Gary Gygax - Dangerous Journeys 1 - Anubis Murders (14 page)

Inside the pyramid, safely through the protective traps and secret passages, Setne Inhetep began the family Ritual of Transference. At the proper moment, he spoke the word of power coupled with the place he wished to go in the Duat,
Amenti.
This was the key to the entrance of the planes of the underworld. Twelve great divisions existed in the Duat. Each was ruled by a deity, Osiris being nominal overlord of all, an emperor of sorts. This headship, such as it was, came as much by dint of force as anything else. Many of the planes comprising the underworld of shadowy nature were gruesome places, ruled by Evil, populated by monstrous beings. By entering the Duat in the heart of Osiris' domains, the wizard-priest avoided the terrible places both before it and deeper within the whole. But in Amenti was a judgment hall, as well as that place where the spheres of Osiris' own habitation began.

"Who would stand before the Throne and the forty-two Assessors of the Hall of Judgment?" demanded a savage-faced
neter,
a being of power and neutral disposition.

"It is Setne Inhetep, a faithful priest of Thoth, worker in heka, who seeks to pass," the Egyptian responded to the challenge. Then he named the name of that Watcher, his Doorkeeper companion, and the Herald, too—all of whom kept safe the gateway to the Hall of Maati. "But I have not come except as a supplicant to speak with Lord Osiris, and Lord Anubis, and my own Lord Thoth, too, should he be therein. Living am I, and alive will I remain, Eyes-as-Piercing-as-Spears. My flesh is proof against the knives of the fiends, my shadow so strong as to grapple with serpents, my heart so fierce as to make pale the face of monster or demon hungering for it. Soul and spirit and double are threefold proof against any devil who would have at them. My name is proof against fiery uraei."

The strange and terrible ones before the tall doors opened them. "You may enter then, man. Know that you have but little time in this place, for living flesh cannot survive long here. Beware lest you have to return again for judgment!"

"I am conversant on all matters pertaining to that, too, guardian of this portal. If that should eventuate, you may be assured that the balance will not dip against me." Setne spoke the names of the doorposts, lintel, threshold, and door, then strode through the open entry without further ado, looking neither right nor left, and keeping tight control over his mind and bodv. One falsp word or step could be fatal. When he entered, he found the endless hall dimly illuminated and deserted. Of course, those who were outside wouldn't know of the conditions inside. There were two means of egress. One led to the Field of Reeds, home of those spirits who were true and just and sought an afterworld of twilight. The place was called Sekhet-Aaru and its viceroy was Menu-qet. The second gateway led to the place called Sekhet-Hetepet. That plane was directly overseen by Osiris. This place was but the first of many "halls" in Osiris' own demesnes, each such place a sort of quasi-sphere. In the multiple planes of Osiris' personal realm, there were also many other, larger spheres, places not unlike Yarth and places very unlike it. The Opener of the Duat, Anubis, could be anywhere therein, or even further off in one of the other planes of this portion of Pandemonium. Thoth might not be here at all.

When the mighty sun deity, Ra himself, journeyed through the Duat, he progressed only with the company of powerful beings to assure safety of passage. How could a mere priest and wizard of mortal sort manage such a trek should the ones he sought be afield? "Which portal must I pass?" he asked aloud.

From the shadowy depths of the hall stepped a darker figure. "You shall pass neither, ur-kheri-heb," a baritone growl informed him.

Setne started, his hand bringing up an ankh of copper as he whirled. "Oh! My Lord Apuat," he said, visibly relaxing. The wolf-headed deity was the friend and companion of Anubis and the "Opener of the Southern Way." That is, Apuat was a guardian for all good folk deceased and bound for this place.

"You are not welcome here, Setne Inhetep," the wolf-headed god said. He came closer, adding, "It is not for want of merit in you, servant of Thoth."

"May I ask you a question?"

Apuat nodded. "That you may do, for my sole command is to see that you do not enter the planes here."

"I need ask of you, then, my lord, what offense have I given to Lord Osiris?"

"None at all, albeit it was that Great One who sent me forth here to watch for you."

