Chapter Six
Early in the morning, Dr. Landers returned to Amanda's tent with food, purified water, and a cup of hot, dark coffee, carried on a tray. She lay on the cot, her long legs curled up to her chest, her eyes closed, sleeping. William set the tray down on a table, not waking his beautiful captive, and went about changing out of his robes into khaki slack's, clean socks, and a white shirt. When he turned back around, buttoning up his shirt, he found Amanda watching him.
"Get up. You have work to do." Pointing out the tray, Landers commenced to tuck in his shirt, thinking nothing of it, as though he'd done so in front of her for years. "Any visions last night, my dear?"
"Only nightmares," she replied, swinging her legs off of the cot. Her wrists and arms were stiff. "I heard strange sounds all night. I thought you might come back."
"You had a guard posted outside your tent," said Landers, coming over to untie her hands. She immediate went for the water. He located her backpack and set it on the floor beside her. "Change into something else. I'll give you a view minutes. Then I expect you to take me to the Orb. Maxwell is waiting."
The moment he walked out of the tent, Amanda sat down but the sight of the food and beverages made her think of poison, and she pushed it away. She washed her face, neck and hands in a bowl provided on a small upright table, set with a bowl and pitcher of water. She pulled out her clean clothes, but thought nothing of changing into them when she came upon a pocket knife at the bottom of her backpack.
"Thank you, Osiris, for providing me with a weapon. If you are listening, I can use all the help you can muster in the dark and dismal place. Oh why do I get myself into this predicaments. I knew William was trouble the moment I laid eyes on him. This is all my Aunt Evelyn's fault for telling me all those stories about Imhotep, and Alex's for not taking me away with him when he had the chance. If I am so important to Landers, and to Imhotep, I want to know why. I deserve to know the truth, I certainly won't be getting paid for any of this, that's for certain."
She slipped the knife into her pocket, ran her fingers through her short golden hair, dabbed on a bit of sun lotion, and sticking a floppy hat on, she hurried out of the tent. An escort of two guards took her over to where Landers and Maxwell waited on the outskirts of camp where the path led into the jungle. A number of guards stood about the tents, feeding the camels and smoking beside the dying embers of the morning fire. Upon seeing Amanda, the members of the Cult of Anubis rose to their feet, gathering around. Red robes and black faces loomed before Amanda, their grim visages making it clear that she was an inch from death.
"Good morning," said Amanda, walking briskly past Landers and Maxwell, not bothering to wait for either. She headed down the path for the temple. It was with relief that she heard quick footsteps coming up behind her. She smelled Landers' cologne long before he put his hand around her elbow, slowing her down to walk alongside her.
"You not should take off without protection. Not in this place. It isn't safe."
Amanda shrugged him off. "Was the coffee safe or did you poison it along with the food?"
"Not at all. I need you clear headed."
"I don't care if you did. I didn't drink it or eat anything you gave me."
"That wasn't smart. You can't afford to become dehydrated out here. You know better. Your no novice. Stop acting like one."
"Don't lecture me," snapped Amanda. "I don't work for you anymore, Dr. Landers, ex-director of the Smithsonian Institute."
"This isn't a job you can quit, my dear. In anticipation of your unwillingness to cooperate, we are going to have a little ceremony. I know you are thinking, it's broad daylight. But I assure you, it really isn't necessary in this unholy place. Since you had no vision last night, Maxwell is going to see if you can help you in that regard. We are going back to the alter to resurrect your Ka, the Ka of Calista, the slave girl." Landers yanked on her arm to keep her fun bolting off. "Don't worry, love, I'll be with you."
The path ended at the crumbled walls of the temple. Amanda gasped to see two lines of men in red cloaks fanned out on either side of the altar. She smelled incense mingled with the stench of a burning goat splayed open and left to grow crisp in a large golden tray. She expected a similar fate awaited for her.
The steps up to the altar were made on wooden legs. She expected at any moment that cult would seek revenge for the deaths of their fellow members, from the day before, yet no one said anything, leaving her wondering if the bodies had been found. She held back instinctively.
"Come on, Professor Shaw. We have work to do."
Landers anticipated her reluctance to comply and grabbed her by the arm, pulling her up the steps to the altar, then grabbed her shoulders and shook her hard. Her hat fell off, caught by the wind and sailed off into the air, disappearing in the thick brush. She closed her eyes and relaxed in his grip, sinking to her knees as he unexpectedly released her and hitting the back of her head against the altar. She stayed down and pretended to me unconscious, groaning softly when someone picked her up and placed her onto the altar.
"What happened?" asked Maxwell, sounding breathless.
"She fell and struck her head," said Landers. He placed his hand on Amanda's forehead. She remained very still. "She feels hot to the touch."
