Chapter 20
Chanting could be heard from outside the main temple. It was a singular, unearthly voice that they heard; it was neither calming nor pleasing to listen to. It was the voice of someone that had no business moving anymore, let alone singing a tune. The tune itself was sad, though once could hear that once it would have been joyful, and if a chorus of living voices had been singing it, alive and celebratory. These sounds did not put Rick, Evelyn, Jonathan or Ardeth at ease as they hid behind a wall that ran across a terrace leading up to the temple. In fact it only served to have them all rather on edge.
The small band of Anubis Warriors pacing back and forth in front of the main entrance of the temple did not help their moods in the slightest. In fact, considering they had to overwhelm the carrion-looking lot and force their way inside, there was no way that the presence of the guards could be anything but stressful.
“Why are there only…” Jonathan squinted and paused to count, “…Eight of them there?”
“The rest are inside,” said Ardeth. “I suspect Akhenaten wants them at hand when he gains command of them.”
“Or maybe they want to be on hand if he doesn’t,” said Rick with a lifted brow.
“Either way,” said Evelyn, “There aren’t many of them, and it’s at least something to be thankful for.”
“Let’s be thankful after this entire situation is over with,” said Ardeth grimly.
Evy dipped her head dutifully and nodded.
“All right,” she said. “Ardeth, you take the two on the left, Rick, the two on the right, and I’ll take the two in the middle.”
Jonathan suddenly looked panicked. “W-What about me?”
“You take the rest,” Evelyn grinned. “Ready?”
Jonathan gripped his sword, his lips thinning to a determined line. Behind him Ardeth and Rick drew their swords, legs tensing and twitching like hunting cats ready for the kill.
“On three,” breathed Rick.
“One, two…” Evelyn whispered.
They all breathed a “Three!” and leapt out from behind the wall, throwing themselves at the Anubis Warriors.
Rick sprung behind the two on the right as Evelyn had instructed. With an upper-handed swipe he relieved the first Warrior of its head, black dust bursting about him, and swinging around he blocked the attack of the next Warrior. It roared at him in a deep baleful wail, the half-rotted lips of the muzzle slathering and shuddering at the sound. Rick screwed his face up at it and let the sword fly. The guard blocked it, and pushed against Rick’s blade, forcing him down. The guards, although stupid, were strong. Rick yanked his sword away, ducked a swipe from the guard and then once the guard’s follow-through stroke left his upper half open to attack, flipped the sword and made a heavy up-stroke, lopping the creature’s head from its body. The head flipped three times before joining its body in a mass of dust. The black coarse dust rained upon Rick’s features, and he coughed and hacked before it all dissolved away into nothingness.
“I hate mummies, but at least they don’t burst all over you…” He cringed and stuck out his tongue as if to rid himself of the phantom grains of black sand.
Jonathan had dispatched one guard but struggle with his second, and Evelyn and Ardeth were both finishing off their last.
“Don’t help me!” he cried, “I can get rid of him on my own!”
Rick shrugged. The shorter man swung and blocked the blows. There was a stubbornness in his light blue eyes that they had only ever seen directed at acquiring riches before. Evelyn’s mouth twitched in a hidden smile. Jonathan landed the blow and the Anubis Warrior ended in a lashing whorl of black sand. He beamed proudly, puffing his chest and pointing at the nothingness in front of him.
“Not so bad eh?” He twirled his sword, and nearly smacked himself in the knee. “Argh!”
“Jonathan!” Rick hissed, motioning the man to hurry.
They crept inside the temple, sticking to the red granite walls of the entrance atrium. Its huge stone doors had been folded away to reveal the gilded temple main room, Anubis Warriors lined along the edges in groups of four, and at the end of the hall was a great golden podium laden with statues of Akhenaten and his family, of farmers and farm animals, of life rather than graven Gods. In the centre of this stage, natural light above it spilling down from a vault in the ceiling was a magnificent sarcophagus, inlaid with lapis, rubies and deep green gems. The sealed death-bed gleamed with treasures uncountable, and Evelyn looked to it with a grim knowing.
Ardeth grew tense, and his eyes were fixed upon a statue that stood at the mouth of the wide aisle leading up to the podium. Against it Connie struggled and panted, muttering Ancient Egyptian words that Akhenaten seemed determined to largely ignore.
“I need to get to that sarcophagus,” breathed Evy to Rick. “According to the Medjai text Izzy brought us the Aten Hymn of the Dead that will put Akhenaten to rest is inlaid within a cartouche on the chest of his likeness.”
“Right, well let’s not waste any time,” Rick said and then pointed to Ardeth, cocking his head towards the podium.
“One question,” said Jonathan. “There are about a hundred and fifty Anubis Warriors out there, and four of us. Not that it’s any time to be a downer, but those are pretty atrocious odds, don’t you think?”
