by Dan Hunter
Then it shuddered, throwing off a few leftover shreds of ivory skin, and the transformation was complete. Instead of the beautiful Egyptian queen, there was a frog-headed woman, her swollen body as green as pond scum. Her throat swelled and shrank like a balloon. The gleaming threads that had been binding her shrivelled and turned to dust.
Akori pulled back his arm with all his strength, fighting to break the frog-woman’s grip. She tried to hold on, but her transformed frog-fingers were now too slimy to hold him, and he broke free with a yell.
Akori ran back into the other cave as fast as he could. Behind him, the frog-woman bellowed in rage.
Manu and Ebe were still examining the far side of the great cavern as Akori stumbled over to them. They spun to face him. “What’s going on?” Manu asked. “Oh no!”
They all looked on in horror as the frog-woman came wobbling out towards them. Akori loosed his khopesh, and stood ready to fight.
The creature stopped in her tracks. Her huge eyes bulged, and she seemed to be trying to decide something. But what?
“Manu!” yelled Akori. “What is that?”
“It’s Heket the Frog Goddess!” Manu answered, scrambling backwards.
“Don’t tell me,” Akori cried, “she’s a good friend of Sobek’s.”
“Worse!” wailed Manu. “She’s Sobek’s wife!”
Heket blinked, and her throat bulged as she swallowed.
Why wasn’t she coming any closer?
Akori struggled to think. Back on his uncle’s farm, he’d spent many lazy hours watching the frogs hopping about in the mud. They would sit and croak, doing nothing for hours, and then one of them would see a tasty fly, and without warning its tongue would flick out, and with a gulp the fly would be gone.
Heket was staring at Ebe now. Her throat was pulsing horribly. “Why does she keep staring at you, Ebe?” Akori wondered aloud, and then in a horrible flash of understanding, he knew.
Heket was getting ready to flick her tongue out and catch one of them. Of the three of them, Ebe was the smallest. She would be the easiest for Heket to swallow whole!
“We have to get out of here!” he urged, diving in front of Ebe with his sword ready. Heket glared at him, her buggy eyes filled with loathing. Akori glared back defiantly.
But where could they go? Then he saw a crack in the cavern wall. It was narrow – too narrow for Heket’s huge frog-head, but maybe wide enough for them to squeeze through!
“This way!” Akori called, as he raced towards it. “Hurry!”
He waited for the others to reach him and then started edging his way through.
The gap was very tight and the craggy rock walls tore at his skin. But somehow he made it through. Akori pulled out the Talisman of Ra and its beaming light showed a smaller, wet-walled cave. The walls and floor were covered with slimy river weed.
“Quick,” Akori called. “It’s safe.”
He helped Manu through the narrow crevice and then reached out for Ebe. But no sooner had she placed her hand in his than it was ripped away.
“Ebe!” Akori cried, but there was no sound other than a horrible slurping.
“We have to save Ebe!” Akori exclaimed. He forced his way back through the gap as fast as he could. To his horror, when he made it back into the cave he saw Heket squatting in the shadows, her huge tongue entwined around Ebe’s ankle. Ebe’s body was draped across a large rock, and her eyes were closed.
Thank all the Gods, she hadn’t been swallowed yet! But there was a dark purple bruise on her head. Heket must have pulled Ebe against the rock and stunned her. Akori prayed she was still alive.
Heket’s horrible eyes bulged at Akori, and she began to reel in her tongue. Ebe’s hair spread out behind her as she was dragged towards the frog-woman’s gaping mouth.
“NO!” Akori shouted as he grabbed hold of his khopesh, and the steel in his voice would have made even Set stop in his tracks.
There was a bright flash as the golden khopesh slashed in a rainbow arc through the air. Heket made a horrendous shrieking sound and Ebe rolled free.
At first Akori thought he’d cut the Frog Goddess’s tongue clean through, but then he saw that Heket had whipped her tongue back into her mouth just in time. He wasn’t going to wait for her to try again! He grabbed Ebe around her waist and called out to Manu, hoping his friend could hear him.
Heket bellowed in rage. It sounded like she was calling out to someone, but Akori didn’t understand what she was saying. The walls of the cavern shook with the force of her anger. The next moment, the fleshy blob of her tongue-tip was hurtling towards Akori!
