The Cult of Osiris nwaec-5

by Andy McDermott

  She had broken the thread.

  Eddie and Macy reacted in alarm as a scraping sound echoed from overhead. ‘What is it?’ Macy asked, trying to pinpoint the source.

  ‘Sounds like a lighter,’ Eddie began, before the sound’s meaning struck him. ‘Shit! Nina, you’re going to have a fire any second!’

  He stared at the ceiling in horror as the sound spread, ancient rollers grinding against metal, producing sparks . . .

  Lights flared in the small holes.

  Something dropped from one, a wad of cloth trailing a thin line of grey smoke. Only a small piece of it had caught light, the glow barely more than an ember . . .

  But it was enough.

  The cloth hit the surface, the dusty oil rippling around it. For a moment nothing happened - then a flame leapt up, rapidly expanding outwards. More pieces of cloth fell. Many were unlit, the sparks not having caught the material, but it only needed a few for the surface of the entire pool to erupt.

  A lake of fire, just as the hieroglyphics had warned.

  And Nina was in it.

  She emerged from the short tunnel. The echo of her breathing and the almost total darkness were unnerving . . . but not nearly so much as the sudden light. The pool’s floor lit up in rippling orange as the floating oil ignited - and she almost immediately felt the heat, the handle she was clutching warming with alarming speed.

  ‘Oh, shit. Big mistake. Huge,’ she gasped. Forced to crouch, the best she could manage was an awkward waddle, the water slowing her movements to a slow-motion nightmare.

  But this was no nightmare. It was real.

  Eddie watched, appalled, as fire surrounded the slowly moving globe. Oil had stuck to it when Nina surfaced, and that too caught light, turning the helmet into a spherical torch. ‘Jesus! Nina, turn round! Get back in the tunnel!’

  But she could barely hear him, the crackle of flames consuming all other sounds. Filled with fear, she pressed on. The pool was only thirty feet long. It wouldn’t take long to cross.

  Would it?

  Another step, then another. Water lapped at her nostrils, making her splutter. Glancing through the globe’s open bottom, she noticed markings on the floor. Hieroglyphs, the Eye of Osiris among them. They almost certainly served a purpose, but she had no time to think what it might be.

  The heat coming through the handle was becoming uncomfortable. Not painful, yet - but it wouldn’t take long—

  The helmet clanged against something.

  Shocked, Nina almost let go of the globe. She tugged it back down and groped ahead with her other hand, finding a stone block that rose almost to the surface. As she’d feared, the pyramid’s builders had ensured that nobody could simply swim straight across below the fire.

  She moved crab-like to the left, feeling for the block’s edge. Her fingers found nothing but flat stone. Another couple of steps. Still nothing. She forced herself to slow her breathing, trying to conserve her limited air.

  Oh, God, what if the Egyptians had built a maze? If she went into a dead end . . .

  There had to be a way through. If the builders had wanted to stop anyone from ever reaching Osiris’s tomb, they could have filled in every tunnel. The ‘right’ people, the priests who turned a king into a god, would have known the path. She just had to find it.

  Quickly. Very quickly.

  The hieroglyphs . . .

  Holding her breath, she tipped her head down into the water. The markings on the floor shimmered in the hellish light from the surface. She had no idea what they said, but the Eye of Osiris was a repeated symbol, its dark iris staring blankly back at her from each.

  Except for one.

  That iris looked to the left, along the length of the stone slab.

  She followed it, hand still outstretched. The handle was now on the verge of actual pain. She flexed her fingers, trying to stave off the moment when it became too hot to bear.

  Her other hand was still rubbing against flat stone, stretching on, and on—

  A corner!

  She gripped the edge, pulling herself round it. A look down revealed another Eye of Osiris, this time gazing ‘up’ towards the chamber’s far end. She went in that direction, quickening her pace. A second upward-looking eye, then one pointing her back to the right.

  The smoke from the burning oil swirled up the chimney, but the room’s temperature was rising. Arms raised to shield his face from the heat, Eddie watched the globe slide through the flames on a seemingly random path. It was over halfway across, but there couldn’t be much air left.

  Nina was now fixated entirely on following the trail of eyes. The air was becoming foul - and hot.

