Within seconds, two men appeared, each one hanging fast to one of Gadji's arms and nearly dragging him between them. They had put a black hood over his head, probably so he wouldn't be able to lead his rescuers back to the Serpents of Chaos stronghold, wherever that was.
"Gadji?" I asked. He was the right size and shape and wearing the same clothes, but that would be easy enough to manage.
The hood nodded vigorously.
"Are you all right?" I asked, hoping to hear his voice.
There was a pause, and then the man holding Gadji's right arm reached out and thumped him on the head.
"Stop that!" I said, but it worked. Gadji began nodding enthusiastically. When he reached up to keep his hood from slipping, I spotted the scratch that Isis had given him a few days ago.
"Enough!" von Braggenschnott said. "You have seen him with your own eyes, fraulein. He is safe. Now hand over the tablet if you wish him to remain so."
"Very well." I was dying to look for Major Grindle but knew that would risk exposing him. Instead, I turned my back on von Braggenschnott and his men and walked calmly to the dirt pile. Every muscle was taut with the fear, but I assured myself they wouldn't do anything until I'd fetched the tablet.
When I reached the mound, I bent over and shoved my hand into the dirt, hard gazes boring into me as I felt around for the satchel. When I pulled it from its hiding place, I carried it back to where von Braggenschnott waited, stopping a few feet away. "You release Gadji first," I told him.
Von Braggenschnott waved the fingers on his remaining hand, and the two men let go of Gadji, who stumbled forward.
My eyes still on Gadji, I thrust the satchel at von Braggenschnott. "Here."
He jerked his head again, and a man came forward and took the satchel from me. I took a step toward Gadji, but von Braggenschnott stopped me.
"Ah, ah, ah!" he said, wagging his finger. "Not until I see what you have brought me."
I had no choice but to wait while they unwrapped the tablet, my skin twitching with a nearly overwhelming desire to get out of there.
As his man worked to reveal it, von Braggenschnott narrowed his eyes at me. "I do hope you haven't tried to trick us."
"Not with Gadji's life at stake," I said. Which was true. I would never have dreamed of tricking them. That had been Major Grindle's brainstorm.
The man finally removed the tablet from its wrappings and I held my breath. I could only hope that Major Grindle's magic would hold up under Chaos's scrutiny.
Von Braggenschnott drew closer to the tablet and inspected it closely. Then he smiled, a truly sickening sight. "You have done well," he said.
I let my breath out in a whoosh. "Excellent. I think we'll be going, then." I jumped forward and grabbed Gadji's arm.
"Seize them!" von Braggenschnott shouted.
Two men leaped forward and pulled me away from Gadji. "Wh-what is this? You said we would make a fair trade!" Two others closed in on Gadji, whose head whipped back and forth blindly within his hood as he wondered what was going on.
"I lied," von Braggenschnott said. "Surely that does not surprise you. Besides, you and I have old business to settle between us." He lifted up the empty glove of his left hand.
"I'm afraid it will have to wait." Major Grindle's voice rang out through the courtyard. At his disembodied voice, the Serpents of Chaos looked up, trying to locate him. I looked over at Gadji. "Be ready," I whispered.
"The curse-repelling device, Miss Throckmorton," Major Grindle reminded me. I reached down and adjusted the knob as he called out, "Then the fountain pen, when you're able."
No sooner had he stopped speaking than there was a whooshing noise as hundreds of small sparks rained down on the men on either side of me. They screamed and let go of my arms, slapping at the Rain of Fire's sparks. With both my hands free, I shouted, "Duck, Gadji!" then gave the fountain pen a violent twist.
The effect was instantaneous. A buzzing sound shot from the pen, followed by the screams and cries of the Serpents of Chaos. Something deadly and sharp came slicing through the dark. Von Braggenschnott gave a shout of pain as it embedded itself in his arm, the one that had been reaching into his jacket for a pistol.
"Run!" Grindle shouted as he leaped down from high above. But we were already halfway to the pylon. A man stepped out from behind the chapel—where had he come from?—and grabbed for me. Before he got a firm grip, however, a small, spitting shape hurled itself at his face.
Isis! As her sharp claws made contact with his face, he let go of me to protect himself.
That was all we needed. I dragged poor Gadji toward freedom, not even stopping long enough to remove his hood. I had a firm grip on him so he wouldn't fall.
There was a thud behind us and a ring of steel as a sword was drawn. When we reached the first pylon, I risked a quick look over my shoulder.
"Do not dawdle, Miss Throckmorton! Get to the horse!"
I turned back around, grabbed Gadji's hand, and ran pell-mell toward where the horse was waiting.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
An Unexpected Detour
WHEN WE FINALLY REACHED THE HORSE, I stopped long enough to grab Gadji's hood and yank it off his head.
But it wasn't Gadji! "Who are you?" I asked.
The terrified boy said something in Arabic. My best guess was he was some peasant child the Serpents of Chaos had snatched off the streets to fool us. I glanced at his scratched hand, appalled that they would injure him in order to maintain the deception.
Before I could decide what to do, two cloaked figures glided from the shadows at the base of the pylon to one of the criosphinxes on either side. "Come on," I told the boy, not caring who he was. We both needed to get to safety before those men saw us.
I grabbed hold of the saddle, got my foot into the stirrup, then hauled myself up. I took the reins from the boy and held my arm down to him. He grabbed hold and scampered up onto the saddle behind me.
Afraid the two men were closing in on us, I glanced up, surprised to see that they weren't paying us any attention. Instead, they had drawn instruments and were doing something to the criosphinxes. They each tapped a ram-headed sphinx on the forehead, the chest, its elbows and hands, then its ears.
The moment they touched the sphinxes' mouths, I knew. It was the Opening of the Mouth ceremony—very similar to the one I had performed on Tetley's mummy just a few months ago! Done in about three and a half seconds, I might add. But the ceremony was designed to reanimate the deceased. I couldn't imagine what possible use it might have on a statue.
No sooner had I formed that thought than the night air shifted and there was a mighty cracking sound, as if one of the temple pillars had fallen. But no. My eyes nearly popped out of my head as one of the ram-headed sphinxes pulled one of its great lion paws from the plinth on which he rested.
My heart began to race. Surely the men hadn't—
Behind me the boy squealed, the terror in his voice perfectly mirroring my own as the sphinx shook its mighty head. It looked directly at the man in front of it, who said something I couldn't hear and then pointed into the temple.
There was another mighty crack, one that shook the very ground, as the second sphinx leaped off the plinth, twitched its long lion tail, lowered its horns, then charged into the Court of Nectanebo.
The boy tugged on my sleeve and I felt his raw panic, but I was loath to leave such a spectacular bit of magic. However, I suspected that even at this distance, we weren't truly safe. Besides, who knew how much control over those creatures the magicians actually had? After all the major had done to save us, it would be wrong to repay him with stupidity.
As I wheeled the horse around, I peered frantically into the shadows, trying to locate Isis and Sefu, but they were nowhere to be seen. They were small, I reminded myself over the thudding of my heart. They could easily get away and hide in small places where those sphinxes couldn't reach them. The boy began slapping at me, wanting me to move. Knowing he was right, I put my heels to the horse.