Chapter Seven
William Landers rushed into camp, leading a handful of guards, breathless and distraught, his clothes lost behind him on the trail, yet he still held onto the prized Orb of Osiris. Finding his composure, he lifted his head a notch as he walked over to calmly serene Gregory Maxwell. Landers stopped infront of the young man, his appreciation of his assistant's use of magic evident on his face. Landers stared almost lovingly down at the Orb, his eyes sweeping toward Maxwell as an errant thought went through his mind.
"The camp is secure from those....those things you caused to be unleased upon us? I was nearly killed."
"That would have been a tragedy," replied Maxwell, a sly look on his face. His grey eyes conveyed no heart-felt sentiment for his colleague. "I assure you, within the boundaries of this camp, you are quite safe, Dr. Landers. But I would not suggest venturing back to the sacred pool for another liason with Professor Shaw. It wouldn't be prudent. In fact, it could prove fatal."
"I get your point."
"Very well then. You have been warned. I take it then that you will not be needing the services of Professor Shaw any more?" Maxwell glanced at Shaw and pressed his hands together, eager to have her. "It is a shame. She is so young and attractive."
Landers angrily gestured toward the woman. "I have no further use for her. Do what you want with her, Maxwell. I have other matters to attend to." He hugged the Orb close. "I have what I want." He walked off toward his tent.
"With pleasure," said Maxwell, eyeing Amanda intently. "I am looking forward for tonight's ceremony. Of course you must be properly dressed and annointed." He gestured at the guards. "Take her away!"
The men glanced at one another, confused, uncertain they wanted to leave the sorcerer's side, as calls from the jungle made it clear they were not forgotten. Aware of the guards momentary hesitancy to obey, Amanda twisted out of her captors grasp and rushed over to a stack of rifles. She was tackled from behind within inches of reaching a loaded weapon and dragged back by her heels, screaming, to the campfire. Maxwell walked over to where she lay on the group and motioned for her to be brought up to her feet. Once she was standing before him, he slapped her in the face. Her head flopped to the side, but with a shake of her hair, she returned to face Maxwell, her expression defiant.
"You are nothing but a coward, Gregory. When Alex gets through with you, you'll be sorry you ever heard my name."
Maxwell leered at her. "You mean the name of Calista? I hardly think so. You see, Calista is the key to all of this, not the Orb. After you're dead, this will all be made much clearer to you." He snapped his fingers. "Guards! Didn't you hear me? I said take her to my tent and tie the bitch up."
Amanda was held by several men. As she was dragged off, fighting all the way, she shouted. "You won't get away with this!"
"What do you mean? I already have."
Turning his back on Amanda, Maxwell walked off. She dug her heels into the sand, forcing the guards to argue amongst each other as they tried to decide how best to handle her. Finally, the frustrated men lifted her up by her arms and legs and carried her inside of the nearest tent. Tossing her to the floor, she was quickly bound and gagged and left on the floor. One man remained behind to guard her, while the others slipped out of the tent, glad to be free of the difficult prisoner.
"What is she doing here?" Asked Landers, from where he sat on the cot, drying off with a towel. He glared at the mercinary. "I told Maxwell that I wanted nothing further to do with this woman. Call your men back and take her to Maxwell's tent."
The guard did not comprehend England or Lander's orders and looked at him in bewilderment. He wiped his hand across his nose, sniffing, obviously eager to leave, shuffled his feet and looked down at the floor. Landers rose from the cot, his temper boiling, and came toward the man, shaking the Orb in his face.
"Oh, get out! I'll watch her!"
The man gratefully fled from the tent. Disgusted, Landers stormed across his tent, walking over Amanda, and set the Orb of Osiris on a large crate. A straight edge blade flashed in his hand from the partial sunlight coming in from the tent as he commenced to shave off his moustache and the hair on his head.
"Maxwell is very impressive, is he not?" replied Landers, at last. "He has proven to me today that he still retains the knowledge from is former life as a high priest of Anubis. I'm rather surprised that Calista never showed you Maxwell in his previous life, for you see, Amanda, he was known as Senmut, the High Priest of Anubis, and was almost as powerful as Imhotep."
"Senmut? He means nothing to me."
Amanda fussed with the robes tied around her wrists. The knot was far too tight to loosen and the rope too course to try to slip one hand free without ripping off a layer of flesh. She remembered her knife and moved her hands around, pulling it out of her pocket, opened it, and started working on cutting the robes, which proved to be a task difficult to perform quietly.
