Pyramid of the Gods

by J. R. Rain

  “We all did,” said Ishi.

  I prayed we didn’t suddenly lose the help by discussing it out loud. “I heard my name called, back where Motumbo is gathering his loot.”

  The tunnel’s incline had been steadily descending for the past minute, but leveled out again. As it did, the light grew brighter and veered to our left. It, and the unseen songstress, stopped, as if waiting for us to catch up and take over the lead. We stepped into darkness, and the light stayed with us, its glow drifting over our heads until it expanded to completely illuminate another enormous room. Like the last room, it was filled with riches. Unlike the last one, the gold, gems, and what looked like an odd assortment of other minerals, were in raw form. Stored in large orderly piles forming the perimeter of an immense circle, a walkway ran from its center to a tall staircase. Everything glistened spectacularly beneath a fiery sphere that came to life the instant the other light came in contact with it.

  The piles were huge, reminding me of the neat piles of landscaping rocks and gravel at a plant near my home in California. Only, in this case, the sheer wealth of gold, diamonds, sapphires, and other objects resembling split meteorites would be staggering—perhaps more valuable than the Hittite gold artifacts in the other room, given the variety.

  “Well, what do we do about this?” asked Marie. “You have the site rights, and the Egyptian government is entitled to the lionshare of everything here—including what that asshole is stealing from the other room. But, there’s enough here to make us all wealthy. I’m thinking...”

  Her voice trailed off as the flaming sphere flickered, along with the other light that had steadily dimmed to a soft, ethereal glow. It was almost like whatever had spoken to us and brought us here, wanted us to consider that maybe nothing here belonged to any of us.

  “Maybe we can’t take any of it,” said Ishi, while Marie and I looked warily around us.

  The flickering stopped, and a new sound emerged. But it wasn’t the hollow voice luring us like a Siren. No, it was the sound of men, excited and shouting angrily in Sudanese.

  It took a moment to register, but Motumbo’s men hadn’t deserted him after all. They were back, and from the growing din of their footfalls echoing against the tunnel walls, they were headed our way.

  We scanned the walls for another exit. But none were visible. There wasn’t time to search for a hidden one, either, or seek refuge above the stairs. The fiery sphere, along with the powerful glow that brought us here, faded until they seemingly ceased to exist. All was deathly quiet and dark when the first hostile flashlight beams invaded the room.

  Chapter Thirteen

  “Come out, Nick Caine! I know you’re in here...Come out now, or watch me turn your woman and monkey inside out!”

  Motumbo. Sounding enraged. What a surprise.

  Other hushed voices—all male—followed his own, and from the flashlight beams and footsteps moving about the room, his entire army of miscreants had returned. Oh, joy.

  We hid behind a pile of what looked like lithium. My hope was the thieves would mistake it for a lesser grade of silver, or at least something less glamorous than the piles of gold and jewels in raw form. Surely after seeing the Hittite gold in the other chamber, the gold here would hold less fascination.

  I prayed it worked in drawing attention from our pile, and it was a toss-up between the lithium or the meteorite pieces. The deciding factor was the lithium pile sat a few feet further away in the circle’s circumference. Hoping the assholes became enamored with the gems and forgot all about us, it would be the best outcome. It was too much to expect our mysterious hostess to do much more for us than she already had.

  Motumbo’s menacing threats continued...getting closer.

  “Nick, I smell you...I smell your woman, too. It won’t take a moment to get her ready once I’ve torn your heart out of your chest!”

  He sniffed the air and laughed. Light boot shuffles told me he stood on the other side of the lithium pile. It was like he had some sort of radar tuned into my body heat, or body odor. Marie trembled next to me, and when the first bandits started to come around from our left, she gasped. It was slight, and Ishi beat me to covering her mouth so nothing more frightened escaped her.

  More footsteps on that side, interrupted by celebratory catcalls near the bounty of diamonds across the way from us. If the rest of the bastards could drift in that direction, we might be able to move from our present location. It was just a matter of time before Motumbo discovered...

  “Hello Nick!”

