The Tekhen Of Anuket Part 11

Heron was no more immune to flattery from a beautiful young woman than any man. He beamed and patted her hand. "Of course, my dear. I'm sure you'll be most impressed with my aeolipile."

She paused, taken aback, then nodded. "Yes, I'm sure I will."

Followed him into the east wing of his house, she pulled up short at the chaotic scene that met her eyes when they entered his workshop.

"Oh! Have you had a break-in? I'm so sorry," she exclaimed, taking in the mess.

He laughed. "No, no! This is how it always is, I'm afraid. Now where did I put that...." His voice trailed off as he scrabbled through some paperwork.

Jade gazed around in amazement. How could anyone work here? It reminded her of the study of the High Priest of Set, but without any evil magic. No magic at all, in fact. Scrolls and papers littered every surface, weighted down by gla.s.s prisms and Egyptian, Greek and Roman statuettes. On one bench there was a strange device made of two gla.s.s flasks, a large gla.s.s bowl and several tubes connecting them. Beside that, on the floor, was a large copper cauldron on legs. Its top was sealed and from it sprouted two copper tubes that fed into a copper sphere. Sticking out from the sphere were two bent pipes. Jade had absolutely no idea what it was for. Possibly torture..or coffee-making?

"Ah!" Heron clapped his hands. "You spotted my aeolipile." He waved her over to the copper monstrosity and proceeded to explain its function in a great deal more detail than she actually wanted to hear. It was some sort of steam-powered turning device but, other than being used as a door-opener in a couple of buildings around town, Heron didn't seem to see any applications for it. He just liked inventing things for the sheer joy of it. Jade opened her mouth, intending to tell him about things like steam boats and steam trains but common sense cut in. It was only 80AD. How much different would the world be in her time if she meddled with history and gave the ancient Romans superior technology like this?

She closed her eyes and groaned. This was not her reality; not her world's history. Get a grip, she admonished herself.

"Maybe I should go check on Phoenix," she edged toward the door, hoping he wouldn't mind. Heron was now deeply engrossed in a pile of ma.n.u.script and barely even noticed her hasty departure.

Phoenix still slept. To pa.s.s the time, she, Marcus and Brynn made good use of Heron's indoor bathhouse and laundry facilities. Jade was relieved to finally wash the dust and grit from her hair. She had to entice Brynn to bathe with the offer of free time to roam the markets and streets on his own. The boy sent her a wicked grin as he skipped into the bath. She grimaced, hoping he was as good a thief as he said. These ancient civilisations often had extremely harsh punishments for theft.

While Brynn washed, she and Marcus sat in the dining room and planned the destruction of the tekhen of Anuket. The obelisk was quite tall and neither of them wanted the debris to fall on a house or person in the square. Jade would have to cast another letta spell in the hopes that it would at least slow down the fall of stonework.

They drew a rough sketch of the square and the tekhen with charcoal on a piece of papyrus and were arguing about which direction would be best for it to fall, when Heron wandered past. He stopped and stared vaguely down at their drawing.

"That's the obelisk your friend was asking about. The one with Anuket's symbol all over it." Sitting down, he twitched the paper out of their hands and frowned at the arrows they'd drawn on it. "He never did say why he was so interested in Anuket. Perhaps you should tell me." Looking anything but vague, the old man sent Jade a piercing, intelligent gaze from beneath s.h.a.ggy, white eyebrows.

Startled, she looked at Marcus. He shrugged and lay a casual hand on his sword hilt. She chewed on her lip, wishing she could consult with Phoenix. It wasn't really fair to just destroy the monument then move on, leaving Heron to take the blame for what his eccentric guests had done.

"This will sound insane, I know," she began. Heron leaned back on his chair with his hands clasped over his stomach.

"We have to destroy the obelisk in order to release Anuket. She's imprisoned in it. That's why we've come here and we can't let anyone stop us," she finished in a rush.

Surprisingly, Heron didn't leap up and summon guards to take them away. Instead, he leaned forward so his chair legs. .h.i.t the floor with a loud clunk, startling his guests.

"Anuket's imprisoned, you say? Interesting," he frowned and nodded. "That could very well explain why the Nile hasn't flooded for so long. She is the G.o.ddess of the Flood and fertility, after all."

