by Lorelei Bell
The Ugwumps' chanting had stopped. The only sounds Zofia could hear came from Apep. No matter it's name, Zofia could not imagine an uglier god to worship. Gods of the underworld were usually pretty ugly. But this one could have written the book on ugly. It was a terrible mix of man and reptile, just as depicted on the walls. Only in real life, it wasn't quite as perfectly human. The skin tone—at least on Apep—was completely all green-tinged, and looked less human than depicted as well. More or less, it had a salamander complexion of greenish slime. A feted, swampy odor invaded the cavern making Zofia gag. She could hear the others coughing too. A black forked tongue slithered out over the carnivorous and cruel mouth. Yeah, he was hungry, as the slitted eyes seemed to widen at the prospect of devouring at least half of the humans in the room before he needed to belch.
With the muscular arms of a giant, it made one great effort, and Apep hauled himself halfway out of the large crack in the floor. The crumbling floor seemed to thwart him. The great head churned and moved like a creature in pain, or was attempting a hard task. Apep, it would seem, was stuck.
Almost holding her breath, Zofia kept herself still, and at the same time tried to see where Saint Germain had gone. But, the only thing that she would be able to detect of his movements was the knife he held. And she couldn't see that beyond all the other excitement happening around her.
As Apep rose a little more out of the ground, a cumulative gasp was extracted from the worshipers—a strange sound for worshipers to make—as Apep seemed to have no end to him. He had pulled himself as far out as his waist and now loomed nearly as tall as the fifteen-foot effigies of himself which surrounded him.
Meanwhile, Phineas and Cagliostro had moved back several steps, but still gazed upon Apep as though awe struck. Suddenly Cagliostro fell and prostrated himself while speaking in some strange language she couldn't understand, and it wasn't Tuscan, she was pretty sure of it.
The megalith all around them made a sort of grating, and grinding sound as Apep let out another huge roar, and wriggled his body with one more mighty push, head moving side to side with his efforts, muscles tensed in the human-like greenish arms, chest bulging as he pushed the crumbling stone to one side.
Finally, with a final shrieking roar, and with the sound like a foot being pulled from thick muck, one of Apep's lizard-like feet popped out and made land. As he stepped down, the fissure cracked beyond the circle they had made for him, ripping and grinding all the way past where Zofia was bound, and up to where the worshipers stood, still in a circle, watching spellbound. Many of them lost footing and fell because of the shift in the floor. Bits of stone rained all over the temple, hitting her but not the worshipers, as the power circle held. She shut her eyes and twisted her head to one side, hoping nothing large would hit her.
She was spared.
Next thing Apep pulled free was a twenty-foot, crocodile-like tail, equipped with toothy ridges. It whipped and thrashed angrily, hitting two of the closest statues, cracking them in two, and bringing them crumbling down in just a couple of swipes.
Women screamed. Men swore. Everyone of them had moved out of their circle formation, and scrambled as far away from the horrifying monster as they could get without stepping across their magic circle. She noticed that Garrison and Keeler had edged a little further back, too. From the look on their faces, neither of them had imagined such a gigantic, terror-inducing god. In fact, they both may not have been one hundred percent behind this whole bringing-Apep-back ritual. They looked like two thieves caught in the headlight beams of a police car, rethinking this whole thing. She guessed they might have arrived at the conclusion how stupid this whole thing was a tad too late. As much as she wanted to see if she was right, she had to turn her attention back to the real action.
Apep's red eyes took in the crowd, then dropped to her bare form. He threw back his head and let out a groaning roar. Zofia had avoided looking down at his one celebrated portion of anatomy, (which seemed to have pleased Phineas the most about the god), restraining herself from checking him out—until now. Apep wasn't quite as large as advertised, but he was hung like a stallion and even though Zofia was slightly relieved it looked more like a man's equipment, than say a lizard's, it was no less horrible. Obviously, if he managed to enter a woman, it would tear her up and kill her. There was no real copulation, but purely evil rape and pillage.