  Like an idiot, I had been so focused on what was happening to my left, that I missed our biggest threat sneaking in from the right. Blinded by several flashlight beams, Motumbo appeared more monstrous than ever as he loomed above the three of us huddled against the pile. Marie and Ishi were snatched up and dragged away while two bandits grabbed my arms. They held me fast as I desperately fought to free myself.

  Motumbo casually reached for my neck. The gleam of his scarab warned me what would come next. Hard to say if my head would separate from my shoulders with the first blow, but certainly this was the fiend’s intent. The maniacal look in his eyes told me mercy was no longer an option.

  They say one’s life passes before one’s eyes when sudden, violent death is at hand. Having been in similar precarious positions before, I can honestly state such notions are pure bullshit. I thought of my parents cut in half, the day I met Ishi, and realizing I loved Marie an hour earlier. More of a summarized collage of events from thousands that began with my first breath as Nicholas Albert Caine. There wasn’t time for much more.

  I flinched but kept my eyes open. Good thing, since otherwise I would’ve missed the fireball hovering above the room springing to life. That’s when the craziest series of events I’ve ever experienced commenced.

  A booming voice startled everyone, emanating from somewhere above the stairs. Hard to tell if it came from the same female or not, but it definitely sounded enraged...and on the verge of violence. It alone elicited wary looks on the Sudanese faces around me. Meanwhile, Ishi and Marie clung to each other protectively. Their assailants hovered close, as if waiting for a sign from Motumbo to launch into the assault promised the past few days.

  Like everyone else, Motumbo lifted his eyes to the top of the stairs. The owner of the angry voice spat out a stream of unrecognizable words...an ancient incantation? Dying to get a glimpse, I pulled away from my distracted captors and slowly stood. My gaze followed everyone’s. Then my mouth fell open.

  Standing atop the stairs on a gold platform was perhaps the most anatomically perfect woman I’d ever seen. Attired in a sheer gown leaving very little to the imagination, it would be an arduous task for any male’s probing eyes to make it up to her face. Would’ve, I should say, if her head was human.

  The change to a lioness began at her shoulders, and the marriage between human and feline was smooth, if not seamless. It sure as hell was difficult to fully comprehend we stood before Sekhmet—an unearthly goddess in the flesh, no less. But her anger seemed real enough, especially when she tossed a golden crown laden with jewels behind her. She unleashed a menacing roar, and her eyes ignited into emerald slits of fire, gleaming with nothing short of rage.

  She began her descent to the lower level. Meanwhile, Motumbo and his men were not impressed—even when this magnificent creature pointed a long golden staff that looked like an elongated crook. It crackled with lightning-like energy circling the curved tip. She covered the stairs quickly.

  “Kill the witch!” shouted Motumbo.

  A dozen of his men moved forward and kneeled, aiming their rifles up at her.

  “Fire at will!”

  A barrage of bullets bounced off the stairs and platform. Yet none injured her. Sekhmet’s form shimmered and shifted as each shot passed through her body. As if she were a hologram. Hell, maybe she was.

  Motumbo laughed boisterously, while his men reloaded their weapons. “You don’t scare me, you goddamned witch!”

&nbs
p; But now it was her turn.

  In her other hand, Sekhmet carried the ankh. She thrust it toward the sphere above and it began to spin again. It gained speed and suddenly ignited, this time sending a stream of plasma energy to the ankh. Before any of her assailants could launch a second assault, they were struck by fireballs launched in rapid succession from within the ankh’s oblong center. Motumbo’s small army was cut in half, with the front line reduced to human torches, screaming in agony. I would’ve expected quick deaths for them, but the flames were slow to consume. More like being dipped in searing oil and allowed to cook. I liked her style.

  Not exactly what Osiris had in mind, I’m sure. I wondered what would happen if she carried the whip depicted in the pictograms. But not for long...Motumbo and the rest of his men decided to stick around like lambs before slaughter. He grabbed one of his fallen comrades’ weapons and took aim at the goddess stealthily approaching from the bottom of the stairs.