"You should remember Senmut."
Admiring his cleanly shaven face in the mirror, Landers thought he resembled Imhotep far more without the moustache. He commenced to shave his head. He worked fast, and once satisfied with his gleaming dome, he went to the back of the tent and put on purple and gold robes, trimmed with hawk feathers, and adorned himself with Egyptian jewelry. She thought Landers went too far with the dramatic, instead of trying to dress for accuracy.
"Senmut presented you as a gift to Seti I, who in turn gave you to his daughter, who then offered you to Imhotep. The story is written in the ceremonial chamber where you found the Orb, but obviously, you didn't take the time to read it. You should have studied about ancient Egypt instead of spending all those wasted years in New Mexico with the Hopi Indians."
Amanda rolled her eyes. She considered herself fortunate to have worked in New Mexico and uncovered several pueblos, along with finding the lost treasure of Cortez. Her past life as a shaman remained as one of the happiest in her memories, while the images of Calista both frightened and excited her. Her life as a slave had been short and eventful, she knew that much, but apparently Landers knew far more than she did about her own past life, and this annoyed her more than being his captive.
"So, you knew all along that I was Calista? That's why you selected me out of twelve other archeologists. If there were twelve. I'm sure you didn't waste your time with interviews. How did you figure out I was Calista reincarnated?"
"I saw a photo of you in an article published by The National Geographic, written after you discovered the pueblo near Santa Fe, which matched the face on the walls of the temple. In the article, you talked about your reincarnated live. In particular, you talked about being an innocent slave girl from the mountains of Germany, captured by Phoenician pirates and sold to a caravan carrying spices to Karnak. What you apparently did not know is that Calista was next bought in a slave auction by Senmut, as a gift for the pharaoh, only to be sacrificed by Imhotep on Seti's birthday, which happens to be the Night of Souls. Tonight, in fact."
"You planned to sacrifice me tonight the entire time, yet you led me to believe I might be spared. I hate you!"
Landers looked down at her, his hands on his hips. "Spare me your girlish emotions, Professor. Calista will be restored only to be sacrificed, for a second time. It's rather pathetic, actually, to die the same way twice and never have learned a thing from either lifetime of any real importance. What a failure."
Amanda finally lost control of her fiery temper. "I have a back up plan. Remember? My cousin. When he arrives, you'll be sorry you ever heard of the Night of Souls!" Then more softly, she uttered, "I know I am."
"I have work to do. You'll forgive me if I use this time to formally say good-bye, Amanda. We won't meet again."
Laughing loudly with devilish delight, Landers spun around in his fancy apparel, a mock Imhotep, and smiling, he danced out of the tent, continuing to put on a show for the men outside. She immediately cut through the ropes on her wrists, then slashed those around her ankles. Free to leave, she grabbed a gun and holster filled with pullets, hooked it onto her narrow waist, grabbed a full canteen and a hat, and in the process of cutting an exist out of the canvas, when Professor Maxwell, the Frenchman and five robed guards, came rushing in. Landers swept past them, not interested further in what happened to the woman, leaving the tent.
"What is she doing here? I want her in my tent. Take her out of here!" Maxwell, flushed and angry, gestured at the Frenchman with a jeweled dagger clutched in his hand to prevent Amanda from leaving. "Well? What are you waiting for?"
Grinning, enjoying his work, Jacques grabbed hold of Amanda by either arm, a scuffle ensued, and he soon found himself cut in the arm, looking up at the blonde woman from the ground, his head ringing and his eye starting to close from a well aimed blow. He licked his lips, tasting a sweet revenge, and drawing his knife, he started to rise. A swift kick in the head from Amanda sent the Frenchman back to the ground.
"Enough of this!" Shouted Maxwell.
The guards aimed their rifles at Amanda. She dropped the knife and backed away from the Frenchman, who wiped off blood from the side of his mouth using the bandana around his neck. He rose to his feet, having picked up her knife, and held it to her throat. Maxwell approached. He squinted at Amanda, for without his glasses, he could see only a few feet in front of him.
"I thought you'd like to know that you have one hour to life. Of course, after I restore Calista's Ka to your body and open the hellish gates to the underworld of Duat, and Imhotep is free to be reborn, I will kill him as well."
"You traitor!"
"How true."
"Coward," snarled Amanda.
"Is that the best you can do, my dear?" Asked Maxwell.
