Curse of the Demon Dog Page 5

  “Never let him go,” they chanted. “Never let him go…”

  “They must be talking about Anubis. Set must have ordered them to guard him,” whispered Akori, peering around in the flickering light. A huge black sarcophagus lay in the centre of the chamber. The mummies were circling it. With a shudder, he realized that Anubis must be lying helpless inside the sarcophagus. But how were they going to reach him?

  Manu was shaking all over. “I’m sure there’s some way we can avoid those mummies,” he whispered. “There’s got to be something in the scrolls! A word of command to make them run away, or a spell to turn them back to ordinary mummies again…”

  But as Manu crouched down and started to unpack his bags, disaster struck. One of his scroll holders slipped out of his hand and started to roll away. Ebe tried desperately to snatch it back, but it was too late – reaching the edge of the gallery, it tipped over and fell with a clatter into the chamber below!

  The chanting stopped.

  Akori, Manu and Ebe exchanged frightened glances and crouched down in the shadows at the back of the gallery.

  Then the chanting began again, louder and more angry than before. Akori could hear what they were saying now, and his heart plummeted.

  “Death to the intruders!” came the dry, rasping chant. “Death to the intruders!”

  “Get ready to fight!” Akori hissed as he raised his khopesh. “Unless we free Anubis, the undead will be swarming all over Egypt!”

  Ebe crouched down, teeth bared, eager for battle. But Manu still kept searching frantically through his scrolls.

  “There’s got to be a better way,” he insisted. “A safer way.”

  “Manu, we don’t have time!” Akori exclaimed. “They’re coming to get us!”

  The mummies were chanting louder and louder as they reached the foot of the stairs and began to tramp upwards.

  Akori brandished his khopesh and stepped onto the top stair. “Ready, Ebe?”

  She nodded grimly. Manu however, stayed in the shadows and carried on searching through his bags.

  Stiff, dead arms that had broken free of their bandages reached up the stairs towards Akori. He summoned up every bit of courage he could and, with a loud battle cry, he charged down. Ebe screeched and sprang along beside him.

  The khopesh struck, and sliced the arms right off the first mummy. It staggered, then fell off the stairs and landed with a dusty crash. Akori stared after the mummy. The blow had felt horrible, like chopping through dry sticks.

  The next mummy tried to grab the khopesh and pull it out of Akori’s grip, but Ebe kicked the monster hard under the ribs and it toppled over, taking another mummy with it. Waving their arms helplessly, they fell into the chamber, smashing a torch off the wall on the way down. Ebe yowled in triumph. But there were more coming, chanting as their feet stomped up the stairs.

  Akori hacked one in half, slammed the sword hilt into another’s face, and chopped the leg from another. Dust showered him with every blow. Mummy after mummy went tumbling down into the chamber. Beside him, Ebe lashed out with feet and fists. When one mummy managed to grab hold of Akori, Ebe helped to pull it off.

  Akori’s arms ached. Ebe was panting heavily. But the more mummies they defeated, the more seemed to appear. He forced himself to raise his khopesh and fight on.

  But then a mummy moved to strike him and the khopesh went flying.

  “No!” Akori cried as the sword clattered to the floor below.

  He tried to run after it, but it was too late – the chanting mummies were all around him, muffling his mouth, holding his struggling limbs. Ebe came racing to his rescue but it was no good. Yet more mummies swarmed in to form a circle around her and she was captured too.

  “What’s happening?” Akori heard Manu cry from the gallery above.

  “Stay back!” Akori shouted in warning, but it was too late. A stream of bandaged figures surged up the stairs. There was the sound of a brief struggle and then the mummies returned to the chamber holding a wriggling Manu, still clutching his bags.

  The mummies carried Akori, Manu and Ebe to the side of the huge chamber, where some empty sarcophagi were propped against the wall. The mummies lined the three friends up in front of the sarcophagi and then began to march around each of them, wrapping them in something. Akori looked down. Bandages! He was being wrapped from head to foot, and so were Manu and Ebe. Akori tried to wrestle free, but there were too many mummies surrounding him.

