Gary Gygax - Dangerous Journeys 2 - Samarkand Solution (24 page)

"By Thoth, this is too much even for me," Inhetep growled. With a wild heave, he threw his precious ankh of enchanted gold straight at the now gaping maw of the monstrous Aapep. His aim was true, and the charm flew past the stone teeth and down the serpent-drake's gullet. There was a great flash of silver-gold light, and then reality was restored. The wall was motionless, its carved monster solid and lifeless, the six idols of the Evil deities of Aapep mere hulks of rock— inanimate and powerless. "That was drastic but ..." he murmured as he again hastened to where the police official lay. "The powers of Balance will keep Aapep and his pack of hounds quiet for some time—hopefully long enough for me to deal with that dirty kheri-heb who relies on his master rather than fighting his own battles."

"Aaah," the inspector groaned faintly as Inhetep touched him. "I'm charred all over, and those darts seemed to have boiled my insides, too. Leave me be—I'm finished, Magister. Get that rotten bastard for me. . . ."

"And I thought you knew something about heka," Inhetep admonished, only half joking. "When we've finished up with this affair, Tuhorus, you'd better take a sabbatical—a full year, I think. You need to develop more skill in dweomercraefting of whatever practice in which you have talent!" Inhetep reached inside the neck of his tunic and pulled out a silver chain upon which hung a little vial. He poured out tiny droplets of opalescent liquid, one for each portion of the chief inspector's maimed body. Head, neck, chest, abdomen, and then his four limbs. Eight drops. "Thoth is a healer, too, you know. I know the pain is terrible, but you'll soon begin to feel better. Just remain still and try to relax." He watched Tuhorus' face, and after a minute Setne saw a change, so he continued. "See? There is no more pain, and you can begin to breathe more deeply now." The detective managed a weak smile and a nod. "You saw where the enemy went? Can you tell me?"

"Yes," Tuhorus whispered. "He ran into the passage to the right—the one by the idol of Seker."

"Don't try to point it out, man! I can find it— there's only a pair to choose from. I'm going to follow that scum. I'm without my ankh, but it's now giving that serpent of perdition severe indigestion, I trust! If so, his wretched little kheri-heb will be at a low ebb of power, too."

"Wait for me," the inspector said, his voice now stronger.

The magister shook his head. "Not even a minute, and you'll need a few more before you're able to stand up and walk. I have to go now. Follow me as quickly as you feel strong enough to try, but don't push it. This will light your way," Inhetep added, putting a disc of pale onyx into Tuhorus' hand. "Think of seeing, and that will send forth a ray of moonlight." The policeman nodded, so Inhetep went off to where the dark tunnel mouth pierced the living rock of the Blood Temple's rearmost wall. A five-foot-wide passage ran straight into the stone, and the priest-wizard stalked ahead into that tunnel with deadly purpose.

After only a few steps, however, the floor turned from cold rock into a glowing bed of coals. The evil one was protecting himself ably. Magister Inhetep actually appreciated that, for the path of deadly heat led him directly to his adversary. Water to quench the coals would fill the way with scalding steam, but sand would smother them effectively. It was risky, of course, for one-foot depth of the rock overheard would be involved, but Inhetep didn't hesitate for a second. The bed of burning embers had hardly begun to eat away the soles of his sandals when he uttered the hekau needed to decompose the stone ceiling. Out went the magick, rock turned to grains of sand, and down rained a torrent to cover the coals. Inhetep was now covered with grit, and the sand underfoot made the going heavy, but he labored on as quickly as he could. Because he was contesting with a fellow kheri-heb, albeit one of Evil, countering the dweomers was easy—especially since his opponent was nowhere near his skill. It was almost the same as contending with a mirror image foe who was but half his strength.

"Wait! I'm coming!" Tuhorus shouted when he saw the hot glow from the passage and heard the magister saying something. He struggled erect and staggered to the place, getting a little stronger and more steady with each step, but still feeling weak and slow. By the time he managed to reach the place he thought Inhetep had called out, there was no more red light, so Tuhorus invoked the illumination of the little disc and waded along the sand-covered floor of the tunnel aided by its moonbeam ray. The footprints of his companion were distinctly visible as depressions in a line going straight away, ignoring the side passage to the left where no sand covered the floor.

