by Dan Hunter
“What about the cactus spikes?” Manu said.
“Against creatures that size? We might as well use sewing needles!” Akori was becoming angry and frustrated. The sun on his back was burning, as if his skin was on fire. Would evening never come? Had some terrible new enemy stopped Ra’s sun-barge in its tracks? The thought of Ra brought an idea into his head. “Lie low,” he said to the others. “I think I’ve got a plan.” He pulled out the Talisman of Ra. The Sun God Ra had told him it would bring him light. He could only hope there was enough light for what he had in mind – and heat to go with it!
“Ra, mighty God of the Sun,” he prayed, “hear me now! Please send me your power!” Akori held the talisman up into the path of the sunlight. As the rays of the sun met the gold disc, it burned with a dazzling light. Then, as if the light was too strong to be contained, it burst out of the talisman in a brilliant beam.
Akori directed the burning ray as if he were signalling with a polished mirror. To his relief, the scarab charioteers hadn’t spotted the light yet. Good! They would soon have plenty to see.
Down by the fortress’s outer wall was a large clump of dry bushes. Akori angled the beam so that it pointed directly into them. He held his breath and waited. He could feel heat surging through his body, as if he were conducting the sun’s power. A wisp of smoke rose up from the bushes. Akori kept the beam trained on that spot. The wisp thickened to a trail, then to a cloud. Next moment, a flickering tongue of flame was leaping up the wall. The dry bushes caught fire quickly. A dense column of smoke went wafting up. “That should do it.” Akori grinned. He crouched back down beside Manu and Ebe. “Now we just have to wait for one of those thugs to notice.”
He didn’t have to wait long. A shout echoed out from one of the patrolling archers: “Fire! Fire!”
The archer on the other chariot drew his bow back. “Fire at what?” he demanded.
“There’s a fire at the wall, you idiot!”
“Fire at the wall?” the archer yelled back, unable to believe his ears. “Have you gone mad?”
“Don’t you see the smoke, you mud-eared moron? Get inside and fetch some water!”
While Ebe, Akori and Manu laid low and tried to stifle their laughter, the soldiers wheeled their scarabs around and headed back into the fortress. There was more shouting from inside, some of it sounding very angry indeed. Shortly after, the scarab-drawn chariots emerged from the fortress again. Each one was laden with clay pots, which Akori knew must contain water.
“It must be the boy Akori – the one the Pharaoh warned us about,” one of the soldiers shouted to the others. “He must be hiding in the bushes. Find him and kill him!”
The drivers whacked their scarabs with sticks, sending the huge insects rearing up, then scuttling off at speed, pulling the chariots behind them. They headed alongside the wall towards the burning bushes.
“Quick!” said Akori. “It won’t take long for them to realize I’m not there.” He gestured to Manu and Ebe to follow him. They sprinted across the sand towards the now-unguarded fortress gate. Akori glanced up at the walls as he ran, hoping there were no more archers stationed there. The fire should have drawn them all away...but if only one soldier was suspicious enough to stay, they’d be seen. Luckily, no arrows came whizzing from the high walls and there were no shouts. Akori ducked inside the welcome shade of the gateway.
“What now?” gasped Manu.
“We keep going!” Akori said. “Look out for anything that might be a prison. We have to find Sekhmet!”
With Akori taking the lead, they ran through the long entranceway into a huge open courtyard. Walls rose up on all four sides, topped by battlements. The fortress’s inner keep lay ahead, across the sandy open area. There was no sign of any guards at all.
Akori sniffed the air. He could smell burning. Was it the bushes outside? No, this was different – the smoky, bitter tang of hot metal.
He quickly found where it was coming from. Someone had set up a small brick forge in the corner of the courtyard. The embers were still burning hot, with fire irons thrust into them. Nearby lay dozens of huge curved objects, like giant thorns made from worked metal.
“Looks like nobody’s here!” whispered Akori. “Good. Let’s get inside that keep.”
“What do you think these metal things are?” Manu said.