"Rank amateur. Neophyte."
"Ouch. Now that hurts."
Maxwell started laughing. It was contagious, for the Frenchman chuckling as loud as possible, encouraged the guards to join in and soon, Amanda was forced to hold her hands over her ears to shut out the noise. With a wave of his hand, Maxwell commanded silence and it was his at once. A rancid smile remained on his narrow face as he craned his neck toward Amanda.
With sinister delight, he hissed, "Sorry to tell you this, sweetie pie. But you cousin, Alex O'Connell, I'm afraid isn't coming after all. There has been a battle. It seems the creatures of Anubis attacked a caravan encamped beside the Nile and slaughtered everyone. Alex is dead."
Maxwell snapped his fingers. A sack tied at the top was brought in by the American mercinary, who in turn, was followed inside by his rotund Egyptian companion. The bag which seemed to contain a heavy roundish object inside, was handed over to Maxwell. He on turn held it up, exposing blood saturated material that still dripped.
"Behold. Alex O'Connell's head. I intend to use his skull for a goblet."
"You lie! May Osiris curse you, for the liar you are!"
Maxwell reached back his arm and slapped her across the mouth. Amanda's head flew to the side. She drew back her fist, but Jacques threw his arms around her waist and squeezed fiercely. Air rushed out of her lungs and she collapsed in his embrace, her arms to her side. The squeezing increased. Maxwell returned to stand before her and smiling, he used the pommel of the dagger like a club and struck her across the forehead.
Everything went dark.
Evening came as the moon began to across over the sun, creating an eclipse and near utter darkness, which Amanda finally awoke to find herself dressed in the whimsical garments of a slave girl, tied to a chair, beside a roaring campfire. Stars twinkled above and through a haze of smoke from the fire, yet Amanda was still able to smell the Frechman's scent on the material, its odor filling her head with horrid images. As her full senses were restored to her, she felt dried blood on the side of her face and became aware of Maxwell pacing before the fire, walking in and out of shadows and light. Around the fire stood his followers, holding torches, and from nearby came the sound of a steady beat on a large wooden drum.
"You know, you are a very clever young lady," said Maxwell, speaking in a voice that suddenly was so thick with a Middle Eastern accent that Amanda could only stare at him as though she were seeing him for the first time. His eyes were outlined in black and his head was completely shaven. He walked over to her. "We are about to begin the ceremony. You had me fooled. I thought you didn't pass out. Jacques bet me five quid that you were faking. He was right. You blacked out. But I let him do the honors and change your clothes."
"I guess that makes you both sick individuals," said Amanda, spitting onto the floor. "And Landers?"
"Praying to Osiris, the great god of the dead. The old faith says that a mortal man might enter heaven, provided he has lived a good and correct life upon earth, and was buried with the appropriate ceremonies under the protection of certain amulets, and with proper recital of certain "divine words" and words of power. I don't think that sounds like Landers, do you? And I don't think the Orb of Osiris is real? Well, of course I know you planted it, my dear. But that little deception doesn't matter, not to me, for I have bigger plans, Professor Shaw. Have you guessed what that is yet?"
"Immortality and world domination?"
"Bullseye," confirmed Maxwell, chuckling.
"But why must you kill William?"
"You know my dear, you care too much for your enemy. You should be worrying about yourself. Tell me, is it Landers' money or his good looks that draws you to him? I suspect it's the later. So typical of you Americans to fall for a pretty face. With all your television and mass produced cars and dish washers and bottled pops, you have grown so accustomed to this automated world that you have forgotten there is a spiritual world beyond waiting to be explored and conquered. Anubis is more powerful than you think, and only those people who belong to an advanced and comparatively high state of mental development are able to call upon his dark powers."
"You're wrong. The Orb of Osiris can stop you. The true Orb has the power to stop Anubis." Amanda started to struggled with her bonds. "If only I could get my hands on it, then I'd end your little trick-or-treat party."
He slapped her. "Don't talk, slave."
"Care to try that again, you worm?"
Maxwell struck her again in the light of the campfire. "I could do this all evening, Professor Shaw. Really, I could. You annoy me more than any woman I've ever met, and I have known many women in many lives. I may yet decide to give you to my men."
Maxwell spread his arms apart and around him walked the greasy Frenchman, his overweight, short Egyptian accomplice, and the American. They fanned out behind Maxwell and snickered at one another, eyeing Amanda in a lewd and lascivious manner, which made her flesh crawl.
