by Dan Hunter
“Come on!” Akori called. “Get your torches, we’ve got them scared.” Manu and Ebe picked up their torches and Akori relit them from his own. As they backed the figures into a corner, Akori was reminded of how he used to round up the sheep on his uncle’s farm. He raised his torch to examine the sunken faces gaping back at him but there was no sign of his Uncle Shenti. With all of their torches now burning so fiercely, the three friends soon managed to turn all of the foul-smelling figures to dust. As soon as they had gone Manu hurried to shut the huge temple door that was now gaping open and creaking in the breeze.
“That was close,” he said with a sigh. “I thought they had us then for sure.”
“Let’s go and check on the High Priest,” Akori said. The others followed him back through the main hall and along the narrow passageway to the living quarters. They found the High Priest sitting in his private chamber, gripping a torch in his gnarled hands.
“Akori, is that you?” the old man asked, staring at them blindly as they entered the room.
“Yes, don’t worry, you’re safe now,” Akori replied.
“Was it them? Was it the souls of the dead?” the High Priest asked. “Had they broken into the temple?”
“Yes, but we saw them off,” Akori told him, gently taking the torch from the priest’s hand and placing it in the holder on the wall.
“You should have seen our torches,” Manu exclaimed. “They burned as brightly as the mighty Ra’s sun-barge!”
“Well done,” said the High Priest. “Now you must prepare for your next battle – releasing Anubis from the Great Pyramid. But not before you have eaten and slept.”
Akori looked at him, shocked. “But with the souls of the dead on the loose, surely we must leave immediately?”
The High Priest shook his head. “The battle you have ahead of you is going to require all of your strength and wit, young Akori. You need to rest first. And besides, starting your journey to the Great Pyramid will be a lot safer by daylight, when the souls of the dead are at their weakest.”
“But what if more of the dead come and get us while we sleep?” Manu asked anxiously.
“As long as you keep a torch burning beside your bed they will not come near you,” the High Priest reassured him. “And I will put some of the strongest priests on guard outside your doors.”
After a slightly nervous supper of fish stew, Akori made his way back to his bedroom. Manu and Ebe went to their own rooms further down the corridor.
Placing a torch right beside his bed, Akori hoped for dreamless sleep and welcome rest. But as soon as he fell asleep dreadful images filled his mind. He dreamed that something ancient and terrible was pursuing him. He could feel its hot breath on the back of his neck it was so close. Then he was wading through deep mud and could hear a panting sound, closer and closer, and the beat of his own heart thudding.
He knew he must not look back. If he did, he would see the thing that was chasing him, and he would be lost. But he could not stop himself. As he struggled through the mud, he slowly turned his head. And there, right behind him, reaching out with its terrible claws, was—
Akori moaned and rolled over in his sleep.
Now he was dreaming of his Uncle Shenti’s farm. The buildings were burning, and the laughing scorpion-riders were coming for him. His Uncle Shenti was calling out to him desperately. Akori! Akori!
Akori mumbled, pulling the blanket over his head.
The smell of smoke was in his nostrils. Hot flames licked at his skin. His uncle was still calling out. His hoarse voice was very close now. Akori! Akori!
All at once, Akori woke up with a gasp. He was covered in cold sweat. The torch beside his bed had gone out. The room was filled with darkness, and as he lifted his head, Akori gasped in terror.
Standing at the foot of his bed and staring at him with terrible sunken eyes was the shadowy figure of his Uncle Shenti!
Uncle Shenti stretched out his arms and began to make his way up the bed towards Akori. Shenti’s face was full of anger. Akori tried to sit up, but felt himself being pushed backwards. He was being pinned to the bed, held down by his Uncle Shenti! He tried to breathe in, but the pressure on his chest was too great. He felt as if he were drowning.
Uncle Shenti sneered down at him through black, lifeless eyes. Akori tried to beg for mercy, but could only make a strangled choking noise. Coloured spots danced before his eyes. He was going to die. When Manu came to find him in the morning, there would be a cold corpse lying in the bed. But just as Akori felt himself slipping into bottomless darkness, a strangely ordinary sound came from outside. It was the crow of a cockerel, announcing that morning had come.