He inspected their drawing of the square again, stroking his beard. "And exactly how were you going to destroy the obelisk? It's very, very big."

"Umm," Jade faltered. They had promised Thor they would keep Mjolnir safe and secret.

"Just accept that we can hit it hard enough to bring it down, sir," Marcus put in. He took his hand off his sword hilt and Jade saw his shoulders relax. He must have decided Heron was not a threat.

"Very well," the old man shrugged. He tapped the drawing. "You were trying to work out how to do it without causing damage to the surrounding houses, I a.s.sume?"

They nodded.

"Hmmmm." The inventor gazed off into the distance, still stroking his beard. "Leave it with me for a little while and I'll do the mathematics so it will come to ground safely." He sighed. "It does seem a pity to destroy such a lovely thing, but there are many more about the city and Egypt is in desperate need of a good flood."

Rising from the table, he began to leave, muttering as he went. At the door he turned back. "I'm a.s.suming your friend, Phoenix, will be the one to destroy the obelisk?"

Jade and Marcus stared at him in surprise before Jade found her voice. "Err, no. It's Marcus' job, actually."

"Really?" Heron's white brows flew almost up to his hairline. "Most unexpected. The legends all clearly speak of the Phoenix as the one who restores balance to Egypt and returns fertility to the land. Very odd. I wonder..."

They never did discover what he wondered, since he wandered off to his workshop without another word.

Jade and Marcus were left in the dining room, staring at each other in disbelief.

"Well, that was... interesting," Jade broke the silence at last.

"That's the second time he's said something about Phoenix saving the country," Marcus mused, staring after the old man.

"Well he was wrong," she laid a hand on his arm. "It will be your turn this time. Only fair, really. Phoenix can't have all the glory."

"You mistake me," he said with a faint smile. "I have no desire for glory. I'm content to go down in history as an unknown. I simply wondered if there is more to this quest than we know. Maybe Phoenix is supposed to wield the hammer. Maybe only he can release Anuket."

"No," she shook her head. "I'm sure I would know if that were the case." The others all knew she had been visited by the mysterious grey lady during a between-lives limbo back in Alfheim on Level Two of the game. Her guide had given her some instructions as to what to do in the next three levels. There had been no mention of anyone specific needing to destroy the tekhen. Only that Anuket had to be released from her prison before the death of the moon, in order to complete the quest.

Brynn came in, towelling his unruly hair dry and grumbling complaints.

Jade chuckled. "It can't have been that bad. We're so lucky to be staying in a villa that has private baths. Most people share the public ones. Heron's bathhouse is wonderful."

"If you're a fish," he retorted. "I can't remember having so many baths in such a short s.p.a.ce of time in my whole life. My skin will come off."

"Oh stop complaining," she couldn't help laughing at his indignation. "Tell us what Heron said when you were in the Temple of Set prison. Did he say anything about Phoenix having to do some specific task?"

Brynn screwed up his nose in an effort to remember. "He went on about the legend of the Phoenix bird something about burning up and a baby bird coming out of the ashes. Oh, and something about it being linked to the Nile flood and restoring harmony to the land." The boy shrugged. "I know Phoenix found it fascinating. After he heard the story, he kept muttering something about restoring balance and harmony. He was playing with that amulet you both wear and he seemed pretty excited. He never did tell me what he meant."

With a sigh, the boy sat down. Jade put an arm around him, realising he was still feeling bad about 'killing' Phoenix.

"Don't worry, Brynn. He'll get over it."

"I sure hope so," he murmured, "because if he finds out it was me that stabbed him, I don't like my chances of telling my adventures to my grandchildren."

"He won't find out," she squeezed his thin shoulders.

"Jade," Marcus' low-voiced warning made her look up. Phoenix stood in the doorway, white-faced and grim. His eyes blazed with anger.

CHAPTER FIFTEEN.

"Brynn?" Phoenix's voice was the merest whisper, his face a mask of hurt and betrayal. He strode into the room. Jade rose and pushed the boy behind her.

"Brynn killed me and you're protecting him?" Phoenix glared at her. Once more his hand lay, in unspoken threat, on the hilt of his sword.

