Chapter 22
The Medjai sat proud upon their steeds, swords drawn, eyes set upon the worn and crumbling walls of the ancient city. It seemed to Izzy and Alex that they’d been sitting there for the longest time. The quiet and the waiting had become maddening.
“What are they doing?” asked Alex. “Why don’t they go in there and fight?”
“I don’t know,” said Izzy, frowning and watching the warriors keenly. “They know the signs of the desert, and we don’t. Somethin’s not right, I can feel it. And if a westerner like me can feel it, Lord above knows what they can pick up down there.”
As if to prove his words, a terrible creeping shadow burst from the temple, sweeping over the ground hungrily, the edges shifting and bubbling in the shape of snarling snapping savage jackal jaws. The Medjai pulled on the reigns of their beasts, camels and horses alike rearing back and throwing their heads back and forth and snorting. They backed away from the growing shadow slowly, which now seemed to recede, sinking into the once-white sands like an evil liquid. Alex peered at it.
“What *is* that?”
“Don’t know,” said Izzy, “But it can’t be good.”
Indeed it wasn’t. From the ground bubbled strange black mounds of sand that shivered and grew to the shape of long imperfect pillars. The pillars wobbled and shifted, and their form refined slowly to things with muzzles, with pointed ears and long bent legs. These forms shook themselves as dogs shake themselves free of water, and the black sand fell away. Over the plain and dunes stood hundreds upon thousands of Anubis Warriors, freshly created from the soil of
Alex’s jaw dropped, Izzy mirroring his expression.
“Call me crazy,” said Izzy, “But somehow I don’t think these guys are here to swap hummus recipes…”
Alex just cocked a brow at Izzy.
One of the Anubis Warriors stepped out ahead of the pack uncountable, lifting his sickle-like khopesh. The warriors behind him shifted from foot to foot, bobbing up and down and growling in a rallying rumble, striking their blades and spears against their shields menacingly.
“We have to do something, Izzy!” Alex exclaimed, gripping the edge of the barge underneath him.
“What do you expect me to do, spit on them?!” cried Izzy.
“Well can’t we throw something at them or…?” Alex drifted off, his eyes growing wide. “The mast!”
Izzy frowned. “This thing’s got no bloody mast!”
“Yes it does! In the hold!”
Izzy waved his hands. “What do you expect to do with a big long bit of wood?”
Alex grabbed Izzy’s hands excitedly, dragging him towards the hold. “Come on, I’ll show you!”
The little boy skipped down into the hold, the pilot following him, muttering curses under his breath.
“Listen, Junior O’Connell, I’m just as wary of following along with any of your hair-brained schemes as I am with your maniac of a father’s.”
“This isn’t hair-brained,” said Alex matter-of-factly, “It’s brilliant. Now, help me get this mast up the hole…”
Alex bent in front of a long slim log that sat upon the curved floor of the dirigible’s hold, hard and grey and doubtlessly heavy.
Izzy sighed. “It’s bloody huge - it’s going to be a job.”
“Come on!” Alex said, “We haven’t got much time until those things attack!”
It was as if the beasts heard him. Out on the stretch of barren dust and sand that sprawled away from the now revealed city of Amarna, the tall blue-grey jackal-headed warriors lifted their weapons, growling and roaring in unison. The serene wise appearance of the leader of the Medjai slipped away in a moment, the older man lifting his scimitar in the air and bellowing in his native tongue. All at once the two masses of warriors charged towards each other, the rumble of feet on earth and the deafening rush of their voices mingling reaching inside the hold of the dirigible and chilling the two fellows inside. At the sound they exchanged panicked glances, and scrabbled at the mast, shouting at each other.
“Lift, lift!”
“No, not that way!”
“I know my own bloody dirigible-“
“Watch it!”
Together they thrust the mast up the hole, only to have it stuck at an angle. Izzy stomped a foot.