At that very moment, a pale finger of sunlight reached into the room and fell upon Akori’s amulet. A brilliant white light reflected forth and Uncle Shenti fell backwards as if dazzled. Choking and spluttering, Akori grasped the amulet and pointed it at his uncle. Shenti staggered backwards, towards the window and frantically clambered out. The way he was cringing and wincing, it was as if the sunlight was burning him.
Akori struggled among the sheets for a moment, gasping and trying to calm his wildly beating heart. As soon as he felt able to stand, he got out of bed and ran past the sleeping guard outside to Manu’s room.
“Akori?” said Manu sleepily, sitting up and rubbing his eyes. “Is it time to leave already? Just a minute. I’ll get my scrolls…”
“Uncle Shenti!” Akori panted. “In my room!”
Manu woke up fully. “What? Dead Uncle Shenti?”
“Yes!” Akori exclaimed.
Ebe padded soundlessly into the room, carrying a lamp. She greeted Akori with a frown of concern.
Manu stared, horrified. “You mean…”
Akori nodded. “He wasn’t with the others last night. He must have hidden somewhere in the temple and waited until I was asleep. He tried to kill me! But I managed to fight him off, and he escaped through the window.”
“Thank the Gods,” Manu said, rummaging in his bag for one of his countless scrolls. “Don’t worry, Akori. Once we have freed Anubis he’ll take all the dead souls back where they belong.”
Manu unrolled a scroll and pointed to a picture of a God with the head of a jackal. He was standing in a cavern, at the head of a procession of stooped-over, pale figures approaching a huge dark archway.
“The entrance to the Underworld,” Manu explained. “When you die, Anubis is there to meet you. He takes away all your fear, sorrow and anger, and leads you to the land of the blessed dead.”
Ebe took one look at the pictures and stepped back with a shudder. Akori was surprised. Ebe was the bravest of the brave, but something about the jackal-headed God seemed to make her uneasy.
“When Anubis is free once again,” Manu continued, “all the lost souls will be able to carry on their journey. Your Uncle Shenti will go where he belongs, in the company of the good Gods.”
“Are you sure?” Akori asked. “He wasn’t always very… I mean sometimes he…”
“He was not a good man? Is that what you are saying?” Manu looked very serious. “Akori, the good Gods are merciful. Eventually, even the worst of men may be forgiven. Only the evil Gods hold grudges for ever and never forgive.” Manu rummaged through his bag and unrolled a map. “This is where we must go,” he said, tracing a long route with his finger. “It is the way to Giza – and the Great Pyramid.” His finger stopped at a black-edged triangle on the papyrus. “If we journey by boat it should only take a few days.”
As they packed their bags, Akori thought about what Manu had said about the good Gods showing mercy to everyone. But how could the Gods ever forgive the new Pharaoh Oba, who had sided with Set and murdered his own father? Surely there would be no mercy for him. Akori placed his hand upon his golden khopesh. One thing was certain, if he didn’t release all of the good Gods, Set and Oba would never be brought to justice. As Akori thought of the enormity of the task ahead of him, his birthmark once again began to tingle, as if Horus hi
mself were reminding him to stay strong.
“Don’t worry,” Akori whispered, “I won’t let you down.”
After saying goodbye to the High Priest, the three friends set off on their journey. In the bright morning light, everything almost seemed back to normal. The swollen Nile was glistening and the fields were peaceful. But Akori knew that if he could not rescue Anubis, things would never really be normal again.
After a couple of days travelling downriver, their boat sprang a leak, forcing them to continue the rest of their journey on foot. They tracked through the endless fields, watching out for any sign of the dead. But all was silent and still. Even the birds made no noise. The only sound was their own footsteps crunching in the dry soil, and Manu’s tuneless humming.