  But before he pulled the trigger, the half human/half lioness morphed into a swarm of fiery embers that raced toward him. His maniacal look dissolved to one of terror as the embers tore at his skin. He dropped the weapon and fled, screaming to the deepest corners of the chamber, beyond the illumination’s reach. The swarm pursued him in earnest. When his screams were aborted by a loud guttural growl, I couldn’t suppress a smile at the cat and mouse imagery in my head.

  Time to find a way out. I assumed the surviving assholes would’ve had sense to leave ahead of us. But the three men hovering near Marie and Ishi seemed to draw confidence the swarm was too busy chomping down the carcass of their boss to care about the ill designs they had for my gal and little buddy.

  The perfect moment to pull my Beretta from it’s hiding place, until I caught a glimpse of the other two bandits on their way. I scooped up the rifle dropped by Motumbo and pointed it menacingly at the trio getting ready to make good on three days of violent threats.

  “Back the hell away!”

  Not sure if the words or me wagging the gun bought a brief reprieve, but they stepped back far enough to allow Marie and Ishi to stand up. The three of us headed for the exit...until the other two bandits appeared, rifles trained on my head. A quick glance over my shoulder confirmed the other three were on their way.

  It was all instinct from then on. “Stick with me!” I shouted, pushing Ishi and Marie toward the spot where Motumbo likely met his demise.

  “They’re gaining on us, Nick!” Marie pointed anxiously at the five assholes in a dead run. When they started firing, I urged her and Ishi to keep going while I stood my ground.

  “There’s no where to go, Boss!” lamented Ishi, pointing a flashlight taken from one of the fallen bandits. No sign of Motumbo’s remains or Sekhmet, for that matter. Just a doorless wall.

  I needed time to figure things out, and fired awkwardly at our pursuers. One of them was hit in the leg. My aim isn’t always the best, but at least five became four. The rest picked up their pace in anger.

  I dropped to the ground, intending to take them all down, rapid fire. I knew the gun was likely close to empty, and hoped there was enough ammo to do the trick. Regrettably, all that came out was two more shots, and then nothing. Worse, I didn’t hit a damned thing.

  Listening to Marie and Ishi’s rising panic behind me, I worried this could be it. Time to use the weapon I’d been saving as a last resort. I reached inside my pants and loosened the gun from its holster and...it felt light.

  Shit!

  “Marie...after we, umm...did our thing the other night. Do you happen to remember if I put the clip back in the Beretta?”

  The men bore down on us, but slowed when they saw the gun in my hand. Two chuckled, and one removed a handgun from his gunbelt, checking the clip. Looked like a Glock.

  “How the hell am I supposed to remember something like that?”

  “That’s what I thought.”

  I smiled and stood up, shaking my head and thinking I’d die in the next minute. Facing a duel with the confident prick stepping toward me, he knew his gun was loaded, as did I. I prayed he wasn’t privy to English, and clueless about the conversation I just had with Marie. I might be able to talk myself out of this if he wasn’t the wiser. Otherwise...

  The dude pointed his gun at my chest, grinning knowingly. There would be no talking out of this one. I was out of second chances, and would perish beneath Egyptian sand like Mario long ago.

  Bright light suddenly bathed us from nearby. A male figure stood in a doorway to my right, where only seconds earlier he and the doorway didn’t exist. Or, maybe it just seemed that way. The man addressed our adversaries in Sudanese, though I couldn’t discern any of it. My knowledge of the language had long since faded after my parents’ murder, and I was raised by my Aunt Claire in Modesto, California.

  The figure stepped closer, and the four bandits looked at him as if they had seen a ghost. Ironically, this was something they did understand to fear and backed away until they felt secure enough to turn and run like hell.

  “Oh my God—It’s Akiiki!” shouted Ishi. He ran to the man, throwing his arms around him. Sure as shit, the guy dressed in a white tunic favored our guide. There was something different about him, though.

  Marie must not have shared my apprehension, as she joined Ishi in hugging this guy who looked and talked like Akiiki. They shared a giddy group hug. Tempted to sing Kumbaya, I decided against it.