"What a shame to waste such a lovely woman," said Jacques, wetting his lips and lowering his hand to his belt. Suddenly, the Frenchman went flying forward and landed on his face in the sane. The Egyptian fat man and his American companion spun around and came up against William Landers, looking impressive and powerful in his robe of feathers. He used the Orb to club each man and sent them crumpling to the ground.
Maxwell slowly applauded. "You two are priceless. Just priceless. I swear you are in love with one another. We're supposed to kill her, William. If you want first dibs, then say so, otherwise, wait for me back at the altar."
"Leave her be. We don't have time for this. It is time to start the ceremony," thundered Landers. He walked over to Amanda and cupped her chin gently in his hand. "I did not want it this way." He kissed her and backed away. He pointed the Orb at Maxwell, activating inside an electronic light that fooled everyone but Amanda, as tiny bolts shot about inside the glass sphere. "Don't make me use this, Maxwell."
Maxwell obediently lowered his head and held out his hands, palms up, in surrender. He watched as Landers, holding the glowing Orb high, marched toward the temple, followed in a long line by guards with guns and torches. The Frenchman and American grabbed Amanda by either arm and dragged her down the path, while Maxwell and the last of his men brought up the rear.
In the courtyard, additional guards were waiting with lit torches and at the steps of the altar burned a dead goat in a gold tray, its stench wafting along on the breeze. Amanda was dragged up the steps and forced to lay on the altar. Landers stood beside her, holding the Orb high, as the rest of the guards formed a circle around the courtyard.
Under the darkness of the full eclipse, Maxwell came up the steps last, chanting softly, using a glass vial to dab blood on the stones as he went. A cloaked guard came forward and handed him the Book of the Dead. Maxwell opened the book, causing the manuscript to groan with a life of it own, and the very air around him to tremble.
"O great god, Anubis, we come to you to pay you homage with the death of this mortal girl!"
Gun fire ended the prayer and sent the Cult of Anubis running for cover, along with their high priest. Maxwell ducked down behind the altar, where he found Landers already hiding. Neither were able to prevent Amanda from jumped down from the altar as she sought safety in the trees, for at that moment, the guards started to return fire, shooting into the dark.
Amanda struggled through the dense foliage and grimaced when she heard her short thin garment tear on a branch. She turned this way and that in the moonlight, trying to get through the underbrush and away from the gun fire and tripped over what appeared to be a log. She hit the ground, hard, and lay there, collecting her thoughts, then feeling more calm, she turned to untangle her legs from the branches and screamed. Her legs were tangled in the mangled limps of a slain guard, left half-eaten to rot. She jerked away in disgust, but for the need for a weapon made her look back at the corpse. Spying his gun and an ammunition belt, she grabbed both items and as she started to rise to her feet, when Alex O'Connell and Achmed came upon her.
"Say, that's a nice outfit," replied Alex, scaring her half to death as he came out of the dark. A dozen members of the Brotherhood of Osiris fanned out behind he and Achmed. Alex smiled, as calm and confident as ever, as he held out his hand and helped his cousin up to her sandaled feet. "I told you I'd get here in time. But I do feel overdressed."
"Let's get out of here. There are things in the jungle."
"You don't think I know that?"
Alex grabbed her arm, and together, the group stated to run as the jackals, once thrown off the scent, found their quarry and returned to attack with a loud cacophony of noise. The creatures followed after the group, where they soon came up short beside the glistening Nile river, under the strange glow of the round moon. The group took up position along the water, firing at every creature that leapt out of the jungle which dissipated into dust as the bullets found their mark.
Amanda shot off several rounds, then glanced at Alex, kneeling beside her. "We have to go back. We have to stop them."
"Whatever spell they are using won't work without the Orb," said Alex, enjoying himself as the battle raged on. It was obvious they were losing, but he seemed encouraged. "We have a boat waiting. I suggest you start swimming for it."
"No. We have to return Alex. Maxwell is, was, the high priest Senmut. He has already opened a dimension door between this world and Duat, the underworld. We must close the door to hell or he'll release the army of Anubis. He intends to kill Landers and make himself immortal, using the army to establish his evil reign. He has to be stopped."
"You tell me how and we'll do it."
Achmed pointed at the jungle. The creatures were retreating in droves, picking off at random by the Brotherhood, until the river front was abandoned by the enemy. The men stood up in a long line. Behind them waited a boat, guarded by more of their members, yet, not a man started to swim for safety and remained in position, waiting on Achmed's next command.