  The tight bandages were being wound around his hands, his legs, his chest. Akori could hardly breathe. Is this how a fly feels, when a spider traps it in its web? he wondered. And now they were winding bandages around his mouth – and pushing him inside a sarcophagus.

  Akori’s heart thundered in his chest as panic gripped him. What a terrible way to die, suffocated inside a sarcophagus. Now he would never be able to free Anubis. He was destined to lie in a tomb for ever, mummified alive!

  Akori stood upright in the open sarcophagus. He tried to move his hands, thinking he might be able to wriggle free, but the tight bandages held him like ropes. He wished he had his khopesh, but it was still lying on the floor where it had fallen, in the centre of the chamber.

  It was no use. He had failed. He had let the High Priest down. Worse still, he had let his entire country down. Without Anubis to guide the dead home, Egypt would become a miserable, haunted hell, all because he hadn’t fought hard enough. And he wouldn’t be able to continue in his quest to save the other three Gods either.

  Through a tiny gap in the bandages over his eyes, he could see that the mummies had gone back to marching around and around the huge black sarcophagus. They chanted monotonously as they marched: “Victory to Set! Victory to Set!”

  Akori shuddered. If Set won, Horus himself would never be freed and evil would reign for ever more.

  But then Akori noticed something that made hope leap in his heart. On the wall near his sarcophagus was a twisted, broken piece of metal, left when one of the falling mummies had smashed a torch from the wall. It looked a bit like a hook.

  It was risky, but he had nothing to lose. And that part of the chamber was dark, now that the torch was gone. The shadows might hide him…

  Praying the mummies wouldn’t notice, Akori took little hops out of the sarcophagus and into the shadowy area. Then he tried to hook his bandages on to the sharp metal prong. It was a tight, difficult struggle in the dark, but finally he managed to attach the bandaging on his back to the jagged hook. Then he tugged, and to his joy the bandage began to come loose!

  Akori started to hop round in a circle to unwind the bandage, but soon realized that would take too long. So he took a deep breath and spun on the spot, faster and faster, like a bobbin unwinding thread.

  The last of the bandages fell away. He was finally free! But the whole room seemed like it was still spinning. Akori almost collapsed on the floor before he managed to steady himself.

  He’d never felt so giddy. He pushed himself up and staggered towards Ebe, as the walls and floor lurched from one side to the other.

  Fighting the dizziness that threatened to overwhelm him, he began to unwrap Ebe. Once he had freed her hands she helped him take her remaining bandages off. Akori held a finger to his lips, and Ebe nodded to show that she understood. She gave him a silent look of thanks as she stepped out of the dusty pile of bandages.

  Together they took stealthy steps through the shadows towards Manu. Neither of them made a sound.

  Working quickly, they released Manu, Ebe’s claw-like nails plucking and tugging at the bandages. As soon as his face was uncovered, Manu opened his mouth to speak, but Akori clamped a hand over it. Leaning in close, he whispered quietly into Manu’s ear.

  “No talking or they’ll hear us,” he explained. Manu nodded, his eyes wide.

  The mummies’ chanting was so loud now it seemed to shake the chamber.

  “Victory to Set! Victory to Set!”

  Akori looked at the huge black sarcophagus and his
heart sank. The lid looked as heavy as one of the Great Pyramid’s huge stone blocks. Even if he could somehow find the strength to battle through all of those mummies, how would he ever lift it?

  Then he remembered what Horus had said to him, when he appeared to Akori before his first adventure. The khopesh was not just a weapon! Horus’s words echoed in his mind:

  “The blade is enchanted, and will cut through iron and stone...but...it is also a key…a key to free the Gods, when you find us…”

  Akori looked at the khopesh, lying on the flagstones where it had fallen. Mummies marched past it in a constant procession. All he had to do was reach it…

  The mummies were staring straight ahead. Gesturing at Manu and Ebe to stay where they were, Akori got down on his hands and knees and crept across the floor. As long as he stayed below their eye level and didn’t make a sound, he might just be able to do it. Bandaged feet marched past him, round and round. To his horror, he heard the chant change once again.

  “Let the dead devour the living.”

  They were running out of time!