“Bugger! Pull… we’ll get it up there…”
Alex panted, pulling with all his might at the mast in his hands before angling it further out of the trapdoor out of the hold.
“Was it this much trouble to get in here?” he cried.
Izzy frowned to think for a moment. “Yes.”
"Why is it in here in the first place?!"
"I don't know. Balance or somethin'! Just keep at it, you!"
The sounds of battle continued as they kept sliding the pole out the trapdoor. Now that they were past the shallow angles, the mast stood upright in the hole, and they held it up like a caber. Izzy looked at Alex.
“All right, smarty-pants - what now?”
“We need to lay it out on the deck and tie ropes to it! Long ones!”
The mast took as much manoeuvring to lie flat on the deck as it did getting it upright in the trapdoor, and it kept poking up into the balloon fabric, which sent Izzy into hysterics every time.
“Don’t punch a hole in it, for God’s SAKES!”
Despite the calamity going on down below and Izzy’s panicked state, Alex concentrated on the situation at hand, looking up and down the mast, lifting the end of it and weighing it and looking thoughtful. Izzy came back from the hold with two bundles of ropes in his arms.
“This is my spare rope, for emergencies!” Izzy barked, “So this better be a good idea!”
“It is, Izzy, trust me.” Alex grabbed the rope eagerly and began to tie it around the end of the mast. Izzy let out a funny barking sound.
“Ah! What’s that?”
Alex glanced up. “Huh?”
“You call that tying a knot? It’ll come loose in a moment. Move over!”
Alex sighed, standing up and out of the way. “Just tie it to both the ends, and then to the rail there… and the rigging here…”
Izzy glared at the boy in protest to being ordered around before doing as the kid said. There wasn’t much point in making an issue of it considering that Izzy had no better ideas. He quickly and deftly tied ropes to both ends of the tapered mast, and Alex hummed and hawed over its shape.
“I hope this doesn’t affect the trajectory too much,” he said, rubbing his chin. “You better tie that rope shorter than this one…”
Izzy looked to the mast, and then to Alex. “And then what are we going to do with it?”
A scream of pain wafted up from the battlefield, and Alex jumped.
“Uhm, throw it over-board.”
Izzy spasmed. “Are you mad?! Those things’ll climb up the bleedin’ rope!”
“Not if we sweep past quickly,” he said, and Izzy shook his head.
“No-no-no-no, you don’t get it!” He waved his arms at the balloon above them. “This is a dirigible! It’s not a bloody war-plane!”
Alex gnawed at his lip before brightening up. “What about the boosters?”
“They’re for emergencies!” Izzy said. “Like the rope!”
“Izzy,” said the boy, “There’s a horde of creatures down there trying to wipe out the Medjai army! If that isn’t an emergency I don’t know what is!”
Izzy steamed, muttering curses before grabbing for the mast. “You - are a smart-arse!”
Alex blinked, then smiled. “Well I guess it’s better than being a dumb one.”
“Shut up and help me with this!”
With grunting, sweat beginning to trickle down their faces, the both of them hefted the mast and with a great clunk, threw it over the side of the dirigible. It lurched suddenly, tilting to the side a touch before settling itself right. Scrambling inside the wheel house, Izzy took a firm hold of the wheel.
"Stick close, Junior O'Connell!"
Alex nodded, running over to him and grabbing onto the wall of the wheelhouse. Izzy turned the dirigible about, pursing his lips together grimly.
"Ready?" he said.
"Yep," said Alex.
He nodded. "Right. Here goes nothin'!"
He smacked down the lever that activated the jets, and with a lurch the dirigible surged forward at a remarkable speed. The wind whipped about their ears as it soared down towards the tempest on the battlefield. Alex had never been inside the dirigible whilst going at such a speed, and now that he had he wished he would never again. He clutched onto the side of the wheelhouse, crying out helplessly.
"AAAAAAARGH!"
"Yeah!" cried Izzy over the blast of the jets. "That's just what I was thinking!"