  “Come, Nick—all of you must leave with me,” said the man, whom I reluctantly accepted as our missing friend. He motioned to follow him into a tunnel where the brightness emanated from. “I will lead you back to safety, but we must do it quickly!”

  “Is it really you, Akiiki?” I asked, when no one else would broach the question.

  Rather than tell me, he pulled aside his tunic to reveal his abdomen. Taut muscles that might’ve been present before, and no sign of an injury. Not even a slight scar.

  “She healed me, as I knew she would,” he said, smiling triumphantly. “Now we prepare to go home.”

  “What in the hell are you talking about?”

  He pointed above, like he had done just days ago around the campfire. Like then, it didn’t do shit for me.

  “Sekhmet is finally taking us home,” he said. “After more than four thousand years, she is ready to return home to the stars.”

  Chapter Fourteen

  If there had been plenty of reefer to go around, I might’ve tried harder to understand Akiiki’s delusion. Despite what we witnessed, it was a herculean leap to accept the existence of a five-thousand-year-old therianthrope, and an even bigger stretch to believe this creature happened to be an Egyptian goddess homesick for her alien world. A world located beyond our neck of the galaxy. According to Akiiki, Sehkmet’s planet circled a dead star in a much larger system than ours, near Orion’s Belt.

  Bet he never read that one somewhere. This had L. Ron Hubbard written all over it. But what he said next was just as preposterous. And, it came in response to Ishi’s question about how old our Egyptian buddy was.

  “I’m not from her world. I come from an earthly age before the Valley of the Kings existed,” he told us, while we moved through a passageway much more modern in design than the tunnels we went through earlier. A fiery glow permeated the seams between the massive white marble blocks. Like something from mythical Mount Olympus. “I was an orphan in a village near Thebes, and I lost my parents during a raid. A tribe of priests who served Sekhmet took me in, though I was never treated as an equal. To this day, I don’t know why she favored me above anyone else. But in my thirty-sixth year, Sekhmet took me as her personal companion. I’ve served her ever since.”

  “How old does that make you?” I asked, hoping I could trip him up on a little math quiz.

  “I will be three-thousand, nine hundred and forty-eight years old next February,” he said, grinning as he stopped to study me. “That is according to your Judeo-Christian influence on calendars. Most of my birthdays have been calculated according
to the customs of Thebes, and after my conversion to Sekhmet’s method of calculation, my existence is no longer marked by how many times the earth revolves around the sun. But you wonder why I seem so ordinary...no? I’m just a guide who happens to know a little something about the southwestern deserts. Right Nick?”

  Not exactly the thoughts in my mind’s forefront, but admittedly pretty damned close. He motioned for us to pick up our pace, moving to a stairway.

  “I can’t get over how I never guessed you were...different, like this,” said Marie.

  She smiled shyly and looked away. Damn, she’s amazingly gorgeous when she’s vulnerable.

  “Your father knew the truth about me,” said Akiiki. “He also knew your uncle would one day take his life.”

  “He did?” This was news to Marie, and she reached for a handrail that didn’t exist. I caught her. “When was that?”

  Akiiki smiled compassionately, wrapping an arm around her shoulders to pull her close.

  “Long ago, when your grandfather brought Michael and Leo to Cairo as young men,” said Akiiki. “Your uncle was always jealous of your father—even as a boy, according to Antonio. The two were in college when I met them, and both had passion for their father’s field of choice, archaeology.”

  “So you knew my grandfather, too?”

  “Yes, Marie...I knew him better than I knew your father.” He chuckled.

  I said, “I didn’t know your grandfather’s name was Antonio?” The name sounded familiar to me, and I seemed to remember making a joke about some idiot named Antonio Da Vinci looking for Atlantis, back in my college days. A surge of guilt pricked my conscience.

  “Yes, that’s his name,” said Marie. “He was disappointed I was born a girl, since he wanted a grandson very badly, according to my mother.”

  “And, yet, who’s to say a boy would’ve possessed the antiquities passion you have?” mused Akiiki.

  “Exactly,” she agreed. “My father told me how Granddad finally accepted ‘the girl’ as better suited for this than my cousin, Louis...”