Time Hunters and the Spear of Fate, The (18 page)

‘I’m afraid not, Perce. All I
remember is they are somewhere to the north of the Pyramid of Djoser.’

Uncle Percy’s face brightened.
‘Fantastic,’ he said. ‘That’s a start.’ He pressed two digits on his
portravella.

‘You’re not leaving again, are you?’
Becky asked, panic in her voice.

‘Not just yet,’ Uncle Percy replied.
‘I’m just fetching the coordinates to the Djoser pyramid. Fortunately, it’s a
popular destination for time travellers and, as such, its details will be
already recorded into this portravella’s chronometer. As a matter of fact, the
step pyramid of Djoser is a fascinating edifice. ‘He looked at Butterby. ‘I do
believe it was the first pyramid to be built in Egypt. Isn’t that correct,
Charles?’

‘Indeed it was, Percy,’ Butterby
replied.

Joe looked out at Memphis. The first
breath of dawn had lightened the sky. ‘If we’re walking then we’d better get a
move on. It’ll be light soon.’

‘You’re absolutely right about the
light, Joe,’ Uncle Percy replied. ‘However, I think it’s much safer if we time
travel to the Djoser pyramid than risk the walk.’ His eyes found Layla’s. ‘I
suggest you wait here, Layla - who knows what we’ll encounter in the Chamber of
the Ancients? But when we return –’ his next words were filled with the utmost
sincerity, ‘- and we will return … we’ll work on rescuing your father, is that
okay? Perhaps, Becky, you could remain here with Layla?’

Becky could see exactly what he was
doing. ‘Oh, no, you’re not trying that again. I’m coming with you. Layla, it’s
up to you whether you come or not but –’

‘I wish to come,’ Layla replied,
mustering all the courage she could.

Becky patted Layla’s arm. ‘Good for
you.’

Uncle Percy sighed. ‘Very well ...
then let’s get going. If everyone would please hold hands.’

He ushered everyone to gather in a
circle.

Taking Butterby’s hand, Joe got
quite a shock. ‘Wow, your hands are freezing, Mister Butterby.’

‘I think it might something to do
with spending the night on a cold, damp floor, Joe,’ Butterby chuckled.

Becky took Layla’s hand and saw her
face had turned ghostly white. ‘It’s okay, Layla. Time travelling’s a piece of
cake.  It’ll be over in a heartbeat.’

Layla returned an unconvincing nod.

‘Okay,’ Uncle Percy said, keying six
digits into the portravella. ‘Next stop:
Saquarra - City of the Dead
.’
Just then, light enveloped his hand and extended over his body, snaking its way
from one to person to another. Soon, they were all bathed in a dazzling glow
and –

CRACK!
– They disappeared.

*

An instant later, Becky felt the
ground soften beneath her feet. She unclasped Layla’s hand and waited for her
ears to stop ringing. The sudden silence was suffocating. Glancing sideways,
she nearly jumped out of her skin. Through the gloom, a statue of an Egyptian
God rose imposingly from the sand, its eyes seemingly burning into her, as if
silently questioning her presence.

Butterby noticed. ‘Nothing to be
concerned about, Becky, it’s just Osiris, God of the Afterlife. Impressive,
eh?’

‘Whatever floats your boat,’ Becky
replied under her breath. She looked round to see they were standing beside a
deep trench that encircled a tall panelled wall, lined intermittently with wide
doors. Her gaze tracked the wall to its end, and a pyramid, consisting of six
gigantic steps in diminishing size, came into view. Uncle Percy appeared at her
shoulder.

‘Now isn’t that a remarkable sight?’
he said softly.

Becky gave an indifferent shrug.
‘S’pose.’ Then her eyes found the horizon. An ascending sun shed light over the
distant silhouette of Memphis. ‘But can we just get out of here?’

‘Of course,’ Uncle Percy replied.
‘Edgar, care to lead the way?’

Edgar nodded. ‘Of course.’ He had
only walked a short distance when he said, ‘And behold … The Cemetery of the
Sacred Bulls.’ His extended finger pointed to a long boulevard, its verges
flanked with dozens of sphinxes, which led to an ornate temple formed out of
the rock behind.