He angled the wheel this way and that, and with a pull of another lever, the ship swept down close to the ground, shooting across it at a sickening speed.
"WATCH OUT!" he cried, and Alex frantically screamed the same thing over and over in Arabic as they called out in warning to the Medjai.
The Medjai, however, were not a silly people. Upon seeing the sweeping vessel, they figured out very quickly what it was Izzy and Alex were trying to do. Being the intelligent and bright warriors that they were, they did the most logical thing open to them at that moment. They ducked.
The dirigible shuddered as the dangling mast slammed into Anubis Warrior after Anubis warrior. They toppled and fell with angry shrieks, Medjai jumping after them and slashing off heads if need be. Many didn't even have to do that - some Anubis Warriors had their heads lopped clean off by the mast. From the battlefield roared the Medjai in encouragement.
"How many passes can we do before the fuel runs out?" cried Alex over the din.
"I'd wager a few!" said Izzy, "But I can't say more than that! This thing was meant for quick steering bursts!"
"Do what you can, Izzy!" exclaimed the boy, slapping the pilot on the shoulder. It occurred to Izzy that it was scary how much like both his parents he was.
Izzy proceeded to do his very best. Again and again he swooped low over the field of battle, the long cedar pole clunking and smacking against hapless beasts. With each sweep the Medjai grew more exultant, black dust bursting down upon the desert sands as the evil undead warriors fell.
The dirigible arced about and then plunged into its final sweep. A good number of the Anubis Warriors had been decapitated, and it looked as though another huge chunk of them were about to be dealt with. The dirigible rocketed forth, the mast knocking the enemy off their rotted jackal-pawed feet, and then with a sputter and a cough, it sailed along the plain, then wafted to a sort of bobbing halt. For a moment, there was complete silence.
Izzy broke it, whimpering and battling the controls, and Alex clutched the wheelhouse wall, wincing.
"That's it, we're spent!" Izzy cried.
Alex didn't get the chance to say anything to that. He was too busy crying out in fear as the dirigible suddenly fell a foot. It happened again, and they nearly fell over.
"What is that?!" yelped Alex.
"Two guesses!"
Alex ran to the side of the ship. Below were the crowded wriggling bodies of the Anubis Warriors, climbing over each other and grappling the ropes above the mast, crawling their way up to the boat. One look at this and he ran screaming back into the wheelhouse to hide.
"Up! UP UP!!"
"There is NO UP!" cried Izzy.
The sound of grunting and growling was growing.
"There's GOTTA BE, THERE'S GOTTA BE or we're gonna DIEEEE!"
The boy flapped his arms and Izzy squeaked and panicked and none of that stopped the jerking of the floor or the slathering huffs and grunt of the Anubis Warriors. It was a relentless hungry sound and it was getting closer and closer.
There was another roar. This time it was the united cry of the mighty Medjai, and the dirigible shuddered and bucked this way and that as Medjai and Anubis had it out on its ropes. Over the side of the dirigible boat, rotted grey paws slapped the wood for a hold, and claws dug into it menacingly. It seemed to struggle for a moment, and then a puff of black sand shot up from where it was. On the other side of the boat another set of paws did the same thing, and another, and another.
Alex cowered behind Izzy. Izzy felt utterly useless. He had no idea what to do next, and he was pretty sure they were buggered. He gulped, holding Alex close to him to protect him, squinting in the amber sun that crept down towards the horizon.
"This does not look good."
~~*~~
She wasn't quite sure what was going on around her, but, it was pretty clear to her at that moment that it was utter chaos. Big slate grey animal bodies growled and rallied themselves against the few truly living people in the room, and promptly met their ends on superiorly wielded curvy swords. Always there were more to come, however. She kept her screams of fright to a minimum as her hysterics weren't going to help anybody. It was very hard to keep quiet as Anubis Warriors kept throwing themselves at her, clawed hands scrabbling wildly. Until now she'd had someone jump in the way and protect her, but right at that moment there was no one. They were all quite busy with their own growling monsters.
