Fight of the Falcon God
Page 5
“Back!” Sokar barked at it.
The Guardian slowly sat back on its haunches. It stared greedily at Ebe, who nestled in Akori’s arms, shivering.
Sokar patted its huge flank. “Patience. Soon you shall feast.” He turned to Akori. “My master could destroy you all in an instant, but it amuses him to present you with a choice instead.”
“Choice?” Akori asked. Why wasn’t Sokar attacking?
“This is the Gate to the deeper levels of the Underworld,” Sokar declared. “Only one thing can open it. The Guardian must be fed a sacrifice. And only a living being will satisfy her terrible hunger. Obviously, you cannot be devoured, since you wish to confront Set. So you must choose. Which of your companions will you feed to the Guardian? The cat…or the priest?”
“What makes you think I’d betray my friends?” Akori shouted.
“You have no choice,” Sokar leered. “The most powerful spells of Thoth’s book are holding that Gate shut. Wait a million years, send a million armies to batter it down – nothing will work! But a single living soul, swallowed up by the Guardian, will open the Gate for ever.”
Manu and Ebe both stared at Akori. Neither of them could move. Sheer terror seemed to hold them both in a freezing grip. To die was one thing, but to have your immortal soul devoured by this beast? It was unthinkable…
“Choose now, Pharaoh!” roared Sokar. “Send one of them to be devoured, or the Guardian will choose for you. And I think she prefers the little cat.”
The Guardian of the Gate slowly opened its colossal mouth and leaned forwards. Ebe trembled. The hot oven of the Guardian’s throat yawned before Akori.
“I have chosen,” he said.
He held Ebe in both his hands and threw her as hard as he could – away from the Guardian’s gaping mouth.
Fear threatened to freeze him in his tracks. He had to act now, before the mouth closed. If he didn’t move now he never would.
Akori drew his khopesh and ran towards the Guardian. He leaped into her wide open mouth, flew between her jaws and landed on the swampy surface of her tongue. The whole mouth tilted as the startled Guardian, in a reflex action, swallowed him whole. The last thing Akori heard was Sokar’s cry of surprise. Then he was sliding through stinking darkness, tumbling head over heels into a squelching morass of unspeakable horror inside the Guardian’s stomach.
He was trapped in a stifling, slime-coated pocket of hot flesh. The smell was indescribable. Juices stung his arms and legs, burning like flaming oil. Pulsing wet surfaces surrounded him on all sides, pressing in so hard he could hardly move. Horus, be with me now, he silently prayed.
He slashed at the Guardian with the khopesh. She roared in agony, shaking Akori around in the sloshing loathsomeness of her gullet. Akori hacked again and again, ripping through the monster, laying bare ribs as huge as trees. It was ghastly work. Akori could hardly breathe. Filth slimed him from head to toe. Every sword stroke made the Guardian bellow, jostling Akori around so he couldn’t tell which way was up or down. Then, right when he least expected it, he saw a light shining. Something like a hot coal was glimmering faintly through the sludge in the Guardian’s bowels.
It’s one of the Pharaoh Stones! He grabbed it. A thrill of power surged through his fingers, flooding up his arm and across his chest. His heart felt as if it was encircled by bands of living fire.
He pressed it into place in the socket in his armour. Fresh courage filled him. Emboldened, he swung and hacked, scything the monster’s flesh off in great rippling sheets like a ship’s sails. With a valiant final slash, he tore a long rip in the Guardian’s side. Light blazed in.
Breathing hard, Akori clambered out of the monster’s belly.
Outside, Ebe was in her cat-beast form, fighting Sokar with fangs and claws, while Manu darted around trying helplessly to do some good. Sokar was laughing at them both, as if they presented no threat at all, and he was just passing the time. But when Akori stood up in front of him, with the Stone blazing in his breastplate, Sokar stood dumbfounded. His sword hung limp at his side and his mouth gaped open.
“Your Guardian has been gutted,” snarled Akori. “Do you want to be next?”
All Sokar’s rage had gone and now only fear was left. “The Stone of Courage! You…did…how…?”