“I don’t know, and I don’t care,” Akori replied. “We have to hurry!” He stepped over one of the pincer-like metal things and suddenly an image flashed into his mind. In a flash of cold fear, he understood and wished he hadn’t. “Wait, Manu. I do know what they are.”
“Well?”
“It’s battle armour,” Akori said, his voice filled with dread. “For giant scarabs!”
“But we only saw two.”
“I know!”
Manu turned pale. “But there’s enough armour here for...”
Then they heard the hissing sound again. It was much louder this time and growing louder still.
“…for dozens of those things!” Manu finished.
But Ebe and Akori weren’t looking at him any more. Ebe was pointing up at the walls, her face a wide-eyed mask of total fear.
One after another, huge black-brown shapes were swarming down from the battlements, climbing down the walls and scrambling into the courtyard. The scarabs were coming, a disgusting, bloated tide of scuttling death. The sight of their segmented underbellies and scrabbling clawed legs made Akori feel sick. They would crush and tear anything that stood in their way, and then they would gnaw at the remains. Everything would be devoured. Not even a skeleton would be left.
Before he could stop himself, Akori reached for his khopesh. His fingers closed on nothingness. A pang of sorrow shot through him. He wondered if he could ever truly learn to live without the sword.
The scarabs bore down on the group, forcing them back against the walls.
“Let’s run for the gate!” Manu yelled.
Akori knew what would happen if they did. “We’ll run straight into those chariots!” he yelled back.
Then an idea came to him. “The fire irons in the forge. Quick. Grab them!”
Luckily, Ebe still had some torn strips of cloth left. Working quickly, they wrapped their hands in cloth to keep them from being burned, and seized a fire iron each.
The irons had obviously lain in the fire for some time, because the tips were red-hot and sizzling. Working up all his courage, Akori led the others back into the courtyard. The scarabs quickly scuttled towards them.
Akori jabbed at the nearest scarab. There was a ghastly hiss and an awful stench as its flesh burned. The scarab recoiled. Another, larger one surged forward, only to meet Akori’s fire iron thrusting into its face. Hissing furiously, it backed away. Though its mouth twitched hungrily, dripping fluid onto the sandy floor, it kept its distance from the red-hot metal.
“Keep moving!” Akori roared, pointing out a low wooden doorway into the inner fortress. “Make for that door!”
Akori beat the advancing scarabs back, his arm aching from heat and weariness. He prayed they could be kept back for long enough. Hot irons swept in red arcs, striking sparks wherever they hit. The smell of burned insect casings became almost unbearable. Still the insects came, shoving their huge bodies forward, threatening to crush the three friends under their great weight.
The door was almost within reach. One vast, especially ugly scarab was blocking the way. Akori swatted at it with yells and curses, but it only hissed at him, no matter how much he battered it with his burning iron.
Then, to Akori’s amazement, Ebe leaped forwards and smashed at it with her own fire iron. As she did so, she drew a deep breath and hissed back at the scarab. The noise was astonishing, like something inhuman. In a buzz of wings, the insect was gone.
Akori flung the door open and dived inside, the others following close behind. They were in a long, torchlit passageway. Manu slammed and bolted the door behind them.
With Akori leading the way, th
ey hurried down the passage, alert for whatever new horrors might be waiting for them. It wasn’t long before they reached a great hollow chamber, with a massive fire raging in its very centre. Akori couldn’t see what was being burned, but he had a strange feeling that nothing was. This was an uncanny fire, fuelled by magic alone.
“We’re at the heart of the fortress,” he murmured. “Can’t you feel it?”
His friends nodded. Leaping firelight lit up their grimy, sunburned faces. Already, fresh sweat was beading their foreheads. Although the room was huge, the heat was intense and stifling.
“Watch out for guards,” Akori warned. He could not see any, but the flickering shadows cast by the flames could hide any number of dangers. The group edged slowly around the walls, circling the great fire. On the far side, a small stone doorway stood set into the wall. The door itself was a single rough block of stone, without any handle or lever.
“There’s no way to open it,” Akori said.
