80AD The Tekhen of Anuket (Bk3)

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER ONE

Phoenix stepped through the portal into hot, still darkness. As an afterthought he drew his sword, Blódbál, and held it ready. Peering into the gloom he listened for movement. Nothing. This unknown place was heavy with ancient, silent shadows; its air dusty and dead.

As his eyes adjusted to the glimmer of light given off by the portal, Phoenix could dimly see a large, rectangular room of some sort. Regularly spaced stone columns supported a stone roof.

He edged forward with his sword out, the other hand still holding firmly onto his horse’s reins. The stallion whuffled, pushing at him with its nose. Hooves clattered on a stone floor.

What was it with the darkness thing? Everywhere they went, he, Jade and their companions seemed to end up in some lightless hole – usually a prison. Didn’t anyone build with windows in the year 80AD? Or were the programmers of this benighted computer game just plain nasty?

After consideration, he favoured the latter idea. The guys who wrote the game in which he and Jade were trapped, probably quite enjoyed dreaming up the unpleasant little nuisances he’d experienced so far: giant trolls, armies of Roman soldiers, evil sorcerers and power-mad gods. So what was in store for his troupe now? They were in Egypt, so surely it would be mummies, or Sphinxes, or maybe a horde of bad-tempered, stampeding camels.

“Ow!” Jade’s pained outcry told him the others were right on his heels.

He tugged his horse forward to make space for them. More hooves echoed. Brynn and Marcus stepped through. Marcus’ bow was ready, an arrow nocked. Brynn drew his new sword and glared into the gloom.

Abruptly, the faint light vanished as the gateway between Asgard and Egypt popped out of existence with a slight schlorping sound. Come what may, they’d arrived on Level Three.

“Everyone ok?” Phoenix called over the stompings and nickerings. One by one, the others assured him they were all ok.

“So,” he aimed for cheerful, “on to the second question. Anyone know where we are?”

There was a small silence then Brynn’s cocky voice piped up. “Ægyptus?”

“Thanks for that. Helpful,” Phoenix said sarcastically.

He heard a fleshy thump. Brynn squawked and Phoenix grinned, guessing Marcus had whacked the boy on the arm.

“Hang on,” Jade said.

Phoenix gripped her staff reflexively as she thrust it into his hand. Seconds later, a greenish light appeared in her cupped hands. She’d cast a light-spell. Next she murmured a few words over the glowing ball and blew on it. To Phoenix’s surprise, it wafted out of her hands and began to drift around the room.

“Nice trick,” he admired, handing the staff back.

Jade grinned. “Courtesy of that spell-book Ásúlfr gave me back in Sweden.” She sent another off in a different direction, then a third. Soon the room was eerily lit by what looked like a dozen giant firefly-backsides.

She exclaimed in soft delight and hurried over to the nearest wall. Phoenix passed the horses’ reins to Brynn and joined her. What was so fascinating. As far as he could see, it was just a wall covered in pretty pictures.

“They’re hieroglyphs,” she breathed, brushing the tips of her fingers over the jewel-coloured images.

Brynn and Marcus came over, peering at the wall.

“Did you tie the horses?” Phoenix asked Brynn.

“Nope. Where would they go?” The Breton boy raised an eyebrow at him.

“Good point.” Phoenix glanced around the room.

There were definitely no windows and, more concerning, no doors. Even the dimension-gate entrance they had come through was now merely a three-stone door-frame set into solid wall.

“Maybe we shouldn’t waste time on the walls, Jade.” He laid a hand on her shoulder. “Maybe we should be looking for a way out of here.”

“I suppose.” She didn’t turn away.

Phoenix waited a second then gestured to the other two. There didn’t seem to be any immediate danger. It wouldn’t hurt to let her stay while they looked for a way out. He and Jade had had their differences in the past but Phoenix was determined to be a true leader now and earn her respect and co-operation. Ordering her to come away from the hieroglyphs would be a poor way to start.

“Could you at least lend us some of the lights?” He prodded her gently in the ribs. All of the light-balls danced around her head, illuminating the wall.

Jade nodded, tucked a stray strand of shoulder-length, white-blond hair behind a pointed ear and waved a hand absently at the hovering lights. Three of them drifted down to bob just over the boys’ heads.

“Right,” Phoenix peered into the gloomiest corners, “there has to be an exit. Let’s split up and find it – but don’t get lost. We don’t know how big this place is.” The other two nodded and walked away, green lights dancing around their heads. Phoenix headed in the opposite direction.

As it turned out, they were in no danger of getting lost. The room was fairly small and flanked by two rooms that were even smaller. Brynn found what had to be the original door but it had been built in with large, firmly-mortared limestone blocks. There was no exit.

Finally, the three gathered around a central stone altar.

“Unless there’s some sort of secret entrance, I can’t see a way out of here,” Phoenix admitted. “Ideas?”

“We could look for a secret entrance,” Brynn offered, grinning.

Phoenix raised his eyes to the ceiling but nodded. “It was a joke. Any other ideas?”

