The Cult of Osiris

by Andy McDermott

  They set off again, the vast empty plain opening out all round them. Nina kept watch on the GPS, its display counting down the distance. Four miles, three, two . . . There was still nothing visible ahead, no lost monument rising from the dunes. She looked at Macy. The eagerness on the young woman's face was visibly fading with almost every foot they travelled.

  One mile. Still nothing in sight. Eddie gave Nino another glance, his expression warning of impending disappointment. Half a mile. Less. The landscape ahead was indistinguishable from what they had already covered.

  The GPS bleeped. 'This is it,' said Eddie, stopping the Land Rover. 'We're here.

  Macy jumped out, turning to see only endless empty desert. 'I ... I don't get it,' she said, running to the other side of the 4x4 as if expecting to find a different view. 'We followed all the clues, we found the silver canyon . . . why isn't it here?'

  Nina put a sympathetic hand on her shoulder as Eddie clambered on to the Land Rover's roof to survey the surrounding plain. 'Hey, it's okay. There might still be parts of it under the sand.'

  Only partsofil?'

  This is what archaeology is usually about - it's very, very rare that a completely new site is found intact.

  They're intact when you find them, though.' To Nina's surprise and dismay, Macy seemed on the verge of tears.

  Hey, hey, what's wrong?' she said. 'We haven't even started checking the area yet. We might still find something.

  No we won't,' Macy stammered. There's nothing here. I've wasted your time - I've wasted everybody's time, I almost got you both killed, and for nothing! Oh, my God, I'm sorry!

  What - why are you sorry?' Nina asked helplessly. 'Macy, why are you so upset?'

  Because . . . because Dr Berkeley was right about me! And so was my professor, and so were my teachers at high school. . . and so were you.

  Rightabout what?'

  Macy couldn't look at her, tears trickling down her cheeks. T'm-I'm-I'm worthless,' she managed to say.

  No, you're not,' said Nina, shocked by the young woman's sudden and total collapse of confidence. 'Why would you say that?'

  Because I am. I've never had to work for anything in my entire life. I always got whatever I wanted just because I was rich and pretty and popular, and people did things for me.' She bowed her head miserably. And the one time, the one time, when I really, really try hard to prove I can achieve something myself... I completely fail and let everyone down! I let you down.'

  You didn't,' said Nina. 'Really, you didn't. You said it yourself - if it hadn't been for you, Osir would have gotten away with the zodiac and nobody would ever have known. And you have achieved things for yourself. You got a place on the dig.'

  Only cause my mom called in a favour. Oh, God . . .' She finally raised her head. I wanted to be like you because I thought you were cool. I never realised how hard you worked, how much you went through. I thought that if I tried to be like you, everything would just come to me like it always did . . . but I was wrong, and now we're in this fucking horrible place with nothing to show for it. Nothing!'

  Nina couldn't think of anything to say. Instead, she put her arms round the sobbing woman, trying to provide some comfort.

  I'm sorry,' Macy mumbled. 'I really am.'

  You don't have to apologise for anything,' Nina assured her. And we should still search the area. Maybe there's something to find.

  There won't be,' she said miserably.

  Oi!' said Eddie, jumping down from the Land Rover. Enough with this fucking defeatism, okay? I just got my wife through one bout of it; I'm not having someone else start.'

  Nina was about to berate him for his insensitivity when she realised his attitude had changed; his obnoxiousness was a deliberate set-up for something. What is it?' she asked instead. 'I know that face - you've got something.

  Yeah, I've got something. It's not a pyramid, but it's man-made.' He pointed northwest. Over there/

  Nina saw nothing except more sand and rocks. 'Where?'

  He gave her the binoculars and pointed again. Those rocks, the ones in a sort of L-shape?' Yeah?

  'They're not rocks.'

  The magnified view revealed something new. Two large stones, one flat on the ground touching the base of another poking up from the sands.

  Stones . . . with straight edges. Not rocks.

  Blocks.

  The same size and colour as the ones used to construct the Osireion. My God,' Nina gasped. 'It's a building! What's left of one, anyway,' said Eddie.

  Macy looked back and forth between Nina and Eddie, wondering if they were playing some cruel joke, before realising they were not. Wait, you - you've found something? There's really something here?

