Jake Ransom and the Howling Sphinx

by James Rollins

  Maybe a mechanic of some sorts.

  The circle of bronze around the man’s neck suggested that he was a slave, but the guards ignored him. In fact, the only Egyptians atop the open deck were the two guards and the skymaster. Everyone else—including the man who ran the balloon’s forges—wore collars.

  “So?” the old man pressed with a wry smile. “I heard you were new here. I don’t suppose anyone has said welcome.”

  “No.” Jake found a grin pulling up the corners of his lips.

  “Then let me be the first.” He lifted an arm to encompass the entire desert. “Welcome to the land of Deshret, where life is hard and the only escape is death.”

  Pindor groaned. “Thanks. We really needed to hear that.”

  But the man had never stopped smiling, as if mocking the meaning of his words. “Name’s Politor. But my friends call me Pol. It’s up to me to see that this old girl keeps flying.”

  “Then shouldn’t you be doing that,” Kady said. She had slumped close to the deck, out of the wind, and out of view of the passing landscape.

  “Oh, she’ll take care of herself. Don’t you worry. And don’t you worry about them Gypts.” He thumbed over to the guards. “They really aren’t so bad.”

  “But they’re keeping you as slaves!” Marika said.

  He shrugged. “Don’t really mean nothing. They keep to themselves in Ka-Tor. We have our own section of the city. Just like us, they have their duties—seeing to the big picture, making sure everything runs, that everyone is fed and has clean water, keeping up defenses against the big tooths-and-claws out there—and we have our jobs. All in all, those Gypts work for us as much as we work for them.”

  “So they don’t own you?” Marika asked.

  Politor snorted. “They might like to think that sometimes, but of course not. We outnumber the Gypts two to one. They try to get too full of themselves, we’ll pop their balloon.” He winked toward the bag of hot air holding them up. “Plus there be laws and rules. We get on together as long as each knows his place. Have to if you want to survive out here. It’s why we learned to take to the skies. Way too dangerous to cross the lands of Deshret on foot—especially at night.”

  Jake nodded, remembering the cactus creatures and the raptors. He realized that maybe this place wasn’t so different from Calypsos after all. It wasn’t so much a slave-and-master relationship with the Egyptians, but more like a class system, with a division of labor to serve the common good. Everybody had a job to do to keep things running.

  A shadow seemed to fall over Politor’s face. “But you’ve come to us at a dark time, I’m afraid. With the pharaoh lost to an endless dream—and his two daughters so young—things have begun to change. The Blood of Ka grows more powerful across our lands.”

  “The Blood of Ka?” Jake asked.

  “Bloody fools, I call them.” He tried to laugh, but it sounded fearful. Glancing to the Egyptian guards, he lowered his voice “A dark sect has grown in the city, and they’ve been growing stronger with every passing moon. They also have the ear of Princess Nefertiti, who rules in her father’s absence. Not sure why she listens. Thought the girl was smarter than that. But now laws have begun to change. Punishments have grown harsher. The Blood Games have started up again.”

  He sighed loudly and shook such dark worries away. His smile returned. “But surely things will right themselves. They always do. A rocking boat always comes to rest. And speaking of boats, I should get below and see to the wings. Don’t want them falling off, now do we?”

  Kady and Pindor groaned in chorus, not happy with even the suggestion of such a mishap.

  Politor took out a bronze tool that looked like a cross between a screwdriver and a wrench and flipped it in his hand, catching it expertly.

  Before Politor turned away, Jake asked, “Where did you learn all of this?” He waved to the ships and to the zipping and cavorting skyriders.

  “Ah, the old alchemies.” Politor scratched his head with his screwdriver thingy. “Comes from a time when the Gypts used to live in some great city called Ankh Tawy. Stories say that their alchemies were once far greater, that they could control the wind itself; but much was lost with the destruction of their great city. Only ruins are left of the place, locked deep in the Great Wind where no one can reach them.”

  Jake had a thousand questions, but Politor saluted with his tool and headed away. By now, others had come over to gawk at the newcomers.

  One asked, “Are you truly outlanders from beyond the Great Wind? From the fabled city of Calypsos?”