Marcus glanced over his shoulder. “Let’s ask Jade.”

All three turned to look at her. Their half-elven companion still stared at the hieroglyphs covering the walls. Her mouth moved silently and her eyes were almost crossed with intense concentration.

“I’ve got it!” She turned and beckoned them, excitement making her green eyes glitter.

Relieved, Phoenix jogged over. Trust Jade to come up with a decent plan to get them out of trouble.

“So?”

She pointed at a set of pictures encircled by an oval. To Phoenix it looked like a hook and a shovel followed by a flying saucer and a small chicken. Outside the oval was a hamburger bun, a sailing boat and something that looked like a complicated showerhead. Perplexed, he raised his eyebrows at Jade.

She grinned at him. “See? It says we’re in the offering chapel of Snefru’s Shining Pyramid. The game programmers are obviously fans of the Stargate Sci-fi TV series. Any minute now it will be aliens landing on the pyramid.”

Phoenix, Brynn and Marcus all stared at her with looks of blank astonishment for a moment before blinking again at the pictures. Phoenix decided to ignore the Stargate comment, as he’d never watched the show and had no idea what connection it had to their current problems. He examined the hieroglyphs again. He even tilted his head and closed one eye, hoping that would help. It still looked like a chicken and a complicated shower device.

“I’ll take your word for it,” he conceded. “Does it say how to get out of the chapel of Snefru’s Shining pyramid by any chance?”

“What? No, it’s all about what a great Pharaoh Snefru was and how he’s going to get to the afterlife.” She blinked at him. “Can’t you read it?”

All three of the boys shook their heads.

“Huh.” She pulled down her mouth. “I thought that language spell Ásúlfr cast back in Olshammar would work the same on all of us but I guess I’m the only one who can understand and read other languages. Weird.”

“Very weird.” Phoenix tried to curb his rising impatience. “But will it help us get out of here?” He reached out and grabbed her shoulder as she turned back to the hieroglyphs. “Jade! Focus! We’re bricked up in this place and I’ll bet horses use lots of oxygen. We need to get out of here!”

She looked around the room, frowning.

“Oh,” he added as an afterthought, “and please tell me that bit about aliens was just a joke?”

Her expression cleared to a smile. “I’m pretty sure they wouldn’t write something like that into the plot. There was no mention in the game manual, was there?”

Phoenix thought hard then shook his head, relieved. “Ultimate badguy to kill, Yu Dragon to master; plus five levels of evil henchmen, Gods, Elves, magic and monsters, yes; but no aliens, thank goodness.”

“OK, so we just need to get out of here and get on our way to releasing the goddess Anuket from her prison then,” Jade summed up. “And remember, we were told we have to release Anuket before the ‘death of the moon’. I still don’t know what that means, though.”

“Then we have to start by getting out.” He shrugged. They all stared around again, seeking inspiration.

“Secret passage?” She raised her brows at them.

“Already thought of it,” Phoenix replied. Brynn snorted a laugh.

“But did anyone actually look for one?”

The three boys exchanged sheepish glances.

“Obviously not.” Jade sighed, shaking her head. “Let’s go then.”

For a good ten minutes, the companions prowled around the temple, poking, pushing, twisting and prodding any likely-looking carving and stone they could find. The room got hotter and stuffier. Various bits of fur clothing from their time in Sweden and Asgard ended up on the altar, stripped as sweat began to drip. The horses’ heads drooped and their breathing became laboured.

The group gathered again. Jade shoved their furs into the Hyllion Bagia and retrieved cooler clothing from within its endless, black depths. They all changed. It helped a bit but there was no ignoring the shortness of breath that now bothered all of them. They were running out of air.

“Why is the back wall so slanty?” Brynn wiped sweat from his face.

Jade tilted her head and eyed the wall. “I guess the temple is right up against the pyramid.”

“What is a pyramid, anyway?” Brynn seemed aggrieved he didn’t know.

Phoenix stared at the boy. It was hard to remember that Brynn came from a small village in early Roman Britain. He was so smart Phoenix often forgot they came from vastly different backgrounds. How could a peasant boy from 80AD know about other cultures? He couldn’t exactly watch a documentary.

“The people of Ægyptus call them mer.” Marcus’ quiet comment intruded on his thoughts.

“They do?” Phoenix switched his gaze to him, amazed.

Normally Jade was the walking encyclopaedia. Marcus hardly said a word.

The Roman boy nodded. “Pyramid is the word the Greeks gave them. Mer are the tombs of dead kings – the paros, they call them.”

“Pharaohs. Hey!” Jade’s green eyes were wide. “How do you know so much?”

Phoenix sent her a narrow look. Was she jealous of Marcus’ knowledge? She was pretty sensitive about being the smartest in the group.

“I came to Ægyptus with my uncle.” Marcus shrugged. “He took me on a trading mission and we stayed in Alexandria for several months. My uncle thought I found the place and the people too fascinating and sent me home again. Rome owns Egypt but we are not well-liked here and he was worried I would get myself killed wandering around the streets on my own.”