  Desperately, Akori crawled forward a little further, then waited for a gap in the marching feet. It was now or never – the khopesh was within reach! He grabbed it, and instantly a magical warmth radiated up his arm. Akori slid away from the marching feet with the grace of a sand snake, then crawled back to the safety of the shadows. He had his sword, now he just had to make it to the sarcophagus. But how could he do that with so many mummies in the way?

  He glanced over at Manu and Ebe. Manu was rooting around in his bag. Akori frowned. What was he doing? Hadn’t those scrolls got them into enough trouble already? Manu pulled out a scroll holder, then grinned at Akori before flinging it across to the other side of the chamber. Akori’s heart skipped a beat. What was Manu thinking? Now they would be discovered for sure. The mummies stopped dead in their tracks, mid-chant. But instead of looking at Akori, Manu and Ebe, they turned in the direction of the noise. Then they started marching over to the scroll holder, chanting, “Death to the intruders!” Akori smiled as he realized why Manu had thrown the holder – to create a diversion.

  While the mummies were distracted, Akori ran over to the sarcophagus and slid his khopesh under the huge stone lid. He started trying to lever it open but the lid was so heavy it was like trying to lift the pyramid itself. Akori pushed down on the khopesh with all of his might. “Please help me, mighty Horus,” he whispered. The birthmark on his arm began to tingle and heat flowed from it down into the khopesh. Akori gasped as the sword began to glow as red as a flame. The lid opened a little. Akori pushed down on the khopesh and it was as if Horus himself was pushing too. The lid swung open as easily as if it had been made of bamboo.

  A rushing sound filled the chamber, as if fresh air were suddenly being sucked into it. Every stone in the wall and floor danced with golden light. The sarcophagus was wide open.

  Akori took a step back as a stately figure rose up before him. Anubis. He was tall, like all the Gods, and he wore a shimmering cloak that was the colour of a starless night. His skin was brown, and his head was that of a jackal. But his eyes were kind, and he radiated an aura of peace and calm.

  Manu stared, speechless and awestruck. Ebe ran and hid behind a pillar. Akori frowned.

  “It’s all right!” he called to her. “This is Anubis, not Am-Heh!” But Ebe stayed where she was.

  The mummies were standing motionless and no longer chanting. As if recognizing their true master, they bowed down before Anubis.

  The God looked around the room and made a strange gesture with his hand. The broken mummies that Akori and Ebe had defeated reassembled themselves, and stood up to pay homage with the rest.

  “I owe you my thanks, young mortal,” said Anubis. His voice was deep, and although he was standing right next to Akori, it seemed to echo, as if he were speaking from a hollow place below the earth. “But other Gods are still in peril and need your help to free them from Set’s chains. Let this aid you in your quest.”

  From his cloak Anubis took a jewel-headed pin in the shape of a scarab beetle, and placed it in Akori’s hand. “This is the Scarab of Anubis,” he said. “When you or any of your friends are hurt, it will grant you the gift of healing.”

  “Thank you, My Lord,” Akori replied, bowing his head in respect.

  “Now you must go back to the Temple of Horus,” said Anubis. “I have much work left to do tonight. This army of the dead must be returned to their proper place, and there are many other souls waiting to be led to the Underworld.”

  Akori bowed deeply before Anubis. But as he rose, he spotted a familiar figure standing behind Anubis that gave him a horrible chill. His Uncle Shenti.

  But as he stared at his uncle, Akori realized something had changed. He didn’t look angry any more. In fact, a peaceful smile was spreading across his face. Akori wasn’t sure, but he thought his uncle almost looked proud. Anubis placed a hand on Shenti’s shoulder and a golden aura shone out around him. Akori shielded his eyes and watched as Shenti looked up at Anubis gratefully and then began to fade into the light until he had completely disappeared.

  Anubis smiled at Akori, who was standing open-mouthed in surprise.

  “Return to Horus in peace and safety, royal prince,” he declared.

  It was more than just a blessing. There was powerful magic in Anubis’s words. Akori felt the world fall away from under him.