"I say we stay and fight," said Achmed, at last. His enthusiasm for action at the age of eighteen was shared by Alex, however, the older man was not as anxious to return to the temple. The young man held up his gun. "My father would expect me to return and stop Maxwell. I cannot leave, Alex, and let this evil be unleashed upon a world. We attack. Now."
"Fine," said Alex, reloading his pistols. "We go back in, but I suggest we try it quietly. We might get lucky."
Amanda and Achmed glanced at one another, then said, "You go first." Laughing, Alex tossed his hat into the river, then motioned the men to follow and started back for the temple.
Without further incident, they soon arrived at the temple, eliminating in human guards or undead jackals that got in the way, taking up positions around the walls. Amanda, Alex and Achmed stayed together, working their way through the open air corridors, until they came around to the back of the altar to find Landers, with his Orb, reciting a prayer, while Maxwell hung back, a sour look on his narrow face.
"O great god, Osiris Ani, Lord of Rasta, and the Great Company of the Gods who live in Khert-Neter to pay homage to thee. Grant thou to me a this favor and let my true Ka appear at the altar of the Lords of Truth to be judged and found worthy to come forth once more to this world. Let not my Heart-soul be suffer any longer in that place of eternal anguish and death in the pits of Duat, but grant my true soul life and power, and all the immortality of the Moon for ever and ever."
Alex glanced at Achmed and Amanda. "If this works, and it might, then this could get ugly. Are the men ready?"
Nodding, Achmed replied. "You have but to give the signal. Each man will fight until he dies to close the portal. I give you my word, and the word of my father, Ardeth Bay."
As Landers held his arms out wide, Maxwell, who read from the Book of the Dead, set the ancient text aside, picked up a ceremonial knife, and stabbed his boss in the back. Landers head fell forward, when from above in the sky, came a howling wind and the screech of spirits, as several black ghostly shapes swept downward from the moon itself and violently screamed around the two men. Suddenly, with a loud gasp, up came Landers head. He was unchanged but mortally wounded. While he still had strength and life in his limbs, he stood and turned around to face Maxwell, the knife sticking out of his back, his face twisted with rage and pain.
"You fool," snarled Landers. "How dare you interfere?"
"Anubis is my master, not Osiris, and I have no interest in helping to release your true Ka. The Orb of Osiris cannot help you, Landers. I, and I alone shall receive immortality, for it has been promised to me by Anubis, with the death of the last reincarnation of Imhotep, to be granted to me."
"You'll pay for this," swore Landers.
Maxwell screamed as Landers, summoning all of his remaining strength, lifted the man by his neck high off the ground, while Alex and Achmed opened fire on the followers of Anubis stationed around the courtyard and the steps to the altar. Landers continued to shake Maxwell like a rag doll, while dark spirits howled from above pushed and shoved on Landers, trying to torment both him and the man being strangled.
At last, Landers tossed the body to the side and turned on the first man foolish enough to attack him, a gun appearing in his hand, concealed within his robes. He fired at the Frenchman as he crept up the stairs, point blank in the face. The Frenchman stumbled back and rolled down the stairs, coming to a halt at the bottom, only to be dragged off by two hungry jackals.
Alex, Amanda and Achmed slowly started to back away from the temple as Landers, laughing wildly, started to shoot everything that moved around him. The guards of Anubis, caught between the jackals and the Brotherhood of Osiris, fled into the inner sanctum, only to be heard later, screaming loudly.
Landers threw his arms upwards, muttering an incantation that swiftly brought results, as from out of the ground with a groan twelve mummied soldiers that forced themselves out of the ground. He pointed toward the retreating backs of Maxwell's men and the mummies nodded before racing after them. Landers continued to chant and from out of the sky, from behind the eclipsed sun, swept luminous ghostly spirits to wreck havoc upon all enemies. He seemed shocked when one of the mummies appeared, interested in only killing him, and with a whack from the Orb of Osiris, he turned the creature into dust, along with breaking the phoney artifact. Landers, screaming, ran into the night, followed by the very things he's summoned.
"Have you seen enough?" asked Alex of his cousin. "I told you Imhotep was evil."
"This has nothing to do with Imhotep," argued Amanda, raising her voice with each spoken word. "We have to find Maxwell. He has the Book of the Dead. We have to find it and close the dimension gate."