Evy shrugged. “Ardeth will take the forty on the left, Rick can take the forty on the right, and I’ll take the forty in the middle.”
Jonathan frowned in thought till his jaw dropped. “That only leaves me with thirty!”
Evy couldn’t help but smirk. “Let’s not get greedy, shall we?”
The sound of Connie’s voice ringing out against the gold-covered walls made them all jump, and teeth were grit as they gripped their weapons, steeling themselves for the fray that was to come.
Rick’s lips were a thin line when he said, “Ready? On my word…”
~~*~~
Connie was sure that her back would be ten different colours in the morning (should she survive the morning) thanks to the knobbly contours of the statue she was tied so tightly against. Every time she struggled, or even leant against it, it would dig into her back. It was at such an angle that she had no choice but to lean against it and her back ached deeply, blood rushing to the injured flesh. Akhenaten would not listen to her, no matter what her ancient voice brought forth or challenged him with. She tried to curb the desperation in her voice, but under the cool calm of the voice of the old spirit she was terrified.
Akhenaten stood before the niche, his hands holding aloft the burning-amber orb, the light from above making it seem as fire.
The Anubis Warriors filled the temple behind her, standing in neat rows, twitching and growling restlessly, eyes fixed upon Akhenaten.
Connie closed her eyes, battling the tears forming there, wondering how on earth it could be that her life should end like this. She didn’t think there could be any way out of it. Wherever Evy and the gang were, it was a very strong possibility that they would not be able to get to her in time, and there was a certain menace about the tall wiry Mummy on the podium that left her feeling cold. He would put the Orb in its place, and that Orb was not the real Orb. The depth of this creature’s anger was not entirely alien to her, and she feared it. In a move of utter desperation, Connie let her head hang down, her mind resting in prayer.
“God,” she breathed, trying to contain any sobs that might escape from her. “I know I’m not exactly the most conventional of followers, but I know that the way to You is lined with many paths. I don’t know what Your plan is for me, but please, I don’t want to die like this. I don’t want to die here.” She sniffled, her throat aching. “I’ve only just… I’ve only just found a whole part of myself that I never imagined could exist. And-and…” She tilted her brows up, her heart tightening within her. “I’ve only just found Ardeth. I’m not exactly sure what is going on between him and I, but… I want to find out.”
Akhenaten’s chanting was beginning to rise slowly in tone and speed, and the spindly figure began to step towards the niche.
She clenched her teeth, steeling herself for what was to come, trying one last time to convince Akhenaten otherwise.
“Don’t do it, wise King!” She swore to herself as her words tumbled out in English, and no matter how she tried to calm herself and meditate, no matter what she said, the trance-voice would not return to her. Tears tumbled down her face unbidden as she struggled against the statue her poor tortured body was bound to.
Akhenaten took the final steps to the niche, and with a baleful crooning, placed the Orb into the hollow in the wall, sliding it down into its round pit where it fit - exactly.
A sudden flash burst from the golden receptacle, a rippling wave of light tearing through the air from the Orb, expanding, surging through each body and each form in the Temple around it, expanding ever outwards beyond the walls. Connie cried out, turning her face away from the blinding light. It was hot and bracing, and she felt her breath taken away as it slid through her. As it faded, she opened her eyes, tears blurring her vision some. She blinked them away, her mouth hanging open in disbelief, eyes fixed upon the receptacle in the wall. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t move. It all fell upon her, the realisation that whatever she’d given to Akhenaten was all he needed to fulfil his terrible plans.
Akhenaten chuckled deeply, his withered voice swelling with a new power. He turned, shrunken eyes fixing upon Constance, and he strode towards her, bony hands flexing.
“This isn’t supposed to happen!” she gasped at him as he closed in on her. Her confusion cleared suddenly, heavy tears spilling down her face. “I gave it to you. I handed it right to you.” A sob lifted from her chest and she hung her head down. She’d failed them. She’d failed Evy, Rick, Jonathan, Ardeth… She’d failed Izzy, and little Alex. Akhenaten was free now, free of his curse, and it was all her fault.
Akhenaten chattered to her suddenly in the ancient tongue, but she could only vaguely make out the meaning as her head span sickeningly. His words were a cruel expression of gratitude for handing him what he’d been seeking so desperately.
She lifted her head then, narrowing her eyes. That was it. She was not going to face death a whimpering mess. She gritted her teeth, watching the undead thing barely an inch away from her face chant and chatter mindlessly. All at once she swung her head back and jabbed it forwards, sending it cracking into Akhenaten’s skull. He howled, staggering backwards, and she struggled against her bonds, her determination renewed. As she struggled valiantly Akhenaten straightened, growling deeply at her. He strode forward and with cold leathery fingers he grabbed her face, digging the emaciated digits into her living flesh, his mouth opening wide. It began to gape wider and wider, and a great roar began to grow within the beast’s chest. Connie struggled as best she could, with all her strength, till suddenly it all began to be drawn from her body, out of her mouth, her eyes, her nostrils, right into Akhenaten before her.
