Suddenly, Ta-mesah’s gaze shifted and he scanned the edge of the field. Alex’s breath caught. Had he heard them? he wondered. How was that even possible? Crocodiles barely have ears!
But then Alex’s own ears picked up a rustling to their left. The friends sank a little farther back into the stalks and watched as the Stung Man emerged from the field and approached Ta-mesah. The two conversed briefly. The new Death Walker was so much larger than the old one — thanks to his mammoth stone statue — that the exchange looked like a father and son talk.
Father.
The thought hit Alex hard. His own father had caused all this: a father he had never known, a father he never would … He shook his head hard to clear it and then turned to the others. “I’m pretty sure I can guess what they’re talking about,” he said.
“So much for the element of surprise,” said Ren.
Alex took hold of his amulet and felt his pulse race with ancient energy. He leaned in and tried to pick up at least some of what they were saying. It was no use. At this distance, their words were just a low mumble. A moment later, the Stung Man walked past Ta-mesah and into the tall open archway of the central stone building.
“That’s got to be the one with the Spells,” whispered Ren. “It’s bigger, and guarded by Death Walkers. The other two are just guarded by reptiles.”
Luke eyed them. “Those are some Jurassic Park–looking reptiles.”
“Yeah, but crocodiles are dumb as mud. They’ve got brains the size of walnuts. And most of that is for hunting.”
“That’s the part that worries me!” hissed Luke.
Alex eyed the formidable stone structure. It was the size of a small house but built like an old bank. It had one visible entrance, which was currently blocked by a ten-foot-tall undead ambush predator. And at least one more Death Walker was already inside.
“What do we do?” said Ren.
“I don’t know,” answered Alex, eyeing the long shadows stretching out behind the buildings. “But whatever it is, we have to do it fast.”
“Maybe if one of us, like, lures him away,” Luke offered. “And the others sneak inside … ”
“And straight into a giant scorpion stinger?” countered Ren.
“Okay,” he said. “What’s your big idea?”
Ren’s mouth opened, but nothing came out.
Suddenly, a huge sound filled the air. It was as loud as thunder and sounded like a combination between a roar and a low, rumbling growl.
“What the what?” blurted Luke.
Ta-mesah flinched visibly and then froze. A few moments later, he slowly lifted his long snout to sniff the air. Alex realized that what had been a crocodile mask in life had now become the Death Walker’s head. Even more amazing: This ten-foot-tall, croc-headed undead powerhouse was very clearly scared.
On either side of their master, the two massive crocodiles called back in response. Their low, huffing growls sounded like layers peeled off from the original sound. Suddenly, Alex understood where that thunderous roar had come from — and why even Ta-mesah was afraid. He remembered the old thief’s words: You will know the devourer by her cry …
He turned to others, wide-eyed. “It’s Ammit.”
Ren had just removed her hands from her ears and nodded. She knew the legend, too. It was fear of Ammit’s jaws at the weighing of the heart ceremony that caused the Death Walkers to flee the afterlife in the first place. And as the roar split the sky again, Alex recognized it as the angry product of a croc’s mouth and a lion’s lungs.
Ta-mesah recognized it, too. Alex watched him slink back toward the building and disappear inside the open mouth of its doorway. The gods are stronger … The crocs called back once again and then fell silent. Alex sized up the sinister sentries. They were big, but their legs looked short and stubby. “This is our chance to get inside,” he said.
After arguing earlier, Ren and Luke were suddenly on the same page. “Are you nuts?” they said simultaneously.
“Now they’re both in there!” said Ren.
“Maybe they’re hiding?” ventured Alex.
“Maybe they’re waiting!” she countered.
“It’s our only chance,” he said. “Once he comes back out, we’ll be stuck here till dark — and then it will be just as dangerous outside.”
Luke looked around. “Those spooky voices are definitely getting louder,” he admitted. “It’s like a ghost concert out here — and I don’t like the sound of that roar, either.”
