by Dan Hunter
Meanwhile, Manu was jabbing at the shabtis near him, trying to drive them back. They seemed less afraid of his torch than they were of Akori’s. One of them got a grip on Manu’s throat and lifted him off the floor.
Ebe sprang forwards with a yowl, distracting it, and Manu thrust his torch into the shabti’s face. It instantly melted into a runny blue ruin, spattering molten wax on the palace floor.
The shabti released its grip and fell backwards like a toppling tree, leaving Manu gasping for breath. It spattered into bits.
“Drive them all back into the courtyard!” Akori yelled. “Set as many on fire as you can!”
“I’m doing my best!” Manu panted. “But it’s hard to set something on fire when it’s— argh!”
Another shabti was attacking Manu, arms flailing in his face. It knocked the torch from his grasp. Ebe shook herself and transformed into her full size, becoming a giant wildcat. She launched herself at the creature and pushed it back into the others, sending them scattering like skittles in a child’s game. The shabtis were packed so close together and in such orderly formation that only a few were left standing.
Akori ran around the heap of fallen shabtis, setting fire to one after another until the whole army had become a single flaming mass. Thick black smoke poured up from them.
Yells were going up from the palace corridors. “The guards!” Manu exclaimed. “They’re awake!”
“The spell must have been broken,” Akori said triumphantly. “Good job we set these things on fire out here in the courtyard. The way they’re burning, the whole palace might have gone up!”
Some of the shabtis were still moving amid the roaring flames, but they were losing their humanoid shape even as Akori watched. Arms melted down to stubs, heads collapsed like rotten fruit and bodies fell apart and turned to pools of flickering molten wax.
The guards came running up, shielding their eyes from the blaze. “My Pharaoh,” the guard captain blurted out, “I’m sorry, I don’t know what happened! I take full responsibility!”
“It’s all right, Captain,” Akori assured him. “There wasn’t anything you could have done. Dark magic was at work here tonight.” He smiled. “But now you’re here you can help us put the fire out.”
Suddenly one of the guards shouted. “Look at the flames!” he yelled. “Something’s appearing in them – something huge!”
Akori stared. The guard was right. The shabtis were nothing but a pool of blue wax now, but the fire was still burning brighter then ever and it was forming into a massive, overbearing figure. The light concentrated itself into the shape of a man, tall and powerful, with a hawk’s head. Akori knew that figure well.
“Horus!” Akori shouted in delight.
“Well fought, my champion,” said the God. Beside him, the guards thumped their chests in welcome and sank to one knee.
“There is no time to lose!” Horus warned. “Akori, you must leave for the Underworld immediately. Oba and Set have gained power since you fought them last.”
“I knew it as soon as I saw the shabtis,” Akori said. “Those things belong in the Underworld, don’t they?”
“They do,” Horus said. “Oba is steadily destroying the barriers that divide the Underworld from the world of the living. More and more creatures from the Underworld are able to escape their prison and attack the living world. First came the bewitched dead, and now those who are meant to serve the dead.” Horus’s voice boomed with a terrible sudden anger. “Oba and Set are profaning the sacred order of things, the order my father Osiris has kept for thousands of years. This obscenity must end, Akori.”
“I shall end it,” Akori promised. This was his sworn quest. As the champion of Horus, he had agreed to go into the Underworld and retrieve the five Pharaoh Stones, powerful magical jewels that Osiris, the rightful ruler of the Underworld, had been guarding. Each one was connected to one of the Pharaoh’s virtues: courage, strength, speed, honour and intelligence. They were meant to be used by a Pharaoh who was worthy to bear them. But when Set had overthrown Osiris, Oba had stolen the Pharaoh Stones. Unable to use them himself, he had given them to his monstrous servants so that they could feed on their power.
Akori had won the Stones of Courage and Speed on his recent quests to the Underworld and he could feel their power through his armour, one burning hot like a coal, the other thrumming and vibrating with energy.
