The young man peered into her face instead. “The scroll spirits must have affected your memory, my princess, like the first time you came,” he said in his tongue. “And you now speak a language only the gods can understand. Here, let me help you.”
Before Rachel could respond to this, the man touched her right hand with his left hand, and a wave of change swept through the little girl’s mind. Strangely, her pupils lost color before taking up sharper hues and coming to bear on the initiator of this peculiar biological occurrence. “Amenhotep,” she began in the man’s foreign language, curiously staring at him. “Where are the others?”
“The daughters of Isis are in hiding, my princess,” Amenhotep said in the same language. “The sons of Osiris are here with me.”
Rachel saw that the young man was not alone. A dozen other men wielding swords, spears and spiked wooden clubs appeared from the darkness surrounding her into the illumination created by the reed torch Amenhotep held in his right hand. Sitting up, she spotted some boys in the crowd as well.
“Ramses, or Aiden as you divinely called him, now sleeps in a coffin, my princess,” Amenhotep continued, pointing to a wooden box behind Rachel.
“A coffin?” Rachel, or Princess Anippe, frowned. “What for?”
“So that he can rest after your encounter with the scroll spirits, my princess,” the surprised Egyptian replied. “Why is that...”
“The Gray Ones,” Rachel correctly identified as the scroll spirits. She wasn’t surprised she’d retained her alternate memory, which had happened before. “How did you stop them?”
“They fear the ankh, my princess,” a man standing beside Amenhotep said. He held up a wooden carving of a sign that looked like a cross with a curved handle replacing one of its four arms. “They fear life, itself.”
“The scroll spirits attacked you, my princess,” Amenhotep said. “This should not be so.”
“They want the codex for themselves,” Rachel told him. “They do not want to guard the codex and its Earthbearer any longer.”
“The white codex?” the young man asked her in awe. “You mean the white codex is back here in Alexandria?” His kinsmen drew nearer to hear Princess Anippe’s answer.
“It is in the Library of Scrolls as we speak,” Rachel revealed, trying to appreciate the situation she had just found herself in. “I–I could not defeat the Christian emperor and save Egypt just like I promised you the first time, Amenhotep. The scroll spirits betrayed my trust and assisted our enemies since they want the white codex for their selfish rebellion against Osiris.”
“Now I see,” Amenhotep said, nodding. “The scroll spirits must have turned against us if they want the white codex.”
Rachel nodded in agreement. She had created the back story to the present happenings the first time she appeared in Egypt, which was immediately after she escaped death in the hands of Emperor Constantine’s soldiers in Rome. Of course, she never thought she would have to return to Egypt and face the sons of Osiris and daughters of Isis again.
“And if they cannot do this alone for fear of the ankh,” Amenhotep continued, “then I believe they must have brought in the Christians to do this work for them.”
“The Christians?” Princess Anippe frowned a second time.
“The Purge has begun, Princess Anippe,” Amenhotep said uneasily.
“The Purge?” Rachel understood what the man meant. The first time she appeared in this city, the locals had talked about the looming annihilation of remnant cults of the traditional deities by the Christians.
“The rumors are true,” a boy on Rachel’s left said. Much older than the little girl his kinsmen now surrounded, he looked and sounded very learned. “They now call us ‘pagans.’”
“And they want to kill us all if we do not turn from the ways of our fathers and follow the Hebrew deities,” one man wielding a club said.
“We hid ourselves and our families due to this rumor,” Amenhotep added. “Now our worst fears are upon us. The Purge has started in earnest.”
“They are trying to enter the Temple of Isis as we speak,” the boy near Amenhotep said.
“Who?” Princess Anippe asked him.
“Christians, my princess,” another man said. “The scroll spirits will return with the Christians after they realize that these haters of Osiris will prevent us from using the ankh if they join forces.”
“Then we must hurry,” Rachel said. “They must not lay hands on the white codex.”