  Another eye. Forwards. Pain rose in her fingers. How much further? Her chest felt tighter with every breath, a groggy sensation washing over her.

  Still another eye, directing her to the right. Her fingers were burning, her trembling hand shaking the globe. A bubble of air escaped from the rim, water rising to replace it.

  The next eye looked up - and she caught a glimpse of shadow ahead.

  The other tunnel!

  She pulled the globe back below the surface, ducking as low as she could to force herself through the low passage. The helmet clanged like a bell as it bumped against the stone. Just a few more steps . . .

  The air in the globe popped it sharply upwards as Nina cleared the tunnel and her burned fingers lost their grip. Stagnant water hit her face. She coughed, trying to stand. Her legs had turned to rubber. She fell against one side of the little pool, hands scrabbling weakly for the edge above.

  They found it. She pulled herself up, whooping for breath as she cleared the surface.

  ‘She made it!’ Macy cried.

  ‘Thank Christ,’ Eddie said. ‘Nina! Are you okay?’

  She made out his voice over the rumble and snap of fire. ‘Super fine,’ she croaked, giving him a weak thumbs-up. ‘There’s a path on the bottom of the pool. The Eyes of Osiris look in the direction you’ve got to go - just follow them!’

  Eddie rubbed an ear. ‘Did you get that?’

  ‘Follow the direction the Eyes of Osiris are looking on the pool floor,’ Macy paraphrased. ‘Couldn’t you hear her?’

  ‘My ears are getting a bit dodgy,’ he admitted. ‘Too many explosions.’ He surveyed the pool. Nina’s path was clearly visible, a weaving line of disturbed oil. ‘I’ll go next,’ he told Macy, giving her one of the helmets. ‘You get in right behind me, and keep hold of my jacket.’

  He lowered himself into the pool, took several deep breaths to get more oxygen into his system, then submerged and duck-walked into the short tunnel. Macy hesitated, then slipped in behind him and took hold of his jacket’s hem.

  Knowing what to look for allowed them to make the crossing more quickly than Nina - though the handle inside Eddie’s helmet was still painfully hot by the time he reached the other pool. He stood and tossed the globe aside, breathing deeply as Nina helped him out. ‘Ow, bugger,’ he said, swishing his scorched fingers in the water. ‘And that was my wanking hand, too.’

  ‘Oh, Eddie,’ Nina chided. ‘Anyway, I should be enough for you.’

  ‘Well, we’ve got a fire, we just need a rug . . .’

  Macy burst out of the water. ‘Oh, my God!’ she gasped, glowering at the lake of flames. The floating oil had now been mostly consumed, the fire dying down. ‘What kind of twisted bastard would think up something like that?’

  ‘You have to wonder,’ said Nina as she checked that her waterproof flashlight had lived up to its advertising. ‘But you know what’s really worrying me?’

  ‘What?’

  ‘There are five more arits to go.’

  ‘I can’t wait,’ Eddie said sarcastically, running his hands over his clothes to squeeze out the water. ‘So what’s next?’

  ‘The Lady of Rainstorms,’ said Macy, following his example.

  ‘Great. Like we’re not wet enough already.’ Dripping, they entered the next sloping passage.

  23
>
  The tunnel spiralled deeper into the pyramid. More Egyptian gods adorned the walls, warning of certain death for intruders.

  Nina was less concerned about supernatural threats than physical ones. Experience had given her painful first-hand lessons that the more grand and important an ancient edifice, the more sadistically ingenious the traps protecting it.

  And the Pyramid of Osiris was very grand and important.

  Pillars marking the next arit appeared in her flashlight beam - but there was no new chamber beyond them, the steep passage continuing. ‘I just realised something,’ said Eddie. ‘This’ll take us underneath the room we were just in.’

  Nina mentally backtracked through the turns. ‘Think it’ll be a problem?’

  ‘Well, the next trap’s about rainstorms, and we’ll have a big pool of water right over our heads.’

  ‘Good point.’ She directed her light at the ceiling. Unlike the painted walls, it was just blocks of plain stone. ‘I don’t see any holes.’

  Eddie performed his own examination. ‘Ceiling looks okay . . . but these are new.’ He turned his light to the floor. On each side against the wall were recessed channels, about four inches wide and somewhat deeper.