"Wake her up! I am ready to begin the ceremony!"
"Wait! Wait," Landers said, as he stroked her forehead. "This might be what we've been waiting for. The visions strike without warning. Give her a moment, Maxwell, before you start your incantation." He bent over Amanda, his breath touching her face, warm and smelling of cigar smoke. "Calista, can you here me? Tell us where to find the Orb."
Amanda groaned. She moved ever so slightly, then bolted straight up into a siting position, her arms clasped around her knees, staring awe-struck at the corridor leading below ground. She felt Landers touch her shoulder and pressed her cheek against his hand. Maxwell noticed the exchange and bristled with fury.
"Well? What did you see? Anything or is this a game, Professor Shaw?" Maxwell stepped forward, dressed in his priestly robes, his head completely shaven. At the sound of his raised voice, within the tree line came a rustling sound as though something dark and alien was stirring to life. He caught Amanda by the throat and squeezed. "Tell me what you saw!"
Landers jerked Maxwell's hand away. "Leave her be. She's no used to us dead." He turned back around and smoothed the hair out of Amanda's eyes and smiled. "Did you find it? Is it nearby? Tell us. Where is the Orb of Osiris?"
Amanda pointed toward the passage. "Down...down there."
"What is wrong?" Maxwell demanded to know. With a snap of his fingers, the guards started down the corridor, ahead of the archeologists.
"The Orb is guarded," said Amanda. She clung to Landers, holding onto the front of his shirt. "Please, don't make me go down there. I can't go there. It's...it's where I died before."
"I'm sorry. I have no other choice. You will take us to the Orb, Amanda, and then I will let you go free."
Maxwell glanced at Landers, but his employer waved him silent. He helped Amanda down from the altar, keeping his hand on her shoulder and walked with her down the corridor, to the dark entrance where she stopped to put on an act of absolute terror. She soon found herself in the strong arms of Landers as he paused to soothe and calm her. She let him hold her against his chest, feeling his heart beating rapidly beneath his rib cage, but as Maxwell proceeded them with the rest of his men into the chamber beyond and Landers started to follow, she held him back.
"You really will let me go?" Amanda asked, stalling for time. She had no idea what was in the chamber beyond, at least that was still living, and considering that in a past life she'd been buried inside the chamber, she had no wish to return. She fully expected to hear screams, but the excited shout of triumph that followed next, caught her by surprised.
Professor Maxwell came rushing out, holding the tattered garments of one of his former men. He held it up to Landers and next shoved it into Amanda's tan face. "Well, do you see this? Torn to shreds, that's what became of my missing me, why, there's nothing left of them but a few rags."
"You did this," said Amanda. "You summoned Anubis. I won't go in there. I don't care if the Orb is in there or not."
"Oh, you're going," Maxwell snarled. He drew a gun and pointed it straight at her stomach. "Do I make myself clear?"
Amanda pulled away from Landers. "Have it your way." She stomped off, leaving Maxwell and Landers to catch up with her, but as she started down the steps that led into the cool, dark chamber, she found her feet turned wooden and it was difficult to move with each step. Landers soon ended her problem and wrapped one arm around her waist, prompting her to move faster, and together, they walked down the stairs and entered the enormous vaulted chamber. The Cult of Anubis had lit torches and stood with their backs together in the center of the room, facing the walls where the sounds of something alive rustled loudly.
"Well?" Maxwell shouted. He pushed Amanda forward, despite the warning look from Dr. William Landers. "Where is it?"
Amanda pointed at the clay pot which hid the hole in the wall. At Maxwell's signal, several of his men broke from the circle and hesitantly approached the pot. While one man pulled it back, the other two knelt down and peered at the small black hole. She shrugged when Maxwell and Landers glanced at her, expecting further details, and merely pointed at the wall.
"Reach inside," ordered Maxwell.
One of the men did as ordered, but as he reached within, a strange look appeared on his face, then he started to scream. His companion pulled him back and shouted himself, for the entire arm of the first guard was ripped off at the shoulder bone. One man broke from the circle and started for the stairs. Maxwell aimed his gun and shot his own man.
"No one leaves." Maxwell waved his gun at Amanda. "You go fetch the Orb, if it's really in there, while I am beginning to suspect it is not." He aimed the gun at her face. "Go on.
Amanda held back and looked to Landers for help. He shook his head. He would not help her. With a heavy sigh, Amanda pushed the hair back from her forehead, then marched forward, the echoes of the man's screams still filling the chamber. She ignored the sound and knelt before the hole, knowing that whatever guarded the temple was hiding inside. She closed her eyes and touched the ankh hanging above her neck.
