Michael Belmont and the Tomb of Anubis (The Adventures of Michael Belmont) (34 page)

Mark gritted his teeth, a drop of sweat ran down his neck, and he was barely able to keep himself from pulling both triggers.

Suddenly, Zuriel stopped in his tracks just before reaching the door.

Michael gasped as his Uncle Link entered the chamber.
 
Jesse Clanton and Bill Thompson were with him, and so was Aiden Osiris.
 
Finally, Abigail strode in behind them.
 
Michael smiled at her proudly.
 
She must have led them in through the opening in Horus’s burial chamber.

"I believe you have something that belongs to me," Aiden said to Zuriel.

He sneered.
 
"Hello, Anubis, long time no see."
 

Michael looked at Aiden in shock.
 
Could he really be Anubis?
 
The same Anubis from all those visions the statue had shown him?
 
So it had been him that Shamus McGinty was trying to help, trying to get the staff to before he died.

Before he could take it all in, several things happened at once.

Zuriel began to grow larger, and his form began to change.
 
In a matter of seconds, a large red dragon towered before them where the man had just been standing.
 
It looked like the one on the flag of Wales, and it was the most terrifying creature that Michael had ever seen.

Link sprang forward with a mighty leap, and as he was rushing toward the dragon, Michael noticed that he too had changed.
 
He'd become the same wolf-man that Michael had seen that night at his uncle's ranch.
 
He wasn't crazy after all.
 
His uncle
had
been a werewolf all along.
 
He looked at Abigail, who was frozen in terror.

Jesse and Bill had both pulled out some very nasty looking custom made machine guns, and were taking aim at the dragon.
 
They opened fire on it, and an excruciating racket filled the cavern.
 
The creature turned its head away from the rain of ammunition that was showering in upon it.

Link reached the monster and leapt up to its neck, grabbing ahold and swinging himself up behind its head.
 
He began to punch and slash with all his might before pulling out a long sword, which was hanging from a sheath at his side, and driving it through the back of the dragon's neck.
 
It screeched in fury, but it appeared that every attack they unleashed upon it only made the thing angrier, and it began to buck like a wild bronco, throwing Link off into the hard rock wall, where he collapsed into a silent heap.

Jesse's gun ran out of ammo, and the searing barrel smoked like a lit cigar as he reached into his pouch for another cartridge.
 
Bill cast his machine gun to the floor, pulled out two revolvers, and took several carefully aimed shots at the creature's chest.
 
"How do you kill this thing?" he yelled out frantically.

The next thing that Michael did was either very brave or very stupid, or perhaps both.
 
He noticed that Anubis’s staff was lying on the ground near the dragon's feet.
 
Without hesitation, he bolted for it.
 
Jumping up over a small boulder, he landed near its tail and glided between its back legs as if he were sliding in to home base.
 
He grabbed the staff and made a break for it, but just when he thought he was safe, Zuriel reached out and grabbed him.
 
His legs swung out and he looked like a ragdoll as the creature lifted him into the air.

"ABIGAIL," he called as he flung the staff toward her.
 
It twirled and spun through the air as she reached out to catch it.

"OUCH," she screeched as it struck her on the leg.
 
Without hesitation, she picked it up and sprinted to Aiden, handing him the staff before turning back to run toward her mother and father.
 
The dragon screeched in a horrific display of rage.

Aiden tapped a ring on his left hand with the staff, and both items ignited with a bright blue light.
 
He held out his left fist, and a stream of blue light erupted from the ring, shooting straight at Zuriel.

Once again, it screeched angrily, but this time it was mingled with a large dose of pain.
 
The dragon dropped Michael to the ground, and he ran out of its reach as fast as his legs could carry him.

Without warning, the beast leapt into the air and clumsily flew to the top of the chamber.
 
It grabbed onto the bricks with its feet, ripping them apart in an attempt to claw it's way out.
 
It chaotically bashed itself into the ceiling as rocks, boulders, and dust rained down into the ancient prison below, showering everyone in sight.

Michael saw his father dragging Liam and his mother toward the entrance.
 
Jesse and Bill were leading his uncle, who staggered feebly along as if drunk.
 
They clung to the shelter of the small cells along the wall, trying to make their way back toward the entrance.

Michael, who was standing beside Aiden, grabbed the handles of his wheelchair and pulled him toward a nearby passageway.

One of the bricks falling from the roof landed squarely on a backpack beside Jesse's gun.
 
It exploded, bringing down what remained of the chamber as Zuriel escaped into the cavern above.

Aiden Osiris sat on the cavern floor with his back leaning against the wall.
 
A small trickle of blood ran down from the top of his head and disappeared into his beard.
 
He slowly opened his eyes and took in the scene around him.
 

The staff was still tightly gripped in his right hand.
 
His wheelchair lay beside him, now broken into several pieces, and a dozen feet in front of him, sprawled out and partially buried in rubble, was Michael.
 
Aiden couldn't see any visible injuries, and it appeared that he was definitely breathing.

"Michael," he said gruffly.
 
The word didn't come easy.
 
"Michael," he forced out a little louder.
 
Michael did not move.

Aiden looked at the passage behind them.
 
It was blocked off.
 
The force of the explosion had caused what remained of the chamber to cave in.
 
All things considered, the damage to the narrow tunnel to which they'd fled was minimal.
 
They were lucky to have escaped before the entire place had crumbled in on them.
 

Aiden thought about trying to clear the passage with his staff, but then decided that doing so may only make things worse.
 
There was no way out of this now but to go on ahead.
 
Aiden sighed.
 