Those terrible red eyes dropped to take in Phineas, and then Cagliostro. Cagliostro was the closest and groveled at his one freed foot. Mouth snapping open, his head dipped with unbelievable quickness, and snatched up Cagliostro in his cruel jaws.
Cagliostro screamed. The shrill, terror-filled screaming seemed to never end. Zofia had never heard a man scream so horribly in her life. It turned her blood to ice. She had to look away as Apep tossed the man around in his mouth, so as to position him just right—head first—and with a few chomps, Cagliostro was gone. Just a lump in Apep's throat, slowly moving downward, was all that was left of the only other First World eighteenth century alchemist.
Screams issued from the other end of the room. It wasn't just the women screaming this time.
Phineas twirled about. “Do not move!” he cried at the worshipers. “Move, and the curtain of protection will come down. You will all perish!”
Glancing over Phineas' shoulder, Zofia could see that Dorian was being cut down by the invisible Saint Germain. Dorian was once more unconscious. Held up by the unseen alchemist, he was carried away, all but forgotten by everyone. Everyone including Apep.
At the same moment that Saint Germain was making his way around the furthest, darkest edges of the temple, two Helsingas—which looked exactly like Apep, only about half his size—wriggled their way out of the crack in the floor nearby. They slithered along on their bellies, like the reptiles they were, and raced across the room, toward the people inside the magic circle, snapping their jaws at them. More screaming filled the room. Women were terrified, clutching onto one another, or onto the men who looked just as frightened and just as helpless. Sparks flew as the two monsters jumped at the magic circle, and were thrown back. Only slightly wounded, they made a horrible sound and dashed away, escaping up the wall, and disappearing somewhere above. Possibly through new fissures on top of the menhir, large enough for them to escape, created when Apep had made his way into their world. Zofia hoped no one from the village ventured outside. They would become a quick happy meal.
“This is crazy!” one of the men cried from inside the magic circle, and took up something that looked like a sword and threw it at the circle. It hit the magic wall and disintegrated. The magic wall stood unmarred, just as strong as before.
“How do we make it come down?” another asked, thoroughly perplexed.
Zofia's gaze picked up the slow progress of Dorian's limp form as it continued gliding out toward the exit, under Saint Germain's power.
She realized she would have to help these people get out of the bind they were in. They obviously didn't know how to undo the circle, and they were held trapped there until Phineas let them go. Even though they had fallen in with Phineas, Zofia didn't want them to be harmed. They now saw the error of their ways. They would be rounded up later, questioned by the Witenagemont, and fitting punishment would be doled out—not put in Hamparzum's, obviously, since they had done nothing except be duped into this whole thing, plus they were only Ugwumps.
Phineas, on the other hand, had placed Zofia, as well as Dorian in harms way—big time Taboo. He'd meant to watch as the monster slaked his lust with her, while appeasing his own with Keeler. The whole thing made her sick to her stomach. She needed to find a way to end it all here and now. She wasn't about to let that thing touch her, once it wrenched itself the rest of the way out of the hell mouth.
Phineas moved around to the head of the dais where Zofia lay, pretending to be bound. She was surging with anger and the need to hurt him bad. It was all she could do to hold still and wait for the first chance to hit him with power.
&n
bsp; “Oh, great and powerful Apep, enemy of Ra, I have given to you a woman to appease your needs,” Phineas said, hands out to his sides.
“In your twisted dreams, Phineas!” Zofia growled. Bringing up her left arm, three fingers extended, she let him have it right in the face. A bright scarlet power burst hit him. Phineas screamed; hands flew to his face as he stumbled back.
Zofia quickly rolled off the dais—away from Apep—and gained her feet. Facing both Keeler and Garrison, she brought up both hands, pointing her fingers at them.
“Just give me an excuse,” she said.
Licking his lips, Keeler's eyes slid to take in his injured leader and lover, then slid them back on her, as if thinking about his chances. She had the drop on him—on the both of them—and he knew it. “I won't spare any power on you two. In case you didn't know, I defeated both Xilomorah, and Vesselvod Blood.”
