Though Pheres was known to have a good sense of self preservation, she didn't this time. Oblivious to the danger she was in, the artist continued to paint the luxurious landscape around her. New leaves tinted the sunlight filtering through the foliage of the single forest in Egypt, the one beside the Silver Nile, a dense but beautiful place of ferns and trees. Shadows glinted back and forth between two oaks, attracting her attention emediately. Pheres crouched low, pulling her cloak about her, and picked up her great bow and quiver of arrows. Notching an arrow she squinted, trying to find the source of the light glimmer. To her luck she heard the slight buzzing sound and ducked just as a short javelin embedded itself in the trunk of the cedar where her head had just been. She moved  to the right and sighted along the silver-feathered shaft and loosed the arrow. Pheres was rewarded with a scream which turned into a menacing growl. A bead of sweat trickled down her smooth cheek and dropped onto a wet leaf.

~

Scarab cursed under his breath  as he bandaged his wound soundly, uttering soft squeaks periodically. Hobbling forward he shoved a shabti aside and grabbed Heka by the throat, glaring at her as if his misfortune was her fault entirely. "Get her! The prince and his guardians are dead but she needs to be gone before I can take the throne. She's in the way of my plans."

Heka blinked her golden  eyes and managed to croak out, "But you wanted Pheres alive."

Scarab clutched onto the snake with white-knuckled force. "Forget what I said. I don't care what you do, just get rid of her!"

The sunlight glinted off the snake's golden scales as the poor beast did her best to nod. Scarab let go of her and sat back slightly, a small smile playing across his lips. That smile soon faded as 3/4 of his shabti force exploded into dust. Twelve straight and true arrows quivered in the ground not ten feet from the wizard. Heka stared in wide-eyed awe. "That many arrows shot all at once?"

Scarab gave her an evil glare and hissed, "Most of our shabtis gone adn you're worrying about twelve arrows!? GET HER!!!"