Normally Ebe would be racing ahead to scout out the way. But now she seemed nervous, lagging behind and looking over her shoulder, as if she thought something was following them…
As Akori watched, Ebe stopped and sniffed the air. Akori wondered if she could smell the foul stench of the dead again. He took a deep breath in, but all he could smell was black, gooey Nile mud and the warm smell of freshly ploughed furrows. Ebe carried on sniffing and looking worried. Something had definitely spooked her.
Manu had obviously noticed this too. “Cheer up, Ebe! We’re going to the Great Pyramid. Haven’t you ever wanted to see it? I know I have.”
Ebe made a harrumph noise, and shrugged.
“It’s a magnificent sight, I’ve been told,” Manu went on. “It’s the tallest building in the whole world. Can you imagine that?” His face took on a dreamy look. “The pyramid is covered with limestone blocks, smooth and white as alabaster! I can’t wait to see it, shining white on the horizon, like a man-made mountain…”
It might be white on the outside, but I bet it’ll be black as the Underworld on the inside, Akori thought. His heart began to pound as he contemplated the unknown dangers ahead of them. There was no way Set would have left the imprisoned Anubis unguarded. The question was, which of his evil servants would he have chosen for the job? Akori decided not to share his thoughts with his friends. Ebe looked worried enough as it was.
“Let’s stop for a quick bite to eat,” Akori suggested.
They all sat cross-legged on a rocky shelf overlooking the Nile and shared some bread and sheep’s cheese. As Akori was beating the dust out of his sandals, Manu pointed out a group of people on the opposite bank, moving down to the water’s edge.
“Look, Akori!” Manu cried. “The farmers are going back to work.”
Akori smiled. “Of course they are. That’s what farmers do. Didn’t you know? If there’s work to be done, we just get on with it, no matter what.”
“No matter what, eh?” Manu laughed, taking a bite of cheese.
“You trainee priests don’t have a clue how the world really works,” Akori joked. “Even if there are monsters and the dead roaming the earth, someone has to bring the wheat and barley home. The work won’t do itself.” He threw a loaf at Manu, who caught it. “Do you think bread lands in your lap by magic?”
Ebe shook her head and made a sad noise in her throat. She was staring over the river. Manu followed her gaze and stopped mid-chew.
Akori’s smile vanished too. The figures Manu had thought were farmers were lurching and staggering away, their arms outstretched.
Akori put his sandals back on and stood up. “Let’s get going. I’ve lost my appetite and we have so far to—”
But before he could continue, Ebe leaped to her feet, hopping on the spot and making terrified, gabbling noises. Akori reached out, trying to calm her, but she pushed his hands away, panting heavily.
“Ebe, what’s the matter?” he asked.
She pointed behind him and gestured wildly. Then, with her two hands in front of her face, she mimed great jaws snapping, hooking her fingers like gnashing teeth.
Akori and Manu turned to look.
At first they saw nothing. But then Akori noticed a figure on the horizon. It was moving so fast it was kicking up a dust cloud behind it.
“It’s probably just a rider,” he said. “Or a chariot. Whatever it is, it’s a long way away.”
But Ebe wasn’t convinced. She pointed again, more desperately than ever. Akori looked back. Whatever was causing the dust cloud, it was far away. He frowned. But was it his imagination, or was it already growing closer?
Akori felt a nervous tingle run down his spine. Ebe let out a growl of frustration. Then she turned on her heel and started to run.
“What do we do now?” Manu wailed.
“We follow her, of course!” Akori exclaimed. “Come on!”
The two boys raced after Ebe, who was already far ahead of them. But she didn’t show any sign of stopping, or even slowing down. Akori glanced back over his shoulder and gasped with shock. The dust cloud was closing in fast! How could anything move so quickly? It had grown huge too.
“Faster!” he yelled, putting on a fresh burst of speed.
Manu gasped and struggled under the weight of his bags. Akori began to panic. Ebe was too far ahead, and Manu was falling too far behind!
Then Manu stumbled and fell. Akori dashed back and pulled him to his feet, but they had lost time, and now the cloud was closer still. Akori could hear a strange panting, snarling noise coming from it, like some huge wild animal.