There were still three more Stones to find before Akori would be strong enough to confront Set and Oba. He yearned to confront them now, though. Akori dreamed of a surprise attack on Oba, when the boy least expected it. If they could only find a secret way into the heart of the Underworld, and ambush Oba. Set might have saved Oba’s life after the last time they had met, but Akori wasn’t about to let Oba get away again.
“You must enter the Underworld at once,” Horus told him.
“But we can’t!” Akori was suddenly confused. “My Lord, it’s the middle of the night! Aken’s boat only crosses over at sunset. That’s not for hours yet.”
“Aken’s boat is the safest way into the Underworld,” Horus explained, “but it is not the only way. There are gates, hidden passages, caverns that run deep below Egypt. Oba and Set know about most of them and have placed guards there. But there is one entrance known only to me and my father.”
“Where is it?” Akori asked, amazed to think there had been other ways to the Underworld all along.
“In ancient times, there was a Pharaoh so evil and corrupt that his name was obliterated from history,” Horus said. “He built a secret doorway to the Underworld, hoping to lead his enslaved followers to the Judgement Hall of Osiris and overthrow him.”
“Just like Oba!” Akori exclaimed.
“Indeed. Unlike Oba, the Dark Pharaoh did not have Set as an ally, and his attack failed. But the doorway he built to reach my father’s hall is still there, buried deep within the palace.”
“I thought the Dark Pharaoh was just a legend,” Manu said hollowly. “When I was younger, the other trainee priests told me about a sealed-up room in the palace, where there were busts of a man with his face chiselled off, and his name scratched out on the tablets. I thought they were making it up to scare me!”
“It is no legend,” Horus said firmly. “The route through the Ruined Palace of the Dark Pharaoh is perilous, but we have no choice. You must reach the Underworld as quickly as you can.” He passed Akori a thick scroll. “Thoth, God of Wisdom, has prepared this for you. The instructions will help you travel swiftly to your destination, and the spells will give you what protection the Gods can provide. Your old High Priest of Horus has recovered from the magic spell. He shall protect Egypt in your absence.”
“Thank you,” Akori said gratefully, taking the scroll.
“Good luck, my champion,” said Horus. “Now hurry!” He vanished from sight, and the flames died away. All of the shabtis had disappeared.
“Akori,” Manu said casually, “can I have a look at that scroll, please?”
Akori passed it to his friend. Manu unrolled it, wide-eyed. “Incantations from the Book of Thoth itself,” he squeaked. “Written by the very hand of the Ibis-Headed One. Akori, this is a priceless treasure. We have to keep it safe.”
“It’s meant to help us in our quest, not sit in a library,” Akori laughed. “Horus said there were spells. Can you read them?”
“Oh, yes,” Manu breathed. “The first one is a travelling spell, to bring us to the Ruined Palace of the Dark Pharaoh.”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Read it.” Akori held out his torch to cast light on the parchment.
Manu began to read the words. As he got to the very last syllable, Akori felt a bizarre floating sensation in his stomach as the palace dissolved around them. There was a brief feeling of tumbling through space, the moon and stars spinning madly, before they landed suddenly with a thump. Akori and Manu went sprawling. Only Ebe landed with anything like dignity, squarely on her four paws.
Akori’s first though
t was: Thank the Gods I kept hold of my torch!
Only the torch’s flame gave any light in the dark chamber they stood in. It was the shattered ruin of a temple. Akori saw the stony debris that littered the floor was covered with hieroglyphics, meaning they had once covered the walls. Eerie, faceless statues of unknown Gods surrounded them. Akori wondered what they had looked like, then decided he’d just as soon not know.
“Bring that light over here, Akori!” Manu said. “I think this is the secret door!”
Akori held the torch so Manu could trace the outlines of a huge stone slab. “This is it, all right,” Manu said. “According to the scroll, these words should open it. I just hope it still works after all this time.”
“Just so long as the spell doesn’t summon anything by accident,” Akori said with a shudder. “This is a cursed place. It feels like nobody’s set foot here in a thousand years!”