‘How very interesting,’ Uncle Percy
said, taking it all in.

Wordlessly, the gravity of their
task dawning on each of them, the group attempted to keep pace with Edgar as he
trekked deeper into the flat, barren desert. The sun gleamed brightly now,
painting the sky in a rusty orange hue. As the minutes passed, Becky found
herself ever more anxious. She knew only too well an airborne attack would
leave them totally exposed, with nowhere to run or hide.

And then she saw it: an enormous
mound of stones – hundreds of them, thousands perhaps - in all shapes, sizes
and colours, piled high like a colossal funeral pyre.

Edgar came to a halt, followed by
the others. ‘The Tauri Stones,’ he whispered.

Joe gulped. ‘That’s a shed load of
big rocks.’

Becky turned to Uncle Percy. ‘What
do we do now?’

Uncle Percy glanced anxiously at the
skies. ‘We move them … as fast as we can…’

‘Maybe you should go back to Bowen
Hall?’ Joe put forward. ‘And get some fancy contraption to help us shift them.’

‘No,’ Edgar said in a low but firm
voice. ‘They were set there by Atlantean hands. And it shall be Atlantean hands
that dislodge them.’ He stepped forward and approached the stones. Ingesting a
great breath, he gathered one the size of a dustbin in his arms. Then, with a
bellowing grunt, he hurled it aside.

To Becky’s dismay, she could see he
was trembling, his eyes cloudy with tears. ‘Edgar, what’s the matter?’

‘I am being silly, Miss Becky,’
Edgar choked. ‘I just feel  - ’ he sniffed noisily, ‘- I feel like I am
betraying my brethren. This cairn is a symbol of my people. To cast the stones
aside feels like sacrilege, a violation.’

‘Then don’t do it,’ Becky said.

‘Becky’s right, Edgar,’ Uncle Percy
agreed. ‘If you feel like that, I’m sure I can find another way to enter the
Chamber.’

‘No,’ Edgar replied. ‘Our cause is a
just one. My brothers and sisters would not wish for the Spear, the very life
force of Atlantis itself, to be exploited by monsters like Heim and Drake … I
must do it.’

Will stepped forward and placed his
hand gently on Edgar’s arm. ‘Then let us aid you, my friend.’

‘We’d like to help,’ Becky said.

‘We really would,’ Joe agreed.

Uncle Percy glanced proudly at the
others. ‘And so say all of us.’

Edgar looked at them all. ‘Together
then …’ a half-smile split his face. ‘Just leave the larger stones to me.’

‘Too right we will,’ Joe muttered.

Steadily, the group got to work,
each person playing their part; soon, they had formed an almost identical
smaller mound about ten feet away. Becky was particularly impressed with Layla
and Butterby who, once again, mumbled away to himself as he shifted countless
rocks with impressive strength for a man of his age.

Fighting the heat, the group
ploughed on, only stopping from time to time to take in water. One hour became
two, which slipped into three. It was grueling, backbreaking work, but by mid
morning, the stone pile had shrunk considerably.  

And then it happened: through a gap
in the remaining pile, Becky spied a flash of orange. ‘Look,’ she said,
pointing down. ‘I can see something.’ Spurred on by this, everyone doubled his
or her efforts, until only a single giant slab of polished white limestone
remained.

Edgar’s voice trembled. ‘This is
it.’ Without further comment, he fell to his knees, prized his fingertips
beneath the block’s edging and took the strain. With a loud grunt, he pushed
upwards, raising the stone into the air, worm-like veins stippling his neck.
Straight away, Uncle Percy and Will dropped beside him and together, the three
of them used their combined strength to lever the stone onto its flank, before
applying its natural momentum to power it forward; they watched it land with a
heavy
thud
, launching a cloud of sand into the windless air.

Exhilaration gripped Becky as a
metal grille was revealed below; its glittering orange frame decorated in
elegant swirls. She recognized the metal at once:
Orichalcum.