Akori levelled his khopesh at him. “The Gate. Open it. Now.”
“It opened when the Guardian swallowed you!” Sokar said. “But you…you…”
“I never promised to stay swallowed,” Akori said with a fierce grin of victory. “As for you, Sokar? Maybe I’ll let you live. You can take a message for me. Run back to your master.”
“What…should I tell him, mighty Pharaoh?” Sokar grovelled.
“Nothing,” Akori said.
“I don’t understand.”
“Tell him nothing. Just let him see the fear on your face.”
Sokar stared. He looked at Akori’s steady eyes, the dripping sword in his hand and the mighty Guardian slain.
Then without another word he turned and ran, his huge feet slamming on the sand, and vanished through the distant Gate.
“Come on,” Akori urged. “We need to get back to the palace.”
“Um, just one question, Akori,” said Manu. “How do we get back to the upper world?”
Akori’s moment of victory vanished in a cold wind of fresh fear. He’d been so determined to reach the Gate that he’d not given a single thought to the return journey. Too late, Horus’s warning came back into his mind: After each battle, you must make it back out of the Underworld by sunrise. If you do not, then the Underworld will claim you for ever.
“I don’t know,” he said. “But we’ve got until sunrise to do it – hey, Ebe, wait! Where are you going? Ebe!”
The cat was racing back the way they had come, over the scarlet sands and towards the black river. Akori and Manu traded glances and ran after her. If anyone knew the way out of the Underworld, Akori thought, it would be the Cat Goddess.
They reached the bank of the river just in time to see Aken’s barge heading into a pitch-black tunnel mouth in the wall of the cavern. With Ebe in the lead they raced along the bank, trying desperately to reach the barge before it disappeared from sight. Aken was rowing very slowly, still locked in the trance of his endless task. He didn’t look around at the approaching trio. The barge was more than halfway into the tunnel now.
“Jump!” Akori shouted.
Ebe sprang and landed safely on the barge. Akori jumped after her and landed hard, scraping his shin.
Manu jumped and fell with a splash into the black river. He clung to the side of the barge, yelling in panic. Quickly Akori helped him up, just as an ominous ripple began to move through the water towards him. The barge glided into the echoing rock tunnel. Manu shivered.
“Thanks. That was too close – hey, look at the Stone glowing on your chest!” A ruby-red light was shining through the filthy cloth of Akori’s cloak. He opened it and admired the splendour of the fiery jewel set into his golden armour.
“How does it feel?” Manu asked him, in tones of awe.
“It’s incredible,” Akori told him. “I can feel the power running through me. It’s like fire in my blood.”
“We’re one step closer to defeating Oba and Set!” Manu smiled.
Ebe scratched at the coffin with her claws and mewed.
Akori understood. “We need to get back inside,” he said. “That’s how we got in, so I guess it’s how we get out.”
“I hope so,” Manu said, climbing in. “Because if it’s not, we’ll be stuck in here for a long time!”
Once they were all inside, Akori closed the lid. The glow from the Stone of Courage lit up the inside of the coffin with an eerie red glare. It’s like my heart is burning, Akori thought proudly.
Just like before, the coffin shuddered and there was a sense of falling through endless space. Then everything went quiet. Akori listened for the splash of Aken’s oars on the water, but heard nothing at all. Caut
iously he lifted the coffin lid.
“We’re back in my tomb in the Valley of the Kings!” he said, feeling immense relief. “I never thought I’d be so glad to see my own tomb.”
After the horrors of the Underworld, the short journey back to the palace was like paradise. The clean, fresh air had never smelled so good. Akori noticed the people seemed more troubled than they had before, though. An anxious mood seemed to hang over the city.
They had to sneak back in through the unguarded rear entrance. Akori found the High Priest pacing up and down in his chambers. His face broke into a smile as soon as he heard Akori’s voice.
“We made it!” Akori said. “And I’ve claimed the first of the Pharaoh Stones!”
“Wonderful!” the High Priest said. “And it is good to have Ebe back with us, whatever form she chooses to wear!”