  ‘They look like gutters,’ Macy observed.

  ‘Nothing like ’em up there,’ said Eddie, looking back past the pillars. ‘Yeah, I think we’re going to get wet again.’

  ‘But what’s it going to do?’ Nina asked. ‘Turn the place into a giant waterslide of death?’

  ‘Don’t give them ideas,’ said Macy, with a nervous glance at the watching gods.

  ‘This is the only way down,’ said Eddie, ‘so we’ll find out sooner or later. Unless you want to turn round - ah, who am I kidding? I shouldn’t even bother asking.’

  ‘It would be a waste to give up after getting this far,’ Nina pointed out with a smile. ‘Besides, the first trap was broken, and we got through the second one without too much trouble.’

  ‘Oh, yeah,’ he snorted, holding up his reddened hand, ‘wading through a lake of fire was a doddle!’

  ‘Okay, a little trouble. But we’ve been through worse. So long as we keep our heads, we’ll be fine.’

  Macy raised a finger. ‘You remember that the final trap was called the Cutter-off of Heads, right?’

  ‘Then we’ll duck!’ She shone her flashlight down the slope. The passage continued in a straight line for some distance. ‘We’ll just be really careful and take things slow, okay?’

  Eddie put a hand on her damp shoulder. ‘Okay, squishy. But I’m definitely going first, okay?’

  ‘Lead on, squashy,’ she replied, clapping a hand to his butt.

  ‘Get a room,’ Macy muttered. ‘Or get a tomb! Ha!’ Nina and Eddie both groaned. ‘What, he’s the only one allowed to make jokes?’

  ‘That’s ’cause all mine are good,’ said Eddie as he started down the slope.

  Nina followed. ‘That’s a matter of opinion, honey.’

  ‘Tchah.’ His expression became more serious as he went on, alternating his torch beam between the floor and the roof. Something caught his eye, and he stopped. ‘Ay up,’ he said, indicating part of the ceiling. ‘The gaps between the blocks are getting bigger.’

  Nina ran a fingertip along the joint. Fine dust trickled out. ‘The mortar’s crumbled.’

  Macy bit her lip. ‘Just what you want when you’ve got giant stone blocks right above you, huh?’

  ‘Definitely take it slow,’ Nina suggested as Eddie set off again.

  He nodded, noticing that the apparent shoddy workmanship continued along the ceiling - and also the floor. ‘Whatever this Lady of Rainstorms business is,’ he said, ‘I think she’s about to piss down on us any sec—’

  The paving slab beneath his foot dropped slightly.

  Everyone froze. From behind the walls came a faint clicking, a domino effect working upwards to knock out a final trigger . . .

  A hollow clonk, wood being hit with metal - then an unmistakable rushing noise.

  Water.

  ‘Bollocks,’ Eddie just had time to say before streams gushed from the cracks in the ceiling.

  The downpour emerged from about a thirty-foot stretch of the roof, growing in strength - but not nearly enough to sweep anybody away down the slope. ‘I don’t get it,’ Nina said. ‘This couldn’t hurt anyone.’

  ‘This isn’t the trap,’ Eddie said with alarm. He pointed down the passage. ‘That’s the trap!’

  She saw the cracks in the floor widening rapidly as the water rushed over them. ‘Oh, crap. Forget taking things slow - run!’

  The substance binding the blocks together wasn’t mortar or cement. It was a mixture of sand and finely crushed limestone, just barely strong enough to hold everything in place . . . and now being rapidly eaten away as the limestone dissolved and the sand was washed out by the flowing water. The slabs shifted, clonking against each other as the trio raced over them, sinking—

  And falling.

  With the fragile binding disappearing, the floor did the same. Slabs dropped away into a deep pit below.

  And as each slab plunged, the remainder became even weaker.

  Eddie realised the gutters were staying intact, but they were too narrow to traverse - especially at a run. ‘Get ahead of me!’ he yelled. He was the heaviest of the group - if he went through the floor, they all would.

  ‘I can’t!’ Nina shouted from behind. ‘Just go, go!’

  With a colossal boom, the entire upper end of the sabotaged floor collapsed into the pit. The flood turned into a waterfall, dropping after it, but the damage had already been done. The remaining stones tumbled one after the other into the void, a ripple gaining rapidly on the running figures.

