Page 44 of Her Dark Powers
The force had knocked me backwards, and I stumbled down the steps, fighting for balance. I hit the ground at the bottom and rolled across the hard earth, the motion of my body stopped only by me crashing into the side of the barge. Ancient or not, it was still solid wood and hard as hell. I looked up to Zayn who had reached the barge at the other end and leapt up onto the top of it, scrabbling to get purchase as he heaved himself over the bow and dropped down next to Jasper.
“Wesley! Get out of the way!” I looked over to the right to see Jack waving frantically at me. Turning slowly towards the gates, I stared in horror at the seven gods moving towards me with glazed eyes and blank expressions, their hands reaching out. A large stone sarcophagus floated between them. It was unmarked, but I’d have bet anything it held the body of Ptah. They were moving towards me down the steps, but I knew it wasn’t me they were after. I banged on the sides of the barge.
“Zayn! Get out of there!” I turned around and watched as the bodies that littered the valley began to glow with a green light similar to that which swirled within the Abydos gates. Ghostly apparitions rose from each body, and all began to drift towards the boat. A hand caught hold of my arm and dragged me out of the path, pulling me to the valley side.
“What’s happening?” Jack demanded, his eyes glinting green.
I pointed at Coulton, who had stepped out from his hiding place beside the gates. “The ritual. I told Jasper to stop the priests, but he killed them.”
“Didn’t that stop it?” Jack asked in confusion.
I shook my head. “No, it’s a death ritual, Jack. To open the gates of Abydos and to pass into the underworld, you have to summon the ferryman to steer the barge. The only way he can be summoned is by the souls of the dead entering into Amenti. Jasper didn’t stop the ritual, he completed it. I think that was Coulton’s plan all along. It was a trap, and we walked right into it. That’s why they didn’t defend themselves. The Golden Dawn priests weren’t ever going to find out their leader was a conman. They weren’t players, they were the sacrifice.”
Jack’s mouth fell open as he stared out over the valley, watching the drift of souls as they boarded the barge at one end where a ghostly ramp formed. The gods filed up one by one, stepping onto the deck and turning to face the imposing gateway.
“So we can’t stop them from entering the underworld?” he asked, looking down at me. “We failed.”
“We haven’t failed. We can’t stop them from entering now, but we could still... They’ll still have to reach Apophis on the other side. They could still be delayed, but Jack, if we go into the underworld as living souls, I don’t know what will happen.”
“What do you mean?”
“I don’t know if we’ll come back.”
Jack looked back over at the barge. The gods guided the floating sarcophagus up the ramp, and I watched as the barge shifted under the weight of the stone as it sank down onto the deck with a grinding noise. Jack shook his head. “Coulton is risking it. I’d say our chances are good. He won’t want to die.”
“He’s counting on Apophis’s power to sustain him. We’d have to count on Tory, and she hasn’t regained all her power yet.”
Jack sighed. “I guess it’s just a matter of faith then.”
I nodded. Coulton was climbing the ramp now, the last of many, and the imposing figure of the ferryman formed a rod out of thin air and began to pole the barge towards the gates, moving it over the ground as smoothly as if it were water. Ripples appeared in the fabric of time and space, flowing around the boat in a myriad of colours like a graceful, muted rainbow, and I inhaled in awe.
“The river of the dead,” I murmured.
Jack put his hand on my shoulder. “If we go, we have to go now. Zayn and Jasper are already on the barge.”
I nodded. “Then let’s go.”
“No,” Jack said. “I’m sorry, Wesley, but you need to stay here. If Tory can’t wake the Ennead, she might need another way to get into the underworld, and you’re her best chance.”
I looked at him in horror as what he was saying sank in. “Me? Oh, Jack, I don’t...”
He smiled warmly at me. “If anyone can figure this out, Wes, it’s you. This is your moment. Your goddess needs you to serve, so you serve her in the best way you can, and for you, that’s with that incredible mind of yours.”
I pulled in a shaky breath and nodded. I reached out and laid my hand on his shoulder with a confidence I didn’t feel, mirroring him. “Take care of yourself and the others. Hold Coulton off as long as you can. We’ll come for you. Somehow, we’ll find a way.”
Jack nodded, then his skin rippled under my hand as he shifted. He roared loudly and took off, racing past me and up the steps. With one great leap, he flew through the air and landed on the barge just as the prow touched the vortex. A dark shape swooped past me, and I saw a great bird land on the deck next to the oblivious form of Hathor. Teddy had made his choice. He was going with his goddess, even to the land of the dead. The barge slipped slowly past the pillars and disappeared into the green light. The light swirled fiercely and then dimmed. It faded away, leaving me alone in a dark valley surrounded by bodies with nothing to do except worry and wait for my goddess.
Chapter twenty
TORY
Igazedacrosstheempty space that lay in front of us. The orange glow of streetlights showed highlights and deep shadows where the bones of walls had been excavated, most only a couple of feet or so. The modern buildings of Suq el-Khamis loomed around us. Some windows still shone out into the darkness, but at this hour, most were dark as Cairo dreamed, blissfully unaware of the threat that hung over the land of Khemet. I blinked. Khemet? Egypt. Khemet was its ancient name, but it resounded in my mind with a comforting familiarity that I had felt since my feet had hit the tarmac this afternoon.
I was home. My body sensed it, my mind knew it, and oh how my heart had craved it. It wasn’t the only thing my heart craved. I turned to see Austin’s solid form standing to my right, his expression serious as he scanned the ground with the torch.
“You’re sure Horus said it was here?”
I nodded. “He said the excavation lay over the western gate into the main temple of Ra, which is where we are standing now. Most of the original city is buried twenty feet under the suburbs. They can only excavate a small part of it. There’s also a huge necropolis in that direction, but Neith was sure the temple would be the most likely place to start searching.”