The evil kheri-heb, one Vuhata na Tuphopis, however, had retreated all the way to the oblong chamber which was the sanctum of the Blood Temple's chief cleric—his own, in fact. Tuphopis hastened there at the first sign of able defense and offense on the part of his two adversaries. He had reason to do so. The whole of this place was no longer of interest to his associates. In fact, the high cleric and mage knew that they would cheerfully slay him to assure his silence, just as they had killed Prince Ram-f-amsu and the hem-neter-tepi, Chemres. He had been principally responsible for the death and sending of the Aufseru-zombie thereafter. His failure to kill the two detectives now hounding him spelled the evil kheri-heb's own demise, but only if he failed to escape.

Vuhata had to avoid not only Inhetep and Tuhorus, but he needed to get away from /Egypt as well, and quickly. Although he was half /Egyptian, his mother having been a kidnapped slave, the man thought of himself as a Darfurian. That was because there in his tribal lands the dark entity, Aapep, was lord of all. He had failed to promote the worship of the Greatest Evil Serpent here, but his work had not been entirely fruitless. There were converts, the sacrifices had strengthened Aapep, and Vuhata an Tuphopis had amassed a fortune in gold, magickal items, and precious gems. He had been discovered by the two men now seeking him because Vuhata had lingered in the subterranean temple to select, pack, and arrange for the transportation of his booty. Had he been able to bring it back safely to his homeland, all Darfur might have been brought under the control of his temple.

That was now out of the question, of course. Only that treasure which he could personally carry would go with him, which was why the priest-mage had so carefully sorted his wealth. Chests and bales awaiting portage would have to be sacrificed. Vuhata na Tuphopis would take with him all that which was most precious, and he would do so now. There awaited a secret escape route from the cul de sac room, beneath On to the Nylle, where a boat would take him upriver. Magick and the vastness of the Sudd, the great swamp, would assure none would successfully follow. It was merely a matter of gathering up the coffer and bundles he had selected, placing a last dweomer to obscure his route, and he would be off.

A groaning sound alerted Vuhata to the fact that someone was before the two massive doors which closed off his sanctuary from the complex of chambers and special cells for sacrificial victims which honeycombed the area behind the temple proper. Normally there would have been a half-dozen lesser clerics on hand to bolster defenses, but like Matiseth Chemres, all were dead. Vuhata na Tuphopis had personally slain the other five when he realized they would attack him—for reasons of greed or in obedience to others. Now he was alone, and nothing stood between him and the pursuing wizard-priest of Thoth other than the magickally closed valves.

"May the toad, Shogsoshog, devour you as you pass," the man hissed as he made hasty passes in the air, sprinkled powders upon the stone floor, and then used a reptile-skulled baton to trace a shape there. The malign native deities of

Darfur were intermixed freely with service to Aapep, of course, for such ones of Evil could be invoked to compliment one another. Thus he called upon one now. The twin panels bulged and the groaning came again. Magickal pressure from without was near to sundering the heka which barred them. Vuhata na Tuphopis uttered a word and blew. The colored powders on the floor were whisked up and away, gone. "We will meet again, Inhetep," he said, leaving that whisper lingering in the air so that the ur-kheri-heb would hear it and pause. Then would Snogsos-hog the toad-fiend strike, and perhaps the matter would end in the death of his foe. If not, no matter, for Vuhata would be well away by then. The servant of Aapep whirled, dashed to grab his burdens, and slipped out of the room into the narrow escape route. Even that was a maze, so that a close pursuer would blindly seek while the one familiar with the path could travel freely to safety. In seconds, Tuphopis was gone.

The crash of the falling sanctum doors actually masked the rasping and snickering closure sounds of the pivoting stone which the evil kheri-heb shut behind him in his escape. Because the magister hadn't his ankh, he had no option but to move ahead boldly, for there was no fast means to discover traps his foe might have placed in the short corridor. However, the two doors had fallen inside, and their panels provided him with some safety. No pit, at least, could claim him. Inhetep stepped lightly onto one of the doors and bounded ahead to cover the ten feet in two strides. The toad-fiend materialized, splintering the thick wood as if it sought to swallow the man alive, but it was a fraction too late.