Ren still looked unconvinced, though, and Alex played the only card he had left. He pointed to the nearest portal, hanging in the air. “Somewhere nearby, there’s another of these that an army of the dead is marching through to New York.”
Ren’s expression shifted quickly from skeptical to resolute. She looked back toward the buildings. “Okay,” she said, “but what about the crocodiles?”
Alex sized them up one last time. The animals were at least sixty feet from the doorway. Here at the edge of the field, the friends were half as far away — and with legs twice as long. “Don’t worry about them,” he said.
“Yeah, they look even slower than you two,” said Luke. “And that’s saying something.”
Ren glared at the menacing crocs. “We’ve come a long way for this,” she said. “What’s thirty more feet?”
As the crocs settled back onto their bellies to bask in the last rays of sun, Alex realized how true that was. They really had come a long way. He had gone from a life on the sidelines to one in the thick of the action. From a kid too fragile for gym class to one preparing for a life-or-death sprint straight toward danger. Kneeling next to him, the cousin who had betrayed them in the desert was now an Amulet Keeper himself.
And Ren? As Alex gathered his legs underneath him and crouched down low, he took one last look over at his best friend. She’d struggled to come to terms with a world of magic and mummies, secret signs and changing rules. From London to Luxor, she’d struggled mightily with her ibis. But here in this strange otherworld, she had harnessed its power to lead them right where they needed to go. And she was preparing to sprint straight toward the unknown.
Ren turned and caught him looking. “What?” she said.
“Nothing,” said Alex.
“Whatever,” said Ren. “Now, what’s your plan for the Walkers?”
“We’ll catch them by surprise or sneak around them,” he said. “We’ll use our amulets, if we have to. We’ve done this before.”
Ren gave him a deeply skeptical look. “Not with two … ”
“Okay, fine,” said Alex. “I just came up with a new plan. It comes in three parts.”
He crouched down deeper and relayed the first part: “On your mark … ”
He touched his hands to the ground in front of him.
“Get set … ” He raised up into a sprinter’s stance. Beside him, Luke did the same. The two boys clearly had the same plan. Which was …
“Go!” blurted Alex as he and Luke took off running.
“Wait, what? That’s it?” called Ren, but she took off right behind them.
In a blink — much faster than Alex had imagined possible — the two huge crocs took off running, too.
It was dinnertime.
Ren’s legs pumped furiously as the huge carnivores converged on the friends from either side, rushing toward them in a brisk, improbable gallop.
“How are they so fast?” Alex yelped.
“I saw them gallop like this in a nature documentary once,” called Ren. “I assumed it was on fast-forward!”
As the crocs closed in, Ren saw Luke reach up toward his amulet and disappear in a blur. Fast-forward indeed, she thought. He reappeared a moment later, under the stone archway at the building’s entrance.
Now it was just her and Alex left on the menu. She had two choices: rush straight forward toward two waiting Death Walkers or stop and be eaten. He called this a plan? She was so angry at Alex that she almost wished he’d trip. She turned that ange
r to energy, edging past him despite his longer legs. The open doorway was just up ahead now, ten feet away. Luke waved them forward from inside: Come on! Come on! The crocs were coming from either side, maybe twenty feet away. She did the math.
They would make it. She eased up ever so slightly — as Alex went sprinting past Luke into the dark open mouth of the building.
Behind them, the massive crocs collided with a sound like two thick T-bone steaks being slapped together. Ren rushed inside, and Luke reached out to slow her down. “Thanks,” she said. She scanned the dark entryway: no immediate sign of the Walkers. She felt a brief flash of relief, but it vanished as she turned back toward the entrance and realized their croc troubles weren’t over yet. Either of the creatures could fit inside the archway, filling the entry with snapping jaws and blocking off all escape.
The two beefy beasts untangled themselves from their collision. Then slowly and in perfect unison, they turned their big beady eyes toward the entrance — and the tender little morsels inside.
“They’re going to come in here, aren’t they?” said Luke. “And then we’re pretty much done for.”
“Yep.”
