EATER OF SOULS
Chapter Twenty Six The Doctor walked behind Rose, protecting her back and keeping her safe from the reptile guards. While they walked, his mind was working overtime, trying to find a way out of their predicament. Bezrek volunteered to help but he couldn't be a hundred percent sure that he would help them in the end. They entered the lab and the Doctor saw an examination table in the center that had leather straps running down it. Beside it was a large table that had a huge pile of linen strips of cloth, a large jar of pine resin with a small paintbrush and several Egyptian amulets. The Doctor led Rose to the table and pretended to examine the resin while Apophis watched. "No, no, no, this won't do at all," the Doctor finally said, shaking his head. "Something wrong, Time Lord?" Apophis asked. "Yes, you have the wrong mixture of resin. This isn't how they did it," he said, picking up the jar and showing it to him. "This is rubbish. I can't use it." "I know how to mix pine resin, Time Lord. I am an Osirian." "And I'm a Time Lord that's visited Earth many times in general and Ancient Egypt in particular. I've seen several mummifications and I've even assisted on a few. This is not how resin is made. You want me to do this and do this properly, then let me make the resin myself." "Very well, the lab is at your disposal. But this better not be a trick, Time Lord, or Rose'll end up with her organs removed from her body." "I'm not going to trick anyone. I just want to make sure this is done properly. Having said that, where's the natron salts. She has to lie buried in a pile of natron salts for about 70 days so all the water will be taken out of her body and I need canopic jars to house the major organs, not to mention the brain scrambly rod that'll let her brains drain out of her nose. Oh and the sarcophagus with the ancient spells that'll allow her to travel though the underworld to the land of the dead. Not to mention I need an Egyptian book of the dead so she'll be have all the proper spells and I need an Anubis mask to wear since I'm the chief embalmer." "Just do it," Apophis said angrily. "Okay, can I have some privacy then? I would like to have time alone with Rose while I'm mummifying her alive. I won't escape. Just post some guards outside the door, yeah?" "Alright, but don't try anything funny," Apophis said. "Wouldn't think of it, Pophy-boy," the Doctor said. Apophis let out an angry hiss. He signaled for the guards to follow him. They went outside and the door slid shut. "Was that true?" Rose said softly. "About the resin?" "I have no idea, I was saying that to get him out of the room so we can be alone," the Doctor said. "I never made the resin and he probably knows more about it than I do. I just needed to get him out of here so I can make something else." "What are you making?" Rose asked, as she watched him move over to the cabinets. The Doctor didn't answer her as he started examining the contents and taking things out of them. Rose watched while he lit a Bunsen burner and began mixing things into a beaker. She slid off the table and walked over to him. She watched him put a white powder into the beaker, put in a gray powder and mix in a bit of water. Her eyebrow rose when the mixture bubbled and fizzled. The Doctor stirred it with a metal stirrer and added a brown powder which made the concoction bubble faster. "What are you doing? Making explosives?" Rose asked him. "No," the Doctor said in a low voice as he added an oily looking serum to the mixture. "I'm making something that will kill you quickly and painlessly if I'm forced to do it." Rose swallowed hard and looked at the blank look on the Doctor's face while he stirred the mixture. She recognized the look. He was masking his true emotions but she knew deep inside this was torment for him since he was making it in order to kill the woman he loved. She neared closer to him and put her hand on her arm, softly whispering her love for him and telling him that she knew it would never come to this. The Doctor replied with a soft kiss to the forehead before he picked up some plastic clamps, grabbed the beaker and held it over the Bunsen burner. Rose watched while the moisture was burned away, leaving a dark powder behind. He took a wooden stopper, capped the beaker and stuck it in his pocket once the beaker was cooled down. He glanced at the door as he took Rose's hand and led her back to the table. "I'm going to start this just in case they look in on us," the Doctor said to her. "But I'm not going to mummify you completely. We're either going to make our escape before then or if we can't…" He trailed off but Rose knew what was left unspoken. She gave him a sad look as she tried to stroke his cheek but he stepped away from her at the last minute and walked around to the linen. He pulled out a strip and took Rose's left arm. Rose watched while he began to wrap the linen around her arm, starting at her wrist and working up. "I'm leaving your wrist free in case you have to fight," the Doctor explained while he worked. "I just want to give the illusion of compliance." Rose nodded. She watched while the Doctor wrapped her arm. "Were you tellin' the truth