While the rest of the group explored the Labyrinth of Kish, Oswald remained behind to guard the hidden entrance. After about 2 hours, he spotted six Egyptian men approaching his location. When one of the men gave the others instructions in Arabic and pointed toward the collapsed tomb where he was hiding, Oswald decided to leave. He untied the rope and lowered himself into the shaft, dropping the last 10 feet but taking no injury. Guided by the footprints of the group that preceded him, he managed to reach the wide processional corridor. He followed the chalk marks made by the group for about half an hour, until he was surprised to encounter a disheveled man in a tuxedo.
With his hand on his pistol, Oswald asked the man who he was and what he was doing here. The man introduced himself as Jonathan Slakinoff, a Swiss lawyer in Cairo on vacation. He had been in Cairo for about a week, seeing the sights, until one night he visited the Turf Club for drinks and dancing. The last thing he remembered was a dizzy feeling after drinking a glass of champagne...
Slakinoff awoke in a cell, alone. His wallet was missing but he retained his derringer and Swiss Army knife (which he normally kept concealed on his person). In adjacent cells were housed a large number of Egyptians, some of them clearly insane. Suspecting that he had landed in the Cairo jail, he picked the lock with his Swiss Army knife and headed down a corridor away from the cells. To his shock, he found himself in a dark, dusty labyrinth, with hieroglyphics on the walls and bones underfoot. After wandering around for a bit he met Oswald.
Suspicious of this story, Oswald had Jonathan retrace his steps to the cell block, which he was able to do. Slakinoff's story was true - there were about 50 Egyptian peasants locked up in five more cells. Some of them yelled in Arabic to Oswald and Jonathan, while others screamed incoherently. Oswald and Jonathan investigated the other corridor leading from the room and found three Egyptian guards, armed with scimitars, sitting at a table. Shielded by the noise from the prisoners, Oswald attempted to pick the lock on one of the cells but the knife blade broke. He decided that it would be better to find the rest of the party and then return to free these unfortunates. When Jonathan asked why these people might be imprisoned down here, Oswald urged him not to think about it - the truth is too horrible to contemplate.
Oswald and Jonathan returned to the main corridor and left a note for Sydney, then continued to follow the chalk marks, After about 15 minutes they found the rest of the part (Nell, Lya, Brother Paul, Rupert, Alisa, Velu, Sydney, and Jessica) poised to descend a stairway of black marble. Alisa was shocked to recognize Slakinoff, whom she knew as an employee of the Bank Credit Suisse in Zurich. Nell expressed her concern as to how the group would ever exit the labyrinth, since the one entrance they knew of was now guarded (presumably by cultists).
After a momentary pause for introductions, Lya charged down the stairway, baseball bat in one hand and lantern in the other. The rest of the group followed her, with Velu and Jessica toward the front and Oswald guarding the rear. The group descended the steps for about a hundred feet before reaching a vast, cavernous hall. From her map Nell determined that this must be the room in which they viewed a sarcophagus from a distance.
The vast hall was filled with pillars of black marble, stretching toward the ceiling. Lya shined her light upwards and was amazed to see the tops of the pillars (carved in the form of palm leaves) gently swaying in a non-existent breeze. Sydney noticed the faint smell of natron and embalming spices. Brother Paul intoned a short prayer. The sound of a flute could be heard in the distance, lazily playing a strangely soporific melody that never repeated itself. Sydney thought that the flute must be the sound of wind whistling through the air shafts.
The group moved cautiously forward into the room until they reached a narrow staircase leading downward. A dim red light shone from the depths, wreathed in mist. Sydney thought this might lead to the tomb of Nitocris but no one else wanted to explore it. It was finally agreed that Velu, Jessica, and Sydney would circumambulate the room before deciding what to do next.
The trio made their way through a forest of ebony pillars and eventually reached the left wall. They then began walking forward, with Sydney translating what appeared to be significant inscriptions. She read numerous references to "the Black Sphinx", "Nyarlathotep", "the fane of the Dark Pharaoh", "Nephren-Ka", etc. After about 10 minutes of travel they encountered two more hybrid creatures - one with the head of a crocodile, and the other with the head of a hippo. Sydney greeted them with the name of the corresponding Egyptian gods, but this seemed to enrage the creatures and they attacked.