The large slathering man-animal she was cowering from swiped at her with a viciously sharp gleaming khopesh. She instinctively ducked, and the khopesh embedded itself into the statue behind her, a sickening ring reminding her that it had missed her only just. She scrambled around to the other side of the gold gilded statue, breaths rushed and aching in her lungs. She was not going to panic. She had to stop this thing. She secretly wished Ardeth would pop up out of nowhere and save her, mainly because that would mean he was okay. As she glanced about her between ducking from harm, she could not see him and there was no sign of him about. Regardless, now was not the time for a teary body count. She rolled away from the beast again, its sword swiping down and clanging on the stone floor. She felt something cold in her hand, and as the khopesh came down again, she lifted whatever she had a hold of up in defense. Thankfully, it was a sword. It clanged and rang in her hand, and she nearly dropped it from the sheer force of the blow. Her hands shook and stung as pain blasted through her rattled bones. The beast looked mildly annoyed that she decided to put up a fight.
"Connie!!"
She looked up. It was Evelyn. Her friend came running towards her, slashing and kicking undead ghouls from her path. It looked like it was sure to overwhelm her, but then she would move and stab in a way Connie would never have predicted, and with a few expert swipes, the foe would either explode in a swirl of black sand or fall to the ground in largely ineffectual pieces. Connie wasn't able to fully appreciate the skill Evy was exhibiting. She was too busy scrambling away from the monster after her, feebly blocking blows that she was slowly not being able to resist. She knew at any moment she was most likely going to die. In fact every moment she was still breathing was a deep shock to her. The wet slobbery sounding growling was coming from all directions now, and she spun about just in time to block a savage blow from a creature behind her.
"Keep blocking them Connie!" cried Evy.
Connie whimpered. "What's blocking?!"
"What you're - raah! You're doing with the SWORD!"
Connie nodded, too busy trying to survive to say much else.
"I'm coming!" Evy called.
There was a sharp grunt behind Connie, and she scrambled, twisted and lifted up her sword. She didn't lift it enough. The beast's khopesh came down upon her defence and her grip was weak, her arm at entirely the wrong angle to stop anything. Her arm twisted at her side painfully and she felt her elbow joint bend and twist all wrong. The shuddering heavy khopesh slid to the hilt of her sword and by the grace of some omnipotent deity she was not cut, but her elbow joint was aflame with agony. Another roar rang out, this time from a now thoroughly angry Evelyn O'Connell. She threw herself against the growing number of beasts around Connie.
"Connie! The sarcophagus! You must read the hieroglyphs on top of the sarcophagus!!"
Connie cowered by the statue. "But I can't read hieroglyphs!"
Evelyn strained as she blocked the attacks of two creatures at once. "Channel that spirit!!"
"I can't!" cried Connie, rolling away from the claws of an akephalii. "It doesn't work like that! Once I call the spirit I have no control of myself!"
Evelyn gritted her teeth.
"Right!" she cried back, "It's time for decisive action!"
She neatly twisted about the Anubis Warriors, slashing into their necks from behind and obliterating them. She edged her way to Connie as more attacked her.
"You get the Orb!" she cried.
"And then what?"
Evy ducked a swipe and shrugged. "We play it by ear!"
Connie nodded and waited no further. She scrabbled away from the statue, hiding behind the nearby plinths that held gorgeous hand-painted pottery. The plinths toppled over, the pottery smashing upon the floor and being crushed as scimitar after khopesh came smashing down upon what they could, their wielders charging forwards over the fired clay debris. Connie hunched down in a desperate run, hiding behind the first large thing that came in her way. The crunch and swish of swords followed her.
"No no NO!" cried Evelyn, "They're hacking at the sarcophagus Connie! The spells, the SPELLS!"