  Marika nodded. There was no point in denying it now. “And Calypsos is not a fable.”

  “And we’re not evil,” Pindor added sharply.

  Whispers spread across the group. Jake distinctly heard the word prophecy several times. Way too many eyes stared at him, some in hope, some in fear.

  The large man knelt closer, dropping his voice to a rumbling whisper. “Then it is true. The Prophecy of Lupi Pini. You’ve come to free us. To slay the Sphinx. To kill the howling winds that trap us here.”

  Shocked, Jake went speechless. Eyes bore down upon him.

  He was saved by a booming shout from Skymaster Horus.

  “Harpies ahead! Ready for battle!”

  A screech ripped through the sky—an all too familiar screech. Jake tensed. Such screams had filled his nightmares for months. He read the same recognition and terror in Marika’s face.

  He burst toward the front of the boat and searched beyond the prow. The others crowded with him. Off in the distance, he saw them: winged bodies churning in the wind, spinning and diving, coming straight at the skyships. More than three dozen.

  More screeches pierced the winds, growing sharper and hungrier.

  Jake pictured the mummified grakyl back at the museum.

  Out in the skies, the same beast had come to life and multiplied into a ravaging horde. The Greeks had called them Harpies, but he had another name for them.

  “Grakyl,” Marika said.

  It could only mean one thing.

  Jake mumbled it aloud, “The Skull King has found us.”

  11

  BLOODY SKIES

  The horde headed toward the ships like a plague of locusts.

  Egyptian guards poured up from below to join the slaves. Weapons appeared in every hand as if by magic: bronze swords, bows, spears, and javelins. Jake and his friends were driven flat to the deck as a large man raced over to guard them, carrying a huge mace with a stone head.

  Then the attackers struck.

  Grakyl crashed into the balloon, clawing and ripping at it. But the rubbery material resisted their assault. More monsters dropped to the ship, to be met by thrusting spears and hacking swords. A flurry of arrows soon feathered the skies. Angry screeches turned to pained screams. Blood flowed over the decks and rained down as stricken beasts flew past.

  A large shape shot down out of the sky and struck their guardian square in the back, sprawling him flat. Jake scooted to help, going for the man’s dropped mace. But as soon as Jake moved, another grakyl landed on the rail and perched there with wings outspread. Its bald head, crested by a bony ridge, cocked toward him, fixing him with a pair of baleful yellow eyes. Jake read nothing but hunger in that gaze. Flat, batlike nostrils flared and sniffed for his scent. The grakyl leaned down and hissed, baring fangs.

  Jake scrabbled back but had nowhere to go.

  Then something heavy swept past Jake’s head with a glint of steel. It looked like a grappling hook or an anchor. The barbed hook struck the beast in the chest, ripped it off the rail, and sent it sailing out into the sky. Jake traced the anchor line to one of the flaming skyriders. The man cut the rope and sent the grakyl plummeting downward.

  All across the deck, the war raged. A grakyl swept down and snatched one of the Egyptian guards by the shoulders and dragged him screaming up into the air. A javelin flew and pierced the chest of the monster, killing it instantly. Man and beast crashed back to the deck.
/>   “My sword!” Kady said. Her fencing bag was slung over the unconscious guard’s shoulder. “I’m going for it!”

  Whatever fear she had about flying was gone. There was a fight, and she wanted a part of it. Her eyes practically gleamed.

  Jake didn’t argue. They needed weapons.

  The fighting grew fiercer as they crawled as a group toward the downed man. Bach’uuk picked up the abandoned stone mace as they went. Pindor found a short sword. Marika grabbed a spear.

  On the far side of the ship, a cloak flapped wildly, glowing with an Eye of Horus. With club in hand, Skymaster Horus fought off a massive grakyl while keeping one hand on the rudder. He missed a strike, and the grakyl shoved into him, knocking them both into the rudder.

  The ship swung sideways, tilting to starboard.

  “Hold tight!” Jake yelled.

  The war slid across the deck, adding to the chaos.

  One of the ropes tethering the balloon to the ship snapped away, striking a flying grakyl and cutting off its wings. The creature fell screaming toward the desert.