“Of course, my princess,” this Egyptian agreed. “We must go to the Library of Scrolls at once and retrieve the white codex, but we must know that this will not be an easy task anymore. The first time you met us, princess, we were not hiding for our lives.”
“Perhaps you will not abandon us this time,” Amenhotep added. “Perhaps this time, you will help us by using the white codex just like you promised us. At least, we can now defeat the scroll spirits and force them to assist us with your help and the ankh.”
“Yes,” Rachel began in English, biting her lips, “about that...”
“Rachel,” Aiden called out to her from his coffin bed. “What’s going on? Why am I in a coffin? Who’re these people?”
“Aiden, eh...Ramses,” Rachel cried in correction, standing up and looking around her. “You are alive!”
“He is over there,” Amenhotep directed the little girl, pointing the way. His fellow Egyptians made way for their divine princess child to leave the circle and go to her brother.
Aiden climbed out of the coffin. “Why am I in a coffin? Who put me in there?” he complained. “Creepy. I hate coffins.”
“I know,” Rachel said, hugging him, “but I’m glad you’re back.”
Aiden seemed taken aback by the hug.
“You discuss with Ramses in the tongue of the gods, my princess,” Amenhotep observed from afar. “May we know what you are telling him?”
“Only the Chosen can understand what we are discussing, my dear Amenhotep,” Rachel replied.
“What did he say?” Aiden asked her. His fellow time-traveler seemed quite flustered and edgy.
“Look,” she told him. “We are in grave danger.”
“How?” Aiden straightened.
Rachel cleared her throat. “The first time I was here after escaping from the Mine,” she began, “I lied to the scroll spirits that I will give them the white codex if they allow me to get to the Library of Scrolls and retrieve the codex without harassment.”
“The scroll spirits?” Aiden looked confused. “You mean the Booklords?”
“Yes,” Rachel agreed.
“The white codex is the white book?”
“Yes.”
“And why did you think that the Gray Ones would allow you to take the white book just like that?”
“Because they know it is easier to get the book from me if I give it to them willingly.” Rachel paused. “By the way, I pulled it off back then. I don’t know if I can do so again.”
“It is time, my princess,” Amenhotep interrupted, strutting forward.
“Yes, of course,” Princess Anippe said. “We must leave now.”
“Rachel, what’s going on?” Aiden asked, throwing furtive glances at the Egyptians. “Who are these people?”
The sons of Osiris came to surround the two children they apparently revered and Amenhotep cleared his throat. “Welcome, the divine Prince Ramses, brother of Princess Anippe, divine daughter of Isis. We have heard so much about you and we hope your divine powers will help us to defeat our enemies just as your sister had foretold many weeks ago in her first coming.” He wanted to take Aiden’s hands but Rachel offered him her hands instead.
“What did he just say, Rachel?” Aiden asked the Jewish girl.
“Nothing important,” she replied.
“You appear not to understand our language,” Amenhotep observed. “The scroll spirits must have...”
“You will touch him when it is time, my dear Amenhotep,” Rachel interrupted. “We
must get to the Library of Scrolls now.”
The Egyptian nodded and turned to his kinsmen. “Now we proceed to the Library of Scrolls,” he announced before turning towards the door of carved Egyptian symbols to manipulate a lever-like handle attached to it. “Be on your guard, my friends, for the Christians have overwhelmed our brothers outside and are surely looking for other ways to enter Cleopatra’s tomb and our most holy temple. We must resist to the end if we want to enjoy the afterlife.”
His fellow worshippers yelled out their agreement in a resounding chorus as the heavy doors swung open to reveal a flight of stony steps leading down to a dimly lit passageway.
“Rachel, who’re these people?” Aiden repeated in English, looking around him at the natives wielding spears, swords and spiked clubs as the group made its way down the rough steps.
“Th–They think we are from their gods,” Rachel replied in the same language.
“Why?” Aiden asked.