Akori excitedly told the story of the last twenty-four hours, from the battle in the animal cemetery to his courageous jump into the Guardian’s gaping mouth. The High Priest listened, nodding solemnly.
“I can see why the Stone of Courage was gifted to you,” he commented. “To leap willingly into the mouth of such a monster, without knowing if you could possibly survive…that is the bravest deed I have ever heard of.”
“Thank you,” Akori said modestly.
“You must rest while you can, for Horus will surely call upon you again soon,” the High Priest said. “I have listened to the gossip of the guardsmen and the reports from the high officials, and they all agree one thing. Rumours are spreading across Egypt, rumours of strange noises coming from tombs, of mummies walking by night. The Enemy is making ready to invade us.”
The Stone tingled Akori’s fingers as he touched it again. Now he had its power to draw upon, the challenges to come might not be as impossible as he’d feared.
He smiled. “I’m ready.”
“He gave you no message at all?” Oba demanded.
“None,” said Sokar. He was on his knees beside the lake of fire, hanging his head in shame.
Oba stood with his hands on his hips. Behind him loomed Set, silent as a carven statue.
“So the Guardian of the Gate is slain, cut open from the inside,” Oba said slowly. “Because the boy chose to throw himself into the Guardian’s mouth as a sacrifice?”
“It wasn’t supposed to happen that way,” moaned Sokar. “He was supposed to choose which of his companions to sacrifice. We never thought he would choose himself!”
“YOU never thought,” Oba corrected him. Then his eyes narrowed. “Lift your head. Look at me.”
“My Lord, I beg you, no…”
“Look at me!”
Oba stared long and hard at Sokar’s face. He thought for a moment that Sokar was terrified of him, but slowly he realized the God was much more afraid of Akori. Anger swept over him in a hot wave.
“Set!” Oba screeched. “Let this incompetent fool wash off the stink of his failure in the lake of fire!”
Sokar screamed and begged for mercy, but Oba was deaf to his pleas. Set grabbed him, hoisted him up and threw him far into the centre of the flaming lake. A jet of flames shot up as the flailing God went under…and the screaming ceased.
“Burn!” Oba yelled after him. “Ten thousand years of roasting to a cinder will teach you what it means to fail me.”
“A fitting punishment,” Set mused. “It will serve as a warning to the others.”
Oba stood glaring at the flames, his teeth still bared in anger. Then his mouth twisted into a sly smile.
“Come, my old friend,” he said to Set. “Our enemy will soon be returning to the Underworld. And I am going to make sure he never gets out again.”
COLLECT EVERY QUEST
ATTACK OF THE SCORPION RIDERS
For his first quest, Akori must risk his life, fighting giant scorpions and a hideous Snake Goddess. Will he be victorious?
CURSE OF THE DEMON DOG
The dead are stalking the living and it’s up to Akori to stop them – but a scary dog-headed hunter is on his trail!
BATTLE OF THE CROCODILE KING
Akori must brave the Nile to battle two evil Gods – the terrifying Crocodile King, and the bloodthirsty Frog Goddess.?
LAIR OF THE WINGED MONSTER
Vicious vultures and deadly beasts lie in wait for Akori as he searches the desert for the Hidden Fortress of Fire.
SHADOW OF THE STORM LORD
Akori must fight Set, the dark Lord of Storms himself, and beat the evil Pharaoh Oba, in his deadliest battle yet.
FIGHT OF THE FALCON GOD
Young Pharaoh Akori ventures into the Underworld to battle the fearsome Falcon God. But can he make it out alive?
RISE OF THE HORNED WARRIOR
Akori must escape from the Underworld labyrinth of bones and overcome the lightning-fast Lord of Thunder.
SCREAM OF THE BABOON KING
Akori journeys to Oba’s Underworld palace, where he confronts his nightmares in the form of the evil Baboon God.
CLASH OF THE DARK SERPENT
The Sun God has been captured by the gigantic serpent of the Underworld. Will Akori be able to defeat the awesome beast?
DESCENT OF THE SOUL DESTROYER
Akori faces the ultimate challenge when he reaches the heart of the Underworld and meets the monstrous Soul Devourer.
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