The sound of blazing .45 revolvers was heard faintly by the group remaining at the stairway, and Alisa and Nell went to offer their assistance. They found the two hybrid creatures lying dead, with Jessica suffering from a vicious hippo head butt and Velu injured by a crocodile bite. Nell applied first aid and took Jessica back to the main group, with Alisa joining Velu and Sydney in exploring the room.
After moving forward for another 15 minutes, they spotted the sarcophagus and dais in what must be the center of the room. The trio returned to the main group and informed them of their discovery. Nell reasoned that all surprise must have been lost by now and the best thing to do was to charge forward.
Lya required no further encouragement and charged ahead, followed by the others. About a hundred feet ahead she stopped at the edge of a large pit, 30 ft wide, 100 ft long, and filled to within 8 ft of the top with water. Faint churning could be observed in the dark liquid. Two large booms stood on either side of the pit, with large baskets that could be lowered into the water.
Shining her light into the water, Sydney noticed the body of a man floating, covered in leeches. Brother Paul requested that the group retrieve the man for decent burial, but Lya charged ahead, around the left side of the pit. The others followed her (except for Brother Paul).
Ahead they saw a large sarcophagus lying atop a 30 ft high dais. Two braziers burned on either side, casting a sickly illumination. When the group was about 50 feet away from the dais, three men stepped forward from behind it. Oswald and Sydney recognized the two Europeans as belonging to the Clive Expedition - Martin Winfield and Johannes Sprech. The third man (an Egyptian) might have been the expedition foreman. Winfield said to Sprech, "Gavigan was right - here they are."
Winfield shouted to the group to surrender now, in hopes of a merciful death. Velu responded by dropping to one knee and firing his revolver at Winfield. A gun battle quickly ensued. Winfield got off several shots with a .38 revolver before falling to a hail of bullets from Alisa, Nell, Velu, and Sydney. The Egyptian man appeared to concentrate intently. Velu and Sydney felt a strong compulsion to turn and dive into the leech-filled pit but managed to resist the evil urge. Sprech fired his luger with amazing accuracy, seriously wounding Alisa and Oswald (who had crept forward around the right side of the dais). Despite his training in the Swiss Army, Slakinoff fired wildly and hit no one. Lya shook her bat at the dais and yelled, "I want Gavigan!" Seeing Alisa badly wounded, Lya moved forward and pulled Alisa back from the firing line.
Eventually Sprech and the Egyptian were felled by well-aimed shots from the group. Nell ran forward to administer first aid to the bleeding and unconscious Oswald and saved his life, while Sydney tended to Alisa. Slakinoff and Velu ran forward to loot the bodies (and make sure they were dead). They found that each of the dead men was wearing a broken ankh amulet. There were also three bedrolls, canned food, a shotgun, ammo, two lanterns, a book in German, and a very old book in English. Slakinoff took both books for later study, as well as the luger and three clips.
By this time Brother Paul had retrieved the body from the leech pit. Sydney recognized it as the body of James Gardner, the American archeologist from the Clive expedition. Velu stripped the robes off the Egyptian man and dumped him in the leech pit. What to do with the two Europeans was another matter. Leeches alone would not strip the flesh off the bodies to prevent later identification, said Sydney.
Rupert decided to test the powers of the holy water from the monastery of St. Mena and sprinkled some on Oswald. The holy water appeared to heal some of the wounds, and Oswald regained consciousness. Rupert used the rest of the holy water to heal Alisa, Sydney, and Jessica of the worst of their wounds. Oswald took the .20 gauge shotgun.
Lya tried to run up the stairs of the dais but found herself held back by some invisible psychic barrier. Brother Paul was also unable to proceed, but Nell found no hindrance at all. Sydney, Velu, Rupert, and (after some inner struggle) Slakinoff were able to join Nell on the dais. Sydney translated the hieroglyphics as indicating that this was the resting place of Nitocris, Pharaoh of Upper and Lower Egypt. Nell descended the steps, took the enchanted dagger from Lya, and rejoined the group atop the dais.