Inhetep was puzzled. "There is gross slander and falsity in the lands west of Egypt that Lord Anubis has been made into a dark and vile tool of Set. . . ." The tall deity seemed unmoved, but Inhetep plunged on. "There is great power being used to mask this evil work, machinations which seemed directed to establish the red-eyed one as greatest in Eropa. Should he gain such energy from that, the whole balance of—"

With a hand outstretched to rest on the wiz-ard-priest's shoulder, Apuat interrupted Setne's sentence. "It is as it is. Osiris has forbidden Anubis to speak to you, and even Thoth has chosen to withhold converse. It is not as it seems. I cannot say more about that."

"Set! I will seek out the Lord of the Lowest if need be." He looked at the wolf-headed entity whose visage belied heart and purpose. "Is that permitted?"

The fanged head shook slowly, almost sadly. "There is much power, and it would never permit your entry into the Eleventh Plane, to Jessert-Baiu where the Ass dwells." Apuat referred, of course, to Set's realm in the Duat, not to his domains among the stars. "The ship of Ra travels there with utmost difficulty, Setne Inhetep. You are not ready for such a journey. Yet, perhaps all of the gods of Egypt depend on your work. Do you think it strange that deities must place their hope on a mortal?"

All his words were laden with hidden meanings. Setne was sure that Apuat was somehow constrained from revealing what he knew just as the others were. This was indeed something beyond murder and extortion, but perhaps there was also less to it than might appear. "Then I must locate the one foe, the liar who claims to be Master of Jackals."

"It is always wise to remember that what is falsehood today might be truth tomorrow," the wolf-head said slowly. "Your own instincts must guide you now, Magister Setne Inhetep. Let your five senses take you quickly to the heart of the problem."

Setne bowed. When he looked up, the hall had vanished, and he was again within the hidden chamber in the pyramid. He sat there for several minutes, reviewing and contemplating all that had just occurred. "So," Inhetep said at last, standing up and walking purposefully toward the hidden exit from the stuffy little chamber, "I think the abortive visit to the Duat was fruitful after all."

Outside and heading back toward his own home, the tall Egyptian seemed to fly across the ground he walked so quickly. He whistled a little air as he went, a rather tuneless sound which would have told Rachelle, had she been there, that the magister's mind was working furiously on some plan as he went. Then the copper-skinned priest of Thoth vanished inside the low-walled villa which was his seldom-visited home. In the morning, nobody there would even know that their master had come and gone.

DEATH IN LONDUN

Avillonia. Three islands, five kingdoms, and a mixed people who had come to consider themselves one. One, that is, in terms of dealing with those from other lands. Perhaps they regarded the Brettons as acceptable cousins, the folk of Flanders slightly less so, and some of their other immediate neighbors, along with Atlantlans, Romans, and Grecians, respectable enough to deal with. Others, especially such neighbors as Neus-tria, Francia, and the Teutonic lands were filled with undesirable persons. If the people of such lands came to any of the Five Kingdoms, they might survive well enough in the larger cities. In fact, the capitals of the kingdoms of Avillonia had large populations of foreigners from all over Yarth. Caledonia and Cymru, the two smallest kingdoms, each had under two million inhabitants. Their capitals, Edinburgh and Caerdyv, the one with only some thirty-five thousand citizens, the other boasting sixty thousand, had foreign quarters with non-natives totaling about ten percent of their populations. The same was true for Glasgow and Cardigan, too, those cities being about as large as the capitals. Hybernia with between three and four million, Lyonnesse with between four and five—whose great capitals, Dublin and Camelough, respectively, each had one-quarter million or more souls—supported slightly larger foreign populations. Albion, the most populous kingdom of all, with over seven million, also had as its capital the largest city in Avillonia. Londun totalled over seven hundred thousand residents, and that census omitted all persons not holding citizenship. Almost a hundred thousand "strangers" dwelled in the city. Londun was not the largest city of Yarth, but it was certainly one of the twenty or so with populations near to or over a million.