Connie bobbed her head up to see what the fuss was and pulled it down again because she very nearly lost it. From what she could see happening around her, Jon and Rick were madly slashing at beasts, struggling through the hordes to make their way over to Evy. She still couldn't see Ardeth. Before she could wait to check, more swords came crashing down, biting into the wood like hard cheese. She bobbed down with a gasp.
Okay, she thought. I am most likely going to die. I can't see Ardeth. He's probably dead too, and if he's not alive, then I'm not too interested in living anyway. She surprised herself with that thought, but the desperation of the moment didn't allow her to ponder on it too much. All right, if I'm going to die, I may as well do something useful with myself before I go.
She looked to the Orb. It was standing inoffensively in its gold lined receptacle. The Anubis were on their way around the Sarcophagus to attack her. Evy sprang from the finishing blow of one creature and into their paths, and Connie took advantage of the moment. She bolted towards the receptacle. It was glowing as if a little piece of the sun was inside of the crystal, and dipping her hands into the brilliant hollow she clutched the thing in her hands. It was beautifully warm to the touch, her hands tingling at the contact, and she nearly lost herself in the sensation before she remembered where she was. Gritting her teeth, she tugged the thing from the hole, the cavity pulling back at it with a hungry magnetism. Finally she was able to stagger away, the Orb in her hands.
The glow in the receptacle shuddered, and all at once it exploded. A great wave of light swept through the temple, a hot wind buffetting those inside of it, leaving a daunting stillness in its wake. For a second, everything was still.
Then a single rattling cry echoed through-out the Temple hall. The voice was not unfamiliar to her. It was cold and manic, and now desperation seeped into its tones. She couldn't understand what he was saying, but Evy could.
"What have you done?!" he cried. "What have you done?!"
From the side of the podium raced a haggard looking Akhenaten. Connie saw him coming for her, his snapping angry tones becoming louder. Remembering the ball of crystal in her hands, she dropped to the floor on her knees.
"Evy! Here!"
She rolled it along the floor and it left her hands just as Akhenaten took a hold of her. He shook her, pushing her to the ground roughly before turning on Evy. Grabbing an abandoned weapon from the floor Connie raced forward, running Akhenaten through from behind.
The rotted corpse looked down at his stomach, mild annoyance on his withered features.
"Run Connie!" cried Evy, angling behind the great sarcophagus, eyes glued to the texts that decorated its lid. "Now! Run!"
"And leave you here to get chopped up by these laddies?" Connie cried, and she chased about Akhenaten, who watched her amusedly. The blonde waggled her stolen scimitar in her hand. "I don't think so!"
Behind her Rick and Jon finally managed to struggle their way up onto the podium, but they were still too far off to help her in that moment. They were able to keep enough monsters off of Evy for her to concentrate on the sarcophagus.
"Evy?!" cried Rick, "You all right?"
"Yes!" she cried, "This will only take a moment, just watch Connie!"
Jon pushed his way forward boldly, nattering something in Egyptian that Connie didn't understand. Evy just dropped her jaw, her eyes on the sarcophagus.
"Jonathan! Did you kiss our mother with that mouth?!"
Connie shrieked and ducked as Akhenaten suddenly lunged forward with a clawing hand. Instinct kicked in and she swiped at him with the sword in her hands, her stroke clumsy and unsophisticated. No matter, it did its job and neatly chopped off Akhenaten's hand. The Undead King growled at her and she squealed. She held the sword in her shaking hands and was quite horrified to see Akhenaten bend down and pick up his hand. With a disconcerted frown, he twisted it onto the end of his arm and before her eyes the stringy desiccated flesh knitted itself back together. Connie's jaw waggled open and closed, her eyes gleaming with terror. She suddenly didn't feel so brave anymore.
"He - he just put his hand back on!" she cried to the others.
"Yep!" called Rick, "They have a tendency to do that."
Her mouth worked silently before she could utter a panicked, "Help me!"