It was at that moment that a great cry rang out through the Temple, the blood-curdling roar of a soul wanting revenge, and Akhenaten, so preoccupied with beginning his feed, never saw the flash of black that jumped out from nowhere and tackled him to the floor.
Above the noise of the developing melee sounded a single windy note; a ram’s horn called distantly over the sands and echoed in the temple.
~~*~~
Izzy blew a sigh through his lips, eyes narrowed as they stared into the endless blinding sand. The rhythmic flapping of the dirigible’s balloon came in and out of odd syncopation with the ‘tick tick tick’ of Alex drawing a camel riding crop back and forth over the floor-boards of the dirigible. He would have told the boy to stop, but his mind wrapped around the two sounds intertwining and it was a welcome distraction. Anything was better than thinking about what was possibly happening in the temple beyond. He glanced at Alex momentarily. The boy continued to drag the crop around, his eyes following the end of it, his brows drawn together with a wrinkle of worry in between.
Izzy looked back out to the dust and sand, and wondered how the hell the O’Connells could do this to the poor boy. Oh sure, they didn’t *plan* to go get themselves half-killed, but the second they stepped foot in
He hoped that after this both Rick and Evy would take the boy somewhere safe, with other kids, and have him go back to school to grow up in a normal environment. Get the toff perks that their wealth could afford the kid. Have all the good things in life that the little bugger deserved.
All the things I never got, Izzy mused. And look what happened to me. Chasing dead things, ducking tidal washes and getting shot in the bloody arse.
He looked over his shoulder at Alex again. “You all right?”
Alex looked up and nodded, but Izzy could tell the boy was worried.
“Don’t worry,” he said. “Your Dad as gotten through more scrapes than I care to remember. He’s made of stronger stuff than you can imagine.”
“I know,” Alex said. “I just hate not being able to do anything to help them.”
Izzy nodded, and looked back out to the desert. In the rippling blur of the horizon, flooded thickly with heat distortion, black shapes wobbled and grew. Izzy narrowed his eyes, cocking his head, trying to make them out. He held out a hand.
”Alex, now’s the time to make yourself useful. Pass me my telescope, will you?”
Alex nodded and raced into the wheelhouse, digging around for a moment before retrieving the dirty brass telescope and handing it to Izzy. Izzy slid it out to its full length and peered down the eyepiece. The wobbly shapes were getting bigger… closer. Izzy’s heart stilled and clenched in his throat. Whoever or whatever they were, there were hundreds, no, thousands of them, heading towards the city.
“What are they?” asked Alex.
Izzy licked his dry lips. “Dunno… but it don’t give me a good feeling.”
Alex looked back and forth at the stretch of the horizon dominated by the figures, and after some minutes he perked up, grinning. “Somehow Izzy, I think we’ll be okay!”
Izzy peered down the telescope again, and gasped. “Bloody hell! Look at that!”
He handed the telescope to Alex, who grinned widely, looking a lot like his mother. “What did I tell you?!”
In the circle of sight that the telescope gave them were heavily robed figures upon horseback, tassels dangling and swaying to and fro from the horses reigns, turbans high and proud on the warrior’s heads and swaths of black material fluttering in the breeze of their movement. One did not have to be a genius to know who they were; the Medjai in force were a sight to behold, and one never forgot it. And they were here, they had arrived. They had arrived in huge numbers, and the specks of black grew from the horizon like water over a dry sea shore.
“How’d they get here so fast?” gasped Alex.
“That lot call the desert an ‘Ocean’, you know that?” he said. “And they bloody well mean it. They know that wasteland better than I’d like to wager.”
Alex smiled, hope renewed in his green eyes. “They’re going to help save my parents.”
“Yeah,” Izzy nodded. He couldn’t air his niggling concern that they had no idea what was going on inside the temple, or that it could be too late. Let the boy hope, he thought. Let the boy hope.
The Medjai approached quickly upon horses and camels, and a grey, careworn old Warrior at the head of the great number lifted to his lips a ram’s horn, as old and weather-beaten as the fellow that carried it. Clearly and sharply a note rang out over the dunes and echoed against the vast pylons that lined the main thoroughfare of the city, carrying the distance to the temple beyond.
“Won’t be long now before it’s all over, right Izzy?” said Alex.
Izzy watched the Medjai. The call of the horn echoed into stillness, and the Medjai stood silently before the walls of the ruined city. Something about the silence worried Izzy, and he could sense that it worried the Medjai too. He squirmed, frowning.
“Yeah… not long.”
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Hello From Sunny Hamunaptra – Chapter 21