Ch'ins, Hindi, Phonecians, Shamish, Yarbans, Atlantlans, Berbers, and even some number of Egyptians were to be found in the foreign districts of the metropolis of Londun. Fully a half of the non-Avillonian population was made up of such Azirians and Afrikans. The balance were of a somewhat less exotic sort—merchants of Hansa and other Teutonics, Francians, Russians, Skands, Romans, Grecians, and Iberians, too. Nobody in the city paid much attention to these strangers, so it was surprising to all when a growing mob of Londuners began to pour through the streets in the Limehouse district. "Kill the POCs!" some screamed. Others began smashing windows and pillaging. "Pocs" was the slang term for all Egyptians, an acronym derived from "Pharaohs Own Citizens." The mob and riot were soon taken care of, and only a dozen or so deaths and three times as many serious injuries resulted from the affair. Then the Lord Mayor demanded to know why it had happened in the first place. The Bow Street Runners went out in force to find the answer.

Setne Inhetep could have given them the answer easily enough. He had left his own land and had returned to Avillonia, if not to that very district of Camelough, by magickal means. That left obvious telltales, but the wizard-priest was no longer very much concerned about that. He went directly to a place in Hybernia, to the dwelling of a fellow Egyptian who was also practitioner, albeit in only a small way. Onru-hehept wasn't exactly thrilled at the Setne's arrival, but he was accommodating nonetheless. Without using his diplomatic status, the official managed to get Inhetep an audience with the king himself. It was a brief meeting, but both the Hybernian monarch and Setne were enlightened. King Finn arranged for the priest-mage's conveyance across his land to the sea, where Inhetep boarded a fast packet bound for Glasgow the next night. In the Caledonian capital, the Egyptian simply used bluff and his renown to gain a similar audience with the monarch of the northernmost of the Five Kingdoms of Avillon. Despite precautions, Setne was assailed by thugs while in Edinburgh. But their attempted assassination failed because agents of King Finn were still trailing the wizard-priest and interceded, as it were, to set the attackers straight. A dozen corpses had to be disposed of, and the Royal Caledonian respect for Inhetep rose accordingly.

From the capital of Caledonia, Setne was conveyed by another official convoy to the seat of government of Cmyru, the city of Caerdyv. There he was likewise granted immediate audience with the ruler of that nation. That wasn't surprising, for by this time he was accompanied by trusted emissaries from both Hybernia and Caledonia. Owen, twelfth monarch of that name to rule the western portion of the biggest of the three Avillonian islands, ordered passage for the tall Egyptian, so that Inhetep sailed from the capital city to Albion the very next day. Debarking at Bristol, and now purposely alone and without shadowing agents, the magister took various coaches eastward to reach Londun, that sprawling metropolis on the Thames, as quickly as possible. There King Dennis was holding court over Sunsebb Tide, as the winter solstice was called in Albion.

"Please tell your superior that Magister Setne Inhetep of Thebes is here on important business," the wizard-priest said in clipped tones to the lesser porter of the royal palace, a great complex of mansions and towers called the Citadel of Londun.

The fellow had a long face which grew longer at Setne's command. "As you wish, ah . . . noble Egyptian sir," the functionary replied. He made the honorific sound shoddy, and his expression conveyed the likelihood that a foreigner such as the tall, hawk-faced Easterner with reddish skin and shaven head would receive only the attention of those curious to see an outlandish inferior. "Please be so good as to wait here," he added, waving the priest-mage toward a long, hard bench of carved oak much polished by the posteriors of similar supplicants.

Fifteen minutes passed. The lesser porter literally flew back into the plain antechamber where Inhetep sat calmly waiting. He was wringing his hands, a gesture between worry and anxiousness. "Your sincere pardon, Magister Inhetep," he said with utmost solicitousness. "The Lord Chamberlain himself will see you immediately."

The fellow had dallied. That was obvious to Setne. He'd probably stopped to chat with another petty official, pinch a serving maid, and then strolled to the office of the porter. That one had certainly had Inhetep's name on a list. Setne imagined the junior running off down a corridor at the harsh command of his superior, taking word of the Egyptian's arrival to the porter's own master, the chamberlain. He saw the long-faced fellow in his mind's eye running breathlessly back to inform the porter that Sir Chauncey would personally receive the visitor. He stood up and looked at the man without expression.

"Dreadfully sorry about the wait," the assistant to the porter gulped under the emerald-green stare of the wizard-priest. He wondered if such foreign spell-craefters could read minds easily, then hastily dropped the thought. With a bow, the fellow ushered Inhetep into a wide hallway and conveyed him to the suite of offices occupied by the greater officials of the royal household.