when you said you used to help with this sort of thing?" she asked him. "I was in Memphis and became very close to Ramses the 2nd, ended up being a sort of royal adviser and I was invited to see a couple of mummification of important people, nobles that were close to the pharaoh and his family. After witnessing a couple of them, I requested that I would like to help with one and they showed me how to do it. It's fascinating. However, I don't fancy it would be fascinating if you were being buried alive. There were several people who were buried alive though, thieves mainly, tomb robbers. They were mummified and buried in the tombs they tried to plunder or sealed up in unused tombs." Rose shivered at that, thinking of someone lying in a dark tomb screaming for help until they died. The Doctor's voice was once again neutral as well as his face, all of it masking his true feelings. She figured talking about it was helping to keep his feelings calm and under control. While he was wrapping her arm, she glanced at the amulets on the table and saw an Eye of Ra, an ankh, a little blue goblin-like creature, a anthropomorphic jackal that she figured was a representation of Anubis and one that looked like an odd pillar. When she asked about it, the Doctor told her about them while he worked. Rose figured that she might as well keep him talking while he was doing this and help him to keep his mind off of what he was doing. While he was working, the door opened and Rose saw Bezrek enter. The door slid back and the Doctor stopped his work and turned to him. The bandage covered Rose's left arm from her wrist up to her shoulder with a gap over the elbow so she could still move her arm. Bezrek saw his handiwork and paled. "Surely you aren't going to go through with this," he said to the Doctor. "Of course not, but I wanted to make it look like I was while we tried to buy some time," the Doctor said to him. "If you notice I left her hand free and she's able to still bend her elbow so she can still use her arm if she needs it." "Master said that you made him leave. Something about the resin not being right." The Doctor looked at him for a moment, debating on whether he should tell Bezrek the truth. "I told him that so I could have time alone to think," he finally said, leaving out the fact that he had made the powder for Rose. So far Bezrek seemed to be on his side but he didn't want him to know about the powder in case he needed to use it. The last thing he wanted was for someone to prevent him from using it and for Rose to end up on life support while her organs were removed one by one. "I think I can help you," Bezrek said in a low voice to the Doctor while he pretended to pick through the linen strips. "My master still trusts me which is why I'm in here. I told him I was going to check and see if you were doing as he commanded." "And I am, look," the Doctor said, holding out Rose's arm. "And it's nicely done, don't you think?" "Do the other one now," Rose said. The Doctor looked at her with a confused look on his face. "You want me to wrap up your other arm?" he said. "Yeah and both my legs. I was freezing in this dress and now for the first time in a long time, my arm is warm. Do the other one now," Rose said. She winked at him when he rolled his eyes. "So…is there something you can do before I have to wrap her up completely?" the Doctor said to Bezrek. "My master told me that you were going to entomb her in the Great Pyramid at Giza." "Yup," the Doctor said. "I asked him if we should go there now rather than wait so we'll be there when she's finished," Bezrek said. "And?" the Doctor said. "I have been in the same room when my master studied schematics of the pyramid and its interior. I've also seen three dimensional representations of the interior. It looks big and dark and confusing." "Yes, it was. That was to deter thieves or confuse them if they got inside it," the Doctor said. "Well, if it confused thieves, perhaps it'll confuse my master and his men," Bezrek said. The Doctor considered that. "I've been inside the Great Pyramid before," the Doctor said. "If we got inside it, I think I could do just that, confuse them and get them lost. And there was a chamber that was located at the very bottom of the pyramid near the base. I think I can trap them there." "But in order to do that, you'll have to wrap Rose up completely," Bezrek pointed out. The Doctor considered that. "Do it, whatever you have to do to get us out of this," Rose said. "I trust you, I always have and I always will." "I think I can wrap her up where she can still breathe and be comfortable, but make it look convincing. I think I'll use the resin in a few places to make it look like I used it. I'll make it loose in the back though so I can cut her out of it quickly. We can't carry her through the pyramids. The path is treacherous enough without that." Bezrek nodded. "I'll assist you then so we can hurry with this. Just tell me what to do." The Doctor nodded. Rose lay back down on the table and he picked up another strip of cloth. "Well, Rose, you got your wish," the Doctor said to her. "You're about to be nice and warm."
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