A heartbeat or two ticked and then both wizards turned tail and fled up the steps, running in separate directions around the magic circle, each of them having to zap a Helsinga that charged after them. Fighting to be first to exit they squeezed through the temple doorway at almost the same time like a comic act.
Meanwhile, three more Helsingas slithered out of the hole, and very quickly climbed up the walls and found their way out through the top of the monolith into sunlight.
Zofia aimed another power burst at the base of the circle. “Recede, magic circle!”
Like a gas burner being turned off a First World stove, the barrier collapsed. Looking dazed, the Ugwumps took in the fact that they were freed. All at once they came to their senses and and fled toward the exit. Some threw off their robes as they ran, as if no longer wanting to be identified as part of the cult. Two Helsingas darted toward the group. The air snapped and crackled as Zofia hit them with powerful red jets. The two monsters turned quickly away and scurried up the walls of the menhir.
Zofia noticed that one of the cultists was left standing in the same spot, looking up at the monster.
Abigail. She didn't look terrified. Actually she had the same look of awe on her face as had Phineas and Cagliostro had had.
“Abigale, get out. Now!” Zofia warned. But the woman didn't move.
“You bitch!” the growling voice arrowed through Zofia. She realized that Phineas wasn't out of commission as she'd thought. He was up, and angling toward her. Wand in hand and held high, ready to cast a hex straight at her. Before she could move in a defensive way, she was knocked off her feet when the floor shifted beneath her, at the same moment a red bolt of power just missed her head by mere inches.
Gaining her feet, she ducked behind the dais, heard the explosion of marble as another one of his spells missed her again. Blowing out a sigh of relief, Zofia peered around the dais to find Phineas trying to sneak around the tall columns, edging toward her. Quickly, she aimed another hex at him. It took a chunk out of the marble column, and he screamed an expletive as though he'd gotten hit either with her curse, or with some chips of stone. When he moved out into the open, bent over and covering his face, she hit him again. His wand flew out of his hand. “Locomote!” She lifted him high off the ground, well out of the reach of Apep. She wanted to drop him from that height, wanted to hurt him at least as much as he'd hurt her and Dorian. But somewhere deep down, she knew it was wrong. That was the difference between them. She paused, watching his helpless form; legs and arms windmilling, and listened a while to his pleading with her not to let him fall.
Apep was watching hungrily too, his black tongue slid out over his terrible teeth several times. Just seeing Phineas' fear was good enough payback. That, and the knowledge he would spend a long time—probably the rest of his life—in Hamparzum's.
“I should just let him eat you, Phineas. But I won't.” She let him down, well out of the reach of Apep, then created an Umbrella spell around him to keep the Helsingas from getting to him, and since she'd created it, he couldn't move out of it, and with it in place, he couldn't fit through the door to escape. He was trapped. She chuckled watching Phineas bounce off walls, run and fall as one Helsinga, then two chased him, almost like a cat playing with a ball of twine.
The chill of the room had Zofia shivering, so she turned to find a discarded robe nearby. “Acquisito robe!” The robe whipped up like a strange bird, and flew to her hands. Quickly she thrust her head and arms through the neck and arm holes and was finally covered, even though the robe was overly long—naturally, since it must have fit over a man, but it covered her well. Once she threw back the hood, her vision was cleared.
Where had Abigale gone? Had she finally left while she had the chance to escape? Zofia glanced toward the door. There was no sign of her. Shrugging, Zofia turned back. When she did, she saw the motion of something to the side. A black robe had been discarded and lay across two steps down into what Zofia was now referring to as the Pit of Hell. A moving body pulled her gaze. A nude woman's body.
Turning all the way around, she was distracted and dumbfounded by what she saw. She had to stare to be sure she hadn't just lost it all. Abigale was now nude, striding purposely toward the human-shaped dais.
“Abigale, what in blazes are you doing?” Zofia cried.
“'E doesn't want you!” Abigale said heatedly. “'E wants me. 'E always did. The moment 'e locked eyes on me, I knew. 'E wants me, you dumb witch!”