  For a few seconds, he was caught up in a whirling, shimmering tunnel of light. Huge shapes flew past almost too fast to see – the pyramids, the Sphinx, the boats on the Nile. He was travelling at breakneck speed, back across the desert sands! It was like flying…

  His landing wasn’t quite so breathtaking. He fell out of the air in a sprawling heap, down onto soft sand. There were two thumps either side of him and he turned to see Manu and Ebe, landing in exactly the same way.

  “Where are we?” Manu complained, rubbing his head and clutching his bag of scrolls to him.

  “Right back where we started!” said Akori, pointing at the huge gateway of the Temple of Horus. The polished stone shone in the moonlight.

  Ebe gave a little cry of delight. She raced up the steps, with Akori and Manu following close behind. They ran into the main chamber so fast that Ebe almost knocked the old High Priest off his feet.

  “Ebe!” he laughed, feeling her wild hair and hugging her to him. He looked around blindly. “Are Akori and Manu with you?”

  “Yes, we are here,” said Akori. He and Manu walked over to him and Akori took hold of his hand. “Our quest was successful – Anubis is free.”

  The High Priest’s face broke into a beaming smile. “At last! Now the dead will be able to find their way home and the people of Egypt can sleep easier in their beds.”

  He led them all over to a table and they sat down at the long benches. Ebe laid her head upon the High Priest’s shoulder, while Akori and Manu told him everything that had happened.

  “You have done exceedingly well, Akori,” said the High Priest. “And I am sure the gift of Anubis, with its healing powers, will be of great aid to you in your future missions.”

  “I wonder when you will have to use it,” Manu said as the call sounded for supper and dozens of servants entered the chamber carrying platters of delicious-smelling food.

  As Manu spoke, Akori felt the birthmark on his arm begin to tingle. Once again Horus was reminding him of his destiny. But which of the Gods would he be sent to rescue next? Would it be the magical Goddess Isis? Or the mighty warrior Goddess Sekhmet? One thing was for sure, Akori thought to himself as he looked down at his falcon-shaped birthmark. He would be ready and prepared for his next quest, no matter how hard it might be…

  The Pharaoh Oba lay stretched out on a couch in his throne room.

  Soft music was playing, a table laden with fruit stood nearby, and Oba was eating grapes from a bunch held up for him by a terrified slave girl. On a couch opposite, his priest and advisor, Bukhu, was sharpening his sw
ord on a whetstone.

  Suddenly the music stopped as the muddy, bruised figure of Am-Heh slunk into the room.

  He stood, a little unsteadily, by the fruit table. His tail was drooping and his head hung in shame. He looked more like a bashful puppy than a mighty hunter.

  “Speak,” Oba commanded.

  In a whining voice, Am-Heh answered. “My Pharaoh, I have failed you. I found the boy Akori, but…he got away.”

  “He got away,” echoed Oba, clenching his fists in anger.

  “There is more,” Am-Heh admitted. “The boy somehow entered the Great Pyramid. Even pursued by an army of the dead, he was victorious. Your Majesty…Anubis is free.”

  “I see,” said Oba. He got to his feet. Am-Heh stood waiting, his horrible head bowed.

  Oba grabbed a handful of fruit and flung it at him, screaming at the top of his voice.

  “Incompetent cretin! Useless cur! Get out of my sight!” Am-Heh howled piteously and ran out of the room.

  Bukhu stood. “Your Majesty, my friend, be calm!” He laid a firm hand on Oba’s trembling shoulder. “Akori and his friends may have succeeded this time, but there is no way they will thwart us again.”

  Bukhu’s face darkened. “I will make sure of that myself…”

  Akori must brave the crocodile-infested waters of the Nile to battle two evil Gods – the terrifying Crocodile King, and his gruesome wife, the Frog Goddess – both hungry for his blood…

  Akori had never seen so many crocodiles in his life. And there behind them, urging them on, was a colossal figure. Its skin gleamed in the moonlight like pockmarked leather armour.

  At first Akori thought it was a huge crocodile that was somehow walking on its back legs, but then he saw the giant had human-shaped limbs and torso supporting its crocodile head. It bellowed an order, and the crocodiles surged forward even faster than before.

  He stared in horror. It was Sobek! They’d walked straight into a trap!