  We were just a bit off course,' Nina told her, giving her the binoculars and pointing out the ruin. Macy gave a little gasp when she saw it. 'See? I told you not to give up, didn't I?'

  Macy wiped her eyes. 'Well - well, what are we waiting for?' she said, her hesitant attempt at a smile quickly becoming genuine. She climbed into the Land Rover. 'Come on, let's go!

  Wow,' said Nina, amused. Wish I could bounce back that quickly.

  Eddie put an arm round her shoulders. 'You do all right.

  The two stones revealed themselves as the remains of a small structure, roughly twelve feet by twelve, the other walls barely protruding above the sand. The thickness of the blocks meant the interior was even smaller. If it had once been a dwelling, it would have made a prison cell seem spacious.

  Nina had another theory, though. It's a marker. There aren't any natural landmarks, so they had to build one. But what's it marking?

  Macy examined the blocks for further clues. 'Maybe there's another set of directions here.'

  Nina shook her head. 'The zodiac text said that after you come out of the silver canyon, the next stop is the actual pyramid.

  So where is it?' Eddie asked. It can't have been buried, can it? I mean, this thing's still sticking up, so unless it's the world's tiniest pyramid we should be able to see something.'

  Unless it was buried deliberately.' But she dismissed the idea. The amount of sand needed to completely bury even a small pyramid would be unimaginable.

  It was the right place, though. Finding the canyon required specialised knowledge of the Osireion, which would have been limited to a small number of people, and the astronomical calculations needed to deduce the direction of the journey's final leg were the province of even fewer. The pyramid had to be here.

  So why couldn't they see it?

  It all came back to the zodiac. Nina took out the stolen photo of the ancient relief. Doing a bit of astrology?' said Eddie.

  There must be one more clue on here, I'm sure of it.' Macy hopped down to join her as she perused the image. 'Which way's north?'

  Eddie checked his compass and pointed. Nina aligned the zodiac with it. . . then flipped the paper over and held it above her head. This is how you were meant to view it,' she said. Looking up at it - and facing north. The clue's here, it's on the map, it's . . . here!' She brought the chart sharply down, keeping it oriented so that north, which had been ahead of her, was now at the bottom of the page. The pyramid marking! Do you see it?'

  Yeah,' said Eddie, ' but what about it? It's just a triangle.'

  Maybe, but which way is it pointing?'

  Down,' said Macy, the implications sinking in a moment later. No way!' Nina smiled. 'Way.'

  Eddie frowned at the map. 'Okay, what am I missing?'

  The pyramid on the zodiac, it's upside down,' she told him. Don't you see? It's an inverted pyramid - and the people who made the map meant it literally. They were representing what was actually here.'

  Macy was also caught up in her excitement. Some tomb paintings, like Ramesses VTs, show the Egyptian Underworld as a mirror world right underneath ours - like a reflection in the Nile. Maybe they built Osiris's pyramid upside down to be an Underworld version of the real ones . . . no, wait, that doesn't work. If the zodiac inside the Sphinx is older t
han Khafre, it would have to be older than any of the other pyramids.

  The Pyramid of Osiris isn't an inverted copy of the other pyramids,' Nina realised, breathless. The other pyramids are inverted copies of the Pyramid of Osiris - they were built above the surface to imitate Osiris's tomb in the Underworld! That's why they put so much effort into matching the shape.'

  Hang on,' said Eddie. 'You're saying they built this pyramid upside down?'

  Nina scooped a handful of sand from the ground, leaving a roughly conical depression. They dug a hole and built the pyramid inside it, with the point at the bottom and working upwards. Or maybe they dug out each new layer below the one they 'd just built and filled in

  the pyramid's core once the outer walls were in place, I don't know. But it wouldn't be any harder than building the Great Pyramid. It might even have been easier - they didn't need to lift any of the stones up Just lower them down. Gravity was on their side.'

  'So we're standing on it?'

  One way to find out.' She went back to the Defender and took out three shovels. Let's get to work/

  Where?' Macy asked.

  Nina indicated the ruin's interior. Tn there. I don't think it's just a marker - it's an entrance.'

