by Gary Gygax
"No uab of any sort," the servant said, referring to what Tuhorus had called him, uab-hem, as he worked the mechanism which unlocked the grill. He was flattered by Tuhorus' calling him a "pure servant" as if he were a novice priest, however, so the fellow worked as rapidly as he could and then guided them into the temple's main ante-chamber. "Police or no, sirs, you must wait here while I fetch one of the Pure to handle whatever you wish."
"Hurry up then," the inspector said, "for our business is with Great Seer Matiseth Chemres and will brook no delay!" The porter almost ran as he exited along a side passage, seeking one of the numerous lesser clerics of the place. Such a major temple as Set's own in the city would have a score of ecclesiastical officials serving under the high priest, as well as a dozen or more priestesses doing likewise. Guards and lay servants would triple that number, so in total perhaps a hundred and a half people dwelled in the complex. The night porter would have no difficulty locating a priest, for one or more were on duty at all times, even near the last hours of the night.
Whatever the man did made a stir there. Soon a handful of clerics came hurrying to see what the prefecture's agents were doing in Set's house, and lights and voices indicated that the whole populace was being roused. "Has this to do with the fire?" queried the uab priest arriving in the fore. "We have seen the great redness to the south. Is the whole of On ablaze?"
"No, but that's another matter, priest," Tuhorus said without reproach. "We are here to see the hem-neter-tepi, Matiseth Chemres. Allow no one else to enter or leave—I am a deputy prefect and use the authority of the city of On in this regard. See to that, and have another take us to the chambers of your high priest at once."
The fellow bowed slightly. "I will speak with my superior." He had only to turn and walk a couple of steps to do so. A red-robed "prophet" of Set was just entering the room. The latter ecclesiastic then led the two policemen to the high priest's wing as the uab priest went off to see to the closing of the temple as he had been ordered. "This is most irregular, Deputy Prefect," the senior priest remarked. "We will have to record this in detail and submit the account to the Ur-maa of Set as well as to Pharaoh."
"Send it to the whole of Egypt, if you think fit," Tuhorus snapped, not liking the inference that his actions might be subject to some disciplinary action by the combined chief priests of Set or that the king himself might object. "Do so after getting us to Matiseth Chemres, though. Where are you taking us?"
"Directly to the Great Seer's wing, Deputy Inspector. This is a large temple, you know."
"I do now," the inspector muttered, but just then they arrived at a partially open door. The priest leading them seemed disturbed. "What's the matter?" inquired Tuhorus.
"The hem-neter-tepi's door is always kept closed and secured," the man responded. "Something is amiss!"
Tuhorus brushed past the cleric and stepped into the dimly lit room beyond. The young patrolman was at his back. Both saw the body of the high priest of Set sprawled on the floor. The sight was ghastly. Matiseth Chemres had been killed by the same agency which had slain Ram-f-amsu not two days before.
A HIDDEN PLACE
The whole of the government compound was in turmoil as several hundred staff and the soldiers serving the palace ran here and there trying desperately to put out adjacent Mazes. The palace, with its wings, was now burning so fiercely that most attention was being paid to nearby structures, record buildings, administration bureaus, and housing which made up the whole of the sepat's central place of government. Streams of water were being poured into the conflagration, of course, and soon fire fighters from the city proper would come to assist. Mains were open and pools in the garden were being pumped out to send jets of water to combat the spreading flames, but even in this area the supply was insufficient to extinguish such a blaze. Inhetep knew that somewhere there was a perfect replica of the whole complex in miniature. Soon now a strong enough dweomercrafter would set it alight then clap a metal cover over the whole. That lid would be airtight, and the little fire would snuff itself out. If the whole were done properly, then this great fire would likewise he smothered—as might be those near to the buildings as the air around them became an oxygenless near-vacuum.
Inhetep entered the burning palace at a run, ignoring shouts of warning. Had he been a servant of Ra, for instance, he might have had protection from such scorching heat. Thoth, however, being of Balance, not solar nature, endowed him with no such luxury in regards to his priestcraeft. Yet the magister was unconcerned for the moment, for castings of moisture and dealing with heat and fire were readily available to him, since his specialty in dweomercreeft was of the elemental school. At a single utterance, a near-freezing mist formed around him, hissing to steam, at its edges, but swirling and cool and regenerating at the core where he moved. Thus protected, Inhetep made his way quickly to the private apartments which had been Ram-f-amsu's.