Totally dumbfounded, Zofia continued to stare at Abigale who now placed herself on the dais, spreading her legs wide like a wanton wench waiting for some guy who had promised her a good time and a piece of silver for her trouble to drop his pants and come get some.
“You're calling me dumb?” Zofia said, hands on hips. “He gets loose he'll kill you!”
“No. 'E wants me,” she said, nodding, and licking her lips. “That's what Phineas tol' me. 'E said Apep wanted a real woman, like me. That's what 'e tol' me.”
All this time Apep was roaring, still struggling to gain total freedom. He couldn't reach Abigale unless he freed his other foot. If he got free Zofia didn't think she would be able to stop him, she wasn't even sure an Umbrella spell could keep Abigale safe, since Apep was a god. He could override any simple magic. She would have to grab Abigale, magically, of course, and get her out of there. But she couldn't keep Phineas in a bubble, and save Abigale from big disaster at the same time. She wished she had the Stone of Irdisi. The Stone would have equal power to stop him, since it came straight from the goddess Irdisi.
“Abigale, you need to come away!” Zofia said, striding over to her, reaching for her arm. Abigale snatched her arm out of Zofia's grasp.
“NO!” she screeched. “I was to be the one! I was chosen by Phineas to be Apep's offering. Not you!”
“You been licking toads, Abigale? This thing—he's huge! You can't possibly think you'll survive it!”
“I will, Phineas told me I would, by magic.”
“There's no magic involved here!” Zofia argued and reached for the woman again.
A huge sucking sound filled the chamber, followed by a triumphant roar.
Abigale levered herself up on her elbows, and Zofia turned around to glance back at Apep. He was free and he took one giant step toward Abigale, alligator hands reaching for her. There was no time left for arguments. Apep would listen to none.
Chapter 42
“Umbrella!” Zofia cried, thrusting her hand forward. A soft rosy glow encased Abigale.
Abigale pressed her hands against the protective bubble, gasping. “What did you do? Let me out!” she shrieked. She pounded on the thin membrane which was her only protection against any harm that might come her way. Even if for a short while; she had to buy time. It was also a stretch of her magic to perform two Umbrellas but she could do it for a while. She was good at multitasking.
Apep reached for Abigale, but his reptilian hands could only grasp the rosy see-through protection around her. Claws scratching at the bubble, he would find a way through it eventually. Giving up on that, he straddled it and tried to hump it. His f
rustration came out as a roar. Abigale lie back, spreading her legs in an accommodating way. It was like watching a sick comedy.
Rolling her eyes, Zofia swore under breath. She wouldn't be able to yank Abigale out of the creature's grasp now. It wanted her too badly.
Just when she thought it couldn't get any worse, Apep lifted the bubble containing Abigale, and with a huge grunt of frustration, threw it. Abigale gave a yelp as the bubble of protection she was in bounced a few times like a beach ball. She was tossed around inside, bouncing once on her head, as it landed. Having given up on Abigale, he now bounded toward Zofia.
“Ooooh, dragon crap!” Zofia swore again. Backing up, she was ready to just Transvect the hell out of there. But when she turned around, two Helsingas were between her and the door. First one stood up on his hind legs, then the other did the same. They were just as excited as Apep, and at the moment sex took precedence over food. Lucky her.
She didn't know if she could fight off three creatures that were twice the size of a man, plus keep Abigale, as well as Phineas in protective bubbles at the same time, but she had to try. Transvecting, (and hoping she could multi task at this level), she managed to execute a high back-flip to avoid their reaching, clawed-tipped reptilian hands. Then, she swooped left out of another's sudden reach.
Apep roared and snarled at the other two. The smaller Helsingas backed away, slinking off. Obviously, Apep was king and had dibs on the women.
Something bright flashed past her as she Transvected over the head of Apep who was turning in circles watching her with interest. She looked down and across to see that Phineas was out of his bubble, and had regained his wand and was aiming it at her.
She dodged another blast from Phineas' wand, going low. The stream of power hit somewhere high, she heard pieces of the ceiling break away and fall to the floor with a crash.