"And enter into that cursed temple?" Achmed asked, uncertain he wanted to do this again.
"I'm thinking. I'm thinking," said Alex.
A low growling rumble behind them turned all three heads. Several mummies started forward, swords raised. The three fired at the mummies, but reinforcements soon arrived, and the undead jackals rushed the group, breaking them apart. Amanda shot a creature nipping at her heels and raced toward the altar, becoming separated from Alex and Achmed. Several more creatures scurried up the stairs that she shot.
"Calista," Came a voice, as though from beyond the grave.
The jackals drew back at the sound of the voice and the mummies hung back at the edge of the walls, while Amanda slowly backed up to the altar. For some reason her eyes were drawn up to the moon covering the sun, and as she dropped them, she followed a strange light which outlined a path unseen before through the jungle. She felt compelled to walk down the path, and with her gun held ready, she made her way through the jungle.
Amanda was breathing hard and close to panic by the time she arrived at a covered hill mound, which she somehow knew she'd reached the second temple, the true temple that contained the Altar of Truth wherein was hidden the Orb of Osiris. She spotted an entrance, which was no more than a slit and started for it, aware she is being followed by something. At the entrance, her gun raised, she turned around and fired back into the dark several times.
"Calista," Called the deep voice, beckoning her to enter.
Hesitant to go with her instincts, but determined to locate the Orb and put an end to Anubis's assault, she entered the darkness. Her eyes quickly grew accustomed to the light in the room, for straight ahead lighting the way was a silver strand of light that outlined what appeared to be the remains of an ancient altar. She walked toward it, amazed at her find.
"The Altar of Truth," gasped Amanda. "And right inside should be the Orb of Osiris."
As she walked forward, the ground collapsed beneath her feet. Falling into a bottomless pit, her hands scrambled for a hold on the sides, and as she began to slip, a scream caught in her suddenly dry throat, a hand reached out and caught her by the arm. Saved in time, Amanda was pulled out of the pit and looked up to find herself in the company of William Landers, armed with a gun.
"Why did you save me?" Asked Amanda.
"One good deed you said. This is all it takes."
He staggered back, nearly falling, but she rushed to his aid. She removed his gun from his hand and tossed it over toward the altar, having no place on her costume to store it, but kept her own in hand ready for you. Landers groaned and fell forward into her arms. He was difficult to move but she managed to drag him over to the altar and let him rest against it.
"We have to find a way to close the gates to hell and return Anubis's creatures to where they belong. We need the Orb of Osiris to defeat Anubis."
"Then find it for me," said Landers, weakly.
Amanda felt herself floating, as though her spirit was leaving her own body, and for a moment, she saw from above herself, looking down at herself and Landers, and the altar. She heard a deep voice calling him from far away, drifting through her mind and thoughts, forcing her to remember the past, as she heard a disembodied voice say, "My child, with the Orb of Osiris delivered unto my anointed hands, as the high priest chosen to guard the Temple of Osiris and Altar of Truth, I may call upon its powers, thereby upon my mortal death, I shall be transformed into a Spirit-soul who shall be able to travel to and from the afterworld, whereby my freed soul shall be reincarnated and come forth upon the Earth to be reborn anew."
"I want to help you," said Amanda, talking to the ghost. Landers stared at her, his life quickly fading.
"I have not forgotten that it was you, Calista, who fled from my chambers that night, on the eve of the pharaoh's birthday, on the Night of Souls, taking with you the Orb into the night. Restore to me my power to return, and return to the past to help me reclaim my own soul, and my destiny. Give unto me the power to unlock all doors so that I might live again in the present, in this world, at the side of my true beloved. Take up the Orb and ask for the divine help of Osiris. Only the pure of heart may touch the Orb and summon its power. Do it. Now!"
Amanda grabbed the top piece of the altar and pulled it with all her might, breaking off chunks of clay in her hands Landers was too weak to help and watched as she pushed the top of the altar onto the floor. When the dust settled, underneath was revealed a black onyx container with engraved images of the god Osiris, seated on a crocodile, surrounded by souls floating in the air above, beneath the brilliant light of the sun of Ra.
"The Orb is inside," she said. Landers groaned and dropped his head, sagging against the altar. "Hold on. Just hold on a little longer."