Suddenly, Amanda saw herself in another time but the same place, for the temple around her was bedecked it all its former splendor when Osiris reigned supreme over his own sanctuary. She saw herself dressed as a slave, holding the Orb in her hands, while running down the steps, pursued by none other than Imhotep, a knife in his hand. The slave turned, a hand to her mouth, trembling from head to foot as the high priest approached her and grabbed her around the back of the neck.
"What are you waiting for?" Maxwell shouted loudly, breaking Amanda's concentration. The vision faded. She turned back and glared at Maxwell. He pointed the gun at her.
"Perhaps she had another vision," Landers suggested.
"I don't care if she saw Osiris himself, she'll reach in there and pull out the Orb or I'll kill her."
Amanda held her breath and stuck in her hand. She reached about in the darkness, feeling for the cloth wrapped around the Orb, and felt some furry brush across her hand. She yanked it back with a strangled cry and prepared to withdraw, but Maxwell appeared at her side, prepared to use his gun. She bit her bottom lip to keep it from trembling and reached back inside the hole. The Orb was pushed toward her, she was certain of it, and as her fingers curled around it and she began to pull it out, she again felt something furry brush across her skin. She jerked the Orb out, picking it up with both hands and walked over to hand it into the outstretched arms of Landers.
"You found it," he said, certain he was dreaming. "This is what I've been looking for my whole life. You have made this possible, Amanda. How can I ever repay you?"
"Let me go."
"No," snapped Maxwell. "You die tonight, in the ceremony. With or without the Orb, Anubis requires a sacrifice. I will perform no ceremony that involves Osiris."
Lander held the Orb as though he carried a small child and simply walked up the stairs without comment. He paused at the top and glanced back over his shoulder. "Coming Amanda?"
"Well, I'm not staying here with this lunatic!"
There was no waiting by Landers and she caught up with him as he existed the temple and started down the path to camp. But as she fell into step beside him, her vision grew fuzzy and she came to a stop, as the scene before her changed to a manicured garden set beside a magnificent temple, still in construction. She veered off the path, unaware of danger, and took a new forged path through the vegetation which ended at a beautiful pod, that was fed off from the nearby Nile. She came out onto a platform of stone, with four statues guarding each corner of Osiris with the heads of a hawk, sparrow, crocodile, and mummy.
Amanda held up her arms, weighted down by golden armbands and a neck band and a necklace holding the ankh. She felt an odd sense of peace as she gazed at the Temple over the water, something she'd done countless times, and as she'd done in the past, she began to remove her clothes, dropping them in a pile at her feet and dove into the water.
The pool was covered with inlaid piled painted blue and gold, with a painting of the eye of Horus, the son of Osiris, known as the Wadjet Eye, a sign to ward off evil. She swam beneath the water, gazing at the tiled, then set her feet to the hard surface and shot upwards, springing out of the water like a fish and rolled over onto her back, swimming gracefully through lily pads. A flock of flamingo flew overhead and vanished over the Temple of Osiris, followed by several white crane which seemed to be driving them toward the Nile. A good omen, she thought.
"How is the water?" Came the booming voice of Imhotep across the water. She looked up to see the high priest, dressed only into a white loin cloth and armbands, standing on the platform, gazing out at his magnificent temple.
"Master, join me," Amanda heard herself say, in a voice with a strange accent, she assumed was Germanic. She waved up at Imhotep and swam over to the platform to touch his sandaled feet as she pulled herself half way out of the water. She leaned down at kissed one foot and then the other.
"What are you doing, my little golden fish?" He asked, kneeling down to admire her long, lean body and shapely bare buttocks floating above the water in the gleaming sunlight.
"Join me," she said. "It is a beautiful day."
Imhotep reluctantly dragged his eyes away from the Orb, only to find himself staring at another distracting and beautiful object. The woman was desirable. He glanced back at the Orb, not wanting to release anything so valuable and risk losing it, yet, as he turned back to the woman swimming in the pool, other urges prompted him to obey his body and not his mind. He stepped out to the edge with the Orb hanging at his side.
"There might be an croc or two in there already. You look very appetizing. Let me make the waters safe for you." He held up the Orb and spread his hand across the water, reciting a silent incantation, but his mood soon turned serious and he again stared at the artifact, as if anticipating a spectacle of its magical powers.
"Join me, Master. I won't bite."
Treading water, she splashed up at Imhotep, though somewhere inside she knew it was Landers and not the high priest who was standing there. Yet, in the strange and enchanting surroundings, brought on by a new vision, it was hard to remain rational and see things as they really were, so hoping to find answers from the past, she let it play out.
She swam across the pool on her back, keeping her eye on Imhotep, admiring his trim, muscular figure and smooth skin as he striped off his clothes, placing the Orb on top, before diving into the water. He arose at the surface and slowly swam toward her, keeping his head close to the water. She paddled slowly backwards, treading water, smiling when he came up beside her and shook the water from his bald hair, laughing softly as he slid his hand across her bare shoulders.