Ebe mewed in agreement. She slunk in close and rubbed herself around Akori’s leg.
Manu chanted the spell and the slab began to move. Slowly it edged out of the wall, like a stone colossus advancing on them.
The slab ground forwards until it came all the way out. Akori couldn’t believe how much easier this entrance into the Underworld was, as he watched the block of stone slide further, leaving a small gap. Akori was just imagining how the third Stone would look in his armour when there was an ugly grinding sound. Then, without warning, the slab of stone stopped dead.
“The spell failed!” Manu wailed. “Now there’s no way into the Underworld!”
Akori dashed over to the slab, trying to remain calm. He pulled and tugged against it, but it barely budged. Manu read the spell again, but nothing happened.
“I think the spell only works once,” Manu said sadly. “Now we’re stuck here.”
“We’re not giving up that easily,” Akori said. “If magic won’t shift it the rest of the way, then muscle will have to. Help me move the slab.” Propping his torch against the wall, he gripped the slab’s edge with both hands, then heaved.
Nothing happened at all. The muscles in his upper arms burned, but the slab didn’t even budge.
“Come on, Manu! Help!”
Reluctantly, Manu joined him, hooking his fingers around the edge of the slab. Manu was as skinny as a skewer, but Akori knew any help he could give was better than none.
Manu heaved with all his might. It was a heroic effort, but it just wasn’t enough.
“We need a lever of some sort,” Manu panted.
Maybe the khopesh would work… Akori shoved his golden sword into the crack and worked it back and forth until it was wedged there. Now he just had to haul on it as hard as he could.
“Your sword?” Manu said doubtfully. “Won’t it bend? Or break?”
“I don’t think it can,” Akori said, hoping in his heart that he was right.
He braced himself and pulled on the sword, wrenching it with every ounce of his strength. The slab still didn’t budge.
Frustration built inside Akori, giving him fresh strength. He roared with the pain of the effort and pulled even harder.
There was the tiniest of grating sounds. “It’s moving!” Manu yelled. “Harder, Akori!”
Akori set his feet against the wall, so he could push with his legs at the same time as hauling with his arms, as if he were hauling on a colossal oar. I used to lift heavy loads on Uncle Shenti’s farm all the time, he thought. I was a farm boy before I was a Pharaoh. These muscles of mine didn’t come from sitting on a throne all day!
Mentally he counted one, two, three…then he let out a mighty roar and heaved, using the full force of his arms and legs at once.
From nothing more than Akori’s sheer brute force and willpower, the slab began to move. The sound was like a giant’s teeth grinding together.
He clenched his jaw and kept pulling until there was enough of a gap for them to squeeze through, then he let go and fell to the ground, exhausted and gasping for breath.
“That was amazing,” Manu said, helping him up. “I didn’t think you were going to manage it.”
“Thanks…Manu,” Akori wheezed, exhausted from the effort. He gathered up his khopesh in one hand and the torch in the other. “Let’s see what’s on the other side.”
After a painful squeeze for both Akori and Manu – Ebe slipped through easily – the trio found themselves in a dark tunnel that sloped steeply downwards. Akori held up his torch, revealing alcoves on either side of the tunnel that held dusty burial goods.
“These look like offerings for a tomb,” Manu said. “I don’t recognize any of the statuettes, though. Urgh. They’re hideous.”
In the flickering torchlight, the deformed statues seemed to watch them as they passed, willing them to slip and be sucked into the suffocating darkness below.
“Maybe the Dark Pharaoh had his own Gods…” Akori muttered.
“Look, there’s an empty mummy case,” Manu said. “I wonder who was meant to be buried in it?”
“Never mind that – we’ve no time to explore! What does the scroll say we’re to do next?”
“We have to ‘descend the path that slopes many long leagues below’,” Manu read.