“I lied to them the first time I came here.”
“About what?”
“About who I am and where I came from,” was the reply. “I told them I was the divine daughter of Isis and Osiris, and that I had come from the gods to restore their country to her former glory.”
“So that you can easily find the white book?”
“No, so that they can gladly give me the white book,” Rachel, or Princess Anippe, replied.
“I don’t understand,” Aiden confessed, as the group got to the foot of the steps.
“I came here without the book,” Rachel told him amidst stares from the Egyptians surrounding them. “It appeared in a library across from that hall we found ourselves in and I needed to go and get it, but the Gray Ones, who had followed me and the book to Egypt, will not let me if I did not agree to their demand that I give them the book, so I convinced them that I would give them the book and lied to these people so that they can allow me entrance into their Library of Scrolls in order for me to get the book. I also had to lie to the people so that the Booklords will not destroy them if they refused to help me.”
“Wow,” Aiden said, looking at the wooden club of a dark fellow walking beside him. “You’ve gone through a lot.”
“Yes,” Rachel said, turning to Amenhotep. She realized that the Egyptian had left them alone, for the moment at least, and gladly turned back to her ‘divine brother,’ Prince Ramses or Aiden, who appeared lost in thought. “That last time, the Booklords had arrived at the library, but could not break the book’s heavenly protection,” Rachel told him. “And when they appeared in the library to meet me, many natives, who had never seen these angels-turned-demons before, died.”
Aiden could only stare at her.
“I had to lie again,” she revealed.
“What now?”
“I told the people that the scroll spirits were guardians of the white codex who protected me and served the god, Osiris. That the deaths were necessary sacrifices for the sustenance of every other life in that library at that moment. Luckily, the Gray Ones did not kill any other person after that, and of course, I escaped with the white book after retrieving it from the library.”
“Okay,” Aiden whistled. “Now I know why we’re in trouble.”
Princess Anippe sighed.
“What now?” her travelling companion wondered aloud.
“We’ll retrieve the book first, and then we’ll know what to do,” Rachel said.
“What of Kimberley?” Aiden asked. “I hope she’s okay.”
“I hope so, too,” Rachel agreed.
The group had stopped at the foot of another flight of stony steps going upwards. Amenhotep turned to Rachel, pointing at Aiden with his head. “Can I touch him now, my princess?” he asked.
The place grew cold.
“The ankh!” Princess Anippe screamed, grabbing her brother’s hand. “Bring out your ankhs!”
Many quickly obeyed this command. Many could not. The black forms materialized out of nowhere, screeching intolerably as some of the reed torches went out. They disappeared almost immediately.
Aiden realized his palms were moist.
“Nobody died,” Amenhotep announced, looking around him as murmuring broke out amongst the sons of Osiris.
“That is good,” Rachel said, turning to Aiden. “It means they really fear the ankh.”
“Who fears what?”
“The Gray Ones fear the ankh.”
“The what?”
“The ankh.” Princess Anippe took one of the amulets from the nearest Egyptian and raised it up for Prince Ramses, or Aiden, to see. “It scares away the Booklords.”
“Okay,” a puzzled Aiden said.
Amenhotep came and stood beside Rachel, his expression one of urgency. Again, he pointed at Aiden with his head.
“Why does he keep doing that?” Aiden asked Rachel, staring at the Egyptian.
“Yes,” Rachel told Amenhotep in his language. “You can now touch him.”
“And what did you just tell him?”
* * *
Carl Bain stared at the hollow-faced shapes floating around him for a long time before cursing softly, his right hand shooting up to his head as soon as he felt another headache coming. “Strange,” he muttered. “What the hell happened back there?”
His gray companions offered him nothing but silence.
He moved his muscular arms backward to the nape of his neck, trying to loosen the stiffness there. Whatever happened was not good, because it meant that the invincibility he thought his spirit friends had bestowed upon him did not exist. He had encountered a strange force in that ancient hall moments ago. One that could defeat him and his infernal masters if given the chance.
