Akhnaton launched himself at her, one of his fists grazing her shoulder. She shot her right into his face in a short jab. Akhnaton’s head snapped back, and blood sprang from his lips. Snarling, he came boring in, head tucked against his shoulder, swinging wildly.
Krysty weaved gracefully, spun and back-stepped, letting his blows go above her head or pass over her shoulders. Even in her altered state of consciousness, she remembered Ryan’s training. She suddenly dropped, one leg stretching out and sweeping Akhnaton’s legs out from under him. He went over sideways, bellowing a curse.
She kicked at his head, but he closed a hand around her ankle and another around her waist, fingers sinking deep. She made no outcry, not even when he rose and lifted her bodily over his head. Cloth ripped, and Krysty was hurled to the floor. Half of her gown came away in Akhnaton’s fist, leaving most of her legs bare.
Krysty struggled up to a sitting position, snapping at air. Akhnaton clutched her by the hair and violently hauled her to her feet. She didn’t resist his pull, but went with it, kicking herself off the ground and driving the crown of her head into his face. Cartilage crunched loudly. She raked her nails over his chest, ripping rents in his robe and the flesh beneath. They caromed away from each other, and Akhnaton fell, blood spurting from his nostrils.
The red-haired woman was over him before he gained even a crouching position. She caught him in the head with a side-kick and threw a down-plunging straight-arm punch that opened a cut over his right eye and slammed him back to the floor. Akhnaton snatched at her legs and tried to drag her down. She hammered overhead blows on the back of his head, neck and shoulders. He pulled up suddenly on her leg, dumping her onto her back.
Akhnaton swarmed all over her, snarling and striking and trying to achieve a stranglehold. They wrestled and grappled, and cloth tore. Ryan started to rush in, but Krysty forced the man’s head back with the heel of one hand against his chin and chopped him across the windpipe with the edge of the other. Akhnaton gagged for air long enough for Krysty to heave him to one side. She scrambled to her feet.
She was gasping, face wet with sweat, and Ryan noticed a definite wobble in her knees. Most of the time when she called on the power of Gaia to increase her strength, it was for a limited duration. He couldn’t recall an incident where she had faced an adversary whose natural strength matched or even exceeded that given to her by the Earth Mother.
Akhnaton lumbered to his feet. His robe was ripped in many places. One eye was but a slit in his face. His lips were blood-oozing pulp. His nose was streaming scarlet, but he smiled with red-stained teeth. With a shock, Ryan realized he had an erection and it strained against the rags of his clothes.
He beckoned to Krysty with a hand. “Beloved,” he crooned, “you are truly a revelation. What mighty offspring we will create. Come to me.”
Krysty went to him in an eye-blurring lunge, pumping first her left, then her right fist into his face. She kicked him in the stomach.
Akhnaton took her blows without a sound, stepping close to her. He hooked his right into her body. His fist, starting from his hip, smashed directly into her midriff. The force of the punch lifted Krysty from her feet, and for a second she hung suspended, folded over Akhnaton’s fist and forearm.
As she slid limply to the floor, Ryan dived toward the hell-eyed man, fingers spread to rip the crimson orbs from his head. Akhnaton leaned away from him and linked his hands, as if he were swinging a club. He swung both fists into the center of Ryan’s chest, directly over the heart.
Bubbles of pain burst with explosions of agonizing color. The impact slammed him backward and dropped him to within a foot of the sarcophagus. The back of his head struck the stone sharply. Only the fierce pain in his dislocated shoulder and chest kept him from losing consciousness. It was an effort to breathe, to think, to blink. Even the blood seemed to cease flowing through his body.