The three paused their fearful escape to breathe and rest against the wall and on the ground. Sagira nearly collapsed as Leoma sat down, and Kadin leaned up against the wall, practically hugging the sword.
“Did we...loose them?” Leoma panted.
Kadin breathed several times before glanced back. “Yeah. We did...for the time being.”
“Why did you have to say that?” Leoma turned to Sagira, who was on the other side of the tunnel.
“What?” Sagira took off her headband to smooth back her black hair.
“You told him you were Akenohotepu’s daughter!”
“Yes. I was trying to frighten him away with the curse.” Sagira replied, perplexed by Leoma’s sudden anger. “At home it would have worked like a charm.”
“Oh, now they know what you are for sure!” Leoma smacked her forehead. “We aren’t in the same world that you came from! No one believes in curses anymore! Now they’ll be after us even more.”
“Why?” Sagira blinked, glancing from one to the other.
“You’re an Ancient Egyptian...alive. Everything like that is worth a lot of money.” Kadin answered, sheathing his sword. “Even this sword I’m carrying it probably worth thousands of times its original value.”
“Thousands?” Sagira’s eyes widened as she stared at her old sword.
“Yep. And that’s just a sword. Think about how much mummies are worth. Especially live ones.” Kadin crossed his arms.
Sagira couldn’t help but gulp and glance back the tunnel, clutching her flashlight tightly.
“We gotta keep moving. They can’t catch up.” Leoma stood up and dusted herself off.
“Yep. If they don’t catch us, we can stay ahead of them until we keel over and they drag us out.” Kadin shrugged and continued on ahead of them after taking his flashlight from Sagira.
Sagira gulped again, following after Kadin and trying to shake off sudden chills in the hot climate.
Leoma followed behind Sagira, glancing behind them with her flashlight every few minutes. “I hope they don’t make use of those knives I saw.”
“Here.” Kadin turned around and pulled out his old pocketknife from his back pocket. He handed it to Leoma, who opened it and sized up the blade. “It’s not much, but we need all the help we can get.”
“Don’t I get a weapon?” Sagira asked, looking them over for more knives.
“Sorry. Don’t have anymore.”
“Just stay between us.” Leoma instructed.
Sagira nodded, pausing to glance at the hieroglyphic walls.
“Kadin, shouldn’t I be in front? Since you’re the one with the sword, and I can read the hieroglyphs?” Leoma shown her light on his face.
“Okay. If they come back this time I will use the blade.” Kadin’s eyebrows furrowed as he took his place behind Sagira.
They continued down the tunnel, eyeing the blank walls and listening for any voices behind them to warn them of the thieves.
It wasn’t long before Leoma’s flashlight began to flicker. “Uh oh.” Her voice was shaky.
“Don’t you have any spare batteries?” Kadin asked, catching the flickering light with the corner of his eye.
“I think so. But they won’t last long. I’ve used them before.” Leoma paused to swing off her backpack and dig into it. She pulled out two batteries and exchanged them for the ones in the flashlight. Then she stood up and swung her backpack on her back again.
“Then I guess I’ll be the only one with a working flashlight.” Kadin gulped. “For the time being anyway.”
“You don’t have any spare?” Leoma turned on her dimmed light.
“Nope. I usually don’t need ‘em.” Kadin half smiled and gave a dry chuckle.
Narrowing her eyes, Sagira peered around them at the narrowing tunnel walls. “I think I know where we are headed.”
“You do?” Both of them shown their flashlights on her.
“Yes. We are nearing a large room where several of the tunnels connect. There are torches hanging on the walls we can use.”
“Great! Does anybody have a light?” Leoma nearly hopped as she clutched her fading flashlight.
“I do.” Kadin reached into his pocket and pulled out an old lighter. “This should work. Let’s hurry, before our lights go out.”
They began jogging down the tunnel, staying in narrow single-file as their feet echoed off the walls. The shadows began to engulf them as their lights slowly faded.