When his superhuman being felt the raw strength of this unearthly force, he’d been pulled back and thrown out of the ancient reality he had been occupying with his foe by the will of the gray forms now surrounding him. A brief time spinning around with his newfound friends in an unknown realm preceded a reemergence into the ancient land they all previously occupied, only that they were no longer in the long hall where he had fought the girl. Kind of like an escape sequence.
“Why did we run away?” he asked the closest demonic form before him. “I was about to make her talk.”
“Rejuvenation,” its empty face seemed to say as it floated higher up in the air, its previous position taken up by another horrendous shape.
“You agreed to help me first!” Carl Bain snapped, getting up in anger and gesticulating. “I almost had her!”
“Rejuvenation,” the Gray Ones echoed as they faded away.
The American’s eyes sparkled and he suddenly lost his rebellious attitude. He looked at his bulging arms and hands, feeling a new form of strength sipping into him. Knowledge he never knew flooded into his brain and he felt ultimately satisfied. Flames erupted from his hands and he controlled it by forming a ball. His eyes sparkled as he reveled in his awesome power.
“Khabawsokar,” a Roman soldier called out to him from the door of his temple. “We need your help.”
“I have nothing to do with Christians,” Carl Bain, or Khabawsokar, said, looking at the soldier. The man was not wearing any symbols like the others.
“The emperor will spare you if you help us enter the Hall of Isis and destroy the pagans,” the soldier continued as if he did not hear the ancient healer.
“The emperor cannot touch me,” Khabawsokar said with a wave of his hand.
“And what of your family?”
“He cannot harm my family,” Carl Bain whispered slowly. “They are in a safe place.”
“Still, I command you to help,” the soldier said, losing his patience. “The doors are unbreakable from the outside. We have cleaned out the guards before it, but we cannot get in.”
“Then burn down the door.”
“The emperor wants to preserve the temple as it is, with the door in place, not burned down,” was the terse reply. “Now, I command you to...”
The Booklords appe
ared in their gory form and the soldier slumped dead. The demons surrounded Khabawsokar and he nodded after awhile.
“Yes,” he agreed with them. “The Christians can help us.”
They communicated some more with him.
“Yes,” he said again. “That is a very good plan. No symbols.”
Picking up his two daggers, Carl Bain, also known as Khabawsokar, walked out of his temple as his infernal masters vanished. He stepped over the dead soldier on his way out.
Chapter 11: Nanu & the Daughters of Isis
KIMBERLEY opened the second door and peered into a large enclosure. Stepping into this brightly lit man-made cave, she felt like she’d been there before. The structure’s hexagonal corners had reed torches burning on gold stands only fit for royalty. Golden traditional chairs dotted the place amidst tastefully decorated tables that made up the furniture. Life-sized human paintings and hieroglyphs covered the walls.
“Open this door in the name of God and the emperor!” someone shouted outside the long antechamber above her. “Open this door in the name of God and the emperor!” this person repeated, banging loudly on the huge door guarding the hall. “Open this door in the name of God and the emperor!” More banging followed this repeated command and Kimberley wondered if the fellow behind the door was ever going to get tired. Good that the hall’s exit appeared impregnable from the outside, else she would have been facing multiple confrontations by then.
Kimberley reckoned that a large crowd waited outside the great wooden door of the lengthy hall above her, judging from the noise they made. Unlocking the barred structure from within would have been the worst decision at that point. Entering the side tunnel Aiden and Rachel escaped into moments ago had looked like a better decision, until the Portwood sergeant realized that the structure was actually a tomb.
“Open this door in the name of God and the emperor!”
Kimberley looked around her. She’d come to the conclusion that there were no escape paths from the vestibule above, only coffins and ancient relics, and this exorbitantly decorated room. So where did Aiden and Rachel escape into?
The White Book Page 13