"What are you going to do, kill me?" Jade drew herself up to her full height. She looked him squarely in the eye and prepared to throw a shield spell between them. He took a half-step away, seeming to reconsider. Then he shook his head and snarled back at her, blue eyes fierce as they fought a silent battle of wills, deep in the grip of anger and magic.

The fanatical light in his eye told its own story. Blodbal owned him. Without it, Phoenix would never dream of harming her or Brynn. Now he was under the sway of a fiercer, bloodier magic than hers and only he could break free of it.

"Phoenix, we have a job to do, remember?" Marcus' calm voice interrupted them and Jade sagged in relief as Phoenix slid a look over at his friend. Outside, night had finally descended and taken the sticky heat of day with it. Perhaps his anger would be soothed if it could be channelled somewhere more useful like the destruction of a big, chunky obelisk.

Phoenix turned his cold gaze on Marcus. "You're right. I'll settle this with you later," he cast a bleak promise at Brynn, who shouldered Jade aside and glared back at him.

"I won't hide," the boy said, his chin raised in defiance. "I'm no coward. I'll fight you anytime you want. We did the right thing, whether you believe it or not."

The contrast could not have been more marked. If the situation hadn't been so very serious, Jade would have laughed. It was like watching a spitting kitten face up to a burly Rottweiler. Brynn clutched at his sword and dagger with white fingers. Phoenix sneered and drew Blodbal a couple of inches free of its covering.

"Enough!" She cast a shield spell between them. Phoenix struggled against it, unable to draw his sword. Before he could turn on her, she grabbed Brynn by the arm and marched him out the door. Then she released the spell, saying, "We're going to do what we came to do, Phoenix. You can keep this juvenile stupidity up or you can join us. It's up to you."

Marcus' soft tread followed her and, after a few moments, she heard Phoenix' angry footfall as well. A small knot of tension unwound in her stomach. The crisis had been averted for the moment but Phoenix was poised on a knife edge. They had to work out how to control his connection with Blodbal before it consumed him and he turned on them all.

With a shiver of foreboding, Jade tried to push the thought from her head and concentrate on the job at hand. As they reached the front gate, Heron joined them, excitedly waving a piece of papyrus.

"I've got it. Come on," he almost shoved them out the door in his haste. "I'll show you exactly where to break it in order to make it fall and cause the least amount of damage."

She smiled at the old man, glad he was too distracted to notice the tension in the air.

Outside, they had to wait until a few stragglers left the market square. At last it emptied and they moved to the base of the column. Together, they looked up the imposing length of it.

"How big is it?" She whispered, awed by the sheer majesty of the thing. Straining to see in the gathering gloom, she tried reading the hieroglyphs. All she could see for sure was the name of Anuket in large pictographs. This was definitely a Tekhen that glorified her.

"It's seventeen gradii," Heron stated, consulting his notes by the light of the small terracotta lamp he carried.

Brynn and Marcus nodded, still staring at the pointed top of the stone column. Jade and Phoenix exchanged puzzled looks.

"Any idea what a gradii is?" Jade whispered.

"It's about two and a half pedes," Marcus informed them. When she continued to look blankly at him, he held his hands apart to indicate a distance.

"Looks like about three-quarters of a metre, to me," Phoenix estimated. "So if one gradus is about seventy-five centimetres, then the obelisk must be roughly....um....thirteen metres high?"

He glanced at Jade for confirmation. She shrugged.

"Math was never my strongest subject. I'll believe you."

Phoenix grinned and she blinked at him, amazed at the speed of his mood change. It was like he'd completely forgotten his anger of moments before.

Behind her, Marcus unhooked Mjolnir from his belt and hefted it in iron-clad hands.

"I'm not sure I want to give this back," he murmured.

Brynn snickered. "I think Thor might have something to say about it if you kept it."

Marcus nodded to Heron. "Where do I hit it?"

Heron laughed and slapped the stone with an open hand. "You think you can bring down this, with that little thing?"

"I know I can," Marcus' calm was unshaken. "Just tell me where to hit it."

Heron shook his head. He pointed to a spot in the middle of the southern face, about four feet off the ground. "Hit just here as hard as you can, then once on the north side about two gradii higher and not quite so hard. It should fall to the south, which is the biggest open area."