The group managed to shove aside the lid of the granite sarcophagus and found that it contained a mummy (no inner coffin). Velu took the dagger and stabbed the mummy repeatedly in the chest cavity but nothing happened. Remembering an occult ceremony she once read about, Sydney told Velu to stab the left eye. He did so, and the mummy crumbled to dust!
Heartened by this success, the group then saw four of the hybrid creatures approaching - a bull, cheetah, hippo, and ibis. Firing from atop the dais, the ibis and hippo were quickly slain. The cheetah managed to bite Lya before succumbing to gunfire, while the bull climbed the steps and gored Sydney before perishing. Nell was disturbed by the sight of Lya repeatedly clubbing the dead cheetah-man with her baseball bat.
After regrouping at the base of the dais, the party moved forward to the end of the vast hall. There they saw a black archway. Velu volunteered to explore it and stepped forward, disappearing into the darkness. A few moments later his shrieks emanated from the void. "Guess we'll have to try something else", said Sydney.
Slakinoff tried several times without success to toss Velu a rope. Eventually he was successful and Velu was hauled back into the room, babbling something about floating in a void of blackness. Jessica wondered (not for the first time) if she was being paid enough for this job.
Sydney thought that it would be a good idea to dump the bodies of the two Europeans into the Void. Nell was skeptical, reasoning that something had to be on the other side. The group compromised: Sydney and Velu dumped Winfield's body into the Void, while Rupert and Oswald dumped Sprech's body into the leech pit.
A few moments later, the flute music resumed, more loudly and strident than before (no one could recall when it had ceased). A warm breeze began to emanate from the Void. "I knew this was a Bad Idea", said Nell, as the group began to run toward the steps. The breeze increased to a hot, fetid blast of air, and a distant rumbling sound was heard. The group ran at full speed up the stairs and out of the room, without a backward glance.
Oswald then led the group back to the side corridor leading to the cell block. Approaching cautiously, they found things as before, with the three guards sitting at a table, gambling. Sydney heard several prisoners plead for their release in Arabic. The direct approach seemed the best, and Oswald charged into the guard's room and fired his shotgun. One of the guards was blasted to bits, but the other two attacked Oswald with scimitars, wounding him seriously (again). The rest of the group fired their guns and killed the two guards.
The group noticed that the guardroom was a cul-de-sac, although one of the walls contained a blank archway. Inscribed along the archway was the phrase, "Mighty is the God whose breath brings death and whose form brings madness", in hieroglyphics. Using the guard's keys, one cell was unlocked and the captives told that they were free. Those retaining some sanity moved into the guardroom and looked for a doorway. One of them told Sydney that they had been brought into this room through an archway.
Suspecting that the phrase might be a spell to open the gate, Sydney recited the phrase - first in Arabic, then in what she thought might be the proper pronunciation for ancient Egyptian - to no effect. Slightly varying her pronunciation, she was amazed (after an initial feeling of disorientation) to see the archway become translucent to reveal a landscape of traditional Egypt: irrigated fields with the Nile in the background. Suspecting that this might be a gate back to ancient Egypt, Sydney sent one the captives through to see what happened. The captives ran joyfully through the archway and could be seen running in the distance. The gate faded back to a blank wall.
The remaining captives were freed and the experiment repeated. This time Sydney experienced greater disorientation when casting the spell. The captives appeared to suffer no harm as they moved through the gate and into the landscape. Jessica studied the scene carefully and thought it might be the countryside near Omar Shakti's cotton plantation north of Cairo, on the east back of the Nile.
Oswald volunteered to explore the gate, with a rope tied about his waist. Sydney opened the gate for a third time and appeared to undergo severe mental stress. Oswald stepped through and saw telegraph wires and railway tracks in the distance. The rest of the group then moved through the gate and found themselves standing in the ruins of the temple investigated by Jessica and Velu several days ago. Velu recalled that he had seen a group walk from Shakti's house to this location and then vanish. Although Omar Shakti's house was visible about a mile away, no one was interested in going there and confronting him. "Mr. Shakti is a busy man", said Sydney, "and I wouldn't want to bother him".
