Somewhere in Egypt
an excerpt

Chapter 1

Iaru, Egypt

Rand opened his eyes. Nothing. He blinked and tried to find something to look at. It was completely dark. Was he blind? He clenched his hands and ended up with handfuls of sand. His body ached, and his head throbbed. Where was he? He couldn’t quite remember what had happened to him. He knew who he was, he knew that he was supposed to be in Egypt on an archeological dig, but he couldn’t remember what had happened to get him in a completely dark, sandy place. His tent usually had some light from campfires and lanterns of people moving around, even in the darkest night. And the moon had been full just two days ago. He tried to sit up and, halfway there, he banged his head against what felt like rock. He moaned and lay back down again. He reached up and felt solid rock. A swell of panic burst in his chest. Had he been buried alive? He’d heard that happened sometimes. He stretched his hands as far as he could to the right and left. No barriers. Certainly a coffin would be narrower than that. And there wouldn’t be sand on the floor of it, would there? And it probably wouldn’t be made of rock. Where was he? He tried to think rationally.

“Ned?” he called softly. His voice coming out as a hoarse croak. He clutched his throat. That hurt too. Ned was his colleague from Oxford. They were on the dig together on a grant from the University. Complete silence followed his plea. There was a slight echo, indicating that the place he was in was cavernous. That gave him hope. He reached his hands above his head, and there was a wall there too, so he decided to head the other way. He carefully scooted his body down, feeling with his feet for any barriers. He did this for what seemed like hours, periodically reaching up to check for the stone ceiling he hit earlier, before he couldn’t go any more. Finally, he raised his hands again to see if there was still a barrier. There wasn’t. He sat up more carefully this time, feeling around for anything in his way. There was nothing. He had trouble getting to his knees without anything to hold on to. Funny, he thought, now that he wasn’t feeling claustrophobic, he could really use a wall. His head swam as he struggled to his feet, and he felt the panic resurface as he lost his grip on consciousness and sank back down to the floor.

Iaru, Egypt

“SILENCE!” bellowed a winged figure from the back of the room. The formerly raucous room grew quiet. All eyes turned to look at the imposing figure stalking his way toward the front of the stone chamber lit with torches on the walls. “Do you not see that we are to be in complete agreement here? This will not work unless we have cooperation among all of us. From Horus to Ra to Isis. We must all agree or we might as well send him back.” There were some nods and some hostile glares around the room, but there was silence. “How are we to resolve it, then?” asked a similarly winged creature from the floor. “And for the good of all, not just the Horus?” “And what exactly is the good of all?” yelled a creature with the head of a dog. There were barks of laughter nearby.

“Clearly we should not have brought him through yet.” The winged creature shook his head. “I don’t know what we were thinking.”

“We had no choice, Antwyn” said a gentle voice from a gigantic pedestal at the front of the room. “He would have been killed had he stayed where he was. The human battles were beginning, and his fate was death. He had to come through to help save what we still have and bring hope for the future. He was the only one capable of this in the right place at the right time. We all know what has to be done, and we all know the ramifications if it is not done.” Here, he pointed toward the back wall with his staff. “Ruination. The death of our world as we know it, at least what’s left of it. We must all band together. The world above will not change if nothing is done, but our world will cease to exist, and this means all of us. If you are with us, you must cooperate. If you are not with us, you will consign us all to perish. Would any of us have that?” There were a lot of heads shaking back and forth. Heads that looked like falcons, heads that looked like dogs, heads that looked like rams, and even heads that looked like humans.

A tiny crab-like creature scuttled down the middle of the room, chattering so that creatures moved aside to let him pass. He scuttled onto the pedestal and chattered in the ear of the creature upon it. This creature had the body of a lion and the head of a human. After listening to the smaller creature, he nodded his head, looking solemn. He stood up. “The time has come to decide,” he said. “He has woken. He tried to get up and has lost consciousness again, but it will not be for long. We cannot leave him inside the pyramid for much longer. As it is, the ravages of travel across the time barrier have taken their toll. He will need to be in contact with other humans who can take care of him if he is not to fulfill the destiny that was decided for him in his own world.” The human-headed lion lifted the staff high. “All who agree with moving forward with the plan as it is, with complete cooperation among us, say ‘aye.’” A deafening chorus of ‘ayes’ filled the room. To anyone watching, the entire room was in agreement. Antwyn, from his vantage point behind the throne, however, saw a shadow slip out the door at the back just before the lion said, “All who would abandon the plan now or change it, speak now.” There was silence. Antwyn breathed deeply and made his way to the back of the crowd before they were dismissed. He slipped out the door and moved along the passageway leading to the royal inner sanctum. The corridors were deserted. All inhabitants of the castle, as well as the minor rulers within the kingdom were in the chamber he had just left. If he was right, there was an important one missing. Not important enough to be missed, but missing nonetheless. Antwyn made his way swiftly through three entrances that were usually guarded before he stopped at a chamber door and knocked. There was no sound within. He pushed on the door. It did not budge. He waved his hand and said, “[some magical word].” The door swung open, and he surveyed an empty chamber.

“If you were not here, the door would not have resisted my attempts to open it,” he called.

Silence.

“I saw you, even if nobody else did. You can come out now.” He waited patiently.

“You will have to talk to me later, even if you do not now,” he said and swept out of the room, leaving the door open behind him. He walked swiftly toward the end of the first corridor and hid out of sight behind a pillar. After a few minutes, he heard the chamber door shut—hard. He grimaced and continued back toward the meeting chamber.

The chamber was nearly empty now, and he walked swiftly toward the front. “Antwyn,” said the lion, “I was wondering where you were. We are ready for The One to be brought to us.”

“I apologize, your Highness, I was finalizing some other details. I am ready now to act on your behalf.”

“Good. Good. Well, do as we discussed and, when you are done, bring him here to me.”

Antwyn bowed and said, “Certainly.” He turned and walked toward the back of the room. He turned back around at the doors and said, “Highness, it will take some time. You should have food brought and take your ease until we arrive. I will send word as we get closer.” The lion nodded. “Aye, Antwyn, I shall do so. Thank you.” Antwyn started to back, bowing, but the lion raised his arm to stop him. “Antwyn, you neither need to bow to me nor call me ‘highness.’ We are alone here, and more importantly, you are my friend—and even a cousin, if you want to look at it that way. Horamkhet is sufficient.” He smiled. “Now I will release you to your duties, but remember that they are not duties to me, they are duties to our entire existence. And you are best suited to perform them.”