He dodged out of the way just in time and started edging his way through the crack in the wall, pulling Ebe with him. The tip of Heket’s tongue scraped against the rough rock next to them, but it was instantly withdrawn with a bellow of pain.
After a lot of pulling and scraping, Akori managed to get Ebe to the safety of the other cave. He lowered her motionless body to the floor. Her eyes were closed, and she looked as if she were asleep.
“Ebe! Oh, no!” Manu hovered his hand over the purple mark on her head, and felt her cold cheek. “Wake up...please!”
“Is there anything you can do?” Akori asked helplessly.
Manu examined her and shook his head. “Her spirit can barely hold onto her body. She needs a proper healer, Akori! I am not even a priest yet. All I can do is pray for her.” He looked gravely at Akori. “And as any priest knows, prayers are not always heard.”
Akori bowed his head, wishing his friend would have more faith in the good Gods. Look at how Ra had helped them with his talisman. Then Akori remembered the other gift he had been given. The Scarab of Anubis. The pin the jackal-headed God had said would give Akori the gift of healing. He took the scarab from his pouch and offered a silent prayer: Mighty Anubis, Guide of the Dead, hear me! In the name of Horus and all the good Gods, lend me your aid!
The scarab twitched in his hand. Akori’s eyes grew wide. As he watched, the scarab’s carapace cracked open, and legs unfolded from beneath. It was coming to life!
He put it gently on Ebe’s head. The scarab scuttled across to her bruise, which now looked dark and ominous. It waved its little legs in the air, and Akori was certain he heard it make a tutting noise, as if to scold a careless child who has gone and hurt itself. Then it began to glow with a soft light, like a firefly, and the tiny insect legs did something Akori couldn’t see.
Slowly, the light died away. Ebe’s eyelids flickered open. She frowned. Then she sat up, and the scarab – quite ordinary and lifeless now – fell from her unmarked forehead into her hand. She looked at it, shrugged, and handed it back to Akori, who was grinning and laughing along with Manu.
“I thought we’d lost you!” Akori said, hugging her. Manu gave her an awkward hug too. Ebe looked from one to the other, beaming as if she had no idea what all the fuss was about.
Then she held up her hand, and cupped it to her ear, as if she could hear something. Manu looked confused for a moment, before opening his eyes wide. Then Akori heard it too. A quiet sobbing was coming from the far end of the cave.
“Come on,” said Akori. “But this time, let’s take it slowly. We don’t want any more nasty surprises!”
Manu and Ebe nodded and followed. Akori held the Talisman of Ra up like a lantern, lighting the way.
In a deep recess at the back of the cave, an enormous seashell lay open. From the look of it, it might once have been the home of a colossal oyster, long since scooped out and eaten by who knows what. Now, a woman lay in the gleaming hollow. Wreaths of river weed had been knotted around her wrists and ankles, and her mouth was gagged. She was weeping quietly.
“Isis!” Manu gasped aloud, and fell to his knees.
“Careful!” Akori whispered. “Nothing’s as it seems here. It could be another trick!”
Manu shook his head. “Look at her ring, Akori. That symbol on it is the Knot of Isis. It’s the focus of her magical powers. Nothing else can imita
te it.” Manu’s eyes were full of awe. “This is truly Isis. The mother of all Egypt.”
“Well, you can’t help her on your knees,” Akori said, pulling Manu upright again. “We’ve come here to set her free, so let’s do it!”
Together they ran to where Isis lay. She looked up at them, and the crying stopped. Isis could not speak as her mouth was gagged with river weed, but her thoughts echoed in their heads.
My children, came the voice in their minds, as she looked at each in turn. You have come to aid me, when grown men could not? A smile showed in her eyes. You do me a great honour. And you will make Egypt proud.
But the next second, her smile vanished. A terrible crashing sound echoed through the cave. Akori, Manu and Ebe turned to see what it was.
Huge fists were tearing away at the crack in the wall, smashing it wide open. Rubble flew through the air. Crash followed crash, until with a bellow and a grunt, the mighty Sobek heaved himself through the now gaping hole and into the cave.
