Forbidden Sands by Ryan Attard

Author:Ryan Attard [Attard, Ryan]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Published: 2017-12-16T22:00:00+00:00

“Listen to this,” Nick said. “ ‘Our journey into the tomb was met with adversity, both in the form of local superstition and a strange illness that has already afflicted two of our crew. The unfortunate souls withered in pain, a fever breaking their minds. Upon discovering this, our local guides abandoned us, saying that they dare not trespass upon the temple of the Cursed King.’ ”

He flipped a page, while Tyrone and Excalibur listened attentively.

“This is dated two days later. ‘Never before have I seen such monstrosities. Their heads deformed until they resembled those of animals. Their bodies, now chimeras of man and beast, could not bear, and they broke free from their encampment, attacking us in the middle of the night. It took several men to kill them, for these beasts seemed to not feel pain. Fire proved to be effective, but it was ultimately the disease that ravaged their bodies that did them.’ Oh look, it comes with a nice diagram.”

Nick turned the book, showing the two a hand-drawn picture of a man with a horse-head.

“That looks awful similar to the plague victims in Egypt,” Excalibur said. “Durandal showed me the files.”

“The Cursed King,” Tyrone said. “Who could that be?”

“Um…” Nick flipped a few more pages. “Here we go: ‘I have endeavored to find out more about this cursed monarch but none here pronounce his name, instead calling him Set, the beast of the underworld. Like Cerberus to Hades, he is to guard the underworld from intruders, and prevent lost souls from departing it.’ Sounds cheery.”

Tyrone typed something into the laptop in front of him. “Let me see that for a second,” he said.

Nick pushed the Ledger towards him.

“There,” Tyrone said.

“What is it?”

“That symbol, the double headed falcon.”

“Looks more like a seesaw to me,” Nick said.

“Well, I recognize that,” Tyrone said. “That’s the symbol of King Wadi.”

“So?” Excalibur said. “You think he’s this Cursed King?”

Tyrone shook his head. “Nah. Wadi was loved by his people. The first king to bring prosperity after the Unification.”

“The what?” Excalibur asked.

“The Unification of Lower and Upper Egypt,” Nick answered. “Basically, before the dynasties began, Egypt was divided. Only once the two unified did they dynasties begin.”

She nodded.

“But Wadi was not the one to unify Egypt,” Nick said.

“Exactly,” said Tyrone. “The main problem with pre-dynastic records is that most of them got lost either during civil wars, or when one king took over the other. But Wadi took over from his previous monarch, one who reigned for a really short time, even for back then.”

“Khonsu,” Nick said. “Named after the god of the moon.”

“Exactly,” Tyrone added. “Except Khonsu was not of royal birth. Neither was Wadi for that matter, but people liked Wadi. Khonsu had a reputation — he was a general, a soldier. Some say he completed a pyramid.”

“Hang on,” Excalibur said. “I may have my facts wrong but weren’t the pyramids completed way after the first couple of Dynasties?”

“You’re thinking of the pyramids as we know them now,” Nick said. “Back then ancient civilizations simply built over old structures.

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