Soon, the whole area became black. Kadin’s light gave out shortly after Leoma’s.
“Umm...” Kadin stopped in the middle of the tunnel, blind. Sagira bumped into Kadin, and Leoma bumped into her.
“Keep going.” Sagira whispered.
“But what about booby-traps?” Kadin whispered back.
“Feel the walls with your hands so we know when we reach the room.” Leoma instructed. “And everyone takes the other’s hand.”
Leoma took one of Sagira’s hands, as Kadin did also. Then they slowly crept to one of the walls, and began to follow it further.
Kadin tossed away his flashlight to free up his hand. “No more use for this.”
Leoma tucked her light away in her backpack, allowing her free hand able to grab her knife if she needed to. About fifteen minutes later, Kadin felt the tunnel branch off in an adjacent direction under his hand. “Hey, I think we reached the room!”
“Okay. Everyone start feeling around for a torch.” Leoma instructed. Then they left go of each other’s hands and began feeling the circular wall for torches.
“Hmmm. I think I just found another tunnel. Look out for it. We can’t get separated.” Kadin warned, as he passed the tunnel opening and began feeling the room’s wall again.
Leoma passed by the tunnel opening and continued feeling the walls. “Hey! I found one!” He fingers bumped into an old, rough tip high above her head on the wall.
Kadin felt his way along the wall back until he bumped into her. Then he reached up higher and grasped the hilt of the torch. “Yep. Got it!” He yanked it upward off the hook and pulled it down. Then he put it between his knees while he searched his pockets for his lighter.
Pulling out the lighter, he quickly struck his finger along the metal wheel. A little light appeared at the top and he took it down and touched the top of the oiled torch. The torch exploded into a large light and he had to yank it from between his knees before his pants could get caught on fire.
“There!” Kadin held up the light triumphantly. The light shown on Leoma’s relieved face, as it did the rest of the sandy, dim room. “Wait a minute...where’s Sagira?”
Leoma sniffed the fowl-turned air. “Uh oh.”
“That’s right.” Tom chuckled; stepping out of the tunnel they’d passed by earlier. He held his foot-long bowie knife in his right hand and rubbed the flat edge with the other. “I’m a very good knife thrower. Would you like to see a demonstration?”
Leoma gulped, clutching the tiny knife in her hand, as Kadin fingered the hilt of his sword with his free hand.
“That’s right. Go for the sword. See if a flying knife is faster than a large sword.” Tom’s evil grin grew into a toothy smile.
“Wh-where’s Sagira?” Kadin forced out as bravely as he could.
“With Ronny.” Tom aimed the tip of his knife at Kadin. “Hey, Ronny.” He called without wavering his attention from the two.
Ronny stepped out from the same tunnel, clutching Sagira around her arms and chest. His other hand was cupped securely on her mouth. She tried to wretch off his arm around her with her bound hands, but he was by far stronger.
Kadin and Leoma stepped back some, as Tom continued to advance. Soon they were back against the far end of the room. Only then did Tom stop walking.
“Now, slowly put down the sword, and knife. And I’ll let you live...for now.” Tom ordered.
“Kadin?” Leoma whispered in question. She waited for him to drop his sword before she would put down her knife. But he didn’t budge.
“They’ll just get rid of us anyway.” Kadin whispered back, holding the sword hilt tightly.
“Well, if you insist.” Tom sighed, right before flipping the knife around and grabbing it by the blade. Then he pulled his arm backwards, and shot it forwards, letting the knife sail straight at Kadin!
With wide eyes, Kadin yanked out his sword and sliced the blade through the air! Everyone heard a metallic ‘clang’ as the two collided, and the knife was knocked into the nearby wall! “Run!”
Leoma and Kadin turned and hurried into the nearby tunnel, sprinting down the sandy path!
Somewhat flabbergasted by the sudden events, Tom ran over and yanked his knife out of the wall. “Ronny! Come on! We can’t let ‘em get away!” He ordered before running down the tunnel after them.