Akori looked at the tunnel ahead of them. It was sloping, all right – sheer would be another word for it. It was smooth, too. The stone, black as onyx, looked almost slippery. They’d have to walk carefully, taking care not to fall head over heels into the darkness. And if there were many leagues of tunnel to get through, it would take hours.
He fingered the Stone of Speed and looked around, wondering if there was a better way to do this. Then a smile spread over his face. “Manu, I’ve got an idea.”
“It always worries me when you say that,” Manu said. “What is it this time?”
Not long after, they sat together in the open mummy case, fetched down from the alcove where it had lain for the Gods only knew how long. Akori was in front, holding Ebe in his arms, while Manu sat at the back shaking his head. Akori had dug his khopesh into a crack in the ground to act as a brake.
“This is completely insane,” Manu whispered.
“We’ll get there quicker, won’t we?”
“Well, yes, but—”
“Then let’s do this!” Akori pulled the khopesh free, slipped it back into its hilt, and then tugged at the wall to get the mummy case moving.
It began to slide, slowly but surely, down the steep slope. Manu gave a deep groan and covered his eyes.
The mummy case began to pick up speed, until it was shooting down the tunnel slope like a runaway chariot. Manu yelled, the torch flames flew in the wind, Ebe flattened her ears and yowled and Akori roared out loud with excitement. The rock walls flickered past too quickly to see.
“It’s working!” Akori shouted. “We’ll be at the bottom in no time!”
“YES, BUT HOW ARE WE GOING TO STOP?” Manu bawled at him.
Akori hadn’t thought of that. He clutched the ancient wood of the mummy case with one hand and held on tight to Ebe with the other. Her claws dug into his arm in her panic. They were flying down the tunnel now, faster and faster, completely out of control. A hot wind was blowing in his face from whatever lay ahead. Were his eyes playing tricks on him, or was that a light in the distance?
“Look!” Manu shrieked.
Akori saw what he meant. There was an opening up ahead – and they were going to fly through it faster than an arrow! What were they going to do?
Something Horus had once told him when the God had first given him the khopesh flashed into his mind. “The blade is enchanted and will cut through iron and stone…”
Akori pushed Ebe into Manu’s arms, leaned past him and drove the khopesh into the stone tunnel floor as hard as he could. The magical blade dug into the stone like a plough, carving a deep furrow and sending a spray of brilliant sparks up in their wake.
The sword was almost torn out of Akori’s hands, but he held on with every remaining scrap of strength he had. Gradually, the speeding
mummy case slowed down, with the golden sword acting like an anchor. The opening loomed up ahead. There was nothing beyond it – just a deep drop. Akori closed his eyes and held his breath.
When the mummy case finally ground to a halt, it was dangling over the very edge of the sheer drop. A hair’s breadth more and they would have fallen into the chasm. Manu climbed out, giddily, and sat down on the firm ground. He stroked Ebe for a moment, calming both their nerves.
“Akori?” he said.
“Yes?”
“Let’s never, ever do that again.”
“Agreed,” Akori said. He glanced back, looking at the huge gash his sword had carved through solid stone, and had to grin a little.
Once everyone had recovered, they cautiously climbed down from the tunnel mouth and out into the open space of a bleak, craggy valley.
“We’re in the Underworld now, aren’t we?” he asked.
Manu consulted the scroll. “Yes. Very much so. I don’t think there’s ever been a faster trip into the Underworld than that. Except dying, of course.”
“It’s much hotter here than the other places we’ve been,” Akori said. “What does that mean?”
“It means we’re nearing the heart of the Underworld,” Manu said.
Ebe gave an urgent mew, attracting their attention. She was staring across the valley to where a group of small figures were huddled together.
Akori squinted, trying to see. They had lost the torch in the tunnel, and there was practically no light down here except for a dim red glow from some of the Underworld rocks, running through them like blood-coloured veins. “What are those things?”
“I can’t tell in this light,” Manu said. “But look, there’s some more of them!”
The creatures were standing no more than ten metres away, with their backs to the group. A strange whispering and chattering came from the huddle.