Chapter 24

All Fired Up

Without hesitation, Edgar used the
last of his strength to wrench the grille open, revealing a deep, cavernous
hole; a succession of dusty steps stretched into the blackness below. Uncle
Percy pulled free an illumino bead and cast it down; it cracked against stone,
lighting hundreds more steps that spiralled to somewhere just out of sight.

‘Edgar, would you care to lead the
way?’

Edgar nodded. Cautiously, he placed
a foot on the first step and began his descent, followed by Joe, Butterby, and
Will.

Uncle Percy hung back. ‘Layla, are
you sure you wouldn’t care to wait here?’

Layla glanced nervously at Becky,
before shaking her head.

Uncle Percy gave a frustrated sigh and
gestured forward. ‘Then, please, after you, my dear.’

Becky watched Uncle Percy trail
Layla into the dimness, the hairs on her neck stood up like tiny blades of
grass. She had no idea what they were entering into or what they could expect
to find, but past experience taught her to prepare for the very worst.
Unconsciously, her fingers delved into her cloak pocket and found Orff’s knife.
She shadowed Uncle Percy into the passageway, where at once the dusty, sour air
scratched at her throat. The unnerving silence pressed against her ears, as
though her head had been forced into a vice. Then she heard Joe’s words through
the gloom.

‘What do you know about this place,
Edgar?’

‘Very little,’ Edgar replied, taking
each stride slowly with the utmost care. ‘Even these steps have not been
trodden since the chamber was first constructed, countless eons ago.’

‘So tell us more about Thor.’

‘Thoth,’ Edgar corrected him.
‘According to Minotaur lore, he was a prince amongst my kind, and a great
leader. And it was said his fury at the Spear’s theft was so great, his roar
could be heard in all of the known realms of the earth. It was also said his
vengeance on those who stole it was so terrible that even Zeus feared his wrath…’

‘Who stole it?’

Edgar struggled to utter the next
words. ‘A Minotaur  … a Minotaur named
Kraven
.’

‘A Minotaur?’ Joe said, surprised.
‘I thought your lot were – well, the good guys.’

‘I believe they were,’ Edgar
replied. ‘But Kraven was different. He was wicked, cruel and brutal.
Apparently, he convinced twenty manfolk warriors to force entry to Poseidon’s
Temple and steal the Spear, before transporting it across the ocean to Egypt.
Anyway, soon after the fall of Atlantis, Thoth hunted down Kraven and the twenty
manfolk. He managed to reclaim the Spear, but somehow Kraven escaped capture
and vanished without a trace. The twenty, however, were not so fortunate. It is
said they were punished in the most unspeakable ways.’

‘What kind of ways?’

‘My grandfather would not tell me.
But did say it was a sentence worse than death itself…’

From then on, no one said a word.
The further they went, the more a distinct, bone-aching chill set in. They must
have walked for at least five minutes, when a large door, secured by a pair of
giant bronze hinges in the shape of two leaping dolphins became visible.

Heart thumping in her ribs, Becky
watched as Edgar pushed open the door and disappeared inside. Wordlessly,
everyone followed him in.

Uncle Percy threw down an illumino bead
and the room was bathed in light.

At once, astonishment lined
everyone’s faces.

Becky heard Joe swear loudly, and
was surprised when Uncle Percy didn’t reproach him. She squinted upwards and
her jaw nearly hit the floor. It was like stepping inside an enormous Christmas
bauble. The chamber was at least forty feet high, fashioned from glittering
orichalcum, and had an oval ceiling that was smooth and polished. The walls
consisted of row upon row of gleaming rectangular panels, many of which were
decorated with ornate symbols, identical to those inscribed on the Gadeirus
Tablet.

Becky walked over to them and took a
closer look. She extended her hand and pressed one. To her surprise, it moved
inwards slightly before retracting to its former position.

‘Crikey,’ Uncle Percy mouthed, his
eyes trained above. ‘How wonderful.’

‘The markings,’ Joe uttered, ‘Are
they the Atlantean alphabet?’

Edgar nodded absent-mindedly,
consumed with awe.