  They started digging. It was slow going under the baking sun, requiring frequent breaks for water, but after a while Eddie's spade struck something hard. Let me see,' Nina said, sweeping away sand with her bare hands. A flat stone slab was revealed.

  Might just be this building's floor,' Eddie cautioned.

  I don't think so. Come on, let's get the rest of it clear.'

  They set back to work, Nina now too eager to take any more breaks. By the time they were done, a space just over six feet to a side had been mostly cleared. Nina brushed away more of the gritty covering, finding a narrow crack about a foot in from the wall. She traced its path with her finger; it formed a square. 'It could be a cover stone for the entrance.'

  Macy found something else at the slab's centre. Look familiar?' she said, wiping away more sand. Revealed in the stone was a carved symbol.

  The Eye of Osiris.

  Guess we're in the right place, then,' said Eddie. 'So what now?' The women looked at him. 'Oh, right,' he sighed. T get to lift up a two-ton stone block. Bloody marvellous.' But he climbed out of the newly dug pit and returned to the Land Rover for more equipment. 'You,' he said, pointing at Nina as he jumped back down with a long crowbar, 'drink some water. I'm not having you keeling over, all right?'

  All right/ grumbled Nina, who had all but forgotten the heat. She retrieved her water bottle as Eddie examined the slab's outline.

  Finding the widest part of the gap, he inserted the crowbar. Straining, he pushed at it. There was a crunch, and the slab shifted slightly. Not as heavy as I thought - it'll only give me a little hernia,' he said. 'Nina, there's some metal spikes in the Landie. Bring em, will you?

  Nina found them. As Eddie levered the slab open little by little, she pushed the tapered spikes into the gradually opening crack so it couldn't fall back down. Before long, a thin line of darkness appeared beneath its lower edge. Eddie moved the Land Rover closer and used the 4x4's winch to raise the slab higher. It rested on an inner lip of stone; grunting, he pushed it up to its tipping point and let it fall back against the wall with a bang.

  There we go,' he said, theatrically wiping dust from his palms. 'Piece of piss.'

  A bit too . . . piss piece-y,' said Macy, looking down the hole. The entrances to the other pyramids were all hidden.'

  Nina had the same thought. Either they reckoned the only people who would ever find it were supposed to be here ... or that's not the only obstacle.'

  You'd better not be saying what I think you're saying,' Eddie growled.

  Afraid I just might be, hon.'

  Macy was confused. 'What do you mean?'

  We'll find out soon enough,' Nina said.

  They collected their equipment, then, exchanging wary looks, lowered themselves into the hole ... to become the first people in over six thousand years to enter the Pyramid of Osiris.

  22

  234

  The floor of the entrance chamber was about eight feet beneath the hole. Sand had seeped through directly below the opening, but beyond it everything was clean.

  Almost too clean. There was a stagnant feel to the air. Nothing had moved here since the tomb was sealed, time standing still - or pausing* poised, waiting for someone foolish enough to disturb the eternal silence.

  Macy shone a flashlight across the walls, revealing the chamber as somewhat larger than the structure above. Hieroglyphics,'she said, stepping closer. Huh.'

  'What?' Nina asked, joining her. 'Can you read them?

  'Just about, but they're weird-looking. They must be really old.'

  'They 're beautiful, though.' Nina slowly moved the beam of her own light along the white wall. The hieroglyphs were as clear and colourful as the day they had been painted, figures from Egyptian mythology standing amongst the text. She recognised some of them as gods: Ra, the sun-god, creator of all things; Nut, goddess of the sky, her naked body arched to form a vault over the entire earth

  But there was one god missing. 'No Osiris.' The key figure of ancient Egyptian religion was conspicuous by his absence.

  'No Horus, either,' Macy added. 'Or Set, or Isis. Not even Anubis, and since he's the god of tombs, you'd kind of expect him to be here.'

  'They were all contemporaries of Osiris, or his children,' Nina reasoned. 'They hadn't been deified yet. Which means this place really does pre-date the Old Kingdom - Osiris and the others were already worshipped as gods by 3000 BC.

  'I was right,' said Macy. 'Yay me!'

  Eddie explored another part of the chamber. 'Got a doorway here.' A pair of decorated pillars marked the exit. There're some stairs. Pretty steep.