His own plan didn't involve getting back out of the necropolis, but he had never intended the boy to get caught up in this.

"Michael," he said again.
 
He did not move.
 
Aiden pulled his body over to the boy, and gently brushed back his dirty brown hair.
 
Michael groggily opened his eyes.

"Mr. Osiris?" he coughed,
 
"what just happened?
 
Did I see…did I see what I think I did?"

"Oh yes," he responded.
 
"But that's not important now.
 
Are you all right?
 
Are you hurt at all?"

"I don't think so."
 
He looked down at the rubble covering his body and began to squirm free.
 
He sat up, coughed some more, and scanned his surroundings, noticing the caved-in passageway.

"What are we going to do now?" he asked.

"We need to get you back to your family, and I need to finish the work I came here to do, something that should have been done a very long time ago."
 
He looked Michael in the eyes.
 
"I'm sorry, my boy, that I got you wrapped up in this.
 
I'm sorry that your family was endangered because of me.
 
Strange isn't it," he said, as if to himself, "how a simple mistake committed so long ago can have effects that ripple through ages of time."

He pulled himself up into a sitting position.
 
"Well, it's time to make amends once and for all."
 

He gripped his staff tightly in both hands.
 
The eyes of the jackal began to glow brightly once again, its blue light rebounding off the chamber walls all around them.

Aiden began to rise slowly into the air, and came to a hovering position about a half foot off the ground.
 
A thin blue aura shone around his entire body, and a sound of rushing wind filled the chamber, followed by a sharp crackling noise.
 
The light faded, and Aiden gently came to a standing position, the use of his legs having been restored.

He reached down to help Michael, who looked up at him in astonishment.

"Come on," he said.
 
"There is another way out of here, but in order to get you there, I'm afraid you'll have to come with me to the gateway."

"The gateway?" Michael repeated nervously.

Aiden nodded. "The gateway to Tartarus."

Aiden Osiris moved stealthily down the passage, ready for an attack at any moment.
 
Given what Michael had just witnessed, he appreciated the man's caution.
 
The tunnel they traveled down was crudely cut out of stone, and had narrowed to such a point that Michael had to drop behind Aiden and follow him.
 
This made him quite nervous, and as he kept looking back behind them, the shifting shadows danced around suspiciously before merging with the blackness from which they had come.

They passed an innumerable amount of crevices and openings in the walls that could have led off to other subterranean caverns.
 
Michael's imagination ran wild thinking about where any of them might lead, or what might spring out of them at any moment.
 
Each one they passed spooked him, and he was relieved to get past them quickly.

After continuing down the passage for what must have been an hour, taking numerous turns and going through obscure openings, hieroglyphs began to appear on the walls around them.
 
Most of the images bore the figures of Anubis and Horus, sometimes alone, and sometimes together.
 
Michael even recognized a few of the scenes from what he'd seen in the statue at McGinty Castle.

He gazed at Aiden curiously.
 
"So it was
you
all along who Shamus McGinty was trying to help?
 
He was trying to get the staff back to you before he died?"

"Yes.
 
Unfortunately, he disappeared down in these catacombs before he could tell me where he'd hidden it.
 
I was certain it was safely tucked away, and thought it was probably down that protected wing of the castle he'd told me about, but I had no idea how to retrieve it."

The man listened intently as Michael told him the details of how he, Liam, and Abigail were able to obtain the staff, and explain apologetically about how they'd given it to Zuriel.

"Well, no need to worry," he said with a grin.
 
"It's all worked out in the end."

"Mr. Osiris, is what Zuriel said true?
 
Are you
really
Anubis?
 
The
Anubis?"

Aiden let out a heavy sigh.
 
"Yes," he said.
 
"It's true.
 
Though I haven't been called by that name in a very, very long time."

"But, how can that be?
 
How is it that you…you've…"

"How is it that I've lived this long?" the man interrupted.
 
It was more of a statement than a question.
 
"Well, I am an immortal, Michael."

"But what about Horus?
 
Wasn't he just like you?"

At this, Aiden stopped and turned to face him.
 
He looked hurt, and a bit stunned.
 
"You've seen inside my memory sarcophagus, haven't you?" he asked.
 
"Yes, I thought you boys might have found it.
 
I'd given it to McGinty for safe keeping."
 
Then he smiled.
 
"I'm glad you've seen them, my memories."

"Why?" Michael asked.
 
He'd thought that Aiden might be displeased with him.

"Well, as they say, my boy, confession is good for the soul," he smiled sadly.
 
"At any rate, it will help you better understand what is about to happen.
 
A friend helped me build that memory sarcophagus long ago, to allow me to preserve my memories, and to ensure that my story would be told.
 
As for my brother Horus, yes, he too was an immortal.
 
But although we do not age like normal men, we can be killed just like anyone else.
 
As you know, my brother lost his life down in this very necropolis, and I narrowly escaped death myself, although I have wished on occasions without number that I could have joined him in it then."

"Do you still wish that?" Michael asked.

"No.
 
I have been given a second chance, and for that I am grateful.
 
But this has been a long time coming, as you know."

"I know that the people tried to worship you as a god, but you wouldn't let them.
 
Were all of the Egyptian gods immortals like you?"

"Many of them were, and the same is true for the Greek gods, and the Norse gods, and many other mighty men of renown that the world has known.
 
Like me, some still walk the earth today.
 
But there has only ever been one true God.
 
Many gifted men throughout time have accepted and encouraged worship from mankind.
 
But others, like my brother Horus, were disgusted at the mere thought of it.
 
My brother was an extremely good and pious man, you see.
 
Without his influence, I would almost certainly have followed the evil path of our father."