"Calista," he said, letting it come out a whisper. "It is you. This is a miracle." He touched her face. She buried her face in his hand, kissing the palm, then disappeared beneath the water.
She swam a distance away, narrowing her eyes to see better under water, moving through the reeds, gliding through the water smoothly with smooth strokes. He joined her beneath the water, his manhood bobbing, as he trailed after her around the pool. She halted at the edge of the pool and let her toes rest upon the tiles, standing up in mid-waist water, her breasts exposed to the warm sunlight, beckoning with her hand for him to join her. He waded through the reeds toward her, and she closed her eyes, waiting for the embrace she knew would follow. Soon, she felt strong arms close around her and lifted her lips for a kiss, only to find her chin caught in a firm hand.
"Open your eyes!"
Amanda did as ordered and suddenly snapped out of her vision, seeing not Imhotep, but William Landers. His brown eyes were filled with deep-seated mistrust and doubt. She missed the warmth she'd seen in them before, but knew this man was nothing at all of his former self. Amanda could not contain her disappointment or frustration, finding herself in the ruins of the former glorious pool. She tried again to capture the spell and placed her hands on his strong shoulders, but he remained Landers and the scene did not change, but her expression did as she frowned and pushed him back with all her might.
"You have changed your mind quickly enough. Why the get me in here if you didn't intend to go through with it? I have work to do before I will be ready to perform the ritual. Notes to read. Details to check. I had hoped you would assist me. You've done nothing but waste my time."
He swam to the side, crawled out and shook himself. His nude body was glorious in the sunlight. But she was no longer impressed. She quickly got of the water, smelling its stagnant odor on her body, and dried off with her shirt.
"I had another vision. I saw the sacred pool as it used to be. I thought you were...well, that's impossible, isn't it? You are not Imhotep and I am not Calista, his slave girl. Whatever I was meant to gain from the vision remains a mystery. Perhaps you will learn what Calista wanted to tell me when you perform your little sacrifice tonight. But if it doesn't work, then we'll both be dead and none of this will matter."
"When I release Imhotep's Ka, then woman, you will belong to him completely. Mind, body, and soul. And when through with you, Imhotep will slay you as he slew Calista. It is her innocent blood that has safeguarded the Orb of Osiris from discovery in the past, and as her reincarnation, only you could find it for me. Perhaps Imhotep will spare you tonight."
"I'm not sticking around for the big show. I'm leaving."
Amanda put on her clothes. Landers picked up the Orb.
"Guards! Come quickly!"
He picked up his clothes as the Frenchman, fat Egyptian and American mercenaries appeared, with a half dozen cloaked Anubis followers. With a calculated glance at Amanda, Landers started back for the camp. The Frenchman grabbed her by the arm, propelling her after Landers, causing her to stumble and nearly fall.
"We haven't been properly introduced. I'm Jacques. The American is John Taylor, and that fat pig, he, is Abu." The Frenchman took her hand, kissing her knuckles. "And may I say, you look absolutely exquisite in a wet blouse." She jerked her hand away and wiped the back of it against her slacks.
"No, you may not!"
Amanda stomped in boots squishing with water from wet socks after Landers, slapping away palm leaves and glaring at any man who looked her way. With either hand held out to her side, she pushed the American and his fat swarthy companion out of the way, making a path for herself. She soon fell into step behind Landers, plodding along, kicking stones, until she became aware that hundreds of eyes were peering out of the dense foliage.
"Wait up," Amanda called out to Landers. She brushed up against him, nodded, then started to run.
"Sorry. I suddenly feel the urge for a little exercise."
"What is wrong with you, Shaw? Is this yet another one of your visions being played out for my entertainment?"
Amanda took one look over her shoulder at Landers and cursed loudly upon seeing a scattered group of black figures moving on all fours, giving hot pursuit. The guards screaming filled the air as they were attacked. Those who managed to run were tracked by the speedy offspring of Anubis, while a few were dragged off the path, paused to give battle or were simply swarmed.
Several creatures caught up with Amanda, keeping pacing, hideous things that resembled jackals in an advanced state of decomposition, wearing spiked collars, with long, bandy legs. She screamed as one came rushing out of the grass across her, but kept going and charged straight into camp, bringing havoc with her. The creatures rushed into the camp, took one look at Professor Maxwell in his robes of Anubis, carrying a tall staff with the head of a jackal, who walked out into their midst, his arms raised, his black cloak dragging behind him in the sand and came to sudden halt. He shouted several words in ancient Egyptian and clapped his hands loudly. The hideous creatures screeched and bowed low, backing out of the camp, disappearing one by one into the green jungle.