There was no hope of recovering direct evidence, but the ur-kheri-heb sought for information nonetheless. The means of the arson might be as revealing as the information which the flames had consumed. From the outside, it had been clear that the fire had originated in the governor's sector of the big building. Inhetep hoped that it was not so eaten by the flames as to be unreachable, or so ready to collapse that it became his funeral pyre. Although the structure was stone, much inside was inflammable, of course. Beams, flooring, paneling, roof, and ail the furniture and furnishings—even the plaster and paint on the walls. The heat was now too intense for a mere mist, so the wizard-priest spoke another series of syllables, this time a combination of heka. A shimmering hemisphere sprang up around him, and that shell drew the mists to itself and absorbed them. Shielded now by a curtain of chill water energies which both held in air and cold and kept the radiant power of the fire out, Setne stepped further into the inferno which had been the prince's personal domain.
A gigantic mass of living flames shifted, hot-violet spots fixing themselves upon the magister as if they were eyes. In fact they were eyes, and red-orange fires parted and a mouth spoke. "You come to your death, fool! Run away, little man, or I shall sear your flesh and boil your blood ere I consume you!"
"If you thought you could do that, efreet, you'd act, not boast," Inhetep shouted back. "Return now to your infernal realm, or it is I who will quench you!" Although the magister had expected to encounter some form of creature from the Spheres of Fire, this near-demoniac in its most potent form came as a surprise, but he didn't allow the monster to have an inkling of that. Even as he spoke, the ur-kheri-heb made preparations to carry out his threat.
The towering creature of hellfire form reached out to grab his antagonist, then withdrew his fiery arm with a shrieking howl as it contacted the freezing water. Its cry hurt Inhetep's ears, and the hemisphere trembled, bulged in where the efreet had struck it, then restored itself to smoothness again. It was noticeably smaller. "Son of a newt!" the fire being roared. "I'll soon have you out of that bubble and fry you slowly for your presumptuousness!"
With that, the flame-limbs struck down upon the shielding water, pounding upon it again and again. The monstrous thing howled in pain as it sought to destroy Inhetep's protection, but it was enraged and determined. Inside his watery shell, Inhetep worked desperately. He had to both maintain his defense and mount an offense against the efreet. No mere defense could prevail for long in such conditions as these. He worked with precision even as the water which protected him hissed and wavered and shrank to little more than a few inches of liquid but a foot above his sweating head. There was a sudden eruption of steam, and as vapors of superheated stuff rose round Setne, the priest-wizard called out, "Now, thing of perdition, you are doomed!"
Steam would slay Inhetep as surely as fire, but the stuff of fire and water mixed was nearly as deadly to the efreet as it was to human flesh. Magister Inhetep had managed to cloak the whole room in a curtain of billowing steam, while above them there was no longer flame-wrapped timbers but only an ever-darkening cloud such as
might occur naturally in the sky and send down a torrent of rain. The elemental being of fire shrank from the billowing mass of superheated water vapors, peered up at the mass of coo! ones above, and hurled itself insanely upon the man who had wrought its demise. As it leaped to crush the shield and incinerate the man beneath, the cloud above suddenly released a downpour. The burst of drops extinguished the flames of the efreet's back even as its belly struck and demolished the protective shield which stood between it and the mortal. "DEATH!" it roared at Setne, even as it died.
Inhetep saw what was coming and sank. That is, the wizard-priest used the last of his power to alter his physical body so as to be able to pass through the marble floor and int® whatever lay below. The compression of the air in the shielding hemisphere as the efreet flattened and then destroyed that shield actually drove the magister down as a breath might propel a dart along a blowgun. Inhetep shot downward and struck another layer of stone some ten feet below. The force of the impact stunned him for a moment, but he was saved from real harm. "By Thoth's bill!" he muttered sacrilegiously. "That was too close and hot. Next time I go to see a fire, I'll be sure to carry along something to deal with elementals of that ilk."