  ‘There!’ Eddie shouted. The water sweeping down the slope had revealed the last line of weakened blocks - and beyond them, the floor was reassuringly solid. ‘Just a few more yards, come on!’

  He dived as the blocks under him shifted, landing hard just past the corroding section. Nina also made a flying leap, barely staying on her feet as she bounded over her husband.

  Behind her, Macy started to jump—

  The last slabs fell away under her.

  She screamed - then the scream was knocked out of her as she fell short and slammed against the newly exposed edge of the pit.

  Her torch rolled down the passage as she clawed at the wet floor, unable to find a foothold on the sheer wall. Her elbows slipped over the brink, wrists—

  Eddie grabbed her hand just as she lost her grip. ‘Nina!’ he gasped as Macy’s weight crushed his knuckles against the stone edge. ‘Get her other hand!’

  Nina scrambled back up the slope, seeing Macy flailing below. She reached out for her other hand. ‘Macy! Here!’

  The young woman looked up at her, terrified. ‘Please don’t let me fall!’

  ‘You’re not gonna fall,’ Nina promised. Their fingers touched - then slipped apart.

  Eddie was losing his hold. ‘Nina, come on . . .’ he begged.

  Nina dropped to her knees, leaned out over the abyss - and lunged.

  This time, she caught Macy’s wrist. Straining, almost overbalancing, she hauled her up - taking just enough pressure off Eddie for him to bring round his other arm. ‘Got her!’ he barked. ‘Pull!’

  Leaning back, Nina pulled with all her strength. Eddie forced himself upright and dragged her up. She cleared the edge, and all three fell over, Macy landing on top of Eddie.

  Nina sat up. ‘You okay?’ she asked Macy, who nodded. ‘Good. Now get off my husband.’

  Macy’s chest was on Eddie’s face. ‘I’m fine with it,’ he joked, muffled, before helping her off him.

  ‘Thank you,’ she whispered, shaking.

  A low, crackling rumble made them all look up. ‘Don’t thank us yet,’ said Nina. She aimed her flashlight at the ceiling, and saw water leaking from more cracks above them. ‘Come on!’

  They jumped up and ran down the slope—

  An entire sect
ion of ceiling smashed to the floor where they had just been - and thousands of gallons of water followed, the remaining contents of the pool above bursting out. The deluge exploded down the passage after them.

  No way to outrun it—

  Macy was scooped off her feet as the churning maelstrom caught her, crashing against Nina and Eddie as they too were swept down the passage. They bounced painfully off the walls and floor, pieces of shattered stone pummelling them.

  And there was a new sound audible even over the frothing thunder - a rhythmic pounding, growing louder . . .

  Macy’s flashlight had been caught by the wave’s leading edge, a glowing point spinning ahead of them. Eddie saw movement, something rising up past another set of pillars - then the light vanished, crushed flat as the object slammed down with a monstrous boom. ‘Shit!’ he yelled as they were carried inexorably towards it. ‘Grab on to me!’

  Nina clutched his arm, Macy a leg as he jammed his other heel into a gutter. The force of the torrent was too great for him to stop them, but he could slow them just enough to pass through the pillars while the crusher was moving upwards.

  If his brief glimpse had been enough for him to judge its timing . . .

  Another echoing slam of impact. He raised his foot—

  They whipped between the columns, hitting a flat floor. Something huge plunged at Eddie’s head—

  The crusher smashed down an inch behind him as the water flung him into the chamber beyond. The room was much wider than the passage, the wavefront quickly spreading out and losing its power. The three unwilling watersliders were deposited on the floor, coughing and flapping like beached fish.

  The crusher kept pounding, slowing down. Nina retrieved her flashlight and shone it at the source of the noise. It was a stone block, painted with the figure of a woman raising her feet as if stamping on ants. The gutters had channelled the flood into a pair of water wheels; not large enough to power the crusher itself, but capable of tripping some mechanism. ‘I guess that’s our Lady of Might,’ she said, wiping wet hair off her face. ‘She really does try to “trample on those who should not be here”.’

  ‘Women with big feet, not my thing,’ said Eddie tiredly. The heavy tools in his pack had bashed against his back, bruising him. ‘Is everyone okay?’