  Let's hold on - this room might tell us something useful.'

  Macy examined the texts. Freaky,' she said. 'They're lists of all the trials that newlydeads have to go through in the Underworld. Like the Pyramid Texts and the Coffin Texts.

  They sound cheerful,' Eddie commented.

  Earlier versions of the Egyptian Book of the Dead,' Nina told him. Oh, perfect bedtime reading. By Stephenkingmun, was it?

  Macy giggled, then returned her attention to the walls. What I don't get is that in the other texts, all this stuff is basically prayers telling you how to get through each arit, each land, of the Underworld. Like instructions - if you haven't sinned and you do what it says in the texts, you'll get through all the trials to meet Osiris. This is written differently, though.

  How so?' Nina asked.

  Macy pointed out one section. This is talking about the first arit of the House of Osiris. When you go in, you have to face the Lady of Tremblings, one of the guardians of the Underworld. But it only really says that she's bad news, "the Lady of Destruction". In the Book of the Dead it also says that she'll deliver the person going through the Underworld from destruction if they're doing things right -1 remember it, because I thought the idea of being the Lady of Destruction was neat. Kinda metal.

  Eddie nudged Nina. 'You know all about being the Lady of Destruction, don't you?'

  She huffed. Only accidentally. But the second part's not in this text?'

  Not that I can see,' Macy said. It's more like a warning than a prayer. There's nothing about how to actually get through the arit'

  Oh, man!' Nina complained, looking at Eddie. You know what that sounds like, don't you?'

  'Booby traps/ they said together.

  Nina put a hand to her face. 'Just once, just goddamn once,' she moaned, Td like to find an incredible archaeological site that's not filled with Rube Goldberg death machines. Is that too much to ask? No collapsing ceilings, no crushing devices, no frickin' cherubims waving swords at me!

  Macy was intrigued. 'Cherubims? As in angels?'

  Long story,' said Eddie. 'Okay, so we've got to get past the Lady of Tremblings. What else?'

  Ma
cy spent several minutes searching through the hieroglyphics. 'The Lake of Fire - or Devourer by Fire, it's talking about the same thing,' she reported. 'The Lady of Rainstorms. The Lady of Might, who "tramples on those who should not be here", sheesh. The Goddess of the Loud Voice—'

  Nina, they wrote about you!' Eddie put in.

  Well, yeah, I am a goddess.'

  I can just leave, if you like,' Macy said peevishly, before turning back to the ancient text. So we've got the Goddess of the Loud Voice, the Hewer-in-Pieces in Blood, and then the last thing before you reach Osiris is the Gutter-off of Heads. Real subtle. They're all mentioned in the Book of the Dead, but these descriptions are a bit hinky.'

  It's the other way round,' said Nina thoughtfully. 'The prayers in the Book of the Dead came from these - this was the source. The booby traps built to protect Osiris's tomb eventually became part of the religion.

  We might need more than prayers to get past something called the Hewer-in-fucking-Pieces,' Eddie said, shining his light down the sloping passage. There's nothing helpful?'

  Doesn't look like it,' Macy replied. The other text's mostly "Osiris is awesome!" kinda stuff. Lots of curses, too. "Desecrate the tomb of Osiris and suffer a thousand agonising deaths", yadda yadda.'

  I don't want to suffer one agonising death,' said Nina, joining Eddie. The passage was also decorated, more Egyptian gods ominously watching anyone who dared traverse it. 'Think we can make it through?'

  Depends what state the traps are in,' Eddie said. 'Doesn't look like anyone's been here before us, so there's no chance Indy or Lara 11 have set them off already - but after this long, they might not still be working/

  Right, like we're ever that lucky.' Nina looked back at Macy. 'What do you think?'

  She seemed surprised to be asked. Me? I dunno, it's your decision.

  'It's your life,' Nina countered.

  Macy considered it. T came this far,' she said. 'And you've both kept me in one piece, so let's do it!' She was about to start down the steps when Eddie grabbed her.

  Just one thing,' he said, pulling her back. 'Stay behind us, okay?'

  The passage descended into the inverted pyramid, making two ninety-degree turns before a pair of ornate pillars marked the entrance to another chamber. It's the first arit,' said Macy, nervous.