down the middle of the entrance.

Rushing past Ira as the pyramid was no longer shaking but humming and growing in intensity the longer the seconds passed. Ignoring how the hieroglyphics were being illuminated by what they had no clue as Andrew walked deeper into that ancient monument.