Quickly slinging Sagira over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes, Ronny hurried after his partner down the darkening tunnel.
“Miko!” Sagira yelled back the tunnel maze, cupping her hands around the outside of her mouth to make the sound travel further.
“Shut-up!” Ronny hissed in between breaths.
Kadin and Leoma panted as they hurried down the tunnels, the torchlight flickering against the walls. They ran past a large wall, then doubled back so Leoma could read what it said.
Translating quickly, Leoma read it out loud, “‘You have come this far, now continue on. Now that you understand the riddle, the rest is sure to follow. Only the holy ones will survive.’”
“We’re almost out then!” Kadin breathed happily.
The two paused as they heard the thieves’ voices getting closer.
Grabbing Leoma’s arm, Kadin began hurrying down the tunnel again. Only after another few minutes, they came to a dead end.
“What is this? I thought it said we were going the right way?” Kadin beat against the wall with his fist.
Leoma stared at the wall, trying to make sense of it all. “There must be a door...somewhere!”
They both began feeling the wall with their hands, searching for cracks. Both ignored the two sarcophagi on either side of the tunnel, as the footsteps of the thieves came closer.
“I found a crack!” Leoma blew away the dust to reveal the small, vertical line. She yanked out her chisel and hammer, beginning to work away at the crack.
Kadin clutched his sword and stood behind her, waiting for the two men to catch up.
After several hard hammers, the stone around the crack began to crumble. “I think this is the door!” Leoma continued to chisel.
Spotting the light of the torch, Tom slowed his tiring run and readied his knife in a stabbing grip, holding onto the handle with the blade pointed downwards.
“Put me down!” Sagira pounded Ronny’s back and head with her elbows.
“Ouch!” Ronny complained, slinging her onto the ground in front of him and holding onto her arms.
Leoma stopped chiseling as Tom closed in on them.
Kadin readied his sword while holding the torch. “Let Sagira go!” Kadin ordered.
“Aw, or what? You’ll cut me up?” Tom laughed. “You keep running and running. Where do you think you’re going anyhow? Won’t it be better to come with us instead of starving?”
“No.” Leoma leaned back against the wall, feeling it crumbling even more against her weight.
Tom’s eyebrows furrowed and his smile disappeared. “What are you doing?”
“Aah!” Leoma fell back through the hole in the wall as the dust blew up around her!
Lunging, Kadin swung his sword hard at Tom! Tom backed up and blocked the blow with his knife, trying to push Kadin to the side!
Loosing his balance, Kadin fell back into one of the sarcophagi, knocking him and the encasement to the floor! Then he rolled to miss another blow by Tom!
His knife scraping the ground, Tom hurried after Kadin as he hopped through the hole in the wall.
Leoma lead the way up the winding staircase, as Kadin hurried after her, blocking more of Tom’s blows!
The metals clashed the whole way up, echoing against the old walls and cracked stairs. Back and forth the knife and sword were swung, as Kadin stumbled after his partner.
A sudden shriek from Ronny and a snarl from a large animal back in the tunnel caused them to momentarily pause.
“Ronny!” Tom called, before continuing to chase Kadin and Leoma.
“Good Miko.” Sagira stroked her black leopard, as he nuzzled her legs. He purred, crushing the body of Ronny beneath him with his weight. “Such a good boy.”
Then she hopped over Ronny and hurried through the hole after Leoma, Kadin and Tom. “Come on, Miko!”
The large, black cat purred before gracefully slipping through the hole and following her up the stairs. He was invisible in the growing blackness, only his eyes and purr giving away his position.
“It’s the end!” Leoma warned Kadin, as she stopped in front of another, sealed wall at the top of the stairs.
“You’re most certainly right.” Tom sneered as he caught up to them at the top of the staircase. “End of the line!”
“Sick ‘um, Miko!” Sagira’s voice echoed from down the staircase below them.
Tom turned just as he heard the loud snarl, and saw the sleek figure of her pet bound up the stairs and pounce, with its claws drawn and teeth revealed!

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