In her imagination Isa had been picturing the white-bandaged, grasping, unraveling horrors that had played across countless movie screens, but Menesia was anything but. The hand and arm that rose above the sarcophagus were framed in tight, tidy, sable cloth that seemed to shimmer in the light of Dulrak’s daylight spell.

A woven mask fell away as the mummy king sat upright, revealing two dark eyes and a mouth surrounded by more of the dark brown cloth. On its head sat a golden circlet with a yellow stone set in the center. A crossbow bolt zinged past Isa and lodged in the mummy’s shoulder. He looked down at it and then looked at the group arrayed against him. His mouth opened, and sounds came out.

They didn’t seem like words to Isa. At first they sounded like dying gasps, choking, harsh cries, but then the noise grew as the voice seemed to gain power. A wind whipped through them all - Isa felt her hair stir - and left them standing, intact, unharmed, unscathed by the cries.

As the sound died away Isa realized that the mummy was already partway out of the sarcophagus. One leg was touching the floor, and Isa saw that his narrow foot was covered by a gold cloth slipper. She brought her staff down on the hand that braced the sarcophagus as the mummy leveraged himself up. She heard bones crack, but the mummy king didn’t even flinch.

The chamber filled with more light, and from the corner of her eye Isa saw that Dulrak had a flaming sword in his hand. He rushed toward the mummy just as the creature gained its feet, and it dodged the attack easily.

At its full height, the mummy was as tall as Lund, and his whole body seemed to swivel toward the doorway and Alice. He took a slow step toward her. Lund used the moment to his advantage and swung at the mummy. His sword hit the creature’s midsection and connected for a moment before another step pulled the sword free. Again, the mummy king seemed to ignore the damage dealt, even though Isa could see something leaking from the wound.

Another step brought the mummy king directly in front of Isa. She braced her quarterstaff in front of her, intent on keeping him from Alice. The mummy seemed to realize that his way was blocked, and he backhanded Isa as if she were a ragdoll. As the gold flecked cloth touched Isa’s skin, she felt a wave of revulsion race through her body, even as she hit the far wall and landed crumpled in a heap.

Using the wall and her staff to gain her feet, Isa heard Mery say, “Silence is golden.”

Isa stood for a moment, holding her side. Blood dripped from her mouth. A sharp pain radiated from the small of her back around to her breastbone. Had he cracked her ribs with that blow? Did the blood signal internal bleeding?

Dulrak’s flaming sword flickered and cast large shadows across the chamber. His improvised lantern had fallen to the side, discarded in the moment of battle. With a cry Dulrak hacked at the mummy’s leg with the flame sword and the wrappings smoldered, smoke spiraling up through some of the large seams.

The mummy fumbled with the ornate scabbard buckled at its waist, and Isa could see a pair of hilts sticking up from the belt. With a cry she charged at the mummy, her quarterstaff held out like a jousting stick. She caught the mummy in its midsection, and it folded over for a brief moment.

Isa’s maneuver landed her, hands and knees, at Mery’s feet, gasping for breath. Blood and spit spotted the floor with each heave of Isa’s lungs. Mery leaned down and cast a healing spell on Isa.

Immediately Isa’s breathing eased, but the blow and its aftermath still reverberated in her mind. She’d been touched by a real mummy. Ancient hands had touched her skin, and while the wrappings had felt dry, Isa couldn’t help but feel her skin crawl at the idea that a walking dead thing had hit her, hit her with such force that she’d flown across the room and probably come close to death, was close to death, healing or no. She rolled on her back, oblivious to the danger around her.

The mummy pivoted toward Dulrak and his sword of flames. “Come ahead, you filth,” the dwarf said. His voice trembled as the mummy’s glare bore down on him, but Dulrak stood firm.

A green arrow flew through the air and landed on the mummy’s back with an audible hiss. The arrow dissolved into a green, bubbling liquid, and Alice whooped with joy.

“Isa,” Mery’s face was just above Isa’s. “Can you move, lass? Are you with me? Isa?”

The mummy loomed suddenly over Mery’s shoulder, and Isa tried to cry out, maybe did cry out because Mery ducked low, and the mummy’s arm passed overhead.

Lund swung at the mummy’s head and clipped the side of its face. It had just started to turn when Dulrak shoved his sword into the mummy’s chest and held it there. Smoke poured from the wrappings, and small tongues of flames peeked through in places. The mummy dropped to its knees and fell backwards, lifeless.

The crown tipped off the mummy king’s head and landed on the floor at Lund’s feet. From Isa’s place on the ground, she was eye to eye with the yellow jewel. It seemed to pulse with malice, but as she shifted to sit up, she thought that maybe that had simply been a trick of the light, just the yellow gem reflecting the red light of Dulrak’s sword.

With a sigh Lund reached down to pick it, and a strange voice said, “I wouldn’t touch that if I were you.”