Phoenix stared at Marcus for several seconds, wondering what had prompted that long a speech.

Sweat dribbled into his eyes, reminding him of their situation.

“OK.” He slapped his hands flat on the altar. “So we know the back wall is part of the pyramid – mer, I mean,” he corrected himself. “Does that help us? Would there be a secret passage there?”

Jade shook her head. “Even if there was, it would only lead deeper into the pyramid, not to the outside. I have no idea when Snefru’s Shining pyramid was built but the air in there would probably be bad if the tomb hasn’t been robbed.”

Brynn’s eyes lit up. “Robbed? As in treasure?” He sent a covetous look at the sloping back wall. “Couldn’t we just try? We’ve hardly found any treasure at all so far.”

Phoenix laughed at the little thief and laid his sword on the altar. “C’mon, a magic sword is pretty good treasure, so is a magic bag full of Roman denarii and the Horn of Aurfanon that we used to summon help against the troll in Svealand.”

The boy made a face. “I want some gold to take home with me, thanks. We can only use that horn twice more, anyway, remember?”

“Don’t forget what our true mission is,” Marcus reminded him, frowning.

Brynn waved him away. “I know, I know. We’re out to kill Feng Zhudai, the big badguy. But hey, can’t a guy dream of more than just revenge?” He blinked innocent brown eyes up at the Roman.

Marcus sent him a sceptical look.

“C’mon, you lot,” Phoenix urged. “We’ve got to stay on track. We need to find a way out. Look.” He pointed at the horses. One of them slipped to her knees and lay half on her side on the stone floor, panting.

Jade ran to the mare’s side and muttered in her ear. One by one, she went to all five horses and spoke to them in low tones. One by one, the animals’ breathing calmed and their eyes closed. She came back to the altar, looking a worried and guilty.

“I should have put them to sleep earlier. It would have saved oxygen and caused them less stress.”

“It’s a good idea, whenever,” he assured her. He was rewarded with a quick, grateful look. “Back to the problem at hand. How do we get out?”

Marcus ran a hand through his short, dark hair. Brynn chewed on his bottom lip, eyes darting around the room. Jade tilted her head to one side and tapped one finger on her teeth. Her eyes widened. Phoenix looked at her, waiting.

“If you were at home, Phoenix,” she mused, “how would you deal with this?”

It took him a second to understand what she meant then enlightenment hit and he smiled. Of course! If he were back in his bedroom in the real world, he’d be playing this as a computer game. It would be a simple matter to...

“I’d shoot my way out!” he exclaimed. “Blow up the entrance.”

“What with?” Marcus frowned, iron-gloved hands spread. “We have only my bow, and my arrows won’t penetrate rock.”

“Oh.” Phoenix sagged. Another idea bloomed. Iron gloves! He pointed at Marcus’ belt. “Thor’s hammer! That’s it. You can use Mjölnir to smash the blocked up doorway and get us out. Go on! Do it now!” Stepping around the altar, he gripped Marcus’s arm and shook it.

Brynn caught his excitement and grinned. Jade frowned, glancing back and forth between Marcus, the wall and the horses. Marcus looked at each of them then down at the god’s hammer that hung from his belt, doubt flickering across his handsome face. Thor had lent it to them in order to free the goddess Anuket – their task in this place. It was a thing of such enormous weight and power that the god had also given him the magic belt and gloves needed to wield it.

The Roman eyed the large, heavy limestone blocks surrounding them. “I’m not sure that’s such a good idea.”

Phoenix thumped his friend on the back and gave him a shove in the direction of the ancient doorway. “It’s the only one we’ve got. C’mon. Let’s get the horses awake and ready to go. Get us out of here, Marcus.”

Clearly reluctant, Marcus unhooked the hammer from his belt. Jade woke the horses and, together with Brynn, urged them closer to the bricked up door. Phoenix fell behind Marcus, not wanting to get in his way. He nodded as the Roman sent him one last questioning look. Rotating his head and shoulders, Marcus swung the hammer once in a small circle. It left a strange after-image etched as a purple-blue arc in the air. A distant rumble of thunder sounded, even through the thick stone walls. Marcus glanced once more at the stone ceiling.

“Go on!” Phoenix urged, impatient to get out and on with it.

With a swift underarm motion, Marcus hurled the iron hammer at the blocked entranceway. It flew through the thick air with the zipping crackle of electricity. Purple-blue lights arced from its iron head to earth in the stone around the door. A deafening crack and blinding flash of brilliant white light filled every corner of the room. Phoenix yelped but his voice vanished in the violence of the noise. The horses reared and whinnied in fright. Brynn, clinging to two sets of reins, was tossed about like a ragdoll. The stone door blew outward in an explosion of rock and dust. Sunlight streamed in and the hammer flew back into Marcus’ waiting hand like a boomerang.

There was a brief shocking silence, followed by the ominous snap of breaking stone.

Phoenix and Jade looked at each other then up at the ceiling.

“Uh oh,” Brynn said quietly.