"One must always have a long spoon when supping with efreeti," said a cool, sultry voice.
Inhetep started, spinning to face the speaker. He saw a girl with milk-white skin and coppery-gold hair, which flowed nearly to her waist. Those tresses were her only garments, although she was adorned with armlets and other jewelry of gold and jewels. She stood unashamed before his gaze, looking back at him with orange eyes. For once Setne Inhetep was so disconcerted as to be nearly speechless. "What are you doing here—and where are we?" the ur-kheri-heb finally managed to blurt out.
"And well might I ask the same of you, although I do know the second answer. I'll give you that if you tell me who you are."
"Magister Setne Inhetep of the Utchatu."
She smiled. "I am Xonaapi. It is a pleasure to meet a man able to drop through solid stone, especially here."
Inhetep looked away, for her beautiful face and body were distracting him. "Where is the 'here' you speak of—other than beneath Ram-f-amsu's quarters, that is?"
"You are correct. We are in a dungeon beneath that . . . that swine's apartments." The full lips moved to a frown, and she made her last words sound like a curse. "I hate that man, and when I get free of this place, I'll make him pay."
"Ram-f-amsu is beyond your vengeance," the magister told her matter-of-factly. "He was assassinated two days ago."
"Oh ... I didn't know," Xonaapi said slowly, and her frown turned to a very seductive-looking pout. "That's too bad, for I had hoped to kill him myself. Do you know the way out of here?"
He shook his head. "I had hoped you might. So! That means you and I must search for the exit from this place, but at least Ram-f-amsu was thoughtful in providing witchlights in this subterranean den." Inhetep paused, looking around to try and orient himself, but wasn't sure just which way was which. In the process, his eyes fell again upon the naked girl. "Let's get going, for who can say what the fire above will do to this place!"
Xonaapi smiled and took the magister's arm. "You are very forceful, Magister Setne Inhetep. I'm sure you will be able to find the way."
"Ah, pardon me, Xonaapi, but do you have anything to . . . er . . . put on?"
"I am wearing all of my jewelry."
"I was referring to clothing."
"Of course! How silly of me," the girl said as she gave his arm a hug. "Ram-f-amsu took it all away, but I could wear a bed sheet."
Inhetep didn't exactly mind the pressure of her full breasts, but it was truly beginning to distract him, and he felt that they had to get out of the underground place soon. He pulled his arm gently from Xonaapi's grasp. "Let's go to your bedroom, then," he agreed.
"Here," she said as they rounded a nearby turn in the maze of passageways beneath the palace, and she opened a door onto a large and lavishly furnished chamber. "Isn't it beautiful? I'd love to have such a bedroom somewhere else. One with big windows and a balcony overlooking a private garden. You don't have a dungeon like this do you, Magister Setne Inhetep?"
Without thinking he said, "Setne will do fine, my dear. And I wouldn't dream of it—having a dungeon, that is," he muttered hastily. "Fashion a toga or something from one of your sheets while I check for means of escape. There's warm air circulating down here."
Xonaapi held in one hand the silken spread she had pulled from the luxurious bed in the chamber, pointing with the other. "Over there, near the floor, I thought of that, but it is only a little ventilator shaft."
"Let's take a few moments to consider the problem, Xonaapi," the priest-wizard suggested as she wrapped herself in the material and pinned it at the shoulder with an emerald clasp of some sort.
She nodded, so he went ahead quickly. "I'm going to ask you a few questions. I need your answers to be brief and exact. All right?"
She smiled. "That's fine, Setne Inhetep—Setne, I mean. I like your name."
"Where do you come from; what land is your home?"
"Hvrkanian pirates took me from a ship sailing from Sinope to Sarai. I was returning home."
"You are a Khazar?"
"That's so—a White one and a noble, too! The pirates of Baku took me to a Sythian slave merchant. Then a Phonecian trader bought me and took me to Antioch. That's where Ram-f-amsu acquired me."
Inhetep thought she was remarkably pragmatic and calm, but he made no comment on that. Instead he asked, "The prince saw you and bought you in Antioch?"