She backed away as Akhenaten advanced, withered hands reaching for her face. She shook wildly and cried out as she backed into the sarcophagus and was quite definitely stuck. From behind her was a cry in Ancient Egyptian. She glanced about herself, utterly lost, till Evelyn reached over the sarcophagus shouting, "DUCK! DUCK! He said DUCK!"
Connie slid to the ground, and above her a scimitar swung through the air in swift circles, lodging itself in Akhenaten's chest.
"Holy heaven!"
Bodies flew over her head, and next to her dropped a dead shrivelled arm. She thought maybe it was Akhenaten's, till she looked up and saw he still had both of his. Leaping over the Sarcophagus came Jonathan, swords blazing in his hands, Anubis Warriors and akephalii chasing after him. The Warriors had seemed to have forgotten she existed for the moment, which was definitely a good thing. She listened for Evelyn, to hear if she was all right.
"Honey," Rick called, now back-to-back with Evy. "How are we going?"
"Nearly done," Evelyn said in a sing-song tone. "Just a few more words!" She was slowly moving her way down the huge long cartouche that spread across the length of the coffin, her long brown fingers shaking. "Feh - feht... no..."
"You know I hate to rush you but it's kind of twenty to one!"
"Sshh!" hissed Evy. "Bloody verb conjugations! Let him? He will? Bugger!! I can't think with all this noise!"
"Can't be helped, dear!"
Connie gawped at the sight in front of her. She wasn't sure what she had let loose in Jonathan, but was like nothing she'd seen before. His arms were a blur of movement, swords sweeping down at warriors that Akhenaten would set upon Jon in a moment. The dead king would try to wind about the fight, try to make his way to Evy to stop her, but again and again Jonathan would step forward. He growled and sunk a sword into Akhenaten. The Mummy growled, pulling the sword out, throwing it at Jon, who ducked easily. If an arm was chopped off, with an intrusion of a Warrior and a few moments re-knitting, Akhenaten would be whole again. The Power of the Orb was no longer about the Temple, but Akhenaten's basic spell of resurrection and magic was in full effect. Akhenaten seemed hesitant to fight Jonathan one-on-one, but every now and again he would pull a dirty trick, attack Jonathan in an entirely unfair way.
Huddled against the wall of the sarcophagus, Connie watched as the monsters about her charged at Rick and Jonathan. Desperation seemed to set in as Rick yanked his shotgun from his shoulder holster and started blasting at Akephalii, causing arms to fly off and rotted legs to shatter. The Anubis or two that caught a bullet merely staggered and marched on towards him. At this Connie jumped.
"A gun!" she cried, "A gun! I have a gun!"
She glanced about herself. By the foot of the statue she'd been tied to lay her heavy canvas bag, tipped over, contents strewn about haphazardly. A scarce few feet away from her lay the pistol Izzy had given her. With a cry of desperation she leapt into the fray, ducking swipes from the monsters about her. As she clambered for the gun she looked about her, not even realising it, heart tight in her chest as she saw no sign of Ardeth. A cry pulled her concentration away from her search.
With an awful wrench, Rick was pulled away from Evy's side and thrown to the ground by an Anubis warrior. Stepping forward, Connie gripped her gun in her shaking hands.
"Watch OUT Evy!" she cried. She fought to stop the muzzle from quivering. She'd learnt to shoot a gun when her Aunt's friends took her hunting in her youth, but she hadn't tried it in years. "Lead the target," she whimpered. "Squeeze the trigger... squeeze!"
An awful bang burst in her ears, and Evy ducked instinctively. The Anubis closing in on her stopped, spinning aside as the bullet plunged through its arm. After glancing quickly at the monster, Evy looked back to the sarcophagus and kept crying out the spell before her. Another warrior bore down on her, growling menacingly in rattling breaths. It lifted its sword.
With a whimper, Connie cocked her pistol and fired.
Evy grit her teeth, ducking as the Anubis Warrior swung at her, and missed, its aim thrown by the bullet plunging through its chest. Rick scrabbled to his feet and dealt with the beast, and behind him clawed an akephalii.