Jade grabbed the back of Brynn's shirt and hauled him a safe distance away, ignoring his irritated squawks. Phoenix and Heron joined them shortly after and she cast a protective shield to fend off any flying chunks. Marcus would have to make a dash for it once he'd delivered the blows.

Holding their breath, the little group watched as Marcus swung the hammer a few times. Each time it circled, Jade could see a faint, purple-blue trace in the darkness. Thunder rumbled in the distance and Heron glanced up in surprise.

With one last shoulder rotation, Marcus swung Mjolnir with all his strength. The head connected in the exact spot Heron had indicated. A spray of stone exploded around it and they heard the crack a fraction of a second later. A large section of the tekhen disintegrated. The sound was shocking in the dark, silent square. Marcus ran to the other side and delivered a second strike to that face. Without waiting, he turned and sprinted toward his friends, dashing behind the invisible shield to safety.

Then the inevitable, crumbling collapse of the ancient Egyptian monument began. It started slowly; so slowly it was hard to see in the evening gloom. Only by the snapping and crunching of stone could they tell anything was happening at all.

Brynn yelped, "Look!"

They all stared at the pointed tip of the obelisk. Little by little, it began to lean toward the south. There were a series of loud cracks like gunshots. Several chunks of stone dropped out of the bottom, spraying dust and water from the fountain into the air.

The column gathered speed as it arced toward the cobbled ground. Jade quickly realised her letta spell had no where near the power needed to stop it or even slow it, so she gave up and just watched. With a creaking groan it whistled through the air, falling with ponderous grace. The tip hit first and snapped off, rebounding into the air before shattering on the pavement. The rest crashed to ground with the force of an earthquake. The sound reverberated through their chests and feet. Everyone clapped their hands over their ears in reaction. Stone, dust and cobbles flew through the air in all directions, pinging off walls and roofs fifty metres away. Jade's shield spell shook under the impact of dozens of small missiles. Great lumps of rock smashed and bounced off toward the southern end of the square. The Tekhen of Anuket exploded into a thousand pieces of granite.

When the dust cleared a little, she dropped the shield and they hurried forward to inspect the result. Angry, frightened voices sounded as nearby residents questioned each other and tried to find out what was going on. Dozens rushed out of their houses. Holding lanterns, they stopped and stared in shock at the destruction.

Jade and the others ignored all of this. She stood, with narrowed eyes, inspecting the tekhen. Nothing had emerged from it; no Anuket; not even a trapped mouse. Brynn clambered around the shattered stones, probably looking for hidden G.o.ddesses. Phoenix, Marcus and Heron all watched Jade expectantly.

"Is that it?" Brynn called from his perch on top of one large piece. "I mean, I kind of expected an escaping G.o.ddess to be a bit more ....y'know...spectacular."

"He's right," Phoenix agreed. "Something should have happened by now. I mean, the release of an imprisoned deity should at least have some sort of lightshow; maybe a personal appearance; even a disembodied voice saying 'thanks' would be enough."

Marcus picked up a piece of rubble and turned it over thoughtfully. "It does seem odd. Are you sure this was the right obelisk?"

"Hey," Phoenix spread out his hands, "don't look at me. Jade's the one with the grey woman in her head telling her what to do. Ask her."

Jade worried at her lip. There was absolutely no magic aura about the obelisk at all. Disappointment fisted in her stomach. Why hadn't she checked it before? Because everyone had been so certain this was the right one that she didn't think to. Closing her eyes, she struggled to recall the exact words spoken to her when she had been between-lives in Asgard.

Oh no. The dismay she felt must have shown on her face.

"What is it?" Marcus asked.

"I've just remembered. The instructions were to 'use the Hammer of Thor to release Anuket from the tekhen that imprisons her'." Jade opened her eyes. "It didn't actually say which tekhen she was in we just a.s.sumed it would be her own."

"Oh fabulous," Phoenix groaned. "And you said there were how many of these things in Alexandria, Heron?"

"Over a hundred, at least," the old man replied, sounding disheartened.

"So what do we do now?" Phoenix's harsh tone made Jade flinch. "We can hardly smash every one of them."

Brynn appeared at her side and tugged on her sleeve. "I'd say we deal with the nice officer who's just turned up." He pointed across the square at a crowd who were now gathered around a Roman solider.