Amanda used her knife to break the lock, then opened the box, gasping out loud as she gazed down at an enormous, perfectly round, white diamond fastened on the end of a large engraved ivory staff. Yet, she hesitated to set into motion events that would change the very fabric of time by picking it up.
"I am afraid, master," Amanda heard herself saying.
"Be not afraid, my child. I shall let no harm come to you, but know that the ceremony needed to bring forth the full powers of the Orb of Osiris, may only occur at a certain time and place, and that, Calista, is the time of the past, in the days of our forefathers, when this temple was pure and sacred, not as it is, desecrated and in ruins. Come with me. Come to the past."
Landers held out his hand to her. Amanda took it, sighing when he gave her hand a squeeze, but as she reached down for the Orb into the temple rushed Alex and Achmed. They came to a halt before the altar, their guns pointed at the high priest, then looked down inside the box at the Orb.
"Only I can tough it," shouted Amanda, shielding Landers with her own body, keeping a tight hold on his hand. "I won't let you harm him. Imhotep deserves a second chance, Alex. Landers doesn't have much time left. He needs to be alive when we make the crossover." She turned right toward Landers. "Are you ready?"
He nodded. "Hurry." He managed to life his head. A desperate expression appeared on Landers's face as the wails of drifting spirits and sounds of the returning mummy soldiers began to grow louder, converging at the entrance of the cave, returned from killing off Maxwell's followers at the camp to finish off the last of the temple's desecrates.
"Amanda, get out of the way," said Alex. "You can't even be thinking about helping that fiend from hell! How many times did father and Uncle Jon tell you about Imhotep and how he killed hundreds of people, and his girlfriend killed my mother! But I did bring her back. The point being, that you can't help a monster. Stand back and let him die."
"No." Amanda shook her head. "It can't end this way."
Achmed put his hand on Alex's shoulder. "She is under the monster's spell. Shoot him, Dr. O'Connell. Right between the eyes, with my blessing."
"Alex!" Screamed Amanda, pointing at the door.
Achmed pushed Alex's gun arm all the way around, so that the fired shot hit an approaching mummy that staggered forward, leading others inside to attack the two remaining men left fighting. Alex fired round and round at the tattered bodies, Achmed spinning around, two swords in his hands, hacking down the undead and keeping them at the entrance, preventing more from entering.
While the mummies fell at the cave mouth, only to rise again and return piece by piece to attack, Achmed pointed out to Alex that one of the undead priest's carried the Book of the Dead, retrieved in the camp. Alex knelt done on one knee and fired at the arm, severing it at the elbow and motioned at Achmed to go into action. The younger man rolled forward and dove toward the Book of the Undead. A number of hands reached out for Achmed, tearing at his arms and back, until he shouted for help. Alex pulled out another set of guns he wore crossed over his shoulder blades and blazed a trail of bullets all the way to the side of Achmed, and finally realizing that Amanda was not assisting them, he turned around to appeal to her one last time.
"Do something Amanda?" Alex shouted over his shoulder her. "Break the Orb and be done with it. Hurry. I'm running out of bullets."
Landers drew Amanda into his arms, blood saturating his clothes, while the battle continued within a ten yards from where they stood behind the altar. Spirits shrieked as they sped through the air overhead, darting down to pinch and prod at the woman. At the touch of his lips on her mouth, Amanda's arm dropped down and her hand touched the Orb of Osiris. She immediately felt a surge of energy rush up her arm and her eyes turned bright blue as she looked upon Landers. Light flashed from her eyes and entered the eyes of Landers, bringing his body upright, trembling from head to toe, as he was lifted from the ground. She continued to hold him and the Orb, raising with them into the air, above the altar.
The diamond began to shine brightly, filling the room with a bright blue light that caused the undead to back away in fear. As Achmed and Alex able collect themselves and return their attention to the hazardous situation at the altar, they watched the pair kiss as lights sparkled and danced around them.
"She's going with him!" Shouted Achmed, shoving Alex forward. The archeologist stumbled forward, staring at his cousin in the embrace of his enemy. Achmed joined him. Both men reached out and grabbed for the Orb, managing only in the last instance, to grasp hold of Amanda's legs as the lights exploded around them and vanished.
All that was left behind was the dust of the fallen mummies and jackals at the door, along with the fading sounds of the spirits returning to their realm, until even that faded, replaced by the wind blowing sand across the temple and slain guards of Anubis and the fallen of the Brotherhood of Osiris. Soon, the temple, camp and bodies were covered by sand and completely obliterated from view.