“Wait,” Manu said. “What’s this?” His finger found and traced a line of hieroglyphs. “It’s writing!”
Akori was excited and frustrated at the same time. He wished he were able to read it, but as a farm boy he hadn’t had the education Manu had. “What does it say?” he asked.
“It’s old and worn away, but I can just make it out...” Manu strained to see. “It’s a riddle, I think. It says, ‘Beasts must drink water, or they die. Men must drink water, or they die. But if I were to drink water, I would die. What am I?’”
From down the corridor came a horribly familiar hissing noise. They heard the scrape of huge insect legs scrabbling on stone.
“They’re coming!” Manu stammered, leaping to his feet. “They must have broken through the door. We need to solve the riddle!”
Akori thought hard. He tried to imagine giving water to various creatures, imagining what would happen when they drank it. “This is stupid!” he yelled, thumping the stone door. “It’s a trick! There’s no living thing that dies if you give it water!”
“Maybe it isn’t a living thing,” Manu suggested.
“That makes no sense! How can something die if it isn’t a living thing?”
Ebe whined and pointed. From beyond the flames, the sound of approaching scarabs was coming very close.
Akori looked down at his fire iron, which was no longer glowing. He could still use it as a club, but he doubted that would be enough. Perhaps he could heat it up again in the fire. He jerked his head up to look at the flames again. And then he realized – the answer to the riddle was right in front of them!
“Fire!” he said. “Fire dies if you give it water!”
The stone door slid open with a rumble. It was so small they had to crouch right down to go through it, but Akori didn’t mind – at least none of the giant scarabs would be able to follow them through.
“We did it again,” he laughed, hugging his friends as they slipped through the gap. “You’re braver and cleverer than anyone else in the whole of Egypt.”
As Manu and Ebe hugged him back something beneath their feet made a terrible grinding noise. Akori broke free from his friends’ arms, only to see that the stone door was closing!
“No!” he cried, but it was too late. The stone doorway ground shut, sealing them in.
They were all alone in total and utter darkness.
For a moment, there was nothing but the dark and the sound of three frightened people breathing.
Then Akori said, as steadily as he could: “Everyone stay calm. Don’t move until I say.”
“Okay,” said Manu’s voice from somewhere nearby. “Ebe’s with me. She’s holding my arm. Ouch! Not so hard, Ebe!”
“All we have to do is find a wall,” Akori said. “Then we can feel our way ahead.”
Akori reached out in front of him with both arms, feeling for any sort of surface that he could navigate by. His fingers met nothing but empty space. He imagined the deep pits that could be just ahead, ready for him to step blindly into.
“Did you find anything?” Manu asked loudly.
“Not yet,” Akori replied.
Not yet! Not yet! Not yet! his words echoed back at him in the darkness. That meant they had to be in a large, open chamber. All sorts of horrors could be waiting in the dark. Maybe the Talisman of Ra could light their way? Akori touched it and found it was icy cold. In his heart, Akori knew Ra could not help them again on this quest. The talisman needed to feel the sun again, far from this stronghold of evil forces, before it would regain its power.
“There’s nothing else for it,” he said. “We’re going to have to keep moving!” He reached out for his friends. “Link arms with me. If any of us starts to fall, we can pull them back up.”
Together, they edged forward into the darkness. Akori felt sickly dread every time he took a step, and relief when his foot came down on hard stone instead of empty space.
They shuffled on and on.
“So far so good,” Manu muttered.
But he had spoken too soon. An evil cackle sounded in their ears, echoing all around them. It sounded like an old toothless witch, laughing at some helpless victim’s fate. Akori felt Ebe’s grip tighten on his arm. “What was that?” he hissed.
The croaking laugh echoed through the darkness again. A breeze began to blow in his face. Then there came the thump, thump, thump of huge wings beating.
“Nekhbet!” Manu cried.
“Run!” Akori shouted.
Tripping, stumbling, scrambling through the dark, they ran. The sound of beating wings came closer and closer. Akori ran without thinking of what his feet might land on. He flung himself into the blackness, praying to all the good Gods that they would survive this. Then a shocking impact knocked the wind out of him.