Grabbing Manu’s bags, Akori led him around a bend in the river, where green rushes waved in the sunlight. Akori knew ground like this could become boggy and treacherous. It might slow their pursuer down, but if they put a foot wrong, they’d be stuck fast too!
All at once he remembered the dream he’d had about struggling through mud while something terrible chased after him. Was it about to come true?
Akori glanced over his shoulder and what he saw nearly made his heart stop.
It was the enormous figure of a man. But where the human face should have been was the head of a savage hunting dog, its tongue lolling as it ran, its fangs bared and glistening in the sunlight…
In a minute or two, the dog-headed monster would catch up with Akori. Those teeth would make short work of his flesh and bones. There wouldn’t be enough of him left for a decent burial.
Akori ran for his life.
By his side, Manu was screaming something that sounded like, “Come here! Come here!” Akori frowned. No – it was “Am-Heh! Am-Heh!”
Am-Heh? The words didn’t make any sense, but there was no time for Akori to try and work them out. He had to keep running!
Ebe was still sprinting ahead, vanishing around a bend in the path where it passed a rocky outcrop. Seconds later, Akori heard her give a muffled shriek of panic.
He and Manu raced around the bend after her. The dog-headed horror was almost upon them. Akori could hear its feet thundering on the ground.
As they rounded the bend, Akori saw Ebe flailing her arms madly. She had sunk into the ground right up to her waist!
“Quicksand!” Manu shouted.
Akori sprinted forward and grabbed both of Ebe’s arms. If he could pull her out before she sank too far, there was still a chance of saving her. He heaved backwards as hard as he could.
Was that his heart pounding in his ears, or the sound of approaching feet? He couldn’t tell.
The quicksand dragged at Ebe’s body with a hungry slurping noise but, with Manu’s help, Akori managed to pull her to safety.
Ebe immediately struggled to her feet. She tugged at Akori, trying to break free from his grip. Clearly, she wanted to keep on running but Akori wouldn’t let go. She glowered as if she were about to bite him.
“No, Ebe!” Manu hissed. “Over here, quickly.” He dived off to the side and hid behind a boulder.
Akori quickly realized what Manu was thinking. The rocky outcrop would hide them from view, and the monster would come charging round the corner, too fast to stop – just like Ebe. They could use the quicksand as a trap.
Together, he and Ebe threw themselves off the path. They
rolled to a halt behind the boulder with just seconds to spare.
The three of them held their breath as the dog-headed beast ran right past them. Dust flew up into their faces. Then they heard a wet splash and a sudden yelp of surprise.
The dust settled, and they peered cautiously over the boulder. Now they could see their pursuer clearly for the first time. It was stuck in the quicksand, gnashing its dog-like jaws in frustration and sinking slowly but definitely down.
It splashed its arms in the muck and gave a mournful howl.
“Yes!” Manu yelled. “We got him.”
“Let’s not start celebrating yet,” Akori warned. He still felt the lingering terror from his dream. Was the creature really trapped?
Cautiously, he approached it. The monster had sunk up to its chest, but being stuck in the quicksand had only made it angrier. The fearsome creature glared at him and gave a low growl. Akori swallowed hard.
“What is that thing?” he asked, looking at the struggling beast.
“His name is Am-Heh,” Manu replied. “The Hunter God. Legends say he never fails to catch his prey.”
“Well, it looks like even the legends can be wrong sometimes,” Akori said, trying to sound like he believed it. “Let’s get out of here.”
They continued a short way, but just as they were about to round a bend, Akori glanced back to where Am-Heh was trapped. A terrible sight stopped him in his tracks.
Am-Heh was lying flat in the sand. He had flung out an arm and sunk his long fingers into the firmer ground at the edge of the quicksand. Now he was trying to pull himself out of the sucking mire. Powerful muscles flexed in his arms as he dragged himself slowly up and out.
“Oh no,” stammered Manu, backing away. “Oh no!”
Am-Heh let out a terrible snarl as he hauled himself up with his mighty arms. He was halfway out now.