He threw back his crocodile head and let out a terrible roar of triumph, his jagged teeth glinting in the light. His prey was cornered. He had them trapped now, and he knew it.
Slowly, savouring the feast to come, Sobek advanced…
Akori drew his khopesh and stood ready to meet Sobek’s charge. With Isis helpless, he was all that stood between the crocodile-headed beast and his friends. Lord Horus, he prayed, I need your strength now like never before! His fingers tightened on the sword’s hilt.
But then two green arms appeared through the hole in the wall, followed by the bloated frog’s head of Heket. Akori hoped the gap would still be too narrow for her, but Sobek had widened it when he smashed his way in, and now Heket could fit through it. She squeezed her flabby bulk up through the gap and stood behind her husband, glaring at Akori.
Now they faced two nightmares instead of one!
The two evil Gods came lumbering across the cavern floor, Sobek opening his jaws wide to scoop up anything in his path, and Heket staring with her bulging eyes, her huge belly wobbling like a sack.
“You distract Heket while I deal with Sobek,” Akori cried to Manu and Ebe.
Ebe immediately sprang at Heket, hissing loudly.
The gigantic Frog Goddess took a step backwards in surprise. She obviously hadn’t expected her prey to fight back! Ebe went scurrying between her huge legs and out the other side, where she whipped around and kicked Heket as hard as she could in the back of the knee.
Akori turned to face Sobek and raised his khopesh. Sobek let out a roar.
“Little boy,” rumbled the God, “I am Sobek. These jaws have bitten through the spears of the Pharaoh’s enemies, the breastplates of soldiers, and the axles of war chariots! Do you think a mere flea like you can stop me?” He loomed over Akori, drool trickling between his huge pointy teeth. “You have insulted me, small one. And for that you must pay. With your life!” Sobek took a lumbering step towards him and the whole cave shook.
Akori tightened his grip on his sword. Next to him, Manu had begun trying to distract Heket by darting this way and that, waving his arms. Furious, Heket whipped her tongue out at him like a lash.
Manu ducked and grinned as Heket’s tongue whizzed through the air above his head.
“Too slow,” he taunted her.
Akori’s eyes lit up – he might be a lot smaller than Sobek, but this might not be such a bad thing. Not if it meant he was faster.
“Your jaws might have bitten through spears,” he taunted, “but have they ever had to deal with the sword of Horus?” And with that he started waving the khopesh faster and faster, until it was just a blur of gold lighting up the cave.
Sobek took a lumbering step back, blinking his big yellow eyes in confusion.
“Why, you insolent little tadpole!” he yelled.
Akori took a step towards him, swinging the sword back and forth even faster. His arms felt as light as feathers. He would not let this lumbering, drooling God win. He had to release Isis and continue on his quest.
Sobek started chomping his jaws in frustration. “I am going to eat you, boy, and use your sword as my toothpick!” He raised one of his huge arms, and the air whistled near Akori’s face as Sobek’s shield-sized hand smashed past him. A clattering sound echoed around the cave. Akori gasped in horror. His hand that had been holding the khopesh was now empty! Sobek had hit the sword with such force, it was lying at the opposite side of the cave.
“Aaaar haaar haar,” Heket cackled.
“You see,” Sobek bellowed, “you cannot possibly win against me!” He took another step towards Akori. He was now so close that Akori could see a piece of rotting flesh stuck between two of his dagger-sharp teeth.
“You’re nothing but an overgrown lizard,” Manu shouted, racing to join Akori. “Quick,” he whispered to his friend. “Go and get the khopesh.”
“But if I leave you he’ll—“
“Just go and get it,” Manu said. “Without it, we don’t stand a chance.”
Sobek squinted down at Manu. “What is this?” he thundered. “Another morsel for my dinner plate?”
Seizing his chance, Akori darted over to the side of the cave where his khopesh had fallen.
“Braaaaaak,” Heket croaked in warning. Ebe launched a flying kick at the Frog Goddess’s slimy green back. While Heket turned to see what had struck her, Akori grabbed the khopesh from the floor of the cave. Its handle was wet and covered in river weed. As he hastily wiped it on his arm, he heard Manu cry out, “Help!”