“Ow!” he yelled.
Ow! Ow! Ow! his voice echoed back.
“Akori!” Manu screamed. “Are you all right?”
Akori picked himself up, wincing at the pain. He had run straight into a wall. “There’s a wall here!” he called to the others. The wind from Nekhbet’s wings was so strong it was ruffling his hair now. Working fast, Akori felt along the length of the wall. “There has to be a door here somewhere!” he said through gritted teeth. “Come on, come on...” His fingers closed on a ring of cold metal. A door handle, at last! He pulled the door open and to his joy saw bright torchlight fan out into the darkness. Without looking over his shoulder he pulled the others through, slammed the door shut, and leaned against it, breathing heavily.
They were standing in a tiny cell with a low ceiling. Torches flamed from the walls. Akori looked around the room, thinking how easily he could have missed the little doorway in the dark. A row of metal bars closed off the back part of the room. It looked like a cage built to hold wild animals, but the bars were glowing blood red. This was clearly a prison meant to hold something more than mortal.
Akori’s heart leaped when he saw who was lying on the prison’s floor, curled up asleep. It was a muscular woman with the golden-furred head of a lioness. Beside her lay a gleaming shield, as bright as silver in the torchlight.
“Sekhmet!” he said, in a voice of wonder. “You two, guard the door. I’ve got to set her free!”
He strode towards the cage, determined to free the Goddess. He would pull the bars apart with his bare hands if he had to. The heat in the room became more and more intense the closer he came. The glowing bars turned fiery orange. And then the terrible truth dawned on Akori – they were the source of the heat! How could he ever reach Sekhmet through that blazing cage?
The stink of hot metal filled the room and Sekhmet’s lioness nose started to twitch. Her amber eyes blinked open and focused on Akori. “What new torture is this?” she said, in a voice of rumbling thunder.
“I’m a friend!” Akori said. “Horus sent me. I’ve come to free you!”
Sekhmet was instantly up on her haunches, awake and alert. “Horus? You are his chosen? Then free me, young one!”
Akori looked around in d
espair. Horus had given him the khopesh to free the Gods with, but now it was lost he had no idea what to do!
“Hurry!” Sekhmet growled. “Why do you delay?”
“I can hear someone coming!” whispered Manu. “Whatever you’ve got planned, Akori, do it fast!”
But Akori had no plan. In desperation, he reached towards the cage door, thinking he could always heal his burns with the Scarab of Anubis, but the cage was just too hot to touch.
Manu let out a gasp of horror as the door flew open. Akori turned to see a terrifying figure stalk into the room.
It was a tall, skinny woman with the glassy-eyed head of a vulture. A pair of wings were folded behind her back. Bloodstained bandages were tied around one leg and from her waist hung a shining golden sword. Akori’s lost khopesh!
“Nekhbet!” Akori said, horrified.
Nekhbet froze in the doorway. Her vulture head slowly swung around. As soon as she saw Akori, she let out an ear-piercing shriek of rage. Then she drew the khopesh and came lunging towards him. Akori darted to one side, narrowly avoiding being skewered by his own sword. His face was smothered with wing feathers for a second as Nekhbet went blundering past. Croaking in rage, she tried to turn around to face him again.
Akori felt a tingle of hope. Out in the desert, the fight had all been on Nekhbet’s terms. She could soar above them and dive when she chose. But in this cramped little cell, she was little better than a prisoner herself. She couldn’t fight well and she certainly couldn’t fly. He laughed at her. “What’s the matter, beak-face? Is that leg of yours hurting?”
“Insolent boy!” she screeched, limping towards him, slashing wildly with the khopesh. Akori dodged out of the way with ease, ducking one swipe and sidestepping the next. Nekhbet’s huge wings were weighing her down and at one point she nearly toppled over completely.
“Come on, Akori!” cheered Manu.
As Akori taunted the furious Goddess, Nekhbet squawked and lunged again and again, but none of her blows would connect. She was just too cumbersome.