  Jake pointed to the stern. If the skymaster lost control of the ship, they were all doomed. Staying low, he led the others and reached the steps up to the stern deck just as a hatch popped open in front of him. Still in hunting garb, Nefertiti leaped out.

  She landed in a pounce, spear in hand. Taking in the battle with a sweep of her eyes, she scowled at Jake as if this were all his fault.

  Behind her, the grakyl tore the captain off the rudder. “The skymaster needs help!” he shouted.

  She turned to see to the pair tumbling across the deck. “Horus!”

  The rudder swung, and the ship rolled the other way. Jake and Nefertiti snatched the edge of the hatch. The others weren’t so lucky. They lost their footing and went sliding across the deck.

  Jake watched them hit the rail with some force. They all caught hold—except Marika. The body of a grakyl struck her from behind and sent her toppling overboard. She fell away with a piercing scream.

  “Mari!”

  But she was gone.

  “Help me!” Nefertiti ordered.

  Jake wanted to shove her away and race after his friend. But he saw the fear in the Egyptian’s eyes.

  Pindor screamed. “Mari caught hold of the sail!”

  Jake glanced to him, picturing the widespread wings beneath the ship.

  “She’s barely hanging on!” Pindor yelled.

  “Jake!” Kady turned to him, her face fierce. “You must straighten this boat! Or she’s going to fall!”

  Nefertiti grabbed his shoulder. “Go for the rudder. I’ll help Horus.”

  He nodded, and together they scrambled across the tilted deck. Nefertiti leaped into the fray with the huge grakyl. No longer a princess, only a skilled hunter.

  Jake reached the rudder and shouldered into it. He dug in with the toes of his boots and pushed with his entire body. Slowly the rudder gave way. The deck shifted under his legs, but he kept firm hold, pushing until the boat flew evenly.

  Jake risked a glance to Nefertiti, who stood over the body of the huge grakyl. She’d speared it through an eye. Horus sat against the rail, cradling a broken arm, his face slashed by claws, still dazed.

  Kady came running up, her fencing sword in hand. “Hold the ship steady, Jake! Bach’uuk and Pindor are dropping a rope to Mari!”

  Jake wanted to run and help, but he dared not abandon his hold on the rudder. With the keel even, men found their footing and fought on. Steps away, Kady and Nefertiti fought side by side to hold the horde back from Jake so he could keep the ship flying straight.

  Eventually the grakyl got the message. Like a ship passing out of a squall, the war suddenly ended. The surviving beasts swooped and cartwheeled away.

  Horus’s broken arm was in a crude sling made from his own cloak, but he’d regained enough of his rattled senses to man his post again. The skymaster patted Jake on the shoulder, thanking him, and took over.

  Relieved of duty, Jake ran and leaped off the steps. He reached Pindor and Bach’uuk in time to see them grab Marika’s arms and haul the girl over the rail.

  The four friends all slumped to the deck.

  “Don’t do that again,” Pindor scolded her.

  Marika elbowed him. “I’m not planning on it!”

  * * *

  A half hour later, it was hard to say that any battle had taken place. The corpses of the beasts were tossed overboard, the injured taken down below, and the decks washed clean. Only a few stains and the snapped balloon tether gave any indication of the bloody fight.

  During the cleanup, Jake and his friends had returned to their spots at the front of the boat. But the crew’s attitude toward them had changed. Sailors nodded and waved. Fresh water was brought to them, along with platters of something that looked like cheese but was sweeter and chewier.

  Even Nefertiti spent time with Kady on the middeck, examining her sword. The two talked with much gesturing. Jake caught glimpses of a smile on the princess’s lips.

  Pindor sat cross-legged next to Jake, his chin resting on his knuckles as he watched the two girls.

  Standing a step away, Bach’uuk dug a broken claw from the railing. Jake pictured again the grakyl leering down at him before being ripped away by an aerial hook.

  Bach’uuk came over and squatted beside Jake and Marika, then placed the claw on the deck. “Not a grakyl.”

  “What do you mean?” Jake asked.

  “None had swords. Just claws.” Bach’uuk stared at Jake with his sharp blue eyes and nudged the broken bit he’d dug out. “And teeth.”