With a quick motion, the priest-wizard summoned a creature inimical to Shogsoshog, a cranelike being from Thoth's own realms. The great bird appeared instantly and struck at the fiend while Inhetep moved on further into the depths of the oval chamber, keeping clear of the combat. The long bill of the crane struck and stabbed, wounding the toad-fiend severely, but there was no hope in the contest, for Shogsoshog was an entity of great power, a demigod in its own right. The bird-being hurt it, but Shogsoshog shrugged off the punishment and hopped over to finish the battle. It croaked horribly as the bill pierced it in its soft belly, then came down to crush the crane, sending venom into the bird-creature's body with the many poisonous fangs in its mouth. The struggle ended then, and Shogsoshog devoured its foe with a single gulp.

By then Magister Inhetep had discovered that the place was devoid of the one who had fled to it. He turned back and prepared to fight the fiend. Shogsoshog grinned, for he knew the priest-wizard was lacking in reserves of heka. No protective aura shone forth. "Your spirit and soul," it croaked eerily, "will be tasty morsels to satisfy me."

At that moment, Chief Tuhorus came around the corner. He was nearly recovered by now, and his sword was ready. He used both hands to wield the leaf-shaped length of weapon, slicing the toad-fiend's spine from mid-back to the dorsal ending of its body. "Back to your nether pits!" he cried as he struck.

"Amazing!" his comrade said a second later as he stared at the empty place where Shogsoshog had squatted just before. "You sent it down to its own foul realm," Inhetep said as he looked at the policeman with new respect.

"The sword, Magister, the sword," Tuhorus barked as he hurried to where the ur-kheri-heb stood. "The weapon had greater heka bound in its metal than I imagined."

"Lucky for both of us, I think. We'll have to examine it later. Right now we must discover the means of egress the Darfurian used to escape us."

"You're certain of that?"

"Oh, yes. He's none other than Vuhata na Tuphopis, the vilest servant of the serpent-drake in all Darfur—and that's saying a lot, Tuhorus."

"I referred to his whereabouts."

"He was here right enough. He used a casting to hold fast the doors, then escaped by means of a concealed exit. Observe the scattered treasures and mound of abandoned loot. The fool gives away the location of the secret passage," the magister said as he strode to the place where the riches were spilled. "This bit of curving wall is closest to the only cleared space at this end of the chamber. He might as well have left the way open."

Tuhorus moved to assist the magister in his search for the triggering mechanism to the stone panel which hid a passageway. "This hole is where the catch must be," he cried.

Inhetep used his dagger and there was a metallic click. He shoved, and the seemingly solid rock moved to reveal a two-foot-wide opening. They entered immediately, the magister leading. "Use your moondisc, Chief Inspector. Well need that light." Tuhorus complied, and the two men began to explore the short series of dead-end adits which were the protective feature of the escape maze.

"Another secret doorway, Magister?"

"No, I doubt that very much. Anyone fleeing would not want to have to risk operating another—too complex and time consuming. The builders hoped to make pursuers stop and consider that, though. Ignore these blind alleys and look for a plain route." After several false turns, they discovered the true passage and followed it at a trot.

"Something ahead," Tuhorus panted. "A discarded bundle?"

"Not quite, Inspector," breathed Inhetep. He approached the object. "We have the kheri-heb of Aapep, Vuhat na Tuphopis .. . dead!"

—= 16 ——

UNMASKING THE
EVIL

The dead man stared at them with eyes which had seen hell. "By all the gods, Inhetep! He looks just as did the governor and Matiseth Chemres!"

"Indeed, Tuhorus. That should tell you something—it does me. Have a look ahead. Is there anything there?"

The policeman stepped over the body and went a few score paces off along the underground route which Tuphopis had thought would lead to his freedom, not sudden death. "This tunnel had a subtle curvature to it, Magister," he called back. "I think its builders made it so in order to keep the pursued out of view of the pursuers, eh?"