Xonaapi shook her red-gold tresses. "Not Ram-f-amsu, actually. He had an agent, a greasy Cyp-riot who fondled me. That one brought me to On, and then Ram-f-amsu confined me here."
"What was the Cypriot's name?"
"Pyronos."
"How long have you been kept here?"
"A long time. I'm not sure, but I think it has been a month or longer."
"And did the governor come to see you often?"
"Yes, but he never tried to make love to me, Setne." There was wonder and hurt in Xonaapi's voice as she told the magister that. "Have I become so ugly?"
At those words, the ur-kheri-heb shook his head. "No, Xonaapi. I give you my absolute assurance that you are quite lovely still, despite being imprisoned here for so long."
"Then you wish to—"
"Escape!" Inhetep interjected brusquely. "Now, where did Prince Ram-f-amsu appear when he came down here to see you—for whatever reason."
"Come on, I'll show you the place," the girl responded eagerly. Xonaapi took him by the hand and pulled him through a series of large and small chambers to a many-pillared room with a fountain playing in its center and muraled walls. "There," she told the magister, pointing to the space between two lotus columns in an alcove of the room. "He always came from that spot, but when I searched for a door, I never found
anything!"
There in the alcove, Inhetep saw a painted door with the glyphs and depictions typical of a transporter. "Damn! This is not going to be of much help."
The girl came in and stood beside him. "I know. That's just a mural painted on plaster."
"No. It is a magickal portal. Weakened as I am, I have sufficient magickal energy to operate it, but . .."
"But what?"
"If we use this it will take us into the fire above!"
"Then what can we do to get out?" she asked, and now she looked frightened.
Inhetep led her away from the place and began a quick but systematic exploration. It seemed obvious to him that the prince had merely sectioned off a portion of the labyrinth under the palace in order to have a secret and wholly private area. As the priest-wizard searched, he asked Xonaapi to tell him what she knew about Ram-f-amsu.
"He said that one day he would be a great sovereign, you know. I asked him if he were going to make me a queen, but he laughed. 'Not even a concubine of mine, pale and beautiful temptress,' he said, and I was flattered and insul
ted all at once.
" 'Am I to be a sacrifice or what?' That's what
I asked him, for I suddenly thought of the things you /Egyptians do."
"Nonsense! Not even . . . well, human sacrifice is a crime in this land, Xonaapi. There are suspicions that Set's followers still . . . Do get on with your story. Sorry to have interrupted."
She smiled and gave him a kiss on his cheek. "I don't mind. Your words are reassuring. You are a priest—I can tell by your shaven head and your manner. I was afraid that this might be a trick and perhaps you had come to take me off to .. . you know."
"What did Ram-f-amsu say he wanted you for, Xonaapi? It is highly unusual, even in mysterious Mgypt, shall we say, for a royal governor to confine a beautiful slave in a hidden dungeon."
"I was to be a special gift. That is what he said, but I didn't believe him. Now I think he must have been telling the truth. He said I was the gem to adorn the crown."
Although his heka energy was depleted after the encounter with the efreet, the magister used his powers of observation and knowledge of the construction and concealment of secret portals as he worked his way along the perimeter walls of the place. "Hah! There's a large area unaccounted for here, my dear. Use those lovely topaz eyes of yours to look for scratches on the floor."
"How nice of you to say that," Xonaapi said, but she stooped and peered down as Inhetep began another circuit along the walls in question.
"What will the scratch marks look like?" she inquired.
"Little lines which have a curve to them. There might be one or several, either deeply etched or very faint, depending on how able the mason was who made the stone which pivots. If there are two or more lines, they'll be parallel."
"Like those are?" Xonaapi was pointing at the floor.
It was Inhetep's turn to hug the girl. "You've found the place, Xonaapi! Come on, now help me find the unlatching mechanism." The magister told her what to look for as he went about his search. The locking device was discovered under a flagstone. It was a metal bar which moved on a fulcrum, and pulling upward on their end released a stud which was thrust into the bottom of the rock and held the stone section fast. It was then an easy matter to pivot the section of wall and enter the place beyond. It was a storeroom filled with armor and weapons, and it extended for a long ways.