‘So what do we do now?’ Joe said,
looking at Will who shrugged.

‘This is all beyond my
comprehension,’ Will replied.

Joe’s eyes found Uncle Percy. ‘What
do you think?’

‘I really don’t know,’ Uncle Percy
replied, still flabbergasted.

Then, as Becky scanned the wall, she
noticed something in the corner of her eye: a rectangular gap in the bottom
left hand corner. At that moment, she was reminded of the last time she stood
before a gigantic Minotaur construction: The Great Gate at the Red Caves. At
once, an idea entered her head. ‘Uncle Percy, have you got the Gadeirus
Tablet?’

‘Of course,’ Uncle Percy replied,
pulling it from his cloak. He passed it over.

Becky took it. Moving over to the
gap, she knelt down before it. Taking a deep breath, she carefully inserted the
tablet into the gap, as though fitting the final piece of a jigsaw puzzle. It
fitted perfectly. Immediately, the Gadeirus Tablet was encircled in a brilliant
emerald green light. Then, as if pushed by an invisible hand, it sank deep into
the wall. She gasped loudly.

Uncle Percy heard this and snapped
out of his daze. Staring at the flickering Gadeirus Tablet, he opened his mouth
to say something but no words came out.

Suddenly, torrents of fizzling light
streamed from the tablet, feeding the wall like forked lightning, igniting each
panel, until the chamber was illuminated a dazzling green.

‘Oh – my – word,’ Uncle Percy
whispered.

Joe swore again.

Butterby started laughing.
‘Unbelievable,’ he cackled. ‘Absolutely unbelievable … Becky, you genuinely are
a quite remarkable young woman.’

Becky didn’t acknowledge the
compliment. She took three steps back and her eyes flicked all around, hoping
for some change, for a hidden door or passageway to be revealed, but nothing
happened.

No one made a sound as the seconds passed
by.

Becky was about to ask Uncle Percy
what they should do when something else occurred to her. Staring at the panels,
her mind shifted back to the riddle etched onto the Tablet. She had a
brainwave. ‘Edgar, can you press the symbols that spell out the Atlantean word
for ‘
fire’
?’ She felt Joe’s eyes staring blankly at her, so continued
with, ‘Maybe the chamber’s like a giant computer keyboard?’

Uncle Percy looked shell-shocked.
‘And you once told me you were merely ‘
ordinary
’, Becky.’ His words
bristled with respect. ‘After you, then, Edgar …’

Edgar took a moment to consider the
translation, and then approached a panel; slowly lifting his giant hand, he
pushed it. Promptly, the light surrounding it went out. He gave a loud squeak.
Sensing success, he rushed madly around the chamber, pressing seven other
panels in a matter of seconds, each of them returning to their former, unlit
state. Then, as he pressed a final panel, all nine symbols flashed wildly, like
a slot machine, and a deep grumble shook the walls as if they were caught in a
sudden storm.

To everyone’s amazement, a panel,
larger than the rest, on the right hand wall edged upwards; further and
further, it ascended, exposing a column of raging fire behind, roaring like a
furnace.

Becky’s heart was in her mouth.

Uncle Percy said nothing, but swept
across the floor in a single movement and embraced Becky. ‘You, young lady, are
an absolute genius…’ He kissed her forehead.

Becky blushed. ‘Err, we both know
I’m not,’ she replied humbly, ‘but, ta.’

The flames blazed and coiled, smoke
weaving upwards in thick ringlets, but to everyone’s astonishment it didn’t
seem to generate any heat.  

‘How very interesting,’ Uncle Percy
said. ‘I suppose we should see if the riddle is correct and track the
Salamander.’ His voice dropped to a mumble. ‘If it isn’t then it’ll be roast
Uncle Percy for Christmas dinner.’

Becky watched nervously as he
approached the fire. And then, without wavering, he stepped into it, and was
immediately engulfed by flame. She couldn’t breathe.

Seconds passed.

And then, almost comically, his head
reappeared. ‘What’s everyone waiting for? I think you might want to see this.’
He disappeared again.