Akori spun around. Sobek had picked Manu up by the back of his tunic and was dangling him in mid-air. Manu flailed his arms and legs wildly but Sobek’s grip was too strong. Sobek opened his mouth as wide as it could go. Manu closed his eyes and started praying to all the good Gods to make his death swift and painless.
Akori held his khopesh aloft. Fury surged through him. There was no way he was going to let Sobek kill his brave friend. He had to stop him and he had to save Isis. He charged forwards, holding the khopesh like a spear.
There was a terrible tearing sound followed by an almighty roar. Sobek dropped Manu to the floor and started hopping up and down, clutching one of his huge, pillar-sized legs. Blood oozed from the gaps between his fingers.
“You have cut me!” Sobek thundered. “Now you will pay!”
But as he hopped on one leg, Akori seized his chance and charged at that leg with all his might. Sobek wobbled and began to teeter. Akori gave him another shove and the huge Crocodile God went crashing into the cave wall, knocking his head as he fell. He gave a thunderous moan and then lay still. On the floor next to him, Manu opened his eyes and looked around the dark cave, dazed.
“Have I been eaten?” he asked.
Akori smiled. “No, you’re still here.” He turned and looked over at Ebe. She had taken Manu’s last scroll case and was lashing away at Heket’s tongue with it.
Heket made a ghastly sound of pain, and sucked her sore tongue back into her mouth like a limp, wet rag. She swallowed hard and came waddling towards Ebe, slimy fingers outstretched.
Akori looked to Isis, hoping desperately that the Goddess could do something to help. But she was struggling, still bound tightly by strands of the same green river weed that covered the walls and floor, and Akori couldn’t free her with Heket in the way.
That river weed must have strong magic in it, he thought, to hold a Goddess prisoner.
Then, all at once, an idea came to him. If the river weed was strong enough to bind one Goddess, maybe it could bind another!
Akori grabbed the end of a long length of the weed from where it lay on the floor of the cave. He gave it a tug; the other end was firmly rooted in the rock. As Heket came charging towards him, he dived to one side, pulling the weed taut.
Heket tripped and fell. She hit the floor with a sound like wet washing being slapped against a stone. While her clumsy limbs floundered, Akori quickly went to work. He wrapped the weed around her legs, tucking and tugging, until Heket cou
ldn’t move them. Try as she might, she couldn’t stand up. She beat her fists against the floor and gargled with rage. When Manu and Ebe saw what Akori was doing they rushed to help him, and in no time at all Heket lay still, beaten.
“Quick, let’s release Isis before Sobek recovers,” Akori cried.
The three friends raced over to the beautiful Goddess. Akori cut through the supernaturally strong weed bindings with his khopesh, and Manu and Ebe pulled the pieces away. At last, Isis stood upright in the shell, shaking off the last of the weed ropes, and pulling off her gag.
But just as Isis was about to speak, Akori heard a thundering sound from behind them. With a heavy heart, he turned to see that Sobek was back on his feet. And those huge feet were stomping right towards them.
The next moment, Akori’s whole world was swallowed up in darkness. Icy water washed over his body, and his legs gave way beneath him. He was spinning, falling, drowning in a world of chaos.
He heard Manu and Ebe yelling and screaming, and then nothing but a bubbling noise. Had they been swept away too?
Akori felt himself being flung this way and that by a roaring flow of water. But it wasn’t like any water he’d ever seen before. It was shimmering brightly with all the colours of the rainbow! He started swimming upwards and, as his head broke the water’s surface, he realized he was still in the cavern. He was floating on a foamy tide of water that gleamed with colours like a soap bubble. A huge wave must have struck somehow and flooded the entire cavern. Now the cave roof was close enough to touch.
Who had done this? And was Sobek still lurking under the water?
But then the rainbow waters began to drain away, gurgling and rushing into unseen cracks in the cavern walls. It sounded like the tide rushing away from the shore.
Akori ended up sprawled across a rock, wet and panting. His khopesh lay at his feet, but Sobek was nowhere to be seen. Manu and Ebe lay nearby, just as wet through as he was.
And there was Isis, standing with her arm raised, power shimmering all around her. A great light shone out from her eyes, blazing across the vanishing waters like a beacon. If Isis wasn’t so beautiful, Akori thought, that would be a frightening sight.