The larger of the two behemoths took a step toward the entrance, a string of saliva hanging from its slightly open mouth. Luke whispered, “I can’t believe I’m doing this.”
“Wait,” said Ren. “Don’t go out there. We’ll figure something out in here, hide in the dark or something.”
“Nah,” said Luke. “You two do your thing. I’ll hold off these things. I’m not the smartest guy — but you said it yourself: Crocodiles are dumb as mud.”
He touched his amulet and disappeared back into the daylight. A split second later, he appeared in front of the monstrous crocs. “Here, lizard, lizard, lizard!” he called.
The closest one lunged. Ren held her breath — but Luke was already gone.
She exhaled and turned back into the darkness. She hoped he’d be able to distract the cold-blooded killers for long enough — and she hoped he wouldn’t get eaten in the process. All of which meant one thing: She trusted him again. She even kind of liked him. Risking your life repeatedly for someone tends to have that effect.
It was the other one she was still mad at.
“Alex?” she hissed, heading down the dark tunnel of the entryway, her wide-open eyes desperately searching the darkness for friend and foe alike.
There was no response for a few steps, and then she heard his voice: “I’m here.”
She flinched with fear and then swatted out blindly at him.
“Where’s Luke?” he said.
“Saving our bacon,” she answered, slapping what felt like his shoulder. “Great plan, by the way: On your mark, get set, go!”
“It worked, didn’t it?” he said.
As glib as his words were, his voice told her that he was scared. His voice and common sense: Anything could be in here with them. Would the next voice in her ear rise from the lifeless lungs of a Death Walker? She lowered her hand, sucked in a deep breath, and waited for her eyes to adjust to the darkness.
Slowly, the fading light filtering in from the open entryway revealed a high-ceilinged hallway. It ended five feet from them in a massive stone door. “That thing looks like it weighs a ton,” Ren whispered. “Like, literally, a ton.”
“At least we know where the Spells are,” said Alex.
“Yeah, and the Death Walkers,” said Ren. This was bad. No light or sound escaped from inside, so there was no way to know what awaited them, and she was sure the big stone slab would grind loudly against the floor if they opened it. She wondered if they even could. She glanced over at Alex’s shadowy silhouette. Maybe he can push it open with his amulet, she thought. But what then?
She looked down at her own amulet, glowing softly in the murk. She still hadn’t been able to move heavy objects with it the way Alex and Todtman could. The ibis was a symbol of Thoth. He was the ancient Egyptian god of wisdom, writing, and moonlight, and apparently he didn’t do manual labor. Still, the ibis had its own unique abilities.
Standing there in the dark, she got a bright idea.
Alex could hear his heart beating as he crouched down on one side of the door. Ren was barely visible on the other side, and he dearly hoped she knew what she was doing.
Finally, the moment they’d been waiting for — and dreading — arrived.
Stone ground loudly against stone, drowning out even Alex’s racing heart, as the door began to open inward. Flickering firelight leaked out into the hall, only to be eclipsed by a massive figure.
Ta-mesah’s reputation preceded him — and so did his snout. Before he’d even pushed his toothy visage all the way into the hall, a second figure appeared directly behind him. In the wash of firelight Alex would see the glossy venom bulb at his side.
Now, Ren, he thought.
He closed his eyes tightly as she sprang to her feet.
FWOOOP!
Even through his eyelids, the blinding white flash lit Alex’s vision.
Ta-mesah grunted in pain and surprise, and the Stung Man once again covered his eyes too late, nearly stinging his own face in the process.
Unnoticed, Alex slipped quietly past them, through the door, and inside the chamber.
The room was half lit by a small stone pool with yellow-orange flames dancing on its surface. Alex desperately searched the deep shadows.
Speed was key now. The rapid-fire slap of Ren’s footsteps had already disappeared down the hallway. Taking a page from Luke’s playbook, she was trying to lure at least one of the dazzled Death Walkers into pursuit. But there was no guarantee they would take the bait.