"Explain it to me again - what did all that have to do with the Carlyle Expedition" asked Nell. Lya replied that helping Bast was the right thing to do.
Everyone agreed that it was time to leave Egypt - the sooner the better. After walking two miles to the village railway station, the group waited for the next train to Cairo. Sydney explained the group's appearance to the stationmaster - torn, bloody, dusty clothing and hair - to having been on a hunting expedition.
While waiting for the train, the group quietly conferred and came up with a course of action.
After a brief and uneventful train journey, the group reached the main railway station in Cairo at sunset. As previously agreed, everyone returned to their hotel (Semiramis, Shepheard's) and told the front desk the same story. Inspired by the pyramids, they had decided to make a pilgrimage to Jerusalem. The hotel was instructed to hold their rooms for five weeks, with full pre-payment being made. The hotel would be contacted later by telegram with a forwarding address for the baggage if it was decided not to return to Cairo. Nell canceled the golf reservation for Monday morning and instructed Mena House to pack up their belongings and send them to Shepheard's. Lya returned to the church and resumed her Sister Sarah identity (and nun's habit).
Each person packed a single bag with the minimum amount of clothing and gear and left the rest of their baggage behind in the hotel room. Within an hour everyone had left their hotel and returned to the main station.
At the station, Velu purchased 10 round-trip tickets for Jerusalem on the night train. First class was available but unfortunately the Pullman berths were all booked. Oswald sent two telegrams: one to his family back in New York informing them that he was travelling to Jerusalem, and one to his warehouse in Alexandria informing them to ship the items he had purchased back to the States. Alisa sent a telegram to her firm in Boston informing them that she was travelling to Jerusalem and would be available for any possible assignments. She also sent a carefully worded telegram to Dan'l Boom back in Cairo informing him that she was travelling to Jerusalem.
At 8 PM, the group boarded the night train and left Cairo. Brother Paul, Sister Sarah, Jonathan Slakinoff, Oswald, and Sydney rode in one compartment, while Rupert, Alisa, Nell, Velu, and Jessica rode in the opposite compartment. Those who were seriously wounded found the journey painful and tiring.
Those in better health had dinner in the dining car and discussed their future course of action. There was strong sentiment for skipping Kenya and proceeding instead to China, in search of Jack Brady. Why keep retracing the Carlyle expedition - let's do something unexpected. And the thought of a slow boat to China to regain Sanity (elegant dinners, dancing, skeet shooting, bridge) sounded very appealing.
Sydney reflected on the strange circumstances surrounding the interment of Nitocris. Why hadn't they found the canopic jars? And why was there no inner coffin?
Jonathan took the opportunity to examine the two books taken from Winfield and Sprech. The German text turned out to be a copy of Also Sprach Zarathustra, by Nietzsche. The book appeared well-thumbed and many passages were underlined. Copious notes were written in German on the back pages. The other book appeared to be a handwritten copy of a text written in Shakespearean-era English. There was a reference to something called the "Necronomicon" and a being named "Azathoth" and what appeared to be ritualistic incantations. Slakinoff was fascinated and thought that he could learn much from these two books.....
At midnight the train stopped briefly in Ismailia before proceeding north a short distance to the village of Qantara. There the passengers disembarked and crossed the Suez Canal on a ferry. On the west bank of the canal, the passengers transferred to cars of the Palestine Railway (built during the war to support British operations against the Ottoman Empire). Sleep was fitful and fleeting, as the train continued its journey through the Sinai desert.
The train stopped at dawn in Gaza, the first station in the British
Mandate
territory of Palestine. An hour later the train reached the port
city of Jaffa,
where those travelling to Jerusalem were required to change trains.
The group agreed to not continue on to Jerusalem but instead took rooms
at the Hotel Joppa,
to rest and recuperate. Hospital care must be sought for Alisa, Oswald,
and Jessica.