  Marika scooted closer. “He’s right. None of them had any weapons. And these beasts certainly didn’t look exactly like the grakyl back home.”

  “They looked like them to me.”

  Marika shook her head. “Did you not see how gnarled their limbs were? Also their heads were too small, their ears too long. These attackers looked both smaller and more beastlike.”

  Jake remembered those yellow eyes locking on to his, shining with bloodlust and hunger—and nothing else. Back in Calypsos, the grakyl’s eyes and faces had shone with a vicious intelligence, nearly humanlike. He’d seen none of that here. The attack on the windriders had been savage, ill planned.

  Marika offered an explanation. “Maybe the grakyl started out as these beasts. Maybe the Skull King was sniffing around these lands and discovered them. Then Kalverum Rex took their forms and changed them, twisted them with his bloodstone alchemies, forged their flesh into his monstrous army.”

  Jake’s stomach churned sickeningly. “If these beasts aren’t grakyl, then what are they?”

  The answer came from behind him. “We call them harpies.” Jake turned to find Nefertiti standing with Kady. “Hundreds of years ago, one of our slave tribes gave them that name. Said the winged beasts matched stories from their own land: great stinking, winged creatures that were half human.”

  Jake nodded, recognizing the name. According to Greek mythology, the Harpyiai—or Harpies—were born from a union of Achilles’s mare and the god of the West Wind. It’s no wonder that some Lost Tribe of Greeks picked that name for the winged creatures here.

  “They nest within the Great Wind,” Nefertiti continued. “They make their home inside that endless howling storm. We seldom see flocks so far from the Great Wind.”

  “What’s this Great Wind you keep talking about?” Jake asked.

  Nefertiti looked at him as if he were stupid, then sighed. She pointed to the horizon, toward that haziness blurring the place where sky and land met.

  “See that mighty sandstorm? It circles the lands of Deshret. No one can pass through that storm without having their flesh scoured from their bones. One ship tried to sail over it, but it was broken apart and cast back into the desert. You five are the first to come through in hundreds of years.”

  “Lucky us,” Pindor mumbled.

  So the storm must be some sort of barrier, Jake thought.

  He
pictured the volcanic rim that enclosed the valley of Calypsos and the protective shield generated by the great Temple of Kukulkan. Was this never-ending storm another form of that? A barrier around these people’s homes to protect them? But if so, that meant something had to be generating such a force, along with supplying the people here with the All-World tongue.

  But what?

  Nefertiti continued, “Within the Great Wind lay the ruins of our original home, a majestic city named Ankh Tawy. We were driven into these lands as the winds rose. Six generations ago. Our loremasters keep the memory alive in the Temple of Time. Pictures, carvings, sculptures. The bits of Ankh Tawy recovered before the winds rose. We preserve them for eternity.”

  Like some sort of museum.

  Jake had to get a look inside that place.

  Marika spoke. “Can you tell us more about what happened? How Ankh Tawy was destroyed?”

  Anger grew in Nefertiti’s voice. “Outlanders came to us, of a most strange sort. They disturbed the sleeping Sphinx. It woke in fury and howled out the Great Winds, driving us from our homes.” Her eyes sparked, going hard. “They were travelers from Calypsos.”

  “I’ve never heard of such a story,” Marika insisted. “We know nothing about any of this.”

  Nefertiti looked down her nose at Marika. “That is what we will discover in Ka-Tor. The masters of the Blood of Ka will get the truth from you.”

  A horn blared under Jake’s feet, cutting off their conversation. Then a moment later, another horn answered from far away, sounding like an echo.

  Skymaster Horus shouted. “Ka-Tor awaits!”

  Jake crossed to the rail and stared ahead. Off in the distance, a sprawling metropolis sat atop a plain of black rock. Two walls of stone enclosed the city: an outer ring and an inner one. A massive pyramid rose in the center. It looked like one solid piece of stone.

  Ammon came running up from below. “Princess, we must get you ready for our arrival! I’ve polished your headpiece and have your finery ready to grace your beauty.”

  Nefertiti grew even more irritated and strode off in a huff.