Flooded with relief, Becky watched
Will, Edgar, Joe and a particularly cautious Butterby move forwards, and
disappear into the blaze. Layla, however, stood fixed to the spot, shaking her
head wildly.

‘I – I … cannot…’

Becky flashed her a reassuring
smile.  ‘It’ll be okay,’ she said. ‘We’ll do it together.’ She offered out
her hand. Hesitantly, Layla took it, and together they moved forward, slowly
but purposefully, forcing each stride as if walking to the hangman’s noose.

Becky and Layla came to a halt a
foot away from the flames; their harsh crackle obscured whatever was happening
beyond. Becky glanced nervously at Layla, before closing her eyes, taking a
deep breath … and stepping into the inferno.

In two strides, she knew it was
over. It had been like passing through a hologram. Opening her eyes, she saw
Joe grinning back at her.

‘Weird, eh?’ he said.

She didn’t reply.  Instead, her
eyes found Uncle Percy, whose face was fixed with awe as he absorbed their new
surroundings. She could understand why. They were in a long corridor with
soaring white marble walls, which narrowed to a point in the distance. Huge
life-sized statues of Minotaurs, each looking solemn and severe, flanked the
walls at intervals. Each statue held a flaming torch, which blazed with
enchanted illumination, sending crimson fingers over the walls and brightening
the way ahead.

‘Have you seen this, Becks?’ Joe
said, pointing at the left hand wall.

Becky looked over and the breath
caught in her throat. Carved pristinely into the marble were images, humans,
Minotaurs and all kinds of strange, supernatural monsters – giant lizards,
winged creatures and what looked like gigantic cats - engaged in a fierce
battle around a circular monument she found vaguely familiar. She looked back
at Uncle Percy, who was studying a different segment of the wall, a curious
expression fixed to his face, as if he couldn’t quite believe his eyes.

Abruptly, Uncle Percy tore his gaze
away and said, ‘Well, this is no time for sight seeing.’ He gestured for
everyone to follow. ‘Let’s get going.’ He hitched his rucksack onto his
shoulders, pivoted on his back foot and marched off, passing Butterby, whose
eyes were still glued to the wall. ‘Charles, are you coming?’

‘Oh – err, yes,’ Butterby replied.
‘Of course.’ Reluctantly, he dragged himself away and linked with the others,
trailing Uncle Percy up the corridor.

The group moved quickly, their
footsteps echoing against the hard floor. The further they advanced, the more
Becky felt an icy dread settle in her bones. After the Chamber of the Ancients,
Edgar’s warnings about Thoth’s protective enchantments seemed all the more
real. She wasn’t the only one that seemed to feel that way. A stern-faced Uncle
Percy had sneaked something from his rucksack into his cloak pocket. Becky was
sure it was the tubular object he’d been showing Will, just before they left
the Time Room; Joe and Will had fixed arrows to their Joe-Bows and were aiming
into the darkness ahead; Edgar’s eyes flicked from side to side as though
tracking a bothersome fly, watching intently for the first sign of danger;
Layla trembled from top to toe like jelly. To Becky’s surprise, only Butterby
seemed undaunted by the whole affair, smiling serenely, as if considering it
his duty as an elderly traveller to keep the party calm and relaxed.

Through the dimness, Becky watched
as a final Minotaur statue marked the corridor’s end. At once, she could see it
was different from the others; its eyes were shut tightly as if in prayer, its
head bowed humbly, and its large fingers were wrapped around a basin, fashioned
from orichalcum, which rested on a rostrum adorned with spiralling dolphins. To
the basin’s left was a panel, about the same size as the Gadeirus Tablet,
written upon which, in fine gold lettering, were more Atlantean words.

‘Edgar, what does it mean? Becky
asked quickly.

Edgar moved to her side and leaned
down. ‘Err - let me see …’ After taking a few seconds to consider the
translation, he inhaled a great squall of air and said in a low, shaky voice:

‘I am bright in the day, but black
in the dark

I am warm to a sphinx, but cold to a
shark

I pour and I drip, with no raincloud
in sight

And should I desert you, yours will
be boundless night