Alex’s thoughts were interrupted by movement. A shadowy blur buzzed past his ear. Turning to get a better look at it, he saw a second shape fill his vision: dark purple in the faint firelight and the size of a Thanksgiving turkey. He ducked and it flew inches over his head, tearing out half a dozen strands of hair as it went.
Alex gasped from the pain, but the sound was drowned out by an angry buzzing that grew louder with each passing second, as if he’d just stepped on a hornets’ nest.
Hornets, he thought. Oh no. An image flashed through his mind: a ragged figure, teeming and torn, on a rooftop in Cairo.
Suddenly, the deafening buzz fell silent. A hollow, desolate voice that rose up in its place, and a nightmare stepped clear of the shadows, revealing itself in the flickering glow.
Ren bolted out of the dark entryway as if shot from a gun. There was no need to adjust to the daylight. Dusk had come to the land of the dead. She looked around desperately for any sign of approaching croc jaws. Instead, she saw Luke literally grabbing one of the toothy beasts by the tail. It seemed like the definition of a bad idea, but Luke caught sight of her and shouted an explanation. “They were giving up on trying to catch me,” he shouted. “Just trying to keep their attention!”
“Look out!” Ren shouted in response.
The croc swung its big head around but couldn’t reach him. The second croc gave it another go, lunging at him from nearby. But before it could even sniff Nikes, Luke vanished in a blur. In his sudden absence, the crocs turned toward Ren and eyed her greedily. Ren swallowed hard. She didn’t know if she looked more appetizing, but she was sure she looked slower. They sprinted toward her.
Behind her, she could hear heavy footfalls echoing through the entry hall. Two sets. Both Death Walkers were in pursuit — and close. She was in between a croc and a hard place. Would she be torn apart? Stung to death? Something worse?
She took off running, putting everything she had into one quick burst of speed.
Her legs strained, her head pounded, her lungs burned — and her plan worked.
The two crocodiles shot like rockets toward the spot where she’d been standing, just outside the entrance to the building. The closest one lunged for her, just missing her left leg as she scooted past it and into the clear. Even with walnut-sized brains, the crocs knew better than to collide again. But
it hadn’t occurred to them not to block the exit. The second croc lunged at Ren, too, partially climbing over the other one’s back to do it. Together they formed a wide wall of twisting reptilian flesh just outside the entryway.
The Walkers hit the brakes, stopping just short of the living roadblock. Ta-mesah released a hoarse, huffing growl. He grabbed the big beasts by the backs of their necks and tossed them aside with mindboggling strength.
Before the crocs even landed, Ren hit the wall of barley like an arrow, disappearing inside.
“Nice move,” she heard. The voice came from right beside her, and she jumped nearly as high as the tall grain. But it was only Luke. She shushed him and grasped her amulet tight so that she could understand the Walkers’ words.
“Forget her,” rumbled Ta-mesah, scanning the wall of grain and slowing to a walk. “She is just trying to lure us away from the boy.”
Still trying, Ren reached out with her free hand and rustled the stalks all around her. The Walkers ignored the desperate gesture.
“True,” said the Stung Man. “And he is dead by now. Let us go see if there’s anything left of him.”
Ren’s blood ran cold. The crocs, the Stung Man, Ta-mesah — they were all right here — but he was confident Alex was dead. Had she let her best friend run straight into a trap? Was there something else lying in wait inside? Something even worse?
Alex wasn’t dead. Not yet, anyway.
The bizarre figure before him was toying with him, as a cat would a mouse. “I founded The Order long ago, when civilization itself was still young and Egypt was new.”
The founder paused, his rasping voice winding down like a buzz saw. Alex stared at him, horrified and transfixed. A churning swirl of purple and black enveloped him like a thick, liquid suit. Now and then an insect’s eye or a translucent wing appeared in the mix, only to be sucked back into the maelstrom. Large, wasp-like bodies bubbled up and disappeared. Sometimes a gap appeared and Alex caught a glimpse of the founder’s desiccated body beneath. Alex understood now that this was the very first Death Walker.
The Final Kingdom Page 10
