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In population terms the necropolis outstripped the other cities of the Old Kingdom, but its people didnt get out much and there was nothing to do on Saturday nights.
Until now.
Now it thronged:
Teppic watched from the top of a wind-etched obelisk as the grey and brown, and here and there somewhat greenish, armies of the departed passed beneath him. The kings had been democratic. After the pyramids had been emptied gangs of them had turned their attention to the lesser tombs, and now the necropolis really did have its tradesmen, its nobles and even its artisans. Not that there was, by and large, any way of telling the difference.
They were, to a corpse, heading for the Great Pyramid. It loomed like a carbuncle over the lesser, older buildings. And they all seemed very angry about something.
Teppic dropped lightly on to the wide flat roof of a mastaba, jogged to its far end, cleared the gap on to an ornamental sphinx - not without a moments worry, but this one seemed inert enough - and from there it was but the throw of a grapnel to one of the lower storeys of a step pyramid. The long light of the contentious sun lanced across the spent landscape as he leapt from monument to monument, zig-zagging high above the shuffling army.
Behind him shoots appeared briefly in the ancient stone, cracking it a little, and then withered and died.
This, said his blood as it tingled around his body, is what you trained for. Even Mericet couldnt mark you down for this. Speeding in the shadows above a silent city, running like a cat, finding handholds that would have perplexed a gecko - and, at the destination, a victim.
True, it was a billion tons of pyramid, and hitherto the largest client of an inhumation had been Patricio, the 23-stone Despot of Quirm.
A monumental needle recording in bas-relief the achievements of a king four thousand years ago, and which would have been more pertinent if the wind-driven sand hadnt long ago eroded his name, provided a handy ladder which needed only an expertly thrown grapnel from its top, lodging in the outstretched fingers of a forgotten monarch, to allow him a long, gentle arc on to the roof of a tomb.
Running, climbing and swinging, hastily hammering crampons in the memorials of the dead, Teppic went forth.
Pinpoints of firelight among the limestone pricked out the lines of the opposing armies. Deep and stylised though the enmity was between the two empires, they both abided by the ancient tradition that warfare wasnt undertaken at night, during harvest or when wet. It was important enough to save up for special occasions. Going at it hammer and tongs just reduced the whole thing to a farce.
In the twilight on both sides of the line came the busy sound of advanced woodwork in progress.
Its said that generals are always ready to fight the last War over again. It had been thousands of years since the last war between Tsort and Ephebe, but generals have long memories and this time they were ready for it.
On both sides of the line, wooden horses were taking shape.
Its gone, said Ptaclusp IIb, slithering back down the pile of rubble.
About time, too, said his father. Help me fold up your brother. Youre sure it wont hurt him?
Well, if we do it carefully he cant move in Time, that is, width to us. So if no time can pass for him, nothing can hurt him.
Ptaclusp thought of the old days, when pyramid building had simply consisted of piling one block on another and all you needed to remember was that you put less on top as you went up. And now it meant trying to put a crease in one of your sons.
Right, he said doubtfully. Lets be off, then. He inched his way up the debris and poked his head over the top just as the vanguard of the dead came round the corner of the nearest minor pyramid.
His first thought was: this is it, theyre coming to complain. Hed done his best. It wasnt always easy to build to a budget. Maybe not every lintel was exactly as per drawings, perhaps the quality of the internal plasterwork wasnt always up to snuff, but . . .
They cant all be complaining. Not this many of them.
Ptaclusp IIb climbed up alongside him. His mouth dropped open.
Where are they all coming from? he said.
Youre the expert. You tell me.
Are they dead?
Ptaclusp scrutinised some of the approaching marchers.
If theyre not, some of them are awfully ill, he said.
Lets make a run for it!
Where to? Up the pyramid?
The Great Pyramid loomed up behind them, its throbbing filling the air. Ptaclusp stared at it.
Whats going to happen tonight? he said.
What?
Well, is it going to - do whatever it did - again?
IIb stared at him. Dunno.
Can you find out?
Only by waiting. Im not even sure what its done now.
Are we going to like it?
I shouldnt think so, dad. Oh, dear.
Whats up now?
Look over there.
Heading towards the marching dead, trailing behind Koomi like a tail behind a comet, were the priests.
It was hot and dark inside the horse. It was also very crowded.
They waited, sweating.
Young Autocue stuttered: Whatll happen now, sergeant?
The sergeant moved a foot tentatively. The atmosphere would have induced claustrophobia in a sardine.
Well, lad. Theyll find us, see, and be so impressed theyll drag us all the way back to their city, and then when its dark well leap out and put them to the sword. Or put the sword to them. One or the other. And then well sack the city, bum the walls and sow the ground with salt. You remember, lad, I showed you on Friday.
Oh.
Moisture dripped from a score of brows. Several of the men were trying to compose a letter home, dragging styli across wax that was close to melting.
And then what will happen, sergeant?
Why, lad, then well go home heroes.
Oh.
