Page 82 of Sett and his King
We ran toward the two bound men. Sett reached for his son and I for my brother. My fingers sizzled with magic as I tried to undo the chains but they didn't budge.
"Here," Sett said and cracked Anubis's open with the khopesh before we swapped and I came to stand in front of his son.
"You think you can unfreeze them so we can get out of here?" Sett cracked Gene's chains open and turned to me.
I nodded and closed my eyes, focusing on the two men we were here to rescue. I focused on my breathing and the way the oxygen flowed through me, the way it wrapped around everyone trapping them in time and I released them. First Gene. Then Anubis.
"Drew?" Gene called out as soon as he came to, but then his gaze fell on Sett and he cowered. He glanced at Horus and retreated to the corner away from both gods. "What-what's going on?"
I reached for my brother when Anubis stepped up and cut in front of me to embrace his father.
"Father. You came!" he said.
He didn't look that much older than Gene, even though I knew he was thousands and thousands of years old. His skin was a little darker than his father's and his hair short and coily. Both of them looked unkempt, which made sense considering where they'd been for goddess knew how long. I'd lost count of the days with all these resets and loops and everything.
"Are you okay? What happened?" Sett asked his son.
"I don't know. You disappeared from Duat and not long after I was summoned here too. He was there!" He glanced at his uncle, Horus with fury in his eyes. "He was holding an old book that contains all sorts of incantations to invoke the old gods."
A book?
"Did…did you see what the book was called?"
Was it possible it was the book I'd helped Horus steal before I summoned Sett?
Had this motherfucker used me to help him trap Sett's son so he had another ace up his sleeve? Another prisoner to help him achieve his world domination?
"No. Sorry. I was too busy adjusting to this new body," he answered and turned to Gene. "Are you okay?"
Gene's eyes opened a little wider at Anubis addressing him and he nodded.
"I-I think so."
Anubis approached Gene and put his arms around him.
"Don't worry, Gene. This is my father. Remember? I told you about him. Sett?"
Gene glanced at Sett and nodded.
"Don't worry. Father is nothing like Horus. He won't hurt you," he said.
"It's true, Gene. You're safe," I told him and took a step toward him.
"Well," Anubis said and smirked. "I wouldn't say that."
A scythe appeared in his hand and before I could utter a word, before I could take a breath, before I could stop any of it, he cut through Gene's chest like it was fabric and not skin and bones.
"No!" my scream came out delayed and despite how it pulsed through me it sounded drowned out. "No!"
"Ani!" Sett shouted and his son stepped back, dropping his scythe along with his confident expression and looked at the bloodbath in front of him as if for the first time.
"Wh-what? What happened?" he cried out and I sank into the floor at the same time as him.
Of course he’d been compelled. Why wouldn’t he be? Horus never took chances.
I wanted to cry. I wanted to reach out to my brother. I wanted to do so many things, but my rage took over. It consumed me. It made me feral and I turned to Horus with what felt like death in my eyes.
"You fucking bastard. You sadistic son of a bitch!" I launched at him, the scarab in my hand, and punched it in his chest.