Licking her parched lips, Connie lifted her pistol again. She fired, instinct taking over. One shot buried itself in the arm of the headless corpse. The other grazed Rick's shoulder. He let out a roar of pain.
"Oh! Oh I'm SORRY!" squealed Connie, but that was all she could say. The monsters about her had seen her with the weapon in her hands, and as the akephalii plodded cumbersomely in her direction, an Anubis Warrior swept over on long, clawed legs. She scrambled back, wriggling and throwing the gun at her attacker, but he was only slowed down for a moment. Slender-fingered, half-rotted, huge paw-like hands clawed about her shoulders, and she felt bony fingers begin to wrap about her arms and legs. She could smell the rotting flesh, and despite her struggling, she was slowly being pulled to the ground.
She fought. She screamed. She'd done all she could, and it seemed now, finally, after all she'd been through, she'd found her end. One last cry lifted from her as the Anubis Warrior above her lifted his khopesh. As she watched him, a voice rang out through the air.
"...becoming night!" it cried, in Ancient Egyptian. "...Aten shall take thee with Him to thy rest! To sleep! To sleep! To thy eternal SLEEP!"
There was a shout, and the monsters that had Connie in their clutches stopped, letting go of her, as if called by their master. Connie scrambled away from them, massaging her newly forming bruises, looking madly for Evelyn on the packed altar.
Evy was at the sarcophagus, clutching the Orb above her head, the crystal glowing violently, the ground beginning to shake as the light grew. Above their heads the ceiling of the temple shuddered, a crack growing and rumbling, sun light spilling in with dust and grit. Akhenaten was on the other side of the sarcophagus, arms reaching out for the Orb, mouth ajar in silent agony.
Rick and Jonathan stood, slack-jawed, as the Orb in Evy's hands lifted up into the air, without support, shards of light stabbing forth from it, growing stronger and stronger. Not needing another moment's thought, Rick wrapped his arms about his wife's waist, pulling her away from the enchanted object. He ran towards Connie, Evy in his arms, Jonathan racing past him and collecting Connie in his arms.
"Wait!" she cried, glancing about her, fighting against Jonathan's attempts to pull her from the altar. "WAIT! Ardeth! We need to find-"
"There's no TIME!" cried Rick above the growing rumble of the temple about them. "We need to go NOW!"
Tears grew in Connie's eyes as despair gripped her. "No! I won't leave him!"
The room shook, and a strange silence swept through it. It was as if they'd been suddenly wrapped in a bubble, the light from the Orb pushing away all the tumbling rubble and dust. The spikes of light that jabbed at the air from the Orb kept extending, little bolts of light pulsing down their lengths elegantly. Upon coming to the end they shone, and became tiny, elegant, long-fingered hands, that spread in the air and reached forward. The ones before the frozen undead King became stronger, wrapping around whatever part of him they could, their glowing soaking into him.
It was as if Akhenaten was slowly being filled with sunlight from the inside. He glowed like hot iron, and his dried body had become a shell which began to crumble.
"Evy," breathed Rick. "What's happening?"
"I don't know..."
As the dead dried flesh fell away, disintegrating to dust, the bright ghost of Akhenaten was revealed. It was clear that he had once been a slender, gentle looking man. The hands of light that had rid the spirit of its corpse clutched him tightly, pulling it into the light. The shape of Akhenaten was bathed in beams, melting into the light, becoming one with the glowing Orb.
All at once a pulse of light burst from the Orb, and the glow at its centre was gone. About it the Anubis Warriors and akephalii were blasted into dust by the wave of light, which disappeared past the walls of the temple. The Orb dropped from the air onto the ground, its fall softened by a thick layer of desert sand. It dropped next to a pile of robes which were half-buried in the new earth and absolutely still.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Hello From Sunny Hamunaptra – Chapter 23