The older soldiers sat stolidly looking at the wooden walls. Autocue shifted uneasily, still worried about something.
My mum said to come back with my shield or on it, sergeant, he said.
Jolly good, lad. Thats the spirit.
We will be all right, though. Wont we, sergeant?
The sergeant stared into the fetid darkness.
After a while, someone started to play the harmonica.
Ptaclusp half-turned his head from the scene and a voice by his ear said, Youre the pyramid builder, arent you?
Another figure had joined them in their bolthole, one who was black-clad and moved in a way that made a cats tread sound like a one-man band.
Ptaclusp nodded, unable to speak. He had had enough shocks for one day.
Well, switch it off. Switch it off now.
IIb leaned over.
Whore you? he said.
My name is Teppic.
What, like the king?
Yes. Just like the king. Now turn it off.
Its a pyramid! You cant turn off pyramids! said IIb.
Well, then, make it flare.
We tried that last night. IIb pointed to the shattered capstone. Unroll Two-Ay, dad.
Teppic regarded the flat brother.
Its some sort of wall poster, is it? he said eventually.
IIb looked down. Teppic saw the movement, and looked down also; he was ankle-deep in green sprouts.
Sorry, he said. I cant seem to shake it off.
It can be dreadful, said IIb frantically. I know how it is, I had this verruca once, nothing would shift it.
Teppic hunkered down by the cracked stone.
This thing, he said. Whats the significance? I mean, its coated with metal. Why?
Theres got to be a sharp point for the flare, said IIb.
Is that all? This is gold, isnt it?
Its electrum. Gold and silver alloy. The capstone has got to be made of electrum.
Teppic peeled back the foil.
Yes. Well, said Ptaclusp. We found, er, that foil works just as well.
Couldnt you use something cheaper? Like steel? Ptaclusp sneered. It hadnt been a good day, sanity was a distant memory, but there were certain facts he knew for a fact.
Wouldnt last for more than a year or two, he said. What with the dew and so forth. Youd lose the point. Wouldnt last more than two or three hundred times.
Teppic leaned his head against the pyramid. It was cold, and it hummed. He thought he could hear, under the throbbing, a faint rising tone.
The pyramid towered over him. (IIb could have told him that this was because the walls sloped in at precisely 56 degrees, and an effect known as battering made the pyramid loom even higher than it really was. He probably would have used words like perspective and virtual height as well.
The black marble was glassy smooth. The masons had done well. The cracks between each silky panel were hardly wide enough to insert a knife. But wide enough, all the same.
How about once? he said.
Koomi chewed his fingernails distractedly.
Fire, he said. Thatd stop them. Theyre very inflammable. Or water. Theyd probably dissolve.
Some of them were destroying pyramids, said the high priest of Juf, the Cobra-Headed God of Papyrus.
People always come back from the dead in such a bad temper, said another priest.
Koomi watched the approaching army in mounting bewilderment.
Wheres Dios? he said.
The old high priest was pushed to the front of the crowd.
What shall I say to them? Koomi demanded.
It would be wrong to say that Dios smiled. It wasnt an action he often felt called upon to perform. But his mouth creased at the edges and his eyes went half-hooded.
You could tell them, he said, that new times demand new men. You could tell them that it is time to make way for younger people with fresh ideas. You could tell them that they are outmoded. You could tell them all that.
Theyll kill me!
Would they be that anxious for your eternal company, I wonder?
Youre still high priest!
Why dont you talk to them? said Dios. Dont forget to tell them that they are to be dragged kicking and screaming into the Century of the Cobra. He handed Koomi the staff. Or whatever this century is called, he added.
Koomi felt the eyes of the assembled brethren and sistren upon him. He cleared his throat, adjusted his robe, and turned to face the mummies.
They were chanting something, one word, over and over again. He couldnt quite make it out, but it seemed to have worked them up into a rage.
He raised the staff, and the carved wooden snakes looked unusually alive in the flat light.
The gods of the Disc - and here is meant the great consensus gods, who really do exist in Dunmanifestin, their semi-detached Valhalla on the worlds impossibly high central mountain, where they pass the time observing the petty antics of mortal men and organising petitions about how the influx of the Ice Giants has lowered property values in the celestial regions - the gods of Disc have always been fascinated by humanitys incredible ability to say exactly the wrong thing at the wrong time.
Theyre not talking here of such easy errors as Its perfectly safe, or The ones that growl a lot dont bite, but of simple little sentences which are injected into difficult situations with the same general effect as a steel bar dropped into the bearings of a 3,000 rpm, 660 megawatt steam turbine.
And connoisseurs of mankinds tendency to put his pedal extremity where his tongue should be are agreed that when the judges envelopes are opened then Hoot Koomis fine performance in Begone from this place, foul shades will be a contender for all-time bloody stupid greeting.
The front row of ancestors halted, and were pushed forward a little by the press of those behind.
King Teppicymon XXVII, who by common consent among the other twenty-six Teppicymons was spokesman, lurched on alone and picked up the trembling Koomi by his arms.
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